will@cvradio.com For the first time at Utah State University, a diverse group of faculty representing a wide range of departments came together to discuss how carbon neutrality and sustainability can be integrated into classroom curriculum at USU. Faculty representing theater, geology, economics, history and computer science recently converged for a day-long workshop called Destinations: Planetary Thinking in the Curriculum. The workshop is the result of the America College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, signed by President Stan Albrecht in 2007 to acknowledge higher educations role in sustainability and calls for USU to be carbon neutral by 2050. Guest speakers included Rob Davies, Utah Climate Center physicist and educator, USU professors Ed Staufford and Kit Mohr and a panel of students. A trip to USUs industrial composter and a performance of a musical piece about the water cycle by the Fry Street Quartet were chosen to demonstrate the breadth of sustainability concepts from campus operations to fine arts. When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Opinion Editor Tom Whitehurst Jr. pops a 30-round magazine into place in an AR-15 on Friday, June 17, 2016, at The Sharp Shooter in Corpus Christi. Tom Whitehurst Columnist SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Opinion Editor Tom Whitehurst Jr. loads a magazine as he prepares to do a demo oh how fast he can empty an AR-15 on Friday, June 17, 2016, in Corpus Christi. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES The AR-15 uses a .223-caliber bullet, a high-powered round whose low recoil promotes accurate shooting even when fired rapidly. Opinion Editor Tom Whitehurst Jr. fired 30 rounds in eight seconds at a 50-yard target at The Sharp Shooter indoor range on Friday, June 17, 2016, in Corpus Christi, and hit paper 19 times while concentrating on speed rather than accuracy. They'll have to pry my bolt-action Remington 700 rifle with its pretty walnut stock from my cold, dead fingers. I killed my first deer with that gun. But my AR-15? That's in play. It has to be. In December 2012, with the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre still fresh, I wrote about my AR-15 to clear up rampant negative misconceptions and urge honest dialogue about the gun at the center of the controversy starting with the tiresome assertion that it's not a hunting rifle. It is. I have hunted with it on many occasions and taken plenty of wild game only a few deer, but more wild hogs than I can count. For the animals, the outcome is the same no matter how the AR is labeled. But winning that argument doesn't close the case file on whether the AR-15 should be restricted by the number of rounds it can hold, or by who can buy, sell or own one. It was the weapon of choice in seven of the last eight high-profile multiple-victim shootings, including last week's incident in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in the nation's history. The many uses of the AR-15 need to be explored. So, I've decided to revisit why mine is a good hunting rifle. But this time I'm paying more attention to why the mass killers choose it. Let's start by clarifying that the AR-15 is semi-automatic, not automatic. Each shot fired requires a trigger pull. Owners and defenders of the AR like to emphasize that distinction. Not all AR-15s come with a two-stage match-grade trigger like mine. It takes longer to pull but it helps accuracy and therefore helps a conscientious hunter put down an animal more humanely. It's biased toward slow, careful shooting like the thousand-yard shot Matt Damon took in the remake of "True Grit." It's not a feature that a killer would choose in a gun he'd use to commit mass murder in a Florida nightclub. But after the first round is fired with a match-grade trigger, the gun is primed for rapid follow-ups with short one-stage trigger pulls. I tried it Friday for the first time, never having done it before because that's not how I hunt or shoot. It took me about eight seconds to fire 30 rounds. A shooter could kill a lot of wild hogs in the brush or customers in a nightclub using that technique. AR-15 "rapid-"fire shooting demo 4 my Sunday column @callerdotcom I have a slow trigger finger. pic.twitter.com/zgTMpHsTP0 Tom Whitehurst Jr. (@WhitehurstJr) June 17, 2016 I had to buy the 30-round magazine. My AR came with a 20-round magazine that I seldom load with more than five rounds. If legislation didn't ban AR-15s but limited their magazines to four or five rounds, it wouldn't affect how I use mine. I seldom fire more than once when hunting. But I can see how a mass killer would prefer a long curved 30-round magazine like the one I bought Friday. With a backpack full of them, pre-loaded, a rapid-firing gunman would face little risk of being subdued by heroic bar patrons. The AR-15's caliber, .223, is a military round considered by many hunters to be too light for deer hunting. But it is known for little or no recoil, which means that a rapid-fire killer's aim won't be thrown off by getting kicked in the shoulder. My old Remington hits harder and faster than the .223. But had the Orlando shooter used it instead of his AR, the bolt action would have slowed him down and the four-round magazine would have limited the death toll considerably. A hero or two among the bar patrons could have tackled him and ended the ordeal in seconds while most of the others made their getaway. Defenders of the AR-15 often say it is a misunderstood victim of its sinister appearance, otherwise not fundamentally different from autoloading hunting rifles with pretty wood stocks. I have said the same. But let's consider why a killer might prefer an AR-15 to one of those sleek semi-automatic hunting rifles. Browning makes one and it's a beauty. Its magazine can be emptied in an instant with rapid trigger pulls, just like the AR's. But the Browning's magazine capacity is four. In mass-killing real time, that translates to "bang-bang-bang-bang, time to reload, oops, bar patrons are bashing my head in with the butt of my own rifle while the others are getting away!" Maybe that's why the Browning didn't put in an appearance at Sandy Hook or Orlando. My previous favorable assessment of the AR-15 as a hunting rifle still stands. But for committing mass murder, no traditional hunting rifle is its peer. Guns don't commit mass murder, people do. But the AR-15 makes them better at it. Contact Tom Whitehurst Jr. at tom.whitehurst@caller.com. Join him on Twitter @WhitehurstJr. Contributed Dowling SHARE Contributed photo Ali Esmaeili, dean of Math, Science and Bachelors Programs, South Texas College (from left); Anahid Petrosian, interim vice president for Academic Affairs, Chief Academic Officer, South Texas College; Heidi Anderson, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, Texas A&M University-Kingsville; and Stephan Nix, dean of Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Princeton graduate wins engineering award Matthew Matl of Corpus Christi graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors from Princeton University and received the James Hayes- Edgar Palmer Prize in Engineering, officials said. Man awarded masters in justice administration Brandy Hensley of Corpus Christi earned a Master of Science degree in justice administration from University of the Cumberlands on May 7. Two named to dean's list at Stephen F. Austin State The following students were named to the dean's list at Stephen F. Austin State University for the spring semester. To be eligible for this honor, a student must be enrolled in 12 or more semester hours and maintain a grade-point average of 3.5. Mary Hediger of Corpus Christi, Interdisciplinary Studies, Elementary Education Margaret Strain of Port Aransas, Theatre, School of Theatre Three named to President's List Three students from Corpus Christi were named to the President's List at Stephen F. Austin State University for the spring semester. To be eligible for this honor, a student must be enrolled in 12 or more semester hours and maintain a grade-point average of 4.0. The trio includes the following: Dallas Freyer, Theatre, School of Theatre Major Monzingo, Marketing, Mgmt, Mktg & Inter Business Shjan Quesada, Undecided, Special Advising Corpus Christi student earns degree in biology Rikki Adriana Martinez of Corpus Christi received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Hollins University May 22, officials said. Martinez is the daughter of Rick and Alicia Martinez of Corpus Christi. She graduated from Tuloso-Midway High School. Hollins is an independent liberal arts university offering undergraduate education to women, selected graduate programs for men and women, and community outreach initiatives. Del Mar College leads way to equip veterans Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families named Del Mar College among three colleges in the nation leading the way in equipping veterans with essential skills to prepare them for the local and regional workforce, officials said. A May 26 news release also included Tarrant County College in Fort Worth and Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina. IVMF released a report detailing results from its Vocational Acceleration for Veterans Grant Program, which is a project funded by the Walmart Foundation. Through the foundation, the IVMF oversaw grants awarded to numerous colleges and universities providing veterans in their communities with skills training focused on workforce development. Del Mar College was awarded $110,000 by the Walmart Foundation and the IVMF to create and implement the Vocational Acceleration For Veterans Grant Program focused on providing skills in areas such as industrial safety and industrial welding. Two institutions sign agreement A Memorandum of Agreement was signed between Texas A&M University-Kingsville and South Texas College, to confirm and sustain the working relationship between the two institutions. The agreement furthers efforts to provide students a clear pathway, with little or no loss of academic credits, from South Texas College to A&M-Kingsville engineering programs offered through the Rio Grande Valley Engineering Initiative and at the main campus, along with other related Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. The Engineering Initiative was initially designed for Rio Grande Valley students who received their first two years of instruction from area community colleges, and want to transfer to A&M-Kingsville to further their education and earn a Texas A&M-Kingsville degree. King grad earns degree from Duke University Marisa Dowling received a medical degree from the Duke University School of Medicine May 13. Dowling also received a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. She was Richard King High School's 2005 valedictorian. She is the daughter of Tim and Juanita Dowling of Corpus Christi. Compiled by Natalia Contreras SHARE The Art Museum of South Texas was transformed to a fabulous fiesta June 10 as the museum celebrated artRageous: Diez Anos. The idea of ten played itself out all over the facility with ten concepts and ten exhibits, all to celebrate the ten year anniversary of the opening of the Legorreta Building. The fun started outside the museum, as a Selena impersonator greeted guests with the Tejano star's famous look and sound. As guests entered the museum, the fiesta atmosphere prevailed with everything from tequila tasting and butt sketches (you read that correctly, butt sketches!) in the Ullberg gallery to strolling Mariachi, a Mexican beer bar, a "take a selfie with Frida" picture station, and make your own flipbooks in the O'Connor gallery. This party is always a standout because of the fun and flair that makes it special, and this year was no exception. I ran into host committee members Jordan and Austin Anderson as well as old friends such as Dr. Mary Jane Garza, Marcy and Jorge Rodriguez, and Crystal Waldo and David Massie. I even spotted some longtime museum supporters who were also on the host committee: Patty and Hank Nuss and Louise Chapman, all having a fantastic time at the various stations enjoying all the party had to offer. Event chairwomen Elizabeth McCampbell Alexander and Madeline Schmidt must be commended for another fantastic summer artRageous party for the Art Museum can't wait to see what's on tap for next year! New Brew for Wildlife The Texas State Aquarium's Rising Tide Society will host Care-aoke at 6 p.m. June 29 at Railroad Seafood Station and Brewing Company. The evening will feature the release of a new signature beer, Wildlife Wheat, as well as karaoke. A portion of sales of the beer will go toward the Aquarium's Second Chances Wildlife Rescue Program. Information: risingtide@txstateaquarium.org Save the Date to find out the State of the University Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's 2016 State of the University luncheon is at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 14 in the University Center Anchor Ballroom. During the luncheon, A&M-CC President and CEO Dr. Flavius Killebrew will share news about the growth and development of the Island University and its impact on the Coastal Bend. Following the luncheon, Islander students will offer guided tours of the campus. Cost: $25. Information: sotu.tamucc.edu or 825-5894. Food and Fun for First Summerfest The first Food Truck Summerfest Corpus Christi will run from 5 p.m. July 15 to 10 p.m. July 17 at Champions Park and will feature gourmet food trucks, local musicians, and vendors. There will be live music and the Outfield Kids Zone will be open as well, making this an event for the entire family. Parking is $5 per car, and those funds, along with 5 percent of the festival's proceeds, will benefit the The Ready Or Not Foundation. Cost: free admission. Information: johngarciasales@gmail.com or 361-444-9566. BEATRIZ ALVARADO/CALLER-TIMES An immigrant rights education and outreach group for Corpus Christi and surrounding immigrant communities is in the works. It's dubbed the Student Association for Immigrant Outreach. SHARE BEATRIZ ALVARADO/CALLER-TIMES Del Mar College social work adjunct professor Olivia Lopez (from left), Del Mar College nursing student Katia Gonzalez and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi psychology major Jared Romero met Friday to establish a mission statement and other details for a newly-founded group the Student Association for Immigrant Outreach. By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times Jared Romero found solace in an immigrant youth group several years ago. Romero, whose parents overstayed their visas after immigrating from Monterrey, Mexico, when he was 14, said the San Antonio Immigrant Youth Movement provided a safe environment undocumented immigrants like him. Most importantly, the group also helped him apply for a federal program that granted him temporary work authorization, a Social Security number and a driver's license. "They helped me in a lot of ways," Romero said of the group. "We want to do the same here." An immigrant rights education and outreach group for Corpus Christi and surrounding immigrant communities is in the works. It's dubbed the Student Association for Immigrant Outreach. The group is still in its infancy, but its premise and mission are very exciting, said Olivia Lopez, who is a Del Mar College social work adjunct professor and volunteer mentor to the student-driven initiative. "(Immigrant rights) is the next civil rights movement," Lopez said. Romero, a Del Mar graduate and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi psychology major, co-founded the group with Katia Gonzalez. Gonzalez is a full-time nursing student at Del Mar. Romero, 27, and Gonzalez, 21, were granted temporary stays through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. President Barack Obama announced in 2012 that individuals who came to the U.S. as children and meet certain requirements will be eligible to apply for DACA. The program defers or stops deportation for two years. Recipients must renew their application every two years. Educating youth on the eligibility for the program is among the group's initial goals. As recipients, Romero and Gonzalez plan to share their experiences with youth who may be DACA-eligible. Jamilah Tinger, who is a legal assistant for Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES, said the group is the first of its kind in Corpus Christi. The pro-bono legal group offers services to immigrants. Tinger said RAICES and the student organization will work together and follow a "classroom to clinic" model. Essentially, the student group will present eligibility information about DACA at places like high schools and youth hubs and direct families to RAICES for legal counsel, if needed. Tinger explained that type of partnerships is seen in metropolitan areas, but had not been established in Corpus Christi before SAIO. "There are movements working on educating immigrant communities about their rights, but we're lacking here," she said. "And it's not because we have a low immigrant population." The group is working closely with RAICES and plans to partner with clinicians from A&M-CC when they start visiting schools in the fall. Romero said although the school sessions will focus on DACA eligibility, encouragement for higher education and career aspirations will also be a big part of the organization's presence. "A lot of immigrants come to the U.S. to work, not really with an idea to continue school," Romero said. "The group will help (youth) understand that education is the main key to success in the U.S." Twitter: @CallerBetty HOW TO GET INVOLVED Contact RAICES at 361-693-5838 or visit 403 Waco St. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES People take photos standing under the Harbor Bridge on Friday, June 17, 2016. The bridge will be lit in rainbow colors through Sunday in memory of the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. SHARE By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times Long before tragedy struck Orlando's Pulse nightclub, the local LGBT community wanted to be seen. Korbin Boomer Matthews, local activist, said people often question why his community needs to band together or why it feels the need to be "so vocal." "Because it's nice to know others out there that identify with the same community as you do," Matthews said. "I feel like Pride and celebrations like Pride are going to be a nice reminder for people that's (being LGBT) is so much more than just a sexual expression. It's about acceptance and family." Two LGBT events, including the city's first Pride celebration, are scheduled this month, starting with a family day event Saturday at Molina Veterans Park. June is nationally recognized as LGBT Pride Month, according to the United States Library of Congress. "It's to celebrate LGBT families and be a place where parents can meet other parents and kids can meet other kids," organizer Liz Musella-Robledo said. The family event, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., is hosted by Corpus Christi LGBT. There will be face painting, a pinata and a moon bounce for kids. "When we do events, it is to find people who don't know there is an organized group to come to for support," she said. "You don't know whose life you're saving." Since marriage equality was passed by the Supreme Court in June 2015, there have been plans for a local pride celebration, Matthews said. The first will be "Pride Downtown" on June 26-27. Eleven downtown venues will participate, and it will include the Pride Diva Showcase drag show at Rockit's Whiskey Bar and Saloon at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. The downtown celebration is from 6 p.m. Sunday to 2 a.m. Monday and includes a karaoke benefit for Orlando shooting victims at Rehab and Nina Diaz performing at House of Rock. For years, he and his friends had traveled to other cities to celebrate pride. "If we go to other cities to support the community, it's likely people will do the same and come down here," he said. "It has taken off so quickly, and the response has been great." With the rainbow-colored Harbor Bridge lights and community events planned, Matthews said the LGBT has a reason to celebrate even as it mourns the loss of 49 lives in Florida. "It's very exciting to see this event as a reason for Corpus Christi to celebrate, but also a reason to learn more about the community and to stand in solidarity with us," he said. Twitter: @Caller_Jules Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported when the Pride Diva Showcase is scheduled to begin. SHARE Norma Jean Sierra Still good people in world I was emotionally and psychologically affected by the murders of our fellow citizens violently victimized in Orlando, Florida. This event will remain in my mind forever. However, I was saved from some of the affects of the tragedy when I learned on Monday of kind citizens who provided food, water flea control and finally a trip, her last trip, to a stray dog named Blackie. Blackie was taken to a local vet last Friday because she was crawling to get to a sidewalk for food; after checking her the veterinarian found serious injury to back and pelvic area. He also found old wounds by pellets on her skin; and, who knows how many pregnancies she had endured. Thanks to good people like Robert Bonilla, Yolanda Garcia, and Maddie Netti, and others who have been good to Blackie, I am reminded of who we really are, by their goodness to an animal. How much more would they do for loved ones and for humanity? I was saved by their acts of kindness. In our country, the United States of America, true citizens are good and positive people, leaders, and role models. We must remember, this is who we really are. We are not what happened in the event of Orlando, Florida. "I'm really pleased that my Canberra Centre tulle installation which was exhibited last year, has been one of the main projects featured in the video. I always like to promote Canberra where I can so hopefully this has added to the international recognition Canberra is generating in regards to its brilliant arts and culture initiatives." "She said 'mum we've got to do this,'" she said. "Last year we were total newbies but the teams really supported us in learning to play. It's so fun and we have been going since then." "People used to talk about WW1 as 'the war to end all wars' and that embedded itself in my mind," she said. "I've been waiting all my years for wars to stop. It is a big disappointment to me." "I hope those of you who visit my country have the chance to learn about the history, the culture and also to make some new friends along the way," he said. A common theme with politicians like Abbott and Hofer, and others like Marine Le Pen or Geert Wilders, is the demonisation of asylum seekers and immigrants, particularly Muslims. They ascribe to and seek to maintain a status quo which has gone the supremacy and dominance of the white population. But Trump is more. He is a xenophobe with, potentially, a huge military arsenal under his command. And he would have an "army" of rednecks, including members of state and federal police, the border force and members of the US armed forces, backing him internally. 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. The compact SUV class is in full swing and the Korean car manufacturer wants to take advantage of this perk, especially as it has the means to do it. According to Motoring, Kia could unveil such a vehicle at the Los Angeles or Detroit motor shows in November or January, respectively. The B-Segment SUV should be based on the Rio, and its production variant will arrive (in Australia) in the third quarter of 2017 as opposed to the car its based on and the with the new Picanto, which will be launched at the beginning of the year as Kia Australia COO Damien Meredith cautiously explained: Its not a full SUV, thats why its called a CUV. Weve got to be very strident about what effect it will have on Rio. It needs to fit into the market and do what it needs to do in the CX-3 and HR-V segment. As long as the aggregate is more than we lose its OK. In terms of design, Meredith suggested something that will closely resemble the Provo concept car revealed at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. Kia Provo pictured PHOTO GALLERY New real-life images and patent renderings of Russian President Vladimir Putins initiative to create a new line of domestic luxury vehicles have been published on the net. Named Project Cortege (or Kortezh), the initiative is being implemented by the Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Institute in Moscow in cooperation with a consortium of Russian engineering and design companies. The plan calls for a presidential limo for Putin himself, as well as other high-ranking members of the government, together with an entire family of special purpose vehicles, including a minivan, a shorter sedan and an SUV. Last we heard about the Project Cortege was in April, when images of the, as of yet, unnamed, presidential limousine in scale model (exterior) and prototype (interior) forms made the Russian news. Now, we have patent renderings of both the regular sedan and SUV as well as pictures of a prototype version of the latter, courtesy of Drom and Instagram user @duble13, respectively. The large luxury SUV doesnt look like the one on the patents, so were not sure if its a different model or perhaps one of the design directions that its creators are examining at this stage. Either way, theres something very British about the styling of all three cars, with the two sedans bearing an undeniable resemblance to the Rolls-Royce Phantom, while the pair of crossovers seem inspired by various Land Rovers and Bentleys (in particular the Bentayga and the EXF-9 concept) Helping the Russians with the Cortege series is Porsche, which was brought on board to assist in the development of the powertrains, which are believed to include V8 and V12 mills. In April, the Russians announced that the first batch of Cortege cars will roll off the production line at the end of 2017, with President Putin to receive the first car. While the Russian government will be the brands biggest client, acting Russian Minister of Trade and Industry, Denis Manturov, told the press that the cars will be offered for sale to the general public as well. Thanks to Mikhail S. for the heads up! Photo Gallery Photo: Facebook - Ride2Survive A group of dedicated cyclists will hop on their bikes and endure a gruelling physical challenge in the 2016 Ride2Survive. Pegged as their largest independent fundraising event for Canadian Cancer Society, the Ride2Survive began in 2005 and hits the road this year on Saturday. Organizers of Ride2Survive say they are driven to participate, as they know 100 per cent of donations go directly to cancer research through the Canadian Cancer Society. Most of us make annual charitable donations to something, but few have the time to check out the efficiency of the charitable organization. How much of our donated money goes towards administration, advertising and infrastructure rather than to the final cause? I suspect you will not find any organization more efficient in handling your hard earned charitable donations than the Ride2Survive, say organizers. What drives us to endure months of physical challenges, cramping and injuries is knowing that 100 per cent of donations go directly to cancer research. Organizers say that the logistics of food, travel, supplies, transportation, support vehicles, police, ambulance, advertising, salaries and other administrative expenses are borne by the riders and/or are donated by local businesses. When we hand over the precious raised funds to the Cancer Society, they have agreed to match our frugality by waiving their customary administrative fee, adds Ride2Survive. The bike ride itself is deliberately intimidating, designed to emulate the struggle, pain, doubt and frustration that a cancer sufferer is often subjected to during their cancer battle. The ride underscores the need for a support system of family and friends, otherwise the battle (ride) is insurmountable, writes Ride2Survive. Just like in the fight against cancer, alone it is too hard. Our journey traverses two mountain summits, we climb over 12,000 feet (greater than the vertical climbs of the Tour de France), and pedal over 75,000 revolutions. We steel ourselves against the elements, ailments, and the greatest deterrent, self-doubt. The ride is called a powerful and challenging test of discipline that brings each rider a sense of accomplishment. Each of us does this for deeply personal reasons, having lost parents, daughters, sons, friends, colleagues; we carry pictures taped to our bikes, names written on our jerseys, arms and legs the experience is profoundly moving. Cancer is an indiscriminate disease, taking the very young to the very old. Last year Ride2Survive raised more than $625,000, an amount matched by Brain Canada, so the Ride2Survive provided the Canadian Cancer Society with more than $1.2 million. The funds provided went directly to Dr. Paul Sorensen, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UBC in the form of a research grant. Dr. Sorensens research laboratory is located in the Department of Molecular Oncology at the BC Cancer Research Centre and in April he met with organizers and shared his work in targeting neural tumors in the area of pediatric cancer. Not only has his research benefited pediatric brain cancer, but it has also provided valuable crossover data for breast cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. His presentation both touched and inspired us to work harder to beat this terrible disease, says organizers. On ride say you can follow their journey online at Ride2Survive.ca Photo: Contributed Friends and family are speaking out against a West Kelowna towing company after they say the company showed no compassion to a mother who had just lost her son. Cory Lee Harasivich, 36, of West Kelowna, died when his Jeep Cherokee was involved in a single-vehicle rollover early Sunday morning. The family says the father of two broke his neck in the fatal crash that cost his life. Following his death, his mother tried to get into his crumpled vehicle to get his possessions, but was met with nothing but roadblocks. Del Oro Towing is being accused of a complete lack of sympathy when it comes to allowing a family to get their dead loved one's few possessions. Multiple calls by Castanet, since Tuesday, to Del Oro and its parent company Mario's Towing have not been returned and the company refuses to comment on the accusations. I am sickened with the lack of compassion on their part, says Alicia Baer-Storie. Baer-Storie says the family wanted to get into the damaged vehicle to get Harasivich's final possessions so that they could give them to his two children. The family desperately wanted anything Cory had left, says Baer-Storie. She says at first the family was quoted $150 to access the vehicle, but when they arrived to pay the bill, it jumped to more than $300. They shared their story online and a complete stranger offered to pay the bill, but even he struggled to make a payment. She says the generous donor was hassled by staff who wouldn't let him pay the bill because he was not family. Eventually, Mario's allowed the man to put the bill on his credit card and the family recovered Harasivich's few belongings, but they are still furious over how they were treated. Baer-Storie is shocked that the company would have no sympathy for a grieving family. Several family members have also started an online campaign to share their disgust with the towing company. Kelowna RCMP Const. Jesse ODonaghey says these sort of incidents are a civil matter between the family and the towing company. He says the RCMP will sometimes hold a vehicle for investigative purposes, especially after a fatal accident, but they are typically released back to the family as soon as possible. At times there can be investigational holds on those vehicles, but typically it is a matter between the owners of that vehicle or the family of the victim and the tow yard, says ODonaghey. When the bills are due it is completely between them and does not involve us. A GoFundMe account to help the family pay for funeral costs has gained more than $5,000. A service for Harasivich is being held in West Kelowna on June 25. Photo: Contributed Before he tests his skills on the hill, some dummy is going to try a dry run first. Trent James took it upon himself to build an old geezer for the ultimate race, the Dummy Downhill next winter. In a effort to get his dummy dubbed Geezer ready for action, James will pull the wooden statue with a bicycle around a grass race course inside the main entrance to City Park off Abbott Street. James laughs that the dummy is called Geezer because he looks like an old Geezer and that fits with the guys he skis with. The first thing you notice is that he is riding a horse. The horse is kind of a vain fashion statement because he has a purple tail, chuckles James. He is pretty small with short legs that dont reach the ground so he just sort of floats through the air. Thats OK because this is just a dream. James says the Geezer has real boot soles cut out of his friends old ski boots, so the dummy can click into real skis. His feet and legs are made from old plywood. ... He just has stick body, shoulders and arms, he said. Ski buddies contributed to making the Geezer a reality, from goggles to an old toque and gloves. He has a strong hold of his horses neck with one hand and the other hand is in the air for balance on his horse, said James. He doesnt have a face, but that is all right. He doesnt have a body either, and this is just a fantasy. The Geezer is controlled by radio to roll his knees left or right as the dummy negotiates down the hill. Those interested in seeing the test run are welcome to attend City Park on June 23, at 11 a.m. Photo: Contributed Its not perfection, failure or death. Instead terrorism, heights and snakes top the list of what B.C. residents fear the most, according to an Insights West poll. In an online survey of a representative provincial sample, 43 per cent of British Columbians said they personally are afraid of terrorism, while a similar proportion feared heights and snakes. Next on the list was the fear of being the victim of a crime at 38 per cent, followed by nuclear war at 37 per cent, public speaking at 36 per cent and spiders at 33 per cent. More than one in five residents acknowledged being personally afraid of confined spaces, death, water or drowning, germs and insects. Only a few listed they were afraid of needles or getting shots, flying, blood and clowns. Insights West found 27 per cent of British Columbians have altered their plans to avoid a thing or situation they fear or feared, and one-in-six experienced a panic attack to avoid doing something out of fear. Gender and age play a role in the situations that British Columbians fear, said Mario Canseco, vice president of public affairs at Insights West. Women are more likely than men to be afraid of becoming victims of a crime, while the fear of nuclear war is strongest among those aged 55 and over. Only 13 per cent of people admitted to coming close to losing it in front of other people over a fear they had, and seven per cent used the stairs instead of the elevator to avoid being in a confined space, not for fitness reasons. Photo: Contributed "This is a game changer for our community." Those words from Candace Giesbrecht with the Kelowna branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association. Giesbrecht was commenting on an announcement by Health Minister Terry Lake Friday, announcing funding for an Integrated Youth Services Centre. The centre will serve youth from 12 to 24 with mental health issues. "The Integrated Youth Service Centre will co-locate a number of existing services under one roof. If your child is between 12 and 24, you will go to this one centre. You will be seen by a team, who then will actually come up with a plan that is in the best interest of your child," said Giesbrecht. "Right now, everything is disjointed. There are good people in the system, and they've been doing the best they know how, but the system isn't set up for a co-ordinated plan, for co-ordinated care." The province is contributing more than $7.5 million for service centres in five communities across the province, including Kelowna, North Vancouver and West Vancouver, Prince George, Campbell River and Abbotsford. "CMHA is running point on the project in Kelowna," added Giesbrecht. "There are 15 agencies that will be run under one roof. We have commitments from local agencies that total 23 FTE's (full time equivalents) to come under this service." Giesbrecht said the positions have existed for several years, but have been "all over the place." Kelowna has been piloting this project for a couple of years under its Connected at 25 Program. "We've been able to demonstrate tremendous cost savings to the system, as well as better care and better outcomes. This now means we won't be doing it just Wednesday mornings. We're doing it five days a week." As part of its case study, Giesbrecht said CMHA identified several properties that could house the new service. She said they will now try to negotiate a lease. The contract is for three years, but Giesbrecht said provincial funding is about $300,000 to $500,000 short of what is needed to build it. "That's a doable amount because we know our community wants this, and our community needs this. "Our concern is this is here to stay and that we do it right." Giesbrecht said they need people willing to become monthly donors. People who can commit money for the long haul. She said they also need a short-term infusion of cash to help build it. "We want to get this open. Families have been waiting for this." Photo: Nicholas Johansen - Castanet File Photo The City of Kelowna has an idea of what it would like to do with its share of about $90 million in transit dollars. In Vancouver yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau announced it would be handing over $470 million in previously announced transit funding to the province. About $370 million of that is earmarked for Vancouver, with the balance, about $90 million, for projects more provincial in scope. The City of Kelowna looks after Kelowna Regional Transit, but regional services director Ron Westlake said the money is thin once you get out of the Vancouver area. "We work with BC Transit with that funding. We've made suggestions as to what we would like to see funded," said Westlake. "But, they are looking at it from a province-wide basis." Westlake said several projects could be on the provincial radar. "They're looking at real-time information for buses, tracking of buses. A number of systems have been asking for that, including us," said Westlake. "Other things could be passenger counters so we could get better information for planning, and learning where the customer base is. A third one is video surveillance on the buses for improved security. We just wrapped up a pilot in Kamloops on that." Westlake said Kelowna Regional Transit would like to get funding for construction of phase two of the Rutland Transit Exchange. UBC Okanagan is also looking for some transit improvements. As for new, energy efficient buses to replace some of the diesel operated fleet, Westlake said it's something that has been talked about. And while Kamloops and Nanaimo have both gone to compressed natural gas buses, Westlake doesn't anticipate Kelowna going in that direction. "There seems to be a significant interest in electric buses. We have a number of buses that are planned to be replaced, quite a few are more on the custom bus side. "When we get to the bigger buses, we would like to look at something along the lines of electric if we could." An email from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure sent late Friday afternoon shows the types of projects which will be included for funding. New infrastructure: BC Transit will invest in new bus depots, maintenance yards and operations facilities, as well as in new CNG fueling stations, in communities across the province. New buses: BC Transit will work with local communities to invest in new and more efficient buses, including cleaner burning CNG-fueled buses, and new buses for handyDART service expansion. New buses will go to communities where the fleet is reaching their end of its service-life saving local communities in fuel, maintenance costs and a reduced carbon footprint. New Technologies: A portion of the money is earmarked for new technologies to make the fleet safer for drivers and passengers and to give BC Transit and local communities ridership information that will make them become even more efficient. The new technologies will also make riding transit more convenient for the many British Columbians who use these services every day. UPDATED: 7:33 p.m. The wildfire that took place this afternoon in West Kelowna has been deemed accidental, according to West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund. However the ignition source was not able to be conclusively determined by investigators or from residents and bystanders' statements. The fire is now out but fire crews remain on scene. They will patrol the fire overnight and again tomorrow. "Today was an unfortunate but sobering example of how fast a wildfire can grow even given today's cooler conditions and rain earlier in the week," said Brolund. "As we head into the summer season we urge the public to get prepared and exercise extreme caution with any source of ignition. We thank the public today for their cooperation, including early reports of the fire to 9-1-1 and attempts to extinguish it prior to our arrival. We are also grateful for the partnership and support from the BC Wildfire Service, RDCO Emergency Operations Centre, RCMP, BC Ambulance Fortis and BC Hydro." Residents believe a wildfire on the Westside Friday was caused by a neighbour conducting an open burn. They say the fire quickly got out of control and spread uphill, forcing the evacuation of 10 homes on Scott Crescent. A resident who lives in the Westpoint Mobile Home Park says he saw a nearby neighbour on a rural property burning material in his yard. The resident who didnt wish to be identified says he was working on his roof when he saw flames spread up the hill. I saw one guy trying to stamp out the fire, and I said, 'Have you called the fire department?' And he said 'no,' said the witness. I thought it would have been a good idea (to call 911), so I called the fire department, but by then it had started to crawl up the hill. They (neighbours) didnt have any hoses and they were trying to put it out with a plastic bucket ... the bucket caught fire. The Westpoint resident says he and his wife were ready to leave their home. They had packed their car and prepared their dogs to leave had they been evacuated; however, flames spread away from their house. Barry Porrelli, who lives on Scott Crescent, did get evacuated. Porrelli says he was on the way to Vancouver with his wife when neighbours called to say there was a grassfire approaching their home. So we headed back and by the time we got here they told us that we werent allowed into our house, said Porrelli. Luckily, his pets were with him at the time and he had packed extra clothes for his trip to Vancouver. Meanwhile another neighbour was optimistic the whole ordeal would end quickly and wasnt concerned he would be out of his home for long. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Currently open fires are not permitted in the Kamloops Fire Centre. Photo: Google Maps The man killed in a plane crash near 70 Mile House Thursday has been identified. The BC Coroners Service has confirmed the victim was Jonathan Lindsay Blair, 42, of Edmonton, Alberta. Blair was a passenger in a Piper Cherokee Arrow airplane that was attempting a landing at a private grass airstrip by Green Lake, near 70 Mile House, at about 11:45 a.m. The plane crashed into a wooded area along the side of the strip during the attempt to land. The coroner, Transportation Safety Board and RCMP continue to investigate his death. The condition of the 74-year-old pilot is not known. He was airlifted to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops in serious condition. Photo: Twitter A flight museum in Langley has unveiled a replica of a First World War fighter plane with plans for it to soar over Vimy Ridge on the infamous battle's 100th anniversary. The Canadian Museum of Flight has been gifted the fully functioning replica 1916 Sopwith Pup biplane as one of two being built for a legacy project. Next April, a squadron of former Canadian military pilots is planning to use the biplanes in a flyover of the Vimy Memorial in France to commemorate Canada's heroism and loss in a battle that saw more than 10,000 Canadians killed or wounded. About 20 adults and six teenaged Royal Canadian Air Cadets helped build the Pup, while learning what it took to make biplanes a century ago. Tim Joyce, president of Sound Venture Productions, says building historical biplanes from scratch was an unprecedented undertaking with tight deadlines. The project has been under construction since last summer as part of an initiative known as Wings of Courage and was funded in part by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage. Photo: RCMP A man and a woman are in custody in Kelowna, facing potential charges after being arrested in possession of an RCMP bait car early Friday morning. Kelowna RCMP received notice that a bait car had been activated in the city just after 8 a.m. General duty and plainclothes officers began to converge from all directions on the stolen vehicle while monitoring the suspects live inside the vehicle using audio and video recording devices. The bait car was first spotted by officers as it travelled westbound on Harvey Avenue at Gordon Drive, said Const. Jesse ODonaghey. The vehicle then pulled into the 200 block of Leon Avenue where the suspects got out and began to walk away from the bait car. Officers flooded the area and arrested the suspects without incident. Two Kelowna residents, a 26-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman, of no fixed address were taken into custody. Police said both could be charged with theft of a motor vehicle under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime. The female suspect is facing a potential additional charge of driving while prohibited, said O'Donaghey. The woman is also wanted on an unrelated warrant for her arrest out of West Kelowna, police said. Photo: RCMP File photo. Although it has been three years since a Kelowna mother was found murdered in her Glenmore home, the RCMP say the investigation is still active. Police were called to the house on the 300 block of Yates Road by paramedics requesting assistance just after midnight on June 18, 2013. Upon arrival, officers discovered the body of Theresa Ashley Neville, 27, whose death was deemed suspicious. Neville's two daughters, then eight and 10, were found unharmed inside the residence and were safely relocated with extended family. A person of interest was identified days later and a sketch was sent out to media. Despite the time that has passed, police are still actively investigating Theresa's murder, said Const. Jesse O'Donaghey, RCMP spokesperson. The RCMP are always receptive to information from the public that would assist in identifying the individual or individuals responsible for her death. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Const. Joanne Meyers of the Kelowna RCMP Serious Crime Unit (SCU) at 250-470-6326. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or leave a tip online at www.crimestoppers.net or by texting your tip to CRIMES (274637) ktown. In the dying with dignity debate, most people who are being vocal are advocating for Advanced Directive. Advanced Directive is exactly what it sounds like; you are able to say, in advance of any medical issues, that when I reach a certain point in my illness, and if I do not have the ability or mental capacity to make an informed decision, these are my wishes. Thats what many people want in the Physician Assistance in Dying legislation, but I would pose this question. What happens when someone makes an advanced directive about their end of life care to say that when they reach a certain point in their illness they consent to having medical assistance in dying but at the last minute say they dont want to die? Heres a scenario. Bob is diagnosed with Alzheimers and issues an advanced directive to his medical team saying that he would like a physicians assistance in dying to allow him to die with some amount of dignity. The time comes when Bob cannot make an informed end-of-life request himself and reaches the threshold outlined in his advanced directive and the process is set in motion. Bob is past the point of being able to give informed consent but he still knows the difference between life and death. What do we do if he says he doesnt want to die? He no longer has the capacity to make the initial request; does he have the capacity to rescind the directive? Do we put someone to death against their wishes? Who would make that decision? This is the type of question that needs answers before we make it law. We need to proceed with caution. We need to let this legislation evolve. Let it be tested by the Supreme Court. The Government has said this is a first step, I agree. Ben Reiner Photo: The Canadian Press A judge has ruled that some people who participated in the 2011 Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver are liable for damaging vehicles in the melee. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elliott Myers said in a decision released Friday that nine people who were criminally sentenced for participating in the riots must also pay the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia for damaging vehicles insured by the agency. A report released by the B.C. government in January said 122 vehicles were damaged or destroyed in the five-hour riot that erupted moments before the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final to the Boston Bruins. I.C.B.C. sued 82 people for damages, and 27 settled out of court, while 35 were given default judgements and 10 young men took their cases to trial. Myers said in his decision that nine of the men who went to trial are liable for damages to at least one vehicle. But the judge declined to award the punitive damages I.C.B.C. requested, saying the defendants had all been criminally convicted and their sentences were punishment enough. Myers said in his written decision that he did not "minimize the gravity" of the riot, noting that it threw a major city into complete disarray. But the men, who were all between the ages of 16 and 38 at the time of their crimes, have already received sentences that took deterrence for others into account, Myers said. "There comes a point when enough is enough," he said. The B.C. Criminal Justice Branch laid 912 charges against 300 suspects in the wake of the riot, including 246 adults and 54 youths. The province said in January that 284 people pleaded guilty, while 10 chose to go to trial. Nine of those people were convicted. The Crown stayed proceedings against six others. The Criminal Justice Branch had to create a riot-prosecution team for all of the cases, and their total expenditures were $4,976,765. Photo: The Canadian Press Russian President Vladimir Putin says he wants to work with Canada's new Liberal government to improve relations, but he won't say how. Putin said Friday relations between Canada and Russia have a chance to be re-established after the new prime minister came to power, as he recalled meeting Justin Trudeau at last fall's G20 summit in Turkey. "For this there should be some specific steps, which should be made by both sides," Putin said in response to a question on the state of Russia-Canada relations from The Canadian Press at an international gathering of the leaders of world news agencies in St. Petersburg, Russia. But the enigmatic Russian leader wouldn't say what those next steps would be. "The prime minister himself said when we were at G20 in Antalya that he thinks how we should re-establish the relations in full. We welcome this . . . and will get down to this task, to work together." Trudeau's version of his conversation with Putin at the G20 summit the prime minister's first international meeting after being sworn in did not mention establishing full relations with Russia. At the time, Trudeau said: "I pointed out that although Canada has shifted its approach on a broad range of multilateral and international issues, we remain committed to the fact that Russia's interference in Ukraine must cease." The previous Harper government downgraded relations with Russia in the wake of its unilateral annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and its backing of pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. At the 2014 G20 summit in Australia, then prime minister Stephen Harper told Putin to "get out" of Ukraine when he bumped into the Russia leader. The Liberals maintain that Canada needs to open a diplomatic dialogue with Russia because of shared interests, such as the Arctic, but that doesn't mean it agrees with Putin's aggressive posture towards Eastern Europe. In recent days, NATO has taken steps to bolster its forces on its eastern flank in response to the Ukraine crisis by deciding to deploy four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The Russian ambassador to NATO criticized that move on Thursday, saying the plan would erode regional security and could turn the region into a conflict zone. Putin deflected a question from The Canadian Press about possible Canadian participation in those deployments, and instead launched into a lengthy denunciation of the United States for deploying its ground-based missile system in Poland. Putin reiterated the Russian position that missile shields are a threat because they upset the nuclear deterrent that has kept peace between the two nuclear powers throughout the Cold War and afterwards. "The strategic balance used to guarantee peace in the world. It saved us from major armed conflicts in the past 70 years. It's based on a mutual threat, but this mutual threat has given us global peace for decades. How can we destroy this?" On that point, Putin added a message for Canada which has not joined any U.S. missile defence program. "If Canada wants to join join it! What else can I say? We could not dictate to you what to do. Do what you want. And we will do what we think is necessary to provide our security." Photo: Twitter There's a little bundle of happy news in the midst of the cleanup of the fire-ravaged northern Alberta city of Fort McMurray. The first baby has been born at the local hospital since 90,000 people were evacuated from the region due to a wildfire on May 3. Eli Danny Roy Mercer was born to Melissa Taylor and Steven Mercer at 5:02 a.m. on Friday morning, weighing in at six pounds and seven ounces. David Matear of the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre says staff are thrilled to see things returning to normal. He says both staff and contracted personnel have "been working incredibly hard" to return the hospital and other health facilities back to full service. Taylor says she's grateful to have been able to deliver her second child home in her community. "It was the deciding factor for us to come home, knowing that the hospital was back up and running," she says. "I didn't want to have my baby anywhere else." The hospital's emergency room, lab and diagnostic imaging services returned on June 1 while other core services started up again on June 13. It is expected to be back to full service by next Tuesday, and long-term care patients will begin returning on Thursday. While almost everyone else is being told they can return to the city, Alberta Health Services is still recommending people requiring dialysis, receiving cancer treatment or experiencing pregnancy complications wait until next week. Photo: lottomax.ca There is one winning ticket for the $55 million jackpot in Friday night's Lotto Max draw, and it was purchased somewhere in Ontario. Two of the five MaxMillions prizes of $1 million each were also won, though one of the prizes will be shared by two ticket holders. The three winning MaxMillions tickets were sold in Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies. The jackpot for the next Lotto Max draw on June 24 will be $13 million. Photo: RCMP Golden RCMP are asking for help in finding Ryan Mcauley, 31, who needs medical assistance. Mcauley is described as a white male, 260 lbs and heavy set with reddish brown hair. He was wearing glasses, a grey zip up hoody, jeans and running shoes. The missing man was driving a blue Chevy Colorado, BC plate AR0452. In the last 24 hours, Mcauley is believed to have been travelling between Merritt, Kamloops and Golden. Family is most concerned for Ryan as he requires constant medical assistance, said Cpl. Mike Wilson, RCMP spokesperson. Anyone seeing Mcauley or his truck is asked to call 911. Photo: ruiz.house.gov File photo. The stars may finally align for an expansion to the Canada Pension Plan as national talks on its future are expected to intensify over the coming days. On Monday, federal, provincial and territorial finance ministers will continue their often-polarizing discussions whether the program needs a boost to help Canadian retirees several decades from now. The debate will also explore whether it's the right moment to start the process that would gradually upgrade the public pension plan. The dedicated and vocal effort in favour CPP reform has been led by federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau and the government of Ontario, which has considerable leverage at the table as Canada's most-populous province. Ahead of the meeting in Vancouver, there are expectations some sort of agreement perhaps tentative can be reached. A change to the CPP would need the consent of Ottawa and a minimum of seven provinces representing at least two-thirds of the country's population. Many believe the cause could find enough support from the ministers. There hasn't been such a level of consensus on CPP reform at a national scale since the 1990s. "Historically, it would be a big deal," Keith Ambachtsheer, an expert on pensions, said of any agreement in Vancouver or even the ministers assemble again in December. "But on the other hand, I think the other question is: to what degree do things have to be watered down in order to reach consensus?" Ambachtsheer, director emeritus of the International Centre for Pension Management at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, said the majority of Canadian retirees are in decent financial shape. But he added that amid concerns that fewer employees have adequate workplace pensions, some predict people retiring in 30 or 40 years could face a tougher situation. That means the focus of starting CPP enhancement now is on the long game. Today's retirees, and even those entering retirement in the coming years, wouldn't see benefits from a CPP enhancement, he said. "There's going to be no immediate goodies for anybody in this," Ambachtsheer said. "It's a tough debate because it isn't about a crisis that's here and now." Those who argue against CPP reform are often as outspoken as those who call for it. Critics warn how expanding the CPP would mean squeezing additional contributions from workers and employers. Others have questioned the timing of such a move, saying pockets of the Canadian economy are still too fragile. Even provincial finance ministers have publicly questioned the need for CPP reform at this time. Conservative finance critic Lisa Raitt recently said Ottawa hadn't provided evidence to show that there would be widespread benefits from an expanded CPP, nor had it explained the reason to get a deal done now. The president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, who has lobbied finance ministers across the country to block CPP reform, said in fairness the federal Liberals won a majority mandate after campaigning on the issue. "But I suspect that people haven't really woken up to what ... this is likely to do to their paycheque and to their job," Dan Kelly said. CPP expansion would "scorch the economy and a whole bunch of Canadians with it." He acknowledged there are people who are not saving enough for retirement, but he added that some studies show more than 80 per cent of Canadians are in comfortable shape. Those people would be forced unnecessarily to save more, Kelly said. He also believes this is the closest the country has been to CPP reform in a long time. "I think this is going down to the wire," said Kelly, whose organization represents 109,000 small business owners. The federal Liberals' election victory last fall created a major shift in the dynamic. In recent years, their Conservative predecessors had opposed a mandatory CPP enrichment. Kevin Milligan, a University of British Columbia economics professor, said a closer look at the numbers makes a good case for a modest CPP reform one that targets middle-income earners. Milligan said the 30 to 40 per cent of people who lack an employer-based pension plan are at risk of falling into problems in retirement. He said people in the lower-income brackets receive help from the Guaranteed Income Supplement and Old Age Security, while those with higher incomes during their working years have usually stashed enough money for their golden years. Milligan added there is indeed a potential concern over the timing of CPP enhancement because payroll contributions would go up. As those fees rise, some worry it will cut into workers' wages. However, he said the CPP legislation states that any agreed-upon CPP reforms can only be implemented three years after a federal-provincial agreement is reached. That means if ministers ink a deal this year, the earliest the changes could begin would be Jan. 1, 2019, Milligan said. He added that a lot can change in the various provincial economies over three years. "It's about the future." Photo: The Canadian Press Montreal will ban pit bulls and other dangerous breeds of dogs beginning in September. Mayor Denis Coderre says dogs that already live in the city will be grandfathered but will have to be sterilized and wear muzzles in public. The ban was announced 10 days after a 55-year-old Montreal woman was found dead after being attacked by a pit bull. The dog escaped from a nearby home before it attacked Christiane Vadnais. Coderre said the city will also immediately create a special squad to enforce the city's existing dog regulations. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said this week his government is considering a provincewide ban on pit bulls. Photo: Kate Bouey UPDATE: 8:30 p.m. A motorcyclist is in serious condition after a crash Saturday afternoon on Highway 97 in Lake Country. Kelowna RCMP Const. Jesse O'Donaghey said a black Honda motorcycle was heading south on the highway when the rider lost control and landed over the embankment. The 30-year-old Lake Country man was found unconscious at the scene. "Bystanders, including an off duty nurse and members of the RCMP, performed CPR on the victim for several minutes while awaiting the arrival of emergency medical services," said O'Donaghey. "The victim was rushed to hospital where he remains in grave condition." A police collision re-constructionist performed a detailed analysis of the crash scene. "Initial findings at the scene suggest that speed may have been a contributing factor in the crash," said O'Donaghey. Witnesses are asked to contact Const. Katrina Claypool of the Lake Country RCMP at 250-766-2288. UPDATE: 2 p.m. The Lake Country Fire Department is at the scene of the accident. Highway 97 is also reported to be open, with traffic moving slowly. We will continue to bring you details as they become available. ORIGINAL Castanet is receiving reports of a motorcycle accident on Highway 97 in the Winfield area, near Pelmewash Parkway. Emergency vehicles are on scene and southbound traffic is currently stopped on the highway. Castanet will provide more details as they become available. Transcript for CDC Telebriefing: Zika Update Press Briefing Transcript Friday, June 17, 2016, 10:00 a.m. ET Audio recording media icon [MP3, 6.9 MB] Please Note:This transcript is not edited and may contain errors. OPERATOR: Welcome and thank you for standing by. I would like to remind parties that your lines have been placed on listen only until the question and answer portion of the conference. If youre wishing to ask a question, press star followed by one on the key pad of your telephone, and please be sure that your telephone is unmuted and clearly record your name at the prompt so that your question may be introduced. Todays conference is being recorded. If you should have any objection, you may disconnect at this time. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mrs. Kathy Harben. Thank you, you may begin. KATHY HARBEN: Thank you, Emily and thank you all for joining us this morning for this update on Zika virus, specifically the MMWR on the screening of blood donations for Zika virus infection using an investigational nucleic acid test in Puerto Rico. Joining us today is CDC Director, Dr. Tom Frieden and Dr. Matt Kuhnert, Director of CDCs Office of Blood, Organ and Other Tissue Safety. Dr. Frieden will provide opening remarks before the Q&A Dr. Kuhnert will also have a few remarks. Id now like to turn the call over to Dr. Frieden. TOM FRIEDEN: Thank you for joining us today. Summer is heating up and so is Zika. Were sharing information on what may be our most accurate real-time leading indicator of Zika activity in Puerto Rico. Ill give you the bottom line upfront. Based on the best information available, Zika infections appear to be increasing rapidly in Puerto Rico. The implication of this and the real importance of this information is that in the coming months its possible that thousands of pregnant women in Puerto Rico could become infected with Zika. This could lead to dozens or hundreds of infants being born with microcephaly in the coming year and for the thousands of other infants born to women infected with Zika who dont have microcephaly, we simply dont know and may not know for years if there will be long-term consequences on brain development. Let me go back to whats being done and emphasize that this is part of a blood safety program which is keeping Zika out of the blood supply in Puerto Rico. So even though theres an increase in infection rates, theres no known risk from transfusion because of this highly sensitive test being used. Since April 3, blood centers in Puerto Rico have screened locally collected blood for Zika, using a highly accurate nucleic acid amplification test, this is a test that measures for the actual virus in the blood. Its highly sensitive and highly specific. Screening blood thats donated for Zika protects the safety of patients and keeps the blood supply safe. At the same time, it gives us a window to see whats happening in infection rates generally, even though its not a random sample of society. To date, there have been no confirmed cases of Zika spread through a blood transfusion anywhere in the United States or Puerto Rico and the other territories. A total of 68 out 12,777 blood donations in Puerto Rico have tested positive for Zika. That proportion has steadily increased. If you look at the graphic you can see a steady line upwards with infection rates. The highest percentage is the most recent week, 1.1 percent just last week, the week ending June 11th. Now although the blood donor population doesnt represent the general population, the increasing prevalence of blood donations that test positive for Zika likely reflect an overall increase in the infection in the population at large. Let me take a moment to clarify what this means. This is a test that measures whether someone is infected at the moment. They have virus in their blood. Its not a test of whether theyve been infected in recent months. We dont know precisely how long the virus stays in the blood by this particular test. By other tests, its just a few days. This is more sensitive, so it may be a week or two. The result of that is that a 1 percent positivity rate at any given time translates into a more than 1 percent, perhaps 2 percent, we dont know exactly, rate of infection each month. This means that over the course of many months, for example, a nine-month pregnancy, there would be a substantial chance that a woman would become infected. I would reiterate that all donations that test positive are removed from the blood supply and donors who test positive get information about how to avoid spreading Zika to others. The increase in blood donations testing positive in Puerto Rico is concerning. It likely reflects an increase in the general population, but our concern here is about protecting pregnant women. With this rate of infection, the possibility that there could be thousands of pregnant women infected leading to dozens to hundreds of affected babies is whats of most concern. Were working intensively in addition to keeping the blood supply safe with the Puerto Rico health department, the government, communities, and people throughout Puerto Rico to provide services for pregnant women; Deet, long sleeves, measures in their homes that might reduce their risk of getting infection, as well as to control the mosquitos. Controlling this mosquito is very difficult. It takes an entire community working together to protect a pregnant woman. We cant make the risk zero. We know that between Puerto Rico and the continental U.S. there have been more than 400 women identified who have likely Zika infections in pregnancy. Sadly, some of those pregnancies will result in affected infants. We cant make that risk zero but even if we can reduce it by 10 percent or 30 percent or 50 percent, that is a significant number of tragedies that we can prevent and were doing everything we can to do that. Our priority remains to protect pregnant women. Ill turn it over to Dr. Kuhnert to talk more about the testing and how that is protecting the blood supply. Matt? DR. MATT KUEHNERT: Thank you, Dr. Frieden. The test being used to screen blood in Puerto Rico is extremely accurate. Its most effective, as Dr. Frieden mentioned, at identifying recent infection to protect the blood supply. Just to give some further insight on test accuracy, there is one blood center thats testing in the continental U.S. They have not seen any false positive results to date, and no positives at all which makes sense since theres currently no Zika-affected areas in the continental U.S. Theyve tested more than 9,000 donations. So this is a very good indicator of the accuracy of the test. I just wanted to also summarize the blood safety issues. Mosquito-borne diseases can be transmitted by blood transfusion. Weve seen that in multiple examples. And to protect the blood supply, U.S. blood donors are routinely screened by questionnaire and by laboratory tests for risk of transmittable diseases. Transfusion-transmitted infections have been documented for several mosquito-borne diseases including West Nile virus and Dengue virus theres a strong possibility that Zika virus could be spread through blood transfusions. Theres been at least one case of Zika transmission by blood transfusion in Brazil. In areas without active transmission, such as the continental U.S., there are blood donor deferrals in place, excluding people who travel to Zika-infected areas and also excluding those with sexual contact with those who travel. But this isnt enough to identify Zika- infected donors in areas that have active mosquito-borne transmission of Zika virus because many wont have symptoms or will only have mild symptoms and wont know theyve been infected. So laboratory testing of Zika virus is necessary because many donors wont have had symptoms. Through the interventions we have in place, the blood supply is being protected in Puerto Rico and through deferrals being protected in the continental U.S. Ill turn it back to Dr. Frieden for a few summary remarks before Q&A. TOM FRIEDEN: Thank you very much Dr Kuehnert. Again, the bottom line is were seeing a steady increase in infections in blood donors. That blood is being removed from the blood supply, so theres no reason to think that theres a risk of Zika from blood transfusion in Puerto Rico or anywhere else, but it does reflect a concerning trend in Puerto Rico. The priority is to protect pregnant women, to reduce the number of infants affected with microcephaly. Thats going to take the whole community anything we can do to reduce those numbers will be critically important. We know we cant make them zero but everything we do to bring them down will be crucial. One of the challenges of combatting Zika is that the consequences of infections today will not become apparent for many months. Thats something which makes it challenging, but also makes us want to ensure that were doing everything possible now so that we dont look back in three, six, or 12 months and say we wish we had done more back in June. Ill stop there and I think Kathy Harben will open it up for questions. KATHY HARBEN: Yes, thank you, Dr. Frieden and Dr. Kuhnert. Emily, were now ready to open up the line for Q&A. OPERATOR: Thank you. at this time, anyone wishing to ask a question or make a comment, please press star, followed by one on the key pad of your telephone, and please be sure your telephone is unmuted and clearly record your name at the prompt so that your question may be introduced. Once again, it is star followed by one to ask a question. One moment, please, for the first question. OPERATOR: Our first question is from Mike Stobbe from the Associated Press. MIKE STOBBE Hi. Thank you for taking my call. A couple questions if I may. First, Dr. Frieden, you talked about what may be coming in terms of case numbers of pregnant women and affected babies and fetuses. Could you walk us through what the projection is, the curve thats ahead of us? Is it over the summer that you think when do you think cases will reach their highest, for how many months ahead do we expect to see increases? And also could you remind us, when did Puerto Rico start using the test that Dr. Kuehnert was talking about? When did that first go into use? TOM FRIEDEN: First off, we dont have a crystal ball so we cant predict exactly what will happen. The two viruses spread by the same mosquito, Dengue and Chikungunya, generally peak over the summer and into the fall months. Were not at the peak yet of the traditional time. If you look at what Chikungunya did the most recent virus to be introduced into Puerto Rico before Zika, the peak was over the summer months with the high rates going into the fall. So we havent yet hit what is the traditional peak. We find that if, say, 20 percent to 30 percent of people become infected in a year, there are 32,000 births a year in Puerto Rico, even if the risk is limited to the first trimester, thats still thousands of infants at high risk of Zika. Our best estimate based on data from other countries is that of women infected in the first trimester, between 1 and 13 to 15 percent may have infants born with microcephaly. Thats where the estimates of potentially thousands of pregnant women, potentially dozens to hundreds of affected infants. Of course, we need to do everything possible to reduce that number. We also dont know for the infants born without microcephaly who were exposed to Zika in utero, whether there will be any long-term consequences and thats something that we may not know for some time. I think I said April 3 was the date of the start of testing. This is a new assay it was approved by the Food and Drug administration. It seems to be performing extremely well, both in terms of sensitivity and specificity. Its highly effective at picking up relatively small amounts of the virus in the blood, and we are not aware of false positives so far. OPERATOR: Thank you. Our next question comes from Lisa Schnirring with CIDRAP News. LISA SCHNIRRING: Hi, thanks for being available today. Great information. I am wondering where this test is being used in the United States. That was good information, but it would be interesting to know where, if its in kind of one of the vulnerable areas. Thanks much. TOM FRIEDEN: Dr. Kuehnert? DR. KUEHNERT: Sure, I can take that question. Thank you. Currently, the test is only being used in the continental U.S. by Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center in Houston. They put out a press release that they were doing so and started testing on May 23rd. As I mentioned in my comments, theyve tested over 9,000 donations with no positives to date. Gulf Coast area of collection is in east Texas, including Harris County and the Houston area. There are other blood centers who are also planning to start screening, even though theres no active transmission of Zika in the continental U.S. Theyre getting prepared, and so the blood centers are in those higher risk areas that youre probably thinking about in Texas and Gulf Coast states and Florida. Thanks. LISA SCHNIRRING: Thank you. TOM FRIEDEN: Id add that other blood centers are also considering adding screening in the coming days and weeks. OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Lena Sun with the The Washington Post. LENA SUN: Thank you. Two of my questions were already answered, but I do have a follow-up to this last one. So how many other blood centers are we talking about that might be that are considering adding screening in the coming days and weeks? TOM FRIEDEN: Dr. Kuehnert? DR. KUEHNERT: Theres not really a list. Theres no requirement to test at this time with laboratory screening. As I mentioned, all the blood centers in the United States already do screening through deferrals through travel and deferrals, so the blood supply is being made safe through that. As I mentioned, there are some centers who, on their own, have selectively decided to consider testing. Thats a decision of theirs and they have not made that public. LENA SUN: So its not a requirement by the government, right? DR. KUEHNERT: Thats correct. TOM FRIEDEN: Thats correct. And I would just reiterate the FDA did advise and all blood centers have been deferring donations from people who have traveled to Zika-affected areas, so we wouldnt expect to see positives at this point or a risk to the blood supply. LENA SUN: Okay, thank you. OPERATOR: Thank you, our next question comes from Julie Steenhuysen from Reuters. JULIE STEENHUYSEN: Hi. Good morning. Two questions. The test that is being used in Puerto Rico and the lab in the United States, is that the Roche test that the FDA approved for use in March? And if Im right, if it is the Roche test, wasnt that only approved for areas with active mosquito-borne transmission? How is it that it could be used in Florida? Can you sort that out for me, please? TOM FRIEDEN: It is the Roche test in Puerto Rico, and Dr. Kuehnert will answer the test thats being used in Texas right now. Dr. Kuehnert? DR. KUEHNERT: The test is being used in Texas currently, not in Florida. Its through an investigational new drug application that FDA authorized. Although the recommendation by FDA is that the test be used as an option in Zika areas where there is active transmission of Zika, there is an option for blood centers anywhere to use it. I also wanted to just step back a bit about Puerto Rico and the blood supply, that initially when the threat of Zika first emerged, that FDA put out recommendations to say that in an area of active transmission, that blood centers should either use pathogen-reduced blood through a pathogen reduction technology which is only FDA approved for it freezes platelets and plasma, to use a screening test, or to outsource the blood. Until the Roche test was available, the option was only to outsource blood because theres very most blood transfused are red cells which is not FDA-approved for pathogen reduction technology. Until the Roche test was available, thats what occurred. On April 3rd, the test became available. To answer your question, again, if a blood center elects to test using the Roche assay, they are free to do so. JULIE STEENHUYSEN: I have one follow-up. Youre talking about for the rest of the centers basically are using deferral which counts on people who have traveled to a Zika-affected area being honest, right? Is there any risk, and has that been considered? DR. KUHNERT: Theres always a risk of a blood donor not answering a question accurately, either intentionally or unintentionally. However, the risk is quite low. There is always a risk with blood collection, whether youre talking about Zika or youre talking about HIV. There is risk, but its very, very low. TOM FRIEDEN: Just to clarify, the very, very low there is in the 1 per matt, would you say millions for some of the rare infections? As with any product or medication, we always balance the anticipated risks against the anticipated benefits. For many conditions of blood transfusion it can be lifesaving or crucially important. KATHY HARBEN: Next question, please? OPERATOR: thank you. Our next question comes from Sandee Lamotte from CNN. SANDEE LAMOTTE: Hi there. Thanks for taking my question. Dr. Kuehnert, when it comes to the blood screening, talk to me about the aspect of blood not being actually positive for the Zika, is that a problem or not? DR. KUEHNERT: I think what youre asking about is a false negative. So in other words, Zika virus being there and it not being detected. As Dr. Frieden mentioned and I reiterated, this test is very, very sensitive. So this gets to the sensitivity of the test. The analyses that have been done have shown that the test detects even a few copies of virus per milliliter of blood. So it is very unlikely that a donor with Zika infection is going to be missed through screening. It is possible. Its very, very early in the infection and theres very few viral copies in the blood stream but very unlikely. SANDEE LAMOTTE: Thank you. A follow-up. Is there additional cost for these blood centers in Houston and other places to do this extra testing? DR. KUHNERT: Under the FDA authorized IND, there is a charge of cost recovery for the test. I defer to Roche, I think, on what that amount is or the blood centers to fill you in. But its a few dollars per unit. SANDEE LAMOTTE: thank you. Dr. Frieden, you mentioned earlier that youre very careful to determine that the donor population in Puerto Rico is not indicative of the general population. Talk to us again about why you are doing this generalizing to the various the general population and your worry about the numbers of pregnant women that will be infected. TOM FRIEDEN: we do believe, based on what has happened with other viruses that the blood donor population gives us our most real-time leading indicator of what is happening with infections in the population as a whole. Even though its not a random sample or a systematic sample, its a large number of people being tested from all walks of life. Its geographically clustered in some places where people come in to donate blood. In the prior introduced virus Chikungunya, we were able to correlate quite closely what happened with blood donors with what was happening in community surveys of prevalence more generally. Strictly speaking, it is not a serosurvey but it serves that purpose to a significant extent. TOM FRIEDEN: lets go to the next question, please. OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Dan Vergano from Buzzfeed news. DAN VERGANO: I was wondering if you can follow up on that a little bit. How does this pattern of infection match Chikungunya in the past? Where would you expect to top out in past outbreaks of mosquito-borne virus? If its 2 percent of the population weekly infected, in 50 weeks you have the entire population having suffered an infection. How does that actually play out? TOM FRIEDEN: We dont have a crystal ball, as I said, and we cant predict what will happen. with Chikungunya, about a quarter of the population became infected in less than the first year after introduction of the virus, and that these blood results suggest a similar level of infection, but that depends on what happens in the coming months and what can be done to both control the virus and protect pregnant women from infections. The difference here, and its very important to emphasize that the priority in Zika is to protect pregnant women. In Chikungunya, you have an infection thats very painful, thats very apparent, where most people have symptoms, so that appears very differently to people in a community where its spreading broadly. Here the risk is a risk somewhere between a few months and nine months from now when women who are pregnant and become infected with Zika deliver babies who might be affected by microcephaly or might have a more subtle but also problematic birth defect. So the numbers here are consistent with what happened with prior infections that spread widely through Puerto Rico. Only time will tell for sure, but its certainly very concerning because of the risk to pregnant women. DAN VERGANO: If I can follow up, can we assume that the 1.1 percent who are testing positive are people with mild or no symptoms at all and somebody with obvious symptoms would have been screened out of this test prior to donating blood? TOM FRIEDEN: Yes, thats exactly right. These are people who didnt have any symptoms or didnt yet have any symptoms when they were screened. DAN VERGANO: Thank you. OPERATOR: Thank you, our next question comes from Meg Tirrell with CNBC. MEG TIRRELL: Hi guys. Im wondering if you can help us understand the difference between this Roche test specifically for the blood supply and the quest diagnostics test that approved by the FDA for emergency use for patients who might have Zika. Help us understand why one would be used for one situation and not the other. TOM FRIEDEN: Ill start and then Dr. Kuehnert may want to amplify. The Roche test is highly sensitive so its going to find even tiny amounts of virus in the blood. In the test thats done in the CDC Trioplex PCR that is provided to state and local health departments that tests for not only Zika but also Dengue and Chikungunya and the quest test which tests just for Zika are less sensitive tests. They appear to work better on urine, at least the CDC test, than blood, where the number of viral copies may be higher. Theyre used for individual patient diagnosis as opposed to a screening test for the blood supply. Dr. Kuehnert? DR. KUEHNERT: Just to clarify the question did you say the quest diagnostic test? Is that an antibody test? TOM FRIEDEN: Quest has a PCR approved by FDA for Zika. So it was comparing the Roche test with the quest test. The bottom line is Roche is for the blood supply, Quest is for patients who have symptoms or are concerned that they may have been infected in the past week or two. DR. KUEHNERT: I dont have anything to add to that, thank you. MEG TIRRELL: If I can follow up quickly. I understand that they are approved for different things, but I dont understand just why you wouldnt use the super sensitive Roche test in patients. Is it more expensive? Would it turn up more than you need to? Im just confused by that. TOM FRIEDEN: I think what were doing now is looking at all ways to optimize the tests that are out there. Some of it involves how much blood is drawn and how the tests are done, but the fact that the Roche test is so sensitive is something that were looking at closely to see if we can tune the CDC assay to make it more sensitive. For the time being for the CDC assay, which has already been sent to more than a hundred labs around the U.S. and nearly a hundred countries around the world, what we have found is that the urine test is much more accurate, much more sensitive, than the blood test, that the likelihood of getting a positive in people who are infected in those first two weeks is very high if urine is obtained. So weve been informing physicians and those ordering the test and drawing the test to get both blood and urine because the urine will often be positive for individual clinical diagnoses not related to the blood supply and were also looking at enhancements in the test to try to increase its accuracy and sensitivity. MEG TIRRELL: Thanks. OPERATOR: thank you. Our next question comes from Maggie Fox from NBC news. MAGGIE FOX: Thanks very much. Im sorry if Im repeating a question thats been asked already, but can you talk about how much this tells you about the percentage of people who have symptoms versus the percentage who dont have symptoms from Zika? Thanks. TOM FRIEDEN: This is not able to give us information on that question. The information from the past seems to be that about four out of five people with Zika have no symptoms. Confirming that in the present is quite challenging because theres no simple way to do it. But we do know from the data that came out earlier this week definitively that even women who dont have symptoms of Zika can give birth to infants with microcephaly. MAGGIE FOX: Can I just follow up and ask you, is there any way that youre going to be able to follow up on that show and find out the percentage of symptomatic versus asymptomatic people? Thanks. TOM FRIEDEN: Thats something we will consider in the future. Right now our priority is to protect pregnant women, reducing risk in every way possible. DR. KUEHNERT: Could I add something? For blood donors, there is follow-up in order to measure the accuracy of the test with laboratory testing. Also, there will be a study plan to follow up the donors, and that will include a symptom questionnaire, both for symptoms that developed after donation. In addition, just routinely donors are asked to call the blood center back if they develop symptoms, so theres that data as well. MAGGIE FOX: Thanks. OPERATOR: As a reminder, anyone wishing to ask a question or make a comment, please press star followed by one on the key pad of your telephone and record your name at the prompt. And our next question comes from Meghan Rosen with Science News. MEGHAN ROSEN: Hello. Thank you for taking my question. I just wanted to know if the Roche test was PCR based and if not how does it work? TOM FRIEDEN: Yes, it is PCR based. MEGHAN ROSEN: Thank you. TOM FRIEDEN: I think we have time if there are one or two more questions, we have time for one or two more and then well wrap up. OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Mike Stobbe with the Associated Press. MIKE STOBBE: Thanks for hearing me again. Yesterday, the CDC released for the first time information about pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women who had been infected in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. There wasnt such information for the territories. Since were talking here about whats anticipated in Puerto Rico, could you share with us whats been seen so far. How many pregnancies, what outcome data do you have on those? And if I may, I also wanted to ask you could you say anything else about how you think this would play out in the mainland USA if mosquito transmission and outbreaks occur, what would be the operating procedure for blood donations when that first happens in Florida or Texas or wherever an outbreak occurs? TOM FRIEDEN: First, I believe we hope to begin reporting information on pregnancy outcomes in territories starting next week. Its a weekly report. It just is not ready for the territories for this week. I would emphasize that we dont anticipate seeing the majority of the outcomes yet because the infections are relatively recent. So between infection and pregnancy outcome, theres obviously a delay, particularly if, as we believe the highest risk of microcephaly is in the first trimester. In terms of blood screening in the continental U.S., Ill ask Dr. Kuehnert to address that. DR. KUHNERT: Yes, thank you for the question. There is a comprehensive plan for state and local health departments to communicate with blood centers about areas of active transmission in their localities. The FDA recommendations point to the CDC website where such information will be posted so that all blood banks can work through deferrals and laboratory screening to make the blood supply safe. For the converse, if blood centers choose to test and they have a positive, theyre instructed to inform the state and local health department immediately, and we will also be notified. In summary, there is a plan for blood safety if theres local transmission in the continental United States and Hawaii. KATHY HARBEN: Next question? OPERATOR: our next question comes from Marc Santora with the New York Times. MARC SANTORA: Hi. On the subject of testing broadly, I was just wondering how much progress there is in having a commercial test available for the antibody test which it would seems to me would make it a lot easier to make testing of pregnant women a part of routine care. TOM FRIEDEN: thanks. Were making progress there on a few different fronts. There are several companies that are pursuing emergency licensure of new tests for IGM. Thats the antibody test. In addition, CDC laboratory experts have established a way of producing large numbers of the IGM product using particles. This is a way of producing large batches safely, and were now working with the FDA to get those approved. Were in the process of in discussions I should say with many of the private labs to offer this test as a technology transfer in the coming weeks. So we hope that within several weeks to a month or two it will be becoming available in the private sector in addition to the current availability in the public sector through public health laboratories. I would highlight the fact that the testing we have for Zika is helpful but its not perfect. We cant always distinguish Zika from other infections in people who have lived in areas where dengue and other related viruses are present. We dont have a way of reliably diagnosing infection that occurred two months or more previously so these are some of the things that are needed in terms of technological advancements. But in terms of the operational details of getting testing more widely available, weve been able to make a million tests at CDC. Weve provided them to public health labs throughout the U.S. and the country and the world rather, and were working to transfer them to private sector laboratories to increase availability throughout the healthcare system. KATHY HARBEN: I think we have time for one question if there is one. OPERATOR: Thank you. Our next question comes from Akshay Ganju with ABC News medical unit. AKSHAY GANJU thanks for taking my question. i was just quickly hoping you could repeat the total number of positives that you had seen in your blood testing in Puerto Rico. TOM FRIEDEN: In Puerto Rico, a total of 68 positives have been seen with the highest percentage in the most recent week of June 5th to 11th. If you look at the MMWR report itself, you can see the graphic showing a steady increase since late April in the proportion positive. This again is a point in time of virus in blood. The concern here is when we translate that into an exposure over multiple months it is many times that 1 percent rate. Thats why were so concerned about pregnant women and protecting pregnant women. Ill just close here with reiterating the bottom line, that the blood supply is being tested in Puerto Rico. Blood donors are being screened in the U.S. Any positive blood samples are removed from the system, so we dont think theres a risk to the blood supply, but it does, we believe, reflect an increase in Zika in Puerto Rico, and this could mean thousands of pregnant women in Puerto Rico infected, and that in turn could lead to dozens to hundreds of affected babies born in Puerto Rico in the coming year. Were working very intensively with our health department, government and community colleagues in Puerto Rico to provide services for pregnant women to reduce their chances of getting infected and to control mosquitos. This takes a whole community, and although we know we cant make the risk zero, we can reduce it some by 10 or 30 or 50 percent, every infant with microcephaly that doesnt occur, is a tragedy prevented. Were doing everything we can to reduce the risk of that outcome. Our priority remains to protect pregnant women because we dont want a few months from now when babies are born with birth defects that we look back and say theres more we wish we had done now. Thank you very much. Ill now turn it over to Kathy Harben to close the call. KATHY HARBEN. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. This includes todays telebriefing. A transcript of this call will be posted to the CDC newsroom website as soon as possible. If you need additional information or have other questions, you can call the CDC press office at 404-639-3286. or e-mail us at media@CDC.gov. OPERATOR: this concludes the CDC conference. Thank you so much for joining. You may disconnect at this time. ### U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESexternal icon In Sidney, building a brand of beer is a lot harder when the oil industry has slowed and major population centers are hundreds of miles away, according Tim Schnars of Meadowlark Brewing. Its a big reason why Schnars, head brewer at the two-year-old brewery, was in downtown Billings on Friday evening at the Montana Brewers Association Solstice Rendezvous. Schnars said the exposure helps people learn about Sidney-based Meadowlark, one of the states newest craft breweries. Meadowlark works with Livingston-based Montana Canning Co. to distribute statewide in aluminum cans, but meeting beer fans on the street helps, he said. The biggest challenge is brand awareness, Schnars said at the festival at the Billings Depot. The Montana Brewers Association returned to Billings for the first time in three years for its annual festival, which featured live music from the John Floridis Trio and Shakewell, and craft beer from 23 breweries statewide. By 6 p.m., the crowd started to swell to more than 100 in the Montana Avenue parking lot on the sunny, breezy evening. Brewers traveled from Missoula, Great Falls, Helena and Bozeman, and three Billings-based breweries, Canyon Creek, Uberbrew and Thirsty Street, were there. But for Montana small-town breweries, which lack the built-in population of larger cities, the brew fest was a big opportunity to show off their brewing chops to a wide audience. We expose people to something they dont see every day. They see a lot of (larger city beers) every day, so this is a little different, said Maddy Mason of Philipsburg Brewing, a Granite County taproom roughly an hours drive from three cities: Butte, Helena and Missoula. Philipsburg has a population less than 1,000, and the brewery enjoys a loyal local following, Mason said. The four-year-old brewery relies heavy on tourists traveling to Glacier National Park or heading to Yellowstone National Park, she said. In December, Philipsburg began distributing four-packs of beer in 16-ounce aluminum bottles as far east as Bozeman. With a limited local workforce, the brewery is growing cautiously but would like to eventually boost distribution farther east in Montana, Mason said. Casey Malkuch, assistant brewer at Beaver Creek Brewing in Wibaux, said the brewery has relied a lot on word-of-mouth to bring people into the southeastern corner of the state. People say, hey, theres this brewery in Wibaux. Check it out,' Malkuch said. Beaver Creek was pouring an Irish Cream stout in Billings on Friday, and the brewery distributes kegs from Bozeman to Williston, N.D., Malkuch said. In Billings, Beaver Creek beer can be found at the Vig, Famous Daves and Bones Brewery, he said. Malkuch added that Beaver Creek gets business from the Montana Brewers Association trail map and is like the eastern gateway to Treasure State beers. Its a great beer market, he said. On the other side of the state, Tamarack Brewing is a growing brewery on the shores of Flathead Lake, said Colby Shaw, who calls himself Tamaracks beer traffic controller. Tamarack is in tiny Lakeside but serves the entire Flathead Valley, Show said. He was serving a Hat Trick IPA and Sip n Go apricot ale, both popular among tourists. They want local, he said. Red Lodge Ales was one of the oldest and most successful breweries at the festival, serving local and bottled beer in Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota, assistant brewer Devin Wagner said. Founded in 1998, the brewery serves the tourist population headed to Yellowstone and benefits from its location, he said. Its a nice little gateway into town, Wagner said. This website is intended for U.S. visitors only. A prompting from God sent Kris and Megan Gilbert nearly 7,600 miles from Montana to New Zealand, to pastor a church. The pair is spending a few weeks back in the U.S. to meet with family and financial supporters before they head back to the land of Frodo and breathtaking landscapes. But its the people that make them glad to call the north Island of New Zealand their home. Kiwis are known for their hospitality, Megan Gilbert said. So many people invite you for meals, coffee and tea. Kris Gilbert is pastor of Peninsula Community Church in a suburb of west Auckland, on the Te Atatu Peninsula. Megan helps out with the childrens ministry, hosts a weekly ladies Bible study and a monthly ladies night, and the couple leads a culture discussion group that focuses on topical issues. They also are the parents of two little boys, Ollie, 4, and Simon, 21 months, with a third baby due later this year. The couple moved to New Zealand late in June 2014. But it wasnt their first time in there, though they expect their present stint to keep them there for a long time to come. Their story actually goes back to 2009. Megan Longenecker grew up in Billings, graduating from Skyview High in 2001. She earned an undergraduate degree from Rocky Mountain College and then a masters in physical therapy from the University of Montana in 2008. Megan returned to Billings and worked for West Billings Physical Therapy for about 18 months. She decided to join eHarmony, after another friend had success with the online dating website. And Kris had signed up at the urging of some other people, so we met each other that way, Megan said. We started communicating through email and phone. Kris, who grew up in Durango, Colo., went to college at Anderson University in Indiana, following in his dads and his grandfathers footsteps. He studied elementary education, and when he graduated, moved down to Arizona where his parents had relocated and taught elementary school for about five years. At the church he attended, he volunteered in the childrens ministry department and eventually went on staff. It was during that time he met Megan. The couple married in December 2009 and she moved to Arizona. Kris had a brother who lived in New Zealand, and he had already visited the country multiple times. So when he and Megan decided it was time to try something new, Kris put his resume on a ministry website. When a church in Lower Hutt, just north of Wellington, contacted him about a temporary spot working with children and youth, he accepted. Kris and Megan secured a three-year visa, figuring it would be a fun opportunity but not permanent. They moved to New Zealand in October 2010, Megan said. Theres an initial thought when you go to an English-speaking country, you think because you speak the language things will be the same, she said. So initially youre not prepared for all the differences you come across. That includes the vocabulary. For instance, in New Zealand, supper doesnt mean an evening meal. The couple found that out when they were invited for supper at a friends house. We assumed it would be a full meal, but we found out it was a light snack after dinner, like chips or cookies, Megan said. So we learned the hard way." The priorities also tend to be different and the pace is slower, with people less concerned with sticking to an exact schedule, Kris said. Its island time, he said. And they really pour a lot of attention into kids and families in New Zealand. New Zealand is also a melting pot, Megan added. A lot of people immigrate to the country from the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa. That was eye-opening, to experience other cultures. The couple enjoyed their three-year stay, and during that time gave birth to their first son. But they decided to move back to the U.S., and they sold all their possessions. They came to Billings in July 2013, where Kris was hired as pastor of small groups at Faith Evangelical Church. They got ready to settle in, Megan said. Kris had a great job, I was able to do some fill-in work at West Billings Physical Therapy, we were near family and it was great, she said. But a few months after the move, Kris learned in a roundabout way that a fledgling church in Aukland was looking for a permanent pastor. The couple sensed a calling, Megan said. During that time, we had been doing reading and praying, and God was stirring something up in our hearts to live out the Gospel, she said. And we werent sure what that would look like, but wed be open to whatever God would bring our way. Kris and Megan spent a week with a Church of God team in Florida, to determine if they would do well as church planters. The Aukland church was part of that denomination. The couple got a thumbs up, Kris said. We came back pretty certain from that that we were going to accept their offer, he said. We had taken the job at Faith thinking wed be settling in Billings for the next 10 years. But it just felt like this was the right thing to do. When God calls, you know, Megan added. They moved back to New Zealand in late June 2014. Their church, initially called West Side Christian Fellowship, met Sunday afternoons in an Anglican church building. There were less than 10 people their first weekend. With such an emphasis on family, Megan said, they realized Sunday afternoons wouldn't be the best time to draw a crowd. They decided to let that church fold. Then the couple spent a lot of time studying the community, talking with people and developing relationships. They launched Peninsula Community Church in March 2015, with about 30 people, in a new community center. And at their one-year anniversary that number had grown to more than 50 people. In a country that doesnt put a high priority on church attendance, Kris and Megan are encouraged by the growth. Kris thinks it's partly due to their willingness to put down roots. I think New Zealanders are used to Americans and even Australians coming over, dispensing their wisdom and going, he said. "They want someone to be a part of the culture, the society, the community. Islam is the second largest religion in the world, with over a billion adherents. The word Islam means to submit. A person who is a follower of this religion is called a Muslim. Islam is prevalent in Middle Eastern countries, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, North Africa, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, central and eastern republics of what was the Soviet Union, China, the United States and in most Western countries. The progenitor of this religion was Muhammad (570-632). However, Muslims will tell you that their religion is much older than that. It began with Genesis. The belief is that God created the world in six days but did not rest on the seventh (therefore the Islamic holy day, Friday, is a work day). Adam was the first man. Noah appeared soon after. He begot Shem. Abraham, a descendant of Shem, had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael fathered the Arabs, from whom Muhammad is descended. Isaac became the father of the Jews. From Judaism, Jesus sprung. Thus, Abraham is the ancestor of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Muhammad's beginnings Muhammad was born in Mecca in the Arabian Peninsula, which is mostly desert and inhabited by Bedouin tribes. It was a time when there was no central government. The Bedouin felt no obligation to anyone outside his own tribe. Family life was unstable. Daughters were considered a burden, and the practice of burying baby girls alive was prevalent. Religion was centered on the worship of the moon god, but there were several other gods and goddesses as well. It was thought that angels and various jinn inhabited the desert. The jinn were invisible but could appear to human eyes. Some were beautiful and kind in disposition; some were bad, the agents of evil and liked to devour human flesh. Muhammad was orphaned early and was raised in poverty by his grandfather and then by his uncle. He was a sheepherder for his uncle and is said to have later gone with him on a trading expedition to Syria. Here he came into contact with Jews and Christians and became familiar with the Bible. At the age of 25, he began to spend one month each year in meditation and prayer in a cave near the base of Mount Hira. After 15 years, he underwent a religious conversion. He received the first of his revelations from the angel Gabriel who designated Muhammad as a prophet. He began to appear in the streets of Mecca with a message of reform. The message he had to deliver was very simple: There is but one god and Allah is his name. Muhammad demanded an end to licentiousness and cheating. He taught respect for order. He made moral demands and challenged his listeners to turn from false gods, abandon their evil ways and prepare for the day of reckoning. After 10 years, many acclaimed him Allahs special prophet. In 622, he migrated by camel to Medina and made this city the center of his operations. For Muslims, the journey of Muhammad, the hegira (sacred journey), was the turning point. The religions calendar dates from this point. In Medina, his mission took off and his religion began to take shape. Muhammad had great admiration for Jews and Christians (the people of the book) who were also monotheistic. He accepted many of the prophets of the Old Testament, including Moses, Abraham, Noah, Jonah, David and Ezekiel. Muhammad had great regard for Jesus as a prophet, but not as son of God. Muhammad became inadvertently involved in war. Medina was attacked by enemies from Mecca. Later, the people of Medina attacked Mecca. Muhammad showed great mercy to his enemies, and Mecca became the holy city. Holy war became part of the tenet of Islam, Jihad. It means struggle and can be an inner or outer struggle. Muhammad united all of the Arabs under a theocratic government (a government where the state and religion are one) under the will of Allah. Muhammad became a political leader and proved himself very capable. He spent the last 10 years of his life uniting the various Arab tribes. When he died, almost all of Arabia was under his control. After Muhammads death, the leader of the Islamic religion was known as the Caliph. The first caliphs were relatives of the prophet. Under the first four, the religion spread. Within a century, his followers had conquered Armenia, Persia, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt and Spain and had crossed the Pyrenees into France. The advance to Europe was stopped in France at the battle of Tours in 742. An early split within Islam happened in 680 at the mosque in Karbala in Baghdad. There were two contenders to the Caliphate. Husayn was a descendant of Muhammad. The other contender was not related to the prophet. Husayn and his whole family were murdered at Karbala. Husayn became a martyr to the Shiites who thought that Islam should have as its leader a descendant of Muhammad. Today the Shiites are the fundamentalist group of Muslims. The Sunnies, who comprise about 85 percent of Muslims, believed that the leader did not have to be connected to Muhammad. The Koran The Koran contains the revelations to Muhammad as dictated to him by the angel Gabriel over 25 years. It contains 114 Suras (chapters) made up of short verses addressing every aspect of life. The pious Muslim must abide by a wide range of duties. Wealth should not be hoarded or squandered but shared. The conduct of both sexes are governed by regulations from birth to death. Women have the right to inherit property, and a right to protection. Muhammad raised the status of women and prohibited the burying of baby girls. Much of emphasis is on the family. Marriage takes place at an early age and because of this there is strict separation between the sexes. Sex is permitted only in marriage. The law requires modesty in dress for both men and women. Lying cheating, theft, bribery, gambling, and drinking alcohol are forbidden. Followers of the Islamic religion observe the five pillars of faith: The recitation of There is but one God and Allah is his name and Muhammad is his prophet. Pray five times a day Give alms to the poor. Two and a half percent of what one owns. Fast during Ramadan which occurs in the ninth month of the lunar year. Make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Hajj. There is presently no Caliph. As time went on the leader of the Ottoman Empire came to be regarded as the Caliph, but with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the Caliphate came to an end. It was abolished by Kemal Ataturk in 1924. The Koran is interpreted by various scholars often at odds with each other in their understanding. There are six different schools of Islamic law. The goal of Muslims is to spread Islam and have the world become one Ummah (brotherhood of Muslims), abandoning themselves to God's will as set forth by Muhammad. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact The Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questions A handful of Billings health, emergency and volunteer groups spent Friday afternoon practicing how to respond to a large-scale public health emergency. As part of a larger, weeklong effort across Yellowstone County, about 60 RiverStone Health employees set up in the Billings West High gymnasium to rehearse distributing medication to residents in the community in the event of an emergency. "We're practicing a point of dispensing (POD) so that we can practice quickly getting medications out to the population as quickly as possible," said Greg Neill, emergency preparedness coordinator at RiverStone. The practice can be applied to any number of events natural disasters, epidemic disease outbreaks, terrorism or other incidents that require a large scale-response. The 60 RiverStone staff members guided more than 100 volunteers, acting as patients, through the process of filling out paperwork, speaking with medical staff and receiving their medication, which on Friday came in the form of a free snack. Neill said that Friday's drill helps to prepare staff while also informing the public about what they'd need to do. If an applicable disaster happens, West High serves one of six PODs in Yellowstone County, with the others at Skyview High, MetraPark, the Shrine Auditorium, Lockwood School and a location in Laurel. Another would be set up in Red Lodge. The volunteers who served as patients were organized by United Way, which would help organize people looking to help in the event of a disaster. Volunteer Coordinator Pam Sanderson said that having the people on hand aids in both getting United Way staff familiar with the process and providing real, live people with whom the RiverStone Staff can practice. "When they need to practice, everybody needs to practice," she said. Friday's exercise was part of a larger effort called COYOTE 2016 organized through the Local Emergency Planning Committee of Yellowstone County (LEPC) that began on Monday. That effort started by bringing law enforcement, emergency response and health agencies together for a tabletop exercise that laid out an emergency scenario in this case, a stolen airplane dusted the area with a dangerous biological agent and have been coordinating the response throughout the week, both locally and with state officials. "This is all for the staff to get familiar, do practice the skills they need to know," Neill said. "And, it's for the people of the community to know how the process might work in a real emergency." It's not just preparing for imaginary scenarios, though, as RiverStone has put the plan practiced Friday into use as recently as the 2009-2010 flu season. That year, the H1N1 influenza strain surged to prominence and infected people across the country, but wasn't included in the original vaccine that year and RiverStone set up an emergency POD to distribute the new vaccine quickly to as many people. "And we also use the same process, just not as large, when we go out to the community during any flu season," Neill said. "We're trying to get as much medication to as many people as quickly as we can." Other agencies participating Friday included HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response, which brought crisis dogs; and American Medical Response, which taught basic life-saving techniques to people as they finished. St. Vincent Healthcare, the Montana Women's Prison and St. John's Lutheran Ministries also practiced running closed PODs for their respective staffs. Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park invites the public to attend a program at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center on Saturday, July 9 exploring the role of civilians, quartermasters, and other support staff in preparing the armies to fight at Chickamauga. Throughout the day, visitors will have the opportunity to informally interact with living historians, while formal, 45-minute programs will take place at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m."From September 18-20, 1863, thousands of soldiers fought in the fields and forests along the banks of West Chickamauga Creek.Behind and alongside those soldiers were thousands of wagon drivers, teamsters, clerks, quartermasters, and civilians working to ensure that soldiers had the food, clothing, and supplies they needed to fight. Join us for this special program where visitors can 'meet' some of these unsung heroes who served 'in the rear, with the gear,'" officials said.For more information about programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at 423-821-7786, or visit parks website at www.nps.gov/chch A third shipment of marijuana was intercepted in baggage at the Jefferson Bus Lines depot on Thursday. Hamadi T. Janneh, 29, appeared in Yellowstone County Justice Court on Friday and was charged with criminal possession with intent to distribute. Justice of the Peace David Carter held Janneh, a resident of Everett, Wash., in lieu of a $15,000 bond and ordered him placed on GPS monitoring should he be released from the Yellowstone County Detention Facility. According to court documents, Billings Police received a tip that a shipment of marijuana would be coming through the Jefferson Bus Lines Depot in Billings. At about 5 a.m. Thursday, Billings Police swept the depot's baggage area using a police service dog. The dog alerted officers to a blue rolling suitcase. Inside, officers found 21 packages of suspected marijuana. Each package weighed about a pound. Police interviewed Janneh, who was transporting the baggage. Janneh said a friend had asked him to take the suitcase from Seattle to Baltimore, but did not know what was inside. When thinking of the best places to grow grapes for making wine, most aficionados' thoughts likely and naturally turn to places such as Italy, France, Napa Valley or Sonoma in California. Surprisingly, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin are also good places to grow grapes for wine and have produced award-winning wines. Advertisement According to Midwest wine connoisseurs, if you enjoy wine, take a road trip through any of these states and you are sure to be surprised at what you find. Cynthia Fleischli, executive director for the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association, recently attended the Illinois State Fair Wine Competition held at Lincoln Land College in Matoon. The panel of judges hailed from St. Louis, Michigan and Illinois, according to Fleischli, and she met grape growers and wine makers from the all over the Midwest. All, she adds, were experts on wine and grape growing. Advertisement While the weather represents a challenge to grape growers throughout the Midwest, there are a variety of different grapes that can be grown for wine making in Illinois and surrounding states. Illinois Illinois winemakers use different grape varieties to produce a diversity of high-quality wines. The top six grape varietals grown in the state cover more than 75 percent of the state's total grape acreage, according to IGGVA's website. Five of these grapes chambourcin, seyval, vignoles, chardonel and vidal blanc are "French Hybrids," developed by crossing French grapes, such as the chardonnay often grown in France and California, with native American vines. This cross-pollination results in grapes that produce excellent wine, but are less susceptible to the effects of extreme cold making them ideal for the Midwest's unpredictable weather. The other grape in the top six, Norton, originates from native American vines. Pointing to the growth in winemaking and grape growing in Illinois alone, Fleischli says when the association became certified as a nonprofit organization in 1992 there were 13 wineries in the state. "Now there are more than 106, so it has grown exponentially," Fleischli says, adding that her goal this year is to visit every winery in Illinois. The winemaking and grape growing sophistication in the state also has grown. "The quality of the wine is so much more superb now than it was in 1992," Fleischli says. "It certainly measures up with Sonoma or Napa." Part of the reason for that is there are now better resources available to grape growers and wine makers in Illinois, she adds. One of those resources, she says, is Bradley Beam, the state's enologist. "He's the person the chemist who shows you how to make wine," Fleischli says. Advertisement A 2012 study commissioned by the IGGVA shows that wine making and grape growing is big business in Illinois with an economic impact of more than $692 million. Illinois, according to Fleischli, is the fourth largest producer of grapes and wine in the nation and the second largest consumer of wine in the U.S., with Chicago being the biggest driver of that. Gordon Cantrell, president of the board of the directors of the IGGVA, says the Midwest is a more challenging place to grow grapes due to the heat and humidity. "They are more susceptible to leaf and fruit diseases as a result of the high humidity," he says. Michigan About 70 percent of Michigan wine grapes are vinifera, which are the classic European varieties such as chardonnay, riesling (the most widely planted white), pinot noir (the most widely planted red), pinot grigio/gris and cabernet franc, according to www.michiganwines.com. Most of Michigan's wine grapes grow within 25 miles of Lake Michigan. The "lake effect" protects the vines with snow in winter, retards bud break in spring helping avoid frost damage, and extends the growing season by up to four weeks. Michigan has four federally approved viticultural areas (AVAs). In the northwest part of the state, near Traverse City, lie the Leelanau Peninsula and the Old Mission Peninsula. This area has a growing season averaging 145 days and an average heat accumulation of 2,350 growing degree days; 51 percent of Michigan's wine grapes grow here. Advertisement In the southwest part of the state lie the Lake Michigan Shore and Fennville appellations, where 45 percent of Michigan's wine grapes are grown. This area has a growing season averaging 160 days and an average heat accumulation of 2,750 growing degree days. Harvest begins for early hybrid varieties at the end of August in the southwest and may extend into November for late-ripening vinifera varieties in the northwest. Wisconsin The colder climate makes winemaking and grape growing a bit more challenging in Wisconsin. Still, there are more than 100 wineries throughout the state, with many growing their own grapes, according to www.travelwisconsin.com. Cold-hardy grapes dominate the wine and grape growing industries in Wisconsin, according to a study released in 2014 by the University of Minnesota titled "Vineyards and Wineries in Wisconsin." Eighty-three percent of grapes grown are of the cold-hardy cultivars and 58 percent of grapes used in wine production are cold-hardy. The release of cold-hardy grape cultivars helped fuel growth in the vineyard industry in Wisconsin. Growth was most rapid in the period from 2002 to 2007. Advertisement Wisconsin also is home to a number of wines made from other fruits, such as apples, cherries, apricots and strawberries, according to www.learningstore.uwex.edu, the University of Wisconsin Extension's website. Conductor Carlos Kalmar leads the Grant Park Orchestra in a performance June 15, 2016, at the Grant Park Music Festival at the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune) Longtime listeners to classical music in Chicago will recall a time when the fall concert season stimulated with interesting repertory and summer venues entertained with warhorses. Now that has largely reversed; the Grant Park Music Festival regularly presents unfamiliar music ignored by other ensembles, surpassing them in enterprise while approaching them in the polish of standard repertory. Advertisement The concert Friday night by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus was a case in point. Principal conductor Carlos Kalmar offered a program with two pieces one new, the other 20 years old by midcareer American contemporaries flanking Beethoven's First Symphony. The results overall were unforced, airy and engaging. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Advertisement Aaron Jay Kernis' 2014 "Whisper, Echo, a Cry" was one of 14 commissions celebrating the 75th anniversary of the San Antonio Symphony. Heard on Friday in its fifth public performance, the score lasted only six minutes but lent gravitas to an otherwise upbeat atmosphere. Kernis, who attended, is emphatic the piece is not a fanfare, though it has fanfare-like motifs for brass that lead from the "night music" opening through sudden explosions and back to a soft close. Its mood is urban, as if Aaron Copland's "Quiet City" were updated, darkened and intensified. The orchestra played it with appropriate feeling and commitment. Kalmar presented Michael Torke's "Book of Proverbs" 15 years ago. It was worth hearing again, insofar as the composer's engagement with voices soprano and baritone soloists plus full chorus diverged from the spun sugar of his purely orchestral pieces. In the main, the eight brief movements still are light in expressive weight, though the most extended ones involving soloists uncover a deeper vein beneath the highly colored icing. Soprano Alisa Jordheim and female voices have the most touching music, all communicated with welcome simplicity. Baritone Tyler Duncan proved a solid, straightforward narrator. The chorus sang with fine tone and impressively clear diction. Torke, also in attendance, received a warm audience ovation. Kalmar shows such curiosity in programming that his way with the classics is less well-known. His Beethoven's First proved airborne, which is to say fleet, easygoing and without acerbity. Its naturalness banished all attention-getting mannerisms, though amplification puffed up the sound of everything except for barely discernible tympani. The program will be repeated 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park; free; 312-742-7647; gpmf.org. Alan Artner is a freelance critic. RELATED STORIES: Advertisement Muti, CSO musicians offer 'bread for the soul' in benefit at reborn Studebaker Grant Park Music Festival opens on schedule to the sound of mass relief 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) Norman Malone never told his colleagues, friends or students that his father had attacked him and his younger brothers when he was 10 years old. He never explained to anyone why he had lost the use of his right hand or why his right foot dragged. Most assumed he had suffered a stroke or polio or some other medical calamity. Most didn't learn the truth until the Tribune published "Norman Malone's Quest" late last year. Advertisement What happened afterward surprised Malone, who suddenly found himself invited to give piano recitals, honored by his students with a special concert and contacted by a family he long had been searching for. READ: ONE-HANDED PIANIST NORMAN MALONE'S TRIUMPHANT CONCERT DEBUT Advertisement In many ways, Malone's life changed in the aftermath of his revelations. "Now we want to hear you play" that's what everyone kept telling him, he says. "Then opportunities just presented themselves after that. But I had never been used to playing in public. So I had to sort of get over that shyness." He also found that his former students "raise you to almost a supernatural status, and I have to avoid being sucked into that image," he adds. "Because I never considered myself that. I was just doing my job, doing my best job, and keeping myself grounded." But surely nothing has been more meaningful to Malone than what happened regarding his long-lost family. Through all the months that Malone sat for interviews with the Tribune, he bemoaned the fact that he had lost contact with his relatives in the aftermath of the attack and had no idea who his grandparents, aunts, uncles and other forebears were or how to find them. As the Tribune series stated, "Malone's mother, Fannie Hines Malone, died in 2010 at age 97, taking with her the family lore. Malone says he knows little about her history or his father's, a lone scrapbook containing a few precious photos from the family's tragic past. But after the Tribune series appeared, CBS News and WGN TV contacted Malone to produce profiles of him. And one of his impossible-to-find relatives on his father's side happened be watching when "CBS News Sunday Morning" aired its piece two weeks ago. "I was flipping through the channels and saw 'CBS Sunday Morning,' " says Kelli Morgan, who lives in Indiana but was in a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio, where she had traveled to see her daughter in a volleyball tournament. Advertisement "They showed Norman's story, and I said to myself: I wonder if he's related, because of the last name," which rang a bell. "So I thought: Well, let me Google him. When I saw Quintis' name in the Tribune article, and it said Norman was injured by his father, I still didn't put two and two together and I didn't read the whole thing, because I was trying to watch my daughter play volleyball. "I didn't finish reading the article till Thursday, when I emailed you." I passed the email along to Malone, who said he was amazed. But what neither he nor Morgan knew was that both had been searching for each other for decades. "I just knew there was a cousin named Quintis Malone who jumped to his death and had tried to kill his sons," says Morgan. "We knew there were three. We didn't know their names. We had tried to piece it all together. Advertisement "We didn't know the sons, when they were born, who the mother was. We didn't know what type of injuries they suffered, or if they were alive." Since the 1990s, Morgan and other relatives have been trying to find out, just as Malone has been searching for anyone related to him. "I have tried to trace my family history, and I got no place," says Malone, whose daughter "had put my father's name on Facebook, hoping to get a response. And she didn't get a response. "And now I have found a family. I am surprised. I am totally curious to see who they are, what they do, to give me more insight into my father, possibly my mother. I would like to see what they look like and how they're educated and where they've been. "I have no idea where it's going to take me, and what I'm going to learn. And it's amazing." Malone will find out soon, for he and Morgan are planning to meet. Advertisement In many ways, then, Malone's life and his understanding of it has been transformed. READ: HOW NORMAN MALONE'S STORY AFFECTED TWO JOURNALISTS "It's given him a lot of pride," says Mark Malone, his son. "People throwing that tribute concert, people showing appreciation. I think he feels humbled." At the same time, the pianist "has been a bit overwhelmed by the reactions," says his daughter, Leslie Malone. The events have "opened up a whole new world for him. And so he's already talking about doing another concert in the fall. I think that part of him is actually going to open up to a career in (piano) music at this point a different career. "The fact that he has been able to find family is remarkable, because we have been so disconnected from that side. Advertisement "So that is absolutely tremendous that he's going to be able to locate a positive part of his father's past." For Norman Malone, the journey continues. Howard Reich is a Tribune critic. hreich@tribpub.com Twitter @howardreich The kiosk named Summer Vault, shown in 2015 in Millennium Park during the Chicago Architecture Biennial, was supposed to be in a permanent home by now in Harold Washington Playlot Park on the South Side. (Brian Nguyen / Chicago Tribune) The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, tied up in federal court, isn't the only lakefront project Mayor Rahm Emanuel can't seem to get off the ground. Last year, the mayor and organizers of the first Chicago Architecture Biennial unveiled designs for four lakefront kiosks that were portrayed as upgrades from the typical hot dog stand a string of architectural jewels that would form a legacy of the biennial, North America's largest global survey of contemporary architecture. Advertisement The little buildings, which were to house food vendors and other park uses, would offer a chance to see adventurous work by up-and-coming architects from Chicago and around the world. They were supposed to be up and running in Chicago's lakefront parks this summer. Yet with summer officially starting Monday, only one of the kiosks, a handsome, low-slung wood structure near the Shedd Aquarium, has been built at its permanent location. The others have been delayed by a variety of factors, including higher-than-anticipated costs and unanticipated opposition from a South Side alderman who didn't want one of the structures in her ward. Advertisement Two of the kiosks, which were to have adorned the north lakefront's Lincoln Park, may not even be built this year. While the holdup is a disappointment, it is not unexpected. Bold new designs often bust budgets or arouse opposition. And sometimes, regardless of a building's character, people reject it because they like their parks just the way they are. Consider the saga of "Summer Vault," the kiosk designed by Colorado architect Paul Andersen and Chicago's Paul Preissner. Made of thin steel sheets and split into triangular spaces one for a vendor, the other for gathering this pale blue barrel vault has been displayed near Millennium Park's iconic Cloud Gate sculpture for months. By now, it was supposed to be trucked to a permanent home in Harold Washington Playlot Park, just west of Lake Shore Drive at 5200 S. Hyde Park Blvd. A Segway outlet would rent out two-wheeled electric vehicles from the kiosk. "Everything was all ready and it was going to be moved," Preissner said. "And then the day before, the alderman in Hyde Park called (the Chicago Park District) and said she no longer wants it in any of her parks." That would be Ald. Leslie Hairston, 5th. Her chief of staff, Kimberly Webb, said Friday that Hairston based her decision on opposition from her constituents. "The community considered (the kiosk) to be huge, unsightly, and they were concerned about taking away green space" in a relatively small park, Webb said. They feared it would impede "activities and views of the lake." Officials at the Chicago Park District, which helped select long-term locations for the kiosks, declined to comment on the matter. Sarah Herda, the biennial's co-curator, said other locations are being considered for "Summer Vault." The privately sponsored biennial funded three of the kiosks, which had budgets of $50,000 each. The biennial's lead sponsor, British oil and gas giant BP, paid for the pavilion near the aquarium, which won an international design competition and was budgeted at $75,000. It's called "Chicago Horizon." Advertisement Herda attributed the problems of "Summer Vault" to a tension that avant-garde architects often face: They're ahead of the curve. "Sometimes architectural ideas can take some time to resonate," she said. The pavilions intended for Lincoln Park face another problem that often afflicts architects: Their aesthetic ambition outstrips the allotted budget. "The Cent Pavilion" (Brian Nguyen / Chicago Tribune) For North Avenue Beach, Chilean architects Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen envisioned a 40-foot tower of stacked, rotating hexagons. The narrow, skyscraperlike structure, called "The Cent Pavilion," is to echo the downtown skyline and offer a striking interior space. It's anything but simple. The same is true for the structure planned for Montrose Beach. Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi designed a kiosk that would cantilever over stone blocks. The structure, titled "Rock," is to contain a bar and cultural space. It looks dramatic in renderings, but cantilevered structures often pose engineering challenges. "Rock" (Chicago Architecture Biennial) The upshot? The structural framework for "The Cent Pavilion," erected last year at the Illinois Institute of Technology, is in storage. "Rock" remains unbuilt. Organizers are looking for what Herda called "an extra investment." They're also seeking donations of materials. The outlook for building both Lincoln Park pavilions this year is dim. "There's a possibility that one could be built this summer," Herda said. But both could be pushed back to 2017, the year of the next biennial. Advertisement "Chicago Horizon" (Brian Nguyen / Chicago Tribune) There is more encouraging news on "Chicago Horizon," which was shaped by Ultramoderne, a team of Rhode Island designers (Yasmin Vobis, Aaron Forrest and Brett Schneider). A pop-up outlet of Pork & Mindy's restaurant opened at the kiosk this week. And the architects may have figured out the solution to a safety problem posed by one of the kiosk's signature features: A small flight of stairs that let visitors poke their heads through an opening in the roof and gaze out to Lake Michigan and the skyline. The Park District cordoned off the stairs with chain link after people climbed onto the roof, endangering themselves and the roof's rubber membrane. Now, according to Herda, the architects have designed a movable gate for the stair that could be open during business hours and closed at other times. The hope is to install it this summer. "You live and learn," the curator said. Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic. bkamin@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @BlairKamin A crossing guard helps pedestrians walk across South Hermitage Avenue in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago on June 20, 2016. Salvador Suarez, 21, was killed by someone wielding an assault rifle in the Back of the Yards neighborhood near the front door of Holy Cross Immaculate Heart of Mary Churchon Sunday. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) Four people were killed in an unbroken streak of fatal shootings from Friday night to Saturday morning, a deadly stretch of seven hours in the middle of a violent night 'It's all around me' 9:06 p.m. Friday Advertisement 6500 block of South Hamilton Avenue The sound of fireworks cracked in the air at the crime scene, some like thunder and some like gunfire. The police and neighbors tilted their heads up, wondering which block had set them off. But Lekeisha Cook walked up to the police tape with her head down and her voice calm, talking on her cellphone. I cant. I cant do that right now, she said into her phone. I cant break down. I cant do that crying thing. Ive got to figure out what my next move is in this situation. Her 16-year-old son, Melvin Cook, was shot dead in a car around the corner. Police said he was in the car in an alley when two people came up and began firing. The driver drove to 66th Street and fled the scene. Melvin, who was in the passenger seat, was shot in the head and pronounced dead. The last Cook had heard from her son, he had asked if he could stay over with a friend who lives in the area. He never (has) a problem when he comes over here, she said. Cook lives in the Washington Park neighborhood, very close to where an 18-year-old man was shot dead last month one of Melvins classmates, who ran to her door during the shooting. It seemed like she couldn't get away from the violence, she said: Its all around me." Cook said she had been told the shooters walked up to the car Melvin was in and asked him where he was from. Advertisement He said, we aint about that, she said. But I dont know. Thats just what I heard. She stayed at the crime scene, making and taking more phone calls. Each time, she said the same thing: Melvin just got killed. 'We want to catch the guy' 10:30 p.m. Friday 2200 South Kirkland Avenue Detectives in the alley where the 22-year-old man was shot inspected the ground with flashlights, examining the pattern of blood droplets he had left before being taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. He was identified as Charles Wiley of the 4200 block of West Cullerton Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. A police detective and sergeant talk with a woman who approached the scene of a fatal shooting in an alley on the 2200 block of South Kirkland Avenue early June 18, 2016, in Chicago. A 22-year-old man was shot in the neck late Friday and transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Two young women in crop tops walked up to the scene, asking if it was their friend who had been shot. A detective walked over and confirmed: Yes, it was him. They began to cry. Hes at Sinai, the detective said. You want to go to Sinai? Do me a favor keep your ears open. We want to catch the guy. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > 'He was in my arms' 1:30 a.m. Saturday Madison Street and Springfield Avenue Advertisement The mourners on Madison Street walked under the crime scene tape in groups of twos or threes until an officer noticed and told them they couldn't be in the crime scene. Most of them walked back into the street. One woman ran. My f---ing baby dead! she screamed. She collapsed on to the pavement next to a car and sobbed. A man lifted her up, her body limp, and put her into the back seat of the car. Two 19-year-old men had been shot in a minivan near the corner of Madison and Springfield Avenue moments earlier. The minivan was found a few blocks east, at the corner of Madison and Homan. One man was shot in the leg and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. The other was shot in the abdomen and pronounced dead on the scene. He was identified as Latrell McMahon of the 0 to 100 block of South Springfield Avenue, according to the medical examiner's office. Two men were found shot in a minivan, one fatally, early June 18, 2016, in the 3400 block of West Madison Street in Chicago. (John J. Kim, Chicago, Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) A man dressed in gray was prone on the sidewalk near the crime scene, laying on his side and screaming. Someone nearby wondered aloud: Is that brother OK? A police sergeant walked over. The man on the sidewalk stood up. A woman stepped toward the sergeant and began to scream. Im not talking to you till you tell me what the (expletive) happened! she said. The man in gray began to scream at the sergeant along with her. His voice was low and hoarse. Im trying to find out what happened, the sergeant said. If you wont talk The woman walked away, then turned back to the sergeant again. F--- yall b----es, she said. The man walked back and crouched on the sidewalk. His screams had turned to high-pitched moans. He was in my arms, he said. They pulled me off of him they pulled me off of him. 'This is The Purge' 3:40 a.m. Saturday 1300 block of West Hastings Avenue The crowd of people on the block early Saturday werent celebrating anything in particular, neighbors said. The weather was good. A few old friends were back in the neighborhood. There were graduations to commemorate, and Fathers Day was coming up. The block was crowded when the gunshots rang out. Two security guards from Kates Detective Agency were shot and wounded, a law enforcement source said. At least one went to and drove to the 12th District police station. They went to Stroger Hospital and their conditions were stabilized. A man who had been shot in the head was driven to University of Illinois Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. One bystander on Hastings after the shooting compared Chicago to "The Purge," a movie in which crime is legal for 12 hours and citizens must survive the chaos. "That's b-------," he said. "This is The Purge." The sound of music filled the air Friday at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Billings on the last morning of the five-day Montana Music Institute. On a walk through the schools second-floor hallway, the sounds of piano, violin, harp and singing voices drifted out of classrooms filled with youngsters, some of them rehearsing for their final recital. In other rooms, students played chess, knitted or worked on art projects. Nearly 250 children and youth ranging in age from 4 to 14 took part in the 32nd edition of the music and arts camps, said Nancy Van Maren, co-registrar of the institute along with Liz Fulton. "The typical age is probably 10 to 11," Van Maren said. Preschoolers took part in a half-day mini-camp. The oldest youths helped out as student assistants and took some classes. The volunteers who put together the event spend most of the year organizing it, Fulton said, adding its worth the work. We believe strongly in exposing children early on to music and the arts and continuing to help them focus on music as part of their lives, she said. We find it makes for really strong, focused students. The school has 32 faculty members. Instructors for the instrumental classes are music teachers from the Billings community as well as from other parts of Montana and surrounding states. Teachers also are hired for the elective classes that range from chess and knitting to hip hop and Irish dancing, musical theater and yoga. Fulton sat in on one of the yoga classes taught by Pam Kemmick, which Fulton said adds a holistic touch to the institute. Pam was using yoga and the focus it takes as something the students can use to relieve stress when practicing for a performance, she said. The week also can help younger children figure out if theyre drawn to a particular instrument, Van Maren said. This is a great place for them to get a taste of what it would be like to play an instrument, she said. Its an opportunity to get excited about it. During the late-morning recital, the teacher conductors and their student musicians offered a mixture of music, from the classical Canon in D to the modern The Hanging Tree from the movie The Hunger Games. A touch of whimsy came with the violinists who walked into the darkened auditorium with bows that resembled light sabers and then played music from Star Wars. The school auditorium was mostly full, with parents and other adults and kids, who applauded enthusiastically after each piece. Students both tall and small played together in the ensembles that performed surprisingly in unison for having only practiced for five days. Kellie Sironi, mom of three institute students, Joshua, 10, Boaz, 7, and Phin, 5, said this was the second year her boys have taken part in the music and arts camp. All three play violin and have a penchant for chess. They absolutely love it, Sironi said before the start of the recital. They wish it was longer than a week. All three boys take private lessons. They dont, however, enjoy practicing on their own. But when they get into an orchestra and hear how all of the instruments work together, they get really jazzed, Sironi said. It boosts their enthusiasm, and they feel really competent here. They also like playing chess with other youngsters on their own level. Its an opportunity for them to play something that theyre already able to do, but in a social setting where there are children their own age, Sironi said. Thirteen-year-old Mary Botz, a home-schooled freshman, served as one of the student assistants at this year's institute. She first participated when she was 5. I was nervous the first time I came here cause I didnt know anyone and it was my first year of playing violin, she said, after performing on stage Friday with an ensemble. But by the end of the week, I had lots of friends and I knew all my teachers and they knew me and it was just an amazing experience. This week Mary helped teach young violinists how to play. She found satisfaction in passing on all that she has learned. Its great to see the light in their eyes when they understand something, Mary said. And its just wonderful to see. It makes me happy. A 23-year-old Iowa man died Friday after he fell in Lake Michigan from a boat at Montrose Harbor, authorities said. The man went into the water just before 5:30 p.m. at the harbor near 601 W. Montrose Ave., authorities said. Advertisement Life guards pulled the man from the water and paramedics rushed him to Weiss Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Chicago police said. He was identified as Ryan Klingensmit of Iowa City, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Advertisement Authorities are investigating whether alcohol played a factor in the death. Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks last fall while aides and a member of his security detail talk. Former Emanuel security detail members sued the city over their transfers. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) A Chicago police officer who swiftly rose to a leadership position with Mayor Rahm Emanuel's personal security detail had volunteered as an intern in Emanuel's congressional office in 2004 and worked on his campaign before being assigned to the elite post, according to testimony given Friday in federal court. Although Officer Hakki Gurkan took weeks off from his job to work on Emanuel's campaign, the officer testified he was never promised a position as a result of volunteering and was never told why he was selected to work on the security team once Emanuel was elected. Advertisement "I believe I'm highly qualified," testified Gurkan, who is also a military veteran with special training. "I did not have any belief that I was being selected for political purposes." Gurkan was one of three of Emanuel's security officers who testified as part of a case examining whether he and several other officers got their jobs because of political connections. Advertisement Eight police officers who were removed from the mayor's security detail in 2011 are suing the city, saying they lost their prestige and millions of dollars in income and benefits because of politics, which violates the Shakman decree. The officers who worked as security officers for former Mayor Richard Daley filed suit in 2012 saying they were removed because of politics and racial discrimination. Those officers, who were white and Latino, said they were pushed out because Emanuel took part in selecting a security team what included African-American officers with less seniority. They also accuse Emanuel of selecting officers who volunteered on his campaign. Friday's bench trial started one day after a federal jury decided the eight officers suing did not lose their posts because of racial discrimination, as they had alleged. This trial is the second phase of that lawsuit, and is being brought by four of those eight officers against the city of Chicago. Emanuel has been ordered to testify in the trial, a rarity for a sitting mayor, and is expected to be questioned Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon, attorneys told the judge Friday. Emanuel will likely be questioned by lawyers and filmed rather than appear in federal court, lawyers said. "Do the best you can," U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber told the attorneys Friday afternoon regarding scheduling Emanuel's deposition. "I understand he's a busy individual." In court, attorneys defending the city told the judge that the officers assigned to work for Emanuel were put in the positions without any consideration given to their political background. Former Chicago police Superintendent Terry Hillard, who was in charge of approving the security team at the time, testified that he simply assembled the security detail using some of the officers who worked with Daley and some of the new officers who were already working with Emanuel. Advertisement Police Cmdr. Brian Thompson, who supervises the security detail and helped organize it, said he recommended officers for the post based on their performance, not the fact that they volunteered with the mayor's campaign. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "I did not care about their political affiliation," Thompson said when questioned on the stand. "I could care less." But lawyers representing the officers who filed the lawsuit said emails and paperwork show that the new officers protecting the mayor were given the jobs without considering their qualifications or work history. Nearly all of the newly assigned officers had volunteered for Emanuel's campaign. They were assigned to protect the mayor without anyone examining their resumes and checking into their backgrounds, attorney Jonathan Ksiazek told the judge during his opening statement. "When Emanuel came into office he had five volunteers that worked with his campaign and they were put on the detail because they volunteered," he said after Friday's hearing ended. "They were put on the team with no screening." The trail is scheduled to resume Monday. Advertisement lbowean@tribpub.com Twitter @lollybowean Associated Press video journalist Josh Replogle helped put himself through college by working at Pulse in Orlando, Fla. (David Goldman / Associated Press) Reporting from ORLANDO, Fla. Flashbacks floated through Josh Replogle's mind as he drove through darkness toward the crime scene Sunday morning. As a reporter and video journalist for the Associated Press, he has covered a lot of tragedy deadly floods in Texas, more shootings than he can remember. Advertisement But this time it was personal: Replogle paid to put himself through college working at Pulse. The two years Replogle spent selling shots of alcohol at the gay nightclub changed his life. Advertisement Replogle, who is straight, stumbled into the job upon the suggestion of his girlfriend now wife who knew a bouncer at Pulse and figured it would pay more than his gig at Chuck E. Cheese's. Replogle was studying broadcast journalism at the University of Central Florida and had an unpaid internship at a local TV station. So, without giving it much thought, he emailed the manager and included a picture of himself. The manager asked him to come in for an interview. "This was 30 pounds ago," Replogle, now 29, said with a laugh. He didn't know what to expect from the job and felt a bit apprehensive. He grew up in rural North Carolina, where people often spoke of homosexuality and damnation in the same sentence, and while he never felt that way, he simply hadn't had any experience with the gay community. He'd certainly never gone to a drag performance like the ones he ended up watching at Pulse. On his first day, he remembers huge gusts of wind pushing against his body as he walked toward the club's double doors. He paused for a moment and entered. People smiled and immediately introduced themselves. Before long, a group of male cheerleaders he recognized from campus showed up. "Oh, wow, these are people I know," he recalled thinking. "That realization was beautiful." He settled into a routine: Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 p.m. until last call at 2 a.m. The club's energy was infectious. Now, whenever he hears "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga on the radio, he nods his head, transported back to the club's dance floor, where he meandered the crowds, hawking shots of tequila, vodka and rum. Advertisement He loved looking into the mesmerized crowd during drag shows. The way everyone stared intently, not wanting to miss a beat, reminded him of people glued to the screen during the Super Bowl. "It was contagious, the feeling," he said, adding that he sometimes threw a couple dollars from his tips as encouragement for the performers. It didn't take him long to warm to the attention from flirting patrons. He remembers thinking: "He's eyeballing me, but so what?" More than anything, Pulse gave him a community a community of people who genuinely wanted to know him. "I felt loved," he said, his voice cracking. "I felt acceptance, and I'd never really had that before." The job softened his heart, he said, and made him open, more loving. Advertisement "I truly believe if everyone could have the experience I did, the world would be such a different place," he said. "You say the word Pulse and it's like a flash of happy times. It's a big chunk of who I am." Replogle's cellphone rang around 3 a.m. Sunday. He'd returned 10 hours earlier from Louisville, where he covered Muhammad Ali's funeral, and was looking forward to spending time with his four-week-old daughter. "I've been gone half her life," Replogle said, sighing. But he could tell his boss' voice sounded somber as he asked him to head to a crime scene in Orlando the nightclub, he said, adding an extra article, was called the Pulse. "What did you say?" Replogle asked. His boss repeated the answer. Advertisement As Replogle rushed to pack his bag, his whole body felt stiff. He drove from his home in suburban Fort Lauderdale to Pulse not needing GPS and cried along the way. Before arriving, he sent a Facebook message to two friends he knew still worked at the club. "Hey guys!" he wrote, "I saw there was a shooting at pulse!!" A longtime Pulse bartender responded: "Yes. Please send prayers." When he pulled onto Orange Avenue, where Pulse is located, Replogle saw two men on the side of the road sobbing. He did a U-turn and asked if they were OK. "No response," he said. "Just wailing." One of the men had just learned that his brother Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 had died. Replogle had heard the death toll was 20. But around 9 a.m., after Replogle and other reporters had set up their cameras near the scene, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer walked slowly to the microphones. Advertisement "It is with great sadness," he said, "that I share we have not 20, but 50 casualties." Some reporters gasped, one woman yelped, "Oh, my God!" Tears fell from Replogle's eyes and he turned his back to the news conference to regain composure. He spent the next few days covering breaks in the FBI's investigation into the accused shooter, Omar Mateen, and by Thursday, big, dark circles had formed under his eyes. But he wanted to keep covering the story, and he did. marisa.gerber@latimes.com Acting Oakland Police Chief Paul Figueroa, talking to reporters earlier in the week, has left the post. His departure marks the third time in eight days the city has seen its top police official depart. (Associated Press) The Oakland Police Department will now operate under civilian control after the agency parted ways with its third police chief in nine days, Mayor Libby Schaaf announced Friday. Acting Chief Paul Figueroa tendered his resignation to Schaaf on Friday, and the department's command staff will now report to City Administrator Sabrina Landreth, Schaaf said during a news conference Friday evening. Advertisement Figueroa was appointed to replace Interim Chief Ben Fairow on Wednesday, after Schaaf said she had received information that made her question Fairow's ability to lead. Fairow's tenure as Oakland's top cop lasted just six days. He had been appointed to replace Chief Sean Whent, who resigned in the wake of a widening sexual misconduct scandal that has ensnared more than a dozen city police officers and members of three other East Bay law enforcement agencies. Advertisement "I'm hoping to not have to fire anyone else anytime soon," said the mayor, laughing in response to a question from a reporter. Schaaf did not say why Figueroa resigned. In a statement released Friday, Figueroa said, "I thank the city for the opportunity, and I am deeply sorry that I was unable to fulfill the functions of acting chief of police." Figueroa voluntarily went on leave after resigning the chief's post Friday, Schaaf said. The Oakland department is currently reeling from allegations that officers were having inappropriate relationships with a teenage sex worker, possibly while she was underage. Schaaf also said Friday that the department was close to finishing an investigation into an exchange of racist text messages between officers. The text message inquiry does not involve Figueroa, according to Schaaf , who said that situation was "not as widespread" as the sexual misconduct scandal. According to Schaaf, several African American officers sent and received messages that were "wholly inappropriate and not acceptable from anyone who wears the badge of the Oakland Police Department." Advertisement She would not name the officers or disclose their ranks, but the situation is eerily similar to a scandal that recently roiled the San Francisco Police Department, one of several that led to the resignation of Police Chief Greg Suhr. Schaaf said the investigation of the text messages would be completed within two weeks. "As the mayor of Oakland I am here to run a Police Department, not a frat house. Today continues to be a day where we are sharing disturbing information with you," said Schaaf, adding later that she hoped to "root out what is clearly a toxic, macho, culture" within the city's police. The revolving door of chiefs has become the latest source of embarrassment for a department that has remained under federal oversight for 13 years and is now embroiled in a widening sex scandal. Whent resigned on June 9, in what city officials termed a "personal choice." But three sources with knowledge of the situation told The Times that Whent was let go over his mishandling of an investigation into the sex scandal. Two officers have resigned and three were placed on administrative leave as a result of the sex scandal, city officials have said. Advertisement John Burris, the attorney who negotiated the 2003 settlement that placed Oakland police under federal oversight, said he hoped all of the department's skeletons can be revealed at one time in order to clear a path to real reform. "It appears to be a cesspool here," he said. "But you gotta keep working at it to drain the swamps." In this photo taken June 14, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. His campaign riled by infighting and Republican revolt, Donald Trump is working to address a battleground state staffing shortage that highlights his reliance on a skeptical GOP establishment. (Chuck Burton / AP) DES MOINES, Iowa His campaign roiled by infighting and Republican revolt, Donald Trump is working to address a battleground state staffing shortage that highlights his reliance on a skeptical GOP establishment. The New York billionaire has slowly begun to add paid staff in a handful of swing states Wisconsin and Iowa, among them even as campaign officials concede the presumptive presidential nominee has little desire or capacity to construct the kind of massive national operation that has come to define modern-day White House campaigns. Trump plans instead to depend upon the national Republican Party to lead state-based efforts on his behalf, while Democrat Hillary Clinton has had an army of staff dedicated specifically to her campaign in general election battlegrounds for months. Advertisement "It would be disingenuous and wrongheaded to take a playbook that has been used over and over again," said Trump senior aide Karen Giorno, in charge of an 11-state Southeastern bloc including battlegrounds Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. "We are creating the playbook." The unconventional approach reflects Trump's disdain for traditional Republican campaign practices and inclination to implement businesslike decision-making. It also carries substantial risk. Advertisement If, for instance, Trump is lagging Clinton badly in polls come early fall, there is nothing to stop the RNC from cutting its losses and focusing instead on saving Republican control of the Senate or other competitive contests also on the ballot this November. Beth Myers, who managed 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign, said White House candidates have unique needs that a broader-brush approach cannot always meet. "The presidential campaign is going to want to have someone on the ground whose interest is 100 percent Donald J. Trump," said Myers, who is not involved in the 2016 Trump or RNC efforts. "Most campaigns by June would have that person in place in key states." Trump is largely outsourcing what's typically called a campaign's ground game, which includes the labor-intensive jobs of identifying and contacting potential supporters. Ed Brookover, recently tapped to serve as the Trump's liaison to the RNC, says the campaign is making progress on adding its own staff in key states. The campaign estimates it currently has about 30 paid staff on the ground across the country. "There are some holes," Brookover said. "There are fewer holes than there were." Specifically, Trump has added at least one paid staffer in both Wisconsin and Iowa in recent days, targeting two Midwestern states where he hopes to reverse Democrats' winning streaks in the November general election. The campaign has also added for the first time a human resources professional to assist with hiring. Trump's plan to rely on his party's establishment comes as party leaders lashed out at his message in recent days. GOP leaders including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week condemned Trump's renewed call, as part of his anti-terrorism strategy, to impose a temporary ban on foreign Muslims allowed to enter the country. Republican officials reacted with similar disdain after Trump insinuated President Barack Obama may sympathize with terrorists in the wake of the weekend Orlando massacre. Just a week earlier, some Republicans decried as racist Trump's claim that a judge's Hispanic heritage disqualified him from presiding over a court case involving Trump University. Advertisement Relationships remain strained within Trump's campaign as well as rival factions jockey for influence. The RNC in recent days hired Trump's former political director, Rick Wiley, just weeks after he was fired by the campaign. The move took some of Trump's senior team by surprise, despite the RNC's insistence that it had the campaign's blessing. Committee Chairman Reince Priebus rejected reports of rising tensions between the RNC and Trump's campaign. "Flying to Dallas now with @realDonaldTrump...Reports of discord are pure fiction. Great events lined up all over Texas. Rs will win in Nov!" committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted this week. Flying to Dallas now with @realDonaldTrump...Reports of discord are pure fiction. Great events lined up all over Texas. Rs will win in Nov! Reince Priebus (@Reince) June 16, 2016 Amid the uproar, Trump is forging ahead with his unconventional approach to building a presidential campaign. He has largely avoided campaigning in battleground states since clinching his party's nomination, spending valuable time instead in reliably Republican states like Georgia and Texas, and reliably Democratic California. He has also been slow to embrace an aggressive plan to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fund both his campaign and the RNC's ground game. Advertisement Trump has set his sights on carrying states in the upper Midwest, from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, which have voted reliably Democratic in recent presidential elections, but are also home to white, working-class voters that have fueled his primary bid. In many states, Trump has no paid senior general election staff in place. In a handful of others, he has no more than one. At the same time, the RNC has 483 paid staffers in the field in states across the country "dedicated to beating Hillary Clinton," said RNC spokeswoman Lindsay Walters. Florida has the most staff at almost 60. They're also in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado and Wisconsin. They're not necessarily wholly focused on Trump, however. "We're focused on Mr. Trump all the way down the ticket," Walters said. "We're working with all the different candidates running for election." By contrast, Clinton began placing state-level directors in April, and has such paid campaign staff in at least Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Advertisement For now, the Trump campaign's goal is to figure out by the end of the month who is doing what where, Giorno said. "We'll be able to execute by July 1," she said. "Mr. Trump insists on hard deadlines." Associated Press The first time Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman broke out of prison wheeled out in a laundry cart under a load of dirty linens, the folklorists say, or maybe in the back of a garbage truck it took Mexican authorities 13 years to get him back. They vowed it wouldn't happen again. His keepers told U.S. prosecutors, who wanted him to stand trial on murder and narco-trafficking charges north of the border, to wait their turn. Advertisement "El Chapo must stay here to complete his sentence, and then I will extradite him," then-Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam told The Associated Press in January 2015, adding that it would take "about 300 to 400 years." Six months later, Guzman dropped through a trap door in his maximum-security cell in the Altiplano prison, shimmied down into a mile-long tunnel and rode to freedom on an underground motorcycle. Humiliated Mexican authorities spent months rounding up all the prison officials who'd allegedly helped in the escape before finally recapturing El Chapo in January. This time, they didn't argue about turning him over. Advertisement Guzman is not in U.S. custody yet. Legal experts predict his fight against extradition will take a year or more, and that he will lose. The U.S. Department of Justice, meanwhile, is deliberating where he will face prosecution. Guzman is wanted in seven jurisdictions, including Chicago. It's not hard to see why El Chapo would rather not to be tried in the U.S. Until recently there was the threat of execution not an idle worry for a man who has boasted of ordering the killings of thousands of people. Mexico has no death penalty, and its extradition treaty with the U.S. allows it to refuse to turn over a prisoner who could face execution if convicted. U.S. authorities have agreed not to seek the death penalty. But America's federal prisons offer few of the amenities Guzman enjoyed at Puente Grande near Guadalajara. For nearly a decade, El Chapo ran his drug enterprise from the comfort of his maximum-security hotel, bribing guards to bring him wine, pizza, drugs and women, and to take him for long drives in the country when he felt claustrophobic. The day Mexico's Supreme Court eased restrictions on extraditing prisoners something several U.S. presidents had lobbied for was the day Guzman decided to check himself out. "If you've got $2 million or more to spend, there's not a prison in this country that can hold you," Mexican criminologist Rafael Ruiz Harrell told the San Jose Mercury News in 2001. Pampered on the inside and protected on the outside, Guzman is a romantic character: Ruthless and untouchable at only 5 foot 6 (the nickname means "Shorty"), he bought the affection of locals, who often alerted him when the law drew near. He evaded capture for 13 years with the help of a network of safe houses, connected by tunnels, and a law enforcement system that often looked the other way. His second staycation lasted less than a year. There are not many Americans who regard Guzman as a folk hero, unless you count hapless Rolling Stone correspondent Sean Penn, whose pursuit of an exclusive, fawning interview helped authorities home in on their fugitive late last year. El Chapo was re-re-incarcerated in January. What's the next stop on his itinerary? Federal prosecutors in seven districts in Illinois, California, Texas, New Hampshire, Florida and two in New York have charged him with murder, trafficking, organized crime and assorted other charges. Advertisement New York's Eastern District, in Brooklyn, has the early edge, law enforcement sources told The Associated Press recently. A former top official with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year that Chicago's case is among the strongest. Prosecutors here have more "live witnesses" including the son of one of Guzman's top lieutenants willing to testify against Guzman. Twin brothers Pedro and Margarito Flores, second-generation drug traffickers who grew up in Chicago's Little Village, were key to the case here. The brothers ran a distribution network that supplied up to 1,500 kilos of cocaine and heroin a month throughout the U.S. and Canada. Under federal indictment in Milwaukee, they fled to Mexico, where they connected with Guzman. But they soon found themselves caught between his Sinaloa cartel and a rival, and they decided to get out of the business. So they worked undercover for U.S. prosecutors. Their cooperation led to grand jury indictments against El Chapo and 10 of his top aides, along with a rival cartel leader and more than 40 wholesalers and street dealers. Guzman worked with Colombian producers to build the Sinaloa cartel into the largest drug-smuggling operation in the U.S., with Chicago as its Midwestern hub. His thugs bribed public officials and committed acts of violence against police, rival traffickers and their own associates. They plotted to destroy government buildings in the U.S. and Mexico as payback for drug enforcement. They partnered with street gangs, underwriting bloody turf battles. Advertisement El Chapo will have a lot to answer for in Chicago or whichever venue is assigned the case if Mexico can hold onto him long enough to hand him over. Not to get your hopes up, but in the days after the massacre at a gay Orlando nightclub, there were signs of an incipient bipartisan consensus on a measure that could head off future acts of domestic terrorism. Though the idea has been raised before, it may finally produce action this time. Hillary Clinton said, "If you are too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America." Donald Trump didn't disagree. He said he would meet with the National Rifle Association "about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no-fly list, to buy guns." Advertisement They're not alone. President Barack Obama has endorsed the concept. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sponsored a bill last year to block firearm purchases by suspected terrorists; it failed on a 54-45 vote. The only Republican to vote for it was Mark Kirk of Illinois. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has his own version, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says, "Nobody wants terrorists to have firearms." The NRA, believe it or not, says, "Anyone on a terror watch list who tries to buy a gun should be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and the sale delayed while the investigation is ongoing." President George W. Bush proposed legislation of this sort in 2007. Advertisement The Senate is expected to vote on the latest version of Feinstein's proposal Monday. Getting enough votes in both houses will be a heavy lift. But it's encouraging to see support for the basic concept. Two challenges loom. The first is to work out a measure that would have real teeth while garnering the support of legislators aligned with the NRA. The second is to block dangerous people without violating the Second Amendment rights of those who pose no threat. Anyone convicted of a terrorism-related crime, of course, is already barred under federal law. It's harder to zero in on people who have known terrorist connections or sympathies but have not (yet) done anything that warrants arrest and prosecution. The FBI terrorism watch list includes some 800,000 names. (At one time it included the Orlando shooter, but he was eventually removed.) The federal no-fly list covers an estimated 47,000, and it has mistakenly ensnared some innocents. The no-buy list would need to be shorter and more accurately targeted. Barring someone from a commercial flight is one thing; depriving them of a freedom specified in the Constitution is another. But some people are already disqualified from buying guns without being convicted of a felony. Among them: anyone who has been committed to a mental institution, dishonorably discharged from the military or subject to a restraining order for harassing or stalking an "intimate partner." Adding those flagged as possible terrorists would be only a modest expansion of the category. The Feinstein bill voted on last year authorized the attorney general to bar individuals who are found to have been doing something "in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism, or providing material support or resources for terrorism" and who "may use a firearm in connection with terrorism." Those disqualified could go to court to challenge the decision with the government bearing the burden of proof. Second Amendment absolutists may object, along with civil libertarians who accuse the government of abusing its authority with the no-fly list. But terrorism is the ultimate deprivation of liberty. It should be possible for Congress to find ways to satisfy reasonable constitutional concerns while adding a real safeguard against horrific acts like the one in Orlando. Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. Amid tighter security in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., Chicago LGBTQ pride celebrations are set to get underway. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said last week that more officers will be stationed throughout this Sunday's Pride Parade . More private security guards also are being brought in to monitor the daytime events and the local bars and nightclubs where many spectators flock afterward, officials said. "We really want this to be a festive event where we're able to celebrate each other," said Pride Parade organizer Richard Pfeiffer. "We're not going to be pushed back into the closet by one crazy person." Appropriately, this year's theme is "Solidarity through Pride." If you're planning on attending, make sure you know the details of the event before you leave the house. What time should I get there? The parade begins Sunday, June 26, at noon; you should try to get there around 11:30 a.m. so you can find a good spot to watch. Where should I watch from? The parade begins at Broadway and Montrose Avenue. According to the organizers, the area around the Belmont Red Line stop is the most crowded, so you should try to watch from other areas of the parade route. Take a look at the map below to plan out which areas work for you. The map also includes the locations of pedestrian crossover streets. How should I get there? Your best bet is public transportation; the CTA will be providing longer trains and more service. You can take the Red Line to the Belmont, Sheridan or Wilson stops, or the Brown Line to Belmont. From 8 a.m. to approximately 8 p.m., the following bus routes will be rerouted to avoid street closures: No. 8 Halsted, No. 22 Clark, No. 36 Broadway, No. 76 Diversey, No. 77 Belmont, No. 78 Montrose, No. 80 Irving Park, No. 151 Sheridan and No. 152 Addison. You can find more information on public transportation here. Parade organizers are discouraging attendees from driving to the event because of limited parking and many street closures. If you have to drive, try to carpool. There will be rolling street closures as the parade moves along the route. What is unique about this year's event? There will be a moment of silence at the beginning of the parade to commemmorate the 49 lives lost at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Photos of each of the 49 victims will be held up at the front of the parade. Make sure to check out actor Monica Raymund, the star of "Chicago Fire," who is the grand marshall for the parade and will be walking at the front. There are 160 entries this year, including 60 floats, six double decker buses, nine cars and two golf carts. Friends of the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center floats will lead the parade, and the Pandora and ComEd trucks will be the last. Check out the entire lineup here. Should I be concerned about security? You should always be vigilant for suspicious activity. This year, there will be 160 off-duty security personnel (up from 90 last year) at the parade, besides the police officers and parade marshalls lining the route. There will also be barricades along the route. Chicago parade attendees generally have remained safe in past parades; the last major crime associated with Chicago's Pride Parade happened in 2011 when float tires were punctured at a South Side storage garage. What Pride merchandise can I buy? Though there isn't official Pride merchandise, Pride organizers have 1,000 PRIDEChicago buttons that are sold at the following businesses: Batteries Not Included, Bobby Loves, Boystown Collectibles, He Who Eats Mud, Innexile, Scot's, Unabridged Bookstore, and Women & Children First. Business may have their own Pride-related merchandise at or near the parade. What time will the parade end? The parade begins at noon and it takes approximately two and a half hours for all the entries to cross the starting point at Broadway and Montrose. Streets will be reopened after the parade as soon as street cleaning is complete. Other events this weekend Notable events coming up Northalsted Market Days Where: 3600 N. Halsted St., Boystown What: The largest outdoor street festival in the Midwest will take place in August on Halsted St. A $10 donation is recommended. More information here. Halloween Parade Where: 3200 N. Halsted St., Boystown What: The 20th anniversary of the Northalsted Halloween Parade this October will include its traditional costume competition, as well as entertainment and other programming. More information here. Sources: Chicago Pride Calendar, city of Chicago, Tribune reporting Japanese journalists were in the Billings area for two days as part of a beef promotional event by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. The federation brought the journalists to Billings to promote U.S. beef. The journalists toured a butcher shop, traveled to a large commercial cattle ranch and sampled the best beef Billings restaurants had to offer. Since 2010, Japan has bought more than a million tons of U.S. beef every year. Japan is the largest buyer of U.S. beef, with sales exceeding $6 billion in 2015, according to USMEF. A man suspected of causing a fatal crash in Big Horn County on Wednesday afternoon fled after promising to get help, leaving a Florida man dead and his wife injured, according to the Montana Highway Patrol. Investigating trooper Eric Winburn said an SUV towing a trailer atop which another SUV was secured, began fishtailing on U.S Highway 212 around mile marker 20 at around 1:25 p.m. According to Winburn, the male driver of the towing vehicle drove into the opposite lane and then went back as he attempted to control the swerving trailer behind him. As the driver went back into the westbound lane, the trailer broke from its rusted hitch and ripped back off the SUV and swung around and caught the corner of the SUV going the opposite direction, Winburn said. Winburn described how the unhitched trailer basically ripped down the side of the SUV that had been traveling eastbound. The collision left the whole drivers side ripped off, and threw the driver and the seat out of the vehicle, Winburn said. After the collision, a witness who reported the crash told Winburn the male driver of the dark gray, possibly Jeep SUV, pulled a U-turn, yelled out of his window Im going for help, and took off toward Busby, about 10 miles east of the crash. The about 65-year-old Florida man who had been driving the eastbound SUV was later pronounced dead, and Winburn said the man's wife had minor injuries. Winburn described the broken trailer hitch as almost completely rusted out. He said MHP continues to investigate the incident. A law enforcement agency in North Carolina has confirmed reports that the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office is investigating the location of a vehicle related to an Amber Alert issued out of North Carolina Thursday for an 8-month-old child abducted by his parents. The child, John Aston Lorell Eastlack, is described as a black male, about 17 inches tall, weighing 20 pounds and having black hair and brown eyes, and his abductors are believed to be driving a silver 2008 Chrysler Town & Country van reported stolen out of Franklinville, N.C. with license plate number EAF-5393. Lt. Jason Chabot of the Randolph County Sheriff's Office in Asheboro, N.C., said a statewide notice had been issued stating the vehicle might be headed toward Great Falls or Missoula. Chabot also confirmed that the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office had received reports about the possibility that the vehicle was in Yellowstone County near Huntley on Friday afternoon. One of Eastlacks abductors is listed as Chad Douglas Eastlack, a 35-year-old white male. Eastlack is described in the alert as 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 177 pounds and having brown hair and hazel eyes. Chabot also said Chad Eastlack might be armed. Eastlacks other abductor is listed as Penny Dianne Worthy, a 20-year-old black female. Worthy is described as being 6 feet tall, weighing 120 pounds and having black hair and brown eyes. According to the Randolph County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, Eastlack was abducted by his biological parents from the Randolph County Department of Social Services on Tuesday. A wind surfer takes advantage of the weather and choppy waves as people picnic on the sand at Montrose Beach on June 16, 2016 in Chicago. (Brandon Chew / Chicago Tribune) The Chicago area is in store for a sun-drenched Father's Day. Boosted by ample sunshine, temperatures should reach the lower 90s across the entire Chicago area as strengthening south winds eliminate any lakeside cooling. A 91-degree high would mark the city's warmest Father's Day in nine years, equaling a similar high in 2007. The mercury should also top 90 on Monday, but with higher humidity there is a risk of thunderstorms that could develop ahead of the late afternoon passage of a cold front. Advertisement Watch the latest weather forecast. June 17, 2016. (CBS Chicago) Sunburn Alert Oak Park dermatologist Dr. Bryan Schultz cautions that the combination of the strongest sunlight of the year and nearly cloudless skies Sunday will bring the city its lowest sunburn times in recent memory, with sunburn occurring with as little as 16 minutes exposure to the midday sun. Aurora police are looking for information about four recent burglaries in the same general area of the city's Near East Side that resulted in missing jewelry, cash and Air Jordan shoes. The most recent two burglaries occurred at homes separated by about three blocks that were broken into during similar time frames Tuesday, according to an Aurora Police Department news release. A house in the 1000 block of Indian Avenue was burglarized between 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and a house in the 1200 block of Dearborn Avenue was burglarized between 10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., according to police. Advertisement About $1,875 worth of jewelry was missing from the Indian Avenue home. Nothing appeared to have been taken from the Dearborn home, but about $200 in damage was done, according to police. About noon Tuesday, a witness reported seeing a man entering the home on Dearborn and leaving a short time later. He described the suspect as a man between 30 and 40 years old with a dark beard and short, dark hair, according to police. Police do not have suspect information for the Indian Avenue burglary. Advertisement The other two nearby burglaries police are investigating took place between 12:10 and 1:45 p.m. June 9 in the 1200 block of Front Street and between 8:40 and 9:30 p.m. June 10 in the 900 block of Solfisburg Avenue. Those addresses are also separated from each other by a matter of several blocks. A safe containing an undisclosed amount of money was taken from the Front Street home, according to police. About $6,700 worth of jewelry and Air Jordan shoes were taken from the Solfisburg home, according to police. About 9:30 p.m. June 10, a witness saw a man getting out of a black vehicle believed to be a Mitsubishi Lancer that was parked on the street in front of the Solfisburg house, according to police. He his described as having a medium build and was wearing a white T-shirt, black hat and cargo shorts, according to police. Police do not have suspect information for the Front Street burglary. Police say they have not ruled out that at least some of the burglaries may be related. Aurora police ask anyone with information to call police investigations at 630-256-5500 or Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. People can also submit tips through the My Police Department app available through iTunes, the Android Market and Amazon App Store. hleone@tribpub.com Twitter @hannahmleone Leland lead vocalist Scott Tipping of Warrenville, performs during the Blues on the Fox Festival at River Edge Park in Aurora on Saturday. (Sean King, The Beacon-News) Summer officially arrived in Aurora this weekend with the 20th year of the annual Blues on the Fox Festival at RiverEdge Park. Marcia Ball kicked things off Friday, followed by the Robert Cray Band, who have performed with such icons as Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Scheduled for Saturday were Leland, Larry McCray, Los Lobos, and the Tedeschi Truck Band. Advertisement David Glynn, board member for the Fox Valley Music Foundation, gushed that the lineup was the "strongest ever" and that blues artists themselves are helping fuel return engagements. "We've had Los Lobos and acts like Robert Cray before, and even someone like Buddy Guy has played here twice," Glynn said. "I think the word gets out that we treat the artists very well here, and people want to come back and play." Advertisement Jim Jarvis, vice president of sales and marketing for RiverEdge Park, said acts are often contacted while touring, and "we are so grateful to these bands that are willing to stop here, and we do everything we can from the moment they arrive to make them comfortable." "We've actually heard from some bands that they have called their managers a week after playing here and specifically asked to be booked here next year," Jarvis said. "The bands get standing ovations. People are dancing. There is a great synergy here." Glynn said a festival highlight is Leland, a local band that has meticulously rerecorded tracks from the 1930s made in Aurora's Leland Hotel's Sky Club. They now mirror the sound of the 1950s. "This was kind of like Elvis Presley and the Sun Studio recordings in Memphis," Glynn said. "The discovering of these 300 or so recordings helped launch the fest here 20 years ago, which I'd argue would be the biggest blues fest in the Midwest if it wasn't for the Chicago Blues Fest." On Friday night, Brian Mead, of Itasca, was making his first visit to the festival. "The lineup is great, the price is right, and I like to go to blues events," he said. "For me, the blues is Chicago, they've played the blues forever." Tom Marker, who hosts the "Blues Breakers" show for WXRT-FM 93.1 and also "Blues Time" for WDCB-FM 90.9 and introduced opening act Marcia Ball, said, "Blues is music that makes you feel good." "You get stories with the music and facts about life," he said. "It's the music of the people of Chicago, and it draws people together everywhere." Advertisement Paul Schwertfeger, of Oswego, said he has attended at least a dozen Blues on the Fox events, "even back in the day when they were held on the bridge. I think the event is much bigger now, and more people appreciate this music. This venue is close to home, and the quality here is always good." Felecia Harris, of Chicago, admitted that blues might not be more popular than pop or rock but it's almost the only music she knows. "I grew up in Chicago, and my parents were playing the blues at home since I was a baby," Harris said. "It's part of who I am. For those people who don't like it or understand it or think it's boring, they just haven't given it a chance." David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News. Associate Superintendent John Sparlin is only days away from taking the top job in Community Unit School District 308 and is preparing the next steps on special education and kindergarten initiatives. "I really think 308 has everything it needs to continue in the right direction and continue in the direction we're moving," he said. Advertisement Sparlin, who said he has always lived in the area, will take over the Oswego-based district's 21 schools and roughly 18,000 students after Superintendent Matthew Wendt leaves June 30. He will be in charge as the district searches for ways to close a projected budget gap, brings its special education program in-house and expands programs for English-language learners and gifted students. It also will be moving kindergarten classes from a largely central location to children's' home schools and redrawing school boundary lines to accommodate the change. He also wants to focus on providing opportunities for all students after high school. Districts often focus on college preparation, which he said is important, but he also wants to help students be successful in careers, trade schools, the military or other options. Advertisement Sparlin's contract runs through the end of June 2018 and sets his base salary at $200,000 during the first year of the contract and $205,000 the following year. Wendt is leaving in the middle of a five-year contract extension to take over Fayetteville Public Schools in northwest Arkansas. Sparlin, who was promoted to associate superintendent last year, said he is working with the school board to set priorities but will go forward on programs already started, such as AVID, which is designed to prepare students, particularly traditionally underrepresented students, for high school and afterward. The district is also working to expand dual credit and Advanced Placement offerings. The gifted education program is undergoing an overhaul following a 2014 audit, and the curriculum is under review. "Once you start something, you need to keep a constant focus on it to truly make it the best programs they can be," he said. Sparlin said one of the key moves next year will be the beginning of an in-house special education program, which he said will provide improved services. The district chose to leave the Kendall County Special Education Cooperative by the end of June, taking most of the co-op's students with it and leading the remaining members of the co-op to dissolve the organization in its current form. The district is bringing on a large number of co-op staff and crafting its own program. Sparlin also wants to focus on increasing training for teachers and other employees and pointed to the district's other top administrators as a key to its success. Several of those administrators will change next year after the school board approved promotions. Judy Minor, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning since 2013, will fill the associate superintendent vacancy left by Sparlin. Lisa Smith, formerly the executive director of elementary education, will become executive director for teaching and learning, and Melissa McDowell, formerly the assistant director of elementary education, will replace Smith and become the director of elementary education. McDowell's position will not be filled. "I believe in promoting from within," Sparlin said. "I think a district our size, we have so much talent that if we aren't able to promote for many positions, I think we're doing something wrong." Advertisement Among the challenges he listed was the process of redrawing boundary lines to make room for the kindergarten classes that will be moved to students' home schools. He called it a "big job" but said it is a positive move that allows kindergarten, first- and second-grade staff to work together and will help the district push off building another school until a later date. State education funding is another issue. "Until the state starts to fund education at the appropriate levels, we're going to continue to struggle in this area as a growing school district," he said. Sparlin said he has been meeting with groups, parent organizations and school staff and believes staff, leaders and the board of education are talented and supportive and community members and parents are actively involved. The district "has everything it needs to be great," he said. sfreishtat@tribpub.com Twitter @srfreish Are you looking for something to do outdoors this summer? Visit a state park. Have you been to the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park between Three Forks and Whitehall? President Theodore Roosevelt originally dedicated the caverns as a National Monument. But it was turned over to the state of Montana and became our first state park in 1941. These spectacular caverns lined with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and helictites that took thousands perhaps millions of years to form make it one of the largest known limestone caverns in the Northwest. Ask about the candle light tour, or the crawl tour which takes you to places rarely seen by any human being. Best ghost town Have you seen Bannack State Park where gold was discovered at Grasshopper Creek in 1862? Just 20 miles West of Dillon, it became the first capitol of Montana. Now it is the best ghost town in America. Walk on the boardwalks and visit each of the buildings on Main Street, some of the nearly 100 structures that still exist after 150 years. See how the material from the first Capitol building was used to make a barn out back. The old Masonic Hall and the old hotel are amazingly well preserved. If you go during the Bannack Days on the third weekend in July, you will see the whole town turn into a living history museum with re-enactments and horse drawn buggy rides. Have you seen Makoshika State Park in Glendive? Outdoor magazine called it one of Americas 10 least-known and under-appreciated state parks. It is our largest state park with spectacular badlands all around. At least 10 species of dinosaurs have been found there and Jack Hoerner says we have barely scratched the surface in terms of what is really there. Be sure to see some of the bones and displays in the museum at the visitors center. 'Fantastically beautiful' And while you are in the neighborhood, slip down to Ekalaka and visit Medicine Rocks State Park. Teddy Roosevelt called it As fantastically beautiful a place as I have ever seen. Be sure to go on the path around to the south side of the rocks so you can see the ancient Indian pictographs and the many carvings into the sandstone of early cowboys and farmers. At the turn of the century, one early homesteader carved a picture of his sweetheart in the sandstone. Have you been to First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park (formerly known as Ulm Pushkin) just a few miles South of Great Falls? This is where bison were stampeded over the mile long cliff for hundreds of years starting 1,000 years ago. It was a major gathering point for Indians from all tribes, particularly before horses were introduced which resulted in the Indian tribes warring against each other. The cliff is in all directions from the top, almost 360 degrees and amazingly undetectable from the top. The new visitors' center has great panoramas of Indian life, a great deal of information on all Montanas tribes, and one of the best book stores on Montana history in the entire state. Of course, when you are in Great Falls you must see Giant Springs State Park. Eighteen giant springs bubble up to form the Roe River, which Guinness Book of World Records once called the shortest big river in the world. It certainly impressed Lewis and Clark when they visited it in 1805. Have you seen the Rosebud Battlefield State Park between Busby and Decker? Did you know this battle was the largest commitment of American troops in any Indian battle anywhere? They fought for half a day and both sides claimed victory. Actually, that is true. Also, it is probably one of the best preserved battlefields in the country because so little has changed since the battle took place just eight days before Lt. Col. George Custer lost his life at the Little Bighorn. Consider doing as I and many others do: Set as a goal the visitation of each of Montanas 55 state parks. Remember, because you have paid $6 when you licensed your automobile, all state parks are free to Montana residents to visit. To learn more: For each park, click on Visit a Park at stateparks@mt.gov. Download a free app, Montana State Parks by Pocket Ranger. Or get the Complete Guide and Travel Companion, Montana State Parks, by Erin Madison and Kristen Inbody. You will be surprised what Montana has to offer. Have a great summer outdoors. Members of Legacy Vets motorcycle club of Ft. Worth Texas attended the Veterans' Suicide public hearing in Sugar Grove. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News) Andy Weiss said his son completed three tours in Afghanistan and was preparing for his fourth deployment when he died from suicide. "I knew there were risks associated with serving," the Naperville father said. "They told me my son died from suicide. I thought it was not possible." Advertisement Weiss shared his story during a recent meeting of a Task Force on Veterans' Suicide at Waubonsee Community College. The group has held a series of public hearings inviting veterans and their families to speak openly. The seven-member panel headed by state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, convened Wednesday at the Sugar Grove campus to gather information on how the state can improve the lives of veterans and connect them with resources for assistance. Advertisement Kifowit co-sponsored legislation creating the group, which will submit a report to the Illinois General Assembly by the end of the year. Andy Weiss, of Naperville, testifies before the Task Force on Veterans' Suicide on behalf of his son who died from suicide in March 2012. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News) Andy Weiss said son 1st Lt. Daniel A. Weiss enlisted in the U.S. Army infantry at age 17. His death March 4, 2012, at age 25 suddenly thrust his father into having "to grapple with the stigmas" associated with suicide, he said. "I thought suicide wasn't possible in my family. It's possible in any family," Weiss said. Weiss inherited his son's journals and said he began to read how "the stigma was in his mind." "Service members do not want to sacrifice their mission," he said. He said he now believes mental health care should be provided equally as physical health care to military personnel. "My son didn't know enough to get the proper help for his mental health," Weiss said. "His physical well-being was absolutely looked after." Weiss said he's learned that suicide risks increase when a military comrade dies from suicide. Advertisement "I found my son's battle brothers suffer horrendously because of those kinds of deaths. I have learned so many things that I didn't know existed. I am now left with trying to figure out how to save the lives of others," he said. "The way to begin is to break down stigmas," he said. Max Ludwig, 66, of Aurora, said he enlisted in the Army in 1969 and served 26 months in Vietnam. He spoke with emotion about how difficult it was to make the transition from the military to civilian life. A task force headed by State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, aimed at preventing suicides among veterans convened at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove. Kifowit listens to testimony from veterans and family members of veterans. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News) "Back then, if you talked about how you felt, you were not a man. There was no help," he said. "All I wanted was the hurt to go away." Ludwig said he eventually reached out to a crisis hotline. "I came to understand I am worth something," he said. Ludwig said he is receiving counseling that is helping him. Kifowit, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, described the task force's work as a fact-finding mission to ultimately find ways to help veterans and their families. Advertisement "We have been hearing the only way to break that stigma is to talk about it and get it out. We appreciate all testimony," Kifowit said. Robert Delaune said he came from Fort Worth, Texas, with members of the Legacy Vets motorcycle club to share his story and hopefully begin a similar task force in his area. "I am just now seeing what is available, how the system is broken and how it failed me. I applaud what you are doing. We are ready to work to save vets," said Delaune, who said he's been out of the military for four years. Kifowit asked the veteran what motivated him to get help. "I couldn't do it to my family. Seeing the pain of what suicide does to the family is absolutely a game changer," he said. A seven-member task force aimed at preventing suicides among veterans convened recently in Sugar Grove. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News) Panelists included Jennifer Martin of the Illinois Department of Public Health; state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park;, state Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton; retired Lt. Col. Paul Schimpf, of Columbia, Ill.; Tom Miller of Illinois Joining Forces; and Illinois Army National Guard chaplain Lt. Col. Steve Foster, of Springfield. Advertisement "In the military there is a code of loyalty which is essentially a code of silence. We're changing the definition of loyalty to mean no one is left behind," Foster said. The task force also met in Grayslake, River Grove, Springfield and Belleville. Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News. Martin Luna, founder of Simply Destinee dance studio, believes Aurora is not ready for a more visible LGBT presence. (Denise Crosby, The Beacon-News) Even while investigators continue to sort out the motivation behind last Sunday's bloody carnage in an Orlando gay nightclub, our eyes have all been forced open wider to safety issues confronting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Martin Luna has been aware of those fears for a while now. Advertisement The first time I met the now 32-year-old Aurora man who came out to his parents at age 14 he was fiercely protecting a gay East High student who had just been released from the hospital after a severe beating that police were investigating as a possible hate crime. Luna was trying to get a dance troupe off the ground called Simply Destinee that he hoped would double as a safe haven for local youths dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts or being bullied and otherwise marginalized. Advertisement Since that day a few years ago, the dance troupe, despite growing pains of its own, has taken off in this community that seems to have embraced the not-for-profit that has become a popular mentoring program. Still, despite what he described as a large and growing gay population in Aurora, Luna expressed concerns at how other residents would react to a more open LGBT presence. Going out to eat in a downtown restaurant, "we don't feel comfortable expressing ourselves," Luna said of himself and his partner, who he plans to marry in October. "We don't hold hands. We don't sit around and act like a couple for fear of how we could be treated." Despite Aurora's status as the second-largest city in Illinois, he believes there are no gay clubs here because "Aurora is not ready" for a more visible LGBT presence. Even during Gay Pride Month, he noted, "there's not a lot going on out here." Police Chief Kristin Ziman, however, respectfully disagrees with that assessment. Ziman, who blended her family with that of fellow Officer Chris Tunney in a 2013 civil ceremony, notes "there was a time in the '90s and early 2000s when there were active gay clubs in Aurora" but that the city "is beyond the need" for such an exclusive club. Those clubs, she said, emerged as safe havens for residents ostracized from mainstream society who felt they were the only places they could "authentically be themselves." Advertisement But that changed dramatically, Ziman said, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriages as constitutional. That's when LGBT people "felt validated and whole, and began coming out of their proverbial closets and live out loud," she said. Aurora Police Chief Kristin Ziman believes, "weve all assimilated well in our diverse and welcoming community without any issues, (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News) That's also when mainstream society began to see gay people "are just as normal as everyone else who wants to live, work and raise a family in a safe community," Ziman said. In 2011, she said, the U.S. Census showed 463 same-sex households in Aurora, an 80 percent increase over 2010 and a number that likely has grown today. "That tells me we've all assimilated well in our diverse and welcoming community without any issues," Ziman said. "LGBT couples live in our neighborhoods and work in our city and patronize our downtown. And the integration has been seamless from my vantage point as a resident and police officer." Ziman said no one's concerns should ever be invalidated, which is "precisely why we want to know about any threats perpetuated by hatred and prejudice." While Luna agrees progress has been made, he still insists the community could benefit from a more visible LGBT presence; and that gay residents, banding together, should hold their own events so more Aurorans realize they are a viable and positive part of the Fox Valley. Advertisement "There's been talk about holding a social event of some kind here," he said, adding that one idea that is generating interest is a gay prom next year. Aurora police Detective Lee Catavu, a graduate of St. Edward High School in Elgin who came out as a gay officer a decade ago while working for Huntley and now serves as APD liaison for the LGBT community here, adamantly insists "every day is getting better." Yet he also understands the frustrations of those like Luna who want a venue where they can go and socialize and feel perfectly comfortable. "We need to continue to work toward that ideal, where none of us need to segregate ourselves," Catavu said, "where everyone feels respected being who they are, no matter where they are." Coming Monday: How one police department's "hidden secret" is quietly going about alleviating fears and breaking down prejudices in the LGBT community. dcrosby@tribpub.com During public comments at every board meeting over the past several months, numerous Lincoln-Way High School students and parents have been critical of the board of education and administration. But Thursday night, Lincoln-Way East junior Sabrina Corsetti urged the community to stop fighting and come together as the district goes through the difficult transition from reducing four high schools to three. Advertisement In her brief statement to the board, Corsetti said teenagers need role models to teach them how to deal with the "unpredictability of life with strength and enthusiasm." "Unfortunately, the Lincoln-Way community is sorely lacking in optimism as we face the schools' realignment in the upcoming year," she said. Advertisement While student groups have been formed to create a "warm environment for all students," the "perpetual resistance of the community, especially and shamefully that of many of the parents" has negatively seeped into the student body, Corsetti said. Such negativity has formed barriers that "may prove difficult to overcome," she continued. "This friction is harmful to students as it has taught them to turn away from each other rather than reach out and help each other move forward," Corsetti said. "The situation has become absurd." "The solution is not to dig in our heels and battle each other but join together and stop embarrassing ourselves in this fruitless feud," she said. "It's up to the community to channel this fervor and put its best foot forward as we unite for this upcoming school year." Corsetti made school history when she achieved a perfect score of 36 on her ACT test, which she took as a freshman in 2015. slafferty@tribpub.com Commonwealth Edison will return in August as an electricity supplier for Oak Forest residents in a plan approved by the City Council. By a 7-0 vote, the council agreed Tuesday to drop First Energy, an Akron, Ohio-based company, it switched to in 2014 for lower electrical rates. Advertisement Under electric deregulation state laws three years ago, municipalities were allowed to negotiate on behalf of residents with private companies. Communities could seek lower base rates for residents by presenting them as a large package of customers. Ultimately, such arrangements could result in lower electricity bills for residents. Oak Forest transferred its residents to First Energy Corp., which offered to provide electrical power at a rate of 6.92 cents per kilowatt hour. Advertisement First Energy had a contract to provide electrical power at that rate for a three-year period running through next year. But Oak Forest could opt out of the deal if Commonwealth Edison offered lower rates. Back in March, the council voted to retain First Energy at a rate of 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour, which was the Ohio company's response to Commonwealth Edison offer to drop rates for Oak Forest residents to 6.63 cents per kilowatt hour. But since then, Commonwealth Edison offered to drop rates even lower to 6.27 cents per kilowatt hour. . That resulted in the City Council's vote on Tuesday to revert back to Commonwealth Edison although city Administrator Troy Ishler said there are provisions allowing residents to shop themselves around to other companies if they think they can get a better individual rate. Ishler said that Oak Forest residents clearly benefited financially from the previous deal with First Energy, saving overall $2.765 million in electricity bills during a two year period. "The process became a back-and-forth regarding the rates, but it did what we wanted it to do, it gave us lower utility bills," Ishler said. Firefighters in Oak Forest will receive pay raises in each of the next four years, along with additional time off and additional money deposited into an account for their benefit after they retire. Those were among the terms of a four-year contract negotiated by city officials and Firefighters Union Local 3039 that was approved Tuesday by the City Council. Advertisement Aldermen voted unanimously in favor of the contract that has previously been approved last week by the firefighters union membership. There was no public discussion by aldermen about the contract prior to the 7-0 vote being taken. City Administrator Troy Ishler said negotiations toward a new contract, which is retroactive to May 1 and runs through April 30, 2020, began back in March. He also said both sides were able to reach agreement without many complications. Advertisement "They were peaceful, they were professional," Ishler said of the talks, which included having 5th Ward Ald. James Emmett and 6th Ward Ald. James Hortsman negotiate for the city. Under terms of the contract, firefighters will receive 2.5 percent pay raises for each of the four years, retroactive to May 1. The average Oak Forest firefighter earns about $45,000 a year. Also, 1 percent of each firefighters gross salary will be diverted into a new account that will provide additional financial benefits for the firefighters upon their retirement. Driver position incentives will increase from $.36 per hour to $.50. Firefighters will be granted one additional day per year designated as a "Kelly Day," which is a paid day off from work of their choice, in addition to the official holidays already recognized by the Fire Department. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Ishler also said that firefighters will receive an extra four hours off for a safety incentive. Existing city policy is to give a day off of eight hours for each 24-hour shift they work. In other business, aldermen held off on approving three ordinances related to extending the life of a tax increment finance district centered around 159th Street and Cicero Avenue. Advertisement The ordinances had been placed on the City Council's agenda for Tuesday's meeting, but related legislation approved by the General Assembly this spring is still pending before Gov. Bruce Rauner. Mayor Henry Kuspa said he had thought Rauner would have given approval to the state legislation by now. . Second Ward Ald. Richard Simon suggested having the council approve the ordinances contingent on Rauner's eventual approval, but Kuspa said he was "not comfortable" doing that. Community Development Director Adam Dotson said the city government would gain a tax break if they could approve the ordinances prior to June 30. He also suggested that the council hold a special meeting to consider the issue if Rauner acts favorably toward the state legislation prior to that date. But the council did vote without opposition to approving Frank Fiore and Joseph Koce as new part-time apartment inspectors for Oak Forest, along with Judith Mundinger as a new streetscape commission member. I truly see an urgent need to elect Donald Trump as president Of The United States Of America. He speaks with much more gravity, clarity and understanding of problems facing our nation while offering very practical solutions. That is unlike President Obama and Hilary Clinton, who are in a very deep level of denial of the vexing problems facing our country, offering no clear cut solutions to our circumstances. Trump talks in a very straight, forthright and extremely blunt manner. There is no confusion as to his stance involving any issue. After listening to either Obama or Clinton spew their rehearsed politically correct talking points, I honestly question who ties their shoelaces. Much of the lame-stream media are in the bag for Hillary, reporting her rhetoric and downright proven lies as truths. Hillary backers are the type that would rush to read a headline like "Headless Body Found In Topless Bar." Younger voters know nothing of the many reported Clinton scandals while Bill and Hillary were living in both the Governor's Mansion in Arkansas and the White House. Even before Slick Willy Clinton admitted his involvement with Monica Lewinski, Hillary formally pronounced Clinton's involvement as a vast right-wing conspiracy. Advertisement The media questions Trump's daughter Ivanka how her dad treats women, yet they never ask the Clinton's daughter Chelsea the very same question. Does anyone else detect a double standard involving presidential candidates? Bob Pritchard, Homer Glen Advertisement Budget stand was bold As a constituent of the 49th Senate District, I was confused to hear the Illinois Republican Party claim State Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, D-Shorewood, supported the "Madigan budget" introduced several weeks ago. The fact she did not support a budget her own party leaders proposed should not only be noted, but applauded. We need leaders to stand up for what is right, and vote with their constituents in mind rather than party leaders. Thank you, Jennifer. Malcolm Tushton, Bolingbrook 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. I see that the Village of Tinley Park has installed extensive landscaping along the ditch on 76th Avenue, between 159th and 167th streets. There are bushes, flowers and trees. I wonder how much this cost and the cost to maintain it. They even have people out there with weed wackers. A ditch is a ditch. Most communities just put grass along the ditch. Why do we need flowers and bushes which block the vision of drivers? Who sold these things to the village? Also, why do need trees on Harlem Avenue? Isn't grass enough? Tinley Park Advertisement In regards to the incident at the Cincinnati Zoo: I'm so upset. What was wrong with that mother? She should be the one that got tranquilized or shot, or they could have tranquilized the kid that got in the enclosure. The gorilla would've thought the boy was dead and left him alone. It's so sad. That gorilla was doing nothing. He lived to be 17 years old. He was an endangered silverback. There would've had to have been some other way than to kill a poor, innocent animal over some stupid human's irresponsibility and not watching their kids. I am so upset about this. Like I said, they better start changing the rules and get these kids under control. Pat, Chicago Ridge Advertisement I've been trying for a long time to get an appointment with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doctors, but they won't give me a morning appointment. The specialist only works in the afternoon. I spent two years in the military service fighting for this country. Why can't doctors change their hours a little for servicemen? He's not giving anything at all. He's afraid of losing his business customers in the morning, but he's got a locked-in audience in the afternoon. There are some people who cannot make that afternoon scheduling. I'm sorry it's such an inconvenience to him. I was in the service fighting for this country for two years and he can't change hours a couple of days a week? Some people question presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's ability to be president because of his background. I don't see how anyone can ask that question that voted for President Barack Obama, a community organizer who was groomed through the political ranks of the Chicago machine to be a state senator, a U.S. senator and, finally, the epitome of a leader. He's never led anything in his life. Trump has run businesses successfully. He's made hard decisions. Yes, he sounds off a lot. He'll have to learn how to temper that down. That's what advisers are for. Anyone who tries to say Trump doesn't have abilities to be president should look at what abilities and accomplishments the current president has. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Tom, Oak Lawn I'm not a Chicago Cubs fan. The Cubs need to follow the example of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup how many times, but yet they're still gentlemen. They know how to act like gentlemen, and they're very polite. They're not arrogant jerks like the Cubs are; like how the Cubs think they're infallible. The only thing I could say to the Cubs is: Wait until October to fall again, and you will because there is only one person who's infallible. Keep that in mind. I've got a question. What's the difference between leaving your child in a car and letting your kid wander in a zoo and end up in the gorilla exhibit? Well, one big difference is there's a gorilla dead at the Cincinnati Zoo because a 3-year-old ended up in the gorilla enclosure. Those parents ought to be put in prison. They're not parents. They're knuckleheads. Jimbo, Chicago Heights I'm a concerned citizen. What a joke this comedian Bill Cosby is. All of a sudden now he can't walk without help? Why? Because he got caught doing what he's done for years? Somebody finally took somebody serious. This man is an alleged, no-good rapist, and he's trying to get sympathy by saying he's going blind. Well, it's funny that he could see plenty to allegedly rape these women. He deserves to rot in prison. What's Speak Out? Advertisement 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. So now we have John McCain jumping aboard the Delusional Donald bandwagon blaming the mass murders in Orlando on President Obama because he brought troops home from the Middle East. Why not blame the American people who twice voted for Obama, many because he said he would bring our troops home? Better yet, why not blame the neocons who surrounded President Bush and the lies they pushed in congressional hearings that led us into war in Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, when the Afghan incursion to find bin Laden was going nowhere? Simple-minded rhetoric does nothing to solve complex problems that have been with us for the past 15 years. El, Hegewisch Advertisement To all the people calling for stricter gun control laws I ask this: Is there not already a law that says you should not kill people? If people will not follow the "Thou shalt not kill" law, what makes you think they are going to follow gun laws? John, Orland Park Advertisement Retired teacher Lena Condic stated in her letter that "teachers are not the cause of state budget crisis." Teachers in and by themselves are not the cause, but the simple math shows their retirement packages must be changed because they are not sustainable. A teacher retiring the first eligible year at age 56 will put into their fund anywhere between $190,000 and $230,000 over their 34-year career, depending on their salaries. If this very teacher lives to age 82, they will take out of the tax trough over $2 million. Not even Warren Buffet can do this, unless he can just raise all of his neighbors' taxes whenever he needs more money. BJ, Frankfort Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton keep attacking Donald Trump but Americans are not being slaughtered under a Donald Trump administration. Americans are being slaughtered under the Barack Obama administration. Burbank I'm in my upper 70s and have delivered and/or read the Southtown (Economist) for more than 65 years. Your re-arrangement of the comic section greatly saddens many who look forward to the daily banter of Earl and Pearl of "Pickles" as well as "Marmaduke," "Hi & Lois" and "Beetle Bailey." What were you thinking? I'll bet your "bottom line" has much to do with it. When speaking with friends, we all agree that you have replaced quality, long-standing comic strips with those of poor quality that appear to be drawn by 5-year-olds. We want our "old friends" back. Our friends in senior living facilities look forward to "Pickles" every day. John, Monee If you want four to eight more years of what just happened at the Pulse club in Orlando, Fla. then vote for Hillary Clinton. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > BBK Advertisement Please return "Marmaduke" to the comic pages. He makes my day. Dorothy, Alsip America, can we agree since 1791, when the Second Amendment was ratified, circumstances in the United States of America were vastly different. Muskets had to be manually loaded for each shot vs today's semi-automatic assault weapons that shoot 50-60 bullets per minute. The Second Amendment was not written for citizens to be able to buy and own weapons of that magnitude. Maybe a handgun, but not semi-automatic assault weapons. Trump is going to meet with the NRA to discuss gun rights for terror suspects. Doesn't he know that Diane Feinstein has already introduced legislation that would prevent people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. The legislation failed. And guess who voted against it the Republicans who are backed by the NRA. Kay, Mokena 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. A study by an architectural historian will determine if a roundabout can be constructed to help improve traffic flow at the Washington and Main intersection in Carpentersville. "The solution is not confirmed the roundabout will be the answer, but we're going through the (Illinois Department of Transportation) federal application process to look at getting funding for either/or," Carpentersville Village Manager Mark Rooney said. "We know if we do a roundabout, there's more area that gets changed physically." Advertisement Village Board members approved a memorandum of agreement June 7 with the Federal Highway Administration, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and IDOT to move forward with the study. Other alternatives being considered for the intersection include vehicular restrictions, such as adding signage, right turn lanes or traffic signals. Advertisement HR Green consultants said that on average about 17,900 vehicles travel on Main Street daily and between 6,700 and 7,900 on Washington Street. In 2011, Carpentersville received a grant from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning to help draft a long-range plan for the Old Town area. The plan, adopted by village officials in July 2012, identified the need for improved traffic flow at the intersection. In early 2015, CMAP recommended a roundabout based on surveys, residents and stakeholders, and an analysis of the area. CMAP officials said roundabouts force drivers to travel at lower speeds 15 to 20 mph to allow for merges into circulating traffic. Rooney said there likely would be more state and federal grant funding available for that option "because there's less cost to the maintenance of a roundabout than traffic lights, which have electricity," he said. "But we're continuing to study the options." Erin Sauder is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News. Andres Torres, an outreach associate for CMAP, addresses the crowd during a workshop at Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin on Thursday. (Megann Horstead, The Courier-News) Many think of change not only as a product of chance but also design. That's where the discussion began during a Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning workshop on Thursday at Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin. Advertisement Planning for change requires the regional planning agency, known as CMAP, to research any existing problems, work to create solutions and collaborate with others to form a plan. "The goal of agencies like ours not just in our region but at the local and the county level is to make sure that change as it comes is beneficial," said Andres Torres, an outreach associate for CMAP. "Even if change brings it challenges, (planning ensures) that we are positioned to overcome those challenges. That is why we do a lot of planning at multiple levels." Advertisement The workshop was one of several first steps in the agency's effort to develop and adopt the new ON TO 2050 comprehensive plan, which will serve residents and stakeholders in the northeastern Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. In October 2018, the ON TO 2050 comprehensive plan must be adopted for the region. In March, CMAP started the researching process. Since that time, Torres said the planning agency has met with 6,000 people, hosted more than 100 events and reached out to the communities in the region both digitally and in person. As an example, Torres noted the agency's mission to examine the effectiveness of the Fox River's connection to the various developments in neighboring communities, including Elgin. He said people will often understand what they're experiencing most easily at the local level. That's not always the case, Torres pointed out. "But there are some challenges that we can't tackle as a municipality changes like in the environmental scale, economic scale," he said. "Some of these need to be coordinated taking into account how other municipalities near you, how counties that are maybe a couple counties away how they're changing what policies they're implementing because those can ultimately affect what your daily life is like." He said the ON TO 2050 comprehensive plan holds benefits to stakeholders in terms of providing a foundation for policies and guidance on land use, transportation plans and the way in which communities are interconnected. In northeastern Illinois, there are 284 municipalities, seven counties and 8.5 million people. Advertisement At the workshop, many participants expressed their top concern for regional planning being economic development. Denise Raleigh, a spokeswoman for the library, said that's where the role of the library enters the discussion on bringing change to the region. "By virtue of our partnership and outreach, we relish the opportunity," she said. The library started hosting a program called Manufacturing Your Future the past three years. In it, Raleigh said, community youths were educated on various jobs made available to them. "We want to help where we can," she said. "We have trained professional staff and resources." Raleigh said when the community succeeds economically, that changes life in the region, and the library is responsive to that. Advertisement "We are part of the life here," she said. For information on CMAP, go to www.cmap.illinois.gov. Megann Horstead is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News. Build the bridge: Here in Dundee, there is way too much traffic going across the Fox River. We absolutely need the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge to alleviate the traffic. Please do not let the people who are against it fool you. We need this bridge. Going across an abandoned cornfield and an abandoned gravel pit is not the tragedy that some people make it out to be. Jerry Springer mindset: The people demanding $15-an-hour wages want to live as good as they did before they were forced off of welfare. It's the "Jerry Springer Show" mindset running wild. Thank you, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, for beginning this great society 50 years ago. Advertisement Senior college costs: Seniors, your real estate taxes are due. You have paid thousands of dollars over the years to Elgin Community College. Past ECC boards recognized your support by giving tuition exemptions to seniors. The current board canceled this policy. Seniors feel they have earned the exemption through years of tax support. Seniors don't bump regular students. They only fill empty chairs. Seniors are not an expense. Social security payments have not gone up, but taxes and living expenses sure have. This is another case of working people paying but getting nothing in return. Seniors are not asking for a freebie. They have paid their dues. Seniors just want to be treated fairly. Immigration situation: Although immigration has been massive in Aurora over the last 40 years, I have never felt intimidated like Davy Crockett and the 170-plus surrounded by 5,000. Advertisement Kudos to Coddington: When someone catalogs Aurora's treasures, put Charles Coddington at the top of the list. When he worked at the old library and you needed a question answered, you asked him. He was a library within a library. Fed up with fireworks: I want to comment on the caller who minimized what Elgin residents went through last year on the Fourth of July, the days before and the days after. For her to bring up people not maintaining their homes, that's a separate issue. That's apples and oranges. The city can try to stop illegal fireworks and also ask people to maintain their homes. My two pets and I went through sonic light booms and my yard being lit up like lightning last year. The noise was unbearable. Nobody has a right to do that to me and my terrified animals. She should have lived in my neighborhood last year. Stand up for police: To the person who thinks the Village of Pingree Grove does not need a police force because all they do are write tickets on Route 20, you need to take a ride-along, especially on a late Friday or Saturday night, with the officers who respond to domestic calls or the automobile accidents. Or how about the ones who keep your loved ones alive until the EMTs get there or save the life of an unresponsive child? I support these officers. Yes, they write tickets during their downtime. You put that badge on during their busy time. If you can't put the badge on and do what they do, then zip it shut. Troubled about transgenders: People who are depressed or having a hard time in life mentally are told to go to a professional for help, but I don't hear anyone telling transgenders to get help. I'm not a professional, but these people need help. It involves more than changing clothes and hormones. Simply dressing like the opposite sex and using their bathrooms doesn't get to the heart of the matter. Turning illegal into legal: Here's new revenue for financially strapped Illinois: medical marijuana. How soon before we have medical cocaine and heroin? The old mafia must be green with envy. This is how abortion became legal 43 years ago. It was only to be performed in cases of rape and/or incest. Sixty million abortions later, there must have been a lot of cases of rape and/or incest. Thank you, Supreme Court. The words we want to hear: Whether Donald Trump is full of baloney or not, we will see. He says what shamed Americans long to hear. We cater to criminals. We do not want to insult the Mideast. It's like the Old West movies when a pacifist goes off to speak with warring Native Americans. The Bible speaks of our nation at this time: "They shall lose pride in their power." Lock up gang members: Chicago, put gang shooters in prison. Don't release them until they are old men. It worked during Aurora's cold case roundup 10 years back. These idiots do not fear death, but lifelong prison sentences are another story. Build larger prisons. Make them self-supporting. Physical work will be a large deterrent to most. Cut the cronyism: Let's allow Gov. Rauner do the job he was voted in to do by the people of Illinois and not let Madigan or Cullerton run the state by their cronyism. Enough said. Advertisement Bring back parade: I would like to say that years ago, there used to be such a nice parade for Memorial Day in Elgin that would start at Huff Elementary School and end up by Bluff City Cemetery. Why don't they have that anymore? Why did they give it up? Advice for burger flippers: This is about the $15 an hour wages that the McDonald's employees insist they deserve. Here is a bit of advice. If you think you are worth more than $15 an hour, why don't you find a job that pays that much? You agreed to take the job for the salary you are getting, so don't badger a good company for your unreasonable demands. You are very blessed. Many have never worked for a company that offered to pay for their continuing education. Find the exit door if you don't like what you are getting. Longing for Longmeadow Bridge: Aha, the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge foes are at it again. They are lashing out at Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen this time. Those of us who live in the little communities along Illinois 72, 25 and 31 are at the breaking point with the deluge of traffic that we must experience every day. It's interesting that these small communities were in place decades before these new developments that are creating such a mess. I would invite the bridge foes to take a long walk along Main Street in West Dundee early in the morning or late in the afternoon when their best buddies from the western developments are making their chaotic way through our towns. Have you noticed the poor condition of our major roads from all this traffic? Are you going to blame Lauzen for that? How about the pollution and exhaust fumes? You complain that the forest preserve will be divided, but the Longmeadow bridge was in the plans long before the land was purchased for that preserve. When the straw poll vote was taken, 6,000 people out west opposed the bridge. Now that number is 9,000. Who is doing the counting this time? Sounds like a little monkey business when people aren't getting their way. We applaud the Longmeadow Parkway project. Full speed ahead. 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. In the tumultuous days during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in downtown Chicago, when clashes between protesters and law enforcement drew worldwide attention, Alan Kebby was watching. Kebby lived close to a temporary National Guard camp in his hometown of suburban Bellwood, and as the fighting played out, he and four of his friends were intrigued by the work of the officers. Advertisement "Every night we would see those guys come back to that camp bloodied and battered," Kebby remembered. "There was a group of us that I grew up with, and basically we decided law enforcement is something we would like to do." Now 58, Kebby deputy chief of Glencoe's Public Safety Department is in the final weeks of a 36-year career with the village as he heads into retirement, with plans to spend more time with his two children and two grandchildren. Advertisement Kebby said he's seen the best and worst in people, and "nothing surprises me in my career; I've seen it all." But he's leaving with great affection for his department. "It is a family operation, and it is going to be hard to walk out the door," he said. "Most of the officers here are here not just for five years; they are (here) for 25 to 30 years. That says a lot about the organization, as we don't have turnover." Kebby arrived in Glencoe in 1980 and rose through the ranks, serving under eight village managers and five police chiefs, he said. For several months in 2013, he was the acting chief before the current chief, Cary Lewandowski, took over. "He has been a great asset to me," Lewandowski said. "He is a walking historical resource for the village, as well as the public safety department. As things have come up throughout my time here, if I have a question, I go to Al and he usually has the answer, or at least he knows where to find the answer." Kebby came to the village after hearing about Glencoe at a career day at Western Illinois University. An aunt in Northbrook also told him about a "beautiful village to the east that would be a nice place to work," he said. Kebby was also intrigued that the village had public safety officers who serve multiple roles as police, paramedics and firefighters - as opposed to other communities where those jobs are performed by employees dedicated to one of those roles. Glencoe is the only municipality in Illinois that has a fully integrated, crosstrained police department, according to Kebby. "There's a mutual respect between us and the residents, because they realize that (they) may get a ticket from me today, but I may be the same person tomorrow that comes to their house when it is on fire and keeps their house from burning down," Kebby said. He said the responsibilities for police have changed during his career. Kebby remembers, in his early days, doing ink finger prints on an individual and thinking he would be lucky to get results back in two to three weeks to find out if that person had used a fictitious name. Today, he said, officers can have a nationwide criminal history within 20 minutes. Advertisement But Kebby said the list of concerns for officers has grown. "When I started, you didn't have to worry about weapons of mass destruction," he said. "We didn't drive around with radioactive detectors in our squad cars, and we didn't have special suits that we have to wear in case there is a dirty bomb." One incident from his tenure that still sticks with him took place in May 1988, when Glencoe resident Laurie Dann entered a Winnetka school and shot five children one fatally before taking a family hostage and shooting another person before she committed suicide. Like so many other law enforcement personnel from neighboring communities, Kebby was called on that day to assist, and 28 years later, he still focuses on the 8-year-old boy whose life was taken. "There's not a day we don't think about Nicky Corwin," Kebby said. He said being a police officer in Glencoe doesn't present the same daily challenges that officers in Chicago and some other communities might encounter, but he reminds his officers to always behave professionally. Advertisement "I just tell my officers to assume that any time you deal with the public, you are being audiotaped or videotaped, so keep it professional or respectful," Kebby said. "Unless someone is fighting with you or threatening you, there is no reason you can't treat your average criminal with respect or dignity." Speaking days after the mass shooting in Orlando that killed 49 people, Kebby said he doesn't believe that changing existing gun laws is the answer to gun violence. "There are plenty of laws on the books," he said. "The focus should be on enforcing those laws and the courts giving the sentences that are required by law. We need a little tune-up in the criminal justice system as far as enforcement and sentencing, and I think it is coming. It is just a matter of time." Meanwhile, Kebby emphasized his love for the village where he has been invited to block parties, and said he has never had to deal with political interference. "It's been a great career and I am going to miss the people I work with, and I don't plan on being a stranger," he said. Kebby hasn't ruled out the idea of working in law enforcement in another community, but stresses he wants to travel more and pursue his interest in the historic preservation of railroad equipment by spending time at Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Ill. Also, the longtime Chicago Cubs season ticket holder is hoping to see his team capture that elusive World Series title in 2016. Advertisement "It's one thing to retire when you hate your job. It's another thing to retire when you love your job," Kebby said. "It's been a great 36 years." Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press North Chicago police are looking for two men allegedly connected to a gang-related shooting that left a 3-year-old girl injured, police said. Police obtained arrest warrants Friday for Offiel Duffie, 19, and Torrey Lendell Tyler, 23, North Chicago police Sgt. Freddrick Diez said. Advertisement Duffie and Tyler are wanted in connection with a shooting that happened about 11:40 a.m. June 7 near 13th Street and Victoria Avenue, police said. Duffie was shot in the leg during the attack, which also left the 3-year-old girl injured. Police had said it was unclear if the girl suffered a graze wound or if she fell and scrapped her leg. Advertisement Diez said described the shooting as a gang-related retribution attack. Both men were charged with multiple counts related to the shooting, Diez said. Duffie was also charged with aggravated possession of a weapon by a felon, police said. Bond was set at $500,000 for both men. Anyone with information about their whereabouts are asked to contact the North Chicago Police Department at (847) 596-8774. emcoleman@tribpub.com Twitter @mekcoleman In the beginning, it was just Sonja, Derek and Ethel. That's Sonja and Derek Kassebaum, the husband and wife team that co-founded and co-owns North Shore Distillery in Green Oaks. Ethel is their handmade, custom-designed still, capable of making up to 60 gallons at a time of the Kassebaum's brand of artisan spirits. Advertisement And they're still together, doing what they do best, in a brand new, twice-as-large location, having relocated a block from their original distillery after 11 years in the business. You can see them there, if you're lucky (Ethel for sure), when the company restarts its thrice-weekly tours June 23. Though, as North Shore's business has grown, so has its modest-sized staff, who sometimes help out as tour guides Illinois had craft breweries by the bazillions back in 2004, but no one thought to create a craft distillery until the Kassebaum's decided to give it a try. For them, it was a natural decision, for various reasons. They had already had careers in chemical engineering (Derek) and law (Sonja) and they were looking for a business that would not only be fun, but personally satisfying as well. And they both happened to seriously appreciate fine spirits and cocktails. Advertisement "We have a passion for it," Sonja said. "It's just something we love. "The thing about a great cocktail is that it can be an experience in a glass just like a great dish. All of the components come together to make something special, if the ingredients are right. It's kind of like good cooking, but in drinkable form." So Derek designed Ethel and ordered it from a company in Germany and after much legal rigmarole, North Shore Distillery, the first of its kind in the state, opened its doors. Not without a certain risk factor, however. For example, the Kassebaums weren't able to try out their scheme on their own at home to make sure the results would be as delicious as they imagined them to be. "That would have been a felony," Sonja laughed. "You can make beer and wine at home, but if you make liquor, you're committing a felony." So, the venture called for a certain leap of faith. How much of a leap? Well, there were roughly 60 craft distilleries operating in the United States when the Kassebaum's opened North Shore. Now, 12 years later, there are 1,300, with more are expected by the end of the year. "It was sort of the next frontier after craft beer," Sonja said, that had all the risk factors of any frontier operation. When North Shore began, it was strictly limited to being a wholesale business. No consumer operations were allowed. Advertisement When Illinois' next craft distillery opened, however, about six years ago, the Kassebaum's worked with its management to get a bill passed to allow them to open a tasting room, to give classes and tours and all the other fun activities on the consumer side of their business. All of which grew easier, more business-friendly, as craft distilleries proliferated in the state. However North Shore differs in a significant way from most of its larger competitors, some of them distilling up to 100,000 gallons a year and distributing to 30 states. "That's just not us, though," Sonja said. "That's not what we're about. We aim to make spirits that are not possible on a mass-production scale, according to our own preferences." Preference number one, it seems, is fresh, natural ingredients. "At a large-scale distillery, you take vodka and put a lab-made flavoring in it," she explained. "Whereas we actually put hand-peeled oranges and lemons and limes and fresh chamomile blossoms in our SOL Chamomile Citrus Vodka. "It wouldn't be practical to make a million cases like that. But we're not trying to make a million cases. We enjoy making fine spirits and sharing them with people." Advertisement To that end, the Kassebaum's have devoted a fair amount of the extra space in their new building to increasing the size of their tasting room, previously limited to 16 seats. They also pour samples of their wares to those who take their tours each Thursday evening and twice on Saturday afternoons. Also, one longer, more in-depth "geek-out" tour is led by Derek the first Saturday of each month. "We walk people through our whole production operation and talk them through the process of fermentation and distillation, the aging process, the bottling process and basically show them the whole operation from start to finish," Sonja said. "Then we taste and discuss." Just for the fun of it. "We're working a lot," Sonja pointed out. "We worked a lot before, but it's even more, now, in the new location. But it's still mostly fun. And that's important, we think, because if we're not having fun, we're not doing it right. "We make liquor. We're in the happiness business. We're trying to help people drink better here. Not more, but better. To provide them with amazing stuff to work with when they decide to have a cocktail." North Shore Distillery Tours Advertisement Where: North Shore Distillery, 13990 Rockland Road, Green Oaks When: Tours are offered at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and 2 and 5 p.m. Saturdays Admission: Tours are $10; $25 for the Geek-Out Tour on the first Saturday of each month Couples with ties to the area are busy planning nuptials. Quinn Gervel to wed Lindsay Pickard Advertisement Quinn Adam-John Gervel and Lindsay Katherine Pickard will start their life together this month with a marriage ceremony in Huntsville, Ala. Gervel is the son of Bruce and Nancy Gervel, of Naperville, and a 1996 graduate of Naperville Central High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Belmont University and a master's in Christian formation and ministry from Wheaton College. He is employed at Asbury University in Lexington, Ky., and is pursuing a doctoral degree in practical theology from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Advertisement Pickard, daughter of Bonnie and Warren Pickard, of Huntsville, Ala., is a graduate of Virgil Grissom High School in Huntsville and the University of Florida, where she earned a degree in electrical engineering. She is employed as an electrical engineer at Invariant Corp. in Huntsville. Tim Nelson to marry Brittany Hemmesch New Hope, Minn., will be the location for the September ceremony uniting Tim Nelson and Brittany Hemmesch in marriage. The daughter of Linus and Judy Hemmesch, of Eden Valley, Minn., Brittany Hemmesch is a graduate of Eden Valley-Watkins High School. She received Bachelor of Science degrees in radiography and biology from St. Cloud State University and a certificate of completion in radiology from Mayo School of Health Sciences. The bride-to-be is a radiologic technologist at Mayo Clinic Square in Minneapolis. Nelson, son of Mark and Carolyne Nelson, of Naperville, is a graduate of Neuqua Valley High School and Minnesota State University, where he earned a bachelor's in automotive engineering. He is a field service representative for Polaris Industries in Medina, Minn. The couple, who met through a mutual friend, are eager to welcome their families to Minnesota for the festive occasion. Please submit announcements of a wedding, engagement, anniversary or other life milestone to be featured in the Naperville Sun, The Beacon-News or The Courier-News. Email your announcement to napervillesun@tribpub.com. Please include a phone number so we can contact you. Kim Lovejoy-Voss is a freelance reporter. DuPage County will assume responsibility for maintaining the light fixtures in Century Hill subdivision. The government unit that had been set up and funded by the homeowners will be disbanded. (Gary Gibula / Naperville Sun) Illinois has one less government unit as of this week after the DuPage County Board eliminated the Century Hill Street Lighting District in Naperville. On Tuesday, DuPage County officials accepted a proposal to take over maintenance of the street lights in the Century Hill subdivision. The move dissolves the lighting district, which took care of the lights in the neighborhood located along Chicago Avenue, next to Naperville Country Club. Advertisement "One way we ensure DuPage County's vitality is by keeping our local governments lean and mean," County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said. "This consolidation creates a more efficient and effective service model, and it does eliminate a unit of local government." Officials said the street lighting district was created out of necessity in the 1970s when the subdivision builder had financial problems and abandoned the lights in the belief that Naperville would annex the area, which never happened. The now 312-residence subdivision has paid the cost of electricity and maintenance of 77 poles and lights ever since. Advertisement The Century Hill Street Lighting District had an annual budget of roughly $17,000 that paid for electricity from ComEd, maintenance, repairs and insurance. Sixty-one percent of the 800 subdivision residents responded to a survey seeking opinions on the consolidation, with 98 percent in favor of the move. "This arrangement helps control annual service costs and provides opportunities for investment in infrastructure," Cronin said. "Equally as important, the consolidation optimizes service standards, creating a department of transportation point of contact while establishing a defined response time for service calls." County officials said immediate savings will be seen in the reduced cost of replacing bulbs and other overhead equipment, for example. Cronin also singled out Tom Cieslak for three decades of volunteer service on the Century Hill lighting board of trustees, calling him "a steady hand who embodies the best qualities of a public servant. I commend him for his selfless service to his neighborhood." Gary Gibula is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun. The family of a 27-year-old man who has autism and other health issues has filed a lawsuit against a national home health care company after he allegedly was assaulted by one of their employees at a group home in Hobart. The family is seeking an unspecified amount for injuries sustained and in punitive damages from Louisville, Ky.-based ResCare Inc., according to their Dyer attorney, Donald Wruck. Advertisement The lawsuit was filed in Lake Circuit/Superior Court after Megan Catherine Akers, 33, a Chesterton resident and employee of ResCare Inc., was charged in Lake Superior Court with battery and neglect of a dependent in the alleged assault. Akers was one of five ResCare employee to be charged with battery and neglect of a dependent in three separate incidents at two Hobart group homes that occurred in April and May. In one of the other instances, the victim suffered three broken ribs. Advertisement Witnesses told Hobart police they saw Akers striking the victim with what was later identified as a clipboard and screaming profanity at him while he was sitting in a van near the group home in the 800 block of Lake Street in Hobart on May 24. The victim had bruises around his eyes, bruising on his left hand and swelling to his hand as a result of the assault. Wruck said the victim also suffered psychological injuries. Wruck said one of the witnesses in his client's case told police she saw Akers striking another resident the day before she allegedly struck his client. "The neighbor called ResCare and told them what she witnessed, but Ms. Akers was allowed to return to work the following day after she assaulted (the client)," Wruck said. A spokeswoman for ResCare, Kristen M. Trenaman, said Friday she could not comment on the lawsuit itself. She said the company is cooperating with police and all five people charged in the three incidents are no longer employed by ResCare. "We don't tolerate that type of behavior," she said. She said the company, which is one of the largest providers of services to people with disabilities in the country, has 50,000 caregivers in 43 states, all of whom have been trained according to state laws and to ensure the safety and well-being of their clients. She said background checks and government screening are done on all potential employees as well. Advertisement But Wruck said what happened to his client is part of a larger pattern with the company's employees, pointing to the other two incidents. He said the lawsuit is seeking punitive damages to punish and deter ResCare. "The most important thing the family wants is to make sure that a company who cares for our loved ones does not employ (sic) dangerous caretakers, and takes immediate action when there is any indication of abuse," attorney Keith Medved said. The victim's mother, who filed the lawsuit on her son's behalf, said the family made the difficult decision to place their son into what they thought was a professional care facility because they could no longer care for him. "ResCare promised us they would care for him, but instead hurt him," she said. She said she is exploring an alternative to ResCare to provide care for her son. Advertisement Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. The Northwest Indiana Islamic Center in Crown Point is home to hundreds of area residents practicing the Muslim faith and celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. (Jerry Davich / Post-Tribune) The dozen or so children neatly placed their tiny shoes outside the mosque inside the Northwest Indiana Islamic Center before running into the large carpeted room without any seats, pews or furnishings. They lined up behind the center's leader, Imam Mongy Elquesny, a soft-spoken man who gently kissed the hand of one young girl before leading them all in daily prayers. Advertisement "Come, come," he told the children. "It is time." As Elquesny uttered Islamic prayers dating back centuries, most of the kids followed his lead, either bowing or standing. Most of the older children followed along perfectly. Some of the younger ones weren't quite as disciplined. Advertisement One little boy kept turning around to look at his mother sitting in the back of the mosque. With a handful of other mothers, she quietly watched her children learn the ways of Ramadan, the high holy month for practicing Muslims. Ramadan, which began June 5 this year, is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by roughly 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. While fasting all 30 days from dawn until sunset, believers are expected to refrain from consuming food, drinking liquids, smoking tobacco and engaging in sexual acts during those hours. This annual observance means everything to the Muslim faithful as dictated in the Quran. It's a time to purify their soul, practice self-discipline and sacrifice on behalf of Allah, or God. "Ramadan is a month of spirituality like no other, with a total transformation of my life," said Ferass Safadi, a member of the mosque and father of five from Valparaiso. "This opportunity helps people become more aware of the beauty of the faith," Safadi said. "And the commitment that Muslims hold in comparison to the negative press Muslims receive due to the actions of lunatics who have hijacked Islam for their own personal vendettas." Unfair as it is to the vast majority of Muslims, who comprise nearly one quarter of the human race, it remains a challenge for outsiders to separate the Islamic religion from radicalized, violent Islamic terrorists. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has only fanned these flames of fear and ignorance with his campaign promises (threats?) to ban all Muslims from entering this country. "When I am president, it will always be America first," Trump wrote last week in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. Advertisement But which America is that? The America that, by definition, allows others to share and alter our morals, values and ideals? Or the America, by political hyperbole, that confuses Islam with its violence-based radicalization? This potentially dangerous predicament for American voters hasn't escaped Northwest Indiana Muslims, who make nightly pilgrimages to the Islamic Center to pray together in observance of Ramadan. Each night through July 5 they will gather to pray and discuss local issues and world affairs. "Muslims' submission to God continues with the nightly congregational prayers," Safadi explained. "This is where you see the reawakening of faith within Muslim communities across the world. It's like no other." For the children here, it's an awakening to their faith, their culture, their history. Each weekday afternoon, they come here to recite the Quran and learn about Ramadan. I joined them one day to see how they interpret their blessed month. I quickly learned that their toughest challenge is to fast, from dawn to sunset if possible. "I can only do it for a few hours," admitted one 8-year-old boy. Advertisement "You get used to it," a 13-year-old boy said with a shrug. Elquesny sat quietly next to the children, allowing them to speak freely. The kids' mothers stood behind them, curious to what they would say to a stranger. A few of the kids tried teaching me about Ramadan, beyond fasting. "Each day, we have to read one suras in the Quran," one boy said. "It's like a chapter." "And then there's a big festival after Ramadan ends," another boy said excitedly. By the age of 7, most Muslim children are expected to take part in Ramadan observances, including fasting of some kind. Advertisement "Even at their young age, they know the meaning of Ramadan and its importance to our faith," said Elquesny, who began fasting at 6 years old. To the elders of the center, Ramadan reflects the best attributes of Islam. "It defines our purpose in life," one believer told me. "The spirituality that is witnessed during this month not only affects me, but resonates throughout our Muslim community," said Safadi, who arrives every night for prayers. "On average, over 300 people attend nightly prayers compared to the 15 or 20 attendees throughout the rest of the year." This can be a challenge considering some of them have fasted up to 16 hours at that point. Fasting from food and water all day can put a tremendous strain on the body, I was told, yet the believers will stand in prayer for more than an hour. "The cessation of drinking water is probably the biggest struggle for me personally, specifically on days where the temperature is over 90 degrees," Safadi said. "But dryness of my mouth and weakness of my body is worth the sacrifice for Allah." Advertisement Safadi returns home from the center each night to sleep just a few hours before rising at 3:30 a.m. to eat breakfast before dawn with his family. "To start the fasting all over again," he said. Like most parents, the Muslims enjoy the special meal times before dawn and after sunset to be with their children. They consider it an added "blessing" during Ramadan. I asked the children if it's hard to obey Islamic rules while being a kid growing up in Northwest Indiana. "No, it's like we have two lives. One inside here always praying to God, and the other one like a normal kid," explained one boy whose older sister just graduated from Valparaiso University. Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Impressed by his articulate verbal skills, I asked, "How old are you?" Advertisement "I'm 10," he replied. "No, he's 12," a younger boy yelled out. By saying this, the younger boy was reminded that lying or "false words" could negate his Ramadan rewards for fasting and praying. The boy apologized, sat back down and remorsefully said, "He's 10." jdavich@post-trib.com Twitter@jdavich The Commerce Ministry said Friday that the rapid increase in outbound investment was normal, dismissing concerns that such gains would intensify capital outflows. Concerns have been raised that increased foreign exchange demand along with surges in outbound investment added pressure to foreign exchange reserves and international payments. "We are studying whether this will pose any risk and if we need to take targeted measures," spokesperson Shen Danyang said at a news briefing. China's outbound investment would exceed foreign direct investment in the country this year, Shen said. In the first five months of this year, outbound direct investment surged 61.9 percent year on year to 479.3 billion yuan (74 billion U.S. dollars), while foreign direct investment into the country rose only 3.8 percent to 343.6 billion yuan. Vice Premier Wang Yang said on Friday that combating desertification is a shared responsibility that requires efforts from all countries. As a nation confronted with severe challenges from desertification, China has taken effective measures to contain the spread of desertification, Wang said in his keynote speech when attending an activity featuring the fight against desertification. The country will strengthen its efforts to preserve the environment and strive to build a beautiful China, he continued. There is also a pressing need for countries along the Belt and Road to combat desertification, Wang said, while calling for deeper cooperation between related countries and international organizations. He said China will continue to increase its input to help developing nations cope with desertification, thereby safeguarding the world's ecological security and promoting sustainable development. The number of permanent residents in six core districts in Beijing is expected to drop for the first time this year, as the overcrowded capital seeks to control population growth. Officials of Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai and Shijingshan districts proposed goals and measures to limit population growth at a meeting on the removal of non-essential functions from Beijing, held Thursday. The measures include crackdowns on subletting of residential and commercial property, illegal use of underground space for residence, illegal transformation of homes into shops, and closure of wholesale markets, among others. In Dongcheng District,for example, the Donghuamen snacks market has been recently closed. Nanluoguxiang Lane, known for its well-preserved quadrangle courtyards, and Gui Jie, a street of popular restaurants, and areas surrounding the Palace Museum will be among priority areas where measures will be taken to reduce the population density. The district aims to reduce its permanent resident population by 32,000 this year. Beijing plans to cap its permanent population at 23 million by 2020, with the population in six core districts 15 percent less than 2014 levels. Defined as people who have lived in the city for six months or more, the permanent population of Beijing was 21.7 million by the end of 2015. Most Chinese want the annual Yulin dog meat festival on June 21 to be called off, saying it tarnishes the country's image, according to the findings of a survey conducted by Chinese polling company Horizon. Among the polled respondents, 64 percent support the end of the festival held every year in Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and 51.7 percent say the dog meat trade should be completely banned, according to the poll commissioned by Chinese group China Animal Welfare Association in collaboration with Humane Society International and Avaaz, a global online campaign community. "The vibrant campaign to end the Yulin dog meat festival is rooted in Chinese opposition to the event, supported by people from around the world who agree that this cruel trade must not be tolerated," said Qin Xiaona, director of the Capital Animal Welfare Association. Over the past few years, as calls to end the event have gained momentum, local governments have responded by disassociating themselves from the festivals. An unprecedented eight million Chinese voted online in support of a legislative proposal to ban the dog meat trade in China recently. Last week, petitions signed by more than 11 million people around the world were submitted to policy makers in Beijing, demonstrating that people globally have joined their call to end the trade. The poll also found that 62 percent of the respondents thought Yulin damages China's reputation and 69.5 percent added that they have never eaten dog meat, discrediting previous claim that Yulin festival is part of Chinese culture. "It is embarrassing to us that the world wrongly believes that the brutally cruel Yulin festival is part of Chinese culture. It isn't and as we see in this poll, most people here don't eat dogs and believe that the festival damages China's global reputation," said Qin. Billed as a "celebration" of dog meat to mark the summer solstice, the Yulin festival sees thousands of dogs abused and killed, many of them stolen from their homes and streets by dog meat traders. "This poll squelches any remaining doubt about where Chinese citizens stand on Yulin's brutal beating and burning of pups," said Luis Morago, campaign director at Avaaz. In 2014, Yulin's local government closed several markets and slaughterhouses and banned officials from eating dog meat at local restaurants. In 2011, Jinhua Hutou dog meat festival was banned in East China's Zhejiang province. A rural teacher who donated everything he had to help students in need died on Wednesday. Jiang Guozhen passed away in hospital on June 15, 2016. [Photo/thepaper.cn] Jiang Guozhen was born in Jiangjia village in East China's Jiangxi province in 1930. He was a veteran and a government official before being assigned to work at a rural primary school in 1953 due to acute shortage of rural teachers. During his 30 years of teaching career, Jiang donated more than 400,000 yuan ($60,720) to students facing financial problems. The sum included most of his salary, the pension, and money he earned from farming and scavenging. When he died on Wednesday, only 1.36 yuan were left in his bank card. With no offspring, Jiang led an extremely simple life. He usually ate only sweet potato and wore worn-out clothes. He did not even spend money on his run-down house - and the house later collapsed. After he was saved from the rubbles, Jiang moved into an elderly care home. Because of his efforts to help students, Jiang was honored the Outstanding Communist Party Member and Most Beautiful Rural Teacher, and nominated for National Moral Model. He was hospitalized in March for nasopharnyx cancer, a type of cancer that starts in the upper part of the throat behind the nose. In the hospital, he told the staff to stop giving him injections because they were too expensive. On April 21, Jiang signed to donate his cornea to people in need. "I am a Party member. When the country needs me, I will devote my life to it," said Jiang on his death bed. A 40-year-old widow who lost custody of the 5-year-old twins who were born to a surrogate mother impregnated with her late husband's sperm has been granted legal guardianship on appeal, Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court said yesterday. The case has attracted widespread public attention because surrogacy was banned by the Ministry of Health in 2001, but it has continued underground. Since the widow, surnamed Chen, who has been caring for the twins since they were born, did not provide the egg, her late husband's parents argued that she is not the biological mother and filed a lawsuit demanding custody. According to the court, Chen, who is unable to have children, found an organization that helped her and her husband Luo arrange for a surrogate. The twins were born in 2011 and turned over to the couple. However, Luo died of pancreatic cancer in 2014, and his parents decided to seek custody. Chen burst into tears after the appeal court ruling was announced and hugged her lawyer. She said: "My children have their mother!" The court said being raised by Chen would be more conducive to their healthy development than being brought up by their elderly grandparents. "She raised her husband's kids, who were born out of wedlock, and expressed a strong will to be the twins' own mother," said Hou Weiqing, the presiding judge. "Taking this into consideration, we believe Chen and the two children have a relationship of stepmother and stepchildren." The judge granted the grandparents visiting rights, the details of which will be negotiated. The court said that while surrogacy is illegal, the children are innocent and their rights should be protected. It added that whether a child is born in or out of wedlock, delivered in a normal way or by surrogacy, his or her rights must be protected. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that states act in the best interests of the child. In this case, considering factors such as the guardian's ability to take care of the children, the twins' emotional needs, as well as the family structure, the court concluded that Chen was better suited for the twins. Chinese President Xi Jinping is paying a state visit to Serbia at the invitation of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. Being the first trip made by a Chinese president in three decades, this visit is of great importance for the bilateral relationship of the two countries, which are already working on several initiatives to take the ties to a much higher level of bilateral cooperation. Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic attend a ceremony to lay the cornerstone for a Chinese culture center in Belgrade, Serbia, June 17, 2016. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang) President Xi's trip comes after several high-level exchanges in recent years. Premier Li Keqiang visited Serbia in 2014, while Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli paid a visit in 2015. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic was in China in September 2015 to attend the important military parade marking the 70th anniversary of end of the World War II. Xi's visit is expected to help chalk out a roadmap for future development of ties between the two countries through the enhancement of bilateral cooperation. As a major step forward, the two countries will sign several agreements to promote political, economic and diplomatic relations. Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was reported as saying that roughly 20 agreements were ready for signatures. The relationship between China and Serbia is based on mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and a deepening economic cooperation. It goes back several decades when former Yugoslavia recognized the newly emerged People's Republic of China in 1949. They later established formal diplomatic ties in the mid-1950s. During the painful years following the demise of former Yugoslavia, China has developed close ties with Serbia by supporting it on critical occasions. For example, Beijing provided solid support to Belgrade in the conflict of Kosovo. It opposed the NATO airstrikes of 1999 as illegal. China had to pay a price in the conflict, when NATO warplanes "accidentally" bombed its embassy in Belgrade. The solidarity shown by China for Serbia in this time of crisis was not limited to diplomatic goodwill, as it also reportedly invested several million dollars to support its economy crippled by war. Later, China also criticized the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo in 2008. Serbia has recognized all of this by reciprocally supporting the "One China Policy" and expressing a keen desire for establishing strategic partnership. A major initiative for the closer relationship is the joint declaration of 2009 to set up bilateral strategic partnership. It is sure to get a major boost by the visit of President Xi. In fact, the strategic location of Serbia can provide a foothold for China in its efforts to promote links with the eastern and central European countries. Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang, in an interview ahead of Xi's visit, said that Sino-Serbian cooperation is an example of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe and that it will further boost China's ties with Europe. He also said that mutual cooperation has expanded in recent years, from infrastructure construction to the realms of energy, iron, steel, telecommunications and finance, and from loans to investments and joint ventures. Serbia is also important for China's "Belt and Road" initiative. The ambitious plan aims to forge close links among countries on either continent for fast trade and commercial transactions. Once completed, it will be helpful in ending conflict and promoting economic partnerships. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said in a recent interview that the "Belt and Road" initiative and the "16+1 Cooperation" mechanism would further cement existing ties. "We are on the route of 'the Belt and Road' and we also belong to the 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Yet our bilateral relations will go beyond them," said Nikolic. President Nikolic was echoing what has already been agreed between the two countries, as they signed a memorandum in 2015 to jointly promote "Belt and Road" construction. Serbian support for the flagship initiative will promote the concept of win-win cooperation among different countries. Despite good intentions to increase cooperation with China, Serbia would have to seek a balance between its declared strategic goal to join the EU and maintain strong ties with Beijing, as some of the EU nations may not feel easy with growing Chinese investment and influence in the Balkans. Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Flash A revised negative list for a Bilateral Investment Treaty is being discussed by Chinese and US negotiating teams in Washington. US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew talks about the US-China economic relationship on Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. [Photo by Chen Weihua/China Daily] However, the agreement looks unlikely to be concluded during the remaining seven months of the Obama administration. Jack Lew, US secretary of the treasury, said on Thursday that a sufficiently ambitious negative list where only exceptions to the treaty are specified from China could open a pathway to additional progress before the end of the year. "Up until this last round, the negative list we've seen has not been sufficiently ambitious to open enough of the economy for the BIT to have a successful path forward," he told the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday. Lew said he hopes China takes advantage of the remaining seven months of the Obama administration, noting an upcoming meeting in September between President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. On Friday, Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said the momentum of negotiations on the investment treaty is encouraging, with discussions held on the negative list. The two countries have pledged to exchange the new negative list this month to reach a win-win result, he said. Derek Scissors, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, believes there is no chance of the investment treaty being passed by the US Congress during Obama's remaining months in office. Most experts believe the top priority for the US government is to make a last-ditch effort to push Congress to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries that does not include China. Scissors said the environment in the US is now very protectionist, and the immediate priority for the next administration will be domestic issues, rather than any international agenda. Many in China hope the investment treaty will provide better protection for increased Chinese investment in the US. Flash A 91 year-old South Korean survivor of Japanese military sexual slavery during World War II on Friday condemned the controversial "comfort women" agreement reached by Japan and South Korea last year. "I am a victim of the Japanese sexual slavery. I wanted to tell you about my experience and my demands and I had to come here to seek any support from all of you here, because my country was weak," Bok-dong Kim told a UN Human Rights Council (HRC) event here. "We tried to deliver our demands and we tried to be heard. I don't know how the agreement was made, but the Korean government did not talk to or discuss with the Korean Council or us, the victims," she said. Starting as early as 1932, the Japanese Army subjugated thousands of women and girls from the Korean Peninsula but also from other nations such as China, the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia and the Netherlands to sexual slavery. Though a deal between Seoul and Tokyo was struck last year in view of "finally and irreversibly" solving the issue, experts deem that Japanese efforts have fallen short both in terms of recognition and compensation for all those who suffered irreparable psychological and physical damage. Bok-dong, who was sent to serve Japanese troops in various Asian countries at the age of 14, also deplored the approach taken by the South Korean government to deal with the issue. "The South Korean government and the South Korean president did not listen to their own citizens. If she is a representative of our government, she should have come to us and talked to us first, and consider how to restore our dignity and honor, and announce in front of the press that they would provide proper compensation and legal reparation based on responsibility," she said. Japan's attempts to remove the comfort woman statue located near the Japanese embassy in Seoul were also criticized by Bok-Dong, who spent many years unable to talk about the suffering she endured. "No one has the right to remove the peace monument. The peace monument is a symbol of history. Every country has a history. When our next generation is growing up, they need to know the history, how we have lived," she said. "This is not something a government can handle or manipulate," she added. Flash Two Iraqi army soldiers walk near a building destroyed in battles in Shuhada district in southern Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on June 16, 2016, after the army retakes the district from the Islamic State (IS). (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced Friday substantial victory against the Islamic State (IS) militants in Fallujah in the western province of Anbar, the state-run Iraqiya TV reported. "Our troops have fulfilled their promise and freed the city of Fallujah," Abadi addressed the nation on the state-run Iraqiya television. "Fallujah has returned to the homeland and our forces took control of the heart of the city," Abadi said. Earlier in the day, the security forces managed to free the government compound and raised the Iraqi flag on its main building in the central part of Fallujah. The recapture of the government compound came after the troops freed the districts of Nazal, Jubail and Resala, in addition to the industrial area in the southern part of the city, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, according to Raid Shakir Jawdat, the Commander of the Federal Police. The latest advance in Fallujah was the result of fierce clashes during the past few days, which forced many of the extremist militants to flee the city, a provincial source said. The battles continued in the day to free the northern part of the city with some IS militants still fighting in some areas, the source added. Abadi also promised that the security forces will soon start their advance toward the northern city of Mosul to free it from the largest IS stronghold in Iraq. "We congratulate all Iraqis on this victory, and (another) victory is close, very close with God willing in Mosul to drive out the last IS militant from the land of Iraq," Abadi said in his address. In his address, Abadi promised thousands of displaced families from Fallujah and the surrounding towns and villages that they will come back to their homes soon after defeating IS militants by the Iraqi security forces. "This is your city and you will return to it with God willing," Abadi said. The Prime Minister 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 China on Friday refuted the accusation that a Chinese vessel had intruded into Japan's territorial waters, saying the navigation was completely in line with international law. "The Chinese Navy vessel did not invade Japan's territorial waters," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing. Hua made the remarks in response to reports saying a Chinese warship sailed through the Tokara Strait, located between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Japan's defense minister accused China of not informing Japan in advance that the military ship would enter Japanese waters. Hua said, according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), vessels have the right to pass through a strait used for international navigation. The Tokara Strait is such a strait. Thus, the Chinese vessel's navigation was fully in line with the UNCLOS. Hua also reminded the Japanese side that the right of passage through a strait used for international navigation should not be confused with the right of innocent passage in territorial waters. "We hope that Japanese media or officials from the government would refer to international law before making some remarks," Hua said. Earlier on Friday, China's Defense Ministry said, "We have noticed relevant reports by Japanese media and we really can't understand why Japan repeatedly exaggerates the legitimate activities of Chinese warships recently." Flash A photo shows a piece of wreckage of the search plane which has been discovered on June 17, 2016 in the sea near northern Vietnam. [Photo: Xinhua] China has sent several warships, coastguard vessels and rescue ships to help Vietnam search for the missing Vietnamese aircraft and crew in waters of the Beibu Gulf between Vietnam's northern coastline and China's Hainan Island. China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, at the request of Vietnam, sent two rescue vessels Thursday night to search for a missing fighter jet, a coastguard plane and their crews, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. On Friday, China Coast Guard and the Chinese navy sent three coastguard vessels and four warships to help in the search. According to media report, a Russian-made SU-30 fighter jet of the Vietnam Air Forces disappeared from radar screens Tuesday in waters of the Beibu Gulf. Contact with one pilot of the plane was lost. Later on Thursday afternoon, a Vietnamese coastguard plane with nine people aboard went missing while searching for the lost fighter. "The Chinese side attaches great importance to the request for help from Vietnam," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, adding China has mobilized forces of various kinds to conduct all-out search and rescue operations. "We hope the missing aircraft and crew members could be found as early as possible," said Hua. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. FISHTAIL Gary Anderson, an interpretive ranger at Tippet Rise Art Center, described the length of his commute to work Friday as two country songs and a commercial. Like most of the 35 volunteer and paid staff working this summer at Tippet Rise, Anderson lives in the area of Stillwater and Carbon counties. Anderson was one of several rangers telling visitors about the nine land-art sculptures positioned around the working sheep and cattle ranch during the first day of free public tours. The summer staff is on board at Tippet Rise to supplement the year-round staff of 10 to 15 people, according to director Alban Bassuet. Beyond the short commute, Anderson said he loves coming to work at Tippet Rise because of the beauty of the place. On Friday, mountain lupine and Indian paintbrush flowers were blooming and meadowlarks trilled while hawks circled some of the sculptures. Sheep grazed along the gravel road and cattle were bawling near the metal sculpture called Proverb. You should have been out here earlier this spring, Proverb was functioning as a baby cow daycare with all the mothers and their babies hanging out underneath it, said one of the tour guides, Aja Sherrard, a recent MFA graduate of the University of Montana. You eventually lose perspective looking at the massive sculptures, like the 30-foot-tall Portal sculptures by the Ensamble Studio because they look short when you compare them to the backdrop of the snow-capped Beartooth Mountains. But when you walk under the "Beartooth Portal" or "Inverted Portal," you feel their massive presence. Lindsey Hinmon, director of outreach and logistics at Tippet Rise, said it was exciting to finally host public tours of the ranch, which staff and crew have been working hard to get open for the past two years. Oh my gosh, its happening, Hinmon said as she photographed the first of four electric vans unplugging from the solar panels and taking the first visitors on the two-hour tour. More than 100 visitors participated in tours of the 11,500-acre ranch on Friday, a capacity crowd for Tippet Rise, which focuses on keeping every experience at the ranch intimate and personal. Even though the tours are free, visitors are asked to sign up in advance at www.tippetrise.org. A sack lunch is available for purchase for $8. Karen Kinser, of Joliet, said she signed up for her tour six weeks ago after she found out the summer concerts were sold out. Whats amazing is to have this world-class venue in our backyard, Kinser said. Karen Tanner, of Billings, said the tour was a treat. I was really struck by the vastness of the land and the organic shapes of the sculptures, especially the portals, said Tanner, a long-time Billings art teacher. Bikes are allowed on the gravel roads and the new single-track trail on the ranch during the summer tours, which take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through September. The elevation gain between the Cottonwood Camp where the Olivier Music Barn is located and one of the highest points on the ranch, where Dumo is positioned, is more than 1,000 feet. On Friday, a member of the Tippet Rise video crew tried his bike on the newly cut trail and found it fast and bike-friendly. You can also take the shuttle vans up to one of the sculptures and then walk the path to the other works, picking up another van when you get tired. The sculptures are positioned so far apart, usually a half mile, that you rarely can see them from each other. Tippet Rise Art Center is located about one hour southwest of Billings at 96 S. Grove Creek Road south of Fishtail. Technicians inspect the blade of a Vestas Wind Systems A/S turbine at the company's factory in Tianjin. [Photo/VCG] Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the biggest player of its sector in the Chinese market, said it would be open to various business opportunities, as it adapts to changes in the world's wind power sector. "As the world leader in wind energy turbines and solutions, we must be aware of the global consolidation trend including China. If and when appropriate, Vestas will consider participating for a proper strategic consideration," said Chris Beaufait, president of Asia Pacific and China at Vestas. Beaufait gave his views during the launch of a 3-megawatt wind turbine platform in Tianjin, where the company's largest manufacturing base is located. As a glut of wind turbines globally has driven down prices and trimmed margins of many wind companies, the industry expects an ongoing shake-up, which began a few years ago to cut about two-thirds of wind turbine producers in the coming years. Anders Runevad, Vestas' chief executive officer, said that the innovation of his company's 3-mW platform will increase energy output and lower the cost of energy for customers. "It will also add flexibility to the product line and supply chain," he said, adding that the Danish company plans to ship three mW turbines from China to other markets in Europe, the United States and Asia. Vestas, which has been in China for three decades, became the biggest player in terms of installed capacity. But the rise of domestic wind turbine producers poses a huge challenge to foreign turbine makers, said experts. "The fierce competition has left major wind companies with no choice but to develop the most advanced technology to stay afloat in the marketplace," said Lu Jinyong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. "But good news is that the market is rebounding and getting more mature." China installed about 30 gigawatts of wind power in 2015, almost half of the global total installed capacity. Despite a slowing economy, Vestas still puts China at the top of its agenda, with more effort being made in the offshore wind market, Beaufait said. The offshore wind market will grow from 10 gW of installation to 30 gW in the long term, he said. Vestas produced and shipped 3,330 wind turbines last year with a total capacity of 7,948 mW, 30 percent higher than that of 2014. It made a net profit of 685 million euros ($772 million) in 2015, up 75 percent from the 2014 figure. A branch of China Merchants Bank in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, Feb 20, 2016. [Photo/IC] Bank sees significant market-driven demand to serve Chinese investment internationally China Merchants Bank Co became the first of the country's joint-stock commercial banks to open a branch in London on Thursday, highlighting significant market-driven demand for financial services providers to expand internationally to serve increasing Chinese investment abroad. The Shenzhen-based CMB, established in 1987, is China's sixth-biggest, and the world's 16th largest bank. CMB first established a presence in the United Kingdom capital in 2009 with a representative office. With the launch of a full branch, CMB will be offering a range of wholesale banking businesses serving corporate clients, including deposits, financing and currency clearing. President and CEO Tian Huiyu said the establishment of the bank's London branch was a vote of confidence for London's strength as a leading global financial center. Tian added that the move was also an integral part of the bank's overseas growth strategy. "With Sino-UK relations entering a golden era, and bilateral investment continuing to grow, London's position as the second-biggest offshore renminbi center is consolidating," Tian said. "More and more Chinese companies are investing in the UK, and the establishment of the branch in London allows us to provide financial services to those companies following a global strategy," the CEO added. CMB London branch's opening follows in the footsteps of three Chinese banks with branches in the city - Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd and Bank of Communications Co also have subsidiaries in London. China's ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, said the steady stream of his country's banks coming to London was a clear indication that Chinese banks are now going global, and is also evidence of very strong China-UK cooperation. Liu said the new branch was also significant as it is the first one set up by a Chinese joint-stock bank in London. CMB is one of the many success stories of China's market-oriented reform and opening up, which started more than 30 years ago, said Liu. "The success of CMB today is a reflection of China's endeavor to build a market-oriented economy and this is the best answer to some European politicians who still doubt China's market economy status," he added. CMB was founded when China's financial market was undergoing market-oriented reform and opening up. Previously, China's banking sector was dominated by the big four State-owned banks. But regulatory changes in the 1980s allowed the establishment of joint-stock commercial banks, and CMB became one of the first. CMB's majority shareholder is the State-owned enterprise China Merchants Group. The bank became a public company listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges in 2002 and 2006, respectively. In addition to London, CMB also has overseas branches in New York, Luxembourg and Singapore. Its total assets amounted to 5.47 trillion yuan ($830 billion) as of December 2015. Venture capitalists need to think more about how to build an ecosystem for startups they invest in and create a platform on which they can cooperate and help each other, rather than just providing money for them, an industry veteran said on Saturday. The real value venture capitalists can offer to startups lies not only in capital, but more importantly, it is the added-value services they provide that play a bigger role, said Liu Bingyun, president of Tamarace Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on investing in startups in TMT (technology, media, telecom), mobile internet, culture and sports, smart hardware and other industries. He spoke at the ceremony marking Shenzhen Bay Start-up Park's first year anniversary and the opening of his company's new office. "The added-value services include provision of industry resources, entrepreneurial guidance, connection to other players in the industry chain and so forth. Venture capital organizations should put more focus on 'investment of an ecosystem' so that in the long term, the hundreds of startups they invested in can coordinate with and help each other to achieve faster and more sustainable growth," Liu said. As one of the biggest gathering places for startups in the city, known for its powerful innovation capability, Shenzhen Bay Start-up Park has so far attracted more than 40 incubators, maker spaces and investment organizations. However, the proliferation of incubators and maker spaces across the country following a frenzied entrepreneurial wave has also seen many dying. Some worry that there are not enough entrepreneurs to fill so many incubators and maker spaces. Wang Shengjiang, founder and chief executive officer of Hong Tai Newspace (Beijing) Startups Venture Capital Co Ltd, said a large number of incubators are just providing property services to startups and only 20 percent, or even less, have the resources and ability to offer actual help. "Incubators should not act in the role of just landlords. Instead, they should strive to make 'chemical reaction' happen in the 'physical space'," Wang said. Drugs have improved a lot and potential side effects, like rashes, are quite limited, expert says China is bringing free antiviral therapy to all citizens living with HIV/AIDS, the top health authority said. Antiviral treatment should be recommended for all those with HIV/AIDS under China's newly revised guidelines, said an online notice issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission on Wednesday. But it has to be on a voluntary basis to make sure they are fully prepared for a treatment that is usually lifelong, it said. "Treatment facilities must not force people to receive the therapy," it said. Wu Hao, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at You An Hospital in Beijing, one of the largest HIV/AIDS treatment centers nationwide, welcomed the initiative. "It helps with better treatment outcomes for the sufferer and for public health as well." The strategy of giving early treatment for all is in line with WHO guidelines issued last year, he added. According to Wu, the therapy lowers the viral load and thus helps prevent further HIV transmission. Previously, antiviral therapy was offered only to those who had developed a low level of immunity, which can lead to life-threatening opportunistic infections like pneumonia and encephalitis He said early treatment improves outcomes and helps prolong life spans, "even similar to that of healthy people". Bao Yugang, deputy Asia bureau chief of United States-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, one of the largest NGOs for AIDS treatment and care in the world, said the US had implemented the early treatment strategy about two years ago. But he stressed good drug compliance is important to prevent drug resistance. "Informed consent therefore is required to help sufferers prepare for the lifelong therapy," Wu said. Xiao Bing, a sophomore at a university in Wuhan, Hubei province, expressed concerns over side effects from the drugs. He tested positive for HIV in May. Wu, in response, said drugs have improved a lot and potential side effects were quite limited, like skin rashes. China has registered more than 577,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, accounting for 68 percent of the estimated number of infected people, according to the National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 390,000 are receiving treatment. In 2015, more than 100,000 were given the treatment and the number is expected to double this year, Wu said. Four volunteers wave to the cameras before starting a six-month living experiment in an enclosed space capsule in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Friday. The project is designed to support China's deep-space exploration plan. ZHU JIUTONG/XINHUA Four volunteers on Friday started a 180-day living experiment in a sealed space capsule, which will test technologies that support China's deep-space exploration projects. The volunteersthree men and one womanwill live in a sealed capsule in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Scientists hope the experiment will cast light on how oxygen, water and food can be used and recycled under controlled conditions. The project has been designed to test the "controlled ecological life support system", which is inspired by technologies used on China's Shenzhou spacecraft. The 1,340-cubic-meter capsule, which has a floor space of 370 square meters, is divided into eight compartments, including the passenger compartment, resource compartment and greenhouse compartments. Scientists have cultivated 25 kinds of plants in the capsule, including wheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, soybeans, peanuts, lettuce, edible amaranth and bok choy. Strawberries, cherries, tomatoes and horseradish are also on the list. The plants are part of a larger ecological treatment system that will help regenerate oxygen and water, reducing dependency on outside supplies. Scientists will also monitor and observe how a hermetic environment affects physiological changes, biological rhythms, sleep patterns and emotional well-being. The Astronaut Center of China launched a call for volunteers in May last year, and selected eight people, including an alternative team, from 2,110 candidates. Two of the volunteers are from the center. More than a dozen Chinese and overseas institutions are involved in the experiment, including the Shenzhen-based Space Institute of Southern China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Villagers in Sichuan province who lured wild monkeys down a mountain 13 years ago to attract tourists and alleviate poverty are now facing a dilemma. They have to keep driving the monkeys away, because the hungry animals are destroying their crops. In 2001, when He Youliang, now 57, became Party chief of Xianfeng, which forms part of Taiping township in Panzhihua city and lies at the juncture of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, the village was impoverished and had only a dirt road. "Somebody told me if we could attract monkeys to the village, investors with an eye for tourism might build a better road," He said. In 2003, He and three villagers managed to find wild monkeys, but the animals ran away at the first sight of humans. "We had to use corn to lure the monkeys to the village. The straight-line distance between the mountain area where the monkeys were found and our village is about 10 kilometers, but we spent 48 days attracting 73 monkeys to the village with corn," He said. The next year, Zhou Zhenggui, a local businessman, set up an ecological tourism company in the village to show visitors the monkeys. A road nearly 20 kilometers long was built by the company to improve access. He Fulin, a middleaged villager, said, "The influx of tourists put cash in villagers' pockets, as they could sell their chicken and mutton. Each household bought a motorcycle and many villagers had cars. "During the holidays for Spring Festival and National Day, more than 1,000 tourists flocked to the village, which was home to about 600 monkeys." But in 2014, Zhou fell sick and died. His daughter tried to take over the company, but it ceased operations last year and could not pay villagers for feeding the monkeys corn. He Youliang said the company owed as much as 110,000 yuan ($16,698) when it folded. Without easy access to food, the monkeys began to eat crops in the fields and jumped on the roofs of houses, ripping up tiles. In May, He Youliang and a group of villagers decided to drive the monkeys away by waving their hands and shouting to scare them. "Each time, the monkeys would flee to a forest about 6 kilometers from the village on the mountain, but they would return next day. They have come back four times. We have to keep driving them away even though we love them," He said. On June 9, Japan's Defense Ministry said a Japanese naval destroyer had detected a Chinese frigate entering the waters near Diaoyu Islands (which the Japanese call Senkaku Islands) and lodged a serious protest with the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo. And Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said it was the first time a Chinese naval ship had entered the waters contiguous of the island chain. The truth became clear gradually: the Japanese destroyer had actually seen a Russian flotilla, and only after the Japanese ship ventured into the waters off the island chain (apparently to check out the Russian flotilla) that a Chinese frigate did so to monitor the Japanese vessel. For Japan, a Chinese naval vessel entering the waters off the Diaoyu Islands indicates that Beijing probably wants to take new risks to escalate tensions in the already volatile waters. Japanese media say that if China's actions go unchecked, its naval vessels will one day enter the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea of the islands, leading to a showdown between Beijing and Tokyo. This assumption is irrational. First, the entire world knows China and Japan have a sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyu Islands. The Japanese government, however, insists there is no dispute, although it would like to hold talks with China on the issue. This is self-contradictory: if there is no dispute, why should the two sides talk? Besides, since the Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory, China could say the Japanese destroyer entered their contiguous waters and claim it to be an unprecedented incident that needs to be addressed seriously. Second, the incident reveals Japan's double standard when it comes to freedom of navigation. Even if Tokyo believes the Chinese frigate entered "Japan's contiguous zone", no international or Japanese law prohibits it. Also, Japanese EP-3 and P-3C aircraft have entered China's undisputed exclusive economic zone east of Zhoushan Islands in Zhejiang province for surveillance and reconnaissance from time to time, but when Chinese flotillas pass through the international sealane in any Japanese strait, Japan's Self-Defense Force sends ships and aircraft to track and monitor their movements. Third, until the June 9 incident only Chinese and Japanese coast guard, not naval, ships patrolled the waters off Diaoyu Islands. If that is a tacit understanding between the two sides to not escalate tensions, then Japan violated it on June 9. The Chinese frigate did enter the contiguous zone of the islands, but it only followed the Japanese destroyer as a counter-measure. This shows Japan, not China, has "unilaterally heightened tensions". However neither China nor Japan wants such an incident to snowball into a full-blown conflict. So what should be done? To begin with, China and Japan should follow the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which both have pledged to honor. CUES has a set of communication and operational procedures, for example, to prevent a ship from getting too close to vessels in formation, and avoid aiming guns, missiles or fire control radars at other vessels or aircraft it encounters. The Chinese navy has held quite a few exercises with foreign navies, including the US Navy, on how to fully observe CUES. The Chinese and Japanese navies could do the same to build confidence and familiarize themselves with the procedures. China and Japan should also expedite negotiations to establish the China-Japan Maritime and Air Liaison Mechanism, which, among others, would allow direct communication between captains of ships and pilots of aircraft during "close encounters". The procedures of the mechanism would be similar to those in CUES and the Rules of Behavior for Safety of Maritime and Air Encounter concluded between China and the US. The Japanese government's decision in 2012 to "nationalize" the Diaoyu Islands caused suspension of the negotiations. Since the Chinese and Japanese "Air Defense Identification Zones" to a large extent overlap with each other and they cover the same islands that both claim as their own territories, the issue has become more complex. It remains to be seen how the two sides use their wisdom to move between principle and flexibility, in order to chart out a new and fruitful path, because the June 9 incident is a chilly reminder that the issue has to be settled before it is too late. The author is an honorary fellow with the Center of China-American Defense Relations, Academy of Military Science. (China Daily 06/18/2016 page5) WASHBURN -- State Board of Higher Education members postponed action Friday on contracts and raises for campus presidents to give themselves more time to digest a dismal report on the states tax revenues and budget situation and to work on a new policy for evaluating presidents. Board members were scheduled to go behind closed doors to discuss the reappointment and possible new contract terms for seven presidents including North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani and then to return to open session to act on the contracts as well as salaries for all presidents and vice chancellors. But board President Kathleen Neset of Tioga moved to pull those items from the agenda at the start of the meeting at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn, saying they needed more work. She later explained that based on Thursdays report showing state tax revenues missed the forecast by $36.4 million in May increasing the likelihood of additional budget cuts for state agencies they needed more time to ensure the budget reflects the strategic direction of the board. Part of the boards direction is to have members more involved in evaluations of campus presidents, and to have those evaluations tiered at different times of year instead of all coming due on June 30, Neset said during a break in the meeting. I want to get this right, she said. The board plans to discuss the issues during a teleconference tentatively slated for Thursday. Board member Kevin Melicher of Fargo said the presidents who attended Fridays meeting Bresciani among them deserved to have the board discuss their contracts in person as listed on the agenda, calling it an issue that concerns all of us. But his motion to restore that agenda item died for lack of a second. Of the seven campus presidents, all have declined salary raises for the fiscal year that begins July 1 except Bresciani, who said during a meeting in April that he doesnt determine his salary, so it would be up to the board to decide whether he gets a raise. His current salary is $354,568. Bresciani has clashed several times with Chancellor Mark Hagerott during the past year, including a fuss over Brescianis business-class flight to India and his enrollment goal of 18,000 students. In a column earlier this month, retired newspaper publisher and former state lawmaker John Andrist called for Brescianis ouster, writing that he has essentially thumbed his nose at Hagerott. On Thursday, Bresciani emailed NDSU employees announcing an early retirement program for eligible staff and faculty as part of an effort to meet the 10 percent cut that Gov. Jack Dalrymple has requested in 2017-19 budget proposals. By Yin Xin in Belgrade and Peng Yining in Beijing | China Daily | Updated: 2016-06-18 07:41 China and Serbia will sign an agreement on Saturday to deepen cooperation between media organizations from both countries, a senior Chinese official said on Friday. Signed between China's State Council Information Office and the Serbian Ministry of Culture and Media, the agreement will increase exchanges and resource sharing between the two countries' news organizations, said Guo Weimin, vice-minister of the office. Guo made the remarks at the China-Serbia Media Dialogue, held in Belgrade on Friday, as President Xi Jinping kicked off his state visits to Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan. 1. A Ming blue and white "dragon" jar with Xuande reign mark, HK$158 million [Photo provided to China Daily] As more Chinese buyers participate in the Chinese porcelain world market, their tastes are increasingly taken into consideration when antique dealers and auctioneers decide what to offer. The star of the just-concluded spring sales is undoubtedly a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) blue and white jar that fetched HK$158 million ($20 million), in Christie's Hong Kong sales. It was sold to a mainland buyer from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. A sale dedicated to the Roger Pilkington Chinese ceramics collection, offered by Sotheby's Hong Kong, also drew many mainland collectors and generated several pricey transactions. The top lot is a Ming blue and white moon-shape flask, which sold for HK$110 million. These sales keep sending important messages that Chinese bidders are more willing to pay for high quality, one-of-a-kind goods that are rarely seen in the market and boast a sound provenance. They are quite cautious about the pieces with slight imperfections or from a questionable source. This is quite unlike the situation during the booming years around 2008, when investors created a lot of market bubbles and very minor goods generated mind-blogging high prices. Market observers say this is because buyers today are more experienced and knowledgeable. A larger part of this spring's top sales were made in Hong Kong, proving the city's marketplace is an international hub capable of sourcing quality goods from worldwide collectors. Here are the top Chinese porcelain sales during the spring sales. A tea sommelier performs a tea ceremony with a newly designed tea set at a previous Beijing International Tea Expo. [Photo by Ye Jun/China Daily] The annual Beijing International Tea Expo will run this year at the Beijing Exhibition Center from June 24 to 27. The expo can be a lot of fun for people who are interested in sampling Chinese tea, judging from my visits the previous two years. Entry is free, but visitors need to fill out a form with basic information about themselves in exchange for a pass. In its fifth year, the expo has attracted large-scale tea enterprises and major tea production regions that will present their signature teas, and will also include an international exhibition area with teas and tea-related utilities from abroad. The expo has grown to be one of the largest in North China, organizers said. According to the China Tea Marketing Association, one of the event's organizers, more than 300 exhibitors expect to welcome an estimated 75,100 visitors and 21,900 professional buyers at the expo. If you spend two hours or half a day strolling in the 26,000-squaremeter exhibition area at the Beijing Exhibition Center, you can sample all varieties of Chinese teasgreen, yellow, white, oolong, red and black teas. The display booths usually have tea samples, brochures and an experienced tea sommelier to prepare the brews you are interested in. Like wandering in a Chinese tea city, one can try different teas at various stands, with little pressure to buy. When you get tired of drinking tea, there are foods either made using tea or to enjoy with tea. It could be a good idea to locate the stand of Wu Yutai, a Beijing tea store, to see if, like last year, they make green tea ice cream on the spot. If I'm buying, I would consider trying a pu'er raw cake or Yunnan black tea made with tea leaves from old trees on high mountains. Otherwise I'll learn about natural-tasting white teas, preferably an aged shoumei. But don't underestimate the quality of other regional teasgreen and black teas from Henan's Xinyang, Sichuan's Mengding Ganlu and Anhua's black tea in Hunan are all China's top produce. Also worth trying are the black teas China is traditionally known forAnhui's highly fragrant Qimen congou, Fujian's smoky and sweet lapsang souchong, Tanyang congou and Bailin congou. The first two days of the expo will have many tea ceremonies to watch, which are good photo opportunities, although there will be a lot of people. If you intend to buy, probably visit in the last two days, when the number of people reduces significantly. Promotional activities with regional teas and interactive events such as handcrafts and tea table design on the second floor will last throughout the four-day expo. Contact the writer at yejun@chinadaily.com.cn The author is a lifestyle editor with China Daily. During the dark days of World War II, when Britain stood almost alone against Adolf Hitler and his fascist Nazi government and military, the propaganda ministry here came up with a poster appealing to the innate British sense of stoicism in the face of adversity. Keep Calm and Carry On, it said. If ever there was a time when it was needed again, that time is now. Jo Cox, as a recently elected member of parliament, represented everything we Britons like to think we stand for - fair play, inclusiveness, care for those worse off than we are, and a defender of democratic institutions. That came under a brutal attack on Thursday when a man wielding a gun and a knife confronted her in the street while she was preparing to meet with her constituents in Birstall near Leeds in northern England, where she routinely listened to her constituents, giving advice and promising to help where she could. In other words, just what a good, conscientious member of parliament should do. She was shot three times and then stabbed, her attacker kicking her repeatedly as horrified onlookers tried to intervene. The 41-year-old member of parliament, who was married with two children, died of her injuries despite the efforts of paramedics and a doctor to save her. British politics isn't supposed to be like that. Aggressive, yes, rowdy, yes. Divisive and passionate, yes. But certainly not bloody and murderous. What's brought this awful affair into even sharper focus is the fact that onlookers said her killer apparently shouted "Britain First" several times as he attacked her. Britain First is the slogan of an extreme far-right group with the same name, which calls itself "a patriotic political party and street defence organization" and which immediately disowned the attacker. In a sense, whether or not the assailant had links to a far-right group is not the primary issue. This brutal attack strikes right at the heart of the British democratic system, where members of the public routinely have access to their elected members of parliament, either by appointment at the House of Commons, or at the consultation offices in their constituencies. There have, sadly, been several attacks in recent years, though mainly by people with mental health issues. What is different here is that it may well be tied into the current campaigning for a referendum, scheduled for June 23, on whether or not Britain should leave the European Union. The words the attacker used are being held up by the media as proof that the man, however deranged, was an ardent nationalist wanting Britain to leave the EU. Cox had been campaigning for Britain to stay in the EU along with other legislators, and it's fair to say the campaigning had become increasingly bitter. But not this bitter. Both Prime Minister David Cameron and those leading politicians heading the "Leave" group immediately called a halt to the campaign, at least until Saturday. Politicians of all hues and on all sides were fulsome and heartfelt in their tributes to Cox, and it will not be an exaggeration to say the campaign on the EU will now be fairly muted and much less aggressive. Will it have an effect? Hard to say. But I think many who were undecided may well have decided now, because deep down inside the British psyche hates extremism, and hates violence. In other words, it's very much a case of "Keep Calm and Carry On". And I sincerely hope so. The author is managing Editor Europe, for China Daily. chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com (China Daily 06/18/2016 page5) Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the US presidential election, has been busy talking about national security by mostly mocking her Republican rival Donald Trump in a manner akin to late-night talk show hosts. Like all politicians who like to take credit but not the blame, she said early this month: "I wrestled with the Chinese over a climate deal in Copenhagen." Yet this is a credit she certainly doesn't deserve. China's strong resolve to fight pollution and climate change is not a result of outside pressure, but the desire of its people. In Washington last week, Nick Stern, chair of Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, praised China for being a global leader in the fight against climate change and for its ambitious goals in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20). Clinton loves to tout her experience. This time she said: "I have sat in the Situation Room and advised the president (Barack Obama) on some of the toughest choices he faced." What she did not say is that she was directly responsible for some of the worst decisions, such as the regime change in Libya in 2011. Libya is in total chaos today and has become a haven for Islamic State terrorists largely because of US intervention. And the IS group is largely a by-product of the US' invasion of Iraq, which Clinton endorsed as a New York senator. It is worth noting that China, despite being accused of all sorts of things by US politicians like Clinton, has never done anything even remotely as damaging to peace and stability in a country or region. Her rhetoric reflects Cold War and zero-sum mentality. She claims Moscow and Beijing are "deeply envious of our alliances around the world, because they have nothing to match them". But she conveniently avoids saying that China by principle is a non-aligned country and the US alliances are a legacy of the Cold War. A group of scholars at a program in Washington on Wednesday rightly condemned such alliances, saying they had emboldened the US allies to take provocative actions in the belief that Washington would always come to their help regardless of what they have done. Clinton also claims that if the US doesn't lead the world, there will either be chaos or other countries will rush in to fill the void, and the choices they make will not be to the benefit of the US. Does she really believe the world will come to an end without US supremacy? Or does that suggest her "presidency" will be one of total US global dominance, leaving no room for the rise of countries such as China, Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia? Such mentality is the most likely reason why the US has been engaged in constant wars. Scholars say the US has been at war 93 percent of the time since its founding in 1776. That is literally 222 out of 239 years, meaning the US has been at peace for only 17 years. It is true that most researchers on China-US relations are worried by the lack of strategic trust between China, a rising power, and the US, the only superpower. But is China to blame for that? Confrontational speeches by Clinton are well known. But she dived deeper into the rhetoric abyss when she screamed, "countries like Russia and China often work against us". Such rhetoric does not suit someone who aspires to be the US president, especially because she knows full well China is not the villain and which country is. Or, is she trying to reinforce Americans' misunderstanding about China with a definite purpose? No one knows exactly how the US presidential election will play out, but whoever gets elected in November should do better to abandon the Cold War and zero-sum mentality and pursue a path of win-win cooperation with China. The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com (China Daily 06/18/2016 page5) I was in Vietnam on Friday, and had a chance to meet a senior Filipino diplomat. Talking about how China and the Philippines should improve their strained ties under incoming President Rodrigo Duterte, he suggested inviting one prominent and open-minded Chinese diplomat to give a lecture in Manila later this year. "Who do you think would be the right one?" I asked. "Ambassador Wu Jianmin," the Filipino replied, without any hesitation. "He is a truly respectful diplomat for his exceptional manner, decency, and global view. I'm sure he will be welcomed." He then asked if I could help. I accepted the request and said I would contact the 77-year-old former Chinese ambassador to France once I was back in the office on Monday. But a huge shock came on Saturday morning, when Wu tragically passed away in a fatal car accident in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, that morning. He was on his way to give a lecture at Wuhan University to share his views of the current international situation. I was devastated for I have been a longtime supporter of Wu's thoughts and views. His sudden death would be a huge loss to China's diplomacy and the academia of international relations. In China, Wu was known as a hardcore "pigeon", who advocated always using peaceful and diplomatic means, like dialogue, to resolve differences between countries, instead of resorting to hardline ways, like showing muscle. He famously argued that "anyone who resorts to war will fall in the current era of peace and development". He was even involved in a recent intense debate with Major General Luo Yuan, a researcher at the Chinese People's Liberation Army Military Science Academy. The latter, a known hawk, is a solid proponent of hardline diplomacy. Wu's viewpoints left him open to fierce attack by hawkish pundits. Some ultra-nationalists, including many Chinese netizens, even labeled him as a "traitor" to the country. But I would say that Wu's views should be cherished and appreciated in today's world when we see the slowdown, even retreat, of globalization. Ding Baozhen, also known as Ding Gongbao. [Photo provided to China Daily] This year marks the 130th anniversary of the death of Ding Baozhen, or Ding Gongbao, a high-ranking court official of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). People remember him for the arrest and eventual execution of An Dehai, the much patronized eunuch of the Empress Dowager Ci Xi in 1869. People also remember him for his famous family dish Gongbao chicken (often spelled Kungpao chicken), which over the years has become one of the most sought-after food items in Chinese restaurants of the world. In April this year, I, his great-grandson (he is my grandmother Ding Suzhen's father), and six other members of the Chen family, visited Ding's birthplace in Zhijin county of Guizhou province. I attended memorial meetings and research sessions at the provincial, regional and county levels, which remembered and paid tributes to Ding for his accomplishments and services to the people. Ding Baozhen served as governor of Shandong province and then governor-general of Sichuan and Guizhou provinces. In 1869, An Dehai, who was much hated by both court officials and the common people for his arrogance, domineering behaviour and corruption, left the imperial palace to visit Shandong province to collect bribes. Ron Braverman (right) and his son Chad Braverman, owners of Doc Johnson, a California-based sex toy company, pose for a photo in their factory showroom in Los Angeles. [Photo provided to China Daily] Chad Braverman is an early riseryou have to be to keep ahead as America's top sex-toy magnate, overseeing production of tens of thousands of "pleasure products" a week. Every day the 34-year-old gets up around dawn, jogs for 30 minutes and heads to work, where he runs the largest maker of vibrators, massagers, strokers and other R-rated gadgets in the United States. Set in a sprawling industrial campus 15 minutes' drive from Hollywood's Walk of Fame, "Doc Johnson" is unrecognizable from its origins as a fishing tackle shop bought by Chad's father and mentor, Ron, 40 years ago. "I always say he still hasn't told me what he does for a living, which is true. He's never sat me down and told me what he does," jokes Chad, who has taken over as the de-facto head of the company. Ron Braverman, 69, opened for business in Los Angeles in 1976, having spent time in the Netherlands, where his eyes were opened by the liberal attitude to what were then coyly known as "marital aids." Today, his 500-plus workforce pours 4,450 kilograms of molten materials every day into molds of penises, vaginas and other orifices, supplying retailers and individuals across the world. The company makes a staggering 75,000 sex toys a weekmany lovingly finished off by hand, to employ a phrase largely redundant in the high-tech world of "intimate pleasure." The rise of Doc Johnson coincides with a period of unparalleled growth in the market, with sex toys moving from the edge of acceptable into big business. An international group of legal experts and lawyers have signed a legal opinion document questioning an arbitration tribunal's jurisdiction in a case filed against China by the Philippines. They have also voiced concern over the suitability of the tribunal to handle such an issue without considering the historical and political context, according to Hong Kong barrister Daniel Fung Wah-kin. "We hope to protect the integrity and reputation of the tribunal and the whole international law system," Fung said. In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea challenging China's sovereignty in the area. Beijing has refused to be part of the arbitration and says the tribunal has no jurisdiction, while Manila has showed no indication of returning to bilateral negotiations. Others signing the document include Tony Carty, a British scholar and professor of international law at Tsinghua University, and Natalie Klein, professor and dean of Macquarie Law School in Sydney. Fung said they are awaiting a reply from the tribunal and have asked for an opportunity to present the case orally. Although the full text of the document has not been released to the media, its main point is that the tribunal has no jurisdiction over sovereignty disputes and maritime delimitation, as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea does not issue such judgments. Huang Yao, dean of the School of Law at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said the tribunal has imposed its jurisdiction but has no legitimacy. Fung said that as Chinese people have had links to the islands in the South China Sea for more than 2,000 years, the tribunal should carry out adequate research into the country's rights and interests before making any judgment. "These questions should be settled by diplomatic negotiations in treaty form," Fung said. Kuen-chen Fu, dean of the South China Sea Institute at Xiamen University, said the tribunal should take the document for reference, but it has no obligation to accept it. Tuesdays elections went smoothly with just a few minor hiccups reported at voting locations across North Dakota, according to the states top election official. It went very well, Secretary of State Al Jaeger said. Our goal is to have the story be the results the next day and not about the election process. Jaeger said the most notable issue was a power outage in Grand Forks that impacted a few thousand customers Tuesday afternoon. Election workers at precincts in that area of town were able to get through it with little or no problem, he said. Unofficial results from his office show a voter turnout of 138,685 -- about 24.3 percent of the estimated 570,955 eligible voters in the state. The record for June voter turnout was set in 2012, when 175,303 votes were cast, representing 33 percent of the estimated 532,776 eligible voters in the state at that time. Population estimates for voter turnout are based on numbers from the North Dakota Census Data Center. This is the only state without formal voter registration. Jaeger said his office received questions beginning the day after the election about things such as recount procedures. I certainly dont consider these (questions) to be problems, he said. Under state law, a candidate in a primary election can demand a recount if the vote total is more than 1 percent but less than 2 percent below the highest vote-getter. An automatic recount in a primary election is triggered by a margin of less than 1 percent. For ballot questions, measures and bond issues, the margin for an automatic recount is no more than one-quarter of 1 percent. Demands for recounts in city or county elections must be made in writing within three days of a county canvassing boards meeting. The candidate demanding a recount also must provide a bond for an amount previously set by the county auditor as the cost of conducting a recount. County canvassing boards will meet Monday to review the June 14 election results. The State Canvassing Board will meet 9 a.m. Friday in Jaegers office at the Capitol to certify the results. Three local races across the state may be close enough to trigger automatic recounts: the mayoral race in Hannaford, and council seats in Fairmount and Beach. Ballot measures in the cities of Dawson, Fullerton and Pettibone also may get automatic recounts. In addition, nine local races have the potential for demand recounts. Three are for seats on park boards in Casselton, Larimore and Minot. Three are for school boards: Fargo, Grand Forks and Mandan. Theres also a possibility of demand recounts for Bismarck and Bowman city commissions, as well as a council seat in Harwood. Jaeger said having so many races close enough for recounts isnt unusual. Theyre the general elections for the cities, Jaeger said. When you have the smaller cities, thats more likely to happen. For more election results and recount information, visit www.sos.nd.gov. Thomas Mair. [File photo] Police in the northern English county of West Yorkshire said a man, named as 52-year-old Thomas Mair, had been formally charged with the murder of his local member of parliament, Jo Cox, outside her constituency surgery on Thursday. When Mair appeared at a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court and was asked his name, he replied "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain." His lawyer, Keith Allen, then confirmed his name and age when asked by the court. Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot remanded him into custody until Monday, when he will appear at the Old Bailey in London, the countrys main criminal court. He was not asked to enter a plea. Arbuthnot said a psychiatric assessment should be made "bearing in mind the answer he has just given." Cox, a 41-year-old mother of two, was shot and stabbed as she prepared for a regular meeting to give advice to constituents in Birstall, West Yorkshire. Mair was arrested shortly after the attack and is described by police as a local resident. Police said Mair also was charged with illegal possession of offensive weapons, including a gun, and with causing grievous bodily harm. Police said a 77-year-old man who tried to intervene was attacked and seriously injured. He remains in stable condition in a hospital. Contact the reporter at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com BELGRADE -- A signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping elaborating on prospects for future relations between China and Serbia has aroused expectation for a new stage in cooperation between the two countries. Xi published a signed article on leading Serbian newspaper Politika under the title of "Enduring Friendship and True Partnership" on Thursday, ahead of his state visit to the Balkan country. The article, also carried by the Tanjug news agency, retrospected on the traditional friendship of more than six decades between China and Serbia and their ties marked by long-term mutual trust, support and win-win cooperation. Commenting on Xi's article, Dusan Janjic, a Serbian political expert with the Forum for Ethnic Relations, said China has been consistent in its policy on Serbia. "It is especially important when great ones respect small ones. This is also true for Serbia," he said. The reforms taking place in China in the past few decades show that China has always given priorities to economic development, he said, adding that this is quite enlightening for Serbia. "It is a great opportunity to cooperate with China," said the expert. Serbia is "located on a strategically important traffic junction," said Ivona Ladjevic, a researcher with the Institute for International Policy and Economy in Serbia. Ladjevic said investment from China is important for Serbia, adding she hopes that in the future more companies from China will invest in the Serbian industry. China and Serbia share a time-honored traditional friendship. In 2009, Serbia became the first CEE country to establish a strategic partnership with China. Two-way trade grew by 2.3 percent year on year to $550 million in 2015, according to Chinese customs. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pay homage to the Chinese martyrs killed in the NATO bombing of the former Chinese embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in May 1999, after arriving in Belgrade for a state visit to Serbia, June 17, 2016. The three martyrs were journalists Shao Yunhuan of Xinhua News Agency, and Xu Xinghu and his wife Zhu Ying, of the Guangming Daily newspaper. [Photo/Xinhua] Chinese President Xi Jinping paid homage to the Chinese martyrs killed in the NATO bombing of the former Chinese embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in May 1999, after arriving here Friday for a state visit to Serbia. As the first public event of the visit, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan joined Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and all other cabinet members in paying silent tribute to the martyrs. Leaders of the two countries laid wreaths to a new cenotaph erected on the site where the destroyed embassy once stood. Engraved with "Honor Martyrs, Cherish Peace," the cenotaph was set up by the Chinese government on Friday. The three victims of the deadly bombing were journalists Shao Yunhuan of Xinhua News Agency, and Xu Xinghu and his wife Zhu Ying, of the Guangming Daily newspaper. Xi and Nikolic stressed that the time-honored traditional friendship and the special friendly sentiments between their two countries are forged with blood and lives, and will be passed on for generations. China and Serbia will join hands in promoting development and peace, said the two presidents. After the mourning, the two heads of state attended a ceremony to lay the cornerstone for a Chinese culture center to be built on the embassy site, which will be the first one in the western Balkans. Mayor of Belgrade Sinisa Mali announced that the street outside the center will be named after ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, and the square outside the center will be named "China-Serbia Friendship Square." After the ceremony, Xi and Peng, accompanied by Nikolic and his wife Dragica, visited the Kalemegdan Park and Belgrade Fortress, the most important historical site in the Serbian capital. The park and the fortress are located on a 125-meter-high cliff at the junction of the River Sava and the River Danube. The two couples took a stroll in the park while engaged in friendly conversations. Xi told his host that looking down at the two rivers from the fortress, he felt like seeing the long history of the Serbian people. "The Serbian people, with an indomitable spirit, have revived time and again in history like the phoenix nirvana, which the Chinese people admire very much," Xi said. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan are greeted by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and his wife upon their arrival at the airport of Belgrade, Serbia, June 17, 2016. Xi started a state visit to Serbia Friday. [Photo/Xinhua] Related: Chinese president arrives in Serbia for state visit China will work with Serbia to upgrade pragmatic cooperation to a higher level, President Xi Jinping said on Friday afternoon. Xi made the remarks during a speech at the Belgrade airport where he was welcomed by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. Xi is on a three-day state visit to Serbia - the first of its kind by a Chinese head of state since Serbia's independence in June, 2006. In an article published on Thursday by Politika, a daily Serbian newspaper, Xi proposed more cooperation on major projects, saying China wanted to share development opportunities and achievements with Serbia. The two countries should increase bilateral trade and investment to benefit people in both nations, Xi said. President Xi Jinping received a medal symbolizing Serbia's highest award on Saturday during his state visit to the country. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic held a ceremony to present the Order of the Republic of Serbia on a Grand Collar to Xi, who is on a three-day visit that started Friday. As Serbia's highest award, the honorary medal had only been granted once - to Russia's President Vladimir Putin in 2014 - before it was awarded to Xi. China and Serbia are "all-weather friends" and have a "special brotherly bond," and both sides should expand their ties, Xi said. Xi called on both sides to adhere to the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, make ties more strategic and comprehensive and expand practical cooperation in various fields to promote all-round and in-depth development of the China-Serbia relationship. China highly values its friendship with Serbia and cherishes the good momentum of vigorous development of bilateral ties, Xi stressed. As an old friend and true friend, Serbia is glad to see China's great achievements in socialist development and reform and opening-up, Nikolic said, stressing that both sides should firmly support each other on issues of core interest and major concern. Xi and Nikolic stressed that the time-honored traditional friendship and the special friendly sentiments between their two countries are forged with blood and lives, and will be passed down for generations. China and Serbia will join hands in promoting development and peace, the two presidents said. On Friday, Xi paid homage to the Chinese martyrs killed in the NATO bombing of the former Chinese embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in May 1999. In 2009, Serbia became the first country in Central or Eastern Europe to establish a strategic partnership with China. In September last year, Nikolic and troops from Serbia attended the parade in Beijing marking the 70th anniversary of victory in the World Anti-Fascist War, also known as World War II. China and Serbia signed more than 20 cooperative documents in the presence of both countries' presidents in Belgrade on Saturday. Visiting President Xi Jinping and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic signed a joint declaration to upgrade the bilateral ties to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the first one of its kind in Central and East Europe region. In 2009, Serbia became the first country in Central or Eastern Europe to establish a strategic partnership with China. A number of cooperative documents covering areas including economic and trade, production capacity, and finance, were also signed on Saturday morning. The two countries will enhance cooperation in key areas including infrastructure, industry and agriculture, Xi said while meeting the press after the signing ceremony. China and Serbia should uphold the principle of mutual respect, treating each other equally and cooperate to achieve win-win results, Xi said, adding that the two sides should understand each others' core interests and major concerns. China and Serbia are "all-weather friends" and have a "special brotherly bond," and both sides should expand their ties, Xi said. To show his support for China-Serbia production capacity cooperation, Xi will visit the Smederevo Steelworks, which was acquired by China's HeSteel Group in April, on Sunday with both President Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. During his talks with Xi, Nikolic called for more cooperation with China to deepen the bilateral friendship established by several generations of leaders. Noting that China has never invaded other countries in its history, Nikolic said that China is a great nation that loves peace and dislikes conflicts. "The whole world should thank Chinese government and people for the contributions they made to world peace," he said. Before meeting with the press, Xi received the Order of the Republic of Serbia on a Grand Collar, Serbia's highest award, from President Nikolic. On Friday, Xi paid homage to the three Chinese journalists killed in the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in May 1999. To contact the reporter: anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds talks with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic in Belgrade, Serbia, June 18, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] China and Serbia upgraded their bilateral relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on Saturday after close talks between the two presidents, with more than 20 cooperative documents signed. Serbia has become the first country in the Central and East Europe (CEE) region to establish a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with China after visiting President Xi Jinping and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic signed a joint declaration. Witnessed by the two presidents, more than 20 cooperative documents covering areas including economy and trade, production capacity, and finance, also were signed on Saturday morning. China and Serbia are "all-weather friends" and have a "special brotherly bond", and both sides should expand their ties, Xi said after signing the joint declaration. The two countries will enhance cooperation in key areas including infrastructure, industry and agriculture, Xi said, adding that China-proposed Belt and Road Initiatives have been supported by Serbia. China and Serbia should uphold the principle of mutual respect, treating each other equally, and cooperate to achieve win-win results, Xi said, adding that the two sides should understand each other's core interests and major concerns. Nikolic called for more cooperation with China to deepen the bilateral friendship made by several generations of leaders. He invited Chinese companies to invest more in Serbia. Noting that China has never invaded other countries in its history, Nikolic said that China is a great nation that loves peace and dislikes conflicts. "The whole world should thank the Chinese government and people for the contributions they made to world peace," he said. After the signing ceremony, Xi received the Order of the Republic of Serbia on a Grand Collar, the country's top award, from Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. The medal has been granted only once to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014 after its launch in 2009. During the visit, Xi received a rare high-level reception, with a welcome ceremony attended by both President Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, at the airport upon his arrival. Soon after his arrival on Friday, Xi paid homage to the Chinese martyrs killed in the NATO bombing of the former Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in May 1999. Chu Yin, a researcher at the Beijing-based University of International Relations, said that China-Serbia cooperation should be seen as an example for developing ties with Central and East European countries. There is great potential for the development of bilateral economic ties, given the fact that the current Chinese investment in Serbia remains less than many countries in the EU, he said. Denis Depoux, Asia deputy president of the Munich-based consulting firm Roland Berger, said that Serbia has a long tradition in manufacturing industrial goods, but it has long been neglected by investors due to political reasons. "Serbia is one of the hot spots of investment in Europe at the moment," he said, adding that the geographic location of Serbia, connecting the east and west of Europe, has made it an ideal place for China's initiatives to revive the ancient Silk Road. A two-day meeting attended by local leaders from China and Central and Eastern European countries closed with contracts signed on Friday in Tangshan, North China's Hebei province. Host province Hebei signed 16 contracts with some regions of the CEE countries and established friendly relations with five counterparts. "Hebei government will always support companies going abroad and carrying out cooperation with CEE countries in areas of competitive industries and capacities," Zhao Kezhi, the province's Party chief, said during the meeting. As one of the competitive industries in Hebei, the iron and steel sector has joined hands with CEE countries, such as a recent acquisition of the Smederevo steel mill in Serbia by Hebei-based Hesteel Group Co Ltd. The transaction is to be completed by the end of this month. In 2009, China and Serbia established a strategic partnership, the first of its kind between a CEE country and China. "Our cooperation on major projects is making heartening and sweeping progress, delivering economic and social benefits and a positive impact on the entire Central and Eastern European region," said Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in a signed article in a Serbian newspaper ahead of his state visit to the country. "National leaders' interaction can promote mutual friendship, while local leaders' meetings can help bring cooperative agreements into actuality," said Sanja Vasic, a Serbian representative at the meeting who works at the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce in Serbia and led a business delegation of 12 company leaders to the meeting. They came to learn more about Chinese companies and sought to find partners during the meeting, she said. Except for Hebei, government officials from 15 Chinese provinces and cities also came to the meeting to explore further cooperation with the countries. Trade volume between China and the CEE countries reached $56.2 billion last year, up 28 percent from 2010, said Vice-Premier Ma Kai at the meeting's opening ceremony. To further enhance the cooperation between Chinese cities and their counterparts in 16 CEE countries, this kind of meeting, officially called the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Local Leaders' Meeting, was first held in Chongqing in 2013, and the second in Prague in 2014. The third meeting attracted more than 400 foreigners, including governors and mayors from the CEE countries and their ambassadors in China, as well as business delegations. The Chinese government will encourage local regions to cooperate with their counterparts in the CEE countries in such areas as production capacity, trade and transportation, said Premier Li Keqiang in his message to the meeting. Chinas Relations With the West: Straight Line Decline There are those who believe China's ongoing Party Congress will bode well for companies that do business in or with China. I am firmly convinced that the opposite is true and that it will used as yet another opportunity by China to show that it will not be cowered by the declining relations and sanctions/counter-sanctions between the United States / EU / Australia / Japan on the one hand, and China on the other. I see China using this Congress to let the world (domestic and external) know that it fully intends to fight back and fight back hard. In other words, this Party Congress will lead to China's decoupling from much of the world accelerating, not slowing down. Laurie Ann Wells Alberts Corn Tassel (naNahishu), was born July 17, 1956 in Garrison, to Marie Deane Wells and Thomas Wells Sr., and was the oldest of four children. Laurie was an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes, and a child of the Waterbuster Clan. She was raised in the Lucky Mound area and would often share fond memories with her own children and grandchildren about growing up in the country. As a child she enjoyed all of the time spent surrounded by a large family, which included both of her maternal and paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many cousins. This same ideal of familial closeness and support is the exact way she raised her own family. Laurie attended school in Parshall, until her senior year. She then attended Marty Indian School in Marty, S.D.; graduating in 1974. While at Marty she competed in speech and debate, and won various South Dakota state speech and debate awards. Her love of the arts was something that she would share and encourage with her children and grandchildren to participate in. Following graduation, she attended the University of Mary in Bismarck. Early in her undergraduate years, she had aspirations of pursuing a career in medicine. She was able to work as an office assistant for the infamous Dr. Herbert Wilson at the New Town Community Clinic. Nonetheless, she quickly changed her mind upon discovering that she had an aversion at the slightest amount of blood; which she saw while assisting Dr. Wilson with an emergency. In the late 70s, she than began work with North Dakota Legal Services located in New Town. In October of 1979 she married Thomas Alberts of St. Michael. The couple initially settled in Parshall, later moving to New Town. They had four daughters: Vonnie Jo, Vicki Marie, Vanessa Katherine and the baby, Alyssa Ann. Along with her husband, the two made certain that each girl knew how blessed they were as parents to have them. Therefore, they would always make a great effort to make every holiday, birthday, and achievement a special occasion even through the girls adult years. This tradition in turn has been carried over to Lauries nine grandchildren. During the early 1980s Laurie began her federal career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs/Fort Berthold Agency as an office assistant to the Superintendent; a few years later she transferred to the Range and Fire Management office where she worked until 1994. She cherished and maintained the relationships she formed with fellow co-workers who became family to Laurie, her husband, and their children. Following her many years of federal service, she worked as an office manager and compliance officer for the Three Affiliated Tribes Rural Water, formerly known as MR&I. Laurie enjoyed the science behind her job of ensuring the highest quality water for the people of Fort Berthold. Along with her full-time employment, Laurie taught Adult Basic Education at the Fort Berthold Community College from 1994 through 2001. Laurie had a passion for teaching, and helped a large amount of students meet their diploma requirements. She would love to hear their stories of success following obtaining their GED. Laurie always stressed the importance of education to her daughters; she served as President of the Parent Teacher Association in the late 80s and was very involved in the New Town school system. In 2001, she made the decision to lead by example and return to school. She graduated with her bachelors of science- management in 2002 from the University of Mary; and then continued on to obtain two masters degrees in management and business administration. Following that, Laurie acted in various capacities with the Three Affiliated Tribes such as Federal Programs Manager, CEO, Programs Analyst, and Office Manager at Public Works. In addition to her extensive employment history, pursuing her education, and raising her family, Laurie also enjoyed helping people. In the late 80s, she served as an Al-anon and Alateen counselor helping families deal with addiction. She also facilitated classes for children and adults with the North Dakota State University Extension Services Parenting and Nurturing program, and served as a Girl Scout Troop Leader for her daughter Vickis troop. Laurie was also an active member of her catholic parish, and served as a Eucharistic Minister. Laurie was known to many as an intelligent, compassionate, honest, humble, and strong-willed woman. She held her Catholic faith and traditional Arikara values very dear to her heart, and encouraged a balance of these values within her family. She enjoyed reading, visiting and laughing with her family, attending powwows, traveling and spending time with her grandchildren. Despite being diagnosed with a terminal illness; Laurie continued to live her life to the fullest. Her granddaughters and grandson were the most important treasures in her life, and she made every effort to continue to attend their school functions (cross country meets, track and field, band concerts, plays, spelling bees, and award ceremonies). She was always so proud of her grandchildren and enjoyed celebrating their accomplishments. Laurie was appreciative of the many prayers offered by family and friends. She would credit these prayers and her faith in the Creator, to her continued strength throughout her triumphant fight against Leukemia and for allowing her more time to create memories with her family. After a three and half year battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Laurie journeyed peacefully from this life with family by her side on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in her home. Her beautifully strong spirit will continue to be remembered and live on through her beautiful grandchildren. They truly were her world, and she truly was her familys miracle. Laurie is survived by her daughters, Vonnie Jo Alberts (Rabbit Woman), New Town, Vicki Marie Alberts (Bluecorn Woman), New Town, and Alyssa Ann Alberts (Last Child), Bismarck; her grandchildren, Vonica Laplante (Chief Child), Vivica Paul (Blue Eagle Girl), Danica Paul (Red Eagle Girl), ArikaRee Alberts (Thinking of Things a Long Ways Off), Inaani Wilson (First Thunder), Tusweca Wilson (Singing Star), Ian Thomas Smith (Yellow Feather), Amazing Grace Smith and Sophia Smith; her sisters, Cleo and Mary Wells both of Bismarck; a brother, Thomas Wells (Dorothy), Parshall; a niece, Corrine Felix-Wells, Bismarck; and nephews, Tyler Wells, Bismarck, Daniel (Renae) Ripley, Bismarck, and Jackson (Lyz) Ripley, Minnesota. She was preceded in death by her parents; twin stillborn infant brothers; her husband, Thomas Alberts; still born infant daughter, Vanessa Katherine Alberts; her maternal grandparents, William Deane and Leona Yellow Bird; and paternal grandparents, Ralph Wells Jr. and Olive Sherwood Wells. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, June 20, at St. Anthony Catholic Church, New Town. Interment will be at Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery, Raub. A wake will begin at 6 p.m. Sunday at Johnny Bird Veterans Memorial Hall, New Town. (Photo : Getty Images) China has deployed several ships to help Vietnamese authorities find a missing coastguard plane. Advertisement Following a request from Vietnam, China on Friday dispatched several ships to help Vietnamese officials in their search for a coastguard plane that crashed earlier this week. The plane, which was carrying nine people, was part of a search operation to find a fighter jet plane that went missing on Tuesday. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The coastguard plane crashed on Thursday in the Gulf of Tonkin, between Vietnam's northern coastline and China's Hainan Island, Vietnam's defense ministry said. The coastguard plane was searching for a Sukhoi SU-30 MK2 fighter jet and a missing pilot that had lost contact with Vietnamese officials on Tuesday. Vietnam's team had rescued one of the two pilots from the sea on Wednesday. Bad weather and low visibility are being cited as the main reasons for Thursday's crash. China has dispatched one rescue team and two coastguard boats to assist Vietnamese officials in the search operation. In a rare move, the Chinese government has also allowed Vietnamese vessels to enter into Chinese maritime territory to conduct the search operation. Over the years, Vietnam has lost several aging helicopters, but plane crashes have been rare. Currently, the Vietnamese government is busy shoring up its air and naval defense by replacing its depleted air planes and helicopters with newer ones. This move is said to be aimed at increasing Vietnam's military power against China. Both nations are claimants to contested territories in the South China Sea. Vietnam is seeking a closer military cooperation with Japan and the U.S. in a bid to revamp its military defense. Vietnam's military pursuit got a huge boost last month after US President Obama lifted Washington's 42-year-old arms ban on the country. Advertisement Tagschina, Vietnam, China and Vietnam (Photo : Getty Images) Xiaomi has launched its Mi Pay service. Advertisement Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi Corp has joined hands with the country's second-largest telecom carrier, China United Network Communications Group Co, to increase its offline retailing channels across the country. The announcement comes as Xiaomi struggles to cope with saturation in online sales and declining shipment. The smartphone maker is also burdened with mounting competition from other Chinese companies like Oppo, Lenovo, and Huawei. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "The proportion of online sales is too big," said Lei Jun, CEO and founder of Xiaomi. "To maintain the rapid growth we have seen in the past four years, expanding offline retailing channels becomes the key." Apart from smartphones, other Xiaomi products such as Xiaomi TV, routers, and air purifiers will also be sold through offline retail channels. "All of these Xiaomi electronic products will be available at our nationwide offline retail stores," said Xiong Yu, deputy general manager at China Unicom. Xiong added that this joint venture perfectly fits into China Unicom's ambitious plan to transform its bricks-and-mortar assets into a major retailing platforms for selling various electronic products. CK Lu, a principal analyst at consulting firm Gartner Inc, claims that China Unicom's abundant offline assets offer Xiaomi a direct entry into lower tier cities, where Xiaomi's major rivals Oppo Electronics Corp and vivo are dominant players. As China's burgeoning smartphone market begins to saturate, several Chinese companies are focusing on bricks-and-mortar sales to spur their profit. Xiaomi's competitor Lenovo Group has said it will invest more capital and efforts to increase its offline retail presence. According to Lenovo Vice-President Chen Xudong, offline retail sales holds the key to surviving the ruthless competition in the smartphone industry. Advertisement TagsXiaomi, China Unicom, china, Chinese smartphone news (Photo : Gerty Images) China and Serbia strenghten the ties Advertisement Serbian President Tomislav Niolic is anticipating the long-awaited visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua , President Nikolic said that the Chinese Premier's visit will unfurl a new chapter of Serbia-China traditional friendship, while also offering a chance for further economic cooperation. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Nikolic emphasized the long friendship and cooperation between the two countries, saying that the friendly relations are of paramount importance to the people of both countries. "This everlasting friendship cannot be affected or influenced by changes of presidents or prime ministers," he said In 2009, the two countries signed a joint declaration on strategic partnership. They are expected to further solidify political and economic bonds during the Chinese president's visit. The Serbian president urged Chinese Businessmen to consider exploring the possibility of investing in his country's food sector. He added that his country gives high subsidies to investors, also saying that they have duty-free shops around the world. Nikolic urged Chinese investors to put up factories in his country, so that the two entities can jointly manufacture goods and sell them in the international market. The two countries have worked closely on the economic front. With the help of Chinese funding and implementation,Serbia has implemented infrastructure projects such as highways, bridges, and thermal plants. The Serbian President expressed his happiness at the smooth running of bilateral relations between the two countries, saying that friendship cannot be measured by money or history. President Xi Jinpin will visit Serbia, Poland, and Uzbekistan from June 17 to 22. The Chinese president has been invited by the presidents of the three countries. Advertisement Tagschina, china news, Serbia, President Xi Jinping (Photo : Gerty Images) Catholic church facing difficult times Advertisement A recent holy decree that attempted to stop Catholics from interacting with a group that is calling for the removal of Guam Archbishop Antony Apuron has been rescinded. The bishop is facing allegations of sexual abuse. Three men had accused him of taking advantage of them sexually in the 1970s, when they were minors and Apuron was a Parish priest. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Apuron, who has denied the accusations, issued a decree invalidating association with Concerned Catholics of Guam on June 5. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, who was appointed as temporary administrator when the accusations started surfacing, rescinded the order. Meanwhile, a third person - Roland Paul L.Sondia - has come forward accusing the Archbishop of sexual abuse. The former altar boy said that the Priest abused him during a sleepover at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church Rectory in Agat, where Apuron was Parish priest in 1977. "When I was an altar boy almost 39 years ago, at the age of 15, I was molested by Antony Sablan Apuron. This was a man I trusted and had a lot of respect for," Sondia said during a press conference with the media. He was accompanied by his wife, his lawyer David Lujan, and the families and supporters of the other three accusers. The response to the latest accusation was more measured and reconciliatory compared to the replies when the first accusers came forward in May. In previous responses, the Archbishop and the Archdiocese of Hagana promised to file lawsuits, claiming that 'malicious' lies were being peddled against them. The accusers are all calling for the removal of Apuron as the leader of the Catholic church in Guam. Advertisement TagsCatholic Church, sexual assault, Society news, Religion U.S. Army cyborg soldier Advertisement The brain machine interface (BMI) called a "stentrode" recently invented by Australian researchers with DARPA funding will be a critical step in transforming future U.S. soldiers into "cyborgs" that can connect directly to battlefield computers and "talk" to them "telepathically." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Giving U.S. soldiers, especially infantry, a huge tactical edge in future battlefields is precisely what the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program being implemented by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) intends to attain. NESD's goal is to develop an implantable neural interface to bridge the formidable gap between the human brain and implanted digital devices. The implant DARPA has in mind pretty much sounds like the stentrode. DARPA said this device should give "unprecedented signal resolution and data-transfer bandwidth." DARPA has specified an implantable device less than a single cubic centimeter in dimension as the end product of NESD. Stentrode is the size of a matchstick and can be implanted without the need for opening the skull. The research that led Australian scientists at the University of Melbourne to the successful development of the stentrode this year was partially funded by DARPA. Once perfected, the stentrode could allow U.S. soldiers to move and react faster on the battlefield and should eventually allow them to "talk to" and control futuristic mind-controlled weapons via the stentrode. "The military appear interested in the potential for jet fighters to control their planes with direct thought control, rather than using their arms. The reaction time you'd shave off would be milliseconds," said Dr. Tom Oxley, the University of Melbourne Neurologist whose team has been working on the stentrode for over four years. More specifically, DARPA wants U.S. Air Force pilots to control their jet fighters directly by plugging their brains into the aircraft's computer, said Dr. Oxley. The stentrode will make it possible for American fighter pilots to become true cyborgs. Cyborg, a portmanteau for cybernetic organism, aren't the evil robots we've seen in the popular Terminator movies. A cyborg is a person with both organic and "biomechatronic" body parts. A human cyborg such as a cyborg warrior has enhanced abilities because an artificial component such as the stentrode or technology that relies on some sort of feedback has been integrated into a part of his body such as the brain. On the other hand, biomechatronics is a science that aims to integrate electronics and mechanical elements with living organisms. In the case of American cyborg fighter pilots, the stentrode should help reduce pilot stress since flying computer-controlled aircraft such as the F-22 and F-35 is physically taxing and requires the pilot evaluate and monitor several actions occurring at once. Stentrodes could reduce pilot error. With a BMI such as the stentrode, a fighter pilot's brain will send signals to the muscles in the pilot's hands to take instant action with the joystick when the pilot faces sudden danger. All without thinking. The stentrode was developed by a team at the Vascular Bionics Laboratory at the University of Melbourne led by neurologist Dr. Oxley. The Australians plan to begin human trials of the device in 2017. They believe thought-controlled prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs activated by their stentrode might be available within a decade. Advertisement TagsDARPA, stentrode, Neural Engineering System Design, University of Melbourne, Dr. Tom Oxley, biomechatronics (Photo : CNSA) Tiangong-1 is falling back to Earth Advertisement China remains silent amid breaking news its Tiangong-1 space station might be in an uncontrolled freefall that will eventually see it destroyed as it burns up in the atmosphere, threatening people and infrastructure on the ground. Media reports have described the descent of Tiangong-1 as "out of control." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The Chinese government has yet to issue a statement as to when Tiangong-1 will burn-up and over what part of the Earth its debris will rain down on. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) also hasn't commented on the status of the Tiangong-1 for the past several months. What is known is that China's Manned Space Engineering Office last March 21 quietly announced that all telemetry with Tiangong-1 had failed, leaving China with no ability to safely control the fall of the 19,000 lbs. space station back to Earth. "If I am right, China will wait until the last minute to let the world know it has a problem with their space station," said Thomas Dorman, a satellite tracker. Dorman believes Tiangong-1 could be in a kind of controlled free fall. "The suggestion has been made (that) the reason China hasn't done re-entry of Tiangong-1 is, the space station is low on fuel, and China is waiting on a natural decay to a much lower orbit before they can do a burn to bring the station down." "It could be a real bad day if pieces of this came down in a populated area ... but odds are, it will land in the ocean or in an unpopulated area," said Dorman. "But remember -- sometimes, the odds just do not work out, so this may bear watching." China planned to safely de-orbit Tiangong-1 in 2013 and replace it with Tiangong-2 this September and Tiangong-3 next year. It hasn't explained why this safe de-orbit of Tiangong-1 failed. Chances are Tiangong-1 will rain whatever's left of it over the Pacific Ocean, probably within the boundaries of the "Spacecraft Cemetery" off the east coast of New Zealand. There is, however, the possibility its debris might smash into populated areas. China's silence as to where its space station will fall might be setting the stage for a catastrophe. The fact Chinese authorities have been very quiet about Tiangong-1 might mean the space station is already in freefall, said Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow at the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation. "That would seem to suggest that it's not being de-orbited under control. That's the implication," he noted. Advertisement TagsTiangong-1, china, China National Space Administration, re-entry (Photo : Facebook/University of Hermes) Tyrel Martin Marhanka killed himself by slashing his own throat with a pair of scissors in a Taiwanese courtroom after he was handed a four-year jail sentence over drug charges. Advertisement An American man committed suicide by slitting his own throat with a scissor blade inside a courtroom in Taiwan on Thursday after a judge handed him a four-year prison sentence for growing marijuana. Tyrel Martin Marhanka, 41, said he "didn't want to live anymore" before jabbing a pair of 8-inch scissor blades into his neck, severing several arteries, according to a local newspaper. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Bleeding profusely, he was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead, according to a statement from the Changhua District Court. Marhanka, an English teacher by profession, smuggled the weapon inside the courtroom by hiding them inside a magazine he carried with him, which a metal detector at the court failed to detect. The U.S. citizen was arrested in April 2015 after police recovered more than 200 cannabis plants, 195 dried cannabis plants and 10 opium poppies at his rented house in Changhua's Yongjing Township. Marhanka was indicted in March on a number of charges including growing marijuana at his home and importing marijuana and opium poppy seeds. At the time of his arrest, the father-of-two told authorities that he was growing the plants for self-consumption. In the wake of the incident, Judge Wang Yi-min issued a statement, promising improved security measures such as additional x-ray machines, to be implemented at the court. "We deeply regret that Tyrel Martin Marhanka killed himself during the sentencing," he said. "He was cooperative during the investigation and the trial. His attitude was mild and he did not show any signs that he would commit suicide." Advertisement TagsTyrel Martin Marhanka, Taiwan, Changhua, marijuana, Changhua District Court, Tyrel Marhanka A wildfire in Santa Barbara has grown to 4,000 acres overnight, putting about 140 homes at risk and closing down major freeways, according to federal officials. The fire started on Wednesday afternoon on coastal hills north of Santa Barbara. It had moved through overgrown hillsides and canyons that have not been burned in over 60 years because of the hot and dry weather and notorious sundowner winds. Sundowners, similar to Santa Ana winds, fuel many of the fires in the Santa Barbara County. Highway 101 was temporarily shut down along the Gaviota Coast, for the second night in a row, on Thursday and was reopened around 5 a.m. on Friday. There has been a mandatory evacuation order for several areas as the homes and ranches were still potentially at risk depending on the direction of the winds. By 7 a.m. on Friday morning, Unified Command reported that 5 percent of the fire has been contained and is expecting full containment of the fire by next Wednesday. Santa Barbara County Sheriff said that one of the departments jail buses was sent to Refugio campground to pick up about 30 campers who had no transportation. Parks and campgrounds have evacuated hundreds of people after the first eruption of fire and have cancelled all appointments through next Friday. Charlie and Elizabeth Hatten were out camping at El Capitan State Beach when the fire had erupted. Charlie told the Los Angeles Times, The flames looked so close, you couldnt see the moon anymore. Both Charlie and Elizabeth were awoken by a park ranger and moved to a shelter. Although the fire had bumped into the oil and gas processing facility in La Flores Canyon, there were no structural damages, according to Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Eric Peterson. The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control district issued Air Quality Warnings due to the smoke from the fire burning in the Refugio Canyon area. People are advised to stay indoors and keep windows and doors closed. The forecast for the weekend in Southern California puts firefighters on high alert as it is expected to reach triple-digit temperatures until Monday and will heighten the risk for fires. Three men and two women were killed in an abandoned building that was consumed by a blaze deliberately caused by a homeless man on Monday night. On Wednesday, a 21 year old male, Johnny Sanchez, was charged with five counts of capital murder on account of five dead people. Approximately 150 firefighters were on duty to extinguish the fire in a 14,351 square-foot building that was once located near MacArthur Park. The previously abandoned acupuncture clinic was surrounded by strip malls and an apartment that is owned by Westlake District. According to a fire department official, fire officials were worried about the vacant structure, which no longer had working fire sprinklers, and the site was noted as a potential fire hazard. It wasnt until Tuesday afternoon, when rescue dogs found four out of the five bodies badly scorched. Two were identified as Jerry Dean Clemons, 55, and Marry Anne Davis, 44. They have yet to identify the other victims. Los Angeles police Lt. William Hayes said, It was a dispute between Sanchez and other individuals that were residing in the building that was the case of him ultimately lighting the fire. Police say that Sanchez holds a criminal record including drugs and domestic violence. His set bail was one million dollars. However, in an email, spokeswoman for the district attorney Jane Robison said that because it is likely to be a death penalty case, a request for Sanchez to be held without bail was approved by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gustavo Sztraicher. As investigators dig in to find out more details the circumstances surrounding the incident, the case for Sanchez is currently postponed until July 27. home World ISIS targeting Yazidis to 'erase their identity,' UN says The United Nations has declared that the Islamic State has been targeting Yazidis in Iraq and Syria as an act of genocide against the ethnic religious community. In an effort to wipe out their existence, ISIS has "sought to erase the Yazidis through killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer causing serious bodily and mental harm," the UN said in a recent report called "They Come to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis." No other religious group has experienced such atrocities at the hands of ISIS, according to the report. The report also said that the Islamist terror group separates Yazidi children, particularly boys older than 12, from their parents and puts them under ISIS fighters to cut them off from religious practices in their community. "Their past is deemed erased and all contact with their family and community is effectively cut off. Instead, a new identity is forcibly imposed," the report said. This strategy has two purposes: to have more fighter recruits and to indoctrinate them to Islam, thus destroying their previous religious identity. Those who refuse to convert are put to death. The women, girls and younger children had been forced to transfer to Syria, where they are still being held captive. "Genocide has occurred and is ongoing. ISIS has subjected every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities," Paulo Pinheiro, chair of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. The report was based on Yazidi survivors' accounts of what they went through while at the hands of their ISIS captors. Commissioner Carla Del Ponte said that ISIS has made clear its intention to wipe out the Yazidis, leading the Commission to conclude that ISIS is carrying out genocide against the religious group. "Of course, we regard that as a road map for prosecution, for future prosecution. I hope that the Security Council will do it because it is time now to start to obtain justice for the victims," said Del Ponte, as reported by Reuters. 3 Bible figures you should be careful not to resemble in your life The Bible gives us examples of figures that we should never imitate because they have characteristics that should not be found in any Christ-follower. While the Bible gives us figures to imitate and desire to be like, such as the Lord Jesus, the apostles Paul, Peter, Philip, James, and John, as well as king David, the Bible also gives us some figures to avoid emulating. Here are some of them. Judas Iscariot (see Luke 22) Of all the men in the Bible, this guy has got to be the most privileged ever, at least to me. Why? He was specifically chosen by Jesus and trusted by Him. Judas Iscariot got to spend every day of his life in constant communion with the Saviour, seeing Him do good things, hearing Him speak the Father's heart, and being there as the perfect reminder and personification of God's love. Yet, Judas betrayed Jesus for a mere thirty pieces of silver. He never even repented, instead he committed suicide. (see Matthew 27:3-5) Let us not be like Judas, who will trade God for material things, and then run away from Him instead of drawing near to Him when he falls. King Ahab (see 1 Kings 16-22) Israel's king was actually blessed to have the man of God Elijah around, but instead chose to listen to Jezebel, who caused all Israel to sin. In fact, Jesus hates Jezebel, specifically mentioning her in Revelation 2. Ahab was blindly seduced by this woman, who kept feeding his desires while manipulating him through his insecurities. Let us not be like king Ahab who will not listen to God's corrections and rebukes. Let us instead be a pure people who will build ourselves in His holiness, and find our confidence and security in Christ who was overcome the world. The Pharisees (see Matthew 23) Here are the people who possessed a form of godliness yet were devoid of its power and knew little of mercy or love. The Pharisees pride themselves in their knowledge of the Bible and their standing as religious figures in their time, yet Jesus calls them a "brood of vipers" (Matthew 23:33) who do not do what the Bible says! Instead, they demand that they be given honour and respect, contrary to what Jesus said: be a servant. Let us not be like the Pharisees who were proud of their religion and religiosity, but were not really obeying the Word of God and living for God's purposes. Instead, let us submit to God and His goodness; and be fully dependent on His grace, not in our strength. Jesus Christ Himself the 'Man in white' leading Muslims to embrace Christianity through dreams and visions Christian missionaries spreading the faith in the Islamic world, particularly in the Middle East, have found a very powerful ally: Jesus Christ Himself! More and more reports are coming out that Jesus is personally leading thousands if not millions of Muslims into the Christian fold, appearing in their dreams and visions as the "Man in white," according to the God Reports website. Even at this time when Muslims are observing their holy fasting month of Ramadana time when they are supposed to get them closer to Allahmany are getting closer to Jesus instead. "God is moving very powerfully using dreams and visions Muslims are having of the Man in white, of Jesus Himself," author Joel Rosenberg told CBN recently. He cited a recent study showing how Muslims are turning to Jesus in great numbers, with some of them saying Jesus Christ Himself made them to turn their backs on Islam. "From 1960 to 2010, the number of Muslims that have converted to faith in Jesus Christ has grown from fewer than 200,000 to some 10 million people" Rosenberg said. He said many Muslims have become disillusioned by the seemingly unending conflict and bloodshed in the Middle East. "In the last 10-15 years, many Muslims are deeply uncomfortable with the idea that ISIS, or Iran's leadership, or Assad are the type of people that represent Islam," he said. Despite the Muslim public's disillusionment, Christian missionaries are still finding it difficult to reach out to them because of the danger involved and the many restrictions imposed by Islamic rulers. But now Christian missionaries and evangelists have found a most potent ally in spreading the faithJesus Christ Himself! God Reports has featured numerous accounts of Muslims encountering Jesus through dreams, visions, and even personal visitations. These encounters include: Jesus showing Himself to Muslim families in refugee camps; Muslim refugees aboard a boat seeing Jesus among them while crossing a stormy Aegean Sea; Jesus appearing before an Islamic fighter and stopping him from killing a Christian pastor; Jesus showing Himself to a bedridden Muslim mother; A descendant of Muhammad meeting Jesus in his dream; A fiercely anti-Christian imam who turned to Jesus after seeing Him in his dream. These are just a few examples showing how many Muslims are encountering Jesus, according to God Reports. Syrian refugee children hearing the Gospel at Bible camp Syrian refugees need people's help more than ever, and they need help not just with rebuilding their lives, but also with the restoration of their emotional wellbeing and spiritual faith. Missionary Kate Yates recently travelled to Lebanon to work with local partners of Open Doors as they hosted a 3-day Bible camp for Syrian refugee children. "Before departing for the camp, we spent some time hearing about the children we would be working with. The statistics were alarming and revealed that these children were hurting (79 percent have lost a family member to the violence/persecution; 60 percent have seen someone inflicted with the violence/persecution with their own eyes; 30 percent have personally experienced it)," she says. "The church in Lebanon has a daunting task in front of them as one in every four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. What encouraged me was that our partners recognise it is not so much a daunting task but an incredible opportunity!" she adds. The approach of these missionaries is not to preach, but to serve the children. They know the Gospel has the power to change people's hearts and lives, so they shared the story of God in order to show love to the children. Despite all the difficult things the refugees have experienced, they were warm and hospitable to Yates. "They lived in makeshift structures that hardly qualified as a home, and yet, their gratitude for their current conditions was evident as they shared with us," she says. "When we asked about their story and how we could pray, the first thing out of their mouths was gratitude for no longer living in a war zone." Movingly, they are simply thankful that their children no longer have to hear the sounds of bombs and gunfire, and they are praying that their country will finally find peace. "In the second home we entered, I recognised a young girl I had seen earlier that morning at camp. While we did not speak the same language, I was reminded that smiles break through language barriers and can express the love of Christ without a single word spoken," shares Yates, since she and the young girl "experienced such joy to be in each other's presence." The next three days were a busy blur of playing, dancing, laughing, singing, and colouring. The children, who were so used to death and trauma, were shown what it is to be a treasured child of God. "Did our presence make a difference? Honestly, I don't know if my flying over six thousand miles made an impact on the children's lives, but I know it certainly impacted mine," says Yates. Rolls-Royce has released photos of a dreamed-up futuristic car that may be a reality for the wealthiest among us. At London's Roundhouse on Friday, Rolls-Royce rolled out its VISION NEXT 100, codenamed 103EX, which "defines the future of luxury mobility" with "a completely personal, effortless and autonomous Rolls-Royce experience." A cyclist discovered a man's body on a sidewalk in southeast Houston early Saturday morning An officer was dispatched to the 9100 block of Mykawa around 8:30 a.m., and the man was pronounced dead, according to Houston Police Department's homicide division Jodi Silva, an HPD spokeswoman, said Saturday the man has not yet been identified and the cause of death was unclear. "There was some decomposition present, and so it was unknown whether there was trauma or not," she said. She said the body was sent for an autopsy. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Late-night gunfire on Friday left a man dead in far southwest Houston. Police were called to the Sandpiper Apartments around 10:20 p.m. for a shooting in progress. Houston Fire Department paramedics also responded to the 10100 block of Sandpiper at Dumfries and discovered a man who had been shot dead lying in a driveway, according to Sgt. Richard Rodriguez with the Houston Police Department's homicide division. The deceased man was found near a tan Chrysler sedan, which police say belonged to him. "Speaking to witnesses, it looks like this possibly is a drug deal gone bad. Simply put," Rodriguez said. Witnesses stated that they saw three men by the vehicle, looked away, then heard a couple of gunshots. That turned their attention back to the trio of men. "They see two males running away and then they see the victim walking a few steps and then collapsing to the ground," Rodriguez said. The deceased man's identity was not immediately released. Police are looking for the two men who reportedly fled into the apartment complex, Rodriguez said. One, described as a "somewhat skinny" and about 5-foot-10 with dreadlocks, was wearing a white T-shirt. The other is a huskier and shorter man, about 5-foot-8, and was wearing a dark-colored baggy jacket. Anyone with information about this case is urged to call HPD's homicide division at 713-308-3600. Representatives of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the county's district attorney's office will confer on what action, if any, to take against a man who reportedly brought a firearm to a parking garage near the site of Donald Trump's Friday-night rally in The Woodlands, a sheriff's spokesman said Saturday. Deputies initially handcuffed the man, but later released him, telling a reporter for KPRC-TV that they were returning him to his home. The man, who was wearing a pro-Trump t-shirt, told the television reporter that he had not been carrying a weapon, and that his interception by officers was the result of confusion. Donald Trump supporters in Houston are awaiting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in The Woodlands this evening. The candidate will speak at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center around 8 p.m. Watch a live-feed of the event above. Fans started showing up for the rally at 9 in the morning. By mid-afternoon, the line to get into the convention center had stretched for more than a half-mile. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Texas Attorney General Child Support Division (CSD) is the most effective in the country, garnering $3.8 billion in child support during the 2015 fiscal year, according to a news release issued Monday, June 13. Texas is first among 54 states, territories and districts for the amount of child support collected, the amount collected per employee and cost effectiveness, the news release said. Despite that success, the office is still looking to collect money from hundreds of delinquent parents, including 13 of the biggest offenders in the state, which you can see in the slideshow above. RELATED: Records: 34 people arrested on felony drunken driving charges in May The CSD has collected more child support than any other state in the nation for the past nine years. Texas collections grew by $162 million between 2014 and 2015, accounting for 45.2 percent of the nation increase of $360 million. The report released by the Texas Attorney Generals Office said Texas program is the most productive and efficient of all programs in the country. In 2015, full-time employees on average collections $1.4 million, which is much higher than the national average of $535,341 per employee. The CSDs services include locating absent parents; establishing paternity for children to unmarried to parents; establish, enforce and modify child and medical support orders; and collect and distribute child support payments. CSD spokeswoman Janece Rolfe said shes pleased that Texas is the top collector of child support payments because the money goes toward helping families in need of that income. RELATED: Texas' 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders Starting in September, those individuals who have not paid their child support for at least six months will not be able to renew their car registration, Rolfe confirmed in an interview with mySA.com. This type of penalty is not new to Texas, as officials can block recreational and professional licenses for people who do not pay child support. When parents dont pay then we use many enforcement tools to collect what isnt paid, Rolfe said Friday. A persons child support payment is based on their income, Rolfe said. The more children, the larger the percentage. People who do not pay child support can be charged with criminal nonsupport, and the CSD may refer cases to local district attorneys on a case-by-case basis. But the CSD typically handles these incidents through civil means, Rolfe said. We dont want them behind bars, we want them to pay their child support, Rolfe said. RELATED: Gang member with San Antonio ties added to Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list Paxton is also pleased with the progress the program has made: I am very proud that our Child Support Division remains the top performing child support program in the country, Attorney General Paxton said in the news release. I celebrate the great work of our child support division and remain committed to fight for children in Texas who arent getting the support they need and deserve. twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite 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. Less than 24 hours after the news broke, the government of Alberta has spoken out against the Ohio man, Josh Bowmar, who killed a bear with a homemade spear at a bait site in this western province of Canada. Photo by iStockphoto 1.5K shares Perhaps the biggest animal protection cause of the year in Florida is stopping the plan to renew the states first trophy hunting season on black bears in more than two decades. I worked with so many concerned Floridians on stopping the hunting in the early 1990s, when the state had just a few hundred bears and hunters chased them down with packs of dogs and shot them from trees. At the time, the federal government recognized that the subspecies warranted federal protection but didnt complete the action. Today, after more than 20 years of piecemeal recovery, there may be more than 4,000 bears in the state, but theres still no compelling rationale for a trophy hunting scheme. Last year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved a weeklong hunt in mid-October, sold nearly as many permits (3,776) as there are bears, and set a harvest quota of 321 bears. After just two days, trophy hunters, taking advantage of bears who hadnt been accustomed to people intent on shooting them on first sight, killed more than 300 of the animals including 36 lactating mothers. The state was forced to put the word out to hunters in the field to stand down so that they wouldnt kill far more animals than the quota allowed. Since then, opposition to this very unpopular hunt has only surged. Four counties and 13 cities have approved resolutions opposing it. Newspaper editorial boards, including the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, have weighed in to express their opposition. Lifelong hunters are speaking out and saying the hunt should not proceed. There are 28 protests scheduled this weekend around the state in advance of next weeks June 22nd Commission meeting in Eastpoint. One commissioner, a prominent businessman nicknamed Alligator Ron, has been outspoken in saying that the people of the state dont want the killing to proceed. That was also the finding of an HSUS poll conducted by a reputable polling firm in the state, revealing that more than two-thirds of Florida residents oppose a trophy hunt. Yes, its true that with 20 million people in the state, bears and people occasionally run into each other. But trophy hunters arent targeting problem bears they are going after the biggest bears there are, and they are going after them in the states most remote forests. A trophy hunt is as good for bear control as a strategy of randomly picking people out of a crowd in order to conduct crime control. A better strategy to reduce bear-human interactions would involve educational outreach, proper trash management, and enforced feeding bans. Commissioners are appointed by the governor but they are charged with taking stock of public opinion and heeding the will of the citizens of the state. The overwhelming message is, manage bear-human interactions humanely and can the trophy hunt. Nobody eats bears, and nobody thinks that the random killing of bears will do a damn thing to reduce the odds of the occasional bear-human encounter. You may have gotten a lot of articles in your inbox lately about Brexit and what it could mean for you. What we already know is that June 23rd is the date in which Britain holds its referendum (or votes) to either stay in the European Union (EU) or not. We also know that there seems to be about an even 50/50 split between those wanting to remain in the EU and those who dont. But theres one thing we dont know yet And thats how us traders can make money off of Brexit right now. So Im going to show you Consider Using Options to Play Brexit Before June 23rd As you know, Britain votes to either stay in the European Union (EU) or not on that June 23rd. Prime Minister David Cameron promised that referendum would happen for the first time since 1975. But until June 23rd, hes doing his best to sell voters on staying IN the EU. According to Cameron, there are things Britain does not like about being in the EU, such as immigration concerns and having to give up the ability to run their own affairs. Another stickler point is that Britain wants to continue using the pound as its currency. The vote isnt about whether or not to leave the Eurozone because Britain has never adopted the Euro. So in that sense, Britains already got one foot out the door, and this vote will decide if the other foot gets out the door too. There is the UK Independence Party and about half of those conservatives that want to leave because they believe there are just too many rules being forced on businesses and the fees being paid are too much. Cameron also says that if Britain remains in the EU after the vote, it will gain special status that can help to resolve some of those issues that are bothering British citizens. And from the looks of it, hes got a pretty solid amount of cabinet members backing his view as well. That has investors, traders, and the markets alike wondering a few things Is it a good thing or a bad thing if Britain leaves the EU? For whom is it good, and for whom is it bad? And what are the global ramifications and what could happen to us here in the U.S. specifically? Now there are other factors weighing down the European economy, but the fact that Britain may vote to leave the EU may cause a domino effect meaning, if Britain says its out, other countries in the EU could decide to make the same move. We just dont know what will happen right now. But we do have options pun intended. And as options traders, we want to look at whats happening in between the Euro and the U.S. dollar or look at trading tool we can use that tracks it, like the Guggenheim Currencyshares Euro Trus (NYSE: FXE). If you look at the chart above on FXE, you can see that its currently pretty much trading in the middle of the range. Ive emphasized in the chart the horizontal resistance area line and the ascending support line. The trend over the date range Ive highlighted in the chart is an overall uptrend. And some of the questions technical anaylsts and traders are asking are whether or not this trend will continue or if it will reverse My assessment right now is that its in a no-mans land position on the chart. So your potential option strategies are to go long calls or go long puts or look for a possible credit spread opportunity based on what this ETF may or may not do, like NOT trading above $113 or NOT trading below $108. Think of Brexit Like an Upcoming Earnings Announcement Another way to treat the upcoming Brexit vote is like an earnings announcement. When youre looking to trade around earnings, one of the best strategies you can use is a straddle. A straddle is a trade where you buy a call abnd put at the same strike price with the same expiration date simultaneously on one order. What makes a straddle so great is that it helps you profit regardless of which direction the stock goes. The key to making a straddle work is this: an upcoming, date-driven catalyst (like Brexit) . That way, you know whether the stock (or ETF) is going to pop or drop on the date of a specific announcement or decision. And your goal here is to have it pop or drop significantly enough to cover the cost of the straddle while still capturing profits. Were going to take a look at a current straddle situation per my own tools options chain, but keep in mind that this is to illustrate what a straddle is and it can make you money Im not actually making a trade recommendation to you Now the ETF itself is currently trading around $110.50 as of the time Im writing this. So the option chain lists options that, as fate would have it, list a $110.50 strike for both the calls and the puts. This means the straddle has strikes that are right at-the-money (ATM) for the underlying asset. This is how a straddle is usually constructed with a call and a put with the same expiration month and the same ATM options bought-to-open. Your total cost of this straddle is $2.32 (calls at $1.17 + puts at $1.15 = $2.32). You can assess that $2.32 as the amount the markets are pricing that this ETF could move higher or lower. A $2.32 move higher would make FXE trade at $112.82 (based on the trading price of $110.50 I mentioned above). A $2.32 move lower would make FXE trade at $107.68. Both of those prices are at the respective resistance and support lines. This pop or drop to those prices likely will not provide an opportunity for a double, so going one week further out to expiration with the same strikes could provide you with an extra bit of time for FXE to work higher or lower to the point at which you double your money. Flex to Take Over Bose Plants in Mexico, Malaysia Published: 17 June 2016 by Mike Buetow by Mike Buetow FRAMINGHAM, MA -- Bose will sell a pair of manufacturing and development operations in Mexico and Malaysia to Flex later this year under a manufacturing services agreement. Terms were not disclosed. The Bose sites in San Luis, Mexico and Penang, Malaysia, will transfer to Flex, and Flex will assume current and planned Bose production in both facilities. The agreement also grants Bose greater access to Flex's supply chain solutions, accelerating speed-to-market around the world. The San Luis and Penang plants were opened in 1990 and 2013, respectively, and make headphones, wireless speakers, home theater systems and professional products. Combined, they have approximately 3,500 employees, and under the terms of the agreement, Flex will retain the vast majority of both teams. Operations will transfer upon the transaction's closing, and the deal is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is scheduled to occur during 2016. The decision continues Bose's transition from its traditional internal manufacturing structure. Last year, the OEM announced the closing of factory operations in Carrickmacross, Ireland, and Blythewood, South Carolina, eliminating hundreds of jobs. Flex, a global leader in manufacturing, announced they've reached an agreement to expand their existing strategic partnership. As part of the new agreement, ownership and operation of Bose's "Bose has a diverse product line in ever-changing industries," said Bryan Fontaine, executive vice president, Bose Global Operations. "We've always used independent manufacturers to support our global business, and have used Flex in that capacity for over a year. Now, we've chosen them to assume the work in two of our plants because their deep expertise and infrastructure will help us keep pace with our current and future product plans, and meet our projected growth in current and emerging markets. They're also innovators and can meet our quality standards. But just as importantly, we think that Flex's corporate culture is most aligned with ours, and that's important for our employees." NSR Miguel Helft Google CEO Sundar Pichai in his office For music fans the 22,000- seat Shoreline amphitheater in Silicon Valley is iconic. Legendary concert promoter Bill Graham designed it with inspiration from the Grateful Dead logo, and that band played here 39 times. Neil Young, the Bee Gees, Bruce Springsteentheyve all graced the Shoreline stage. A few weeks ago, accompanied by bouncy electronica music and arcade-inspired videos flashing across giant screens, so did Google GOOGL -2.77% CEO Sundar Pichai. It would be an exaggeration to say he looked comfortable as he walked onstage. The cerebral 43-year-old is built like a straw, his eyes darting behind rectangular glasses, more Carl Sagan than Carlos Santana. No matter. At the annual Google I/O conference he was a rock star, the headline act. As he took in the hoots and cheers from the crowd of software developers, his face eventually settled into a smile. We live in very, very exciting times. Computing has had an amazing evolution, Pichai said in his south Indian accent, stretching amaaaaazing as a way to get the crowd going. Okay, not exactly Steve Jobs. Or even Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos or Tim Cook. Pichai is the classic insider CEO, a low-profile, methodical brainiac who would rather geek out over the future of computer science than whip up a crowd of software developers with choreographed product demos. And thats exactly what Google cofounder Larry Page was after when he hand-picked Pichai last year to take over one of the greatest tech franchises of all time. The task at hand is monumental. With a market cap of roughly half a trillion dollars, Google, or rather its parent, Alphabet , is the worlds second-most-valuable company, dominating vast swaths of the tech industry, including search, digital advertising, mobile and video. But Page and Pichai know all too well that tech behemoths often lose their way when they are strongest. And while earlier tech giants, from IBM IBM +0.62% to BlackBerry, were felled by a single foe, Google faces a bruising multifront war with the other four superpowers in tech. Its fighting Apple AAPL -2.28% in mobile and Facebook FB -1.26% in advertising, video and communications. Its pitted against Amazon in commerce, a resurgent Microsoft MSFT -0.52% in business software, and Amazon and Microsoft in cloud services. Pichai wages all these battles amid a fundamental technological shift. As Google continues to navigate the transition from desktop to mobile, computing is already moving to multiple screens and in some instancessuch as with Amazons surprise hit Echo smart speakerno screens. Interactions with devices and apps are quickly becoming two-way conversations, sometimes employing smart bots promoted by Microsoft, Facebook and others. Unlike apps, these bots run atop communications services like Facebooks Messenger (900 million users) or Microsofts Skype (300 million users). Google has the wildly popular Gmail (more than 1 billion users), but it lacks the kind of modern messaging system that the younger set favors. Pichai, however, believes this new tech world is tailor-made for Google because of one thing: artificial intelligence. Pretty much everyone can program simple, rudimentary conversationsApples Siri was among the firstbut to go beyond flashy demo-ware you need more sophisticated algorithms. And artificial intelligence has been in Googles wheelhouse for years. The company invested in fundamental building blocks such as voice recognition, language understanding and machine translation long before most of its rivals. And after years of preparation, Pichai says, the company is ready to bring all that work together in compelling products that will keep the company ahead of the competition. We have this vision of a shift from mobile-first to an AI-first world over many years, Pichai tells FORBES. Onstage at the Shoreline, Pichai unveiled the early fruits of those efforts: a smart speaker called Google Home that is aimed squarely at Amazons Echo (and perhaps at an upcoming one Apple is rumored to be developing) and a messaging app called Allo. Powering both is a new service that Pichai calls the Google assistant, the companys own take on conversational computing. Think of it as Search 3.0a new, interactive way to communicate with Google itself. With it youll be able to order a ticket, book a flight, play music, schedule a task, reply to a message; the Google assistant might even write it for you. It might prompt you to order flowers ahead of Mothers Day or to pack for your upcoming trip, and it might be able to pick up an earlier conversation from where you left off. In other words, it will be there, ready to help, in your phone, your speakers, your television, your car, your watch and eventually everywhere. You are trying to go about your day, and in an ambient way, things are there to help you, Pichai says. Making sure this assistant lives up to its full potential will take years, and building it will be harder than it was for Page and cofounder Sergey Brin to create search itself. Adds Pichai: In every dimension it is more ambitious. The cheers of the Shoreline crowd werent enough to distract anyone from the obvious. The release of Allo glaringly reinforces the reality that Google is nowhere in messaging and that it badly needs to get somewhere fast. Google Home suggests that no one at Google saw the smart-speaker wave comingAmazon had to show the way. And these deficiencies underscore one of Pichais most significant challenges: While no one disputes that Google excels at complex technologies like AI and machine learning, it is not always a leader when it comes to turning those technologies into killer products. The risk for Google is that their ability to do really hard AI leads them to overlook simple opportunities to create good-enough user experiences, says Tim OReilly, the founder of OReilly Media. Google Home will be a test, though the results remain a few months away. Whats more, if conversations and messaging, rather than the desktop or even your smartphones home screen, are to become the new conduits for bots and other digital services, Google needs to lure those services quickly and effectively, just as Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and perhaps Apple try to do the same. In the end every third-party developer will not connect to every platform, says Harvard Business Schools David Yoffie, a respected student of the tech industry. The question is who is going to be most successful. Pichais job is to ensure that the answer is Google, while keeping a company of some 60,000 employees and $75 billion in annual revenue humming. This enormous task underscores why Page went for substance over style. Pichais to-do list starts with monetizing a sprawling digital empire that spans search, Android, maps, YouTube, Play and many lesser properties. It includes maintaining the cohesion of the disparate coalition of competing companies that make up the Android world; unifying Googles two operating systems, Android and Chrome; and grappling with antitrust and tax investigations in Europe and elsewhere. Pichai says hes ready to lead Googles metamorphosis. Personally, there is a renewed sense of focus on our mission and on transforming the company using machine learning and artificial intelligence, he says. IF YOU RAN THE CLOCK BACK three or so decades, you might find Pichai standing on the front of a motor scooter, his father holding the handlebars, his mother perched on the passenger seat with his younger brother on her lap as the family navigates the chaotic traffic of Chennai. Thats where Pichai grew up, in a simple two-room house. By Western standards his father, an electrical engineer, and his mother, a stenographer, were of modest means. For years they didnt own a television, a telephone or a car. But his parents put a strong emphasis on education, and Pichai earned a spot at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. After graduating with an engineering degree, he won a scholarship to Stanford, where in 1993 he began graduate studies in materials science and engineering with the goal of a Ph.D. and an academic careerhis parents dream. As with so many at Stanford, though, Silicon Valley beckoned, and after his masters he latched on to chip-industry pioneer Applied Materials AMAT -1.08%. An M.B.A. from the Wharton School and a consulting gig at McKinsey & Co. followed. Pichai landed at Google in 2004, when the fast-growing search company still considered Microsoft its most formidable foe. Pichai was thrown into the trenches of the companys battle with the software giant. From the very beginning he exhibited a methodical and strategic approach to decision making that propelled him through Googles managerial ranks. He was put in charge of an unglamorous but critical piece of software, the Google Toolbar, which allowed people to search directly on their browsers without having to go to Googles home page. Pichais strategic work on the toolbar led to his next big bet: the Chrome browser. The project was controversial inside Google, where some feared it would unnecessarily irk Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer dominated the browser market. Pichai argued that Google could build a better browser and that it risked losing a substantial chunk of its search revenue if Microsoft, as many feared, tweaked Explorer to make it more difficult for users to access Google. With a small team, Pichai, who at the time worked for Marissa Mayer, now the CEO of Yahoo YHOO -1.18%, developed the product quietly. While its carefully orchestrated launch in 2008 was a p.r. fiasco, courtesy of a German blogger who obtained marketing materials and broke the news early, Pichais browser was slicker and faster than anything else in the market, and his team managed to keep it ahead even as rivals raced to catch up. By 2012 Chrome had become the No. 1 PC browser, and thanks to the growth of Android, its also the most popular on mobile devices. Chromes improbable victory cemented Pichais reputation as a product whiz and, even though he never started a company, something of an entrepreneur, and it set him on a vertiginous ascent up Googles corporate ladder. There is a part of Google that has a professorial style, and Sundar fits that perfectly, says a former senior executive. But people underestimate how deeply technical and how entrepreneurial he is. Hes very, very good at that stuff. His responsibilities grew as some of his would-be rivals fell out of favor. Mayer, his onetime boss, was sidelined and left for Yahoo. In 2013 Pichai, who had gone on to develop an operating system and a set of laptops based on Chrome, was handed control of Android, one of Googles crown jewels, after Andy Rubin, its creator, was pushed aside. A year later Vic Gundotra, the senior exec who led Google +, the companys expensive and ill-fated push into social networking, was forced out as well. Throughout it all, Pichai remained unflappable, burnishing his reputation as a collegial executive and, more important, earning the trust of Page. He will make tough and difficult decisions, but there is not much swirl around them, the former senior executive says. People love the lack of drama and the thoughtfulness. Its led to more cohesion. At a retreat for Googles top brass last spring, Pichai was asked to sketch a vision for how apps would evolve in a multiscreen world. When he was done, a beaming Page stepped up to say he couldnt have painted a clearer picture of the future, according to a person who was there. They really see eye to eye on what the future will look like, this executive says. A few months later, when Page reorganized Google into a holding company called Alphabet, he named Pichai CEO of Google. It accounts for 99% of Alphabets revenue and all of its profits. GROUND ZERO OF PICHAIS push into an AI-first world is a nondescript two-story building across the street from the center of the companys sprawling Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., where a skunkworks, appropriately called Google Brain, develops much of the intelligence that will bring Google and its products into the future. The group was formed about four years ago as something of a research experiment involving a set of artificial-intelligence programming techniques called deep learning and neural networks. Computer scientists had developed the techniques years earlier, but they hadnt been properly tested because they required massive amounts of computing power. Google had that power, so it brought one of its leaders in large-scale computing systems, engineer Jeff Dean, together with AI experts. They trained the systems on the task of recognizing images, and the results were immediately encouraging, delivering huge improvements over Googles existing methods. Google Photos, released a year ago, brought those improvements to the masses and wowed the tech world with its ability to recognize and search images and to automatically organize them. You can search for a person, a type of animal or images of people hugging. Despite intense competition from rival products, Google Photos now has 200 million users. To Pichai its a classic example of how better AI can help Google win. Were people using other photo products? Pichai asks. Yes. Have we seen tremendous adoption and traction with Google Photos? The answer is yes. What worked for image recognition turned out to work when applied to voice recognition, translation and other similar tasks. When Deans systems were trained to recognize speech, accuracy jumped dramatically. That means there are far fewer times when an OK Google query on an Android phone is misunderstood. It also means that Google is more likely to understand someone like Pichai, with his lilting accent, or to detect what is being said in a noisy bar and do it in more than 55 languages. Similarly, the techniques used to recognize images in Google Photos are able to power StreetViews ability to read signs and Project Sunroofs ability to identify rooftops that are suitable for solar panels based on aerial images. Its also enabling a small experimental team at Google to effectively detect diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that can lead to blindness, by looking at iris scans. Its a pretty significant shift, Dean says. Word is spreading throughout the company that there is this new capability to solve problems in this way, he says, in reference to the new AI techniques. What started as a research project with a handful of people has grown to perhaps hundredsDean refuses to say how manywho have developed algorithms, computer systems and, more recently, Googles own chips, all customized for these AI approaches. (Google Brains software tools are known as TensorFlow and the chips as Tensor Processing Units.) As a result there are now more than 2,000 projects inside the company applying Google Brains capabilities to scores of products. Deans group has held machine-learning office hours, and thousands of Google engineers have gone through internal courses that can last weeks. It went from being a research project to a mainstream engineering activity, says John Giannandrea, an AI expert appointed by Pichai to lead the companys search efforts. To see the immediate potential of machine learning to create a new generation of digital productsones that could change how humans themselves liveAllo, which wont be publicly available until later this summer, is a good place to start. Despite a mature and saturated market for communications apps, Pichai bets that, as with Photos (and with his Chrome browser), a few smart features will help it gain a following. One of them, Smart Reply, automatically suggests three different prewritten answers to a message based on its content. Google developed Smart Reply in less than a year and first tested it in Inbox, a mobile e-mail app. It allows users on the go to select one of the answers and reply with a single tap. With Allo, Google went one step further, blending Smart Reply with image recognition, so it can suggest responses to photos sent via message. Send your friend a picture of yourself skydiving and Allo may suggest replies like awesome, brave or scary; send a picture of a kid or pet, and it may suggest cute. In Allo the Google assistant might also pop up in the middle of a conversation to help you book a restaurant or plan a trip. Googles rivals are also rushing into an AI-powered world. Microsoft has an initiative similar to Google Brain that involves pushing machine-learning techniques into scores of products; its CEO, Satya Nadella, recently showcased conversational bots built atop its Cortana digital assistant. Facebooks Zuckerberg has quickly built a team of hundreds of AI researchers who have made breakthroughs in image recognition and language understanding, and hes demonstrated bots built atop Messenger. Amazons Bezos has more than 1,000 people working on the family of products tied to Alexa, the conversational interface that powers the Echo smart speaker. Apple is busy expanding Siris capabilities and is expected to open it up to third-party developers soon. Pichai is convinced Google is further along than its competitors. He cites AlphaGo, which recently defeated the worlds best Go playerand may someday be applied to more practical problemsas the kind of investment that will keep it at the head of the pack. When you look at machine learning and AI, there are things you can do now, some in two to three years and some that are deeper and will take more time to do, Pichai says. Observers like Yoffie, the Harvard professor, agree that Google is well-positioned to lead the transition to an AI-powered world. Sundar is jumping on the right categories and making a lot of good decisions, Yoffie says. Then he adds: But he hasnt really been tested yet. Phillipa Soo, Star of 'Hamilton,' Brings 'Amelie' Musical to Broadway Next Spring Phillipa Soo, star of Broadway smash Hamilton and burgeoning 26-year-old ingenue, will assume the lead part of Amelie Poulain in the stage adaptation of Amelie next spring. The musical is based on the 2001 French romantic comedy film of the same name from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. As we previously reported, Soo will be departing from her Hamilton role as Eliza Schuyler Hamilton this summer. Hamilton writer, creator and lead, Lin-Manuel Miranda, will also take leave of the production at the same time. Miranda will resume his portrayal of Alexander Hamilton for the musical's West End transfer to the Victoria Palace Theatre next season. For her part in Hamilton, Soo was nominated at last Sunday's Tony Awards for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, losing out to The Color Purple's Cynthia Erivo. The New York Daily News sums up Soo's fast-rising star: "Soo ... is one of Broadway's hottest properties right now. The Julliard grad first caught musical lovers' attention in 2013 with a small recurring role on NBC's Smash, which was about creative types trying to get their shows to Broadway. That same year she gained acclaim for her role in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Hamilton officially marked Soo's arrival as a star that has risen." Apart from Soo's defeat at the Tonys, Hamilton made a grand showing at the ceremony, picking up 11 awards out of its record-breaking 16 nominations. By only one accolade, it just barely missed tying with the Tony wins record held by 2001's The Producers. Mel Brooks' meta-musical checked off 12 of its 16 noms that year. One point of contention among musical fans this season has been the near-impossibility of scoring tickets for Hamilton due to its extraordinary success. With seats sold out far in advance, Soo told DuJour magazine of fielding ticket inquiries from friends and family: "I've had a lot of ticket requests, but in fact it has made me closer with my own family and my loved ones as well as people that I haven't talked to in a while [who] have come to see the show. Though it can be overwhelming!" Below, watch Soo chat about her fame on NBC's Today. 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. TagsPhillipa Soo, Hamilton, Amelie, LIn-Manuel Miranda CLEVELAND, Ohio - The city's planning commission on Friday approved early-stage "schematic" plans for the new University Hospitals Rainbow Center for Women & Children in the city's MidTown area. The $24 million, 40,000-square-foot facility, which will function as an outpatient health care center for OB/GYN and pediatrics amid low-income neighborhoods located to the north and south, is scheduled for construction starting this fall and could be completed in 2017, a hospital spokesperson said. It is expected to serve 40,000 patients a year and will replace outmoded facilities at the University Hospitals main campus amid Case Western Reserve University The new, three-story facility will also fill a significant gap in MidTown. It would occupy part of a long-vacant city-owned block north of Euclid Avenue and west of East 59th Street. Plain Dealer reporter Michelle Jarboe last year described University Hospitals' purchase of the construction site as "a banner commitment to the city's Health-Tech Corridor," envisioned as "a linear research park running from downtown Cleveland to University Circle." The district is served by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's widely acclaimed $200 million bus rapid transit HealthLine. The 4.5-acre site for the new medical facility is part of the larger Link 59 development initiated by Hemingway Development, an arm of Streetsboro-based Geis Cos., a company co-led by veteran developer Fred Geis, who was recently appointed to the city's planning commission. To recuse or not to recuse At Friday's commission meeting, Geis announced that he was not involved in the University Hospitals outpatient project. His portion of Link59 lies on the east of East side of East 59th Street. Geis made numerous comments and suggestions about the medical facility building and site design, but abstained when it came time to vote on the project. When asked after the meeting by a reporter about the apparent inconsistency in commenting but not voting, Geis said, "I just felt it was appropriate to abstain. "Maybe I made the wrong call." The developer said that because of his numerous projects across the city, "I know there's a lot of skepticism about whether I can keep to neutral ground," and that he's consulting with planning department officials about when he should recuse. David Bowen, the commission's vice chair, who chaired the meeting, said he valued Geis's input and saw no conflict on Friday. "He's making comments for the betterment of life in the city," Bowen said. Thumbs up - with caveats The planning commission and members of the city's Euclid Corridor Design Review Committee, which voted Thursday to recommend approval of the schematic designs by the planning commission, generally liked the project. Designed by the Cleveland office of the Columbus-based architecture firm of Moody Nolan, the project calls for a three-story stack of rectangular forms slightly displaced at various levels to acknowledge the slight bend in Euclid Avenue at East 59th Street. Architect Chris Petrow said the building aims to be the first healthcare facility in Northeast Ohio to achieve a Platinum rating - the highest of four levels available under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The building would incorporate a partially green roof with an outdoor terrace on its third floor, where employees could eat or take breaks outside, Petrow said. It would also include bike racks, plus showers and lockers to encourage employees to bike to work. Green details The plans limit glass to 40 percent of the building's exterior to reduce chances for solar heat gain. The design also calls for a large bioswale, a landscaped area intended to soak up rainwater and dramatically reduce flow into city sewers. The swale would be located on the west side of a large parking lot on the north side of the building. Geis urged the architects to think about splitting the wide swale into two narrower strips on the east and west sides of the parking lot, so that greenery and trees would echo a similar landscape feature he's planning for his development on the east side of the block. A rendering of the Link59 plaza and bioswale to be located on the east side of East 59th Street, north of Euclid Avenue, opposite the University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children facility approved Friday by the Cleveland City Planning Commission. Geis and Bowen both urged University Hospitals to provide more details as the project design evolves to ensure that it encourages residents in nearby neighborhoods to walk to the facility, as well as to arrive by bus. And they asked the designers to try to save and replant the healthy trees along the Euclid Avenue sidewalk on the south side of the building site, which will not have room for the trees when the structure is built. "It would be a shame to have a Platinum building that destroyed trees," Bowen said. Before voting to approve the early-stage design, Bowen said he hoped to see refinements as the project returns for future review as the plans evolve. More work needed "It's important for us that you've heard us," he said. "Maybe everything is not achievable, but I think it's a great project for the neighborhood and it would be nice for us to see you treat it that way." Petrow said he appreciated the critiques and would try to satisfy concerns. "You won't get any arguments from me or Linda," he said, referring to Linda Hulsman, University Hospital's senior project coordinate, who stood beside him. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Destination Cleveland, Cuyahoga County's convention and visitors bureau, is planting its popular Cleveland script signs at three postcard-worthy locations. The installations are an outgrowth of the agency's "This is Cleveland" promotional campaign, launched in 2014. The idea is to stoke local pride and provide spots where visitors will snap selfies and pictures of friends and relatives and share the resulting images through social media. The first Cleveland sign will be installed at Edgewater Park on Tuesday at a spot with a skyline view. The second will follow later next week at North Coast Harbor at a spot overlooking the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the city skyline, and a third will be installed later this month at the Abbey Avenue overlook near the new I-90 Innerbelt Bridge. "They're great visions of Cleveland," said Hannah Belsito, vice president for development and community affairs at Destination Cleveland. "We want to put them out there for locals and visitors to take pictures of and share them with the world." Donn Angus, a member of Cleveland's city planning staff, presented renderings and a description of the Cleveland script installations at Friday's meeting of the city's Planning Commission. Angus said no vote was needed to approve the installations because the department's director, Freddy Collier, gave the go-ahead after a process that included review by neighborhood community development corporations. Angus also said the signs will occupy city property. Fashioned out of aluminum and measuring 16 feet long by 8 feet high, the signs will include up-lighting to illuminate them at night, Angus said. The Cleveland script logo was hand-drawn by Brandon Sanders, an associate creative director at MMGY Global, based in Kansas City, Missouri, according to Destination Cleveland. Costing $20,000 each, the signs are an outgrowth of a roving public awareness campaign launched by Destination Cleveland in which a food truck carried a portable version of the sign to various city festivals, along with a "street team" of agency employees who distributed information about the city to residents. The campaign, in turn, grew out of research showing that "we're our own worst enemy and we need to shift local perceptions" about Cleveland, Belsito said in a conversation after the City Hall meeting. "The whole purpose is to share great things [about Cleveland] to get us to be better ambassadors," she said. Belsito said Clevelanders loved being photographed alongside the Cleveland script sign, so Destination Cleveland felt the need to create several permanent or semi-permanent locations apart from the mobile campaign. "It's helping to spread the message of Cleveland," she said. PEPPER PIKE, Ohio -- Trafficking in marijuana, driving under suspension, drug paraphernalia; South Woodland Road: A Shaker Heights man, 23, was stopped on June 12 just before midnight when his computer records showed a suspended license. He was charged for that, along with fifth-degree felony drug trafficking after police found nearly a quarter-pound of marijuana in his car, as well as a digital scale and some ripped plastic sandwich bags. His car was towed and two passengers were released. Hit-and-run, stop sign violation; Lander Road: A Warrensville Heights man, 39, was cited for leaving the scene of an accident after he finally turned himself in on June 15 following a mid-afternoon car accident. Witnesses took down the license plate of a 2006 Acura that was eastbound on Shaker and ran the stop sign, colliding in the intersection with a Pepper Pike woman, 41, who was driving east in her 2015 Kia Sorrento. The impact sent the suspect into a lawn apron on the southeast corner of the intersection before he drove off without exchanging insurance information or checking on the welfare of the other driver or her passengers -- none of whom was seriously injured. Speaking with police later, the suspect admitted to not seeing the stop sign and leaving the scene because he was scared. Building code violation (general), Old Brainard Road: After being instructed by the city building inspector, police served a summons to a homeowner, 43, on June 15 for ongoing building violations. Lost property, disturbance; Pinetree Road: Police spoke with a Woodleigh Road resident on the evening of June 15 about her missing driver's license, as well as an incident that occurred in the parking lot at Heinen's grocery store. Neighbor trouble, Windy Hill Drive: A resident called dispatch on the afternoon of June 12 regarding a neighbor's dogs that bark constantly. Found property, Lander Road: A resident turned in a Cadillac key fob, valued at $175, that was found in the street around noon on June 12 near Providence Road. Lost property, Chagrin Boulevard: After a woman reported June 11 that she had lost a thumbdrive at the Orange branch library, an officer located it in the lost and found section. Identity theft, Bryce Road: A resident reported June 10 that someone had taken out a payday loan in his name. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The first class of new Cleveland police officers trained at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy were sworn into duty Friday afternoon at Cleveland's City Hall. "To say we learned a lot in the six weeks of the Cleveland police academy would be an understatement," class speaker Officer Willie Thomas Jr. said. "Graduating has given us the opportunity to protect the sheep from the wolves." More than 40 Cleveland police cadets graduated from the academy, marking the completion of the first class out of 135 that began its training in December in Columbus. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson administered the oath of office to 42 cadets in the City Council chambers at City Hall. Safety Director Michael McGrath and Cleveland police Chief Calvin Williams also attended the ceremony. The graduation service was an emotional one for many of the new officers who joined their parents on the city's police force. The 135th graduating class also saw its very first Somali-American graduate, officer Maliko Hamadi. Officer Matthew C. Zone carried on what he considers his family's commitment to law enforcement. His father, Cleveland Councilman Matt Zone, serves as the Public Safety Committee Chair. Speakers reiterated the uniqueness of the graduating class, saying they have received more training than any previous class of officers in the department. The decision to move the first portion of the academy to Ohio State Highway Patrol Training Academy in Columbus was made, in part, so that Cleveland academy instructors would be able to provide further required in-service training to current officers, as stated in an agreement between the city with the U.S. Justice Department. Another reason was so that the State Highway Patrol would not lose a federal grant from the Ohio Department of Public Safety to provide the training for free. Initially, the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association pushed back against the move to Columbus, saying that the move would put unnecessary strain on the cadets' families. The union sued the city about the move in September 2015, and a county judge lifted an order preventing the start of training in mid-December. The 42 officers spent more than 20 weeks in Columbus before coming back to the Cleveland police academy for an additional six weeks of training. AKRON, Ohio -- A man with a long criminal history that includes stealing four puppies during a home invasion on Christmas Day 2014 is now charged in connection with a home invasion in Akron. Christopher Anthony, 28, is charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary in the June 5 incident. He is not in police custody and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Anthony and an unknown accomplice kicked in the door to a couple's home in the 1300 block of Kentucky Avenue, according to court records. The duo pointed guns at the couple and stole $1,000 from them before leaving the home. A warrant is also out for Anthony's arrest in connection with a home invasion on Christmas morning 2014 in Doylestown. Anthony in that case pleaded guilty Feb. 3 to charges of aggravated burglary, kidnapping and felonious assault. He was allowed to remain free on his own recognizance after the plea but failed to show up for his presentence interview. A warrant was issued for his arrest on April 12. Anthony and at least one accomplice broke into a Doylestown home early in the morning on Christmas Day 2014. The men pistol-whipped a man who lived at the home and put a gun to his head. They also pointed a gun at a woman inside the home. The robbers demanded cash and jewelry, but took the puppies when they couldn't find any cash. The puppies were never found. About a month later, federal Drug Enforcement Agents notified Summit County Drug Task Force officers that an informant told them an often vacant house in the 1700 block of Wakefield Drive sometimes turned into a busy drug house. The DEA agent notified task force officers Feb. 27 of a flurry of activity at the home. Officers went there and watched as 15 cars pull up to the home. Several people went inside and left after about 20 minutes, according to court records. An Ohio State Highway Patrol officer working with drug investigators stopped an SUV leaving the home. A trooper found more than three ounces of heroin inside two duffle bags, court records say. The task force raided the home and found three bricks of heroin, two black balls of heroin, drug-mixing equipment and drug packaging. Investigators seized close to seven pounds of heroin with an estimated street value of between $240,000 and $1 million. Investigators found Anthony inside the house during the raid. Anthony was charged with first-degree felony heroin trafficking and possession. He is also charged with being a major drug offender, which could add additional prison time to his case if he's found guilty. Anthony has pleaded not guilty in that case and his trial is scheduled for June 12. He was linked to the Doylestown home invasion after his arrest in the drug-house case. Anthony has four previous felony convictions for possessing drugs. To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. Polishing city's image may turn to filling in dents caused by RNC Bryan Hambley, a Cleveland doctor, is trying to counter Donald Trump's aniti-Muslim rhetoric -- and save a few voters in the process. I asked Hambley to react to Trump's comments following the Orlando shooting. (Photo by John Kuntz/cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Donald Trump's continued Muslim bashing in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting last weekend got me thinking about Cleveland doctors. Why? The Republican presumptive presidential nominee's remarks are exactly what fuels Stand Together Against Trump, or STAT, a group of Cleveland doctors and other young professionals speaking out against Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric. The group hopes be heard during the Republican National Convention next month. I'm happy to give the group some attention next to Trump's behemoth media spotlight. The group caught my interest during Trump's March 12 rally at the I-X Center in Cleveland. That's when two members of the group, including founder and internal medicine doctor Bryan Hambley, removed their sweatshirts to reveal T-shirts that read, "Muslim doctors save lives in Cleveland." The two got tossed from the rally. I reached out to Hambley this week to get his reaction to Trump's renewed calls to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S, after an American gunman who pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub on Sunday. Trump also suggested suggested that the U.S. can't trust Muslims who are legally in the country. "It furthers our resolve," Hambley said. He said several members of the group talked Sunday following the shooting and their thoughts were with the victims as well as the many physicians and nurses who cared for those injured in Orlando, including several Muslim physicians. | "It felt personal," he said, noting that some members of the group work in trauma care. "Our message to everyone is that our country is better than the racism promoted by Trump, and that we have to come together rather than be torn apart for political purposes," he said. The 31-year-old Indiana native said he never intended to become a political activist, but Trump's comments about Muslims have been too hard to ignore. "If the GOP had nominated anyone else, we wouldn't exist," he said. "This is an aberration for all of us. Our vocation is in the hospital. We just felt the need to step outside our comfort zone." Hambley said the group's 30 or so members are Christian and Muslin and worry that because Trump is the party's presumptive nominee, his rhetoric could actually become policy. (Hambley cited as a threat Trump's earlier calls to reduce the number of visas available to foreigners, which would include those that medical students rely on.) Trump has won support among some GOP voters with his rhetoric that the U.S.'s immigration policies have made it easy for terrorists to infiltrate the U.S. (It's worth remembering that the Orlando gunman was born in New York to Afghan parents. And so far, federal authorities have not found direct ties to radical groups. They believe the gunman may have been radicalized over the Internet.) Hambley hopes to rebut Trump's anti-immigrant sentiment during the RNC by marching in Cleveland's streets. The city of Cleveland has yet to approve any permits for marches, but did give the group a permit to use the city's "speakers platform" in Public Square. Of course, STAT will be one of many groups competing to be heard. But these typically reserved doctors aren't trying to be the loudest. They're just trying to save a voter or two. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Sometimes, as director Terrence Spivey puts it, actors have the power to change your mind. That's what happened on a stuffy Tuesday night in North Collinwood during the first round of auditions for "Objectively/Reasonable," a new documentary play that seeks to mine community reactions to the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by Cleveland police. Commissioned by Playwrights Local 4181, the only theater in the Cleveland area devoted entirely to locally written works, the production will premiere in August at Creative Space at Waterloo Arts, a black box on East 156th Street, a few blocks from the Slovenian Workman's Home where the tryouts were being held. Although Spivey and David Todd, artistic director of the playwright-driven company, weren't looking for child actors as they assembled their cast - at least not middle-schoolers and even younger - they showed up anyway, armed with short monologues they'd learned by heart, some they'd even written themselves. Most were from Cleveland's Dike School of the Arts and heard about the project from their drama teacher, India Nicole Burton. Burton, an actress, learned of the open-call auditions from Spivey - the former artistic director of Karamu Theatre - who has cast her in numerous productions. And she's currently working with Michael Oatman, one of the six playwrights crafting a series of monologues, distilled from interviews with people in and around Cleveland, that will make up "Objectively/Reasonable." Still a work in progress, its title is taken from a line in a report released by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty in November 2015. The report was the third expert opinion justifying the actions of Officer Timothy Loehmann, who opened fire on the boy holding what proved to be a toy gun at the Cudell Recreation Center, seconds after arriving on the scene five days before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 22, 2014. "This unquestionably was a tragic loss of life, but to compound the tragedy by labeling the officer's conduct as anything but objectively reasonable would also be a tragedy, albeit not carrying with it the consequences of the loss of life, only the possibility of loss of career," W. Ken Katsaris, a Florida police consultant, wrote in the report. Rice family attorneys publicly blasted the conclusions, writing that "Katsaris simply ignores the fact that there was no immediate threat requiring Loehmann to shoot . . ." The play, said artistic director Todd, who conceptualized the project and is tasked with pulling all the monologues together, is an extended community response to that assessment and to the numbingly awful event itself. Before the auditions, Spivey reached out to Burton on Facebook. "Terrence asked me if I knew some older kids, between the ages of 15 and 18," Burton said. She told him she didn't, but suggested he consider some of her students. "They're younger," she told him, "but they're very mature actors." They proved it Tuesday, as they waited, patient and poised, until their names were called. One by one, they stepped to the center of the room and faced Spivey, Todd and stage manager Maya Jones, the trio seated at a long rectangular table, and delivered moving soliloquies, none more so impressive than 9-year-old Samone Cummings. In "Just one of them," she took on the role of a bully, explaining her raison d'etre. "The reason I bully people is so they won't pick on me first," she said, crisply enunciating every word, her almond eyes intelligent and alive. "If people are afraid of you, they won't try to mess with you. They won't call you dusty because your mom can't give you good clothes, and they won't call you broke because your mom can't afford to keep your hair done like everyone else's is. ". . . Maybe I want the people I pick on to tell on me so I get some sort of attention . . . calling out for someone to say, 'Hey, I see you. You're not invisible. And you're beautiful, without all those fancy clothes . . .' " Later, stage manger Jones asked Samone and the others to "tell us your feelings" about Tamir. "Just relax," she added gently. The responses were spontaneous and unscripted and raw, all qualities Todd encouraged Oatman and the other playwrights grappling with the Tamir Rice shooting to preserve in their finished monologues. Joining Oatman, recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize, are playwrights Mike Geither, Tom Hayes, Lisa Langford, Mary E. Weems (also an Arts Prize winner) and Todd. Ste-Vee Lang, 11, tiny gold pineapples glinting in her earlobes, put herself in the dead boy's shoes. "Even though I wasn't there to witness that moment, I felt like I could feel it, too," she began. "As if I was him, walking to a rec center and I didn't have a weapon - it was a toy gun - and the police came. They didn't ask what I had, they just shot me, and that was the day I died." Deana Johnson, a 12-year-old who runs track, her a sleeveless T-shirt imprinted with a single, joyful word - DANCE - in peach neon letters, had thought a lot about what happened. "The police . . . they're supposed to be here to help our community, but they're making it worse," she said. "They're supposed to be stopping gun violence, but they're engaging in it theirselves." KaLyn Fagan tried to imagine what the police might have been thinking that day. "I kinda understand why they thought it was a real gun, cuz it looked like a real gun," she said. "But I would have at least asked him to put it down . . . and I'm pretty sure he would have put it down, if he had a mentality like me." At age 12, she stands about 6 feet tall and, just looking at her from a distance, you'd guess her to be much older, as prosecutors say Tamir looked to the officers responding to the 911 call of someone brandishing a weapon at the West Side park. That's until she turns and you see her sweet, girlish face. Kali Hatten, the oldest of the group at 14, is a gifted young actor from the Cleveland School of the Arts who appeared in Spivey's production of August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" at Karamu in 2015. As he stood and gave his assessment, it was all the more devastating for his soft-spoken delivery. "I wasn't really that surprised that an African-American had been killed by police," he said, citing the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City, black men who'd died at the hands of police in the summer of 2014, months before Tamir was shot. "I was 12 years old when this happened. That could've been me." After the kids left to make way for the adult candidates, Spivey and Todd were silent for a beat. Then Spivey captured the feeling in the room - those kids, he said, were "magnetic." Maybe they should consider adding a monologue or two to capture younger voices in the community. Todd agreed. "We should have been recording it!" he said. "It was amazing, wasn't it?" he continued. "Off the top of their heads, they had so much to say - it wasn't spun and nobody had proofed it." And, much like the voices captured in the play's monologues, "they haven't been out there," Todd continued. "They haven't been heard and digested and absorbed. We felt like that was really important." Capturing the innocence of youth, Spivey said, is just as crucial as hearing from adults in and around the Cudell neighborhood, where the playwrights started conducting interviews some six months ago. "We were looking for someone maybe 16, 17 but, hell, this young man was 12. We should have somebody who's 9 or 10 to 14." Maybe more. One of the additional monologues will likely be inspired by the experience of Spivey's son Cinque, stopped by police on his way to Cleveland Heights High School one morning in his junior year. Were you running through the back of somebody's yard, the officer demanded? "No sir," Spivey said his son answered. Three or four police cruisers squealed up to the scene. He showed them his school ID. Finally, when they realized he didn't match the description of the person they were looking for, they let him go. "No apology," said Spivey. When he heard about Tamir, he thought about Cinque "automatically," Spivey said quietly. "That was very quick." He also "remembered so many others, from the men in Ferguson and New York City to Emmett Till - that's how far back I go," Spivey said. "They almost resemble each other a bit," he added, meaning Tamir and the 14-year-old murdered in 1955, his face bashed to an unrecognizable pulp by two white men for whistling at a white woman in a grocery store in Money, Mississippi. An all-white, all-male jury acquitted both killers, but the murder and the trial horrified the nation and the world, the case often cited as the spark that helped ignite the civil rights movement. Today, Spivey sees artists across the country reacting to the Black Lives Matter movement, spurred largely by the high-profile killings of young black men by police. "I see what's going on, and it reminds me of the '60s when [playwrights] were responding to what was happening. And that's happening now," he said. "The more work like this I see, the more I think about what my mentor said back at Prairie View [A&M University], the historically black college in Texas. "Art, he said, is going to be the savior of society." WESTLAKE, Ohio -- Police arrested a 68-year-old Westlake man accused of stalking a 16-year-old girl at her job, police said. Ralph Roach, of Hilliard Road, was arrested June 11 after he went to the teenager's job after her parents and police told him to stay away from the girl, according to a Westlake police report released Friday. Roach is charged with menacing by stalking, Rocky River Municipal Court records show. An arraignment is scheduled for June 30. He is free on a $15,000 bon. Judge Brian F. Hagan ordered Roach to have no contact with the teen. "He is infatuated with that girl," Westlake police Capt. Guy Turner said Friday. Roach first approached the girl at Drug Mart in the 27000 block of Detroit Road on June 4. He told the girl he was scouting for a friend's production company and asked the girl if he could take her picture, police reports say. The girl told Roach to talk to her parents. Roach called the girl's father and asked to meet for lunch. The father declined and told Roach to leave his daughter alone. The father called police, and officers also told Roach to not contact the girl, reports say. On June 11, Roach went to the store again. Managers told him to leave and then called police. Officers went to Roach's home and arrested him without incident, Turner said. "He told her he knew people in show business and modeling," Turner said. "He doesn't even have a camera." Roach is unemployed. He may have worked in real estate, police said. If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. Like Chanda Neely on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter: Dogs all 300-plus existing breeds are curious creatures: The domesticated variety is notorious for mindless habits like chewing on socks and chasing down squirrels, even while their more disciplined brethren sniff out illegal drugs, explosives and even cancer. Those characteristics are all part of canine cognition, a growing field of research conducted by leading dog psychologists (yes, really) who actively examine why our furry friends behave the way they do. Places like Stanford, Yale and the University of Florida are just several of the research institutions pioneering a broad effort to understand what makes dogs tick. Studying the relationship between humans and canines is nothing new. Mankind and dogs have been collaborating for hundreds of years, living together both as master and pet as well as trainer and assistant in areas of forensic investigation. However, with researchers recently discovering some dogs have the ability to detect certain types of cancer, the science behind how dogs think has taken on new interest. Brian Hare, a Duke University professor of cognitive neuroscience, is helping pioneer what he calls "dognition" to explore the mutually beneficial relationship between humans and dogs. In a recent interview with CNBC, he said the abilities dogs have developed over time enable them to understand human instruction so closely. These abilities seem closely tied to human interaction, and corresponding social cues that develop regardless of their environment. "It wasn't a big surprise to dog lovers that dogs use gestures and they're amazing communicators," Hare said. "They understand us in ways that other animals don't, including great apes. It was our discovery of this that set off a firestorm within science that people got excited about." Hare explained that in some ways, canines have the ability to process human behavior better than do chimpanzees, the closest living evolutionary relative to humans. Domestic dogs have the ability to understand so-called cooperative-communicative social cues that allow them to quickly and accurately complete social tasks with only simple guidance from an instructor. Income inequality continues to be one of the urgent topics in the public discourse. There were 46.7 million people living in poverty in 2014, according to the latest data from U.S. Census Bureau . The poverty threshold was $12,331 a year for an individual under 65 and $15,871 for a two-adult household during that time. "In order to make sure that everyone has a floor something they can't fall below, that we end poverty once and for all let's give everyone a check," the former president of the Service Employees International Union said in a recent interview with CNBC's " Power Lunch ." While the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is not necessarily a new one, Andy Stern believes his plan is important now because of "tectonic shifts" in the labor market that will see more and more workers replaced by robots. One former union boss has a bold idea on how to ensure economic stability in the U.S. give every citizen $1,000 a month. Still, there is wide disagreement about how to alleviate poverty, whether the government should redistribute income to address it or whether it's really a problem in the first place. Economists at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute recently argued that the income gap was being 'misperceived" by a range of factors that are being misinterpreted by the public. Yet Stern, who is a senior fellow at Columbia University and author of "Raising the Floor," argues the debate is being shifted by concerns about the rise of artificial intelligence and the displacement of workers. The World Economic Forum projects more than 5 million jobs in 15 leading countries will be lost by 2020, thanks to disruptive labor market changes, including the increased use of robots. Additionally, according to a 2013 Oxford study, 47 percent of U.S. jobs were at risk of being automated in the next two decades. "A tsunami of change may be coming and we would be crazy to not look at the warning signs and figure out a plan," said Stern. "I'm not betting my kids life that this time is going to be the same as ever before. I'm not sure that's true." However, critics have called UBI a "terrible idea" that would wither the U.S. social fabric by tying Americans to the government. The idea was also rejected in Switzerland earlier this month, when voters decided against a basic income plan. It was the first country to hold a referendum on the issue, but others including Finland are examining similar plans. Stern, however, is undeterred, and has an answer for those who are concerned about the cost to the government. He would cut some of the government's 126 programs that already pay out cash. However, he suggests Social Security should remain intact. "I'm not saying we end all of them but certainly a lot of them. That's the basis of how we can fund this kind of program," he said. "We're going to have to change the welfare system going forward." CNBC's Kerima Greene contributed to this report. 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. What you need to know ahead of mandatory CWD sampling in Missouri outdoors June 16, 2016 Lisa Toro (left) sorts through a rack of small batch manufactured clothes at her store City and State, a coffee and crafter boutique on Broad Avenue. Once a part of the corporate world Toro is part of a group looking to build the economy around artisan entrepreneurs capable of selling locally, regionally and nationally. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE June 16, 2016 Sue Gilmore (left) and Tyler Cruze admire artisan crafts at City and State on Broad Avenue. Owner Lisa Toro has a compliment of 50 60 makers which she displays in her coffee and crafter boutique. An appreciator of craft, Toro looks to invest in quality products and wants to see a return to hand crafted and responsibly manufactured goods. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal) June 16, 2016 Supporting the craft movement, Lisa Toro displays handcrafted and small batch manufactured goods from over 50 artisans at her store, City and State. With a background in business, she is part of a group looking to build the economy around artisan entrepreneurs capable of selling locally, regionally and nationally. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal) By Ted Evanoff of The Commercial Appeal In an era when Memphis has lost more than 15 percent of its retail stores, probably no one has tried to count the grass-root artisan shops that have sprung up in the region except maybe Bill Routt. Walk out of a crafts store or apparel boutique and chances are the paper wrapping for the purchased item was supplied by him. Express Packaging, the Memphis wholesale firm he founded two decades ago, sells custom and upscale shopping bags and tissue paper to more than 500 small retailers, artisans, craft food makers and other independent Mid-South businesses. "We have seen so many make themselves enormously successful," said Routt of artisan entrepreneurs. "A lot of them could progress a lot more than they are doing if they had a helping hand up and advice and guidance." Now, an anonymous Memphis donor has quietly funded Little Bird Innovation, a research and strategy firm in Midtown, to do just that. Little Bird has begun to survey local artisans to determine how many there are, what they do and what a helping hand might look like, all with the goal of ramping up the craft economy and getting the Broad Avenue arts boom to echo in faded neighborhoods of the city. "We provide resources to the tech companies through incubators, but we're not currently focused on these types of small (artisan) businesses that can grow and create jobs,'' Little Bird partner Nicole Heckman said. "We see an abundance of opportunity." Heckman declined to name the donor though she said it is a Memphis-based organization whose backers want to nurture and grow artisan entrepreneurs, particularly in what she called "marginalized and under-represented communities" in the city. Advisers to Little Bird on the effort, which is called the Made By Project, include city of Memphis grants coordinator Maria Fuhrmann and Leslie Lynn Smith, head of EPICenter, the small business development arm in Memphis of Bioworks Foundation. While major loans and economic development tools such as property tax breaks and grants are out of reach of small entrepreneurs, Fuhrmann said artisans can still expand. Apparel makers and designers, artists, bakers, brewers, jam producers, jewelers, potters, sculptors and other artisans are in a position to increase their own regional and national sales and utilize space in older buildings that are now vacant or under used, Fuhrmann said. Broad Avenue is a model. "What's so interesting about Broad is if you actually map the neighborhoods around it there are actually tons of workshops and studios that no one knows are there," said Heckman, who said estimates figure the shops on Broad together sell about $1 million worth of merchandise each year. Within the last five years the street near Midtown drew artisans and shoppers. It happened largely free of City Hall intervention as low rents attracted artists to the warehouse district in the Binghamton neighborhood, an old railroad community near Summer Avenue and Sam Cooper Boulevard. The same trend emerged in many cities, corresponding with an uptick in demand for crafts. Throughout the nation, many shoppers began to favor stylish hand-designed merchandise over mass-produced items, reported the trade journal Chain Store Age, which noted retail companies with fewer than 500 workers last year "began to show meaningful growth for the first time in 25 years with a 1.1 percent combined annual growth from 2011-14." Broad Avenue's resurgence counters what happened across Memphis and Shelby County. In 1998 at the height of the last economic boom, nearly 3,600 separate retail stores were counted in the city and county, 15 percent more than the 3,033 open in 2014, the latest year county business data is available from the U.S. Census Bureau. Half of the lost retailers vanished in the 2008 financial crash, the data shows, although one class of merchant managed to hang on retailers employing one to four workers. In 1998, these small shops accounted for 40 percent of all retailers in the city and county, compared to 42 percent by 2014. In a city in need of more jobs and a larger tax base, Mayor Jim Strickland has taken notice. The administration hasn't committed money to for the Made By Project, although Strickland is scheduled to open the Mayor's Maker Challenge, a pledge to support the craft industry. The event will begin 10 a.m. Tuesday in front of City Hall. Little Bird launched the artisan survey Friday online on the website madebyproject.org. Just how to help fund expansions and startups is still being explored, although Smith said investors, tiny loans and grants are possible along with advice on scaling up a business. It can take $500,000 to $1 million for a craft food maker to reach a size capable of supplying a regional retailer, Heckman said. Routt, who is not part of the Made By Project, said he has seen artisans struggle simply to stay in business. Many need fundamental help figuring costs, distribution, marketing, packaging, websites. Organizations in Memphis teach entrepreneurs how to get loans and fill out tax forms, "but these people need more basic information," he said, adding the state of Mississippi offers entrepreneurs better guides. "They just have a general attitude there that they are anxious to help," Routt said. "I haven't seen that kind of attitude in Tennessee." His view is shared by Tamka Ikagbara, a street vendor who sells no local crafts now she buy apparel from wholesalers but could rent store space one day if sales improved. She has run Tam's Fashion Wear from a tent pitched Downtown at Court Square for more than four years. A son helps carry the containers of clothes from the car to the tent. A daughter is building the website. Ikagbara described her chagrin over tax cuts for profitable companies while small merchants are neglected. "The government doesn't care about small businesses," Ikagbara said. "They want to give money to big contractors. They don't care about us." Sydney Neely can be reached at sydney.neely@commercialappeal.com. May 25, 2016 - FedEx cargo plane taxis to the Memphis Ternimal. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By Sydney Neely, The Commercial Appeal The criminal charges of conspiracy and money laundering against the FedEx Corp. were dismissed Friday by the U.S. Justice Department. Prosecutors had alleged the Memphis carrier knowingly delivered illegally prescribed drugs from internet pharmacies after authorities tried to stop those illegal online businesses. The long-running case went to trial Monday in San Francisco. The government dropped the charges Friday without giving a reason for the dismissal. FedEx had argued it could not police its millions of packages for those that might contain illegal items. FedEx is and has always been innocent, said Patrick Fitzgerald, FedEx senior vice president of marketing and communications, in a statement released by the company. The case should never have been brought," Fitzgerald said. "The government should take a very hard look at how they made the tremendously poor decision to file these charges. Many companies would not have had the courage or the resources to defend themselves against false charges. While FedEx chose to fight the allegations involving drug sales and deliveries, Atlanta rival UPS paid $40 million in 2013 to resolve drug sale and delivery allegations. The power of the government was greatly misused when the case was initiated, but the governments integrity was redeemed by the decision to dismiss the charges today, Fitzgerald said. Federal prosecutors opened the trial Monday over claims FedEx schemed with online drug stores to transport painkillers, anxiety medication and weight loss pills acquired without valid prescriptions. FedEx denied the governments allegations, and argued that medical personnel and pharmacies provided illegal prescriptions. Were a transportation company but were not law enforcement, Fitzgerald said in a statement before the trial. FedEx also said it helped law enforcement investigate the pharmacies. In a court filing, the carrier said packages were transported only from licensed pharmacies registered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In a statement released Friday, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced it moved to dismiss the indictment in United States v. FedEx but declined to say why. Judge Charles R. Breyer, who earlier had questioned whether the government actually could prove it claims, granted the motion Friday. Friday before last (June 10), the 3 p.m. editors' news meeting was wrapping up. My colleagues had talked about stories for the next day's newspaper and what stories would be posted and when on our online edition. Before the meeting broke up, someone asked if the special homicide package we had prepared for our online edition was ready to go when the city recorded its 100th homicide this year. No one doubted that mark would be hit or surpassed over that weekend. That milestone came the next day, shortly after 2 p.m. on the parking lot of a Family Dollar store on Thomas near Chelsea in North Memphis. After reading about the slaying while eating breakfast Sunday, I grabbed my electronic tablet to look at our excellently produced online package that looked at the city's homicides from an array of platforms involving the race, age and gender of the victims and assailants, the weapons used and a great map showing where the slayings occurred. (Click here to view the Memphis Homicide Tracker) Later, it struck me that the surety on the part of myself and my colleagues that the 100 mark would be reached before that weekend ended says a lot about the homicide epidemic that has Mayor Jim Strickland on the defensive, the clergy marching, neighborhoods on edge and victims' family members twisting in tearful agony in front of television news cameras. As of Thursday evening, my deadline for this column, there had been 102 homicides in Memphis. The 102nd, according to police, was Tracy Johnson, 41, who was found fatally shot about 9 p.m. Wednesday in the 700 block of Raines Road in Whitehaven, within sight of the Memphis Police Department's Raines Station. According to the preliminary investigation, police said the victim was sitting in his 2009 Ford Escape when he was approached by two men. The suspects shot the victim and fled in a red four-door car, possibly a Toyota Corolla. This is the type of sporadic and sometimes bold violence that is hard for police to quell, regardless of whether the department has a full complement officers. And in this slaying and 82 others, a firearm was used (81.37 percent). According to the National Institute of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey, using FBI data, firearms are used in about 68 percent of murders, 41 percent of robbery offenses and 21 percent of aggravated assaults nationwide. Most homicides in the United States are committed with firearms, especially handguns, according to the NIJ. We clearly have a firearms problem here, especially regarding guns ending up in the hands of teens, and young and older adults who use guns to rob and pillage, settle grudges and to bring a swift end to a dispute. Getting guns out of those hands is tough, and police departments in many major cities still are trying to find an effective way to accomplish that. Also, we have to do better job of coordinating the various individual, neighborhood and community efforts to keep teens from turning to crime and violence. In a guest column in today's Viewpoint section, Larry Jensen talks about some of the great programs in place that are successfully guiding youngsters on a positive life track. These organizations and individuals are doing a great job. Still, I wonder how much more effective they could be if they could work under an umbrella of collaboration, sharing thoughts and resources. That kind of collaboration has worked in making headway on solving other seemingly intractable problems plaguing the city, from homelessness to blight elimination to growing a job-ready workforce. Is there enough of a will in this city to drop the silos that could be barriers to accomplishing that kind of collaboration? It would mean that some groups and individuals would have to let go of their we-know-what's-best attitudes. And, who would lead the effort? Someone from city government? The business sector? One of the city's institutions of higher learning? That's a tough question. Meanwhile, before the clock strikes midnight Sunday, signaling the end of the weekend, there is a surety that the homicide number will rise. A new report from a coalition of California-based charitable, civic, and civil rights organizations claims that the Los Angeles Unified schools diverts money from English-language learners, students from low income families, and those in the foster care system. The criticism centers on hundreds of millions of dollars in increased state funding designed to benefit students who traditionally struggle academically, the Los Angeles Times reports. The coalition called the Communities for Los Angeles Student Success (CLASS)argues the students are not getting the full benefit of the money that they are generating under new state funding formulas. The coalition includes the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the Community Coalition, the Los Angeles Urban League, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the Center for Powerful Public Schools. While acknowledging that Los Angeles Unified faces long-term financial problems, the coalition still has questions about the districts spending priorities. State officials have raised similar concerns. According to the report, Los Angeles Unified is using about $5 billion in funding to aid the disadvantaged students. Chief among the coalitions concerns are that only 20 percent of the $1.06 billion that the high-needs students generate is currently distributed to schools based on the student population. Also, English-learners are 25 percent of the districts population, but only receive 1.5 percent of the designated funding. The reports finding are based on based on research led by Bruce Fuller, a University of California, Berkeley professor of education and public policy. The groups want more transparency and accountability for the funding, and for district leadership to dedicate more of that money to improving the rate at which the districts 150,000-plus English-learners are reclassified as proficient English speakers. The district has struggled in the past to meet the needs of English-learners. District leaders reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education in 2011 to overhaul its master plan for serving English-learners to improve educational opportunities for them. My colleague Alyson Klein wrote a story for Education Weeks special report on English-language learners about the challenges encountered by long-term English-learners , students who have been school system for years but never managed to reclassify and move on from the English-learner designation. There is much work to be done to connect monies to increased student outcomes that close the opportunity and achievement gaps. The CLASS coalition remains largely concerned at the extremely low outcomes for low-income, English learner and foster youth in particular, the groups wrote in a letter to Los Angeles Unified school board members. We will not be satisfied until all investments, allocations and policies are rooted in equity, and precipitate improved outcomes for our students. The district issued a statement in response, the Times reported. 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, the paper wrote. Berkeley-UWGLA LAUSD Background Report - JUNE 2016 LCFF Report Card Findings and Recommendations Letter Y3 LCFF Report Card Related Stories ELL Programs Get Overhaul in New York and Los Angeles Los Angeles District, Ed. Dept. Resolve Civil Rights Probe For Stalled ELL Students, Graduation Is Often an Elusive Goal When it comes to national searches to fill the two most crucial public jobs in Memphis police director and school superintendent we haven't always fared well. With a few exceptions, our searches usually begin and end with the selection of a local applicant. By my calculations, those exceptions over the last 44 years consist of one outsider for police director and three for superintendent of the former Memphis City Schools. I bring that up because we are currently in the midst of a nationwide hunt for the next permanent police director. And to no surprise, local political and community leaders are already lobbying for Mayor Jim Strickland to look no further than interim director Michael Rallings. L. LaSimba Gray, pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church, even went so far as to call the national search a "disservice" to the police division. And City Councilwoman Janis Fullilove, a Rallings supporter, discounted the notion that only an outsider could bring fresh ideas to Memphis. "They don't have a love of the city, they don't know the city," she said. To understand these sentiments, you have to also understand our history filling these jobs with outsiders. In 1972, Jay Hubbard, a military man from California, became the first Memphis police director after the position was created. His two-year tenure was a disaster, mainly because he never got along with other top police brass who hated even the idea of having a director. Since then, every director has been homegrown. And with the exception of E. Winslow "Buddy" Chapman, they have come up through the MPD ranks. As for superintendents of the former Memphis City Schools, the most controversial search came in 1978 when the school board chose William Coats of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, over native son Dr. Willie W. Herenton. The public outcry was deafening, and Coats, who accepted the job, changed his mind after facing an angry reception while visiting Memphis. After Herenton's nearly 13-year tenure as superintendent, the school board hired three outsiders Gerry House, Carol Johnson and Kriner Cash. House, who served eight years, held the position the longest and was arguably the most successful of the three. When House resigned in 2000, Education Week said her time in Memphis was "filled with successes and strife, and most definitely change." It's expected, then, that the current national search for a police director would be mired in dissension. After all, this is Memphis. But Strickland is committed to completing the process. And the International Association of Chiefs of Police is being paid $40,000 to conduct the search. So why not keep going? With public safety the No. 1 issue in Memphis, we deserve the best police director we can find even if he's already filling the chair. June 13, 2016 - Omar Tellez (L) and Troy McPhail, employees with Balton Sign Co., remove the letter "Y" from the former Peabody Place building Monday. The 15-year-old, 328,000-square-foot space will become home to the new ServiceMaster headquarters. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal) When it was opened in June 2001, Peabody Place Mall was meant to be the citys grand crossroad, a kind of Times Square just off Beale Street for tourists and Memphians. Memphis architect Steve Berger remembered designing the interior so strollers inside the mall sensed they were outside, on a Downtown street, looking at exteriors of stores. Back in the 1990s when the design was taking shape, he would take his son, Taylor, to the building site, then a parking lot behind The Peabody hotel. I remember before it opened, said Taylor, now age 36, thinking this was such a beautiful space and this was going to be beautiful for Memphis. Then it just crumbled. That is a story of Memphis. We thought we had something great that would change things. And then it just fell apart. In 2008, the theaters were closed. Three years later, the last merchant departed. Wrote a Memphian in a 2011 letter published in The Commercial Appeal: If we were a sophisticated market, like Boston or Seattle, something would have happened by now. But this is Memphis, where the beautiful Peabody Place Mall failed to make it. Lots of reasons are cited for what happened. The 2008 recession wracked Memphis. Adult shoppers were put off by teens crowding the theaters. Enclosed malls lost favor in the new century. Tourists didnt shop. The place was too big. Middle class families moved east and south, away from the old city core. And so the building sat, 300,000-square-feet of vacant disappointment, an eyesore left in a city where Memphians somehow repurposed one old structure after another, but not Peabody Place Mall. I work Downtown and I walked by it and knew people werent enjoying the amenities and the interior spaces we created. It was disappointing, Steve Berger said. But it makes it more exciting to know its going to come back and be a vital part of our city. Vital, Peabody Place? Yes, said real estate executive Neal Golden, vital. If Memphis had a Times Square it certainly will be Peabody Place, Golden said. Just how ServiceMaster will revamp the building will become clear in the next few months. Already, a lane in the street in front of the malls front doors has been blocked for construction trucks. On June 3, Goldens client, ServiceMaster Global Holdings, confirmed its 1,200-employee headquarters would relocate from East Memphis to the mall by early 2018. Golden, vice chairman of the real estate firm Newmark Grubb, likens the digital messages flashed at New Yorks Times Square with the lighted signs ServiceMaster will be able to display on the face of Peabody Place Mall. Messages might welcome clients and employees, tout the innovation center, tell passersby of events in the city or beam ads for ServiceMaster brands to the throngs of tourists. An estimated 5 million visitors each year take in Beale Street and nearby FedExForum, where the sight lines lead to the malls front door, a face, really, rising several stories from the street. While the ground floor looks like the flat wall of a typical shopping center, the higher stories beckon people with a grand staircase, columns and round walls like a steamboats deckhouse. Its about to become the face of ServiceMaster. Peabody Place worked at every level in terms of what ServiceMaster wanted to create in taking the company in a new direction, Golden said. Although the home services company looked at other cities including Atlanta and Dallas, the size of Peabody Place, the lower cost of renovation compared to new construction, the lack of intruding interior columns, room for the innovation offices, the Downtown bustle and the desire to attract millennial employees to an urban environment each met ServiceMasters goals. Theres luck in what you do and in this case one building inevitably accomplished all the things that were required, Golden said. Urban planners for decades designed many American cities to exclude residents, move them to the outer districts, make them commuters, Golden said. Many in Memphis were also motivated to move by that one searing event -- the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel. Despite all the handwringing in Memphis about eyesores like Peabody Place and other vacant relics, something happened among Taylor Bergers peers. Not only in Memphis, but in cities across the nation, men and women in their 20s and 30s began to convert old warehouses into lofts and gravitate toward the urban core. Taylor Berger himself went on to repurpose old buildings and develop restaurants in the city. Each was unique for its architecture, like the new Loflin Yard. Once a small grocery in an African American enclave off the South Bluffs at 7 W. Carolina Ave., Loflin is a bar visually interesting for its scuffed exterior walls and tables staged outdoors around a creek now contained as a culvert. Renovation in the old city accelerated after the National Civil Rights Museum went up next to the Lorraine in conjunction with a resurgent Beale Street and The Peabodys renovation into a first-rate hotel by Belz Enterprises, which also developed Peabody Place Mall. Tourists came and artists and young adults moved in. South Main Street flourished with 12,000 new residents. Golden calls the idea live, work, play in one setting, although Berger stretches the notion to what can also be seen and felt. I think people, customers, respond more to something that has a history, a story, where the walls speak, Berger said. I think we just got tired of manufactured office parks that were just built to be office parks. We got tired of manufactured experiences. We just wanted something real. Old buildings. They feel real. Like Berger, an array of Memphians have repurposed important buildings put up by another generation and then forgotten as the city spread into eastern and southern suburbs. Buildings that are about to be renovated, being renovated or have been renovated, all since 2011, include Central Station, the Chisca hotel, Overton Square, the Pinch District, The Pyramid, Sears Crosstown, Tennessee Brewery and, finally, Peabody Place. When it comes to redoing old structures, Memphis is on a roll. Berger lauds his dads handiwork. It stood there as a reminder of failure for so long, Berger said. To have someone come in and flip it on its head and turn it into a symbol for the future, thats great for everyone in Memphis. Ted Evanoff, business editor of The Commercial Appeal, can be reached at evanoff@commercialappeal.com and 901-529-2292. June 13, 2016 Shane Farwell, supervisor of the city's General Services carpentry shop in Overton Park. The 9-acre site houses over 100 work trucks and vans, not including the heavy machinery. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE June 13, 2016 A rusty gas pump stays in use at the city's General Services Division compound in the East side of Overton Park. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) June 13, 2016 Craft assistant William Griffin cleans up in the carpentry shop at the end of the day while they rebuild a water wheel for the Memphis Zoo. The 9-acre General Services Division compound in Overton Park will be relocating. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) June 13, 2016 Antonio Adams, Director of General Services Division (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) By Tom Charlier of The Commercial Appeal Screened by tall oaks and scraggly spires of kudzu, a nine-acre island of asphalt, concrete and machinery hums with activity in Overton Park as dozens of carpenters, electricians, painters, plumbers and other specialists maintain and manage municipal property out of the view of park-users and just about everyone else in Memphis. "Nobody really knows that we're back here," said Eric Alter, general foreman of property maintenance for the General Services Division. Based on original plans for Overton by landscape architect George Kessler, no one, in fact, was supposed to be at the site, except perhaps picnickers and residents needing some fresh air. His 1901 design for Overton depicts the acreage on the park's east side as a large lawn, or greensward, much like the one near the present site of Memphis Zoo. But now, after decades during which it grew into a veritable industrial site used by General Services and other city divisions, the compound is scheduled to be vacated. Memphis officials were slated to open bids Friday on a project to build a facility at the site of the former Walter J. Simmons housing project at Lamar and Knight Arnold, where General Services operations will be relocated. Once a contract is awarded, construction will last about 18 months, after which the move will be completed. "We're going to vacate, and the buildings will remain," said Antonio Adams, director of General Services. "At that point, it'll be the decision of City Council as to what happens with the property." The impending move has inspired a variety of proposals for the acreage, some with implications for the ongoing conflict over the use of Overton's greensward for overflow zoo parking. Tina Sullivan, executive director of the Overton Park Conservancy, which manages the park, said most of the acreage should be returned to parkland. "We've done some visioning about that space ...," Sullivan said. "If we could take down the fence around the General Services area, we could open up new pedestrian access for our neighbors to the east, encouraging them to walk and ride to the park." Some land could be reserved for general parking for Overton visitors, Sullivan said, and a Depression-era building constructed by the Works Progress Administration could be restored. Reclaiming green space would allow for a "gentle transition" from the compound site to Overton's nearby old-growth forest, she said. The acreage also could accommodate additional parking for visitors, especially those using the highly popular East Parkway picnic and pavilion area. The site also has been the focus of a proposed museum featuring the works of Memphis-born photographer William Eggleston. The status of that proposal remains uncertain, however, and efforts to contact proponents Friday were unsuccessful. For all the uncertainty about the future of the acreage, officials say a couple of options have been all but ruled out both involving the zoo. The site is too far from the zoo to be set aside for zoo parking, they say, and the conservancy has expressed vehement opposition to motorized trams operating on roads through Overton's old-growth forest a designated state natural area. Also, there is little support for moving the zoo's maintenance facility moved to the acreage. "It is unlikely that it (the site) would be put to use by the zoo," said Richard W. Smith, a zoo board member and a member of a committee involved in talks aimed at resolving the greensward parking issue. Smith said green space, along with some room for parking, probably represents the "highest and best use" of the General Services site. For now, however, the compound remains used by about 100 city employees and 100 trucks and vans, plus a number of pieces of heavy equipment. The largest tenant is General Services' property maintenance administration, whose 87 workers take care of all 461 municipal structures in Memphis everything from fire stations to senior centers. The exodus from the compound already has begun. The Division of Parks and Neighborhoods moved its fleet shop and related operations more than two years ago, taking more than 50 employees out of the facility. The General Services move is part of an effort to centralize city operations and reduce costs, Adams said. As big and busy as the compound has gotten, information on its history when and why it was established is scarce. Aerial photos show it existed at least as far back as 1938, when there were a few buildings and greenhouses at the site. John Malmo, 82, who chaired the old Memphis Park Commission, which the council disbanded more than 15 years ago, said he doesn't know the origins of the compound. "It predates me ... In fact, I think it even predates me as a kid playing in Overton Park," he said. Malmo said the commission members didn't like having the compound take up space in the park. "There was always concern about that facility ...," he said. "We always wanted it moved, but we never could get the city to consider it." Sullivan said that's probably because city property provided a cheap solution to maintenance needs. And before Memphis' boundaries expanded in recent decades, Overton was centrally located. But with Memphis ranking poorly among peer cities in terms of park acres per capita, Sullivan said, local officials should "jump at the chance" to reclaim green space. "It would be great to restore that area into its originally intended design," she said. June 4, 2014 Steve High, with the citys signs and markings division paints stripes on Riverside Drive at W. Georgia. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By Tom Charlier of The Commercial Appeal After studying and testing a variety of options to accommodate bicycle lanes on Riverside Drive, Memphis officials this spring literally paved and painted over the idea of assigning space to anything but motorized vehicles on the scenic boulevard. The decision to pave and re-stripe Riverside in a way that omits bike lanes "may be re-evaluated" sometime in the future, said Arlenia Cole, spokeswoman for the Division of Public Works. No further information on the action was provided. For now, however, the decision has disappointed bicyclists, community planning groups and even a prominent Downtown-area developer. They say Riverside needs bike lanes to help slow down traffic and improve access to the Mississippi River. "Basically, you've got the equivalent of a highway separating your riverfront from Downtown," said John Paul Shaffer, program director for the group Livable Memphis. Henry Turley, developer of riverfront communities stretching from South Bluffs to Harbor Town, said bike lanes would help reduce traffic speeds to around the 35 mph speed limit. Without them, motorists drive too fast in and out of Downtown. Turley calls Riverside's current configuration outmoded. "I am convinced that using Riverside Drive as an ersatz expressway is a real Fifties idea." Joe Royer, a South Bluffs resident and avid cyclist and kayaker who is co-owner of Outdoors Inc., agreed that Memphis is behind the times and other cities in having no bike lanes on its iconic waterfront drive. "I don't know of another waterfront, from Chattanooga to San Francisco, that doesn't have bike lanes," Royer said. The result, he said, is high-speed traffic that makes it difficult for pedestrians to cross Riverside and get to Tom Lee Park and other sites on the Mississippi. "No cars will stop (for pedestrians)," Royer said. "Any that do will get rear-ended because of the culture of Riverside it's a speedway, it's basically an interstate." Proponents of bike lanes on Riverside say the city's aversion to them likely can be traced to an unpopular pilot project launched in 2014. It tested a traffic alignment in which the western two lanes were reserved for bicycles and pedestrians while motor vehicles were confined to the two lanes on the east side of the median. The pilot program generated intense criticism from Downtown residents and others. They cited safety concerns and the major traffic backups that occurred when northbound motorists tried to turn left into Tom Lee Park. The release of figures showing that very few cyclists used the bike lanes only intensified the anger of those critics. Turley, for one, acknowledges the problems with the city's pilot program. "They screwed it up," he said. "It was a good idea, exceedingly poorly executed." Shaffer, however, points to figures showing that the test succeeded in slowing down traffic. Also, while there was increase in rear-end collisions, severe crashes plummeted by 60 percent, he said. Following the pilot project, city officials studied and solicited public input on other options for bike lanes. Those options would have put one lane of car traffic on either side of the median. One alternative called for two bike lanes on the outside of the southbound portion of the roadway, while another put them on the outside of both the northbound and southbound lanes. In addition to repaving and re-striping Riverside this spring, the city also cut back a median to provide a northbound left-turn area into Tom Lee. June 18, 2016 Christian Woddard, 6, center, stands with members of the Blight Patrol before the 1,000 Fathers March. Pastor DeAndre Brown, not pictured, executive director of LifeLine to Success, organized the march in honor of Father's Day and to honor slain officer Verdell Smith. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE June 18, 2016 Dozens of fathers and supporters marched on Beale Street during the 1,000 Fathers March. Pastor DeAndre Brown, executive director of LifeLine to Success, organized the march in honor of Father's Day and to honor slain officer Verdell Smith. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal) By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal Justin Crutcher brought his three sons with him to Robert R. Church Park Saturday morning to show them they can take action against the violence plaguing their city. Memphis police "can only do so much, and we definitely need the community and our nonprofit organizations to come together to help try to reduce the crime here in Memphis," Crutcher, a police officer, said. "This definitely will teach them a lesson that violence is wrong and we don't want violence in our community." The family joined dozens of other men and women in the inaugural 1,000 Fathers March Downtown, organized by Lifeline to Success. "We wanted to have an opportunity for fathers to come together in unity and celebrate Father's Day to build relationships so that we can begin to really fight our city's problems," said DeAndre Brown, executive director. "We have a large amount of violence that is just unnecessary, and I believe that through relationships we can begin to reduce that number." The march was organized as a response to the growing list of violent crimes in Memphis this year; more than 100 homicides have been recorded so far. Several incidents shook the city, including a recent stampede on Beale Street sparked by what some thought were gunshots; the shooting death of 18-year-old Myneishia Johnson on Second Street across from the Flying Saucer; and the death of Memphis police officer Verdell Smith, who was struck by a car on Beale driven by a suspect fleeing after a triple shooting. Smith was honored as "Father of the Year" at the event Saturday because he "exemplified leadership, manhood and service," Brown said. The group marched down Beale Street onto Riverside Drive before finishing at the FedEx Forum. Before the group began, several local politicians spoke to the marchers, encouraging fathers to stay involved in their children's lives. "There is no way no how that we can fix the ills that we face in our communities, in our nation, without fathers being present," Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, said. "We have to pour into our children. We have to catch them before they become shooters." Rep. Larry Miller, D-Memphis, and Sen. Lee Harris, D-Memphis, also spoke. "These people that are killing in Memphis, somewhere or another they're not getting the message," Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, said. "The message here on Father's Day weekend (is) to tell people to tell their families and their children to do right." Marchers held up signs discouraging violence. One read "Education is the key, stop the killing;" another man held up a sign that said "I lost my son 7-19-12 by an AK 47." Like Crutcher, many men brought their children with them. One pushed his baby in a stroller alongside the group. Brown held hands with his daughters Jewel and Micah as the marchers traveled down various Downtown streets. "Every step we take today is a step toward a brighter Memphis," Brown said. June 12, 2014 In this file photo, students are walking across campus at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia. Tuition is going up at Northwest, as it is at the state's other community colleges.(Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal Tuition will rise 9.8 percent at Senatobia-based Northwest Mississippi Community College this fall, reflecting a trend of increases at most of the state's 15 community and junior colleges. In-state students this fall will pay $1,400 a semester, or $2,800 yearly. That's up from $1,275 per semester, or $2,550 yearly, in 2015-16. Out-of-state students paid an additional $1,200 per semester this year, and that figure will remain the same. NWCC leaders blamed the increase on less money from the state and higher labor costs. "In line with 13 of the 15 community colleges in Mississippi, Northwest regretfully had to increase tuition to compensate for state budget reductions and increased labor costs," Gary Mosley, NWCC's vice president for finance, said in a statement. "We have increased our scholarship budgets to help students meet this increase, and are actively working to lower related costs, such as textbooks." In addition to its main campus in Senatobia, NWCC has a campus at DeSoto Center in Southaven. As noted by Mosley, most Mississippi community and junior colleges had to raise tuition because of reduced state funding a problem plaguing the state's secondary schools as well as colleges and universities. The only schools on the list of 15 not raising tuition are Copiah-Lincoln Community College and East Mississippi Community College. "With declining enrollment and rising utility costs and trying to have competitive faculty salaries, the colleges are trying to do their best," said Kell Smith, a spokesman for the Community College Board, which coordinates the colleges' activities. Two colleges will cross the $3,000 threshold for the first time, with Jones County Junior College charging that much and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College charging $3,040. The increases come as state funding to community colleges falls 2 percent in the budget that begins July 1. The decrease of $5 million cuts state aid to $258 million. That's above the $216 million that the colleges received in 2011, when state funding bottomed out after the recession, but less than $263 million they got in the now-ending budget year. It's also significantly less than the level required by state law, which calls on the Legislature to fund community colleges at the cost per-student midpoint between universities and K-12 schools. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant speaks at the spring meeting of the Mississippi Economic Council in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, April 28, 2016. The governor avoided reference to the controversial Religious Liberty Accommodation Act, more commonly called the Mississippi Religious Freedom bill that he recently signed. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) SHARE By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal Two upcoming court proceedings could help shape the future of Mississippi's much-debated "Religious Freedom" bill, set to become law July 1. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves will hear oral arguments Monday in Jackson on reopening a 2014 lawsuit that overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Thursday and Friday, Reeves will consider a separate lawsuit filed June 10 challenging the "Religious Freedom" bill. The Campaign for Southern Equality was a plaintiff in both suits, which are among four actions seeking to prevent the July 1 implementation of HB 1523, as the "Religious Freedom" bill is known. The controversial measure allows Mississippi businesses and government officials to decline services to same-sex couples if doing so would violate their personal beliefs. Supporters, including Gov. Phil Bryant, say the law merely protects those with strongly held religious views, while critics say it's an attempt to bypass the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last summer affirming same-sex marriage. Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for the Campaign for Southern Equality, said she expects Monday's hearing to focus only on information plaintiffs have requested about county clerks who might choose to recuse themselves to avoid issuing a marriage license to same-sex couples. "We just don't know at this point if there might be a showdown when the law goes into effect," Kaplan said. "That's why we want more information on how that process works." The law allows clerks and deputy clerks to decline issuing licenses as long as someone else in the office can do so. However, the law is vague on what happens if all clerks in the office decline. Kaplan, on behalf of Campaign for Southern Equality, is asking Reeves to address the question by reopening the case in which he overturned Mississippi's same-sex marriage ban in the wake of last year's Supreme Court ruling. Plaintiffs want the case reopened to include protections against HB 1523. Later in the week, Reeves will hear arguments in the most recent lawsuit, filed June 10 by Campaign for Southern Equality and Rev. Susan Hrostowski, an Episcopal priest. Kaplan said it's her understanding Reeves hopes to rule on the two actions before July 1. This week's hearings do not involve consolidating the other two actions with the two Campaign for Southern Equality cases. The other cases include a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a gay couple, and a suit by filed by the Mississippi Center for Justice. The legal debate over the new law comes as gay rights activists prepare to celebrate on June 26 the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's historic Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legitimizing same-sex unions nationwide. "Whether it's immigration or guns or whatever, you're seeing all kinds of tumult in the country," Kaplan said, "so I'm not really surprised we're still fighting these kinds of battles a year after the (Supreme Court) decision. I am confident, though, that the federal courts will act to enforce the Constitution." By Jane Roberts of The Commercial Appeal Resident Jon Thompson paid $2,240 last June for copies of W-2s from 2014 for 19 Germantown city employees including City Administrator Patrick Lawton plus a list of their current salaries, additional money they may have received from "performance achievement" bonuses and vacation buybacks, dating to 2008. City Clerk Michele Betty said Friday the requests for which Thompson was billed also included other inquires. Thompson has said repeatedly he is trying to find out what Lawton and other city employees earn, noting that individual salaries are not listed in the "condensed" version of the budget available to the public. In the budget public hearing June 13, Lawton said he would earn $215,000 in fiscal year 2017. He has been Germantown city administrator since 1989. The 2015 W-2 Lawton provided The Commercial Appeal last week showed $196,116.73 in wages and tips. Thompson argued the real salary was closer to $300,000. Among other issues, he says Lawton has two pensions from the city. Mayor Mike Palazzolo says he has one and may elect, like any other city employee, to contribute to a tax-free fund. All city employees also have the option to sell back vacation time. City staff were eligible for a 3 percent performance bonus this year; Lawton said Palazzolo gave him a 4 percent bonus. In March, Sarah Wilkerson-Freeman and Thompson requested information on city payments on current or past life insurance policies for Lawton and Palazzolo. They also are asking for the value of any canceled or surrendered life insurance policies, past for present, for both. They also are seeking all emails from Jan. 1, 2014, and March 25, 2016, from the private accounts of Lawton, Alderman Forrest Owens, Palazzolo and Alderman Rocky Janda that relate to the affairs of the city. In a review of city administrators' pay in comparable cities, Collierville City Administrator James Lewellen makes $146,000. He is reimbursed for personal vehicle expense when he travels for town business. He has been in the job 20 years. Franklin City Administrator Eric Stuckey earns $172,573 and receives a $400 monthly car allowance ($4,800 a year) plus a 3 percent 401K match ($5,300 a year). He has been in the job four years. By Jane Roberts of The Commercial Appeal Germantown, which has paid more than $62,000 in the first half of the year in attorney fees generated by citizen open records requests, is looking to Nashville for relief. In meetings with Shelby County lawmakers and the state Attorney General, city leaders are researching ways to limit the city's exposure from the cost of producing large data requests, including potentially charging the costs back to the citizens making the requests. "Asking for four years of someone's email all of them is not normal," Mayor Mike Palazzolo said. "Asking for a police report dated Jan. 17, 2009, to clear up an insurance manner is routine. But a wide-cast net that takes up our professionals' time and legal staff to review is something residents need to know is very costly." The city's proposed budget for next year includes a 64 percent increase (from $350,000 to $575,000) in legal fees. City staff suggested an $80,000 increase, but aldermen upped it to $225,000 for the $575,000 total based on the size of the legal bills the city is receiving to blackout sensitive data in City Administrator Patrick Lawton's emails. In December, resident Sarah Wilkerson-Freeman requested two years of his email, including all attachments. Under law, governments in Tennessee may charge 15 cents a copy plus labor costs for requests that take more than an hour for staff to gather. Wilkerson-Freeman has asked to inspect the data, which is free, and then requests copies made of pages she wants. The city paid Burch Porter & Johnson $62,147.28 from Feb. 2 to June 9, 2016, to redact personal or protected information of employees, private citizens and minors named in Lawton's email. Palazzolo says the city could pay three police salaries for what it expects to pay to have legal staff scan all 36,000 emails covered by the request. "The dichotomy is, we have residents that come and ask for information. You want to honor that. We are not allowed to determine if it is warranted or frivolous or even some form of trying to find information," he said. "When we have citizens that go on politically motivated hunts for information that turn up nothing, the citizens have to pay for that." Jon Thompson, who has paid more than $2,000 for city employee W-2s, pay rates and vacation buyback figures, would not comment on the city's research to recoup expenses without speaking to his attorney. Anne Butterworth, head of the state office of Open Records Counsel, says for many constituents, email has taken the place of conversations they used to have with government entities. While the conversation did not produce a public record, email does. "We have not kept up with that in terms of immediately cataloging them as a record and being prepared to make them promptly available," she said in an interview this spring. House Bill 2082, signed by Gov. Bill Haslam this spring, requires that all governmental entities have public record policies in place by June 1, 2017. "Because of that, there will be a re-emphasis or an analysis of government responses. Because the law requires every governmental agency to have a policy, they are going to have to talk about how requests are to be made and to include the forms that have to be used," she said. She expects the process will add clarity. For now, Germantown is getting help from the offices of Rep. Mark White, R- Memphis, and Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown. "Some of the research we are trying to collect is how to recoup the expense you have outlaid," Palazzolo said. June 14, 2016 - After fleeing El Salvador in 2014, Wendy Palacios, 22, is staying with relatives in East Memphis. Now she is facing deportation despite a deal she said she made with immigration officials to get help in acquiring a visa in exchange for testimony against a smuggler. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE June 14, 2016 Wendy Palacios, 22, holds her 11-month-old daughter Angela in their Memphis home Tuesday. Palacios fled from El Salvador in 2014 after she got pregnant. She wanted to start a new life with more opportunities for Angela. Palacios, who lives in Memphis, is facing deportation. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal) June 14, 2016 - Wendy Palacios, 22, poses for a portrait at her Memphis home Tuesday. Palacios fled from El Salvador in 2014 after she got pregnant. She wanted to start a new life with more opportunities for her daughter, Angela. Palacios, who currently lives in Memphis with her daughter, is facing deportation. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal) Related Coverage Migrant women take risks for 'a better life' By Maria Ines Zamudio of The Commercial Appeal Wendy Sarai Palacios thought she'd struck a deal with someone she could trust the U.S. government. She'd fearfully testify against the predatory smuggler who brought her into the country illegally in 2014 then attempted to rape her. She'd provide all those details, under oath, that she'd hoped never to tell anyone. In exchange, she'd get a pathway to citizenship a so-called U-visa for crime victims who cooperate in criminal investigations and a new life in America with a newborn daughter. But Palacios, living with family in East Memphis since 2015, says federal officials reneged on their promise and she faces a deportation hearing June 22. "I want the person who promised to help me to open his heart and think about his children. I know he wants the best for his children the same way I want the best for my daughter. I helped them to get that man," the 22-year-old single mother said. "I wouldn't want to end up with a deportation order when I helped the government catch (prosecute) a criminal." Daniel Hetlage, spokesman for U.S. Border Patrol, declined to answer questions about Palacios' case. The Commercial Appeal could not independently confirm any government promise made Palacios she has nothing in writing from the immigration officer who investigated the case but immigration experts say such deals are not unusual along the border. "I have seen other cases where DHS (Department of Homeland Security, which runs border patrol) has benefited significantly from immigrants' help in investigating cases," said Eunice Cho, staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center. "But they (DHS) have turned their backs on these witnesses." Palacios' trek to Memphis unfolded along a notorious, well-worn path to freedom from El Salvador through Guatemala then across Mexico where women and children have been kidnapped, raped and murdered. The same year she fled to the U.S. along that route, The Commercial Appeal documented those horrors in its "Trail of Fears" project that focused on other Central American women who risked their lives to reach the U.S. and, ultimately, Memphis. Along the long trail from the southern Mexican border to its northern border with the U.S., women often become a commodity. Those who can't afford to pay a smuggler or pay bribes to authorities or pay a "tax" to cartels often end up paying with their bodies or their lives, the newspaper reported. Palacios made the decision to flee, she said, after learning she was pregnant. Her homeland was too dangerous for an unwed mother raising a child alone, she said. Just in 2014, more than 3,912 people, including dozens of police officers and soldiers, were killed in the nation that's roughly the size of Massachusetts but with one of the highest murder rates in the world. A cousin in Memphis agreed to pay $7,000 to smuggle Palacios into the country. Her journey to the Texas border took 22 days aboard a series of buses and cars and then miles on foot dodging immigration officials from Mexico and the U.S. Palacios said she was four months pregnant at the time of that journey but overcame the physical demands, and the fear, for her baby. But that hopefulness was fleeting, Palacios said, when she was nearly raped at a safe house 18 miles over the border in Texas, then arrested in a raid by federal agents. She said she was housed in what other immigrants called "la hielera" or the ice house, sleeping on the floor under Mylar blankets. It was there she decided to help immigration officials to prosecute a smuggler who almost raped her. Palacios was afraid to face the alleged smuggler, Jose Manuel Flores-Patino, in court but she did it hoping it would be her ticket to staying in the country legally. He pleaded guilty to two charges including, bringing and harboring illegal immigrants. He is serving a six-year sentence in federal prison. Following her testimony, the young woman was released from custody and moved to Memphis to be near family. But the promised help to get the visa never came. U.S. Border Patrol and other agencies involved with the case have not signed the required certification form for Palacio's U-visa application. Without it, her application will be rejected. The form certifies the immigrant was a victim of a crime and cooperated with the investigation. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a federal agency, approves or denies the application. "A lot of discretion is given to (law enforcement) agencies to determine if the immigrant is helpful or will be helpful," said Professor Leticia Saucedo, who focuses on immigration law at the University of California, Davis. Saucedo said that flexibility has created problems because some law enforcement agencies, like those in Maricopa County, Arizona, refuse to sign the forms for political reasons. "In some areas, there is a political ideology. There is an attitude of not wanting to give someone a visa," said Saucedo. "What's missing in the statute is an alternative for agencies refusing to give certification for cooperating." Palacios' attorney, Kerry Avens Krauch, said it's been frustrating trying to get the signature. Krauch said she can't understand why border patrol or another agency refuses to certify her client helped when there are federal court documents that prove she testified. "We keep running into barriers and roadblocks. People who either say no or don't reply," she said. "We have reached out to Rep. Steve Cohen's office and we are hopeful that he will assist us." Rep. Cohen's office declined to comment. Last year, about 30,106 U-visa applications were filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; a third were granted because of an annual 10,000 cap. Congress approved the U-visa program in 2000 in an effort to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement agencies and immigrant communities. Palacios faces the strong prospect of deportation and raising her child in violence-ravaged El Salvador. "The love for my daughter keeps me going." A contentious year-old legal battle over Tennessees school funding formula just heated up a little more this week when Nashvilles school board decided Tuesday night to sue the state. Nashville joins Chattanooga, Memphis, and a handful of suburban districts that have filed lawsuits arguing that the states funding formula leaves local government agencies shouldering too much of the states skyrocketing education costs. Nashville board members voted this week to sue the state over the costs to educate Englishl-language learners, who comprise almost 43 percent of its student body. Other districts lawsuits are much broader and focus on whether the state or local districts should pay, among other things, the majority of teachers salaries and school wraparound social services. The idea that these schools, which literally sit in the shadows of the state capital, are intentionally getting short shrift by the state of Tennessee is frankly maddening to me, board member Will Pinkston said during the meeting . Local taxpayers are doing their part. Over the last decade, Tennessee lawmakers have ramped up the states academic standards, teacher requirements, and accountability systems, allowing the state to take over its worst schools. Districts have scrambled to keep up, spending millions on new textbooks and curriculum, teachers, and social wraparound services. Meanwhile, the state has cut millions of dollars out of its education budget, forcing local governments (which control district budgets) to dramatically increase its education spending to cushion layoffs and cutbacks at schools. In response to the boards vote, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam touted his boosts to his education budget in recent years (he says he added $14 million to ELL spending this past year). I think this was the exact wrong time to do something like this, to use money that could be used to go to schoolsto go serve studentsto be used to file a lawsuit, Haslam said, according to the Tennesseean . Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics. SHARE Memphis has been fortunate to have philanthropists, known or anonymous, step up to the plate to fund worthy civic projects that enhance our quality of life. We see that happening once again with the anonymous donations of some $12 million to light the Harahan and Hernando DeSoto bridges. The donors are giving $5 million to put LED lighting on the Harahan, which will include the Big River Crossing pedestrian bridge, and about $7 million to change out older lights with LEDs on the Interstate 40 bridge. The donors see their donation as a gift to Memphis and Crittenden County, Arkansas, and, when the project is completed, the lights will give Greater Memphians and out-of-towners crossing the DeSoto bridge a special view of the Mississippi River. The Harahan railroad bridge also will host a pedestrian and bicycle path that will connect Downtown to West Memphis as part of the $43 million Main Street to Main Street Multi-Modal Connector project in Downtown. Although no public money is involved in the lighting project, the Downtown Memphis Commission and its Center City Development Corp. have become the public face of the project because it is devoting staff members' time to details, including funding, design and installation of lighting on the bridges. The commission's equal business opportunity program, or EBO, calls for entities receiving incentives to make good-faith efforts for 20 percent participation by minority- and female-owned businesses. The donors have committed to spending at least $1 million with minority- and female-owned firms for projects to light the bridges. CCDC board member Melvin Jones on Wednesday argued for a stronger commitment to minority contracting. Twenty percent of the lighting project would be more than $2 million. Jones has a point, given the city and county governments' dismal record of doing business with minority- and female-owned businesses. Meeting goals to increase those numbers always should be a priority. There also is a reality factor that certainly applies in this case. Officials connected to the project said lighting the bridges is very specialized work. In fact, they said, no local company has manufactured or installed this kind of lighting on a railroad bridge across the Mississippi. With that being the case, hitting the 20 percent goal may be difficult. Also, since no public money is involved in lighting the bridges, an argument can be made that the donors should not be told how to spend their money. The donors, however, have been committed to having minority- and female-owned firms involved in the project. Also, Downtown Memphis Commission President Terence Patterson and CCDC attorney Charles Carpenter said minority contracting requirements have figured prominently in negotiations on a development agreement with the donors. There is no doubt in our minds about the sincerity of everyone involved in the project to meet or exceed the 20 percent goal, if possible. If the goal cannot be fully met, that should not be a stumbling block to having the lights placed on the bridges. The anonymous donors are set to give Memphis and West Memphis, along with out-of-state travelers, a special visual gift. We should thank them for their generosity. SHARE Terri Lee Freeman By Terri Lee Freeman, Special to Viewpoint Last Sunday morning's news account of the horrific and tragic slaughter that occurred at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was particularly disturbing to me. For one thing, it brought back memories of two tragic events I worked through in Washington Sept. 11, 2001, at the Pentagon, and the Sept. 16, 2013, Naval Yard shooting. In my mind, all I could think about were the families and the trauma they are now facing. But I was also distressed because the day before the Orlando shootings, the National Civil Rights Museum held a 50th anniversary commemoration of the March against Fear with James Meredith. In 1966, Meredith struck out on a March from Memphis to Mississippi, but was shot in Hernando, Mississippi, and was unable to finish the march. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael and other notable civil rights icons, plus ordinary concerned citizens, picked up where Meredith left off the very next day and completed the march. As we "re-enacted" a brief portion of the march, we called out for freedom against hatred, freedom against violence and voiced our right to live in safe communities. Among the community organizations that marched with us was the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Center. While the evidence appears to be pointing to a sole shooter who had been radicalized and inspired by the Islamic State, what we know for certain is that he was motivated by hate. And though it has not been fully substantiated, it has been suggested that the Pulse was targeted because it was a known club for the LGBTQ community. I don't feel qualified to talk about international relations and homeland security, but I can say for sure that hate will be our downfall. When will we begin to see our differences and variations as enhancing our human interactions as opposed to stifling those opportunities? When will we get past the differences in race, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation and see people for who and what they are human beings? No other labeling necessary. When will we make it a priority for all of us to live peaceably? This does not mean that we have to be a monolith. It doesn't mean we all have to have the exact same belief system or ideology. But it does mean that we all have to respect this thing called life. Terrorism is terrorism, whether it is a lone gunman on the side of U.S. 51 in Mississippi waiting to ambush a young James Meredith, an organized cell of a particular group that decides to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, a young man who walks into a church and murders nine people during prayer meeting, or a heavily armed, radicalized IS sympathizer shooting young people in a nightclub who were simply trying to have a good time it is terror. Our communities and our nation have a heart problem. We have not yet learned that love is a far more powerful force than hate. So, as we come together to pray for the families of this most recent mass shooting, let's each commit to getting to know at least one person who is different from ourselves. Let's move beyond tolerance to genuine concern and care for our fellow man. Love is the only concept that can save us from us. Terri Lee Freeman is president of the National Civil Rights Museum. SHARE By Dick Polman Let's flag some Republican statements about the Orlando massacre. See if you can spot what's missing. House Speaker Paul Ryan said, "We pray for those brutally attacked." Senate leader Mitch McConnell said, "The nation's prayers are with the victims." Sen. Rob Portman said, "Praying for the victims." Sen. Rand Paul said, "Praying for the victims." Sen. Bob Corker said, "Praying for the victims." Sen. Tom Cotton said, "My prayers, and the prayers of all Arkansans, are with the victims." Stumped so far? Need more examples? Sen. Tim Scott said, "Our prayers are with the victims." Sen. Kelly Ayotte said, "My heart goes out to the victims." Sen. Lamar Alexander said, "My heart goes out to the families and loved ones." Rep. Pete Sessions said, "My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Orlando." Rep. Mark Meadows said, "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims." Sen. Richard Burr said, "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims." Sen. Ron Johnson said, "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims." You've got it by now. None of these Republicans had the strength of character to say the word gay. A guy with a newly purchased weapon of war walks into a gay nightclub, blows away 49 LGBT people and allies and wounds 53 more, yet most Republicans can't muster the requisite pronunciation skills to state the obvious. They all love the phrase "radical Islamist terrorist," but somehow they can't bring themselves to acknowledge that this particular shooting can just as easily, and perhaps more accurately, be described this way: Homophobic hate crime. Why is it so hard for Republicans to use that phrase, to acknowledge that truth? Why are they incapable of saying what Vice President Biden said on Sunday ("the targeting of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans is evil and abhorrent ... they were our brothers and our sisters")? And even now, amid mounting evidence that the shooter was a self-hating closeted gay, why are most Republicans still not willing to say that these victims were targeted on the basis of their sexual orientation? I wonder if it's because Republicans have long been hostile to gays. It's an unfortunate truth that many in the Republican base are homophobic, and party leaders are loath to risk their anger by sounding soft on gays. Remember, this is the party that concocted the nonexistent transgender bathroom crisis; that is mostly opposed to gay marriage even now, one year after the Supreme Court deemed it constitutional; that is busy crafting anti-gay legislation state by state; that has consistently refused to pass a federal law banning workplace discrimination; that features candidates like Ted Cruz, who called the gay marriage ruling "the darkest 24 hours in our nation's history"; that stoked opposition to gay marriage back in 2004, as a way to gin up conservative turnout for George W. Bush's re-election; that attracts homophobic pastors like Kevin Swanson, who has called for gays to be executed. So the party's whitewashing of gay victims jibes perfectly with its longtime attitude. Granted, a few Republican senators Marco Rubio, Susan Collins, Mark Kirk have seen fit to acknowledge who the Orlando victims were. Heck, even Donald Trump uttered the g-word on Monday, in the manner of a stopped clock getting the time right. Was Orlando an act of terrorism? Of course. Was there a religious factor? It would appear so. Was the shooter inspired by online terror sites? Yes, looks like a wannabe. But when Republicans refuse to acknowledge what is perhaps the key factor that this was a homophobic hate crime they simply look like fools. Fools who are out of touch with the multicultural real world. As Jack Hunter, a Republican ghost writer and former conservative talk show host, has said, "Why do so many conservatives come across as being tone deaf toward gay Americans and their supporters? .... A Republican party that is perceived as intolerant is not going to survive in the long run." Dick Polman is the national political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia. He is syndicated by Cagle Cartoons. Contact him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. SHARE By Ed Rogers Tuesday, in a remarkable display of arrogance and tone-deaf rhetoric, President Obama, in an angry rant about why he doesn't use the phrase "radical Islam," asked the question, "What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change?" And although he called the whole issue a "political distraction," his question deserves a serious answer. Frankly, at this stage, it is alarming that the answer is not obvious to the president and those around him. The difference is that calling these terrorists what they are radical Islamists would be reassuring to those Americans who have doubts about Obama's proficiency as commander in chief. By using the phrase, it would help build confidence that he actually understands the problem and therefore has a viable plan to defeat the enemy. After all, he is the one who used the term "jayvee team" to describe the Islamic State. He is the one who declared Iraq "sovereign, stable and self-reliant." He is the one who announced an absurd withdrawal date from Afghanistan. He is the one who took six years to declare the Ft. Hood shooting a terrorist attack and not an incident of "workplace violence." So to be clear, using the phrase "radical Islam" isn't about trying to make the Islamic State "less committed to trying to kill Americans." Mr. President, it is not about the Islamic State, it's about you. Your specific refusal to use the term rattles Americans and increases doubts about your grasp of the threat that the Islamic State presents. Islam has a problem, and Obama needs to say so. He needs to help the world come together and work this out and admitting the problem out loud is an essential step. Obama's enablers like to boast that our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president ended two wars. The fact is, this president has neither won nor ended any wars. At the end of his eight years in office, the United States will be facing more grinding conflicts than existed when he won the presidency. Donald Trump, for all his faults, has forced Hillary Clinton to cross the threshold and acknowledge the obvious, that "radical Islam" is a dangerous threat to our country. Trump-speak has become an infection in the political discourse, but he should not be used as a straw man for Obama to hide behind. Somehow pretending that this is about Trump, or that he is the only one who cares about using clear labels to describe our national security threats, is disingenuous. Again, this is not about Trump, or Republicans, or about a military strategy to defeat the Islamic State. This is about the president being honest with the American people and assuring them that he understands the threats against us. Ed Rogers is a contributor to the Washington Post's PostPartisan blog, a political consultant and a veteran of the White House and several national campaigns. He is the chairman of the lobbying and communications firm BGR Group, which he founded with former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour in 1991. SHARE By Margaret Carlson Smoke is rising from the Capitol dome and the first responders are missing in action. Instead of running into the building to save it from their presumptive nominee, Republicans are running away. Watch them scurry at the approach of a reporter wielding nothing more than a notebook or a mike asking about the latest outburst from Donald Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's press briefings have been designated Trump-free zones. His No. 2, John Cornyn, said he won't take any Trump questions until after the November election. Profiles in courage, one and all. Hiding is not working and the situation is now dire. How could party leaders entrust the nuclear codes to President Trump? In the last week alone, he has accused President Barack Obama of treason. He says he is happy to talk to North Korea, without preconditions, and get it to put down its nuclear weapons, but he won't accredit The Washington Post to follow his campaign. His solution to tragedies such as the mass shooting in Orlando is to arm everyone, everywhere. Imagine how much better it would have been, he said, if those dancing the night away had guns "strapped to their ankle or strapped to their waist" and shot back. For Trump, Orlando was not a tragedy deserving thought but an occasion for calling attention to himself. He took a victory lap, saying the massacre had somehow proved him right, an assertion with no basis in reality. He ended a tweet asking for credit for being right with the further claim he wasn't asking for credit for being right. At a speech Wednesday, Trump gave his party a taste of what it's like to be one of his targets. He blasted would-be allies who had offered the mildest guidance to, perhaps, use a teleprompter, or think before he spoke, or bring in a few wise people to guide him on how to speak to an audience wider than the ones that cheer when he calls for banning Muslims, says the word "wall," or mocks a disabled reporter. "Our leaders have to get a lot tougher," he said at a rally in Atlanta. "And be quiet. Just please be quiet. Don't talk. Please be quiet." If that's not enough, in a pout, he said he will take his ball and play by himself: "Let me just do it by myself. I'll do very well. I'm going to do very well. OK? I'm going to do very well. A lot of people thought I should do that anyway, but I'll just do it very nicely by myself." He is like a misbehaving child you kick subtly under the table to shape up who then announces he's been kicked and defiantly refuses to behave better. His defiance makes a mockery of the admonitions of McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan and others to just give Trump a little time to adjust to the bigger stage he's on and the bigger job he is asking for. Trump, however, would rather go it alone than acknowledge, by changing, that he might not have been perfect all along. After all, he won and they didn't. The campaign is more about him than the presidency. It wasn't to win the presidency that he took after a judge whose life has been in danger for going after drug cartels in California and who has been called an American hero by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Trump did it to ensure that he wouldn't have to make restitution to those duped by his fake university. Ryan called the judge outrage "counterproductive." The party didn't mind that their presumptive nominee drove the birther movement, but they're worried now that independents and moderate Republicans might not like a nativist and conspiracy theorist who accuses the president of treason. Even now the party is not worried about the stain itself as much as the fact that the stain is spreading. New polls show the Republicans could lose their ruling majority in Congress, with the Senate particularly threatened. The re-election bids of Sens. Kelly Ayotte, Ron Johnson and even John McCain are in jeopardy. No one should have expected bravery from a party that is spineless in the face of the National Rifle Association. Its leaders are too afraid of a bunch of lobbyists with checkbooks to do anything about protecting the country from lone-wolf terrorists bearing military-style assault rifles. No wonder they're afraid of a casino mogul. There was a time when a bucket of water would have stopped Trump. Now the conflagration is such that it will take high-powered hoses to put out. Republicans weren't willing to do it for the country. They may be willing to do it to save themselves. Margaret Carlson is a Bloomberg View columnist. SUBSCRIBE Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates straight in your inbox. NATO Threatens Europe With Annihilation By John Scales Avery 18 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org NATO is supposed to be a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect Europe from aggression; but today it is aggressive tool of the United States. Today NATO is threatening to drive Europe into an all-destroying thermonuclear war with Russia. In recent years, participation in NATO has made European countries accomplices in US efforts to achieve global hegemony by means of military force, in violation of international law, and especially in violation of the UN Charter, the Nuremberg Principles. Former UN Assistant Secretary General Hans Christof von Sponeck used the following words to express his opinion that NATO now violates the UN Charter and international law: In the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, the Charter of the United Nations was declared to be NATOs legally binding framework. However, the United-Nations monopoly of the use of force, especially as specified in Article 51 of the Charter, was no longer accepted according to the 1999 NATO doctrine. NATOs territorial scope, until then limited to the Euro-Atlantic region, was expanded by its members to include the whole world At present the United States government has forced the European members of NATO to participate in aggressive operations in connection with the coup which it carried out against the elected government of Ukraine. The hubris, and reckless irresponsibility of the US government in risking a catastrophic war with Russia is almost beyond belief. According to The Guardian, June 16, 2016, The largest war game in eastern Europe since the end of the cold war has started in Poland, as Nato and partner countries seek to mount a display of strength as a response to concerns about Russias assertiveness and actions. The 10-day military exercise, involving 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries, has been welcomed among Natos allies in the region, though defence experts warn that any mishap could prompt an offensive reaction from Moscow. A defence attache at a European embassy in Warsaw said the nightmare scenario of the exercise, named Anaconda-2016, would be 'a mishap, a miscalculation which the Russians construe, or choose to construe, as an offensive action' . https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/06/nato-launches-largest-war-game-in-eastern-europe-since-cold-war-anaconda-2016 Do the people of Europe really want to participate in the madness of aggression against Russia? Of course not! What about European leaders? Why dont they follow the will of the people and free Europe from bondage to the United States? Have our leaders been bribed? Or have they been blackmailed through personal secrets, discovered by the long arm of NSA spying? To save itself from the danger of nuclear annihilation, Europe must declare its independence from America, just as the United States once declared its independence from Britain. Some suggestions for further reading http://www.countercurrents.org/chomsky130616.htm http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44891.htm https://www.sott.net/article/319923-War-is-a-racket-US-terrorizes-and-scams-Europe-through-NATO http://www.makewarshistory.co.uk/?p=2415 http://www.cctv-america.com/2016/06/15/the-heat-nato-war-games#utm_sguid=155260,43357f6d-09a8-927c-abd1-8d4fdafed861 http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/06/16/pentagons-real-trategy-keeping-money-flowing http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/05/americas-natos-outrageous-behavior-greatest-threat-exists.html http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44883.htm http://www.countercurrents.org/gaist150616.htm http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44852.htm http://www.countercurrents.org/avery090414.htm http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/06/the-illegality-of-nato/ https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2015/03/30/europe-must-not-be-forced-into-a-nuclear-war-with-russia/ http://www.countercurrents.org/avery240615.htm John Avery received a B.Sc. in theoretical physics from MIT and an M.Sc. from the University of Chicago. He later studied theoretical chemistry at the University of London, and was awarded a Ph.D. there in 1965. He is now Lektor Emeritus, Associate Professor, at the Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen. Fellowships, memberships in societies: Since 1990 he has been the Contact Person in Denmark for Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, this group received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. He was the Member of the Danish Peace Commission of 1998. Technical Advisor, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (1988- 1997). Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy, April 2004. http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at avery.john.s@gmail.com Financing For Indigenous People, Land Reforms And Protection Of Forests And Other Natural Ecosystems in India - Part II By Anandi Sharan 18 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org Other than the fact that elections are being conducted it cannot be said that there is Government in India. The upper caste, which constitutes barely 5 to 7% of the population of the country, has hijacked it. In 2015 2 crore Indians travelled abroad, or around1.6% of the population. If each of these 2 crore people had one crore in cash then this 1.6% of the population would have had command over all the 1.34 crore crores GDP in the country. Obviously this is not quite right. But even if they each only has half a crore each on average, it leaves only 0.7 crore crores for 120 crore people, which is just Rs 56000 each for everyone else in 2015. If these rest of the people earn Rs 17000 in the market economy somehow, that means around Rs 39000 per person for this balance population comes from Government: the Union budget this year was Rs 13525 for every Indian barring those 2 crore who travel abroad. And a typical State budget per person was Rs 25534 in Karnataka in 2016. This explains why the Union budget in 2015-2016 for the NREGA was only 34000 crores for the country, and why people in rural areas and the majority of the population in cities have suffered a collapse of health and wellbeing. There are no funds for any public expenditure in India. Considering the ecology and environment has also collapsed this is a disaster of unprecedented magnitude. The Green India Mission had promised to spend Rs 46,000 crore for 10 million ha of land to be reforested with NREGA money. But that turned out to be fiction. Because of lack of money only half the number of employment days were generated in NREGA in 2014-15 compared to 2009-2010. But NREGA is not supposed to have an upper limit on funds provided the states demand the funds. In 2014 the number of days was increased to 150 for tribals. In 2016 it was increased to 150 days for drought prone areas. But in reality 70% of workers had delayed payments, and the NREGA stopped working in many States. (See article by Ankita Aggarwal in May 2016 EPW). When funds dried up towards the end of that financial year, workers were denied work without any compensation in the form of unemployment allowance. (Ankita Aggarwal, p.38). Labourers get such inadequate or no wages they are forced to eat food from the public distribution system. In 2016 nearly half the children in India are underweight or stunted. From 1990 to 2015 236.3 million children below the age of five died. In such a serious ecological and humanitarian catastrophe it does not make sense to carry on with this present political system. A new approach is needed that builds up a persons livelihood by giving them undisturbed occupation of land, regular wages under NREGA and technical support to make annual village plans. The main element of this new approach has to be access to land and to money creation. We need Gram Sabhas to own the land so that outsiders cannot grab it and families must be supported to continue or be given new land to work according to a common plan to the extent needed. In those places where common land restoration needs to be done there needs to be Gram Sabhas with untied funds that can make money circulate amongst everyone in a village, trading food and craft products and services with each other. Districts, Taluks, and Gram Panchayats need untied funds for the 29 line activities they are supposed to take care of, which means hospitals, schools, irrigation and drinking water, power and other energy services, social forests and management of community assets and welfare of the physically and mentally handicapped amongst other things. Though the Scheduled Tribes And Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 came into effect in 2007 out of 107 million Adivasis only 1.7 million family and community rights have been vested. The full number should be more like 20 million. The Gram Sabhas that are given the rights and responsibilities over recognizing rights and then looking after the forest and the ecology in their jurisdiction have no funds with which to train and appoint people to carry out the work. Why can the Government of India not boost local markets with an injection of money so that all the tasks needed to ensure survival with dignity can be carried out? The Fiscal Management and Budget Responsibility Act must be urgently scrapped. Government should create money electronically at the local level for all families and all local Governments and send coins and notes for added currency. In this context the financing mechanisms under the three Environment Treaties of the United Nations are irrelevant both in terms of quantum of money and even more so in terms of the ideological apparatus that comes along with the meager quantum of money. The Green Climate Fund wants to disburse 1 or 2 billion USD in 2016, say ten thousand crores to 180 odd developing countries. The Global Environment Facility that is the financing mechanism for the CBD and the UNCCD has even less. The purpose in life of the GEF is to leverage money from development banks, by paying for that part of a project that does not provide national benefit but rather something plucked out of thin air that the GEF calls global benefit(but which in any case is actually probably illegal under the Conventions). In a book called World in Transition, Fighting Poverty through Environmental Policy, the German Advisory Council on Global Change quantified the fund transfers happening and thought the GEF had received and spent around 1 billion USD from 1990 to 2010 for the CBD and the UNCCD, the World Bank around 18 billion and so on. IUCN calculated that in 2015 under GEF 6 the total money for CBD was 1296 million USD. On the other hand Indias Intended Nationally Determined Actions may cost the country 2 trillion USD in the next ten years. And what about Indias own plans in health, family welfare, education, and all the normal stuff of government? It is very weird when the industrialised countries start wanting to stuff nutrition, health, education, gender rights, family welfare and all the other normal government services into a co-funded environment project as a co-benefit. Something is very wrong with all this, especially when the industrialised countries continue to promote industrial production that causes the emission of greenhouse gases in developing countries in the name of development to service the overconsumption in the industrialised countries. India cannot afford to wait till the US Empire and western civilisation collapses before picking itself up and going it alone. Too many are starving. The time to chuck out the upper castes and make India fit for purpose is now. And a final note for today, today on World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought Canadarejoined the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The Harper government had dropped out to save money. Now the Trudeau government is back in. Whats in it for them? Well, it probably looks good to appear charitable. They are putting $216 million into the so-called GEF replenishment, the main funding channel of the UNCCD and the CBD, making Canada the sixth-largest donor.MeanwhileCanada like the US and the other industrialised countries continues to be in breach of all three Conventions by damaging the environment of other States by mining, emitting Greenhouse Gases, tourism and export of uranium amongst other things emanating from within their jurisdiction. We are committed to joining world action on climate change, land degradation and desertification, they cried. Part III of Financing For Indigenous People, Land Reforms And Protection Of Forests And Other Natural Ecosystems in India follows tomorrow Read Part I Anandi Sharan is a historian and blogger based in Bangalore. She was at one time running an NGO funded by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Clean Development Mechanism to pay for biogas plants and improved cookstoves in Kolar District and some Photovoltaic Lights in Tumkur District. Now she is a board member for a two year term of the Convention on Biodiversity Alliance. She also has a consultancy assignment to provide photovoltaic lighting systems for an NGO in Araria District. She can be contacted at sharan.anandi@gmail.com. Peter Wieben's five-part series on homelessness in Seattle doesn't try to capture any kind of overarching truth or objective stock-taking of the problem (Seattle is now notorious for its tent cities). Rather, it consists of a series of sharply observed, dryly recounted personal stories from the people he meets, which range from heartbreaking to infuriating. The conversion of shelter into an asset class has incentivized local governments to make it more expensive, which is a disaster for nearly everyone, except literal rentiers. Combine that with the recasting of poverty as a moral failing and the disappearance of stable employment opportunities and you're well on the way to turning cities into armed standoffs between the fingernail-clinging haves and the have-nots, whose misery only serves to spur the haves to cling harder. Wieben beautifully captures the difficulty of confronting homelessness in all our lives: the combination of mistrust and sympathy, empathy and helplessness, frustration and affection. You'd Have to be Crazy (Part I) [Peter Wieben/The Awl] You'd Have to be Crazy (Part II) [Peter Wieben/The Awl] You'd Have to be Crazy (Part III) [Peter Wieben/The Awl] You'd Have to be Crazy (Part IV) [Peter Wieben/The Awl] You'd Have to be Crazy (Part V) [Peter Wieben/The Awl] (via Metafilter) Doctor: No one is waiting to hear what you have to say. Webb: Oh, I know. And the columnists who are writing about it are just doing so to hear their own voices. Whether you're calling for "togetherness" or gun control or the obliteration of a religion you don't understand, it's all the same thing. Just writing to see yourself write. You're not going to solve anything. Doctor: And here you are writing a column about writing a column. Webb: It's awful. Somewhere, my journalism professor is pouring gasoline on my childhood home. But I had other ideas. Doctor: Oh yeah? Webb: Yeah! One was an issue-by-issue analysis of supposed gun violence solutions other than gun control. You say "gun control" and some people just shut down, so I thought I'd meet them on their turf. Tackling so-called "radical Islamic terrorism," improving mental health, etc. It had one line I really liked: "According to a Facebook meme I read last week, guns aren't the problem anyway. Whether it's fertilizer (Timothy McVeigh), airplanes (9/11) or cyanide (Nazis), 'if a madman wants to kill innocent people, he will find a way.' That's true. But it's a weird argument to make when advocating for devices that make it much easier to kill people." Doctor: I can see why you erased it. Webb: Yeah. Doctor: So why not write about something else? The Board of Zoning Appeals hearing for the bikini bar was ridiculous. Webb: Because Orlando is all I think about. Those people trapped in the Pulse's bathroom. The fear jumping in their hearts when they heard a gun being loaded on the other side of the stall. Knowing they're going to die and having no idea why. When Mateen first came in, some were probably shot and killed before they knew what was going on. Just out for a night of dancing and then ... gone. A good friend of mine works at a gay club in Kentucky. I think about him. Us as kids. Doctor: Why do you think Omar "(expletive)" Mateen did it? Webb: Homophobia. Anger. Reeling self-hatred he could no longer contain and that he ultimately decided to share with the world. Doctor: It makes no sense. Webb: None. And what upsets me the most ... well, what upsets me the most is that 49 people are dead, but after that, what upsets me the most is that it's turned into this national argument over reasoning. It's ridiculously lax gun laws. No, it's terrorism. No, it's mental health. But, man, it's everything. Doctor: Well, Mateen did pledge allegiance to ISIS. Webb: Look, ISIS is a gigantic problem, but there's no evidence Mateen had anything to do with them. Dylann Roof had a Confederate license plate, but we didn't respond to the Charleston shooting by deporting everyone from Alabama. Doctor: What about mental health? Webb: It's a huge part. A lot of these perpetrators are dealing with severe mental issues. And I'm all for expanding mental health. But of course the politicians who scream "mental health" every time a shooter commits an atrocity are the same ones who look to slash Medicaid the largest payer of mental health services in the country. Take Paul Ryan. He evoked mental health after the 2015 Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado, but proposed a budget a year earlier that would have slashed Medicaid by more than 25 percent. Doctor: But he's in very good shape. Webb: He is. Doctor: What now? Webb: The friends and families of the Orlando victims will bury the people they love. People with temporary in-solidarity Facebook profile pics will move on to the next big story. And the rest of us will kick back and wait for the next tragedy. Doctor: Did you see all those people in Orlando waiting to give blood? Webb: Yes. Doctor: And what about the huge crowds at the vigils in Henderson and Evansville? The fact that your children, and many kids their age, will grow up never feeling the hatred that soaks the country now. Webb: They'll know about gun violence, though. Doctor: That's a sour note to end on, but I'm afraid our time is up. Webb: Oh. Well, I appreciate you talking to me. It really did help, Doc. Doctor: Oh, I'm not a doctor. Webb: ... Doctor: I'm a cashier. You're at the grocery store. Do you see that huge line behind you snaking into the bread aisle? Webb: I ... wow. I'm so sorry. I haven't been sleeping. Doctor: Do you want that rotisserie chicken or not? SHARE J.M. Haggar was fascinated with Henry Ford's idea of the production line and mass production. He thought if cars can be mass-produced, why can't men's fine trousers and at popular prices? Many clothing manufacturers doubted Haggar's potential. But he proved them wrong. Using leftover suit fabrics instead of denim, Haggar made a new kind of dress pants called "slacks," and in the process revolutionized the men's clothing industry. The first lesson in all my corporate speeches is creativity. I think it is that important. Creativity is not rocket science. It's just finding a new or improved way to do anything. J.M. Haggar did exactly that and became a household name. When I am giving a speech, I prepare by talking to 8-10 people who will be in the audience to try and find creative stories. I hit the jackpot recently when I spoke to a couple real estate agents. One told me that he traveled to India for his brother's wedding in 1999. He brought along a portable SOLD sign and posed with it in front of the Taj Mahal. He used that photo as a postcard to send out to his clients. It read "One man built the greatest monument to love the world has ever seen." Below, in smaller print, he wrote, "I just sell real estate, but I do it with great passion." His clients still talk about that postcard years later. He's done other versions featuring Buckingham Palace and Mount Rainier. These have helped him stand out in his local market. Another Realtor told me that she scours current listings by competitors. She then sends out a large red mailing tube with a fuse that looks like a stick of dynamite. Inside is a large flyer that reads: "BAM! Your listing has expired! Do you want to know why?" She gets lots of replies. She also mails letters introducing herself. Then she sends a second mailing she crumples up the first letter and writes on the outside "Don't throw me away again!" She gets lots of responses to this second mailing. Another Realtor in the Twin Cities told me about a marketing opportunity that she jumped on. She is a big fan of the Cities 97 Sampler a music CD produced by a local radio station that Target sells exclusively every November to benefit local charities. On release day, people line up hours ahead at every Target store, waiting to buy the disc. Nine years ago, while waiting in line, she realized that she had ready-made prospects. For the last eight years, she has passed out hot coffee, breakfast bars and hand warmers along with her contact information, introducing herself and working the crowd. She donates 3 percent of her commissions generated from this event to the same charities. She lists and sells 5-6 homes each year from this event. What do they have in common? They took something familiar in a different direction. That's creativity. Here's how to follow their example: Crossbreed your ideas. Instead of looking for one great idea, grab hold of two good ideas and look for interesting connections and juxtapositions. Reptiles and airplane disaster movies were unrelated concepts until someone came up with Snakes on a Plane. Refine other ideas. Don't directly steal anyone else's work, but look at what's been done with an eye toward doing it differently. Repeat. Analyze what you've already done, and try creating it all over again. Chances are you'll find a way to improve it, or at least give it a fresh angle. You may also find a way to save time or use new resources by exploring what you're already comfortable with. But back to Henry Ford. He hired an efficiency expert to go through his plant. "Find the nonproductive people," he instructed. "Tell me who they are, and I will fire them!" The expert made the rounds with his clipboard in hand and finally returned to Ford's office with his report. "I've found a problem with one of your administrators," he said. "Every time I walked by, he was sitting with his feet propped up on the desk. The man never does a thing. I definitely think you should consider getting rid of him!" When he learned the name of the man the expert was referring to, Ford shook his head and said, "I can't fire him. I pay that man to do nothing but think and that's what he's doing." Mackay's Moral: Great ideas don't have to be new just improved! Thomas Mair, the terrorist who murdered a UK member of Parliament last week while shouting "Britain First" (the name of a UK neofascist party), was arraigned yesterday; in the dock, he refused to state his name, shouting "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain" instead. Since the murder, apologists for Mair have insisted that the two eyewitnesses who heard him shouting racist slogans while he shot and stabbed her should be discounted in favour of another who denied it, and said it was too early to draw a connection between the violent, xenophobic, literally Goebbels-derived materials produced by the Leave campaign and the killing of a pro-diversity politician on the street in her home constituency. Indeed, the discussion of the Cox killing is proof that Britons could take the title from Americans in any international White Terrorist Bingo competition. Mair refused to give his correct name and did not answer when asked for his address and date of birth. Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said in court that a psychiatric report should be prepared "bearing in mind the name he has just given." Accused killer of MP Jo Cox makes defiant court statement [Gregory Katz and Shawn Pogatchnik/AP] (Image: Charlie Stross) First and foremost: I apologize for raising the anxieties of many readers last week when I reported that Indiana had gone from 1,008 to 1,009 townships. That was my fault: gross neglect by failing to check my work and my sources when I got an unexpected result. Anyone who works with data knows unexpected results are very likely wrong. Triple check your work before you declare startling news to the world. The U.S. Census of Governments in 2012 reported Indiana had 1,006 Townships, a loss of two since citizens restructured governments in two counties. Gone is Eagle Township from Boone County, replaced by Zionsville and Whitestown. Gone is Mount Pleasant Township from Delaware County, replaced by Yorktown and part of Muncie. Those four places have assumed the governmental functions of the two former townships. Indiana now has 1,010 County Subdivisions. This is in line with the desires of many conservative and liberal Hoosiers to modernize the provision of government services. In the 30 years from 1952 to 1982, the U.S. shed nearly 35,000 (23 percent) of its government units (including school districts). During that period, Indiana dropped only 184 (six percent) of its governments, fifth from last in the nation. More recently, from 1982 to 2012, the nation reversed course and gained 8,300 government units, a 10 percent increase. Slow to change during this period, Indiana continued to decrease the number of governments down 156 units (five percent), fourth from last in the nation. Thus, in 2012 Census reported Indiana had 91 counties (Marion County does not count), 569 municipalities (cities and towns), 1,006 townships, 291 independents school districts, and 752 special districts (mosquito abatement and other functions). That's a total of 2,709 governmental units for 6.5 million people, or 41.4 units for each 100,000 people. How does that stack up with other states? Nationally, there are 28.7 units/100,000; we rank 18th from the top (North Dakota is first at 382/100,000 and Hawaii is 50th at 1.5/100,000). Our 1,006 townships are a result of 18th century conditions. They are similar to townships in eight other basically flat Midwestern states, where the number of townships is largely a function of the total area of the state. Our 569 municipalities put us 20th in the nation per 100,000 residents and our 291 independent school districts place us 24th per 100,000 people. These data might have you asking: Do we have too many governments in Indiana? That is a different question from: Does Indiana have too much government? The better question is: Could fewer units of governments achieve as much or more than the existing governmental structure? Do our candidates for governor and your candidates for the General Assembly have substantive thoughts on the effectiveness and efficiency of government? I made a numeric error in my last column. Let's all avoid making the mistake of electing ignorant, unthinking candidates in this coming election. Morton Marcus is an economist, writer, and speaker who may be reached at mortonjmarcus@yahoo.com. SHARE Robert Dion Gail Riecken By Staff Reports Political analyst Robert Dion will share his assessment of the 2016 presidential candidates and conventions at the Saturday annual meeting hosted by the League of Women Voters. Dion is chair of the department of law, politics and society at the University of Evansville. He will speak at 10 a.m. Saturday at the McCollough Branch Library, 5115 Washington Ave. Registration is free, and a light brunch begins at 9:40 a.m. State Representative Gail Riecken will be presented with the 2016 "Making Democracy Work Award" by the League of Women Voters of Southwestern Indiana (LWVSWIN) at the meeting as well. "As a state legislator, Evansville City Council Member, Director of Evansville Parks and Recreation, and a community activist, Gail Riecken has worked diligently and constantly to improve the quality of life for all citizens of Evansville and Southwestern Indiana," said Lezlie Simmons, vice president of the LWVSWIN, according to a news release. "We celebrate her achievements and thank her for her many years of public service, especially her actions to improve the health, education, and welfare of children." Past award recipients include Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush; Indiana State Senator Vaneta Becker; Jim Daniels, active with Sustainable Evansville; Former Indiana Representative Dennis Avery; Vanderburgh County Treasurer Susan Kirk, who was formerly county clerk; and Randall Shepherd, formerly chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. This annual meeting is free and open to the public. For information email slezlie@hotmail.com or call 812-437-9320. SHARE I came home disappointed, many years ago, from an elementary school field trip. We had gone to an international exposition, and we had been told we would see some Indians like in "Cowboys and Indians." That whole day I saw no one with red skin. You can laugh at my childish foolishness. I can, too. I was misled by television shows and comic books and by the grown-ups who were in charge of the world at the time. Now I am a grown-up, retired but still responsible for the words I use. As a reporter and editor, I came to know that words are powerful. They can instill fear or fervor. Bring pleasure or pain. Words can open an eager mind to truth. Or lead a person into error as simple as a child who expected to see people with bright red skin. As a child of loving parents, I can witness personally to the power of words. My mother would have been proud and happy to have me as the son who would be ordained a Catholic priest, but when I told her of my change in plans, her words gave me comfort, "I just want you to be happy." I know another parent who was upset with his youngest son and in his frustration told him one day, "You're never going to be worth (anything)." His comment, original vulgarity included, was devastating. As a husband and father, I know that words can hurt, and words can heal. Words can be careful or careless, intended or accidental, but always with an impact. As a Christian, I believe in the power of God's spoken word, that God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." All of creation was accomplished with a word: and so it happened, for the earth and the heavens and the animals on land and the birds in the air and for you and me. I believe the words of the Gospel writer John, that "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." I believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, the light, the word made flesh. Matthew's Gospel attributes to Jesus these words of warning, "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." My concern about the power of words comes from a war of terminology in society today. "Political correctness" is condemned by some who see careful word choices taken to extremes, as speakers and writers try to avoid words that exclude, marginalize or insult groups of people who may be socially disadvantaged or discriminated against. (I am thankful to Wikipedia for a good description of this term.) Following up on my concern for this polarizing phrase, I propose instead that we become "Scripturally Correct." In the words we choose to speak, we would respect all the children of God, the ones who believe as Christians do, the ones who seek a relationship with God along a different path, and even those who do not share such faith. Many faith traditions have sacred writings that speak of human equality in relationship to divinity. For me, the Bible is the word of God, and it guides my answer to this question: What would it mean to be "Scripturally Correct" in our discourse? We believers would acknowledge that all people have been created in the image and likeness of God, no matter what the color of their skin. Or their race or religion. Or their sexual identity. A traditional enemy, like a Samaritan, is nonetheless our "neighbor." The poor and the lowly, the hungry and thirsty, the sick and imprisoned and the stranger all of these are our brothers and sisters. Being "Scripturally Correct" would demand that we honor the dignity of our brothers and sisters who are socially disadvantaged, who have been discriminated against, who have been excluded, marginalized and insulted. We would understand the simple but sharply perceptive truth in Proverbs that "rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." We would confess that our society needs words not of hatred but of healing. And our words would reflect our beliefs. Paul Leingang is the former editor of The Message. SHARE Photos by MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS Visitors look over a 25-foot-long model of the USS Missouri. The ship is made from more than a half-million LEGO pieces. Austin Cox, 10, works on his own creation as he explores a LEGO demonstration of World War II events on display Friday at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science. MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS A detail shot from the USS Missouri showing the Japanese surrender. The Lego model is over 25' long with over a half million pieces and is part of a Lego demonstration of World War II events on display Friday at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science, June 17, 2016. MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS Wyett Hostettler, 8-years-old, (left) and Greg Gahr look over details on a 25' long Lego model of the USS Missouri. The battleship and others are part of a Lego demonstration of World War II events on display Friday at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science, June 17, 2016. By By: Andrew Vailliencourt, Andrew.vailliencourt@courierpress.com If you've ever wanted to see a 20-foot Lego version of a World War II ship, the Evansville Museum is giving you that chance. Working with Brickmania for the fourth consecutive year, the museum will have models of battles and ships from World War II on display in the upstairs gallery both Saturday and Sunday. The exhibit opened on Friday. Visitors can go between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday and 12-5 p.m. on Sunday. "It's great because a lot of times people will walk around and go 'where's the Lego exhibit,' and when you direct them here the immediate reaction tends to be 'oh wow!'" said Jacob McCalister, who's in charge of the museum's marketing and creative services. The museum saw the exhibit at another show and wanted to bring it to Evansville, so officials reached out to Brickmania owner Daniel Siskind. "At first they had us out in the transportation annex next door, and the place was packed," Siskind said. "There was a line around the block to get in, so they moved us up to the gallery and we've come every summer since." McCalister said about 20,000 people come to see the Lego exhibits over the course of three days. The star of the show is the USS Missouri, which appears to be about 20 feet in length. The ship took about a year to build with 40-hour workweeks, and still doesn't have its finishing touches, which Siskind said he expects to be done in the next few months. "The Missouri is the biggest," Siskind said. "That was also the hardest. Once it was started it was about four to five months of serious building. I couldn't do anything else until it was presentable. It was the most fun to do, but was really the most difficult because I just had to keep working on it." Siskind is one of three builders at Brickmania, which now has retail stores at various locations around the country. "I started off making my own custom Lego sets in my basement just for fun about 15 years ago," Siskind said. "I started making military tanks for fun, and people were asking me to recreate them and sell them." Brickmania travels around the country for museum displays, shows and conventions, so each battle and ship is made to travel. Each creation is designed by Brickmania, and all parts used are official Lego brand. Before Brickmania exploded, Siskind ran his own small business and was forced to choose. He said he chose to continue Brickmania because it was more fun to play and build with Legos. He said it's cool to see the reactions from visitors. "One of the things we provide is a conversation starter between generations about history, because there's very little being taught about 20th century history to kids in school these days," Siskind said. SHARE By Max Roll, C&P Digital Content Producer May 31-June 3 Summaries of Vanderburgh County Health Department's inspections are made public after restaurants and food stores have had 10 days to respond. Reinspections are at the inspector's discretion. Food Service Bandana's Bar-B-Q, 6636 Logan Drive, one noncritical violation: Grease accumulation around the outdoor grease bin. China Express, 1505 S. Governor St., four critical violations: Lacking ServSafe certified employee; refrigerated items lack date marking; refrigerated items not protected from cross contamination; items in refrigerator not covered; six noncritical violations: Prep table not working; cooktop around woks heavily soiled; facility in need of cleaning; storing personal use items throughout facility; using nonfood grade bags to store items in freezer; rice and dry goods lacking individual scoops with handles. Chino Taco Mobile Food Service, 12541 Kenai Drive, two noncritical violations: Rice in cooker stored on floor; nonfood grade bags used for food products. Dairy Queen, 5200 Division St., three noncritical violations: Seals in back walk-in freezer need to be repaired/replaced; hand sink in women's restroom not dispensing warm water; refuse area around main dumpster heavily soiled. Downtown Evansville Farmers, Second and Sycamore streets, inspected 27 temporary booths and five mobile units. Great Harvest Bread, 423 Metro Ave., one noncritical violation: No self-closer installed on bathroom doors. Hillcrest Home, 2700 W. Indiana St., no violations. Howard Johnson, 1101 N. Green River Road, one noncritical violation: Lacking thermometer for refrigeration unit. Jason's Deli, 943 N. Green River Road, one noncritical violation: Drying mops stored improperly (corrected). Just Rennie's, 100 SE Fourth St, no violations. Kona Ice of Evansville II, 13225 U.S. 41 North, no violations. The Lunch Box, 1617 S. Weinbach Ave., no violations. NOM Food Truck, 3714 Herrmann Road, two critical violations: Hand sink not working; refrigerator not maintaining 41 degrees or below; one noncritical violation: Ice for drinks melted, stored in water. Pizza Revolution Mobile Unit, 9901 Petersburg Road, no violations. Royal Suite, 4706 Morgan Ave., two noncritical violations: No threshold installed at kitchen backdoor; prep cooler not maintaining proper temperature. Spec 4, 121 Walnut St., one noncritical violation: Lower shelving of booth not a washable nonabsorbent surface. Stockwell Inn, 4001 E. Eichel Ave., one noncritical violation: Floor in walk-in needs repair. Subway, 1677 Lincoln Ave., one critical violation: Drink cups not covered in prep area (corrected). Zaxby's, 1021 N. Burkhardt Road, approved for operation. Food Stores Ruler Foods, 2040 E. Morgan Ave., no violations. Thorntons, 6300 Morgan Ave., two noncritical violations: Can drinks submerged in melted ice water; ice machine's inside guard soiled. Reinspections China Express, 1505 S. Governor St., items in refrigerator covered; cooktop cleaned; food grade bags used in freezer; using individual scoops with handles for dry products. Howard Johnson, 1101 N. Green River Road, corrected violation. The Rathbone, 1320 SE Second St., gaps sealed and filled throughout; cleaned under and around equipment. Shyler's Bar-B-Q, 5416 E. Indiana St., corrected all violations. Thai Papaya Cuisine, 1434 Tutor Lane, corrected all violations. Bars along Massachusetts Avenue are showing their support for the LGBT community by hanging rainbow flags in their windows. Chet Van Wye, general manager of Metro Nightclub, said he has been concerned about the safety of his patrons and staff since the shootings early Sunday in Orlando, Fla. (Photo: Kara Berg/IndyStar) SHARE By Crystal Duan, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network A crowd gathered on the statehouse lawn Saturday as the words, "Present colors!" rang out. Community members lined up holding six rainbow flags as a recording of Lady Gaga singing the national anthem played. People were gathered to stand in solidarity with victims of the Orlando shootings for the "Hoosiers Unite Against Hate" campaign put on by Freedom Indiana. People from organizations Indy Pride, LGBTQ organization Indiana Youth Group, and the Muslim Alliance of Indiana came forth to speak about their reactions to the tragic event. "We cannot let the hate of a single individual force us into silence," Jason Hinson-Nolen, president of Indy Pride said. "We are not going anywhere." Kris Posthuma, a manager at IYG, said that in the aftermath the organization tried to listen to young people's concerns. One said he was afraid he wouldn't be able to live up to his full potential, because he identified with the young victims of the Orlando massacre. Rima Khan-Shahid, executive director of Muslim Alliance of Indiana, affirmed the fear that the Muslim community lived in but encouraged groups that are hurting to validate one another. Ruth Hawkins was aware that the Orlando shooter targeted a gay bar, which had implications for Metro, the Indianapolis gay bar she manages. Hawkins has been associated with the business for the past 11 years. She said she knows her regular bar-tending duties but for tending a gay bar, it's much more complex. She, like other owners, knows they have a reputation for safety and giving an LGBTQ person a place for self-expression. The gunman's actions aimed to destroy that space, she said. "The gunman attacked someone's home," Hawkins addressed community members. "This could have happened at Metro. We assumed it would have never happened here." "It's time our state reps start taking this issue seriously," Evansville resident Shawna Fine said after the rally. Fine, a Democratic delegate was in town for the Indiana Democrats convention. Wearing an "Ally" button pinned to her blazer, she said she stopped by the rally because she "wanted to show her support" to Indianapolis residents. The best way to do that? "Register your voters to vote!" campaign organizer Katie Blair told the crowd, who cheered back. Listeners at the rally also held hands, while Hinson-Nolen said the weight of each person's individual hand connected everyone. "We are united not through hate, but through love," he said. Oils used in vaping devices, along with smokeless tobacco at the Rickers location at E. Hanna and S. East Streets, Indianapolis, Friday, June 17, 2016. (Photo: Robert Scheer/IndyStar) SHARE By Tony Cook and Sara Salinas, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network When Indiana passed new regulations for the liquid used in a smoking alternative known as vaping, Brett McCullough spent more than $70,000 to make sure his company, Hoosier E-Cig, Inc., would comply with the law. Now, hes out of luck. He says thats because his company and dozens of e-liquid producers are being shut out of Indiana by a controversial state law that effectively makes a small security firm in Lafayette the vaping industrys gatekeeper. The impact, however, would extend well beyond producers. Retailers who must now find new sources for their product say the few producers who have been approved are charging much more. Ultimately, it is consumers who will have to pay higher prices, they say. At issue are new regulations passed by state lawmakers in 2015 and revised earlier this year. The rules require any company that wants to produce e-liquid for sale in Indiana to be certified by a security firm by June 30. The catch: So far only one security firm in the entire country qualifies to perform the work under the law Lafayette-based Mulhaupts Inc. At this point, the company has approved only six producers, shutting out many existing competitors. The law was billed as an effort to establish safety regulations for what had been a largely unregulated vaping industry. The law outlines specific conditions for manufacturing that it occur in a clean room, for example as well as requiring child-proof caps, detailed bottle labels and traceable batch numbers.on the products. But now, critics are questioning why lawmakers would allow so few companies to dominate what had been a highly competitive market. The lawmakers most closely associated with the legislation did not return phone calls from IndyStar. One legislator, Rep. Kevin Mahan, issued a written statement, emphasizing his desire to provide safety for everyone in the supply chain, including consumers. Doug Mulhaupt defended his companys role in the process, saying he didnt know until very recently his security firm currently is the only one to meet all the requirements. The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission says a second security firm Security Specialists is under review for eligibility. "There are people in this industry that are upset about everything and my name got attached, and that's unfortunate," Mulhaupt said. "We're a privately run company, and we get to decide who we do business with." Mulhaupt said his company didnt lobby for the legislation. A primary force behind the legislation was Zak Laikin, the son of former Brightpoint CEO Bob Laikin. Zak Laikin and his Indiana Vapor Company hired a team of four high-powered lobbyists to advocate for the law. Indiana initially passed the law over 18 months ago. There has been ample time for anyone interested in the business to acquire any and all licenses, Laikin said in an email. Moving forward there are qualified companies ready and able to meet the needs of Indiana's market in a safe and secure way in accordance with the law. Laikin's Indiana Vapor company hasnt received a permit to produce, but his newly created Vapor Association of Indiana is representing the few companies that have been approved. Those companies will effectively dominate the industry because of another provision in the state law: No other companies can qualify to manufacture or sell e-liquid in Indiana if they havent been approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission by the June 30 deadline. "I've never quite seen anything like this," said Keith Broviak, director of marketing for Ricker's, a chain of 56 convenience stores that sells e-liquid and will now have few choices about where to get it. "No new businesses can ever come into play with this law because you can't get certified." ATC Chairman David Cook said in a statement that an application is pending for a seventh manufacturer. Security for that company would be provided by Security Specialists, if it is determined to be an eligible provider However, there are less than two weeks left for the security company to demonstrate that it meets the qualifications. Only after that could it accept vape manufacturing clients a scenario that critics find unlikely. Turned away Mulhaupts has certified six companies and says it doesnt plan to consider any others. Of those it has certified, at least two arent up and running yet. Meanwhile, well-established e-liquid producers say Mulhaupts is turning them away with little or no explanation. "We went through all the steps that we needed to be compliant with the law," McCullough said. "We did everything that the law requires, and then when we put in the application with the one security company, they said that they would not be our security company." Jeff Piper, sales manager for C.B. Distributors, Inc., an e-liquid distributor based in Beloit, Wisconsin, said he had a similar experience. "We started calling Mulhaupt's our supplier did back in March, and they have done nothing but put us off," Piper said. "I can tell you that my supplier offered them double their normal rates and they still refused to take us on as a client." Mulhaupt said roughly 30 e-liquid companies had contacted his firm. He said Mulhaupts reviewed about 14 applications and chose as many as was manageable to sustain. "We took the best six that we thought had the best chance of being successful under these new regulations. We turned some big guys down too," Mulhaupt said. "Size did not really matter to us. I don't get to decide the size of an industry." Mulhaupt said four of his six clients are currently in production or will be in production within the week. The other two are waiting to see how new regulations from the Food and Drug Administration will impact their businesses before fully investing. Those federal regulations, which don't take effect for two years, could have a chilling effect on the industry. The FDA has emphasized concerns about the increase in youths using e-cigarette products, and it fears that, for many, use of e-cigarettes eventually translates into traditional smoking. Mulhaupt said he knows people in the industry are upset about the state law, but that he was working under a deadline himself, with only 60 or so days to conduct background checks, credit checks and business plan evaluations for each applicant. He denied claims that Mulhaupt's left manufacturers without a response, saying the company issued letters with a specific date by which a company had to have their materials submitted to Mulhaupt's in order to be considered for a contract. "I'm not the one that decides who is in this industry or not. I decide who I want to do business with," he said. "We spent a long time deciding whether this was even a business we wanted to be in." Winners and losers The forced shake-up of the previously unregulated industry is causing headaches for stores that sell e-liquid. "It just kind of boggles my mind the way this has been set up," said Jay Ricker, owner of Ricker's Oil Company and Convenience Stores. "Basically the state has given their stewardship of making sure that we have the proper kind of products that we sell to the public, to another entity." Ricker's sells a unique brand of 317 e-liquid at its 56 locations across central Indiana. But the manufacturer who currently produces the liquid was not able to get certification from Mulhaupt's. Now, two of the licensed producers are seeking Rickers business. For Ricker's, e-liquid is just one product of many. But for companies specializing in e-liquid or independent vape shops, the complicated law and a deadline of June 30 mean massive industry changes and even an end to business. Im not against regulation. Im against my company getting put out of business by a monopoly, said Evan McMahon, owner of e-liquid manufacturer Liberation Vape and chairman of Hoosier Vapers, an industry and consumer advocacy group. Instead of the normal Hoosier values of people starting their business and succeeding on their own, the state has now allowed a third party to pick the winners and losers, McMahon said. And if youre not well connected, youre a loser. His group is now part of two lawsuits challenging the law. Vape users will also pay a price for the legislation, said Scot Imus, executive director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, which represents the majority of the states roughly 3,000 convenience stores. Its certainly going to impact supply and when that happens, cost is going to be exorbitant, he said. The handful of manufacturers who have been approved know they have a virtual monopoly throughout the state. I have not found one convenience store that is selling a product on the manufacturers list. Shrinking the field The lawmakers closest to this bill have been largely silent about its impact on the free market. Mahan, the Hartford City Republican who is listed as the author of the initial 2015 bill, declined an interview with IndyStar. Instead, his office sent the following statement: At the end of the day, safety is a huge factor when it comes to e-liquids. We want to make sure that everyone involved in the supply chain is safe, including the consumers, retail stores, manufacturers and their employees, Mahan said. I intend to continue to find ways to ensure e-liquids are a safe product for Hoosiers to use. Senate Public Policy Chairman Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican who championed the security requirements, also declined to return phone calls from IndyStar. He said earlier this year that there were other security firms that could meet the laws requirements. But as of Friday, just two weeks before the deadline, the ATC said they are aware of only one qualifying security firm Mulhaupts. At least one lawmaker has had a rocky relationship with the legislation. Republican Vaneta Becker of Evansville proposed a 2016 amendment to the bill that would loosen the requirements for qualifying security firms. Based on the original 2015 language, not a single security firm in the country qualified. I did it because I thought I was helping. Well, at least somebody will be able to meet this criteria, Becker said. Then the more I heard from people all over the state, it just didnt sit with me. Becker said she ultimately pushed to have her own language stripped when the amendment went to a vote, claiming it would create a monopoly by establishing Mulhaupts as the only qualifying security firm. I just felt like they were moving too quickly, and I guess I didnt know what was really behind it, Becker said. I just decided the more I heard about this and the more discussions I had, that I would rather nobody be eligible than to create a monopoly. Alting opposed stripping the language, Becker said, so the amendment stood. Sen. Phil Boots, R-Crawfordsville, who proposed an amendment to the bill, did not respond to requests for comment. Sen. Carlin Yoder, R-Middlebury, listed as a sponsor on the original 2015 bill, also could not be reached. Rep. Thomas Dermody, a LaPorte Republican listed as the author of this year's bill, declined to comment. What the future holds The fate of the industry is still unclear, with two pending lawsuits challenging the new law. McMahon, the law's leading opponent, is expecting a federal ruling at the end of June on the measure's constitutionality. He's also waiting on a state ruling on whether Indiana's law is preempted by new FDA regulations. A ruling in McMahon's favor could mean, at minimum, a delay in the law's implementation; a ruling in favor of the new law would bring a significant reduction in the roster of Indiana's vaping companies. ___ IndyStar reporters Chelsea Schneider and Shari Rudavsky contributed to this report. ___ What is vaping? Vaping is an alternative to smoking that involves loading an electronic vapor pen with flavored liquid containing any combination of vegetable product, water and nicotine. Though vaping mimics the act of smoking traditional cigarettes, proponents claim it's healthier and often bill the technology as a tool for smokers to quit using cigarettes. Approved manufacturers So far six vape producers have secured contracts with the only security company currently identified as meeting the necessary requirements and have been approved by the ATC to manufacture e-liquid in the state: Vapor Bank of Evansville Cloudtown of Cleves, Ohio DB Vapes of Indianapolis DNM Ventures of Fort Myers, Fla. Licenses E-Liquid Manufacturer of Fort Wayne VapeINg of Lafayette Scott Wise owns several restaurants in Indiana, including Scotty's Brewhouse and Thr3e Wise Men. (Photo: Rob Goebel/IndyStar 2011 file photo) By James Briggs,/ USA Today Netowrk/ The Indianapolis Star Scotty's Brewhouse has fired at least one member of management after a Southport waitress received an unwanted "award" for having the "best butt" on staff. Scotty's owner Scott Wise in a statement issued to IndyStar called Monday's incident at his Southport restaurant "unsanctioned and unapproved." Wise continued: "Our executive team, including myself, were completely unaware of it, we did not condone or sponsor this event. As a result, we took immediate action that included terminating management, and I have instructed our teams to immediately do additional sexual harassment training companywide, beyond the initial training process new managers go through already when they are hired." Wise did not elaborate on how many employees were fired over the incident. The restaurant chain's actions come after an unnamed waitress told WXIN-59 that she was given an award for having the "best butt" on staff. The gesture came as the waitress's co-workers received more typical awards such as "best bartender" and "best server." The waitress was asked to turn around in front of 50 people so those in attendance could take photos of her, according to Fox 59. The waitress told the television station she works at Scotty's, as well as another employer, so she can afford to attend college. She said she was offended by the incident. I have two jobs so I can make money and continue to go to school, and then get my degree and not work two jobs anymore," the waitress told Fox 59. Indianapolis-based Scotty's Brewhouse operates 15 restaurants in Indiana and has national expansion plans. Wise said he has addressed the incident with employees and wants to ensure nothing like it happens again. "We are an employee-first company, and I expect our employees to be treated fairly and with respect," he said. "We will continue to have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to these types of issues." --- Scottys Brewhouse owner: Evansville a likely expansion market 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. 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Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read. Borrow some creative writing techniques Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting. consider your own opinion Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others. Cut the waffle Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem. Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose. employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them. You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect. Avoid repetitive phrasing Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable. Use some figurative language Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know. As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy. Employ rhetorical questions Anticipate the questions your reader might ask. 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. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ANSONIA-The High School student whose words on the After School app shut down the citys public schools pleaded not guilty to criminal charges Friday in Derby Superior Court. GianCarlos Diaz, a 19-year-old senior at the time he posted a threat to shoot some bullies, will be back in court Aug. 5. Diaz pleaded not guilty to two threatening charges and a breach of peace charge. He is free on a $5,000 non-surety bond. The threat, as well as several others that were blocked from appearing on the App, forced Supt. of Schools Carol Merlone and Police Chief Kevin Hale to place the citys four schools on lockdown. As a result, no one was allowed to enter or leave the schools. One of the blocked posts read: Im tired of all these (expletive deleted) guys bullying me...tomorrow will be the last of all of you guys. Another claimed: Im shoot this (expletive deleted) up tomorrow watch. As a result schools were closed May 24. We take any threat to our students or staff as serious, Merlone said. The safety of our children and staff is paramount. Police began an intensive investigation that included Sgt. Patrick Lynch, Det. Gerald Tenney and Police Officers Michael Barry and Rick Esposito. They were able to trace some of the postings to a phone being used on Burke Street. The work performed by our police officers under the direction of Chief Hale was remarkable, Merlone said. On behalf of the Board of Education, and our students, faculty and staff we want to publicly say thank you to the Ansonia Police. In the affidavit that led to Diazs arrest, Barry said the defendant at first denied then later admitted to sending the posts. Barry, who is the High School resource officer also noted that Diaz said he had no intention of shooting inside the school and had no access to any guns. Still Merlone said it was important to wrap up the investigation before school ended so the community would be at rest and parents would feel safe with their children beginning a new school year. 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. 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. Public trust in politics has been declining for decades. All the statistics show this. Turnout at general elections has fallen. Membership of political parties has collapsed. The reputation of politicians themselves is at rock bottom. One of the main reasons for this was the convergence (until the Left-wing Corbynite capture of Labour) between the main parties. To many, there seemed no real difference whether on domestic or foreign policy between Tony Blairs Labour and David Camerons Tories. This aggregation of political opinion in the soggy centre ground sent a message to many that Westminster offered them nothing imaginative that could change lives for the better. Scroll down for videos On Thursday, campaigning for the referendum was stopped following the killing of Jo Cox MP, and rightly so The EU made the problem much worse. This is because the remorseless concentration of powers in Brussels has made British democracy increasingly meaningless. Thanks to the EU, British politicians are now powerless to deal with many of the most important issues affecting the lives of voters. For example, MPs could only watch impotently as our fishing industry was sabotaged. Similarly, European freedom of movement rules have meant that they have been unable to stop mass migration, which has had such a profound economic and social effect on so many communities in Britain. By neutering British politicians, the increasingly omnipotent EU has made them look like hypocrites. More worryingly, democracy itself has been brought into disrepute. Yet I believe the referendum campaign has been one of the great democratic events of Britains postwar history. Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed a popular insurrection against the smug, self-interested cross-party rule that has sucked the life out of British politics for the past quarter-century. Theres no denying that it has been a rancorous affair. Both sides have told lies and made terrible errors of taste and judgment. But ultimately these are just noise and froth. The EU referendum has offered the British people a real choice about their future. And they, in turn, have become passionately involved in the issues that have been raised. Then, on Thursday, campaigning was stopped following the killing of Jo Cox MP, and rightly so. In a tragically brief Westminster career, this remarkable, young and gifted politician had established a reputation for dedication and integrity. She represented the finest tradition of British politics as a public service a means to improve life for her constituents, her country and her world. Of course, we must not forget that two young children have lost their mother and a husband has lost his wife. It is awful that her noble commitment to public duty has been cut short in such an appalling way. It is essential that we learn the lessons from what happened. This will take time, and nobody could or should try to reach a conclusion until the killer comes to court. That is why, in this period of self-imposed political purdah, it is very disappointing that so many in the Remain campaign, especially those on the Left, have sought to exploit Jo Coxs death for their advantage. It is morally reprehensible that they think they know the motives of the alleged killer, who, by all accounts, has a long history of mental instability. To score cheap points against the Brexit campaign is a very ugly form of political opportunism. EU ARREST LAWS INSULT JUSTICE This week, I spoke at a press conference to publicise the plight of Alexander Adamescu, the London-resident son of a Romanian newspaper owner who is being pursued by his own government for what look like ugly political motives. He is accused, in what I believe are trumped-up charges, of bribing judges presiding over cases involving his familys firms. I fear he will not get a fair trial in Romania, where a notoriously corrupt government is intent on eliminating all domestic opposition and, in his case, getting its hands on his fathers assets. What is worse, as a result of EU rules, Britain has no choice but to hand Mr Adamescu over to the Romanian authorities as I witnessed on Monday. Using the controversial European Arrest Warrant (designed to speed up the extradition process for EU citizens who have fled one country and are wanted for criminal proceedings in another), a British police officer arrested Mr Adamescu two hours before our press conference was due to begin. I dont blame our police, who had no choice under European law. However, it is grotesque that the British system of justice is suborned to help a corrupt government persecute someone who stands a negligible chance of a fair trial when he gets home. The European Arrest Warrant system is a small but telling example of why British membership of the EU is not working properly. It wrongly assumes that the rule of law prevails in all 28 member countries which it most certainly does not. It is an unjust system and another reason why British people would be wise to vote Leave. Advertisement Equally, we must deny the killer any bitter and twisted sense of achievement from his act. That is why the referendum should go ahead and not be postponed, as some are urging. After a weekend of reflection and mourning, it is only right that the EU debate should resume. It must be conducted without scare-mongering or personal abuse. The nation should be free to listen to the closing arguments for and against remaining in the EU and then make the greatest decision it has faced since World War II. This is the correct way to proceed. Jo Cox believed profoundly in the power of democracy and in the ability of the peoples representatives, like her, to fight for the causes they believe in. In a tragically brief Westminster career, this remarkable, young and gifted politician had established a reputation for dedication and integrity The best way of honouring her is to continue that rigorous debate. That said, I believe it is appropriate to make one special gesture in her memory. Since there will now be a by-election in her constituency, all rival parties should agree not to field a candidate to run against Jo Coxs Labour successor. To their credit, the Conservatives have already accepted this. Then, all the major parties should donate the money they would have spent on campaigning in that by-election towards a fund established in her name. More importantly, they must not use the killing of this magnificent politician, wife and mother as a political weapon. British politics as Jo Coxs tragically short life has proved should be so much better than that. Osborne should shun this shameful bank What an unedifying sight it has been to watch the recent behaviour of the arrogant, unaccountable and elitist bosses at Goldman Sachs. For the worlds most famous investment bank, whose alumni include Bank of England governor Mark Carney and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, finds itself yet again at the centre of a series of scandals.First, it is accused in the High Court of cynical exploitation of the Libyan governments wealth funds, with one of its bankers said to have procured prostitutes. Meanwhile, beleaguered tycoon Sir Philip Green told MPs that he would never have sold BHS to three-times-bankrupt Dominic Chappell had he not been given the green light by Goldmans. Also, it should never be forgotten that the bank was inextricably linked to the corporate greed which led to the world financial crisis in 2008 and before that had aggravated matters by helping the Greek government to make its catastrophic decision to join the euro. Against this background, it was criminally irresponsible of George Osborne to hire Goldman Sachs to advise the Treasury to help on its privatisation of Royal Bank of Scotland shares. Jo Cox (pictured) was an exceptional woman, with a loving heart, who went into politics with the wholly selfless aims of serving the Yorkshire community On one point, everyone who came into contact with Jo Cox from every part of the political spectrum is unanimous. She was an exceptional woman, with a loving heart, who went into politics with the wholly selfless aims of serving the Yorkshire community in which she grew up and doing what she could to make this a kinder and better world. Rising from modest beginnings to her work for Oxfam and a seat in Parliament, she was a huge credit to her parents, teachers, family and country. More than anything, her murder on Thursday was an appalling waste and tragedy first and foremost for her two young children, her husband and those closest to her, but also for her constituents and the country to which she had so much to offer, in what promised to be a remarkable political career. A second point on which you would hope everyone would agree is that her killing was utterly senseless. Indeed, every indication so far suggests it was the work of a seriously disturbed loner, with a long history of mental problems, who was attracted to a neo-Nazi group in the US. You would also expect most reasonable people to agree that this apparently deranged act has no light to throw on the question voters will have to decide next Thursday. As Mrs Coxs Labour colleague and friend Rachel Reeves put it: We dont know what the motives were of the guy who attacked her yesterday. I dont think we should link the referendum to Jos death. Yet sickeningly, this hasnt stopped some in the Remain camp trying to make political capital from the murder by insidiously implying that Brexit campaigners bear a share of the responsibility for it. With what can only be described as moral imbecility, an editorial in yesterdays Guardian leapt from mourning Mrs Coxs death to castigating Brexit for highlighting public concerns about mass immigration. Meanwhile, the papers increasingly eccentric columnist Polly Toynbee blamed Leave campaigners for creating the ugly public mood in which the attack happened (as if Remainers have spread sweetness and light with their cries of racism and talk of genocide and world war). She even exploited Jo Coxs death to call for the sacking of Michael Gove, ludicrously comparing this very liberal Justice Secretary with Enoch Powell. Couldnt it equally be argued (and with similarly grotesque wrong-headedness) that the liberal Left has Mrs Coxs blood on its hands after decades of inflaming public frustration by suppressing debate on immigration something which has led to the emergence of ugly far-Right and far-Left groups across Europe. Some in the Remain camp are trying to make political capital from the murder by insidiously implying that Brexit campaigners bear a share of the responsibility for it. Ms Cox is pictured last month Others, too, have sought to score political points, with Labours Neil Coyle pinning the blame partly on dangerous material published by the Leave campaign, while EU commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos declares that the MP laid down her life because of her dedication to European democracy. But by attributing such weighty political meaning to her killing, dont they risk dignifying a brutally mindless act? Yes, there is something especially repugnant about the murder of an MP. But in this case, it seems almost trite and overblown to call it an offence against democracy, as many did yesterday. It will only become such an offence if the democratic process is suspended for too long, with the campaign put on hold because of this ghastly act. When Samantha Wills first started out, she was working full time in retail and making jewellery on her dining room table by night. Now she's been dubbed 'Australia's biggest export', has sales of $12 million, and celebrities like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Eva Mendez have been spotted wearing her designs. The 33-year-old now splits her time between Sydney and New York, where the Samantha Wills headquarters is now based. It's a far cry from where she first sold her wares, at a market stall at Bondi Markets. Humble start: Samantha Wills started her career making jewellery on her dining room table and selling it at Bondi Markets, and now is a global brand loved by celebrities The then-21 year old's big break came in 2004, when she was offered a spot at Australian Fashion Week to sell her designs. It cost her $500 and she just hoped to break even. 'I ended up writing $17,000 worth of orders in four days,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I quit my job the next day and put everything I had, financially and emotionally, into the business.' It was a gamble that certainly paid off, but not after a few years of serious struggling. Two years after her incredibly debut at fashion week Ms Wills was $80,000 in debt on her credit card and struggling to star afloat. Not a smooth road: Ms Wills quit her job to focus on her burgeoning business, but two years later was $80,000 in debt on her credit card It girl status achieved: Celebrities like Eva Mendez (above), Taylor Swift and Katy Perry have been spotted wearing Samantha Wills designs Those years taught her a lot, and now Ms Wills wants to help other inspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners so they don't make the same mistakes she did. She's working with Optus on their campaign #BelieveBig, aimed at small and medium business owners, hoping to inspire them. Her biggest advice to budding female entrepreneurs? Just do it. 'Anyone can be an entrepreneur,' she said. 'Its just about doing something. People talk about ideas a lot, but you have to start. With momentum comes momentum.' 'With momentum comes momentum': Ms Wills said that her biggest advice to potential entrepreneurs is to simply start Plenty of hurdles along the way: The 33-year-old says that she wants to show how difficult the path to success can be Personal business: The businesswoman wants to communicate with people that they shouldn't give up Momentum is certainly what she's had, but the businesswoman says that she wants to communicate how difficult it can be, and that people shouldn't give up. 'People see the glamour of having your own business,' Ms Wills said. 'But I want to use the platform I have to share the hurdles you face, and what you see in the lead up to success.' She admits it's still a rush when she sees someone wearing a piece of hers, whether they be a celebrity or a stranger in the street. My father was a gentleman. And a gentle man. He had lovely manners. I think thats why he was so popular. He was easy to be with and treated everybody well. Whatever the situation, my dad knew exactly how to behave. I wish there were more people like him in the world today. This morning, going off to work, filming for The One Show, I travelled across London by bus and Tube. Gyles Brandreth offers advice on the socially acceptable ways of greeting friends, strangers and royalty There was chaos at the bus stop because nobody queues properly any more. When the bus turned up, we didnt climb aboard one by one: we fought our way onto it. Once inside, I stood squeezed up against a lad wearing headphones leaking the nastiest music you can imagine and a woman who was still eating her breakfast with her mouth open. The driver shouted: Move down the bus but nobody did. As I got on the Tube, a tourist (without knowing it) bashed me with his backpack and, when I found a seat (and had cleared the rubbish off it), I discovered I was sitting next to a bloke who seemed to think he was a sumo wrestler. His knees were spread so wide, it was positively obscene. Two young men in quite nice suits were strap-hanging right in front of me. When one of them belched, I looked up in surprise. His friend stared at me and said: F*** off. When it comes to manners, is London worse than anywhere else? I travel the length and breadth of the British Isles and, sadly, I dont think it is. In recent weeks, I have seen young men with their feet on the seats on a train in Scotland; girls eating in the street in Swansea and dropping their chip paper on the pavement when theyd finished; and a huge man pushing a loaded supermarket trolley past an elderly lady in the doorway of Tesco in Tunbridge Wells, swearing at her for being in his way (yes! In Tunbridge Wells!). Gyles Brandreth claims that travelling by train is a great way of witnessing bad manners I dont believe I heard my father swear once in all the time I knew him. He was in the Army for six years and was no prude, but if he sometimes said blast! he never said bloody. My dad was born in 1910, so his manners were very old-fashioned. He would stand up automatically if a lady came into the room. In the street, he would stop and raise his hat if a hearse drove by. Any door he came to, he would always hold open to let others pass through first. He died in 1981. Perhaps thats just as well. He would have been totally lost in the modern world. I think a lot of people are. Of course, some folk behave appallingly simply because they are rude and selfish. They do as they please and dont give a damn. Others behave badly because they know no better. No one has taught them their manners and, consequently they dont know the rules, or why those rules are important. Thats where I come in. Thats what Brandreths Modern Manners is all about. This is my guide to 21st-century best behaviour. Its not about being posh, its about being polite. Its not about being correct, its about being considerate. And, most definitely, its not about the past, its about the future. Unless we get to grips with how we behave to one another, the world we live in will become increasingly sordid and uncivilised and the bad manners we see around us all of the time will be no more than a taste of grimmer and grimier things to come. From the way to behave on public transport to how to handle the office party, from saying hello to saying goodbye, from eating in to eating out, from dating to divorce and from texting to sexting, modern manners are a minefield and I am here to help you cross it. I will even tell you what to do when you meet the Queen. When in doubt, give me a shout and Ill sort you out sharing the Old Rules with you, where they still apply and have something to offer, and giving you the New Rules so that, from now on, whatever the situation, you will know where you are, what to do and what not to do. Before we start, lets begin by tackling the fundamental question: do manners really matter? The answer is: yes. According to Gyles, when meeting the Queen, pictured, the old rules of good manners particularly apply I went to New College at Oxford University. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1379 and, famously, his motto was manners maketh man. What he meant was that the way you behave shows your character. Your manners reveal the person that you are. Are you kind, courteous and considerate? Or are you selfish, thoughtless and rude? In the age of the selfie, good manners are about selflessness. They are about your behaviour in relation to other people. Good manners are about always making the other person feel comfortable. When a guest at Glamis Castle knocked over a near-priceless piece of Meissen china, the late Queen Mother (known for her perfect manners) said, without a moments hesitation: Dont worry a bit. It was terribly old. A lot of people confuse manners with etiquette. Dont. Etiquette is the current code of behaviour within a certain circle. It reflects the fashion of the day and the rules of etiquette are forever changing. (Ill help you out with the trickier ones. Port is always passed to the left. Asparagus is always eaten with your fingers. Milk gets poured into the cup after the tea, unless the cup is made of such delicate porcelain that it might crack if the boiling tea is poured in first. And theres no need to stick out your little finger when youre holding a teacup. It just looks ridiculous.) Etiquette is useful to know as, on the whole, its easier to live life by the rules. As the saying goes: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. But etiquette is essentially superficial. Manners are what matter. Manners are fundamental. So lets begin at the beginning with basic communication. Greeting strangers It beggars belief, but officials are currently investing 35,000 of taxpayers money on a campaign to teach ramblers and dog-walkers on the South Downs to greet each other with a cheery Have a good day! or Hi there! The idea is to increase friendliness on footpaths and reduce the risk of confrontation on the hills and tracks and bridleways across three English counties, from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in East Sussex. Apparently, when out for a country walk these days, not everyone knows what they should and shouldnt do. For a good deal less than 35,000, allow me to tell you exactly what you should do. In the country: When passing a stranger on a walk, you always greet them. You look them in the eye, you smile, you nod, you speak. In the morning, you say hello or good morning. In the afternoon, you say hello or good afternoon. Greeting strangers in the street will lead at best to peculiar looks, and at worst to possible arrest In the evening, you simply say good evening. (From dusk onwards, you never say hello. As the sky darkens, your polite overture could be misinterpreted.) You can add lovely day, isnt it? if it is (or, in fact, even if it isnt), but anything more is too much. If you are a man and Old School, as you speak your greeting, with your right hand you touch the peak of your cap even if youre not wearing one. In the country, keep your dog under control at all times, especially in the vicinity of other dogs. Close every gate carefully behind you and go around the edge of fields, not across them. In town: You only greet people if you know them. Saying hello to strangers in the street will lead at best to peculiar looks, and at worst to possible arrest. In shops, in both town and country, it is acceptable to say hello to a fellow shopper, especially if you are standing side by side in a queue, but good manners dont require it. Indeed, the essence of good manners is understanding instinctively what will or wont make another person feel uncomfortable and responding accordingly. Meeting people When you meet someone for the first time, look them in the eye, say hello, how are you? or good to meet you and shake their hand firmly, but not with a bone-crushing vice-like grip. (We all know big, boorish, bullying blokes who do that. Their handshake is an ill-mannered sign of insecurity.) Say your name clearly and, if the person you are meeting does not give you theirs, and you dont know it, ask for it. Never kiss or hug anyone on first encounter. Don't use a bone-crushing vice-like grip when meeting someone - it is a sign of insecurity Members of Parliament, rather intriguingly, never shake hands with one another, regardless of political party. The origin of the handshake lies in medieval times. It was invented to show that you came in peace, without a weapon concealed in your hand. In the House of Commons, where all are considered honourable members, they have no need to prove the point so, by custom long-established, MPs never shake hands. (Stick with me. I know stuff.) Communication Making conversation: What does making conversation have to do with good manners? Its just talking, isnt it? Well, not quite. Conversation is the foundation of all communication. How you speak to someone establishes your relationship with them. Look them in the eye (not all the time: dont be a weirdo), use their name, speak clearly so they can hear you and let them get a word in edgeways. (Thats the rule my wife keeps telling me I seem to forget.) Oscar Wilde, the Victorian playwright and wit, was a noted conversationalist. A fellow Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, said Wilde was the greatest talker of his time, perhaps of all time. In fact, Wilde was a great listener, as well as a great talker. Another contemporary, Arthur Conan Doyle, said Wilde took as well as gave. Wilde himself said: With conversation, talking is the craft, listening is the art. So when it comes to conversation, it is good manners to ask interesting questions and listen to the answers. The Queen, aged 90, worries that youngsters nowadays dont learn how to make conversation because families dont sit around a table at mealtimes any more. People eat while watching TV and kids are getting up and down all the time to help themselves to food. There is no time to talk. The Queen, of course, is very experienced at talking to strangers. On a walkabout, she gets the ball rolling by asking: Have you come far? At lunch or dinner, she takes care to talk to whoever is sitting on either side of her and gives them equal time, by talking to the person on her right for the first course and the person on her left for the second, and so on. Prince Philip, right, once offered Gyles Brandreth invaluable advice on greeting people you have met before I was once chairman of one of the Duke of Edinburghs favourite charities and, when I became an MP, Prince Philip gave me useful advice. He said: You will meet a lot of people and some of them you will have met before, but you wont remember. Start the conversation by asking: Whats keeping you busy nowadays? By putting in the word nowadays, they will think you remember them from last time even if you dont. Now and again, the Duke of Edinburgh has been known to swear in public. Its understandable. He is 95, he served in the Royal Navy and has had to put up with a lot over the years. Even so, as a rule, using bad language is bad manners. Anything that runs the risk of making other people feel uncomfortable is best avoided. I am often on the bus and hear people using foul language at the top of their voices. I dont like it. Its cheap and nasty and, for some people, quite upsetting. Once upon a time, the occasional well-placed expletive could have a dramatic effect. Now, four-letter words are scattered about as liberally as discarded chip papers to much the same effect. Behaving well isnt always easy, of course. It calls for self-control and that can be a challenge. There was a young lady of Tottenham Whod no manners or else shed forgotten em. At tea at the vicars She tore off her knickers Because, she explained, she felt ot in em. Mobile phones Before text and email, for instant communication, people used the telephone. Older people still do. The old rule was that you never telephoned anyone before 8.30am or after 7.30pm unless it was an emergency. And you never called anyone at all, whatever the circumstances, during The Archers. Nowadays, it seems people use the telephone at any time of day or night and make long, rambling calls in public places, mostly about their private lives and usually at the top of their voices. This is bad manners because it is thoughtless, intrusive and boring. As a rule, when using your mobile phone, make sure you cant be overheard. And never answer it when you are with other people, unless you have warned them in advance that you are expecting a specific call. If you are going to a meeting or sharing a meal with others, turn off your phone. Nowadays, it seems people use the telephone at any time of day or night - and make long, rambling calls in public places, mostly about their private lives and usually at the top of their voices - which is bad manners Remember the cautionary tale of the Cabinet minister whose mobile phone started ringing during a meeting of the Privy Council at Buckingham Palace. Said the Queen, sweetly: Youd better answer that. It might be someone important. It is bad manners, too, to text in company. Did you see Princess Beatrice at the Windsor Horse Show celebrating The Queens 90th birthday? She was sitting right behind Her Majesty with her eyes fixed on her phone. And the princess isnt alone. At formal dinners nowadays, I frequently see an entire round table of young people dining together and not talking to one another. Instead, they are all sitting with heads bowed and eyes glued to their iPhones, sending texts, checking e-mails and even playing games. In company, you have to do your best to be good company and that means keeping your phone in your handbag or pocket. The time to text is when you are on your own and not at the wheel of a car. And, preferably, text when sober and check the message before you press send. (Yes, I am the man who texted his wife to say: I have just laid the au pair. It should, of course, have read paid.) And I have followed up the story of the husband from Baltimore, Maryland, who received a text from his neighbour apologising for taking advantage of his wife over a period of many months, mostly in the mornings when the husband had just gone off to work and begging forgiveness for his bad behaviour. It seems the story is true. It led to the husband murdering the wife before discovering that his neighbours predictive text had changed wi-fi into wife in the original message. Always sign your text unless you know that the intended recipient has your name and number logged in their iPhone. If you receive an unsigned message and dont know from whom it comes, reply immediately: Whos this? Once upon a time, a sext was a Christian ritual. Truly. It was part of the divine office chanted in church daily at noon. Not any more. A sext, these days, is a sexually explicit photograph or message sent by text. Apparently, millions of these are exchanged every day and there are scores of apps available to assist you in your sexting endeavours. Some of these apps are designed to ensure that your sexts are deleted within seconds of being viewed. That is the promise. But I wouldnt be so sure. If in doubt, dont take random snaps of your private parts and send them whizzing through the air you know not where. Even if they end up on the intended phone, the message may not necessarily be opened by the intended recipient. Sexting is fraught with danger. Call me old-fashioned, but I still reckon intimate moments are best kept out of the public arena. As the great Edwardian actress Mrs Patrick Campbell liked to say: I dont mind what people do in the bedroom, so long as they dont do it in the street and frighten the horses. When it comes to emailing, the essential rule is: keep it brief. Hi, Hello or the recipients name on its own are the acceptable greeting at the start of an email and you can sign off with Best or just your name. To be concise, almost curt, in an email is not considered rude. Brevity is what an email is about and, furthermore, research suggests that people do not read more than their eyes can see on the screen at any one time, so writing a long email that requires scrolling up and down is a mistake. One idea/point/message per email is a good rule. Talking of emails, theres also the question of when, if ever, they should be used to send invitations. Its a subject I will turn to in Mondays Mail, when Ill give you all the advice you need on parties and entertaining. On how to be a heavenly host or a heavenly house guest. Partying can be stressful, but dont worry. Brandreths Modern manners will get you through. Everything about this feels wrong. Ive removed the lid from a near-empty ketchup bottle, placed it in a flimsy plastic sling and am now hurling it around like a lasso, to the horror of my children. No, I have not gone mad, nor am I attempting an abstract art project. Im testing the prototype for a gadget that could revolutionise British family life. This week, inventor Richard Fereday unveiled his Flying Saucer, a contraption that promises to extract those last dregs of ketchup from the bottom of the bottle. The gadget comes in two parts a plastic funnel with a cap attached (basically the end of a plastic bottle) and a cone-shaped PVC sling. First, you remove the lid and insert the bottle top-down into the funnel. For years, I have tried to master the art of draining the bottom of the ketchup bottle it typically ends in disaster or disappointment. Either red sauce splatters across the table, or nothing emerges except a rude squirty noise. Step two is slotting the bottle, nestled in the funnel, into the tip of the sling. Step three, you pick up the sling by its strings and begin swinging it around in circles. After doing this for at least ten seconds, you should be ready for step four remove the bottle from the sling and collect the sauce in the funnel. Step five, unscrew the funnels cap and dollop the ketchup onto your plate. But does this technique really work? For years, I have tried to master the art of draining the bottom of the ketchup bottle it typically ends in disaster or disappointment. Either red sauce splatters across the table, or nothing emerges except a rude squirty noise. Worst of all, if you use a squeezy bottle, a light spray is produced which, while never sufficient to coat a fish finger, is enough to ruin a white school shirt. Richard, 54, from Highcliffe, Dorset, was also perplexed by this ordeal. Five years ago, when sitting around the table with his wife, Jane, 50, and their three children, he had his lightbulb moment. We couldnt get the dregs out, he says. I realised spinning the bottle around would force the ketchup into the lid using centrifugal force. His teenagers rolled their eyes, but their disdain soon turned to respect when their father spun the bottle like a windmill and did, indeed, force the sauce into the lid and, ultimately, onto their chips. (Left) Hold the strings and swing the gadget around for at least ten seconds and then (right) remove the bottle from the sling and collect the sauce in the funnel Richard has been an inventor since leaving school at 16 and going to art college. A hinge he developed 11 years ago, which can be fitted using just a drill rather than a hammer and chisel, won a regional competition and a prize of 2,000. Another invention, the genius understairs drawer, concealed a storage space under the stairs into which you can put your shoes. As for ketchup dregs, Richard knew simply spinning your arm wasnt a sellable concept, so worked in his shed for months to develop a device to facilitate the action. The Flying Saucer looks like something you might knock up on Blue Peter, but I am assured that swinging it in a windmill fashion forces the ketchup into the funnel. Still wary, I asked Professor Kevin Warwick, deputy vice-chancellor at Coventry University, for a scientific explanation before daring to try it. Imagine a bucket of water, he says. You can swing it upside down and over your head without it spilling on you this is because the centrifugal force is pushing the water to the furthest point. Heinz Ketchup has been around for 140 years, initially sold in glass bottles. In 1983, its plastic squeezy bottles arrived and sales rose by 3.7 per cent in a year. Then, in 2002, came the upside-down bottle. Today, more than 650 million bottles of Heinz are sold every year in more than 140 countries. This week, inventor Richard Fereday unveiled his Flying Saucer, a contraption that promises to extract those last dregs of ketchup from the bottom of the bottle Professor Warwick points out: Those glass bottles are appallingly designed. You try to get the ketchup out with a knife and it wont come out. Every time you buy a bottle, you effectively lose money. In fact, its estimated that, globally, more than 1 million tonnes of condiments are thrown away every year because the dregs cannot be accessed. If Feredays invention is a success, he could make a fortune. While he and Jane have been using the Flying Saucer for years, he only decided to develop it further five months ago. We started a new lifestyle of getting up at 5.15am, exercising and writing before breakfast, he says. As part of this regime, they started to think about marketing through the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, and are now raising the money to develop it into a commercially available product, priced 15. And the invention is not just useful for ketchup. It works on Marmite and face cream, but Richard warns: Dont use it on enormous bottles. Last week, he tried it with a large bottle of Persil. It was just too big for the catcher to hold and now there are stains on the ceiling. Anything else to worry about? You need plenty of space. Get the cat and children out of the way. And so the time has come for me to put the Flying Saucer to the test. I move the cat, the dog and the children out of the way and, with trepidation, prepare the device. The glass bottle feels unstable so, for my first attempt, I go outside. It will hold firm as soon as you start moving, advises Richard. At first, I struggle, getting the string caught around my fingers. But then I get into the motion, and successfully swing the gadget around for ten seconds. I feel a bit like a cowgirl! The tricky part is getting the funnel out of the bottle afterwards. It feels a little stuck. I look at the result in dismay: there is still ketchup in the bottle, though it has collected around the neck. But then, the magic happens. With one shake, the bottle comes loose and all the remaining ketchup falls into the funnel from which I pour it on my chips. And just like that, a conundrum that has vexed generations has finally been solved. Advertisement She's developing a reputation as a bit of a handful and Mia Tindall was up to her usual mischief at a charity polo event where she was entertained by Prince Harry - and even had a go at playing the game herself. The two-year-old toddler had fun playing with a polo mallet with a young friend - but the little rascal couldn't help but throw a bit of a wobbler when her mum, Zara Phillips, asked her to stop. Little Mia certainly has sportiness in her genes - her mother is an equestrian Olympic medal winner, while her father Mike Tindall has represented his country in Rugby Union. A chip off the old royal block! Mia Tindall looked adorable today as she played with a polo mallet at Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire Little rascal: The two-year-old showed that she may well be following in her mother and grandmother's footsteps as she played with the polo mallet with a friend Cutie! Mia waved the polo mallet in the air (left) before picking up a ball to play with (right) as she showed off her polo prowess to her mother Sporty girl! The sweet toddler looked delighted to have her go at her own version of polo as her doting mother Zara Phillips looked on With a little help from Mum: Zara helped Mia learn how to swing and aim the polo mallet, and the little girl was the picture of concentration The young royal seemed a bit hesitant when confronted with a horse, left, but she was soon eager to escape her mother's clutches and cause some mischief again, right Playtime! Mia and her young friend played happily together on the grass while her mother watched her cousin Prince William play polo Working out tactics: Mia looked to be carefully considering which way to hit the ball as she played with the polo mallet Tantrum! But all was not well with Mia when her mum Zara ended the game, and she promptly burst into floods of tears Oh dear! It wasn't all fun and games as Mia later kicked up a fuss, but mum Zara took it all in good humour Mischief: The determined toddler appeared to be shouting and trying to escape her mother's clutches before she was caught Handful: The wrestle continued as stubborn Mia refused to obey her mother and tried to escape her clutches Zara waits at the bottom of the hill as her energetic daughter gives her the runaround Mia looked delighted as she ate an ice cream from a cone and sipped from a water bottle as she sat beside her mother on the grass And it seems the adorable little girl is a chip off the royal block, as she experimented with swinging the polo mallet along with her friend. Mia has already begun horse-riding at the tender age of two, and judging by today, she may well follow in the footsteps of her equestrian-mad mother and grandmother before too long. Earlier in the day, Mia had enjoyed playing with her cousin Prince Harry, who clearly dotes on the little girl. The toddler was embraced by Harry who was watching his brother Prince William play at the Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire. Loving: She's developing a reputation as a bit of a handful and Mia Tindall was up to her usual mischief at a charity polo event where she was entertained by Prince Harry Joyful: The tot laughed hysterically and writhed in Zara's arms as Harry tickled her and blew raspberries on her cheek Happy families: Both Prince Harry and Prince William are known to be close to Zara Phillips and her family, and it was clear that Harry and Mia were delighted to spend time together today Cuddles with Uncle Harry: Mia looked thrilled to bits to be tickled by the prince, who clearly adored spending time with his little cousin Always the joker: Prince Harry giggled as he tickled little Mia, while she sat contentedly in her mother's arms Prince Harry was seen chatting to his cousin Zara Philips and her two-year-old daughter Mia as she hit a polo ball across the grass with a friend What's he said now? One of Prince Harry's friends gives him a playful kick after he made a wisecrack, while his cousin placed an affectionate hand on his back Zara tended to Mia as she played while Prince Harry watched on at the at the Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire The jovial Prince cut a relaxed figure in navy chinos, brown suede lace ups and a thick black fleece while Zara chatted to a female friend as little Mia player on the grass Spinning around! Zara whirled her adorable toddler around in the air, much to little Mia's delight The pair are seen laughing as Mia gives her mother Zara the run around at the event at Beaufort Polo Club The jovial prince, who cut a relaxed figure in navy chinos, brown suede lace ups and a thick black fleece, blew raspberries on the toddler's face, making her wriggle with delight in Zara's arms. But is wasn't all fun and games as Mia later kicked up a fuss, perhaps because she didn't want Prince Harry to leave. The determined toddler appeared to be shouting and trying to escape her mother's clutches before she was caught. Zara, who also looked casual in jeans and a grey striped long-sleeved top paired with a navy cap and brown shades, smiled as she hoisted playful Mia into her arms. The two-year-old first caught the nation's attention when she stole the show in the Queen's birthday portrait. Oh no! At one point, playful Mia seemed determined to escape her mother and even tried to sit down on the grass in protest Caught: Zara, who looked casual in jeans and a grey striped long-sleeved top paired with a navy cap and brown shades, smiled as she hoisted playful Mia into her arms My girl! Zara looked as proud as punch of her cute daughter as she whirled her around at the polo grounds A kiss from Uncle William: After the match, Prince William came to greet Zara and little Mia, and he planted a kiss on the adorable toddler's cheek She proudly clutched the handles of her great grandmother's 1,020 Launer handbag in a moment, according to a royal source, that was totally unscripted. And last year, the adorable toddler had a similar tantrum when she ran riot during a family trip at Gatcombe Park for the Festival of British Eventing. Seemingly determined to have her own fun, the curious tot was seen wandering around the Gloucestershire course towards an electric generator, where she began fiddling with the plug sockets before being rescued by her mother. Earlier in the afternoon, Prince William was seen arriving in an all-blue chinos, shirt and jumper combination, before changing into his sportsgear He emerges ready for action for the prestigious festival in Gloucestershire The Gloucestershire Festival of Polo this weekend hosts matches to raise money for England & Wales Mountain Rescue and the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust whose patron is The Duke of Cambridge (pictured) Spectators can enjoy the show for 15 but a ticket allowing access to the VIP gazebo costs 310 The Duke of Cambridge looked physically fit as he rode around the pitch on his white horse Earlier in the afternoon, Prince William was seen arriving in an all-blue chinos, shirt and jumper combination, before changing into his sportsgear. The Gloucestershire Festival of Polo this weekend hosts matches to raise money for England & Wales Mountain Rescue and the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust whose patron is The Duke of Cambridge. Spectators can enjoy the show for 15 but a ticket allowing access to the VIP gazebo costs 310. Arrival: Prince Harry looked relaxed when he arrived for the two-day polo event on Saturday morning and later was seen deep in conversation with his brother William Caught his eye! The Prince was spotted smiling at a pretty mystery blonde as she walked by Who's that girl? The flirtatious Prince was caught clocking the pretty blonde as she walked by Cold nose? The royal chatted to friends by the VIP Gazebo but appeared to get a chilly nose in the changeable June weather Prince William emerges from the marquee clutching his helmet accompanied by Harry Charley Law, George Meyrick and the Duke of Cambridge (pictured from left) pose for photographs at the Maserati Royal Charity Polo Trophy event at Beaufort Polo Club Duke of Cambridge and Peter Denton take part in the presentation at the Maserati Royal Charity Polo Trophy Now married to rugby star Mike Tindall, Olympic sliver medalist and eldest granddaughter of the Queen Zara, 34, has seen her equestrian career go from strength-to-strength although she didn't take part in the polo today. She gave birth to Mia - the Queens fourth great-grandchild - in January 17 2014 at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. Mia Grace does not hold any royal or aristocratic title, just like her brother Peter. As when Zara herself was born, Mias name was a break from tradition as it had no precedent in the royal family. A Kensington Palace spokesman declined to comment. Women are having babies in hospital lifts, corridors, car parks and toilets amid a desperate shortage of midwives and beds, a Daily Mail investigation has found. Hundreds of others are being turned away from over-stretched maternity units altogether and forced to travel as far as 70 miles away to give birth. The alarming incidents are further evidence that hospitals are struggling under the pressures of growing numbers of older and obese mothers prone to complications, and rising birthrates. Women are having babies in hospital lifts, corridors, car parks and toilets amid a desperate shortage of midwives and beds. Zeenat Patel asked a hospital to admit her three times in one afternoon in July 2014 One woman at Southampton General Hospital gave birth in a stairwell, and at least four other hospitals admitted babies had been delivered in lifts. Five other NHS trusts said women had given birth in corridors, 20 in car parks and 36 in A&E. Hundreds of women were sent to other hospitals including one who was diverted from Countess of Chester Hospital to Glan Cwyd Hospital in North Wales, 33 miles away. In the worst case a woman was made to travel an hour and a half across 70 miles from Peterborough to Lincoln. Figures unearthed using freedom of information laws, which a Daily Mail campaign earlier this year helped to protect, show that since 2014 at least 3,166 women have had to give birth outside a maternity ward. Although some of these labours would have come on suddenly, leaving little time to find a maternity bed, experts say women are being discouraged from coming in until the very last minute in order to relieve pressure on units. Midwives at over-stretched maternity units are telling anxious women ringing up that they are still a long way off from the birth so by the time they arrive it is too late. File photo Midwives at over-stretched maternity units are telling anxious women ringing up that they are still a long way off from the birth so by the time they arrive it is too late. Labour health spokesman Justin Madders said: These are very worrying figures that highlight the huge amount of pressure maternity services are under. Having a child can be an incredibly special but also worrying time for expectant mothers and their families. It is therefore concerning if women are being told not to arrive at hospital until the very last moments of labour. Louise Silverton, director for midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives, said the Mails findings reflect a serious, underlying problem around capacity and staffing levels that needs urgent attention. Dr David Richmond, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: It is disappointing that some women across the country are not receiving the care they deserve. The UK is a safe place for women to give birth, however, pressure on maternity services is growing and stretched and understaffed services affect the care provided to both mothers and babies. COME BACK LATER, HOSPITAL SAID A woman in labour was turned away from a busy maternity ward and gave birth in her mothers living room 40 minutes later. Zeenat Patel, 28, asked Royal Bolton Hospital to admit her on three occasions in one afternoon in July 2014 when she was in pain with contractions every two minutes. After the final time, when she was told to come back when contractions became more frequent, Miss Patel returned to her mothers house. Around ten minutes later she gave birth to daughter Liyana. Yesterday she said women are being left traumatised by busy midwives reading from the books instead of listening to women. She added: It was my second baby so it was ridiculous that they wouldnt listen to me. Advertisement The figures show there were 163 births in ambulances and 798 in transit to hospitals, 88 in A&E departments and 90 delivered on other wards, including a minor injuries unit and a childrens ward. Some 1,243 births were recorded in unspecified areas including lifts, corridors, toilets, reception areas and a stairwell, while at least 85 women had to give birth in a car park or in their car and 381 endured unplanned homebirths. A total of 83 of the 93 NHS Trusts offering maternity services provided figures, so the total is likely to be even higher. In total there have been at least 430 closures of maternity wards in the last three years, resulting in at least 865 women being sent to another hospital. The total number of women turned away rose 35 per cent last year to at least 407, compared with 301 in 2014. Just over 695,000 babies were born in England in 2014 almost a fifth higher than a decade ago. The Royal College of Midwives has issued repeated warnings over the combined pressures of immigration and rising numbers of older and more obese mothers. It claims the NHS needs an extra 2,500 midwives on top of the 26,400 to deal with the extra pressures. NHS England said: Ensuring women have access to safe, personalised maternity services seven days a week is a clear priority in Better Births, the recently published major review of maternity services led by Baroness Julia Cumberlege. Clinging to his fluffy toy for comfort, this terminally ill baby is at the centre of a legal battle between his parents and the doctors who want to switch off his life-support machine. Frank Musselwhite, 39, and his partner Danielle Manuel, 22, were devastated when their son Rimari was diagnosed with a serious genetic condition soon after he was born in April. Doctors said he had severe spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a condition caused by deterioration in the nerve cells connecting the brain and spinal cord to the bodys muscles. Baby Rimari has severe spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which has left him unable to t breathe or swallow unaided and his parents say they were told he is unlikely to see his first birthday Frank Musselwhite, 39, and his partner Danielle Manuel, 22, were shocked however when doctors at Northampton General Hospital applied to the High Court this week to switch off Rimaris life-support machine Rimari cannot breathe or swallow unaided and his parents say they were told he is unlikely to see his first birthday. He had to be resuscitated after a difficult birth and was put into a medically induced coma for 72 hours. He now needs a ventilator to keep him alive. But Mr Musselwhite said he and Miss Manuel were shocked when doctors at Northampton General Hospital applied to the High Court this week to switch off Rimaris life-support machine and withdraw treatment. The couple say they were not consulted about the decision, and deny their son has no quality of life. They claim he recognises their voices and deserves to be given care. Our solicitor said the court case may take up to 12 months and in that time it could all be too late, Mr Musselwhite said. We know we havent got long with him, but now that small time will be spent battling in the courts rather than with our son. We dont have much money and feel powerless to stop this. The couple say conflicting predictions about their sons prognosis have added to their distress. Mr Musselwhite, a full-time carer, said: We were devastated when the doctors told us about his condition. They put him into a medically induced coma and put him on seven different medications. We were first told they could give Rimari a tracheostomy (an opening in the neck to help breathing) so that he could live until adulthood, but then they said that, after discussions, this would no longer be an option. The couple say they were not consulted about the decision, and deny their son has no quality of life They also say conflicting predictions about their sons prognosis have added to their distress He added: They told us the social services disability continuing care team would be able to fund 24-hour care and a life-support machine at home. Then they changed their minds and wouldnt let the team assess him and gave no reason why. Now theyve said he will never leave hospital and he has been given between eight and ten months to live. He claimed: We asked for a second opinion, but then we suddenly got handed court papers on Monday. The papers said they had applied to the High Court to have his life-support machine turned off, and for permission to withhold care while proceedings are ongoing. We couldnt believe it. We hadnt been consulted about it. Miss Manuel, a trainee hairdresser, said she believed doctors had given up on their two-month-old son. Its heart-breaking, she added. He is the most amazing little boy. He listens to every word I say and although he cant make a sound he says so much just with his face. He is fighting for his life, so we have to fight for him. Miss Maneul said her son was the most amazing little boy' who 'is fighting for his life', and so do they The couple have said they don't want to spend what time they have with their son fighting the hospital but cannot give up on him The couple, from Northampton, are trying to raise 5,000 for legal fees to fight the withdrawal of care. Northampton General Hospital admitted it was a desperately sad and difficult situation, adding: The best interests of the child are at the centre of every decision we make regarding his care. Aladdin Prince Edward Theatre, London Until February 11, 2017 2hrs 30mins Rating: Proof, if ever it were needed, that nothing succeeds like excess. Aladdin, the latest musical adaptation of an animated Disney movie, is a bloated, blatant, overblown Broadway panto. Its a visual extravaganza with costly costumes encrusted with crystals, stunning pseudo-Arabian designs saturated with colour and sparkly spectacle at one point theres a loud thunderclap, and silver streamers rain down. But it is so smothering and overstuffed with super-slick set-piece dance pageantry that any emotional tremors remain undetectable, and its so loud and brassy that any witty wisecrackery is rendered inaudible. Dean John- Wilson as Aladdin and Jade Ewen as Jasmine. The production is a visual extravaganza with costly costumes encrusted with crystals, stunning pseudo-Arabian designs saturated with colour and sparkly spectacle A show that is shamelessly eager to please, with bevies of bellydancing girls and brawny, chest-baring boys, goes down a treat with an audience shockingly easy to please Jade Ewens Jasmine is another Disney cliche: smart, spirited and sassy, and with great breasts in other words, the embodiment of 21st-century girl power Needless to say, on opening night it had a rapturous crowd leaping to its collective feet, not just at the end but for the genies big number, Friend Like Me, in which, with accelerating overexcitability, he incorporates snatches of other Disney classics such as Beauty And The Beast and The Little Mermaid as well as alluding to telly favourites like Strictly. Dion Nicholas plays the genie A show that is shamelessly eager to please, with bevies of bellydancing girls and brawny, chest-baring boys, goes down a treat with an audience shockingly easy to please. Until then, director/choreographer Casey Nicholaws production is a slow burn, only really bursting to comic life with the appearance, in a disappointingly skinny skein of smoke, of Trevor Dion Nicholass irresistibly beaming, screaming, queenie genie, the essence of, er, geniality, with a glitterball head. Performances here tend to the generic. Dean John-Wilsons Aladdin is one of those stereotypical, superordinary blokes; Jade Ewens Jasmine is another Disney cliche: smart, spirited and sassy, and with great breasts in other words, the embodiment of 21st-century girl power (Why are you so determined to pawn me off to any Tom, Dick or Hassim? she asks her dad). Both are competent, though neither charms. Whiletheir magic-carpet ride to the tune of A Whole New World momentarily enchants, most effects are less special than spendthrift. In a (mistaken) departure from the movie, the parrot Iago is a diminutive creature with a distinct though possibly unintended resemblance to our dear Queen who bustles along in the wake of Don Gallaghers very English, not very scary vizier, Jafar. Worse, Aladdins monkey friend, Abu, has been inflated into three lumpen mates, bringing an unfortunate new spin to the notion of as thick as thieves. Another Lion King this most certainly aint. Its a flagrant moneyspinner thats short on magic. One can see why this rich role tempted Joseph Fiennes back to the stage. And he delivers an impressively accomplished performance, charismatic and infinitely layered A riddle in the sands Ross Chichester Festival Theatre Until June 25, 3hrs Rating: In its day 1960 Ross was Terence Rattigans second-most successful play ever, running in the West End for two years. But, unlike his masterpiece The Deep Blue Sea (above), its seldom been staged since. Understandably, because its a cumbersome piece. On one level its a distinctly un-Rattiganesque Boys Own adventure story charting the incredible escapades of the legendary T E Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia; on another its a quintessentially Rattiganesque drama probing the personality of this conflicted man who had a near-obsessive talent for self-concealment. One can see why this rich role tempted Joseph Fiennes back to the stage. And he delivers an impressively accomplished performance, charismatic and infinitely layered. The play begins with Lawrences attempt to escape his past, as Aircraftman Ross, an assumed name. Hauled up in front of a senior offer, he is asked to explain why he was 18 minutes late for duty. He explains, with exquisite insolence, that he was dining with Lord and Lady Astor, Mr and Mrs George Bernard Shaw, the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the extensive flashback to the desert when Lawrence drives the Turks out of Aqaba and survives torture and rape Lawrence reveals himself as a terrific showman. He is extraordinarily dashing, decisive and tough, but also tender, forging a touching relationship with his servant. Handsome as Adrian Nobles revival is, it feels over-literal, too glossy and ultimately frustrating because Lawrence remains, at the end, a riddle of the sands. The Deep Blue Sea Lyttelton stage, National Theatre, London Until Sep 21, 2hrs 30mins Rating: There is a moment towards the end of Terence Rattigans great play when the heroine realises that her lover cant reciprocate her passion for him, that he is leaving her, but that she will never return to her sterile marriage to a respectable High Court judge. In Carrie Cracknells revival, a record plays the song I Only Have Eyes For You, hammering the point home. A superbly detailed, intense and controlled Helen McCrory, as Hester, powerfully suggests the overwhelming desire she feels for Tom Burkes shallow, callow Freddie Perhaps Cracknell was concerned that the plays subtleties would get swallowed up in the wide Lyttelton stage. Evidently in an effort to fill it, designer Tom Scutt has expanded the dingy two-room flat in Ladbroke Grove, where Hester has shacked up with test pilot Freddie, into a tenement block with several floors and all the carefully choreographed comings and goings blurrily visible and audible. While emphasising Hesters isolation and her fear of neighbours discovering she is living in sin, its also a distraction. A superbly detailed, intense and controlled Helen McCrory powerfully suggests the overwhelming desire she feels for Tom Burkes shallow, callow Freddie. She lights up like a torch when he enters the room and clings to him. Without him she looks drained. As the mysteriously disgraced doctor, the only man who understand Hesters pain, Nick Fletcher makes a mark. But only these two actors fully plunge into the plays emotional depths, leaving the rest paddling unsatisfactorily in the shallows. The Flying Lovers Of Vitebsk On tour until July 31 Rating: This was the last show at the Kneehigh theatre company for its artistic director Emma Rice, who has worked wonders with this eccentric troupe based in Cornwall and is now running Shakespeares Globe. Daniel Jamiesons script is for two actors and concerns the Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall, best known for his colourful cows and flying figures. Marc Antolin gives Chagall a clownish sense of joie de vivre and Audrey Brissons Bella has a gorgeous singing voice Antolin gives Chagall a clownish sense of joie de vivre He and his adored wife Bella suffer pogroms and the Bolshevik revolution as history chases them across Europe and then to America, where Bella dies cruelly young of an infection. Marc Antolin gives Chagall a clownish sense of joie de vivre and Audrey Brissons Bella has a gorgeous singing voice. Ian Rosss live music comes with a sad, Yiddish quality to it, evoking the couples beloved Vitebsk, a city pounded to dust by the Nazis. Its all very sweet, moody and sensitive. But its short on Kneehighs trademark oomph. The stage feels underpopulated (a panto cow would have helped) and the modest set seems pretty dull for such colourful subject matter. By Robert Gore From turning heads in Coronation Street to donning Ann Summers naughty knickers in a new ITV drama, ANGELA GRIFFINs feisty characters have been primetime gems for more than two decades. TVs most down-to-earth actress talks family, friends and upping the fun factor as she approaches the big 4-0 Angela wears DRESS, Self-Portrait Its easy to imagine Angela Griffin in the close company of the female friends that she couldnt and wouldnt live without, not ever! The actress, who came to prominence in Coronation Street, Holby City and Cutting It, is clearly a girls girl: funny, generous and conspiratorial as she leans in to share a joke or an indiscretion. Shes a glass-half-full person, but no Pollyanna. I can get quite gobby about things, she admits for instance, why there is still inequality between the sexes in her profession, even when an actress has a string of primetime TV credits to her name. (Angelas recent appearances include playing a teacher in Waterloo Road and a detective in Lewis.) It drives me crazy that the men are still paid more than women on pretty much every job Ive ever done, says Angela. And that there are roughly ten men over 40 which Im about to be soon to every woman over 40 on our screens. I have two daughters [Tallulah, 13, and Melissa, nine] and my eldest is already asking me, Why arent men and women treated the same? I find myself saying, I just dont know, Tallulah. There is no reason. Angela is especially happy that her latest role as one of the female ensemble cast of the new six-part ITV drama Brief Encounters bucks the trend. Set in the early 1980s, its about four working-class women from Sheffield who find themselves empowered when the sexual revolution knocks at their door. Each becomes a party organiser for Ann Summers. (The brands CEO Jacqueline Gold used the 1950s Tupperware business model to sell lingerie and sex toys, turning the company from a shady sex shop primarily aimed at men to a nationwide brand with an 80 per cent female customer base.) Angela plays Nita, a hard-pressed mum of four. Married to loving but feckless Kieran (Don Gilet), Nitas new job allows her to support her family despite her husbands frequent arrests for an assortment of petty crimes. Ann Summers liberates Nita in so many unexpected ways, Angela says. On one level, the drama is about naughty knickers and vibrators, but on a deeper level, its about female friendship, family, loyalty and the love that exists between men and women, too. Here, the actress talks about the importance of all four themes. DRESS, Self-Portrait The show was going to be called Good Vibrations. It was the title of Jacquelines memoir [on which the show is loosely based]. My husband Jason [Milligan, an ITV continuity announcer] thought that was hilarious as the announcer in between programmes, he couldnt wait to say, And coming up next I didnt want to appear in something embarrassing. I worried that it might be a big, screaming, pink hen night of a show all sex toys and saucy underwear. But once Id read the script, I realised that wasnt the vision. It was about four women living in ordinary, blue-collar Sheffield and how they gained their independence financially, emotionally and sexually and found friendship along the way. I loved that idea. The female characters are all three-dimensional. And each is changed by the experience. Steph [played by Sophie Rundle] is the shy mum who is brought out of her shell. Pauline [Penelope Wilton] escapes the loneliness of a bad marriage. Dawn [Sharon Rooney] has been left caring for her dad and three brothers after her mums death, but realises she has dreams of her own. And my character Nita learns the true meaning of female friendship in ways that I completely understand. The four of us got on like a house on fire on screen and off. We met two of the original Ann Summers ladies. They were great the experience had changed their lives, too. One had a husband who loved all the gear, the other didnt; only one of them was still married. They had thought they would be selling underwear, some of it a bit racy, maybe but at their first meeting with the company all these Bakelite sex toys appeared. They were shocked because you just didnt see vibrators and pornography much in those days. Im of the generation that grew up with Sex and the City and Rampant Rabbits. They werent. This is my first role in a period drama. Mind you, its nothing like Downton Abbey, which was brilliant and gorgeous but very much about being repressed as a woman. They wanted to do stuff, but they couldnt. This is the opposite. Angela as Fiona Middleton in Coronation Street with co-stars Glenn Hugill and Charles Lawson The 1980s much more than the 1960s marked a turning point. Women were working and having children. It was the decade when it dawned on women that they didnt have to lie back and think of England they could actually enjoy sex. I modelled Nita on my mum Sheila, but she may not realise it. She will love the show: she was the same age in the 80s and had three similar-aged children. And Nita has my mums incredible grit and iron will. Thats what I wanted to bring to the role. My mum has always been my role model and my hero. My dad Desmond moved to New York and left her with three kids when I was four and my brothers were eight and ten. But no matter how difficult life must have looked, my mum kept going. Shes an anchor of brilliance and strength. The most important thing I learned from her was self-reliance; Im so grateful for that and so much else besides. My stepdad Wallace arrived when I was five. He was the one who took it in turns with my mum to get up in the middle of the night if I was poorly, the one who came to my school plays. I love him, but my mum was in charge. I think he was acutely aware of the bad stuff that might be said about stepdads. But no one could ever say anything bad about him. I stayed in contact with my father. We spoke on the phone and my mum never discouraged it. I called him Dad, and my stepdad Wallace. I didnt see my dad again until I was 18, but we Facebook now, and two years ago I visited him in New York. What happened between him and my mum wasnt nice and another person might say, Im never seeing you again! but it was important to me to know who my father was. I went back to the Leeds council estate where I grew up. We were filming in Sheffield just 30 miles away so it was easy. I went partly to connect with Nita, because thats her world an estate where people support each other even though they dont have two pennies to rub together. But I also took my daughters with me: I felt they needed to see where Mummy came from to appreciate the big house and the lovely life they have now. My childhood was brilliant in many ways. There wasnt much money my mum had three jobs at any one time and Wallace worked for Leeds City Council, clearing up after the market. But our family life was happy and there was a real sense of community on our estate. It was about the things money couldnt buy. I was much more aware of being mixed race than my kids are. They never think about it, but theyre growing up in London, which is a melting pot. Where I come from a predominantly white council estate having a white mum and a black father was unusual. Eventually, I thought it was cool, something that made me stand out from the crowd. Angela with her husband Jason and daughters Tallulah (left) and Melissa There was no hardcore racism. But if someone was going to pick on me, it was always about my colour. The fat kid was called Fatty, the ginger kid was Ginge, and I used to get Paki quite a lot, which was odd. I thought, If youre going to insult me, at least get my ethnicity right! I dont know whether my colour has disadvantaged me as an actress. Im so lucky because, apart from one year when the roles just seemed to dry up, I have worked and worked, and it has been fantastic. Starting out on Coronation Street helped because my character hairdresser Fiona Middleton just happened to be black, rather than being defined by it. And that led to other roles. Im on friendly terms with ex-Corrie actresses Sarah [Lancashire] and Suranne [Jones], without exactly having them on speed dial! I do admire their work. All those wonderful, meaty working-class dramas that reflect the lives of real people are right up my street. Look at Sarah in Happy Valley: shes a single grandmother and a copper and theres no man there to define her. Brilliant. It just goes to show that if you give women the roles, they will live up to them. My two best friends are Nicola Stephenson and Lisa Faulkner. We met 15 years ago on Holby City. They were bridesmaids at my wedding and are godmothers to my children. And I cant imagine my existence without them. The circle of friends keeps growing and now includes Amanda Holden from my Cutting It days. I tend to collect new friends with every job I do. The importance of female friendship is something I drum into my daughters every day. I say, Boys will come and go, but girls will be your best friends always and the best fun youve ever had. Those are the relationships that you need to nurture. It was lovely doing Lewis with Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox. They were amazingly warm and accepting of me breaking in on their bromance. I was apprehensive that the public would hate me, but actually my character [DS Lizzie Maddox] went down really well. My mum was already a big fan of the show, so I took her on set to meet Kevin and Laurence, which earned me a lot of brownie points. Im lucky to have found Jason. Before him, I thought, Kids, yes. Marriage, no. Subconsciously, maybe I thought, Ill be left to bring them up on my own like my mum, so why bother? But then I met Jason and realised that here was a man I could be with for ever, and when we had Tallulah I wanted to give her the security she deserved. Im so happy that I did because it made a difference to me in ways I didnt expect. Suddenly I wasnt on my own any more, I was part of a team. Its an equal opportunities marriage. Although we have a great nanny now, Jason looked after the girls for years. He supported my dreams and my need to work. I love that my girls arent growing up with rigid ideas about who stays at home and who brings back the bacon. We both do, at different times. Ive never apologised for being a working mother. Ive always said, Mummy loves her job and wants to make sure we stay in our lovely house. You could be a mother who cries her eyes out and wishes she could stay at home, but I prefer to go out, full of the joys of spring, and come home a better parent for it. Our beautiful puppy Smith is our third child. Hes a cavapoo 11 months old and I love him more than I could have thought possible. I miss him, worry about him, talk about him all the time. In return he greets me every morning as if he hasnt seen me for a year. Smith has opened up a whole world to us as a family, too. On Sundays were up at 9am and out walking. Mobile phones are banned and its our chance to talk, enjoy nature and be together. DRESS, Alexis, from Oxygen Boutique. COAT, Topshop. RING, Vicki Sarge We tried country life for a while but it was a mistake. We bought a beautiful house in Oxfordshire and loved it at first, but the isolation got to me. I realised that, if necessary, Id rather live in a flat in London and have my friends round the corner. I need the theatre and a local supermarket that stays open until 10pm. The compromise was to move to Barnet, North London, and buy a tiny place in the Cotswolds for holidays. Its the best of all worlds. The thought of turning 40 next month is quite depressing. On the personal front, I think, Im so lucky. Im happily married and have two great kids. Ive only got one grey hair and I dont look 40. But as an actress, uurghh! There is no way that actresses get as many roles in their 40s as in their 20s. Fact. Ill be celebrating in style for the whole of July more of a birth month than a birthday. Ive booked a restaurant for the night itself and a house in the country for a weekend with my family and friends. A trip to Chicago and New York is on the cards, as well as Ibiza with the girls. Youre never too old to get up to a bit of mischief with your mates. Ive only been to an Ann Summers party once. It was years ago, on a hen do with Nicola and Lisa. It was a laugh and I bought loads. Over the years, Ann Summers stores have had a fair whack of money out of me and Im not ashamed to say it. But thats the point of Brief Encounters. Its about how we got to a place where women have the choice of buying a vibrator without shame or guilt. Its also about saying that what happens in the bedroom between two consenting adults is not for us to judge. Each to his or her own. Brief Encounters is coming soon to ITV Angela adores Listening to Lianne La Havas is played a lot in our house and my daughters also love her. Reading Ive just finished I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. Its a phenomenal globetrotting thriller that grabs you by the throat and never lets you go. Stuck in a lift with Lets not mess around here. Ryan Gosling. Favourite film At the moment The Big Short, which I saw only recently. It may be why Ryan Gosling is on my mind. Favourite city New York, because it gives me the same feeling that I had when I first went to London its a place where anything feels possible. Style icon There are so many women who look great in fancy clothes and make-up Jennifer Lawrence, for example. But its the everyday beauty of women at the school gate that I admire. Beauty product Im loving LOccitane Divine Cream. Women especially if theyre black or mixed race often ask me about my hair. For the record, Junior Green [who specialises in afro hair at his Knightsbridge salon] cuts it and AJ at Harrods Urban Retreat colours it. Recently splurged on A bathroom refurb. Jason and I watch those house renovation shows where everything seems to cost about four bob. I find myself shouting: I dont believe you. Where are the receipts? Perfect Sunday morning? Waking up at our house in the Cotswolds with a cup of tea brought to me by my husband and a cuddle with the kids and the dog. Then fried eggs and a long walk before Sunday lunch. Motto Always have your bus fare home. It matters both literally and in the metaphorical sense of always having the means to get out of a situation. Cook and writer Skye McAlpines London home evokes the dolce vita deliciousness of Italy with warm colours and a welcoming ambience THE FAMILY Skye McAlpine, a cook and food blogger, lives in a three-bedroom flat in Southwest London with her husband Anthony, who works in finance, and their son Aeneas, three. Advertisement The walls of Skye McAlpines kitchen are cast in a rustic chalky Venetian pink plaster, offset by rows of shiny copper cooking pans made in the Piedmont region of Italy. Next door, the living room furniture is upholstered in sage green and luscious nectarine velvets. Even the fireplace is outlined in an ultramarine that could have been plucked straight from a Bellini fresco. Rows of jars make a kitchen feel homely and welcoming and I can instantly see what Ive got and what needs replenishing, says Skye. Find Kilner jars at Lakeland (lakeland.co.uk) The look is as much faded Italian palazzo as cool London apartment and theres a sublime logic behind Skyes unique mix of the florid and the formal. She divides her time equally between London and a family home in Venice: Theres no strict timetable, we just flit back and forth, depending on what is happening, she says. The gorgeous Venetian touches that keep Skye feeling at home while shes in London include a pair of vintage Murano glass chandeliers, which were picked up for a song in Brussels: In Venice they are horrendously expensive, but I bought these from a Belgian dealer who didnt realise quite what he had, she says. One of them has a few cracks but thats part of its charm. Skyes Ruffoni copper pans hang from a simple brass rail (for similar, try rowenandwren.co.uk). The one with the rounded base is for zabaione, which I make with egg yolks, prosecco and sugar its delicious, she says Skye is drawn to the decadently weathered and worn: I love surrounding myself with things that evoke a story or come with their own sense of integrity, she explains. I grew up surrounded by crumbling plaster and antiquities and its definitely rubbed off on me. Skye moved to Venice aged five when her father, the late Conservative peer Alistair McAlpine, upped sticks after he became an IRA target. Far away from British politics, Venice was a magical place to grow up something I appreciate all over again now that we have Aeneas, she says. No cars and a culture that dotes on children: what bliss for a toddler. Life in Venice is very slow and measured, so perfect for writing and doing lots of cooking, she says. In contrast, trips to London are faster-paced, punctuated by work meetings (Skye has a book in the pipeline) and catching up with friends. I appreciate London in short bursts having the perfect mix is what keeps life exciting, she says. Read Skyes blog at frommydiningtable.com Words Jo Leevers Skye and Anthony replaced a kitchen window with french doors. The walls are covered in Venetian plaster for similar, try Istinto polished plaster by Stucco Veneziano (stuccoveneziano.co.uk). The dining table was made using reclaimed timbers from Lassco (lassco.co.uk). The chandelier is vintage Murano glass find a similar style at Renaissance London (renaissancelondon.com) A dramatic floral Sandersons Peony Tree (sanderson-uk.com) creates an escapist feel in the hallway. Wallpaper can completely change the mood of a space, says Skye. The kitchen is at the end of the hallway, with a playful pink fridge by Smeg (smeguk.com) The bare plaster alcove wall is an ever-changing moodboard. Recipes, images and ideas go up there for inspiration, Skye says. Find a similar mid-century coffee table at The Vintage Trader (thevintagetrader.co.uk). The parquet flooring is by Amtico (amtico.com). The leaf cushions are by House of Hackney (houseofhackney.com) I collect books, from classics with beautiful covers to ones containing rare Venetian recipes which were written in dialect and handprinted, says Skye In Aeneass bedroom, Skye used a wallpaper called Raphael from Sandbergs New York Stories collection (sandbergwallpaper.com/wallpapers). It makes his room feel like Robin Hoods den, she says. Aeneas is into dinosaurs, trucks all that stuff. And he loves food, just like his mum, says Skye. The wooden storage boxes are from notonthehighstreet.com I adore my shoes especially Charlotte Olympia flats, says Skye. The Ikea shelving was spray-painted a rich aubergine colour and set within a cupboard made by a local cabinet-maker In the wake of the Udta Punjab censorship controversy, a new report from the Shyam Benegal Committee on Cinematograph Act/ Rules has suggested a new category be made for films with 'excessive' adult content. We do not want to deny film makers the right to screen their movies. When you do that, the movies go underground, the Committee have announced, adding that films certified as Adult with Caution, or AC, will not be screened in residential areas. In effect, this would create a new category of cinema in India: Movies that are in exile from the people to which they are aimed. The Udta Punjab controversy has exposed the ugly side of film censorship in India Filmmaker On the surface, this seems to impose grossly unfair restriction, and to use a fitting analogy from drug peddling - this penalises the end user, not the dealer. The director of Udta Punjab, for instance, will continue to live in Bombay, but the viewer of the film will be banished and reduced to an outcast by pushing urgent and exciting cinema into non-residential neighbourhoods like red light areas. The fact that sex workers live in such neighbourhoods with their families, obviously does not count. There seems to be an idea from the Committee that we should be protecting 'ordinary, decent' people from adult content that sex workers see on a day-to-day basis. Mull over the proposal though and it seems to be not as preposterous as made out to be, for one, this might force those of us who are not frequent visitors to red light areas, to do so and help make us aware of how hard life is for those less fortunate. It might even bridge the divide between the franchised and disenfranchised in India's society? But the red light district is just one designated zone for AC cinema and any place that is certified non-residential by municipal law will qualify. Udta Punjab features and all-star cast and was released to critical acclaim despite depicting the ugly side of life in Punjab When I try and think of a non-residential space, the first that comes to mind is a field. A lush wide open field where, say, sugarcane grows in abundance. Udta Punjab director Anurag Kashyap addresses media after his movie was threatened with 89 cuts Its the perfect place to build an AC multiplex- far away from the residences of the madding crowd. But to reach this field, youll need a road. New highways will be laid down overnight to enable city dwellers to commute to these oases of liberalism where a viewer can leisurely hop from one screen to another, taking in the dangerous works of Anurag Kashyap, Kamal Swaroop and Chandraprakash Dwivedi. Directors of the future will tell stories imaginary stories along the following lines: I was travelling from Allahabad to Delhi on the Prayagraj Express. I can never sleep on trains. At midnight, we had just crossed Kanpur, I saw this neon dome rising out of nowhere in the badlands of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. It was an AC theatre. "It was showing a new film by Dibakar Bannerjee. I decided then and there that I simply had to watch it. I pulled the emergency chain. Gotta use it sometime! I hopped off with my rucksack and walked through the field to reach the ticket counter. "I saw my first Dibakar film which left an indelible impression. I wouldnt have made my film today if it wasnt for that night. Never mind that I was stranded in the field for several days, not knowing how to get back to the city. I saw a lot of films there. I made good use of my time. Existence Benegal says this new category needs to be brought into existence otherwise films will go 'underground'. Think about it. Benegals proposal isn't as outrageous as it sounds. Another way of looking at it is this: we Indians love wires. We spend most of our working days digging so that we can lay underground cables. Once that is done, we then spend the rest of our living days tripping over these cables. Maybe the best place for all Indian cinema is, 'underground.' After a sluggish progress, the monsoon is expected to move swiftly into several parts of drought-hit Maharashtra and Central India. The South-west monsoon has furthered into the remaining parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, more parts of north interior Karnataka, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Jharkhand and Bihar, the India Meteorological Department said. The Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, M Rajeevan, said the last week of June is expected to witness some good rainfall. The monsoon is expected to move swiftly into several parts of drought-hit Maharashtra. IMD said the conditions are favourable for the monsoon to advance into entire Konkan and Goa, drought-hit central Maharashtra, Marathwada, remaining parts of north interior Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. The weatherman has forecast an above-normal monsoon this year. However, its onset over Kerala, which marks the beginning of the rainy season, was on June 8, seven days later than predicted. Also, it made a slow progress due to the lack of a favourable system that could have given it a boost to move forward. The slow pace had increased the rain deficiency to 25 per cent. It is expected to make its way to Delhi in the first week of July. Normally, it reaches the national capital by July 1. Kerala received copious rains on Saturday. Fierce showers occurred at most places in the state and Lakshadweep, weather officials said. Several houses and an All India Radio tower were damaged in the heavy rains in Thiruvananthapuram, district authorities said. Monsoon further advanced into Odisha and covered the whole of the state, an IMD report said. The monsoon had covered the districts of Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Jajpur, etc. Meanwhile, pre-monsoon showers occurred in parts of Rajasthan, providing relief to people from the sweltering heat. Light rains occurred at isolated places of Jaipur, Bharatpur and Kota divisions, the Met department said. Alwar recorded 7 mm rain and Ramgarh and Sangod 2 mm. The monsoon is expected to hit the state between June 22 and June 26, if the weather conditions remain favourable. Russian President Vladimir Putin is positive about finding a solution to the objections raised by China against Indias application for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group when it comes up for consideration at the NSGs meeting in Seoul beginning Monday. Putin, one of Indias key supporters, revealed that Russia has had honest discussions on this issue with our Chinese friends and we have no secrets between us. Our cards are open. He added that the NSG members need to proceed carefully on the subject and take into account the concerns of everyone and address them in a timely manner so that it will not create another problem. 'Russia has been cooperating with India on all nuclear issues, but only within the limits of the international law,' said Vladmir Putin India applied for full membership of the 48-member NSG this May in order to trade freely with member countries for vital nuclear technology, equipment, material and fuel for its nuclear power sector. In an exclusive interaction with India Todays Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin indirectly indicated Russias support to Indias NSG quest. Russia has been cooperating with India on all nuclear issues but only within the limits of the international law, he said. We believe that India, with its huge population, has economic problems and lot of energy challenges apart from national security issues. And therefore, India cannot be put in the same league as other countries. While we must act within the international law, we must look at all the opportunities to ensure, provide and support Indias interests. Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with the heads of international news agencies at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum When pressed on whether he would speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping and persuade him to lift the objections to Indias NSG membership, Putin told India Today: I have already answered your question. But let me add that we have had very honest discussions with our Chinese friends on these issues and we have no secrets. Our cards are open. We have to take into account the concerns of all the members (of the NSG) and if we do not address them in a timely manner than instead of leading to a solution of the issue it will only create another one. The Russian President added: Is there a way to solve it? Yes. But we need to proceed very carefully. Putin, who is known for flexing his political muscles, is also extremely fit and holds a black belt in judo. When India Today asked him whether on World Yoga Day, he would do yoga, he said with a smile, I appreciate yoga, but prefer to watch from the sidelines. I envy those who achieve results and it testifies to the character of such people. He added: Well, Russians like Indian culture very much. We are a country that has a channel that shows only Hindi movies constantly. Putin has no issues with India and the US coming closer to each other and believes it is a natural process. He was replying to India Todays question on whether, India being on the right side of the US puts it on the wrong side of Russia. Asked to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modis successful visit to the US, Putin said: Before he became Prime Minister, Mr Modi was sanctioned and prohibited from going to the US. But after he was elected as Prime Minister, the US said let bygones be bygones and all sanctions were lifted against him. It testifies to the fact that the decisions are taken by the US spontaneously and without taking into account long term consequences and results of the decisions being made. If there is a desire of the US to have cooperation with India, we welcome that as well. It will be quite strange on our behalf to stand in the way of cooperation of such countries with India. India has more than a billion people. I think we have some very specific areas of cooperation. We can build on without affecting relations with other countries through step by step development, he said. Putin then went on to add: As far as relations between India and Russia are concerned, they have deep roots and we highly value them. We have trust and confidence in each other. An important thing is that all political forces in Russia, and I can see in India too, speak for developing India-Russia relations. The Opposition and the Ruling party in India have disputes among themselves, but all of them speak for developing relations with Russia. We highly value that. I would like to assure you that we have a similar political consensus about developing relations with India. Expressing concern that trade turnover between India and Russia did not correspond to its potential, Putin called for transforming the historical and positive capital into particular areas of cooperation. On a cool Saturday morning, everyone looked to the sky and prayed. It would rain, the weatherman had warned. As those gathered at the tarmac readied themselves to witness the Combined Graduation Parade of the 197th course at the Air Force Academy (AFA), it was clear that this would be no ordinary affair. From the enhanced visitor count to the commensurate security detail to the broadcast vans of news networks to the curiosity in its run up, the distinction was measurable in more ways than one. Mohena Singh (left), Avani Chaturvedi (centre) and Bhawana Kanth form the first batch of women fighter pilots to fly 55 hours on Swiss Pilatus PC 7 trainers At 9am, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced: It is a red letter day. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has inducted three women pilots as fighter pilots. Before ending his five-minute speech which was followed by the young officers taking oath and then marching off, he paused and said: Yours is the noblest and most honourable of all professions. The crowd seated before the iconic Sekhon block was in rapt attention and history, as the cliche goes, had been made. Decision Reflecting back at the last six months during which Flying Officer Mohana Singh, one among the three women fighter pilots, not only made the decision to opt for the fighter stream mid-way through the course, but also worked hard at her training. Her mother Manju Singh said: She did not discuss too much. She hardly had time. The training must have been very intense. Yes, there were moments of stress and when she told me so, I told her she had made her choice and she should believe in herself. On October 8, last year, during his customary Air Force Day parade address, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said something which despite years of litigation and activism could not be said. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar congratulates one of the women fighter pilots The IAF, he mentioned, was opening its doors in a manner unprecedented. It was planning to induct women as fighter pilots. The words even resounded in the distant Dundigal where inside the 6,700-acre campus of the AFA, then flying cadets Avani Chaturvedi, Mohana Singh and Bhawana Kanth picked them up. The trio was inching closer to completing their Stage One training which included among other things successfully completing 55 hours of flying the Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) Pilatus. A beaming Bhawana recounted: To share a secret, I always wanted to be a fighter pilot, but when we joined the option was not there. So when it came to us in December 2015, I knew I was going to grab it. Evaluation The three volunteered, as the regulations required. IAFs evaluation of their physical and mental aptitude, which the force insists has been gender neutral, found them fit. In the next stage, which culminated in Saturdays Combined Graduation Parade, the trio, along with 90 other flying cadets successfully completed their Stage Two which also involved flying the vintage Kiran intermediate trainer aircraft for 87 hours. Creating history: Avani Chaturvedi (left), Bhawana Kanth (centre) and Mohana Singh became the first women fighter pilots to be formally commissioned by the Indian Air Force. Standing in a corner, DP Chaturvedi, an engineer in the Madhya Pradesh government and Flying Officer Avanis father took the question head on, It was my daughters call. Her natural instincts propelled her and we will always admire her. I am a firm believer that whats in destiny will happen and nobody can stop that. When the final round, Stage Three commences, it will require the Flying Officers to report at the air force station in Bidar, Karnataka. Their next examination will be on the Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) Hawk. It promises to be the longest of all and will take about a year to overcome. If they fail, the dream of flying the fighter will die. Whether male or female, if the officer does not qualify the stage in that one attempt then the fighter stream is not for them, clarified Air Marshal GP Singh, AFA Commandant. How heavy is the burden of being a fighter pilot? Avani was quick on the response. There are many women pilots who have flown Pilatus and Kiran before us. Till now, we have not done anything special. What we will now do will be special and we hope we will do good, she replied. The fighters indeed are firmly on the ground. Officers real fight begins now Before the formal parade to walk into history on being commissioned into Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday, it is unlikely that Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh would have missed the slosh dance, a long held tradition among fighter pilots. The swinging slosh steps lighten up the rigours of fighter pilot training. The girls have come a long way overcoming a testing medical examination by aero medical training centre probing their ability to withstand physical challenges associated with fighter flying, and a gruelling training. Flying officer Avani Chaturvedi with her sisters at the combined graduation parade in Dundigal Now that the glass ceiling has been broken, the accompanying spotlight will melt away in the severity of training that will get more complicated in the next stage. It takes a lot to make a fighter pilot and the progression brings its own complexities. What they have undergone till now is basic flying training on two types of aircraft. Each one of them flew 55 hours on the Swiss Pilatus PC 7 Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) before graduating to Kirans, which initiated them on handling jets. They completed mandatory 87 hours on Kirans before getting commissioned into the IAF. The basic training sets the foundation where habits like maintaining Flight Reference Cards (FRCs) are inculcated to drill in practices. The first milestone for fliers is the first solo flight success which is invariably finished with celebrations. The next stage for them will be in Bidar where they will get training on the Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs). The IAF flies British Hawk AJTs to impart fighter flying skills. The officers are expected to complete 145 hours of flying on AJTs. The first batch of women fighter pilots are expected to complete AJT leg by June 2017, after which they will be sent to relevant units where they would get to handle the supersonic fighters. The units are allotted on the basis of requirements on different types of aircraft. As the plan is, the first batch of women fighters could be flying Su-30 MKIs to Light Combat Aircraft (LCAs). It is in the units they will graduate slowly to become fully operational. Some officials explained that it can take anywhere between two to two and half years depending on an individuals ability to become a full-fledged fighter pilot to undertake all kinds of missions through day and night. The first batch of women fighter pilots have a task cut out for them, just like their male counterparts. IT professional Vikram Aggarwal (name changed) still does not know whether his wife gave birth to a baby girl or a boy, eight years ago. He spends hours surfing social media, hoping to catch a glimpse of his child. My wife left me when she was seven months pregnant, said the 40-year-old. Save Indian Family group wants to highlight the importance of father-child relationship, on this Father's Day He visits schools in the locality where his estranged spouse lives, hoping to meet his child one day. For a number of men who lost touch their children due to broken marriages, have something to look forward to this Fathers Day. They will celebrate their fatherhood on Sunday, despite not having been with their children for years. Meeting his seven-year-old daughter for the first time turned out to be an agonising experience for Rakesh Kumar (name changed). The child could not recognise him and called him uncle. Analysts say India, despite largely being a patriarchal and a male-dominated society, still has a number of cases which point at the existence of male inequality. "My heart broke, Kumar said. My wife left me just 15 days after our daughter was born. Years passed and when I realised that my wife had no intentions of letting me meet my child, I filed a case for visitation rights. Studies on modern Indian families reveal that in recent years, shared parenting has become more popular among estranged couples. Several fathers like Vikram and Rakesh, who never got the opportunity to be with their children will gather at Connaught Place on Sunday to celebrate Fathers Day. After the success of the Selfie with Daughter drive, which tried to highlight a gamut of problems arising out of gender imbalance, these men have planned a special celebration on the special day. These fathers plan to promote Selfie with Father campaign, which would be later uploaded on social media. The initiative aims to sensitise people about the rights of a father and the importance of a father-child relationship. A theatre group formed by men allegedly harassed by the wives and the in-laws will perform a street play followed by a public interaction where children would be encouraged to share their special moments with their fathers. In todays era, when everyone seems to be talking about womens empowerment and theres huge fanfare around Womens Day and Mothers Day, Fathers Day tends to go unnoticed, Amit Lakhani, coordinator of the Save Indian Family group, told Mail Today. There is a need for equally recognising the rights of a father. An independent study done by our NGO shows that fathers are merely reduced to a visitor in 98% of the cases in India and children are the direct sufferers. Former actor Mamta Kulkarni was on Saturday named a prime accused in a multi-crore drug racket linked to her husband Vicky Goswami, with Thane Police claiming that she was actively involved in the illicit activities and would seek her extradition from Kenya. The Interpol is soon likely to issue a Red Corner notice against her. She (Mamta), along with Vicky Goswami and international drug mafia Abdullah, was present at the meeting held on January 8 of this year. Abdullah wanted to set up a drug factory at Mombasa in Kenya, said Thane Police Commissioner Parambeer Singh. The Interpol is likely to issue a Red Corner notice against actor Mamta Kulkarni Mamta, however, denied any such links and challenged the police to prove the accusations against her in the court. It doesn't take three weeks to decide. It shows that they (Thane Police) are trying to frame me. They searched all my accounts for any cheques of Avon Lifesciences, but they didn't get any, the former actor said in an exclusive interview with Mail Today. Imagine, they are now accusing me of amassing Rs 2,000 crore. My account doesn't even have a decent balance of Rs 1 crore. So what are they talking about?" "A woman who has amassed Rs 2,000 crore should at least have Rs 20 crore as FD, added Mamta. She also accused the police of allegedly pressuring a few arrested people to name her and Vicky Goswami as the accused. Mamta also alleged that police are now resorting to unlawful tactics to frame her and Goswami. As per reports, drugs were seized on April 12 from the premises of Avon Lifesciences Limited. Police claim that Mamta was one of the directors of Avon Life sciences, which has factories in Solapur, and she owns shares worth Rs 11 lakh. Police also released photographs of international drug mafia Abdullah, which were shared by the Drug Enforcement Agency of the US. When Mail Today questioned Vicky Goswami, another accused in the case, on his ties with Morocco-based Abdullah, he denied knowing him. A 24-year-old man who grew up in government housing with his single mother earns less than $50,000 a year - and he owns six investment properties. Edward Dilleen bought his first apartment at the age of 19 in Tuggerawong on the NSW Central Coast, saving a $20,000 deposit in under two years by working at McDonald's. Mr Dilleen, who grew up in Mt Druitt in Sydney's west, started reading property investment books at a young age and he said his upbringing gave him a strong, goal orientated mind set. Edward Dilleen bought his first apartment at the age of 19 in Tuggerawong on the NSW Central Coast, saving a $20,000 deposit in under two years by working at McDonald's Mr Dilleen, who grew up in Mt Druitt in Sydney's west, started reading property investment books at a young age 'Mum has been on the pension for the last 10 years and we definitely didn't have a lot of money,' Mr Dilleen told Daily Mail Australia. 'She always had to go and ask for handouts from government agencies to get money for food and that kind of stuff. 'So I started saving up when I was 17 at high school and I worked at McDonald's part-time. It was all through savings - just working as much as I could and saving.' Mr Dilleen bought this apartment in Surfers Paradise, on the Gold Coast QLD in 2015. He purchased it for $169,000 He bought this townhouse in 2013 in Elizabeth South, a northern suburb of Adelaide SA, for $130,000 He said that although his properties 'are nothing flash', his story demonstrates the power of prudence and strong will In 2015 he purchased this property in Elizabeth East, a northern suburb of Adelaide, for $125,000 Seven years later, Mr Dilleen now has nearly $1.2million worth of real estate across the country on a salary of less than $50,000. He said that although his properties 'are nothing flash', his story demonstrates the power of prudence and strong will. 'There's no magic trick about getting a deposit, you just have to save and have a plan in place,' he said. Mr Dilleen grew up in government housing with his single mother in Mt Druitt in Sydney's west 'There's no magic trick about getting a deposit, you just have to save and have a plan in place,' he said His most recent purchase was this Eagleby home south-east of QLD in January for $165,000 Mr Dilleen now has nearly $1.2million worth of real estate across the country on a salary of less than $50,000 'Budgeting is very important - even to this day I'm very frugal with money. Instead of buying a t-shirt that's worth $150, I'll buy a shirt that looks similar for $20. 'A lot of my friends take a loan out to buy a $40,000 or $50,000 car to look cool. I'd rather make an additional $30,000 or $40,000 through property investing and have that to move forward than getting stuck with bad debt.' Mr Dilleen has been working as a representative for property investment group Binvested.com.au for over a year, and he credits some of his success to their key tips for investing. 'It's definitely not a get rich quick scheme - it takes time, but every step forward gets you closer to your goal,' he said. Mr Dilleen said he hoped to own 10 properties by the age of 26. Mr Dilleen, right, said his short term goal is to own 10 properties by the age of 26 He picked up this Woodridge property, south-east of QLD, for $105,000 in January last year Above, the first property he bought in Tuggerawong, on the Central Coast of NSW for $138,000 Sir Philip Green is reportedly working on a plan to protect the pensions of former BHS executives but will tell ordinary members of staff to trade in a steady retirement income for a one-off payment. The Financial Times says documents published by a parliamentary inquiry have revealed that Sir Philip suggested avoiding a cap on the retirement benefits of former BHS workers by rescuing the pension scheme himself instead of waiting for an official bailout. That would benefit senior executives whose pensions exceed the 32,000 covered by the Pension Protection Fund. The removal of the PPF cap would mean 230 former executives - who would suffer big losses if they go for the official bailout - would receive more generous benefits from a scheme that pays out about 57,000 per retired member. Grilling: Philip Green was quizzed for six hours in the Commons this week over his role in the demise of BHS and he looks set to be hauled back in for a second session The Guardian says evidence released by the parliamentary inquiry on Friday suggests Sir Philip decided to sell BHS because of the cost of rescuing the pension fund. Chris Martin, chairman of the BHS pension fund trustees, said in a meeting with Greens advisers Sir Philip had decided to sell up in early 2015 because the Project Thor rescue scheme was too expensive and 'personal factors have convinced him that now is the correct time to sell'. Sir Philip looks set to be grilled for a second time by MPs over the collapse of BHS. The billionaire tycoon was quizzed for six hours this week over his role in the demise of the 88-year-old high street chain with the loss of up to 11,000 jobs. But the 64-year-old could face another round of potentially awkward questioning as MPs pore over the complex web of offshore companies his family used to acquire money and assets out of BHS. Greens wife, Lady Tina Green, who lives in the tax haven of Monaco and controls the 3.2billion family fortune, may also be forced to appear in front of MPs as they look into her role in the debacle. Three bankers from Goldman Sachs senior executive Michael Sherwood and subordinates Michael Casey and Anthony Gutman who acted as advisors to Green are expected to give evidence on June 28. Green and his advisors have come under fire over the collapse of BHS in April, barely a year after he sold the struggling chain to three-times bankrupt former racing driver Dominic Chappell for just 1. Chappell has been accused of being a premier league liar who had his fingers in the till. He is also alleged to have threatened to kill former BHS boss Darren Topp. The companys 22,000-member pension scheme could end up in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) leaving some former workers with only 90 per cent of their planned retirement income. MPs on the joint Commons Work and Pensions and Business, Innovation and Skills committee want details on how much money was taken out of BHS in the 15 years the Greens owned the department store group. Labour MP Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, said there is a direct link between debts that were offset against profits and the millions paid in dividends. He added: What sums of tax did this attract? Money came out in dividends and loans and destabilised the company. We need details of exactly what happened. Collapse: BHS has gone under with the loss of up to 11,000 jobs and questions are being asked over how Previously unseen documents relating to property deals within Greens empire were published by the committee yesterday. One property transaction the sale of BHS headquarters at Marylebone House between Lady Greens British Virgin Islands-based Wilton Equity and Arcadia is under scrutiny. Green runs Arcadia, which owns Topshop and Dorothy Perkins among other high street names, but it is owned via Taveta which in turn is controlled by Lady Green. The property deal netted Lady Green more than 20million. Work and Pensions Committee member Craig Mackinlay said the committee could recall Green. He said: I dont think we got everything we need. It is all still very mysterious. The documents raise questions about exactly what assets were leaving the company. It is thought the Greens benefitted by as much as 600million from BHS including dividends paid from BHS up until 2005. It is estimated the family have legally avoided paying up to 160million in taxes over money made from BHS due to the controlling companies being based in overseas tax havens. A spokesman for Green said: This is a perfectly standard corporate structure. The Green familys retail businesses are UK registered and pay UK taxes on their profits. 'Like many other UK companies, they are ultimately owned by entities outside the UK. Following questions over Arcadias pension, a spokesman for Arcadia said: Arcadia is a world-leading global retail group and made a profit of 240million last year. It has no borrowings and there is no issue with its pension scheme. It makes substantial contributions to the pension scheme of around 25million a year and has a good working relationship with the trustees. Canada's Parliament has adopted a law allowing medically-assisted death for the terminally ill, brushing aside critics who wanted the legislation to cover people with degenerative diseases. On Friday, after weeks of political wrangling, the upper Senate chamber voted in favor of a law which makes Canada one of the few nations where doctors can legally help sick people die. Some Senators complained the scope of the law - initially passed by the House of Commons elected chamber - was too narrow and should not be restricted to only those facing imminent death. Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party is the one that wanted to narrow the scope of the bill to assisted suicide only being legal for the terminally ill or those whose death is imminent Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould (left) and Health Minister Jane Philpott (right) released a statement saying that the new law 'struck the right balance' between giving the terminally ill the right to die and 'protecting the vulnerable' - but there are those who think the bill didn't go far enough The patient must seek a doctor's help for the assisted suicide. The law, drafted after Canada's Supreme Court last year overturned a ban on physician-assisted suicide, must receive formal approval from Governor General David Johnston, the acting head of state. That process is a formality. The Supreme Court ruling covered willing adults facing intolerable physical or psychological suffering from a severe and incurable medical condition. The Liberal government, though, narrowed the scope of the legislation to cover only those people whose death was reasonably foreseeable. Critics said the law would condemn people with degenerative conditions such as multiple sclerosis to unbearable suffering Critics said this would condemn people with degenerative conditions like multiple sclerosis to unbearable suffering. Government officials say the new law is a first attempt to address a highly sensitive and controversial topic and could be broadened in years to come. Canada's Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Health Minister Jane Philpott said the bill struck 'the right balance between personal autonomy for those seeking access to medically assisted dying and protecting the vulnerable,' according to BBC News. Canadas Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said the outcome is a right-to-die law that reflects 'the best public-policy choice on an incredibly sensitive and transformative issue,' according to the Wall Street Journal. But some were not too happy with the new law. 'Im obviously disappointed by the outcome, [but] I believe that all different viewpoints were listened to with respect,' said James Cowan, a Liberal senator who argued that those with painful conditions and degenerative conditions should also be able to die on their own terms. The law is limited to residents who qualify for government-funded health services, which is an attempt to prevent people from crossing the border to obtain an assisted-suicide. Assisted suicide is currently legal in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Albania, Colombia and Japan. A pilot and his female passenger were seriously injured Friday afternoon when their small helicopter crashed in a Cape Cod pond. John Ryan, of Scituate, Massachusetts, and Tyra Pacheco, of Acushnet, Massachusetts, both 48, had to be freed from the partially submerged aircraft after it went down just before 1pm at Crows Pond. Ryan was sent to Cape Cod Hospital in nearby Hyannis with serious injuries, police said. Pacheco was listed in a critical condition Friday evening at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Scroll down for video Police investigate the scene of a helicopter crash, Friday in Chatham, Massachusetts. A pilot and his female passenger were seriously injured Friday afternoon when their small helicopter crashed near the shoreline of a Cape Cod pond John Ryan, of Scituate, Massachusetts, and Tyra Pacheco, of Acushnet, Massachusetts, both 48, had to be freed from the partially submerged aircraft after it went down just before 1pm at Crows Pond Witnesses told police the two-seat 2002 Robinson helicopter, which had been hired out of Plymouth Airport to do real estate photography, was flying low over local residences when its engine began sputtering and the pilot attempted to land it on the pond's shoreline. Witness Neill Sullivan told WCVB: 'The passenger was still in her seat belt somewhat submerged in the water. 'Her head was above the water, but she was in a lot of pain.' Both Ryan and Pacheco were conscious when rescue workers arrived, police said. Witnesses told police the two-seat 2002 Robinson helicopter was flying low over local residences when its engine began sputtering and the pilot attempted to land it on the pond's shoreline The helicopter had been hired out of Plymouth Airport to do real estate photography Witness Eva Japowicz told CBS Boston: 'I heard "boom". You could just hear it hitting. I called the police right away. She told the TV station: 'She was really crying and screaming the whole time because she was hurt badly. 'He was just trying to calm her. He was hurt too, but I think not as much as her.' Federal investigators were scheduled to arrive at the crash site Saturday Charter company Heliops' website reads: 'John started flying helicopters at 19 years old and now, over 30 years later, he has more years of experience flying helicopters in and around Southern New England than any other helicopter pilot in the area. 'John is married with 3 great kids and lives in Scituate, MA.' Pachecho says on the website southcoastimages.com: 'I am an architectural, aerial, and estate photographer. 'I work with architects, builders, designers, and real estate brokers to create high quality marketing images.' President Vladimir Putin says Russia will work with whoever is elected the new US president. Putin earlier on Friday dodged the question of whether he would prefer Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton as the new commander-in-chief. He said Moscow is unfazed by the often anti-Russia 'campaign rhetoric' and will judge the new president 'by their deeds, not by their words'. Putin said he would 'seek ways' to restore ties that were dampened by Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 and its support to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. He made the remarks while speaking at a meeting with the leaders of major news agencies. Scroll down for video Putin said he would 'seek ways' to restore ties that were dampened by Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 and its support to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine Also on Friday, CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria was filmed talking to Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Zakaria said: 'You made some comments about the American Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump. 'You called him "brilliant", "outstanding", "talented". These comments were reported around the world. I was wondering what in him led you to that judgement, and do you still hold that judgement?' In his answer, Putin said: 'Why do you always change the meaning of what I said? Because at the moment you speak as a journalist, not as an analyst. Why are you juggling with what I said?' 'I only said that he is a bright person. Isn't he bright? He is. He's - I did not say anything else about him. 'But there's one thing that I paid attention to, and that I definitely welcome, is that Mr Trump said that he's ready to restore full-fledged Russian-American relations. 'What can be bad about it? Don't you welcome it? We all welcome it.' The word 'brilliant' had come from a translation from Interfax, according to Zakaria. Putin told Fareed Zakaria, referring to Donald Trump: 'I only said that he is a bright person. Isn't he bright? He is. He's - I did not say anything else about him'. Trump is pictured in Texas on Friday Asked about his view of Hillary Clinton, Putin dodged direct comment, but spoke highly of Bill Clinton, saying he was grateful to him for his help Asked about his view of Hillary Clinton, Putin dodged direct comment, but spoke highly of Bill Clinton, saying he was grateful to him for his help. He was quoted by the Wall Street Journal saying Friday: 'We had a very nice relationship. Sydney's northern beaches residents are preparing for flash flooding and storms this weekend by laying sandbags after seven homes were destroyed two weeks ago during the city's worst storm in 40 years. Wild weather heading for the east coast this weekend is expected to bring flash flooding and more thunderstorms to New South Wales by Sunday afternoon. A rain band will bring heavy rain to Queensland - possibly up to 100mm and winds up to 90km/h - on Saturday before the east coast low heads to New South Wales. Anticipating the swell to reach nearly two metres, Collaroy homeowners began placing more sandbags in front of their homes on Saturday, according to Weatherzone. Scroll down for video Wild weather stretching along the east coast this weekend is expected to bring flash flooding and thunderstorms to Sydney just two weeks after the city suffered its worst storm in 40 years (pictured) Sydney is expected to get up to 50mm throughout the weekend but areas of Queensland can expect to receive about 100mm of rainfall and winds up to 90km/h The Bureau of Meteorology predicts only moderate rainfall could overfill the Warragamba Dam. Pictured is the dam spilling over in March 2012 Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Adam Blazak said the downpour would be similar to the powerful thunderstorms that hit Australia's eastern seaboard a fortnight ago. NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania were lashed by torrential rain and strong winds earlier this month during a massive storm that killed two people. Collaroy had chunks of its coastline swallowed by massive waves and Tasmania experienced widespread flooding in its northern regions Emergency crews will be on stand by across New South Wales but the storm is not expected to be as destructive, according the Sydney Morning Herald. Above is a weather map showing the amount of rainfall predicted until Monday An east coast low stretching from far north Queensland to New South Wales is passing over the drought-ravaged inland region and will hit the coast by Sunday night. Above are huge waves at Bronte Beach Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Adam Blazak said the downpour would be similar to the powerful thunderstorms that hit Australia's eastern seaboard a fortnight ago Emergency crews will be on stand by across New South Wales. Above a group of teenagers braved the 125 km/h winds on Sunday to snap a photo as waves battered Cape Solander earlier this month 'It is difficult to accurately predict rainfall totals while still gauging how the system will develop, but at the moment all of the guidance is pointing to the coastal areas north of Port Macquarie and south of Sydney receiving their heaviest rainfall on Saturday night and Sunday,' said Jane Golding, acting NSW regional director of the bureau. Sydneysiders have been told to brace as the city's major dams are set to spill over when a predicted east coast low hits. The Bureau of Meteorology predicts only moderate rainfall could overfill the Warragamba Dam, which supplies water to more than 3.7 million people living in Sydney and the lower Blue Mountains. 'Warragamba Dam is at 98 per cent at the moment... 30 to 50 millimetres will cause that dam to spill,' NSW SES Deputy Commissioner Mark Morrow told 9News. Sydney is expected to get 5-10mm on Saturday and 20-40mm on Sunday, Weatherzone was predicting on Friday. Queensland is also risk of flash flooding with a major downpour expected in Brisbane and other parts of the state. The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued a flood watch for Toowoomba, in Queensland's south-east Darling Downs. NATIONAL SEVEN-DAY FORECAST Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Canberra Adelaide Perth Hobart Darwin Friday 21C, clearing shower, 1-5mm rainfall 15C, showers, 1-5mm rainfall 24C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 14C, rain, 1-5mm rainfall 16C, showers easing, 1-5mm rainfall 19C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall 12C, showers, 1-5mm rainfall 33C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall Saturday 19C, rain, 5-10mm rainfall 13C, clearing shower, <1mm rainfall 25C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 13C, showers, 1-5mm rainfall 15C, possible shower, <1mm rainfall 19C, sunny, <1mm rainfall 13C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall 33C, sunny, <1mm rainfall Sunday 19C, rain, 20-40mm rainfall 13C, cloudy, 1-5mm rainfall 24C, possible thunderstorm, 20-40mm rainfall 14C, rain, 20-40mm rainfall 16C, cloudy, <1mm rainfall 20C, late shower, 5-10mm rainfall 13C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall 33C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall Monday 19C, rain, 1-5mm rainfall 14C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 22C, clearing shower, <1mm rainfall 14C, rain, 1-5mm rainfall 15C, late shower, 1-5mm rainfall 18C, clearing shower, 1-5mm rainfall 13C, possible shower, <1mm rainfall 33C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall Tuesday 18C, cloudy, <1mm rainfall 14C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 21C, sunny, <1mm rainfall 11C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 17C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 16C, late shower, 1-5mm rainfall 13C, possible shower, <1mm rainfall 33C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall Wednesday 19C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall 15C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 23C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall 13C, possible shower, <1mm rainfall 16C, possible shower, 10-20mm rainfall 17C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 12C, possible shower, <1mm rainfall 33C, sunny, <1mm rainfall Thursday 18C, mostly sunny, <11mm rainfall 15C, possible shower, 5-10mm rainfall 22C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall 12C, possible shower, 5-10mm rainfall 16C, possible shower, 10-20mm rainfall 16C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall 12C, possible shower, 1-5mm rainfall 34C, mostly sunny, <1mm rainfall This upcoming weather event has sparked the NSW Government to announce $690 million to raise the dam's wall by 14 metres to offer people downstream 'extra protection', Premier Mike Baird told The Sydney Morning Herald. Up to 134,000 people would need to evacuated if major flooding was to happen. The east coast low almost two weeks ago added an extra 12.1 per cent of water to Sydney's major dams. In the week leading up to June 9, Warragamba Dam had 170mm of rainfall and it now sits at 97.7 per cent, according to WaterNSW. The Upper Nepean, Woronora, Shoalhaven and Blue Mountains got 270mm, 310mm, 280mm and 170mm in the same period. The areas that will bear the brunt of the weather event will be the region between the Central Coast and Jervis Bay. Mr Morrow said Sydney's metropolitan areas was also 'prone to flash flooding'. Vehicles drive through a partially flooded Paramatta Road in Sydney earlier this month when an east coast low hit Mining magnate Gina Rinehart says Australian politicians don't 'have the guts' to tackle government spending. Ms Rinehart said the cost of government was growing rapidly and this issue has been overlooked in the election campaign. 'There is one giant cost slab that isn't decreasing: government,' Ms Rinehart told the Saturday Telegraph. Gina Rinehart, Australia's second richest person, said the cost of government was increasing rapidly and the issue had been overlooked in the election campaign The mining magnate says she needed 4000 pieces of approvals, licensing and permits to construct and open her Roy Hill mine Ms Rinehart also took aim at the level of government red tape which needs to be overcome for developments. She says her $10 billion iron ore project at Roy Hill, which opened in December, has been slowed down by about 4000 documents. These include government approvals, permits and licensing required to construct and open the mine. 'India has the guts to do what it's doing to cut at least federal red tape, with the consequent immense benefits to its people, driving investment, jobs, economic growth and living standards - why can't Australia?' she said. According to Ms Rinehart, IPA figures show the cost of red tape to the economy makes it Australia's largest industry The Roy Hill mine sent its first shipment of iron ore to South Korea in December last year The Roy Hill project is located about 300kms from Port Kembla in Western Australia and delivered its first shipment of iron ore to South Korea on December 10, 2015. Just two weeks ago, while accepting an award for the mine - which won PMI Australia's Project of the Year - Ms Rinehart said Australia had the fastest growth in government spending among 17 comparable countries, and the third highest growth in net government debt among 17 comparable countries. Hotel said the staff involved with the incident 'will face appropriate action' The men and other tourists and children posed for photos as shark died Seven men dragged the shark from the surf onto the beach to take photos Shocking actions were reportedly captured on video near the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana, A shark died after a group of tourists and lifeguards in the Dominican Republic raced into the water to drag it back to shore. In a shocking video captured by beachgoers, the shark is first seen in the surf as seven men cautiously approached it and drug it back to shore. The incident reportedly took place near the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana, where some members of the hotel's staff were involved, according to The Dodo. A shark (pictured) died after a group of tourists and lifeguards (pictured) in the Dominican Republic raced into the water to drag it back to shore About seven men pulled the blue shark from the water and a life preserver was placed in it's mouth in an apparent attempt to keep it from biting them. The incident reportedly happened near the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana where tourists and lifeguards posed for a photo as the helpless shark died on the beach As the men approach the shore, the shark tries to escape to no avail. It appeared it was tangled in the rope of a life preserver as lifeguards from the hotel were among those who got involved. The life preserver was even inserted into the shark's mouth as it lie helplessly on it's back surrounded by lifeguards and tourists. Tourists and lifeguards then used the shark as a prop and began to take photos with it. Some were holding the shark down as others sat around it. One man held the dying creature's tail fin in the air as he posed for a photo. Tourists and lifeguards then used the shark as a prop and began to take photos with it. Some were holding the shark down as others sat around it. One man (pictured) held the dying creature's tail fin in the air as he posed for a photo Hard Rock Hotel responded to their staff's actions on Twitter saying: 'As Hard Rock does not condone this behavior, we are taking this situation seriously. Staff involved will face appropriate action' Hard Rock Hotel spokesperson Stacy Sorino told The Dodo that resort management is aware of the incident, and that 'corrective measures' are being taken against the employees involved. 'That is absolutely against our standards of protecting animals as we protect our guests,' said Sorino. The hotel also responded to their staff's actions on Twitter saying: 'As Hard Rock does not condone this behavior, we are taking this situation seriously. 'Staff involved will face appropriate action.' Earlier this year, a similar incident occurred in Argentina when a baby dolphin died of suspected dehydration after being paraded around like a trophy and stroked by a crowd of sunbathers who then abandoned it on the sand. The group of people huddled around the mammal taking selfies after it was found on the Argentine beach resort of Santa Teresita in the north-eastern Buenos Aires Province. Blue sharks will grow to be 12.5 feet in length and on average weigh about 450 pounds And in Florida last month, a woman was rushed to the hospital after she was bitten by a baby nurse shark. An 11-year-old witness told the Sun Sentinel that the shark was provoked by the woman and her friends. He said he saw the woman and her friends 'holding the shark by its tail' and 'messing with it' before the animal lashed out. Blue sharks are extremely fast swimmers and they can swim long distances. They are one of the few species of sharks that stick together in small groups. On average a blue shark will grow to be 12.5 feet in length. They dont weight much compared to other sharks at a maximum of about 450 pounds. She heard a bear who had been separated from her cub and ran towards them - prompting a fight between the bear and the wolf Barnaby remained in the woods for 12 hours, fending off mosquitoes and fighting dehydration and talking to her loved ones The mutt has a history of scaring bears away but didn't intimidate the wolf She got separated from her friend and wound up alone with her dog Joey A mother who went looking for morels in the Canadian wilderness says she was chased by a wolf for 12 hours - until she pitted a bear against the predator and made a lucky escape. Joanne Barnaby went mushroom-picking with her friend Tammy Caudron near Fort Smith, in the Northwest Territories, last Friday. The two became separated, leaving Barnaby alone in the woods with her dog, Joey, a mutt who had previously scared bears away. But when a wolf sneaked up on them, there was nothing the dog could do, CBC reported. Joanne Barnaby (pictured left after she returned from the woods) went mushroom-picking with her friend Tammy Caudron (right) near Fort Smith, in the Northwest Territories, last Friday 'I heard this growl behind me. There was a long, tall, very, very skinny wolf. A black wolf. And his legs were spread and his hair was standing, and he was growling, and baring his teeth,' Barnaby told the station. The wolf appeared to strategically try to wear her out, luring her away from the highway and further into the woods, while attempting to separate her from Joey, she said. Barnaby spent the next 12 hours trying to escape the predator. 'He was dogged. He was just determined. I was in trouble,' she told CBC. Meanwhile, Caudron honked the horn of Barnaby's truck several times and became worried when her friend didn't return. Barnaby, of Hay River, grew up in the Northwest Territories and knew the woods well enough not to get lost, the Washington Post wrote. But she only had an empty beer can as the wolf kept stalking her, and eventually became dehydrated while fending off swarms of mosquitoes. She kept rubbing her arms and legs while trying to tune out their relentless buzz as dusk fell. Barnaby (pictured with a police officer after escaping the wolf) said she remained trapped for 12 hours before walking towards a bear cub, causing its mother to fight with the wolf Caudron saw men driving past in a truck and enlisted their help to look for Barnaby. They fired their guns to signal their position and Barnaby heard them but couldn't react as she faced the wolf, the Washington Post reported. A police spokesperson told the newspaper Barnaby had indeed been reported missing in Wood Buffalo National Park, near Fort Smith. Barnaby said she heard the sound that would eventually save her life around 4:30am, as the sun began to rise. It was the grunt of a mother bear. Barnaby listened intently and heard the cub's response coming from a different direction, which meant the two had been separated. Joey (pictured), Barnaby's dog, has a history of scaring bears but could nothing against the wolf She decided to take a chance and walked towards the cub. After about 20 minutes, Barnaby finally heard the sound of an attack behind her, and said she could make out the wolf's yelps as it fought with the bear. She and Joey walked for half an hour as the wolf stopped stalking them. They found a small lake and Barnaby used her empty beer can to drink water at last. Then, she gathered her strengths as she prepared to get out of the woods and find her way back to the highway. 'I started praying to not let the mosquitoes drive me insane. Then I just started talking to people I love, some of whom are still with us, some of whom have passed,' Barnaby told CBC. 'As I talked to them and told them how much I loved them, everything they mean to me, it energized me, and I was determined to see everybody again.' She caught sight of the highway and even saw officers searching for her, but her path was blocked by tangled dead trees and she had to turn away. 'I didn't think I was going to make it,' she told the Washington Post. 'I started talking to both my sons, one of whom died when he was a baby, and my other son, who is a young man now. I was talking to all kinds of people that I love, and I was crying the whole time.' It was 8am when she finally made it out of the woods and saw police looking for her. She got food and water and declined a ride back to her home, preferring to drive by herself. Barnaby went back to Caudron's house, who gave her a hug and yelled: 'I thought you were dead.' The police spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Post that officers had participated in the search and that one of them was at the scene when she resurfaced. Barnany told the newspaper the wolf's attitude had been 'pretty bizarre' but said she didn't mind people doubting her story as she went looking for morels, not fame. Party time: Ken Wenman and girlfriend Viki Pollard The head of a disgraced NHS trust used thousands of pounds of public money to gag former staff members despite claiming the trust did not have the funds to run a safe service. Chief executive Ken Wenman ran up the extraordinary legal bills to prevent damaging stories about him being reported. These include claims he had sexually harassed a paramedic and had forced a female member of staff to undergo a 'humiliating' internal examination during an employment claim against South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Today's revelations follow a damning report by the Care Quality Commission earlier this week, which gave the trust the first ever 'inadequate' rating for a 111 service. The CQC probe was prompted by an investigation by the Daily Mail, which revealed the 111 service linked to the death of baby William Mead from sepsis after a call handler failed to realise he was seriously ill was mired in chaos. Teenagers were being left to answer life-or-death calls, exhausted staff were falling asleep at their posts and deaths linked to the service were being covered up. After the report was released, Mr Wenman whose pay package is worth more than 256,000 a year complained his trust had not been given enough money to run a safe service. But it can now be revealed he has spent huge sums silencing former staff and the Press. This includes more than 200,000 given to a woman who wishes to remain anonymous who was told she had to undergo a 'painful and intimate' examination to prove she had a debilitating health problem. She said the examination was specifically ordered by Mr Wenman, despite her having already provided her full medical records. She was given the NHS money in a settlement which included a gagging clause so she could not discuss details of the case. In a witness statement, which was prepared for a case against the trust but never heard, she said there was 'no justification' for the examination and the trust's insistence on it was 'unnecessary, vindictive and humiliating'. In his response, Mr Wenman acknowledged it was 'the trust's request that she undergo an examination' but said there was 'no intention whatsoever to victimise or humiliate her'. He said it was so the trust could 'challenge the assertion that her condition was a disability'. Nearly 75,000 of public money was also used after Mr Wenman was accused of sexually harassing a paramedic, an allegation she later dropped. Wenman tried to bury claims about him including ones of sexual harassment and of forcing a female member of staff to undergo a 'humiliating' internal examination Caroline Pascoe claimed she had been sacked unfairly for a relatively minor offence in 2009 after turning down Mr Wenman's sexual advances. She claims that after calling her 'sexy' in a meeting, he sent her a text inviting her to stay with him at a luxury hotel. During a tribunal hearing in 2011, Miss Pascoe was aggressively cross-examined by the top QC the trust employed, who is thought to have cost thousands of pounds per day. She was accused of being a 'mendacious liar' and of orchestrating 'a 200,000 con' to 'extort money' from the NHS. Despite her name being reported, Mr Wenman was granted anonymity. After three days of cross examination, Miss Pascoe dropped her case with friends claiming she had been 'deeply traumatised' by the way she had been 'torn apart' by the trust's lawyers. TRUST SPENT 7K ON PIZZAS AND 700K ON HOTELS Freedom of information requests from the Mail have revealed the trust spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money on takeaways and hotel trips. The bill for Domino's Pizza alone came to 7,883 for South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust over the last three years. Hotel accommodation cost it 1.44million over that period, with more than 700,000 spent last year. The trust insisted much of this covered accommodation during training courses. A whistleblower also revealed that the trust's charity funds are being used every year to fund staff perks, including alcohol for parties, high-end coffee machines and Sky TV. The trust admitted it had spent 22,112 from its charity fund since 2013 on food and non-alcoholic drink for staff on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. A spokesman said: 'The trust scrutinises all expenditure to ensure the best value for taxpayers ... Much of our expenditure relates to training and all of these payments are guided by nationally negotiated terms and conditions.' On the spending of charity funds on employees, they added: 'These are charitable funds for welfare and training.' Advertisement The trust later admitted it had spent 74,608 defending the claim. A spokesman said that 'neither the Employment Judge nor Miss Pascoe's counsel raised any concerns as to the appropriateness of the cross-examination', and Miss Pascoe withdrew her claim, with no payment made to her. Mr Wenman was also subject to an investigation after pornographic images were found on his NHS laptop. He claimed the images had appeared by accident and so was cleared of wrongdoing and simply asked to be more careful. It has also emerged Mr Wenman, 60, spent taxpayers' money taking HR manager and girlfriend Viki Pollard, 40, on a first class trip to London for an awards ceremony in 2009, staying in Park Lane. Inspectors found his 111 service was so short of staff that patients were 'at risk of harm'. Pictured: A call handler asleep at the South West centre He later faced accusations of nepotism after claims he appointed his son to a senior role for which he did not have the experience. However an investigation by the trust cleared him of nepotism. It said he had no role in James Wenman's 'substantive appointment' as clinical development manager a role he still holds. Last night a spokesman for the trust said the proceedings involving the woman who underwent an examination were 'settled by agreement', adding: 'The trust commissioned an independent investigation into the issues raised ... which found no further action to be necessary.' They said that Miss Pascoe 'was not dismissed but resigned from the trust in 2010 during an appropriate disciplinary procedure', adding: 'Ms Pascoe was repeatedly invited to set out her allegations fully so that they could be investigated. The trust did commission an independent HR consultant to carry out an investigation. None of the allegations were upheld.' This comes as Mr Turnbull showed support for university fee Labor maintains a narrow lead over the Coalition in the lead up to the July 2 election, according to the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll. The opposition has held on to a narrow overall lead over the past fortnight but the prospect of a hung parliament has increased as voters flock to third parties, the poll revealed. The nationwide survey put the opposition ahead at 51-49 in two-party preferred terms. Labor maintains a narrow lead over the Coalition in the lead up to the July 2 election, according to a Fairfax-Ipsos poll- Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten speaks during a leaders' debate on Friday The June 14-16 poll also shows Malcolm Turnbull remains the popular choice as preferred prime minister at 48 per cent to 34 for Labor leader Bill Shorten A majority of voters continue to predict a Coalition victory, at 54 per cent, consistent with the view of betting markets and the majority of political pundits. The June 14-16 poll also shows Malcolm Turnbull remains the popular choice as preferred prime minister at 48 per cent to 34 for Labor leader Bill Shorten. The Greens' party vote stands at 14 per cent, up 5 percentage points from the 9 per cent share it received in 2013. Another 14 per cent intend to support 'others', raising the potential for a hung parliament. Labor's primary vote has dropped to a low 33 per cent while the Coalition primary vote has fallen faster to 39. It comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull commented on the Coalition's fee deregulation policy during Friday night's Leaders Debate. The policy aims to increase flexibility and competition for universities (pictured) Mr Turnbull's comments on the policy, which aims to increase flexibility and competition, come days after Treasurer Scott Morrison said under a re-elected Coalition government fee deregulation would not occur. The Prime Minister said: 'What we are doing, of course, is seeking to reform and provide more flexibility to universities. We are not going to deregulate fees entirely.' 'The [Education] Minister, Simon Birmingham, has announced that what we will seek to do is to offer the universities the ability to deregulate fees, if you like, for a small number of flagship courses so that they can compete, so that you do get more competition between universities.' Mr Turnbull said he disagreed with claims that it would disadvantage lower-income students. The policy would allow Australian universities to increase fees of their best courses and enrol up to 20 percent of total students in them, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The government said it hoped to finalise the policies by the end of the year. The Education Minister, Simon Birmingham (pictured) announced that the government will seek to offer the universities the ability to deregulate fees A man fed up with long airport security lines is suing the TSA after he missed his flight and had to shell out for another. Hooman Nikizad, a resident surgeon with the University of Minnesota, missed his plane to Los Angeles at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on March 19, despite showing up the recommended two hours early, because he says the TSA was only using one body scanner and was horribly understaffed. He waited in the snail's pace line for one and a half hours, he claimed, according to WGNTV. Scroll down for Video Hooman Nikizad is suimg the TSA for $506.85 he had to spend to catch another flight from Minneapolis to Los Angeles after he waited in a security line for an hour and a half and then missed his flight - above, passengers at O'Hare International Airport wait in line, in May, 400 people missed their flights at the airport Hooman Nikizad (left), a resident surgeon, is suing the TSA; Peter Neffenger (right), administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, had visited the Minneapolis airport only eight days before Nikizad missed his flight, promising improvements Nikizad is suing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) for the costs associated with his missed flight. He wants reimbursement for the $506.85 he had to pay out of pocket for another flight, ground transportation expenses, and a $75 court fee, according to the Star Tribune. 'I had to buy a ticket with another airline to be able to make my destination and meet my obligations,' he stated in the suit. '[TSA] have done a very poor job of getting passengers through security.' 'The defendants failures cost me a new a new flight ticket and multiple transportation costs to and from the airports,' he said. The doctor is especially irked that the airport had just received a visit from Peter Neffenger, the head of the TSA, eight days earlier, who had vowed to make immediate changes. '[He] promised 'you'll see some real improvements in the very coming days,'' Nikizad claimed of Neffenger in his suit. Despite the general unpopularity of the TSA, Nikizad may be the first person to sue the entity for causing a missed flight. TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers told the Star Tribune, 'I have never encountered anything similar.' Experts say that this summer could mean the longest wait times ever as there is expected to be record travel combined with TSA short staffing The claim was filed in April but has since been moved to federal court. Record summer travel and TSA understaffing is expected to make security lines longer than ever, and a trade group called Airlines for America has already called on the TSA to hire more staff. Notorious conman Peter Foster reportedly spoke to police about his former jail mate John Chardon, who was yesterday charged with the murder of his fifth wife. Mother-of-two Novy Chardon, 34, went missing from the Gold Coast in 2013, and her body has never been found. Foster is understood to have given Queensland Police information about her disappearance after sharing a jail cell with her 69-year-old husband, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported. Scroll down for video Gold Coast millionaire John Chardon (pictured in handcuffs) has been arrested and charged with the murder of his fifth wife, Novy Infamous swindler Peter Foster shared a jail cell with murder-accused John Chardon and is believed to have spoken to police about the disappearance of Chardon's wife. Foster is pictured outside a Gold Coast Court in 2012 Foster is the infamous swindler who helped Cherie Blair, the wife of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, buy two apartments in 2002 while he was dating her 'spiritual advisor' Carole Caplin. He was imprisoned in Queensland last year for a weight loss scam and shared a cell with Chardon, who was in jail for offences unrelated to the current murder allegations. Foster was released from prison last November with six months left on his sentence and will be called to give evidence at Chardon's murder trial. Chardon, a multi-millionaire who made his fortune in the industrial lubricants industry, has always maintained he did not kill his wife and he will fight the murder charges in court. Indonesian born Novy Chardon, 34, (pictured) disappeared from the Gold Coast mansion she shared with her multi-millionaire husband John Chardon in January 2013 and has never been seen again Novy Chardon, 34, (pictured, left) vanished in early 2013 and her husband John (right), has now been arrested and charged with killing her One of the last images of Novy Chardon on CCTV at a service station on the Gold Coast in early 2013 After Mr Chardon's arrest, police said they remained hopeful they would find the body of his wife. Ms Chardon was last seen at her northern Gold Coast home on February 6, 2013 and her car was found at a nearby train station five days later. Police said the lack of a body, reported sightings of Ms Chardon and the complex nature of the investigation led to the three-year wait for her husband's arrest. Police told the Gold Coast Bulletin: 'We believe there are people out there with knowledge of what happened that night and in the days following. 'We want them to help us fit another piece to the puzzle and help the family move forward. Industrial lubricants millionaire John Chardon, 69, has been arrested and charged with murder more than three years after his fifth wife's disappearance In the 1990s, Foster was fined for a trading standards offence relating to a weight loss scheme and two years later he was jailed in Britain for similar offences. Later he was jailed in the United States for another trading standards offence and when he returned to Britain in 2000 he was jailed again for using fraudulent documents to obtain credit for a slimming cream company. Peter Foster's infamy in the UK reached its height in the early 2000s when he became involved in an affair with Cherie Blair's fitness 'guru' Carole Caplin. At the time, he told the then Prime Minister's wife that he could get a discount worth more than $100,000 on a mortgage for a property Mrs Blair was interested in. Peter Foster has been imprisoned in Britain, the United States and Australia for allegations related to weight loss programmes and other scams A controversial Islamist preacher who dined at the Prime Minister's home this week has denied he called for the stoning of adulterers after it was revealed he said gays should be punished by Allah with AIDS and HIV. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier condemned the views of Sheikh Shady Al-Suleiman who attended the Ramadan Iftar dinner at Kirribilli House in Sydney on Thursday night. The sheikh denied he held radical anti-gay views in a statement issued on Friday evening which rejected claims he called for the stoning of homosexuals. Scroll down for video Sheikh Shady Al-Suleiman denied he held radical anti-gay views in a statement issued on Friday evening which rejected claims he called for the stoning of homosexuals Sheik Shady Al-Suleiman attended the Iftar dinner at Kirribilli House on Thursday night, which Mr Turnbull (pictured with The Project host Waleed Aly and wife Susan Carland) said was a chance for people to unite 'I unequivocally reject the claim that I called for the stoning or any form of punishment of adulterers and/or homosexuals,'the statement read. As an Australian and a Muslim I unreservedly condemn the vilification and oppression of any group of people based on race, religion, gender, sexuality. 'Islam's position on the matter is clear like many other religions, however Islam espouses there is no compulsion in religion and diversity is the norm. 'In light of the above, there is absolutely no place for homophobia or any sort of hatred or discrimination towards a person who identifies as LGBTI.' A video posted in April 2013 recorded him saying if homosexuality was out in the open 'amongst a tribe... Allah will send on them diseases'. Mr Turnbull emphasised the importance of tolerance telling the dinner acts of terror like Sunday's massacre in Orlando are perpetrated to divide along lines of race, religion, sect and sexuality - but that kind of hatred and division must not prevail. Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne said mistakes were made on the invitations, but the prime minister was quick to condemn the views as soon as he was aware the preacher was attending. 'He acted instantaneously to ensure that there was no suggestion that we endorsed those views,' Mr Pyne told the Nine Network. Senior Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said it was a stuff-up that shouldn't be blamed on Mr Turnbull. The sheikh denied he held radical anti-gay views in a statement on Friday after a video posted in April 2013 recorded him saying if homosexuality was out in the open 'amongst a tribe... Allah will send on them diseases' Malcolm Turnbull (right with Waleed Aly and his wife, Susan Carland) emphasised the importance of tolerance telling the dinner acts of terror like Sunday's massacre in Orlando are perpetrated to divide people 'I do think it's a good thing that the prime minister had an iftar dinner and I don't believe you can hold the prime minister permanently responsible for everyone who is invited.' In the video posted in 2013, the sheikh is recorded saying 'Allah will send on them diseases they have never experienced before.' 'What's the most common diseases these days, HIV, AIDS, that's so common, and there's no cure to it. 'When did it exist? Just decades ago. And more diseases are coming... homosexuality is spreading all these diseases. 'Let's not deny the fact, don't call it the name of freedom or that, don't talk about that this is the freedom of action... these are evil actions that bring upon evil outcomes to our society. The Prime Minister (right) hosted the Ramadan feast at Kirribilli House on Thursday night, with a guest list that included recent Gold Logie winner Waleed Aly (left) and his wife Susan Carland 'The prophet Allah, 14 centuries ago, spoke about whenever [homosexuality] is spread in a society diseases will be set upon them.' In other videos posted online, Sheikh Al-Suleiman said women should not look at men and they would be 'hung by the breasts in hell'. It comes after Mr Turnbull became the first Australian prime minister to host an Iftar, breaking bread with faith leaders. The Prime Minister hosted the feast, with a guest list that included recent Gold Logie winner Waleed Aly and his wife, Susan Carland. Others invited to dinner include AFL player Bachar Houli and author and mechanical engineer Yassmin Abdel-Magied (right) Mr Turnbull was photographed sharing a joke over dinner with Aly and Carland, while at other times they appeared deep in conversation. Others invited to dinner were AFL player Bachar Houli, and author and mechanical engineer Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Mr Turnbull described Ramadan - the period in which Muslims fast from food and water between dawn and sunset - as a special time of forgiveness, reflection and spiritual renewal. He also recognised the other faith leaders present to share in the spirit of Ramadan. 'By breaking bread across religions and by bringing diverse people together, we are embodying Islam's emphasis on human diversity,' he said reciting a Koranic verse. Singling out young Muslims, Mr Turnbull acknowledged the important contribution Muslims had made to Australian society. 'By breaking bread across religions and by bringing diverse people together, we are embodying Islam's emphasis on human diversity,' Mr Turnbull said reciting a Koranic verse He sought to assure them extremists would not win in their aim to divide Australia. 'Acts of terror like Sunday's massacre in Orlando are perpetrated to divide us along lines of race, religion, sect and sexuality - but that kind of hatred and division must not prevail,' Mr Turnbull said. 'We must stand together like we do tonight as one Australian family united against terrorism, racism, discrimination and violence.' Aly also quizzed the Prime Minister on whether highs-speed internet via the NBN was available Kirribilli House, before Mr Turnbull replied saying he knew The Project host was 'keen' on the internet upgrade. 'It is very well connected to broadband,' Mr Turnbull said during the light-hearted interview. 'Can I say, I know you are very keen on the NBN, but let me tell you something. Australian Rules player Bachar Houli also attended the dinner in Sydney, speaking to the audience Singling out young Muslims, Mr Turnbull acknowledged the important contribution Muslims have made to Australian society 'Within a week or so, a quarter of all Australian premises, that's households and business premises will have the NBN available.' The Prime Minister later declared his favourite dishes of the Iftar at Kirribilli House was tabouli and fattoush - which is a Lebanese fried bread salad. He confirmed he did notfast in preparation for the dinner. 'I just showed up here for the meal,' Mr Turnbull told Aly on Network Ten's The Project from the dinner. Earlier, Mr Turnbull began the day with a tour of Qantas' Innovation Day with Treasurer Scott Morrison, seeing first hand the airline's connections to Australian business. 'I just showed up here for the meal,' Mr Turnbull told Aly on Network Ten's The Project from the dinner Waleed Aly and Susan Carland (pictured at the Logie Award in May 2016) attended the dinner in Sydney on Thursday Family butter company Pepe Saya tried to get him to sample some of their creamy spread. He declined but was impressed by their product and story. Owner Pierre Issa said it was an honour to meet him. 'We didn't get to butter him up, but we tried,' he joked. This is the sign Disney will put up on the beach where an alligator dragged two-year-old Lane Graves to his death Disney has unveiled the sign that will be installed where two-year-old Lane Graves was dragged to his death by an alligator. It will be put up at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando after the company faced growing questions as to why there was nothing warning guests about the deadly predators. Resort staff have also erected temporary barriers around the water's edge in the wake of the attack. There was previously a sign on the beach saying: 'No Swimming', but many thought that wasn't enough. The dangerous reptiles had even been spotted lurking in the water days before the horrific incident. Other close encounters were also reported in other parts of the park. Lane, whose body was found 15 hours after he was pulled underwater, hadn't even been swimming at the time. He had just been wading near the edge of the lagoon. The new post will read: 'Danger. Alligators and snakes in area. Stay away from the water. Do not feed the wildlife.' Jacquee Wahler, Vice President of Walt Disney World Resort, told Daily Mail Online in a statement: 'We are installing signage and temporary barriers at our resort beach locations and are working on permanent, long-term solutions at our beaches. 'We continue to evaluate processes and procedures for our entire property, and, as part of this, we are reinforcing training with our cast for reporting sightings and interactions with wildlife and are expanding our communication to guests on this topic.' Florida's legal community predicted a multi-million-dollar payout for the boy's family. Matt Morgan, an Orlando lawyer, predicted a multi-million-dollar settlement for wrongful death. 'Every parent across America has had this family's nightmare running through their minds and it's heartbreaking to think that this may have been a preventable tragedy,' Morgan told the Times of London. The new warning has already been installed on the beach after Disney World Resort closed all beaches in the wake of the horrific incident A number of wooden posts have also been installed on the water's edge to act as barriers These barriers have been put up next to the water at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando where the toddler was pulled under by the beast on Tuesday Representatives for Disney told Daily Mail Online they were working on a permanent solution to stop people from going into the lake Lane Grave's (pictured) mother and father tried to save him from the mouth of the reptile, but they couldn't stop him from being taken away The youngster's family revealed their heartbreak over their son's loss in a statement released on Thursday He said any case would focus on what Disney knew about alligators in the lagoon and when they knew it, and whether the company had taken sufficient measures to protect its guests. He pointed to claims that guests had previously fed alligators on the beach where the boy was snatched. On Friday, TMZ reported that an alligator had been spotted clambering onto a raft on the Tom Sawyer Island on the Rivers of America. One guest filmed the horrific incident on their cell phone. The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, which neighbors the Walt Disney Resort already has a sign which clearly reads: 'Please be aware of alligators in the lake.' Photos of the alligator warnings at the Hyatt resort were shared on the Disney fan website Mouse Steps, and the signs have been there for at least three years. As a result, hundreds of people poured onto social media condemning Disney's sign policy in the wake of the horrifying incident. The firm announced it would review its regulations and has now decided to install the sign. The company faced growing questions as to why there was nothing warning guests about the deadly predators. There was a sign that read: 'No Swimming' (pictured), but many thought that wasn't enough The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, which neighbors the Walt Disney World resort, has signs warning of alligators around its lake Contractors are seen putting the posts in place on the shoreline of the Grand Floridian's lagoon There are hundreds of lagoons in the immediate area surrounding the two resorts, with many just a few hundred feet apart or linked by small streams. Lane Graves was grabbed by a predator at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando while wading in the Seven Seas Lagoon with his parents Matthew and Melissa and older sister on Tuesday night. The family, from Nebraska, had been 10 feet from the shore and even though there were signs warning against swimming in the lagoon, they did not tell guests to be aware of alligators. Lane Graves was grabbed by a predator at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando while wading in the Seven Seas Lagoon with his parents Matthew and Melissa and older sister on Tuesday night. Now Walt Disney World has admitted that it routinely captures and moves dangerous gators from its grounds despite the signs at the Seven Sea Lagoon only warning against deep water and steep drop-offs. Sir Richard Thompson, pictured, believes that helping patients die should be part of their job Doctors have a duty to help their patients die and it should be a part of their jobs, according to the Queens former physician. Sir Richard Thompson is one of a growing number of eminent doctors who want assisted dying to be made legal. Next Tuesday, the British Medical Association will vote for the first time in more than a decade on whether to stop opposing the controversial practice. At their annual meeting in Belfast, more than 500 doctors will decide on whether to take the significant step of adopting a neutral stance as their official position on assisted dying. This would be a significant step because at present doctors official position is that they oppose assisted dying. Recent polls show that more and more doctors want to legalise the practice and would be prepared to help their patients end their lives. They include some of the most powerful members of the BMA as well as highly respected figures within the profession. Among them is Sir Richard Thompson, former president of the Royal College of Physicians and the Queens private doctor for 21 years, who said helping patients to die should be part of the job. We as a profession, as doctors are there to help people if necessary die, he said. Everyone gets obsessed with the idea of not doing any harm and you mustnt do anything to shorten patients lives but I think as a doctor it is your job to see people comfortably into the next life. In this case its assisted dying so youre helping people get themselves into the next life comfortably. Clearly there are dangers, relatives wanting to bump grandpa off, so thats why the doctor has to make sure that grandpa really wants to go. I dont think God would want them to suffer and if theres an easy way out for people who are in pain then it seems to me perfectly reasonable. I dont think God would want them to suffer and if theres an easy way out for people who are in pain then it seems to me perfectly reasonable Sir Richard Thompson If the patients want it and the family supports them, then I think its the duty of the doctor to help them do that. Sir Richard pointed out that opinion polls had consistently shown that more than 80 per cent of the public were in favour of a change in the law. But he stressed it should only be available for terminally ill patients and a trial should be conducted beforehand. We should at the very least limit it at the beginning and see how it goes, he added. Its gone well in other countries. Sir Richard has been the Queen's private physician for the past 21 years, who was pictured at Royal Ascot If the BMA votes to drop its opposition to assisted dying, it would be the first time it has changed its position since 2006. A year before it had voted to be neutral to the idea, but at the 2006 conference it moved back to being opposed. MPs last voted on legalising assisted dying in September last year, when they rejected it by a large majority. But anonymous surveys have suggested a large number of doctors do illegally help patients to die. Under prosecution guidelines introduced in 2010, doctors are not allowed to help anyone kill themselves although a family member or friend can do so and escape prosecution, depending on the circumstances. If the patients want it and the family supports them, then I think its the duty of the doctor to help them do that Sir Richard Thompson Just before next Tuesdays vote, members of the Dignity in Dying campaign group will turn up at the conference centre to distribute leaflets to doctors trying to persuade them to vote in favour of dropping opposition. They claim that up to 300 terminally ill patients are killing themselves in desperation in the UK each year because doctors are not allowed to help them die humanely. But Dr Robert Twycross, an Oxford University expert in medicine for the terminally ill, said that more than 80 per cent of those doctors who actually care for terminally ill patients oppose legalising the practice. I believe it will do more harm than good, he said. Property prices expected to fall this summer for the first time since 2012 George Osbornes tax increases for landlords will cripple the London property market next year causing house prices to fall across the country, a report has warned. The number of buy-to-let properties bought in London could halve as the changes come in, delivering a major shock to the capitals housing market, which is propped up by an army of investors. It could see house prices fall by as much as 20 per cent if the market slips back to the level it was three years ago, said the report by Deutsche Bank. George Osbornes tax increases for landlords will cripple the London property market next year causing house prices to fall across the country, a report has warned Last night experts warned that a slump in London might damage prices across England and Wales. Henry Pryor, an independent property expert, said: George Osbornes buy-to-let tax changes will almost certainly push down house prices across the country not just in swanky SW1 postcodes in London. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors predicts average house prices will fall this summer for the first time since 2012. Chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said: The feedback we are getting is that the tax changes on buy-to-let is having a negative impact on mood in the market. Its not beyond the realms of plausibility that we will see a slowdown. House prices are already rising more slowly than in December 2014, when the Chancellor made his first changes to property taxes. Before then, property prices were rising at 8.5 per cent a year, according to Nationwide Building Societys house price index. But by May this year growth had slowed to 4.7 per cent. In some areas, such as the South West, prices are now falling, and Deutsche Bank predicts the situation will get worse in London over the next 12 months. The number of buy-to-let properties bought in London could halve as the Chancellor's changes come in, delivering a major shock to the capitals housing market, which is propped up by an army of investors In April the Treasury hit landlords with an extra 3 per cent stamp duty on new properties. This added an extra 45,000 in tax to buy a 1.5million home, pushing the stamp duty bill from 93,750 to 138,750. The changes led to 45,000 buy-to-let loans being granted across the UK in March as landlords rushed to beat the changes. Deutsche Bank predicts there will be half as many buy-to-let buyers in future due to the extra costs. And next year landlords will be hit a second time. Higher earners are being stripped of a tax break that lets them deduct the cost of their mortgage interest from what they owe HM Revenue & Customs each year. The changes will be phased in between 2017 and 2021. Deutsche Bank said investors could expect returns to fall to between 0 0.5 per cent, and predicts that around 35 per cent of landlords in London would sell up as a result. Around four in ten London homes are owned by landlords. Oliver Reiff, co-author of the report, said: You also have to bear in mind that because of new mortgage regulations in the pipeline, many landlords may not be able to take out as much debt as before. Labour MP's Jo Cox's sister today paid a heartbreaking tribute to her sibling - just hours after the man accused of killing her gave his name in court as 'death to traitors, freedom for Britain'. Kim Leadbeater fought back tears as she gave a poignant speech dedicated to the politician who was tragically killed in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday. She described her late sister as being 'perfect' and also gave a special mention to the heroic and 'courageous' pensioner Bernard Kenny, 77, who tried to save her life in her 'hour of need'. Miss Leadbeater said Mrs Cox, 41, will 'live on' through her 'truly wonderful children' and that the family is broken 'for now' but that it will mend over time because they will never let 'Jo leave their lives'. Scroll down for video Jean Leadbeater, the mother of Labour MP Jo Cox, embraces Jo's sister Kim Leadbeater while her father Gordon looks on Gordon and Jean Leadbeater, (left) the parents of Labour MP Jo Cox, and their daughter Kim (right) look at floral tributes left in Birstall, West Yorkshire Mrs Cox's husband Brendan was looking after their two children today and posted on social media that he was 'very proud' of his sister in law when she spoke on behalf of the family. Crowds had gathered in Birstall to pay their respects and hundreds laid flowers and poignant messages on the same day a crowdfunding page raised 410,000 in one day. The heartfelt tribute came just hours after suspect Thomas Mair, 52, appeared in court this morning charged with her murder and gave his name in the dock as 'death to traitors, freedom for Britain'. He was in court just after 10am after he was charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon. Mair, an unemployed gardener from Birstall, was photographed arriving at Westminster Magistrates' Court in a police van this morning. Very proud of my sister in law Kim who spoke on behalf of us all and did her sister proud #MoreInCommon Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) June 18, 2016 Thomas Mair today appeared in the dock at Westminster Magistrates Court, where he was charged with the murder of Jo Cox Left, Jo Cox's parents Jean and Gordon Leadbeater, and right, her mother speaks to Fazila Aswat, Jo's assistant who was with her as she died As the nation pays tribute to their beloved daughter, Jean Leadbeater and her husband Gordon looked at the fond tributes left in Jo's memory - as her sister Kim Leadbeater stands at their side Kim Leadbeater (pictured) read a heartfelt tribute and said that her sister will 'live on' through her 'truly wonderful children' Popular MP Jo Cox died after she was shot three times and stabbed as she arrived for a constituency meeting in Birstall near Leeds. She leaves behind her husband Brendan and two children Gordon and Jean Leadbeater (centre), the parents of Labour MP Jo Cox, and her sister Kim Leadbeater (right) join family members as they look at floral tributes left in Birstall, West Yorkshire And just hours after Mair's' court appearance, Miss Leadbeater composed herself to deliver the speech and was seen kissing her mother on the cheek during the emotional day. She said: 'I want to start by saying thank you, this is unbelievable and we appreciate this massively, as does Brendan who is not here today because he is looking after the children. 'There are some things in life you should never have to do. Last night I had to go and identify my sister's body. 'Yes this was Jo Cox the MP and she was many things to many people in her too short life. 'But she was my sister, my only sibling, my parents' first born child, a wife and a mother. This is a very surreal situation. 'My parents, my partner and I are quite private people and Jo, in true character, had fully respected our wish to remain out of the public eye.' Brave Kim Leadbeater (left), the sister of the Labour MP, paid a heartbreaking tribute to her sister with her parents at her side (right) Jo's mother was embraced by well-wishers as they all joined together to pay tribute to the much-loved, popular MP Crowds gathered in Birstall to pay their respects and hundreds laid flowers and poignant messages as vigils in honour of Jo Cox continue around the country She added: 'But I could not continue to watch the overwhelming outpouring of genuine grief, sympathy and love there has been since this horrendous incident occurred without speaking on behalf of Jo's family. 'We want to say a most sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has expressed their love and affection for Jo and sent their thoughts and sympathy to us. 'It has genuinely made a difference and helped us through some dark times in the last 48 hours. 'We'd also like to thank the brave and courageous gentleman Bernard Kenny who tried to help her in her hour of need. 'Our thoughts and thanks go to him and his family and we wish him well in his recovery. Kim Leadbeater, the sister of Labour MP Jo Cox, embraces her father Gordon as they look at floral tributes Jean Leadbeater, the mother of murdered MP Jo Cox, laid flowers laid in tribute at the local memorial close to the crime scene Mrs Leadbeater points at a message as her husband looks over her shoulder as hundreds gathered to lay flowers Miss Leadbeater continued: 'She only saw the good. We know that there are some evil people in this world. 'But there are an awful lot of good people too. When Jo would get abuse on Facebook or Twitter we we would talk and sometimes cry together. 'We have to continue this strength and solidarity int he days, months and years to come as part of Jo's legacy and to focus on as Jo would say, 'that which unites us and not which divides us'. 'For now our family is broken. but we will mend over time and we will never let Jo leave out lives. 'She will live on through all the good people in the world. 'Through Brendan, through us, through her truly wonderful children who will always know what an utterly amazing woman there mother was. 'She was a human being and she was perfect.' Court artist Elizabeth Cook created an image of Thomas Mair after he stood in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London Thomas Mair arrived in a police van at Westminster Magistrates' Court after he was charged with the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox The unemployed gardener was also charged with grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon The van he was in followed a police escort as it arrived at the court this morning. Mrs Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed at lunchtime on Thursday Mrs Cox was shot and stabbed at lunchtime on Thursday and her assistant Fazila Aswat, who had just dropped her off outside her constituency surgery, has since revealed how she begged her to get up, but she replied: 'I can't make it, I'm in too much pain.' She was taken to hospital and declared dead at 1.48pm. Mair was arrested and charged with her murder and today wore a grey prison issue tracksuit in court and remained silent when he was asked for his address and date of birth. He was handcuffed to a guard in the dock during the hearing and will be held at Belmarsh Prison. Mair was not required to enter a plea and his lawyer Keith Allen said there was no indication of what plea would be given. He also told the court that legal aid has been applied for. Pensioner Mr Kenny remains in a stable condition in hospital after he 'bravely intervened' to help Mrs Cox. THE FAMILY'S FULL STATEMENT, READ BY SISTER KIM LEADBEATER: 'There are some things in life you should never have to do. 'Last night I had to go and identify my sister's body. 'Yes this was Jo Cox the MP and she was many things to many people in her too short life. 'But she was my sister, my only sibling, my parents' first born child, a wife and a mother. 'My parents, my partner and I are quite private people and Jo, in true character, had fully respected our wish to remain out of the public eye. 'But I could not continue to watch the overwhelming outpouring of genuine grief, sympathy and love there has been since this horrendous incident occurred without speaking on behalf of Jo's family. 'We want to say a most sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has expressed their love and affection for Jo and sent their thoughts and sympathy to us. 'It has genuinely made a difference and helped us through some dark times in the last 48 hours. 'We would particularly like to thank the police and emergency services who have been outstanding in the care they have provided to Jo and ourselves. 'We'd also like to thank the brave and courageous gentleman Bernard Kenny who tried to help her in her hour of need. 'Our thoughts and thanks go to him and his family and we wish him well in his recovery. 'Jo's team of staff both here and in London have been a source of support and strength for her since she was elected and she loved them dearly. 'I would particularly like to pay tribute to Sandra and Fazila who were with her on Thursday - two of the most wonderful woman you could hope to meet. 'From a very young age all Jo wanted was for everyone to be happy. We were brought up to see the positives in everything and everyone and have endeavoured to do so all our lives. 'Our parents instilled in us a real glass half full mentality and, while I sometimes tend to add a large measure of Yorkshire cynicism to this, Jo generally did not. 'She only saw the good. 'We know that there are some evil people in this world. 'But there are an awful lot of good people too. When Jo would get abuse on Facebook or Twitter we we would talk and sometimes cry together. 'But she would still focus on the positive and talk about the silent majority who didn't always shout the loudest but who she knew were in her corner. 'I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I was at times part of that silent majority. 'I don't do social media and would shout at the TV or get upset at home instead. 'But over the past 48 hours people have not been silent. 'They have been vocal and passionate and have spoken from the heart with genuine emotion with no hidden agendas. 'Jo would have loved it. 'We have to continue this strength and solidarity int he days, months and years to come as part of Jo's legacy and to focus on as Jo would say, 'that which unites us and not which divides us'. 'For now our family is broken. but we will mend over time and we will never let Jo leave out lives. 'She will live on through all the good people in the world. 'Through Brendan, through us, through her truly wonderful children who will always know what an utterly amazing woman there mother was. 'She was a human being and she was perfect.' Advertisement Hundreds of mourners left floral tributes for Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall, near Leeds, West Yorkshire Jo's mother Jean Leadbeater laid a floral tribute in memory of her daughter in Birstall - alongside thousands of other flowers Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot ordered that he be remanded in custody until his next appearance, at the Old Bailey on Monday. Ms Arbuthnot suggested that a psychiatric report should be prepared, saying: 'Bearing in mind the name he has just given, he ought to be seen by a psychiatrist.' She added: 'Your case is now going to the Central Criminal Court. 'You will be there on the 20th, Monday, for a bail application. You have to be produced on that day.' Mrs Cox lived on a houseboat on the Thames in Wapping, east London, with her husband and their two young children. In a statement after she was killed, her husband said: 'Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. Mourners left a number of photographs in Birstall to pay tribute to the MP who was killed on Thursday Flowers and tributes are piled in remebrance against a photograph of Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, central London 'I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo. 'Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. 'She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. 'Hate doesn't have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous. 'Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.' David Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn both travelled to Yorkshire on Friday to pay their respects to Mrs Cox. The Conservatives have said they will not contest the seat, out of respect. Mair, 52, arrived at court this morning where he will face charges including the murder of the mother of two Her husband Brendan changed his Facebook profile picture to this family photo on Friday Mourners leave floral tributes to killed MP Jo Cox as GoFundMe page set up in her honour raises 410,000 in less than a day Hundreds of mourners left floral tributes to Labour MP Jo Cox today as a fundraising page launched following her tragic death raised 410,000 in just one day. Donations have been pouring in on GoFundMe from those mourning the mother of two's death and the cash raised will go to three charities 'closest to her heart'. More than 14,000 people have donated and the figure exceeded the original target of 250,000 in around 18 hours. People began donating after the Batley and Spen MP, 41, was fatally shot and stabbed at lunchtime on Thursday as she headed to a meeting with her constituents Birstall, near Leeds, West Yorkshire. A fundraising page launched following the tragic death of Labour MP Jo Cox has raised more than 300,000 Today, a sea of floral tributes could be seen in Birstall, where Jo Cox served the community as an MP Among the photographs was a panda bear cuddly toy and a photo of the murdered mother of two A message on the website from her husband Brendan said: 'Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. 'She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her.' The money raised will go to three charities chosen by Mrs Cox's family. They include The Royal Voluntary Service, which supports volunteers helping combat loneliness in her constituency in West Yorkshire. The other charities to receive support are HOPE not hate, which seeks to defeat extremism with local communities and The White Helmets, which supports rescue workers in Syria. A post on the website read: 'We are overwhelmed by everyone's incredible generosity and so grateful for all your donations.' Meanwhile, an online book of condolence has been set up on the Labour Party website, with people invited to 'leave messages of condolence, support, and solidarity for Jo's family, friends and colleagues'. A page on the campaigning website Avaaz is inviting people to pledge to honour Mrs Cox's memory 'by picking up the banner of love, and carrying it to our homes, our communities, our countries and our world'. The page has drawn messages from around the world. This young girl was seen clutching a flower as they wandered towards where hundreds of people left tributes to the much-loved MP. People were seen crying at the scene Among the tributes was this one showing a picture of the dedicated MP outside 10 Downing Street The Labour MP for Batley and Spen was about to hold her weekly constituency surgery in Birstall Library on Thursday The huge amount of money raised comes as unemployed gardener Thomas Mair, 52, was charged with her murder. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court after he was charged with of murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon. West Yorkshire Police Temporary Chief Constable Dee Collins said a 77-year-old man remains in a stable condition in hospital after he was injured when he 'bravely intervened' to help Mrs Cox. Vigils were held across the UK on Friday evening as members of the public and politicians came together to lay flowers, light candles and stand in silence in memory of the late politician. To donate, click here. Thousands of people have already donated to the website after the popular MP's death sent shockwaves through the Yorkshire town The tributes were left outside the library, where she held her constituency meetings and the scene of her death The money raised will go to three charities chosen by Mrs Cox's family which were 'closest to her heart' Arrested: Lee Kaplan, 51, took the daughter, 14, of Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus in 2012 in exchange for saving their farm, police said. He is alleged to have impregnated her twice An Amish Pennsylvania couple who say they gifted their 14-year-old daughter to a man who helped save their farm have been arrested along with the man in question, court papers say. Daniel Stoltzfus, 43, and his wife Savilla Stoltzfus, 42, gave their daughter, who is not being named, to 51-year-old Feasterville man Lee Kaplan in 2012, court papers said. They then apparently moved in with him. All three were arrested Thursday after child welfare workers discovered that Kaplan's home housed 11 other girls aged between six month and 18 years, two of whom he had fathered with the couple's daughter, CBS Pennsylvania reported. Officials were called to Kaplan's home on the 400 block of Old Street Road after a neighbor complained about child abuse in the house, CBS said. Inside, officers found Kaplan and all 12 girls. The couple, whose given address is 75 miles away in Quarryville, Lancaster County, were apparently living there too, a police officer said. However, it's not known how long they had been living there, why they moved in or what had happened to their own home in the meantime. The Stoltzfuses told police they were going to lose their farm until Kaplan 'came out of the blue and saved them from financial ruin' around four years ago, said Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler. In return, the couple gave Kaplan their daughter, who was then 14, an affidavit said. Daniel Stoltzfus said that he thought the transaction was legal after researching online, according to the affadavit. Kaplan impregnated the 14-year-old almost immediately after she entered his home, according to court papers, and again when she was 17 years-old. The girl is now 18, police said, and her three-year-old and six-month-old children were living in Kaplan's house. According to the criminal complaint, Savilla Stoltzfus was aware that Kaplan was having sex with her daughter. Parents: Daniel (left), 43, and Savilla Stoltzfus (right), 42, believed the trade was legal because of something they read on the internet, police said. They and their nine other daughters moved in with Kaplan at a later date The couple claimed the other nine children belonged to them, Lower Southampton Police Lt. John Krimmel said - although no social security cards or birth certificates could be found to confirm this. He told CBS: 'Right now were working on getting an expert on Amish culture to help us conduct interviews on the rest of these children.' Jen Bets, the neighbor who made the call to child services, told NBC Philadelphia that there were 'signs' something was wrong in the house. '(She was) too young to be the wife, too old to be holding his hand,' said Bets, who had seen Kaplan walking down the street with girls, sometimes holding hands with one of them. 'I just want them to get help and get back and be happy,' she said. 'They're so sad and fearful every time I see them. That's what made me call.' She added that the girls often seemed 'fearful' and would run back to the house whenever 'the male' who lived there went to the door. Police said they did not go to school. Investigators are still piecing together what exactly happened, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said, including how Kaplan and the couple met each other. Kaplan is charged with ten counts of various sexual offenses, eight of them felonies, including statutory rape and aggravated indecent assault. Daniel Stoltzfus is charged with conspiracy to commit statutory sexual assault. Both he and Savilla Stoltzfus are also charged with endangering the welfare of children. They are each being held on $1million bail, and all three will have a preliminary hearing on August 2. The eurozone is on the brink of another financial crisis but leaving the EU would still plunge Britain into recession, the IMF said last night. In its latest controversial intervention in the referendum campaign, the International Monetary Fund said the eurozone was in danger of being torn apart by political tensions. It said that while the single currency bloc had recovered over the past six months, the medium-term future looked weak and that it was racked by high unemployment and bad debts. It also said the failure of the EU to tackle the refugee crisis had vividly exposed political fault lines which threatened the entire European project. Scroll down for video In its latest controversial intervention in the referendum campaign, the International Monetary Fund (its director Christine Lagarde pictured) said the eurozone was in danger of being torn apart by political tensions By contrast, the IMF said Britains finances were in good health, and it acknowledged that the EU was keen for Britain to remain a member as it faces a critical juncture. Yet despite this, the Washington-based watchdog claimed that a vote to leave the EU would be economically damaging to Britain. It claimed that up to half a million jobs could go in the UK and warned of a slump in foreign investment and trade. It also predicts the economy could slow sharply this year before contracting next year. Eurosceptic economists have argued that Britain will be able to slash tariffs to zero on all imports if it leaves the EU cutting the price of goods and making households better off. The IMF conceded this would make UK consumers better off, all else equal. But it argued this would be difficult to achieve in practice. The IMFs warnings came in a report that was brought forward by several weeks, and furious Eurosceptics last night said the intervention was deliberately timed and orchestrated by the Treasury and Downing Street to intimidate voters ahead of the referendum. Pro-Brexit Tory MP Sir Bill Cash accused the IMF of irresponsible scaremongering and suggested its French boss Christine Lagarde was a stooge for George Osborne. Pro-Brexit Tory MP Sir Bill Cash has attacked the IMF and its boss Lagarde who he claims is a 'stooge' for Osborne Another Eurosceptic, Ukip MP Douglas Carswell, said: The inconsistencies in the IMFs own report show that theyre telling us what they want us to do not what will actually happen. Its report confirms the eurozones economy is a basket case and yet they insist that we should remain part of it. Under its adverse scenario, the IMF forecasts economic growth will slow from 1.9 per cent if Britain stays in the EU to 1.1 per cent. The economy will deteriorate more rapidly next year, with GDP shrinking by 0.8 per cent before growing by just 0.6 per cent in 2018 and 1.7 per cent in 2019. If the public vote Remain, the IMF forecasts growth of 2.2 per cent next year, 2.2 per cent in 2018 and 2.1 per cent in 2019. Tony Blair was debating with Michael Howard in the House of Commons 12 years ago when there was a commotion in one of the upstairs galleries. A projectile was thrown at the Prime Minister by a member of the public. As it neared its target, purple powder exploded in the air around the Government front bench and struck a glancing blow to Mr Blairs shoulder. That day, I was up in my usual sketchwriters sniper position directly opposite the despatch box in the press gallery. Scroll down for video Vigils have been held across the UK in memory of Jo Cox as people were urged to honour her legacy by building a world with 'more love and less hate' The killing of Jo Cox (pictured with her children in a touching image tweeted by her husband) gives a moment to reflect that many politicians are committed public servants Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central, Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, PM David Cameron, Commons chaplain Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrive in Birstall this afternoon There had been stories in the news at that time about the possible threat of an attack by terrorists using sarin or anthrax poison. When the powder bomb exploded, political reporters dived for cover. Many feared it could be fatally toxic. Several colleagues covered their mouths and noses and fled the scene as I might have done, had my tummy not been wedged behind a tight desk. The reaction of Tony Blair and his Cabinet ministers, however, was different. They remained in their places unmoved. Mr Blair briefly gazed up in the direction of the attacker but then with magnificently phlegmatic disdain returned to his notes with a slight readjustment of his spectacles. This episode was very revealing about the stoicism and the toughness of politicians qualities that may be too easily overlooked during the normal hurly-burly of Westminster. That incident came back to me when I heard the terrible news about Jo Coxs death. There have been many speeches and silences honouring her and they will continue over the coming days. They will be observed not only with numbness and dignity but also with a sense of outrage, in part that any young woman should be brutalised, and in part that she was attacked on a day when she was going about her democratic work. Mrs Cox was killed while mixing with her electors. She was doing what a good MP is supposed to do, making herself available to the public to hear their concerns. Thousands of people stood solemnly in silence in Parliament Sqaure in London, to remember the MP Of course, we often hear people say about politicians that they are all on the take. They fiddle their expenses. They are vain. They pose and preen. As a parliamentary sketchwriter, I probably contribute to this perception since it is my task to watch our legislators and to report their foibles and personalities. Yes, many of them are pretty vivid characters. And some some of them really are crooks. But the killing of Jo Cox gives us a moment to reflect that many more of them are committed public servants. Although they may often frustrate and irritate us, they deserve our respect for the sacrifices they make as they pursue their vocation of democratic representation. Like Mr Blair that day in the Commons in 2004, or like Jo Cox, politicians place themselves in danger. They stand up to be counted. Public life is not always a greasy pole. Sometimes it is a noble calling. In common with social workers, medical professionals, priests and the police, among others, MPs regularly deal with people who are at the end of their tether. The constituents who attend MPs surgeries do not tend to be happy, successful sorts. Were they so, they would not be going to their MP to plead for help. These people have problems and they hope the MP will be able to solve them. They may be souls on the cusp of desperation. Their problems may be practical housing shortages, benefits applications, employment rows or they may often be psychological. MPs tend to become expert at talking to disturbed people. It is one of the skills they develop. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said: 'We remember her as somebody who showed no fear in the face of danger, and we remember her too as somebody of the greatest warmth, the greatest generosity and the greatest compassion' Sometimes you will hear MPs accused of being out of touch with their voters. How very wrong. I can not think of a single MP who does not have a close understanding of his or her constituency. That said, we must not stop keeping a close watch on politicians and lambasting them when they are foolish or corrupt, or when they ignore those voters whom they most certainly know. But maybe we can stop this blanket condemnation of the Commons as a place inhabited only by self-serving greasers. Can we, from Jo Coxs death, draw conclusions about the violence of Britains streets in 2016 or about the vehemence of debate in the referendum campaign? I hope not. When Labour MP Stephen Timms was stabbed in the stomach in 2010 by a woman who visited his office, she was making a protest about the Iraq War. Mr Timms survived, as did Lib Dem MP Nigel Jones when he was attacked with a Samurai sword by a mentally disturbed man who came to his office in 2000. There have been attacks before and, sadly, there will no doubt be attacks in the future. Of course, the internet has made matters worse. A typical example was when Labour MP Jess Phillips received 600 messages in one night from trolls threatening to rape her after she laughed at a Tory who called for a discussion in parliament to coincide with International Mens Day. After Jo Coxs death, MPs have been advised to review their security arrangements. While this is sensible, it would be regrettable if it deterred our elected representatives from making themselves as approachable as possible to constituents. From left: Ed Miliband, former deputy leader Harriet Harman and Wes Sweeting joined members of the public at a vigil in front of the Houses of Parliament Their easy availability is the oxygen of democracy. It stops voters feeling ignored and it makes MPs better aware of public concerns. It is what makes the Commons so much better than the European Parliament, where there is far less contact with the voters, and the European Commission, whose lofty officials never seem to meet the people whose lives they run. Already there are worries that Westminster is too remote from the people. Thursdays awful killing may make that an even greater danger. And so we would honour Jo Coxs memory if we kept our politics as close to the people as possible. In recent weeks, I have accompanied senior politicians as they have campaigned on the referendum. It has not been entirely pretty. I have seen Boris Johnson confronted by jostling crowds some of them fans, but others distinctly threatening. There was a man in York who wanted to throw eggs at him and there was another in Stafford who yelled all sort of foul swear words at him. Nigel Farage has played down frightening incidents, not least when a mob surrounded him when he tried to take his family to lunch one Sunday. In Leeds, I visited a market with the Ukip leader and saw him walk unconcerned past a middle-class woman who was shouting at him in the most violent way. I was horrified by her stridency but Mr Farage kept a resolute smile on his face. The French boss of the International Monetary Fund sparked anger last night by implying that Eurosceptic voters are narrow-minded. Christine Lagarde stepped up her pro-Brussels campaign with a last-ditch plea for the UK to remain in the EU. Pressing her case for a united Europe, she expressed disbelief that the British public could contemplate severing ties with Brussels. Miss Lagarde said too many Europeans are led to believe things would be better if only Europe returned to closed borders and economic nationalism. Scroll down for video Christine Lagarde stepped up her pro-Brussels campaign with a last-ditch plea for the UK to remain in the EU The Leave campaign has switched the focus of the debate from the economy to immigration, arguing that leaving the EU would enable Britain to regain control of its borders. But Miss Lagarde stressed the economic benefit of taking in refugees and said the rapid integration of asylum seekers into labour markets and schools has to be the top priority. She also praised countries including Austria, Germany and Sweden, which have opened their hearts to refugees. In a speech in Vienna, Miss Lagarde issued a direct appeal to British voters. I have always admired the United Kingdom for its openness to other nationalities and foreign cultures, and I find it hard to believe attitudes have changed in such a short time, she said. Tory MP John Redwood said he 'resented' the comments by Lagarde Miss Lagardes insinuation is that British voters who have concerns about immigration and want to leave the EU are narrow-minded. Tory MP John Redwood said: I deeply resent that. I am a globalist and want us to leave the EU and join the world. I also believe in fair migration for the whole world and better trade. Miss Lagardes own financial affairs have been mired in controversy. The former French politician is due to stand trial over a 315million payment to a prominent businessman in 2008. Bernard Tapie was in a dispute with state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais over the botched sale of sportswear company Adidas. He claimed the now defunct bank had defrauded him after it later resold his stake for a much higher sum. As the then finance minister, Miss Lagarde signed off the huge payment as compensation. Critics claim the sum was overly generous. Miss Lagarde says the allegations are totally without merit. The son of killer Ian Turnbull reportedly must pay $4.5million to repair the land his father illegally cleared before shooting dead a visiting environmental officer. Glen Turner was investigating illegal land clearing on the Turnbull property in rural NSW when he was mudered by 81-year-old Ian Turnbull in 2014. Ian Turnbull had previously cleared 500ha of land on the property because son Grant Wesley Turnbull never told him it was protected by a court order, reported the Sydney Morning Herald. In May 81-year-old Ian Turnbull was found guilty of the 2014 shooting murder of Glen Turner Glen Turner, 51, was investigating the Turnbull's property when Ian Turnbull shot him in the neck and then the back On Friday the Land and Environment Court found that Grant Turnbull was responsible for clearing the land because he had not passed the orders on to his father. Justice Malcolm Craig said: 'The explanation for that latter work occurring and not being disclosed was that he had failed to provide his father with the appropriate plan and inform him that those areas should not be cleared. He added: 'What caused him (Grant Turnbull) to think that it was not necessary for him to disclose that fact at the time when the matter was before the Court is not explained,' the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The court also ordered the younger Turnbull, who bought the property in 2012, to foot a bill of $4.5million to repair the land. Mr Turner was shot on a public road near the Turnbull family farm at Coppa Creek in northern NSW on July 29, 2014 In May farmer Ian Turnbull was found guilty of murdering environmental compliance officer Glen Turner, who he shot on July 29, 2014. Mr Turner was shot in the neck and chased around a car for at least 22 minutes before being fatally shot in the back as he tried to make an escape towards a treeline. The attack followed years of tension between the Turnbull family and the state environment department over illegal land-clearing on the family's properties. A body that washed ashore a popular Sunshine Coast beach on Saturday morning was discovered by a passerby. Queensland Police were called to Golden Beach about 7am after people walking along the shore made the grisly discovery. A Queensland Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the man's body was pulled from the water and they are not treating his death as suspicious. More to come. A man's body has been pulled from the water at Golden Beach on Queensland's Sunshine Coast Scientists are investigating after a 30ft humpback whale was found dead on a beach in Delaware. The carcass washed up on Bethany Beach in front of stunned sunbathers on Friday morning. The juvenile animal had a large gash in its neck, which could have been caused by a propeller. Scientists are investigating after a 30ft humpback whale was found dead on Bethany Beach in Delaware There were also signs of shark bites, which is said to be normal for a dead whale floating in the ocean Susan Thurman, executive director of the MERR Institute, told Delaware Online it was too early to determine how the whale died. As it was lying on its back, scientists said it was harder to find out the cause. Its length suggested it was been one and two years old. Thurman said the whale's composition suggested it had been dead for around two weeks. The humpback is common in the Atlantic Ocean this time of year. Donald Trump's march to the election seems unstoppable, but a coalition of anti-Trump Republican delegates are making one last push to get The Donald off the ticket with a so-called 'conscience clause'. The group, led by Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate, wants to change the rules so that delegates aren't forced to pledge their vote towards whichever candidate won their primary. Instead, she wants them to be able to vote with their 'conscience' - essentially against Trump. 'This is a coalition of Kasich, Cruz and Rubio (supporters) and we are all agreeing on one goal, which is: Anybody but Trump,' she told CNN Friday. Opposition: Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh (left) is leading other delegates in a quest to get GOP convention rules changed so they can back whoever they want - and not be forced to select Donald Trump Unworried: Trump said that there is 'no mechanism' to make the changes Unruh wants, and that even if there were it would be a 'rebuke' to the millions who voted for him Unruh made the last-ditch push on Thursday night, organizing a call with dozens of other delegates to work on anti-Trump strategies. And it seems that the 'Anybody but Trump' slogan is quite literal. 'Nobody has any idea who is going to step in and be the nominee,' she told The Washington Post. 'But were not worried about that. Were just doing that job to make sure that hes not the face of our party.' But Trump doesn't appear scared of the threat. He told the Post in a statement: 'I won almost 14 million votes, which is by far more votes than any candidate in the history of the Republican primaries.' 'I have tremendous support and get the biggest crowds by far, and any such move would not only be totally illegal but also a rebuke of the millions of people who feel so strongly about what I am saying.' But last month rules committee member Curly Haugland told The Daily Caller that the RNC rules do give a mechanism for voting against Trump. In fact, he says, they effectively make every delegate a free agent. He said that DNC Rule 38 promises: 'No delegate or alternate delegate shall be bound by any attempt of any state or congressional district to impose the unit rule.' It continues: 'A "unit rule" prohibited by this section means a rule or law under which a delegation at the national convention casts its entire vote as a unit as determined by a majority vote of the delegation.' That would in effect make every delegate a superdelegate, able to pledge to whoever they choose. And while the RNC commanded in 2013 that delegates must bind themselves to their state's will, Haugland says that doesn't mean anything because the rules are dissolved and remade with each new convention. If he's right, that could leave the next convention open for a surprise defeat for Trump. Rules: Curly Haugland, a rules committee member, says that under DNC rules, delegates are actually able to pledge their backing to whoever they choose - regardless of what their state says Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer came out in favor of Trump, arguing: 'Donald Trump bested 16 highly qualified candidates and received more primary votes than any candidate in Republican Party history. 'All of the discussion about the RNC Rules Committee acting to undermine the presumptive nominee is silly. There is no organized effort, strategy or leader of this so-called movement. It is nothing more than a media creation and a series of tweets.' Unruh, who has called her movement 'Free the Delegates 2016', obviously disagrees - as do those following her. Eric Minor, a delegate from Washington state, told the Post: 'I hear a lot of people saying, "Why doesnt somebody do something about this?" Well you know what? Im one of the people who can. 'Theres only 2,400 of us. Im going to reach out to us and see if there seems to be momentum for this. And if there is, well see where it goes.' And Steve Lonegan, who is advising the group and raising money through Courageous Conservatives, a super PAC, Courageous Conservatives, said: 'Ive woken up every day struggling to accept that hes going to be our candidate. 'Hes spent more time talking about getting Bernie Sanders voters to vote for him than conservatives. 'What do you think he has that Bernie Sanderss supporters would like? A secret socialist agenda?' Momentum: Eric Minor is a Washington state delegate. he said that as someone with the power to 'do something' about Trump, he wants to take a chance - and says the movement has 'momentum' Lonegan's remarks are a sign of a growing split in the GOP, with many of the old guard suspicious of Trump's motives and Republican qualifications, and worried about polls that show him performing poorly against Hillary Clinton in a presidential match-up. Meanwhile, others are horrified by his remarks - particularly his attacks on Mexican-American judge Judge Gonzalo Curiel, and his call to ban Muslim immigrants to the US, both of which made waves in the past few weeks. And while the group has a virtually impossible task ahead of them, Lonegan says there is plenty of backing for a change to the rules. 'I will tell you, about every two hours people contact me about how to join this effort,' he told CNN. 'This has never been done before, so there's no textbook on how to do it. So we're building an organic effort, state by state, to convince members of the Rules Committee to sign onto a rule that unbinds the delegates to vote their moral conscience.' They're not alone. A second group, called Delegates Unbound, plans to buy ad space and TV time to persuade delegates they have the power and authority to vote as they wish, not to adhere to the votes of those in their states, CNN said. Ultimately, Unruh believes that Trump - who has been moderating his language after meetings with GOP chiefs - is his own worst enemy, and will clinch her success. 'This will be an absolute success once that tranquilizer they sedated Trump with wears off,' she told CNN. A man has been charged with assault after the body of a woman was found inside a home. The 53-year-old man was arrested and charged with two counts of assault after a 52-year-old woman was found dead in her Millswood home, in Adelaide's south, on Friday. Police were called to the Millswood Crescent, a quiet, leafy street, at 1am and found her body inside. The 53-year-old man was arrested and charged with two counts of assault after a 52-year-old woman was found dead in her Millswood home, in Adelaide's south, on Friday Police were called to the Millswood Crescent, a quiet, leafy street, at 1am and found her body within the premises A police spokesperson said the man, who is also from Millswood, was arrested on Friday evening and further charges could be laid following the incident A police spokesperson said the man, who is also from Millswood, was arrested on Friday evening and further charges could be laid following the incident. 'Police wish to reassure the public that this is not a random incident with both persons involved being known to each other,' the spokesperson said in a statement. 'The cause of the woman's death is still being investigated with further charges possible.' A police spokesperson would not confirm the death was the result of a domestic incident. Neighbours on Millswood Crescent said they believed the house was vacant since being put on the market several months ago, according to the Adelaide Advertiser. 'As far as I knew it was empty, the only thing that made me wonder was that the bin was out, I haven't seen any sign of anyone there at all,' elderly neighbour Marrion Saunders said. The man will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday 20 June after he was refused bail Anyone with information on he incident is asked contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online Another neighbour said there had been no indication of domestic violence at the home, according to the report. 'I hadn't really seen them but I heard them sometimes, but I didn't hear anything like fighting or arguing, just normal noises,' he said. The latest trend of 'blackout' tattoos poses a melanoma risk, cancer specialists have warned. The tattoos can make it harder to identify changes in moles, and some coloured inks can also break down under direct sunlight, creating cancer-causing compounds, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported. 'When you're dealing with melanomas which are dark, the problem is the evidence of change,' Southport cosmetic surgeon Ian McDougal told the publication. Scroll down for video The latest trend of 'blackout' tattoos (pictured) poses a melanoma risk as cancer specialists warn that they can make it harder to identify changes in moles. Some coloured inks can also break down under direct sunlight, creating cancer-causing compounds Whilst many tattoos have intricate designs and bright colours, the blackout tattoo involves large portions of the body being inked solid black He said that people with thick black tattoos were most at risk. Whilst many tattoos have intricate designs and bright colours, the blackout tattoo involves large portions of the body being inked solid black. Arms and legs are the most common placement for the blackout tattoo, but some even get their chests, backs and stomachs tattooed too. Sydney skin cancer surgeon Mike Shenouda said while doctors are normally able to identify a mole, blackout tattoos can make it harder to find. 'If the tattoo is dark it can be very hard to identify a mole,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Tattoo removal specialist Mike Anderson said that blackout tattoos are becoming more popular. Sydney skin cancer surgeon Mike Shnouda said while doctors are normally able to identify a mole, blackout tattoos can make it harder to find Arms and legs are the most common placement for the blackout tattoo, but some even get their chests, backs and stomachs tattooed too 'It's all over Instagram,' the director at Think Again Laser Clinic Sydney said. He said that blackout tattoos were the hardest to remove, but that his clinic does not treat on moles because the laser removal can change the pigment in the skin, making it even harder to identify skin conditions. He urged anyone getting a tattoo, or one removed to get a skin check before doing so. Benowa skin cancer specialist Michael Freeman told The Gold Coast Bulletin that many tattoo artists also refuse to ink over moles and other skin conditions. 'There are potentially some cancer risks for particular colours so, for example, yellow ink when it's exposed to infra-red radiation can actually start to create some cancer-causing compounds,' he said. An 18-year-old man with Asperger Syndrome is missing after meeting a man and woman he met online at a shopping centre almost a week ago. Aaron Pajich has not been seen since he going to the Rockingham City Shopping Centre, south-east of Perth, around 9.30am on Monday, according to Western Australian police. It is believed that Mr Pajich was there to meet a man known only as Daniel a woman who met online, police said. Aaron Pajich (pictured), an 18-year-old with Asperger Syndrome from Warnbro, south of Perth, went missing on Monday after meeting a woman and man he met online at a shopping centre His mother, Sharon Pajich, said she is worried about her son's safety because he hasn't reached out to any friends or family or used his bank account, according to WA Today. 'What goes through your mind is the worst, that something has happened, and I don't want to lose a child,' Ms Pajich said. She believes that he met the woman and man through an online gaming site. Mr Pajich was last seen wearing dark grey cargo pants, a light blue t-shirt with long sleeves and a beige/grey jacket, police said. He was also carrying a shoulder bag. He has shoulder length dark hair, thick eyebrows and is about 167cms tall, police said. Police are asking for anyone with information to contact police. Advertisement A coveted Brisbane waterfront home sold for more than $5 million on Thursday night. The property at 34 Quay Street, Bulimba north east of the city centre, initially went to auction with little movement. With bids starting at $4 million, four cautious bidders competed for the six-bedroom, five-bathroom riverfront home, Domain reported. A coveted Brisbane waterfront home sold for more than $5 million on Thursday night The property at 34 Quay Street, Bulimba north east of the city centre, initially went to auction with little movement The three-level property features a wine cellar, lap pool and a private jetty (pictured) With bids starting at $4 million, four cautious bidders competed for the six-bedroom, five-bathroom riverfront home Cop that view: The home features a view of Brisbane city The auction was paused and it wasnt until after hours of negotiations behind closed doors that the house was sold. Selling agent Sarah Hackett said the prestigious property was sold to a couple at 9.30pm. She said she has sold $30 million worth of waterfront property in the area in the last six weeks. The auction was paused and it wasnt until after hours of negotiations behind closed doors that the house was sold Let me entertain you: The impressive home has a deck with an outdoor bar and barbeque and city views The sprawling waterfront property boasts impressive views of Brisbane's city skyline Selling agent Sarah Hackett said the prestigious property was sold to a couple at 9.30pm Hows the serenity: The largest bedroom boasts a study, balcony and walk in wardrobe The three-level property features a wine cellar, lap pool and a private jetty. The main bedrooms at the 872 square metre property have en suites, with the largest boasting a study, balcony and walk in wardrobe. The home has a deck with an outdoor bar and barbeque and city views. 34 Quay Street, Bulimba boasts European appliances It also has a private office, fire pit, ducted air conditioning, security intercom, keyless house touchpad, steam room, two fire places and a separate games room Lap it up: The 872 square metre property has a 20 metre lap pool Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Saturday appeared to back away from making a link between a national vote on same-sex marriage and the recent deadly mass shooting in Orlando. During Friday's online debate with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Shorten used the killing of 49 people inside a gay nightclub as proof hate and extremism still existed in modern societies. But the opposition leader refused to repeat the comparison on Saturday, saying it's not the same situation in Australia. During Friday's online debate with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured left), Mr Shorten (pictured right) used the killing of 49 people inside a gay nightclub as proof hate and extremism still existed Opposition Leader Bill Shorten (pictured) has backed down from his attack of a national vote on same-sex marriage after earlier making reference to the deadly mass shooting in Orlando The opposition leader refused to repeat the comparison on Saturday (pictured at a netball park in the NSW Central Coast town of Wyong), saying it's not the same situation in Australia But he maintains children of gay parents should not be exposed to 'taxpayer-funded nonsense' that could come from the 'no' campaign advertising against same-sex marriage. 'I recognise that some of the critics of marriage equality have extreme views,' he told reporters on the NSW Central Coast on Saturday. Mr Shorten did continue his attack on Mr Turnbull's commitment to a plebiscite, which the prime minister has brushed off as a decision made by the party prior to his installment as leader. 'I recognise that some of the critics of marriage equality have extreme views' - Mr Shorten told reporters on the NSW Central Coast on Saturday The opposition leader claims Mr Turnbull (pictured during Friday's online debate) is 'too chicken' to vote with his heart in parliament. The coalition has promised to hold the $160 million vote if returned to government on July 2. The opposition leader claims Mr Turnbull is 'too chicken' to vote with his heart in parliament. 'It is time that he started leading not following his party,' he said. The coalition has promised to hold the $160 million vote if returned to government on July 2. Labor has vowed to put same-sex marriage to a vote in parliament within 100 days of being elected. A man who was shot four times during the Orlando gay club massacre played dead to survive, it has been revealed. Felipe Marrero wakes up in his hospital bed at night still thinking he smells gunpowder, nearly a week after the shooting rampage at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It's just one of the ways the 30-year-old has suffered after being shot in his back and left arm during the attack last Sunday morning that left 49 victims dead and more than 50 wounded. The gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, was killed in a firefight with police. 'It's the same smell that was in the club that night,' Marrero said in an interview Friday from his hospital bed at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Felipe Marrero, left, poses in his hospital bed in Orlando, in this image taken by his friend Joseph Rivera, right. Marrero was shot four times in his back and left arm during last Sunday's attack on an Orlando nightclub Marrero said he was just about to leave the club about 2am Sunday when he heard the shooting start. He was near the front door, close to the shooter, so he couldn't leave through the club's only exit. He fell to the floor The gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen (pictured left and right), also was killed in a firefight with police Marrero said he was just about to leave the club at about 2am Sunday when he heard the shooting start. He was near the front door, close to the shooter, so he couldn't leave through the club's only exit. He fell to the floor. His friend, Luis Vielma, standing next to him was shot and killed. Marrero lifted the edge of a couch near where he was lying and put his head underneath it. 'I covered myself, and laid on the ground for at least 30 minutes not trying to make any sudden movements,' he said. 'I was just trying to play dead.' Another 30 to 40 minutes passed. People were yelling, screaming. Marrero said he's starting to heal but knows he has a long road. He's had multiple surgeries and started physical therapy to try to regain the use of his arm. He's seen in grabs from video shared by Telemundo The head of a man lying next to him had been blown apart. Bodies were everywhere, including that of his good friend, Luis. 'And the smell of the place was horrible like gunpowder and you just smelled death in the air,' he said. Flashing police lights started seeping into the club, he said, and officers were telling everyone to stay on the ground. Marrero said Mateen would lie among the bodies for a time so police couldn't see him. The shots stopped, as though Mateen were reloading, Marrero said. Next, Mateen shot Marrero, hitting his lower back and left arm. 'I just lay there and all the blood coming out of my hand, and my arm was destroyed,' he said. 'The amount of pain was unbearable.' Carmen Feldman, of Orlando, cries while visiting the scene of Pulse nightclub mass shooting A tattoo of hands clasped in prayer decorate the arm of Dennis Buscemi, of Orlando, as he takes a picture of the scene of Pulse nightclub mass shooting from a block away Elsie Allen, center, huddles with her daughters Jenna Allen, right, and Krista Allen-Parra, left, and her grandson Shawn Flores, all of Orlando, as they visit for the first time the scene of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting As shots continued to fly, Marrero said he made eye contact with an officer through the front door. He pleaded for help. 'He asked me to crawl to him, and the shooter had gone to another part of the club,' he said. He believes Mateen had gone to an area where police had punched holes in the walls where Mateen was eventually fatally shot. Marrero told the officer he couldn't move. That he'd been shot in the back. 'He said, "You need to find the strength to do this".' Marrero says he used his right arm to grab dead bodies around him, got leverage and pushed himself toward the officer. The officer grabbed his hand and dragged him quickly to an empty lot nearby, where paramedics eventually got to him. His vision was blurry, and he'd lost a lot of blood. 'I just thought "this is it",' he said. The next day, lying in his hospital bed at Orlando Regional Medical Center, Marrero says he saw Mateen's picture on television and immediately recognized him. 'I said "This guy was right next to me buying a drink",' Marrero said. His account of Mateen's whereabouts in the hours before the shooting could not immediately be verified. Marrero said he gave that account to investigators. The FBI declined to comment and has not provided a timeline accounting for Mateen's movements that night. Marrero said he's starting to heal but knows he has a long road. He's had multiple surgeries and started physical therapy to try to regain the use of his arm. He started a GoFundMe account to raise money for medical bills. The ordeal has also affected his sleep. 'The other night I woke up, and for some reason I started smelling the gunpowder,' he said. The shock among the city's residents is turning to grief as families bury their loved ones in cemeteries across the city. With more funerals planned in coming days, the city adorned with 'Orlando Strong' banners has been coming together to support each other. 'It's amazing me how the community is getting so close,' said Monica Roggiero, outside the funeral of shooting victim Anthony Luis Laureano Disla. While some of the dead are buried, the wounded continue trying to heal physically and mentally. Donald Trump told supporters at a Texas rally Friday that the Orlando massacre wouldn't have happened if the murdered clubbers had been armed - while he enacted the 'beautiful' imaginary death of gunman Omar Mateen. 'If we had people, where the bullets were going in the opposite direction, right smack between the eyes of this maniac...' he said, pointing between his own eyes, and pausing for cheers and applause. '...And this son of a b**** comes out and starts shooting, and one of the people in that room happened to have (a gun) and goes boom, boom... You know what? That would have been a beautiful, beautiful sight, folks.' Scroll down for video Bullets: Trump told supporters Friday that the Orlando massacre victims would have survived if shooter Omar Mateen had been met with 'bullets going in the opposite direction, right smack between (his) eyes' 'Beautiful': Calling Mateen a 'son of a b****' Trump said his death would be 'a beautiful, beautiful sight'. He also mocked Obama's calls for gun control despite having made remarks about gun control earlier in the week Trump was arguing in favor of looser gun controls in the wake of the gay club shooting, in which Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 more, CNN reported. The crowd cheered as Trump gestured while describing how some of the 'wonderful people' in the club might have had 'guns strapped right here, right to their waist, or right to their ankle'. He then went on to attack Barack Obama, who has been continually pushing for tightening up of gun laws, especially since Sunday's shooting. 'President Obama is trying to make terrorism into guns and it's not guns, folks. It is not guns, folks. It is not guns, this is terrorism,' said Trump, who has strong support from the NRA. However, his comments appear to contradict remarks he made in his Twitter feed Wednesday about restricting access to guns for people who are on authorities' watch lists - a practice Obama supports. 'I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns,' he said. After the shooting it emerged that Mateen had been placed on a watch list while being the subject of two FBI investigations, but was removed afterward. However, under current laws he would have been able to buy guns regardless. In a statement Wednesday, the NRA said it stood by its existing position - that nobody on the watch list should be banned from buying a gun unless they were actively under investigation by the FBI. 'If an investigation uncovers evidence of terrorist activity or involvement, the government should be allowed to immediately go to court, block the sale, and arrest the terrorist,' the gun rights group said in a statement. But on Friday, Trump promised that he was looking out for gun-rights advocates: 'Nobody will protect your Second Amendment like Donald John Trump.' A railway maintenance worker has died after a train plowed into them while they carried out repair work. They were working on the T1 Western Line between Sydney and the Blue Mountains when they were killed by the train on Saturday morning. The accident occurred around 6am between the stops of Clyde and Auburn, about 20km north west of the city centre, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. A railway worker was hit and killed by a train on Saturday morning while carrying out repairs to the tracks (stock photo) Sydney Trains is investigating the accident to find out how the death occurred in the course of important maintenance work. Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins and NSW TrainLink chief executive Rob Mason released a joint statement expressing their deepest sympathy to the employees friends and family. The statement said: Were greatly saddened by the tragic news this morning and our deepest sympathy goes out to the friends and family of the employee. The incident occurred around 6am between the stops of Auburn and Clyde, about 30km north west of the city Mr Collins added: Sydney Trains is working with authorities at the scene to determine the cause of this incident. The safety of our workers is our top priority and this incident will be fully investigated by the relevant independent authorities. A British Winter Olympics hero and his fiancee are among dozens of couples who have had their big days ruined after a wedding firm went bust. Andrew Matthews and Nicole Wade have paid 1,000 to a company to organise their dream wedding in north London in August. But this week LA Weddings and Events, based in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, announced they were going into liquidation. Andrew Matthews (pictured, left) and his fiancee Nicole Wade have been planning their dream wedding for two years but now they have been left in the lurch Nicole, 28, a teacher from Chigwell, Essex, told Mail Online: 'It's horrible. I've been planning this wedding for two years and now this happens.' She has booked a church in Enfield and a reception venue in Barnet for her wedding in August and is expecting 130 guests from as far away as Australia. 'When I heard what had happened I was in tears. I had to take the day off work. It was just too much. It's hard enough planning a wedding but when this happens it's unbelievable.' More than 600 people have signed up to a Facebook group - Victims of LA Weddings - which was only set up on Tuesday. Andrew Matthews (second from the right) was part of Britain's bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014. He spends most of the winter away from home competing and training LA Weddings and Events was set up in 2014 and was run Lisa Arbon, 30, Katie Brown, 23, and Katie's husband John Titmus. It announced on Facebook on Tuesday it was shutting down 'due to the sudden and unexpected departure of two staff'. The firm's website la-weddingsandevents.co.uk has also been unplugged. The Sun said Ms Arbon blamed Ms Brown and her husband: 'They both quit on the same day with no notice. Following that call they changed numbers.' But Nicole told Mail Online Mr Titmus and his wife were blaming Ms Arbon for the firm's collapse. She said Mr Titmus was her cousin but she added: 'Now he has deleted his Facebook page and he is not answering my calls or emails. I can't believe he would do this. It's the worst thing you can do to somebody.' Nicole and Andrew (pictured) have invited 130 guests to their wedding, including some from Australia Nicole said people in the Victims Of LA Facebook page had said they had contacted the police and been told to contact a firm of accountants who were handling the company's liquidation. Dani McCormack, 23, and her fiance Jamie Carlin, 24, are due to get married in November and paid 730 to LA Weddings last month. But shortly after making the last payment Dani, from Bermondsey in south London, noticed on Facebook the company said it was closing down. Her mother Anne, 45, said: 'She's extremely upset. The company was running an offer to do decorations, lights and tables for the hall where the reception is being held so Dani took up the offer and made the final payment.' She said: 'Dani is just heartbroken - she's worked so hard to plan the wedding. She phoned the fraud department and is still waiting to hear back from them to see if she'll get her money back. Advertisement A stunning eight-bedroom mansion is no longer a pad for 'The Bachelor' as it hits the market for a rumoured $30 million. Fernhill Estate, in the New South Wales town of Mulgoa, is a 1830s heritage listed property. It boasts a 16-seat dining room, ballroom, 12 sandstone fireplaces and a horse racing track and stables that have been home to two Melbourne cup winners. The gorgeous estate is just an hours drive west of Sydney and overlooks the Mulgoa Valley at the foot of the Blue Mountains. The property is also the site where bachelor Sam Wood chose his now fiancee Snezana Markoski in a romantic rose ceremony. A stunning eight-bedroom mansion is no longer a pad for 'The Bachelor' as it hits the market for a rumoured $30 million Fernhill Estate, in the New South Wales town of Mulgoa, is a 1830s heritage listed property The estate boasts a 16-seat dining room, ballroom, 12 sandstone fireplaces and a horse racing track and stables that have been home to two Melbourne cup winners The property is the site where bachelor Sam Wood (right) chose his now fiancee Snezana Markoski (left) in a romantic rose ceremony Marketing director, Ken Jacobs who is behind the sale of Fernhill declined to confirm the property's price to the Daily Telegraph but said it's one of Sydney's most iconic pieces of real estate. 'It was one of the early land grants by Macarthur and it has so much rich history behind it,' Ken Jacobs of Christie's International Real Estate said in a separate interview with Domain. 'It's a really lovely story, and one of the country's most magnificent estates. And it could generate a good income too.' The property has run as an equestrian business and has also been a popular location for weddings, corporate getaways and of course The Bachelor finale last year. As well as the equestrian facilities in show jumping, dressage and eventing; the grounds also contain a pool, dams and lakes, and plenty of secluded seating areas and porticos. Domain reports that there could also be the potential to open a restaurant on the property. South African businessman Simon Tripp and his wife Brenda purchased the sprawling countryside property in late 2012. Representatives from the Tripp family said Fernhill was being sold 'by mutual agreement between the current owners and their financiers.' Mulgoa locals have voiced strong opposition against rezoning plans and subdivision of the estate. The property is a special spot for Sam Wood and fiancee Snezana Markoski where the mother-of-one was given a $22,000 diamond and white gold ring. The couple are rumored to tie the knot later this year after announcing their engagement on social media in December 2015. Marketing director, Ken Jacobs behind the sale of the property declined to confirm the estates price but said it's one of Sydney's most iconic pieces of real estate The grounds contain a pool, dams and lakes, and secluded seating areas and porticos. Domain reports that there could also be the potential to open a restaurant on the property The property has been an equestrian business and has also been a popular location for weddings, corporate getaways and of course The Bachelor finale last year Mulgoa locals have voiced strong opposition against rezoning plans and subdivision of the estate South African businessman Simon Tripp and his wife Brenda purchased the sprawling countryside property in late 2012 Ken Jacobs said there is plenty of rich history behind the property and was one of the early land grants by Macarthur Rolling hills and stunning scenery surround the estate, the perfect setting for Sam Woods and Snezana Markoski's rose ceremony Fernhill Estate is an 1830s heritage-listed sandstone property, rumoured to valued at around $30 million A rich Labour donor has outraged British workers by advertising jobs at his building firm for Polish employees only. Dr Anwar Ansari, who runs AA Homes and Housing Ltd in Croydon, south London, posted an advert on Tuesday for Polish carpenters, electricians and plumbers. The firm, which describes itself as a 'key player in the UK property market' has assets worth 80million and builds private offices and homes as well as social housing for the government. Dr Anwar Ansari, who runs AA Homes and Housing Ltd in Croydon, south London, posted an advert on Tuesday for Polish carpenters, electricians and plumbers The advert offering a 'long term job and competitive salary' was removed after being online for only 12 hours but that was plenty of time to offend British workers. Scaffolder Josh Turvey from Camden, North London said he was appalled by the discrimination. 'We're losing out on work and being undercut all the time because firms know they can employ Eastern Europeans on the cheap,' he told The Sun. 'It's disgusting if this firm have government contracts.' 'Foreign workers will just keep undercutting us which is why I and 99 per cent of British construction workers want out of Europe,' said the 26-year-old. Dr Ansari, who donated 20,000 to Sadiq Khan's mayoral campaign and 25,000 to Yvette Cooper's Labour leadership bid, blamed the advert on an employee. The firm, which describes itself as a 'key player in the UK property market' has assets worth 80million and builds private offices and homes as well as social housing for the government (stock image of a builder) He told MailOnline: 'This advert was posted by someone who was new to our company and done in error and without my prior knowledge or authority and was therefore taken down as soon as possible when it came to my attention, and the employee is no longer with the company as a result. 'It in no way reflects my company's views of employment and we are an equal opportunities employer, welcoming applications from all nationalities and never discriminate on grounds of nationality or race.' Debris has been found in the search for a fisherman who failed to return from a solo fishing trip off Perth on Wednesday. Police say the debris can't yet be positively identified, but it's similar to an esky that Rohan Wilson, 38, had on board his 6.4 metre boat. Police and volunteer marine rescue vessels are now focusing their search south of the area where the debris was found, 30 nautical miles west of Mindarie in Perth. Rohan Wilson, 38, failed to return from a solo fishing trip off the coast of Perth on Wedensday Mr Wilson's car and boat trailer were found at the Mindarie marina where he had been due to return at 8pm on Wednesday. His family have described him as a much loved husband and father of two young boys, and said they were praying for positive developments. 'He is an experienced fisherman who embraces the opportunity to get out fishing whenever he can,' they said in a statement on Friday. 'We'd like to extend our gratitude and thanks to the enormous search efforts that have gone into the search for Rohan.' The last Mr Wilson's family heard from him was when he sent a text message about catching a fish on Wednesday afternoon. The search for angler recommenced for its third day on Saturday morning. Eight boats have been involved in the sea search and the police and State Emergency Service have been scouring the coastline. The port of Calais was shut down for almost two hours today after migrants were spotted swimming in the sea as they tried to clamber aboard UK-bound car ferries. Migrants rushed into waters during the early hours of this morning in a desperate bid to reach the UK. One dock worker said: 'It's a tactic that we haven't seen much of in the past, and it shows the desperation of those involved. Migrants rushed into waters at Calais port during the early hours of this morning in a desperate bid to reach the UK (file photo) 'Migrants are risking their lives in the middle of the night, and everything had to be done to ensure their safety. 'All traffic was halted at 2.20 in the morning, as a search and rescue operation got underway, with helicopters and boats involved. APP WILL ALLOW SMARTPHONE USERS TO SCAN THE MED A smartphone app that allows anyone to scan the Mediterranean for migrant boats in distress is being tested by a rescue service, which hopes it will save lives. The I SEA App divides a satellite image of the sea routes taken by people traffickers into millions of small plots which are then assigned to registered users. Each user then monitors their patch, measuring 10 by 15 miles, through the app and, if they spot potential trouble, can send an alert to the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS). The station will then notify the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Rome, which analyses the images and, if there is genuine cause for concern, will contact the nearest ships. Ian Ruggier, MOAS head of operations, said: With more people, you can cover bigger areas of the sea much faster. It allows people to see they are contributing towards saving lives. If the app is popular we could get huge numbers of people using it. Advertisement 'Those plucked out of the water were rushed to hospital, and traffic was not allowed to move again until past 4am.' Customs boats, fishing vessels and other crafts were also involved in the search for migrants in the water, indicating the extent of the problems. Up to 5000 migrants are currently living rough in the Calais areas as they try to get to Britain, where they will claim asylum, or disappear into the black economy. Security has been improved in Calais port, and around the Channel Tunnel, leading to migrants making more desperate attempts to reach Dover. Figures released last month show that the number who successfully smuggled themselves across to England on ferries more than doubled in the past three years. Ministers disclosed that the number of 'clandestine entrants' who made their way into Britain through Dover and other ports has risen from 1,432 in 2013 to 2,935 last year. Experts said that the true figures are likely to be significantly higher as many illegal immigrants disappear after entering the UK. Lord Green of Deddington, the chairman of Migration Watch UK who obtained the figures, said last month: 'Despite all the efforts that have been made to tighten up security in Calais these figures show that the number getting through and later detected has doubled in three years. Up to 5000 migrants are currently living rough in the Calais areas as they try to get to Britain CALAIS CALAMITY: AID CONVOY HELD IN DOVER AFTER BEING REFUSED ENTRY TO FRANCE An aid convoy filled with 250 vehicles is being held at the port of Dover after being refused entry to France by authorities. Organised by a number of campaign groups including the People's Assembly and Stop the War Coalition, the convoy left London this morning - only to be prevented from boarding ferries to Calais by French authorities. The lorries, cars and minibuses were carrying aid donations for refugees and migrants living in the Calais Jungle camp. People at the port were snapped and videoed chanting and holding signs saying 'refugees welcome' and 'solidarity with refugees'. Earlier shadow chancellor John McDonnell tweeted in support of the convoy, posting: 'Sending solidarity to @pplsassembly #ConvoytoCalais. As @HackneyAbbott said 'a beacon of hope at the end of a dark week'.' Spokesman for the People's Assembly Steve Sweeney said the convoy was separated from the rest of the ferry traffic when it arrived. He said: 'It seems like a concerted effort stopping us from making the crossing. All the vehicles have been moved into a separate lane, it's incredible. 'A few cars have made it to France but they are being stopped there apparently.' He added they had been told it was 'unlikely' they would be allowed to cross. In a statement the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais cited a number of reasons for issuing the ban, including the potential for it to 'generate violent episodes' and the lack of police officers available because of the ongoing European Championships. They also said the numbers of vehicles involved may 'facilitate the intrusion of migrants'. Advertisement 'There are bound to be others who are never detected and simply disappear. 'This points to the likelihood that there are similar inflows from Belgium and Holland and indeed from other French ports.' The Home Office revealed that over the past three years more than 7,000 people have made their way into Britain through ferry ports. Renters living in Australia's most sought-after suburbs could save thousands of dollars by choosing a neighbouring suburb, experts have revealed. Analysis of Australia's most popular areas has unveiled some potentially extraordinary savings for tenants. The biggest savings are to be made near Wolli Creek, just south of Sydney's CBD, according to realestate.com.au. Analysis of Australia's most popular suburbs has unveiled some potentially extraordinary savings for tenants. This three-bedroom New Farm house is asking $1500 a week Less than 3km away from New Farm, this three-bedroom Norman Park home is on the market for $595 a week Wolli Creek's cheapest surrounding suburb is Sydenham where rent is $275 cheaper a week for units, which means potential saving of over $14,000 a year. Renters in Melbourne's sought-after inner suburb of Abbotsford could save $3,640 a year by choosing neighbouring Fairfield. Nerida Conisbee, chief economist with REA Group, which owns realestate.com.au, said renters need to think outside the box when a comes to choosing their homes. 'You're effectively paying a premium for that lifestyle. One example was Dee Why, which is on the beach whereas Brookvale is a little further away, but what that means is you're paying an extra $100 a week to be able to walk to the beach,' she said. 'Then there's also the brand of a suburb as well. It's people wanting to be able to say 'I live in South Yarra' which is one of the top suburbs in Melbourne. Nerida Conisbee, chief economist with REA Group, which owns realestate.com.au, said renters need to think outside the box when a comes to choosing their homes. Above, a two bedroom house in Hamilton Hill, near Fremantle, has an asking rent of $380 a week 'You're effectively paying a premium for that lifestyle.' Ms Conisbee said. Pictures, a two-bedroom home in Fremantle for $550 a week 'The reputation of South Yarra is certainly better than Southbank, but you're effectively paying a $165 a week premium for that reputation and being within walking distance of its cafes and restaurants.' 'You may have to commute a bit longer you might have to walk a bit longer to get to the beach and have fewer good cafes and restaurants but you can make massive savings and that's the trade off isn't it?' she said. In Western Australia, nearly $6,000 a year could be saved by moving from the popular suburb of North Perth to nearby Yokine. In the Northern Territory, over $7,500 could be slashed from a yearly rental ledger by moving from Rosebery to neighbouring Moulden. But he has changed his mind over 'dangerous' plans for a Former defence chief Lord Guthrie has boosted the hopes of Brexit campaigners by dramatically switching sides from Remain to Leave over 'dangerous' European army plans. Only four months ago he signed a Downing Street letter from military leaders arguing that Britain would be safer in the EU. But the Field Marshal, who ran our armed forces in the 1990s, now says that was a 'mistake' and that being out of the EU is 'better for defence', fearing that a future European army would hinder Nato forces. Former defence chief Lord Guthrie has boosted the hopes of Brexit campaigners by dramatically switching sides from Remain to Leave over 'dangerous' European army plans In an interview with the Telegraph he said: 'I think a European army could damage Nato. It is expensive. It's unnecessary duplication to have it. It would appeal to some Euro vanity thing.' 'There's a feeling that those backing the European army are doing it for political reasons rather than military ones. They want to be able to boast, "Look! We've got a European army". That is dangerous,' he added. Lord Guthrie presided over the British Army during the the Balkan conflicts and the rescue of Sierra Leone. He served in Germany for 14 years and commanded the British Army of the Rhine from 1992-94. He was then involved in the Nato Partnership for Peace after the fall of the Berlin Wall and his allegiance to the alliance remains strong. Only four months ago Lord Guthrie (pictured in 2001) signed a Downing Street letter from military leaders arguing that Britain would be safer in the EU He said that 'it would be a signal disaster to have a European army as rivals to Nato.' 'I am concerned that the Army which I was in for 45 years could become very damaged and therefore less useful to our country.' As CDS, he attended meetings in Brussels where he noticed a desire to bring Europe closer together regarding defence. He said that the Germans and President Mitterrand of France were very keen on the idea of a European army and that now the European Parliament is also keen as is made clear by its use of phrases such as 'politico-military structures in Brussels. Lord Guthrie says being out of the EU is 'better for defence', fearing that a future European army would hinder Nato forces EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker is among those to have said a European army is needed to stand up to Russia. But the idea could be blocked by Britain, as EU treaties make clear. The government has previously said Britain will 'never be part of an EU army'. Lord Guthrie also said that he felt more European than American but that the Americans are more important. 'When things get really serious, we need the Americans. That's where the power is. If the Americans had been around at the time of the Ukraine events, I doubt whether Putin would have dared be so bold,' he said. There are five days to go until the referendum on 23 June but campaigning has been suspended until Sunday, following the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox on Thursday. A body has been discovered in a burnt out car following a serious crash west of Brisbane. The car was found in a paddock off the Gatton-Clifton Rd, near the small town of Gatton in Southeast Queensland. Police were called to the scene by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services at 5.43pm on Saturday. A body has been found in a burnt out car near the small town of Gatton in Southeast Queensland Fire fighters initially thought they were responding to an abandoned vehicle, but called police after they found a body, The Courier Mail reported. After the Ford Mondeo left the road it plowed through 100 metres of bushland, including two fences, the paper reported. The car is believed to have rolled. A Queensland Police spokesman said officers were still at the site of the serious accident and a scene examination was underway. The victim is yet to be identified. The results of the world first experiment surprised UNSW A 4WD can be swept away easily even in shallow floodwaters research by the University of New South Wales shows. Even in just 15cm of water, a one tonne car is at risk of floating away. Engineers at UNSW were shocked at their results after using a test tank in Manly Vale in Northern Sydney to recreate similar situations faced by drivers. 'People don't realise that even slow-moving water packs a powerful punch. Water is heavy: each cubic metre weighs about 1,000 kilogram,' principal engineer Grantley Smith, told the ABC. A 4WD can be swept away easily even in shallow floodwaters research by the University of New South Wales shows Three men died in floodwater in separate incidents after a vicious storm battered Australia in early June. A body of a 65-year-old man was found by police divers, the deceased man was in his vehicle in Mittagong Creek near Bowral and another man in a truck at Leppington, Sydney's south west. A 4WD with a Canberra man inside was swept away by the floods and flipped over. The 37-year-old Kambah drivers body was later seen on an island in the middle of the river. 'New cars in particular have really been made airtight because of the climate control systems that they have to keep the air conditioning temperature at the setting at the setting you'd like,' Mr Smith said to the ABC. 'Because they are airtight they are also water tight. 'So when you drive a car into water they just bob around like a cork. It's like having a boat on the water, they just float on the top of the water because no water can get into cabin of the vehicle.' Engineers at UNSW were shocked at their results after using a test tank in Manly Vale in Northern Sydney to recreate similar situations faced by drivers The experiment by UNSW is a world first as they used actual cars. Previous experiments used vehicle miniatures Three men died in floodwater in separate incidents after a vicious storm battered Australia in early June Police divers found a 65-year-old man's body in his vehicle in Mittagong Creek near Bowral and another man in a truck at Leppington (pictured), Sydney's southwest The world-first experiment in Sydney found a small car like a 1.05 tonne Toyota Yaris, began to move in water just 15 cm deep and with a flow speed of 1 metre/second. Mr Smith said that in 60cm of water the car floated away. 'I was quite surprised about just how shallow the water depth were when the cars started to move quite easily in our tests. 'What we've found is that you really have to test it at full scale to get the buoyancy effects right to get the forces on the vehicle, measuring those correctly you really need to do that at full scale.' Principal engineer Grantley Smith said people don't realise that even slow-moving water packs a powerful punch A 1.05 tonne Toyota Yaris began to move in water just 15 cm deep and with a flow speed of 1 metre/second Mr Smith said he was surprised about just how shallow the water depth was when the cars started to move Researchers also tested a heavier Nissan Patrol 4WD which weighed 2.5-tonnes. They found the car would float once the water reached a depth of 95cm. 'The 4WD because it's a much larger vehicle, it weighs 2.5 tonnes it starts becoming unstable when the water is about 45 centimetres deep, when the water is moving past at walking pace,' Mr Smith said. Footage showed officer kneeling on his head while two others cuffed him Police arrested the struggling man after tracking him to This is the moment a martial arts expert convicted of gang-raping a British woman was caught by armed police after going on the run. The 36-year-old Spaniard - who raped a woman with his brother in an abandoned house in 2009 - attacked officers who went to detain him after tracking him to a girlfriend's house in Adra, south east Spain. Footage released by police on Saturday showed an officer kneeling on the man's head after overpowering him with two colleagues before helping to cuff him. This is moment a martial arts expert convicted of gang-raping a British woman was caught by armed police in Spain after going on the run One of the policemen had to fire a warning shot in the air as the fugitive resisted arrest. He was led to a waiting van in shorts and a T-shirt before being hauled off to prison to start a nine-year-jail sentence. The man, who has not been named, was one of three men convicted of raping a British woman in the seaside resort of Roquetas de Mar in 2009. He, his brother and a third man carried out in the crime in an abandoned house near a castle. He went on the run while he was out on bail after lodging an appeal against his sentence. The other two men convicted alongside him are already in prison. Their victim stills suffers post-traumatic stress disorder. The 36-year-old Spaniard - who raped a woman in an abandoned house in 2009 - attacked officers who went to detain him after tracking him to a girlfriend's house in Adra, south east Spain Video footage released by police on Saturday showed an officer kneeling on the man's head after overpowering him with two colleagues before helping to cuff him Spain's National Police said in a press release: 'Police have arrested a 36-year-old fugitive in Adra, Almeria. 'He is 36 years old and Spanish. A warrant was issued for his arrest and immediate imprisonment so he could start a nine-year jail sentence. 'The detained man, together with his brother and a third men, carried out a sex attack on a young British woman they knew in 2009. 'They got alongside their victim near Santa Ana Castle in Roquetas de Mar and took her against her will to a remote abandoned house in ruins where they raped her. 'A court in Almeria sentenced all three men to nine years each in jail.' The sister of backpacker Rye Hunt, whose body was found washed up on a beach in Rio Di Janeiro, has opened up about losing her brother but gaining a son. Romany Brodribb gave birth to a baby boy a day after her brother's body was identified and named the child Edward James Rye saying that his birth was 'a little bit poetic, but sad at the same time.' Brazilian authorities returned Mr Hunt's body to his heartbroken family who cremated him in a local funeral home in preparation to bring him back to Tasmania. Scroll down for video Rye Hunt's sister Romany Brodribb (pictured) has opened up about her relationship with her baby brother and spoken out about how 'poetic' it is that her son was born when he was Ms Brodribb who always felt like Rye was 'her baby' told her family it was a 'little bit poetic' that her son was born at the time that he was, reported The Sydney Morning Herald. She said: 'I think we have lost an amazing, amazing special boy in our lives, and we have gained one as well. 'It is a little bit poetic, but sad at the same time as well.' The mother-of-two told the newspaper that her brother would have been a doting uncle and said that little Edward 'looked a little like her brother'. Ms Brodribb posted a touching tribute to her 'baby brother' just a few days earlier alongside this photograph Next month the family are set to properly farewell Rye in a private service on July 10 for direct family and friends. Relatives and people who are close to the family are flying in from all over Australia and New Zealand to say their goodbyes. Ms Brodribb said that rather than it being a funeral it would be a 'celebration of life'. On June 12 Ms Brodribb took to social media in memory of her 'baby brother', detailing her grief in a heartbreaking post. 'What's on my mind?...,' it began. He is pictured here with his girlfriend Bonnie Cuthbert, who is expected to bring his remains home this week 'I don't think I've begun to process the enormity of what life without my baby brother will be like. 'But I know that he was loved - by so many of us. And I know he would want his life to be celebrated,' Ms Brodribb wrote. 'Right now though... My heart feels fractured and my own words feel empty and insufficient.' She then went on to quote a poem from W.H. Auden, alongside a photo of Mr Hunt with angel wings. The day before the post it was confirmed that a body which washed up on a beach in Rio, near where the 25-year-old was last seen, belonged to Mr Hunt. Mr Hunt, 25, was last seen on CCTV leaving an apartment in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro Following the discovery of his body the Tasmanian man's partner and family released statements revealing their heartbreak. 'Rye was the youngest member of our family and was known for being loyal, loving, generous, cheeky, and as a brother totally infuriating!,' Ms Brodribb said at the weekend. 'Thinking about life without him is unfathomable. 'He will be very missed by all of us.' Mr Hunt went missing on May 21 and was found washed up on a beach in Marcia, Rio Di Janeiro. Britain would become an isolated trading post on Europes borders with the significance of Guernsey if it left the EU, Frances economy minister said today. Emmanuel Macron, who is tipped by some to become his countrys next president, used an interview with Le Monde to pour scorn on those campaigning for Brexit. Leaving the EU would mean the Guernseyfication of the UK, which would then be a little country globally, said Mr Macron. Scroll down for video France's economy minister Emmanuel Macron (pictured) warned Britain of the danger of 'Guernseyfication' It would isolate itself and become a trading post and arbitration place at Europe's border, he added. Mr Macron, a former investment banker who is highly respected for economic acumen, said a vote for Brexit on Thursday was likely to be disastrous. He said the European Council should send a very firm message and timetable to the UK about the consequences of Brexit. Guernsey has a population of just 65,000, and its economy mainly relies on financial services and tourism. Guernsey (pictured) has a population of just 65,000 and is politically considered a quiet backwater The island, just off the coast of France, is particularly popular as an offshore financial centre for private equity clients. Mr Macron, who built up a personal fortune working for Rothschild merchant bank, has been spearheading liberal financial reforms within Francois Hollandes Socialist government. Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has been sentenced to life in prison in a spying trial in which six of his co-defendants were handed death penalties. The 64-year-old, who has been sentenced to death in a separate trial, was Egypt's first democratically elected president but the army overthrew him in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters. He was given life in prison today for leading an unlawful organisation and 15 years for having 'stolen secret documents concerning state security,' his lawyer said. Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi gestures from behind the defendant's bars during a previous court appearance in Cairo But Morsi was acquitted of having supplied classified documents to Qatar, one of his main backers, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud revealed. The six defendants sentenced to death for helping to pass secret documents to Qatar include three journalists tried in absentia. Morsi came to power after the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak. But after about one year in office, he was overthrown and detained by then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now Egypt's president. Courts have since sentenced hundreds of Islamists to death, including other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, though many have appealed and been granted new trials. Hundreds of Morsi supporters were killed during protests following his ouster. Thousands of others were detained in a crackdown that was later expanded to include leftist and liberal dissidents. The Brotherhood has been blacklisted as a terrorist group. Jihadists who have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group intensified their attacks following Morsi's overthrow, killing hundreds of Egyptian policemen and soldiers, mainly in the north of the Sinai Peninsula. Morsi (pictured in 2013) was given life in prison today for leading an unlawful organisation and 15 years for having 'stolen secret documents concerning state security,' his lawyer said The jihadists say the attacks are in retaliation for the crackdown on Brotherhood supporters. Two of the journalists sentenced to death, Ibrahim Mohamed Hilal and Jordanian citizen Alaa Omar Mohamed Sablan, worked for Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera. The third has been named as Asmaa Mohamed al-Khatib, a female reporter with pro-Muslim Brotherhood news outlet Rassd. The three others handed the death penalty, who were present during the trial, are documentary producer Ahmed Ali Abdo, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohamed Adel Kilani and university teaching assistant Ahmed Ismail Thabet, according to the prosecution. The death sentences had been sent to the mufti - Egypt's official interpreter of Islamic law - as his opinion is legally required on death sentences although it is not binding. Rights group Amnesty International criticised the trial outcome as 'appalling' and called for the death sentences to be overturned and for the 'ludicrous charges' against the journalists to be dropped. 'Egypt's broken and utterly corrupted justice system is now little more than a handy tool for the authorities' repression of any vestiges of opposition or criticism,' said Magdalena Mughrabi-Talhami, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa. The 64-year-old, who has been sentenced to death in a separate trial, was Egypt's first democratically elected president but the army overthrew him in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters The defendants can appeal the rulings before the court of cassation, and those tried in absentia can seek a retrial if they turn themselves in. Egypt has cracked down on Al-Jazeera and imprisoned three of its journalists in Cairo, including Australian Peter Greste and Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, before releasing them by presidential decree. Morsi has already received sentences in several other separate trials. In 2015, a court sentenced him to death in connection with prison breaks and attacks on police stations during the 2011 uprising. He is appealing that verdict. Morsi was one of the Brotherhood leaders who were jailed during the 18-day uprising, escaping with thousands of inmates who broke out of prison. He has also been sentenced to life in prison for 'espionage' on behalf of Iran and other countries, as well as militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Another court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for clashes that erupted outside his presidential palace in December 2012 between his supporters and opponents, killing up to 10 people. The clashes erupted after Morsi issued a decree placing his decisions above judicial review. The home of a 66-year-old man has been completely destroyed after firecrackers set his property alight. The unnamed man was asleep in his home on Baker Drive, in the northern Sydney suburb of Crescent Head on Friday. At around 11.55pm the sound of fireworks woke him up and he could smell gunpowder, but he fell back asleep. He woke up again at 2.30am to find flames coming from the front of his house. The home of a 66-year-old man has been completely destroyed after firecrackers set the property alight The unnamed man was able to escape the blaze uninjured but his home was completely destroyed. Police are appealing for witnesses who might have seen firecrackers being thrown at the home. Information received suggests several persons were seen throwing lit firecrackers inside the open front window of the home before the blaze. The incident has shaken the small beach side community and locals have taken to social media to express their sympathies. That is so sad, that poor old man, his home his everything gone. Awful, wrote one woman. Another added: Terrible thing to do lucky he wasn't injured, bad enough he lost everything. A crime scene has been established and is being examined by forensic specialists. Images posted to the Crescent Head Crime Fighters Facebook page shows the damaged caused to the elderly mans home A body pulled from the water off the Mid North Coast of New South Wales today is believed to be that of missing fisherman Michael Fernance. Police and emergency services were called to Corindi Beach, about 36km north of Coffs Harbour, just after 1.30pm on Saturday. The body has not yet been formally identified, but police believe it is the 26-year-old Clarence Valley man. The body pulled from the water off the Mid North Coast of New South Wales today is believed to be that of missing fisherman Michael Fernance Mr Fernance has not been seen since he went fishing at Red Rock Headland on Wednesday afternoon, The Daily Examiner reported. Mr Fernance's cousin, Tammy Anderson, wrote of the family's heartbreak on social media this evening. 'Today has been an extremely sad & emotional day, word's can not express the sadness myself & my family have witnessed & went through today [sic],' she said. 'We've found my cousin Michael Fernance & sadly it wasn't the news we were wanting.' The body was found at Corindi Beach, about 36km north of Coffs Harbour, just after 1.30pm on Saturday Mr Fernance was reported missing on Thursday morning after he failed to return home. An initial search of the headland found a fishing rod and a large fish but no trace of Mr Fernance, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. It has been reported that Mr Fernance regularly fished the area but was not wearing a lifejacket. On Friday, Geoffrey Wruck, the manager at North Coast Holiday Parks, said news of the fisherman's disappearance had saddened many people in the local community. 'He is such a nice guy and I've already had two phone calls from people who somehow heard it was him and said he'd taken them fishing before,' he told The Daily Examiner. 'He really touched people, and is just a kind person.' A four-year-old boy has died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a gun he found in an Iowa mobile home. The boy's mother brought her son and a younger child to visit a friend in the small city of Elgin. Authorities said the mother and friend stepped outside, leaving the four-year-old and a younger child alone in the home around 2.30pm on Friday. A four-year-old boy is dead after he accidentally shot himself in the head with a gun he found at this mobile home in the small city of Elgin, Iowa That is when the boy, whose name has not been released, shot himself with a handgun. Police received two 911 calls about the shooting, with the second caller reporting that a child had been shot and was unconscious, according to The Gazette. One witness saw the mother running to a nearby business, screaming for help. The boy was found with a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Fayette County Sheriff's Office. Authorities said the gun was legally owned by the homeowner, who was not at home at the time of the shooting, according to KWWL. No arrests have been made. The Fayette County Sheriff's Office said the investigation is ongoing. Lewis was suspended after the post was reported to the State Attorney It is void of a single redeeming quality. It is a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs,' he wrote ' which 'should be leveled' A Florida assistant state attorney has been suspended after writing on Facebook that Orlando 'should be leveled' after the terrorist attack at a gay club. Just hours after Omar Mateen burst into Pulse nightclub and opened fire, killing at least 49 people and injuring more than 50 others, Kenneth Lewis wrote a scathing post about the city on social media. 'Downtown Orlando has no bottom,' he wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday evening. Florida assistant state attorney Kenneth Lewis has been suspended after writing on Facebook that Orlando 'should be leveled' after the terrorist attack at a gay club 'The entire city should be leveled. It is void of a single redeeming quality. It is a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs. 'It is void of culture. If you live down there you do it at your own risk and at your own peril.' He went onto say that if anyone chose to go there after dark there is 'seriously something wrong with you'. The assistant state attorney added that the Disney World resort was the only redeeming part of Orlando. 'Disney may be the happiest place on earth but Orlando is a national embarrassment. 'If this is an act of domestic terrorist it is so important that we don't publish the religion, name, or motive of the terrorist as not to offend anyone.' Lewis called Orlando a 'national embarrassment ' which 'should be leveled' in the post A city in mourning: Lewis posted the message just hours after Omar Mateen killed almost 50 people at an Orlando nightclub Lewis was suspended after someone reported his post to the Office of the State Attorney. A spokeswoman for the State Attorney's Office, Angela Starke, said the post violated its social media policy. 'Kenneth Lewis, an Assistant State Attorney in the Office of State Attorney Ninth Judicial Circuit, was suspended today pending further review,' Starke said in a statement. She explained: 'Mr. Lewis violated the SAO9 social media policy. The social media policy was adopted and implemented on February 20, 2015, as part of SAO9's code of conduct. Every employee is required to sign the policy. Failure to comply can result in discipline up to and including termination.' It's not the first time Lewis' social media posts have landed him in trouble. A 12-year-old girl who was molested by a member of an extremist Christian sect was convinced by the cult to say the attacks never happened. Lindsay Jensen was a high-ranking member of the Exclusive Brethren, an international religious sect with a history of alleged child abuse. Jensen sexually abused two young sisters in regional NSW, aged nine and 12. The older girl told her mother in 2002 that Jensen had been molesting her. But instead going to the police, the mother took her child to the house of the man who abused her, where she was interrogated. The 12-year-old was coerced into writing a note saying she had lied about the abuse, Fairfax Media reported. A 12-year-old girl who was molested by Lindsay Jensen, a high-ranking member of the Exclusive Brethren, was coerced into writing this letter saying it never happened 'I have always thought of the relationship between Lindsay and I as a father/daughter relationshipAnd I was glad for it because I needed some sort of father,' she wrote in the note. 'The things that I said that happened, I don't believe they happened at all.' Then in 2003, the girl's nine-year-old sister revealed Jensen, then 45, had been molesting her for over a year. Finally in 2005, Jensen faced court for the abuse of the 12-year-old. His defence relied heavily on the note she had written. The Sydney headquarters of the Exclusive Brethren complex on the corner of Victoria Street and Hughes Street, Ermington Jensen was found guilty and jailed, and two years later received another sentence for having sexual intercourse with a child under 10. Former Brethren spokesman turned whistleblower, Tony McCorkell, who left the sect in 2009, told Fairfax Media the case shook the church. He said the Sydney-based leader of the Exclusive Brethren, Bruce Hales, appeared concerned with the reputation of the Brethren. 'I had several phone conversations with Bruce Hales about the Jensen case,' McCorkell told Fairfax. 'I think he was genuinely, at the time, mortified by it But our conversations were about protecting the church. We knew it was a bad look.' The Exclusive Brethren, which has since renamed itself the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, has long been dogged by allegations of child sex abuse. A recent study from UK psychologist Jill Mytton found 27 per cent of 264 former members reported being sexually abused as children. The church has responded to recent media attention with a statement regarding the Jensen case. Tony McCorkell, the former spokesman for the Exclusive Brethren. Mr McCorkell, who left the sect in 2009, told Fairfax Media the case shook the Church The statement takes aim at a Sydney Morning Herald journalist who the church says 'takes isolated incidents and generalises them across the entire Plymouth Brethren'. According the church, an article published in the Good Weekend on Saturday, 'cites just two Australian cases of child sexual abuse' and 'reports decisions taken by individuals as if they were sanctioned or ordered by the church leadership'. The statement read: 'The sexual abuse of minors is a heinous act and the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church will always strive to bring any allegations of such to the attention of police and other authorities.' Australian swimming legend and alleged nipple tweaker Grant Hackett has spoken candidly about his 'embarrassing' drunk actions on April flight. Hackett, 36, was accused of tweaking a male passenger's nipple 'quite forcefully' on a flight from Adelaide to Melbourne after the man reclined his chair. The Olympic gold medalist has denied these allegations but says his post swimming career has been hit hard since the bizarre, drunken incident. Olympic gold medalist Grant Hackett, 36, says he won't be attending the Rio Olympics as a commentator for Channel 7 or as the swim team's mentor The Australian swimming legend and alleged nipple tweaker has spoken candidly about his 'embarrassing' drunk actions on April flight Speaking in a heartfelt interview with the Herald Sun, the swimmer said he won't be appearing at the Rio Olympics as a commentator for Channel 7 or as the swim team's mentor. 'I guess for me not being on the team as an athlete, then the way to contribute was being there part of the coverage, on pool deck. 'There are going to be people going through all sorts of emotions, with so much pressure, you need all the support you can get. 'That's the disappointing aspect, not being able to support them.' He added that the experience was 'devastating,' and 'it was really heartbreaking, and it was heartbreaking for my family as well.' His Rio 2016 Olympic dream came to an end earlier this year after failing to book a place on the Australian team. He finished seventh in his 200m freestyle semi-final at the trials in Adelaide in April. Hackett had been hoping to make a comeback and make it onto the squad for the 4x200m freestyle relay after retiring from swimming more than six years ago. Hackett denied the nipple tweaking allegations but says his post swimming career has been hit hard since the drunken flight Hacketts Rio 2016 Olympic dream came to an end earlier this year after failing to book a place on the Australian team The troubled Olympian is putting the incident behind him, focusing on his PhD in finance, adding to his degrees in commerce and law Hackett said he had been drinking heavily at the airport prior to the controversial Virgin Airlines flight, which occurred just after the disappointing trials. He denies that he inappropriately touched fellow passenger Martin Slobodnik. 'I certainly can't explain or vouch for the person who was sitting ahead of me. Certainly everyone around me has stated as I just said,' he previously told reporters on the Gold Coast. 'Did I mean to touch him inappropriately? If I did, I'm very, very sorry. I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to offend him. The troubled Olympian is putting the incident behind him, focusing on his PhD in finance, adding to his degrees in commerce and law. Walmart employees are being hailed as heroes after they helped disarm and restrain a man after he allegedly stabbed his estranged wife before slashing himself with a boxcutter at a Tennessee store. Authorities said Airick Clifft, 26, entered a Walmart in Hohenwald at 12.45am on Friday and attacked his estranged wife, who works at the store, stabbing her at least four times in the chest and neck. At the time of the attack, he was armed with a four-to-five-inch knife, according to WKRN. Scroll down for video Authorities said Airick Clifft, 26, (pictured) entered a Walmart in Hohenwald at 12.45am on Friday and attacked his estranged wife, who works at the store, stabbing her at least four times in the chest and neck A group of up to four Walmart employees quickly stepped in and subdued Clifft while also managing to take the knife away from him, police said. Above the Walmart store where the incident happened A group of up to four Walmart employees quickly stepped in and subdued Clifft while also managing to take the knife away from him, police said. 'I don't know what would have happened to that woman if the Walmart employees did not step in,' Hohenwald Police Chief Sam Livingston said. While employees restrained Clifft as they waited for authorities to arrive on scene, he somehow grabbed a boxcutter and began slashing himself while making suicidal remarks, according to FOX 17. The employees were able to also take the boxcutter away from him and prevented Clifft from further harming himself. Employee Dusti Patrum (pictured) said she felt uneasy following the attack and that she never would have expected something like this happening at the store His estranged wife was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in stable but critical condition where she underwent surgery. Clifft was transported to Maury Regional Hospital with minor injuries and was released and charged with attempted second-degree murder. It is not clear if any of the employees who offered assistance during the attack were injured. Livingston said a motive has not yet been confirmed but it appears the couple was possibly in the process of a divorce. The incident remains under investigation. A witness says she did hit the phone out of the union member's hand Ms Griggs said the situation is 'nothing more than a union set-up' is seen saying 'don't video me' before the screen goes dark Australian politician Natasha Griggs is being labeled as 'aggressive' after confronting a union member filming her and allegedly knocking their phone to the ground. Footage shows the federal member for Solomon walking up to the woman filming, while repeatedly saying 'don't video me' The screen then goes black for a few seconds while the phone hits the ground. Ms Griggs told the ABC that the situation is 'nothing more than a union set-up' but one witness says the politician did hit the phone out of the union member's hand. Maritime Union of Australia's Northern Territory branch secretary Thomas Mayor witnessed the incident at the Northern Territory's Palmerston Night Markets while handing out flyers about seafarers jobs. He told AAP on Saturday that the incident was 'aggressive'. 'She's lying when she reckons the woman dropped it,' Mr Mayor added. Childcare worker Cecile Chavez told the ABC, who originally obtained the footage, that she approached Ms Griggs at the Palmerston markets and questioned her about weekend penalty rates. She says it was at this point Ms Griggs approached another union member filming the interaction. Ms Chavez said she had previously had 'very pleasant' meetings with the politician. 'After last night? Very unprofessional, very hostile, very aggressive, I've definitely got a different view on Natasha Griggs,' Ms Chavez told the ABC. Footage shows Natasha Griggs walking up to the union member filming t the Northern Territory's Palmerston Night Markets The federal member for Solomon repeatedly says 'don't video me' before the screen goes black for a few seconds while the phone is on the ground Ms Griggs insists she put up her hand to block the footage being taken by the 'union operative' after she refused to stop filming Ms Griggs insists she put up her hand to block the footage being taken by the 'union operative' after she refused to stop filming. At that point the unionist dropped the phone to the ground and another started chanting, she said. 'I will not be intimidated by the unions nor should the people of Darwin and Palmerston,' she said in a statement to AAP on Saturday. Labor is hopeful it can reclaim Ms Griggs' marginally held seat of Solomon in the Northern Territory. A woman, who stole the identities of two of her schoolmates and pretended to be a gynaecologist looking after a patient with ovarian cancer to get drugs, has walked free. Emma-Jayne Martin, pleaded guilty to the crime but claimed she was addicted to painkillers which helped treat severe back pain, a Southport Magistrates Court heard. Martin, using other names, would arrive at GP offices with a fake letter from gynaecologist Dr Miriam Lee from Benowa in Queensland, to obtain the prescriptions for herself, reported The Courier Mail. Queensland woman Emma-Jayne Martin (pictured), who stole the identities of two of her schoolmates and pretended to be a gynaecologist looking after a patient with ovarian cancer to get drugs, has walked free On Tuesday Martin walked away with a suspended nine-month jail term. Real estate agent Christine Edwards, 34, and fellow classmate and mother-of-three Karla Barrett, 33, had not seen Martin since they were both at Ferny Grove State High with her in year 10. But Martin allegedly sent sympathetic Facebook messages to Ms Barrett probing her about the details of her treatment. Now four months into remission, Ms Barrett told the newspaper that she had become suspicious when Martin asked for her middle name. Emma-Jayne Martin (pictured), pleaded guilty to the crime but claimed she was addicted to painkillers which helped treat severe back pain Soon after, Ms Barrett found out about Martin who had used her name three times to receive prescription medicine. She said: I was furious that someone could see what I was going through and have the audacity to lie about it. Ms Edwards, who had been working as a real estate agent, has since lost her home, job and car as a result of the fraud. Police discovered Martin had gone to the Gold Coast and Brisbane posing as both women over 18 months Martin pleaded guilty to the stealing the identity of Christine Edwards and Karla Barrett but claimed to be addicted to painkillers because of severe back pain, Southport Magistrates Court heard (stock). She also used fake letters from a gynaecologist Dr Miriam Lee to obtain the drugs The Office of Fair Trading suspended Ms Edwards real estate license after police failed to prove that she was a victim, not the culprit. She was shocked to learn that Martin had previous convictions for changing prescriptions and a history of stealing. Both women were angry that Martin had walked free after committing such a shocking crime. Martin allegedly phoned GPs and arrived with a fake letter from Dr Lee claiming to need the prescriptions and used Ms Edwards identity 12 times to obtain painkillers including Endone, OxyContin and Valium (stock) Police discovered Martin had gone to the Gold Coast and Brisbane posing as both women over 18 months. Martin had allegedly phoned GPs and arrived with a fake letter from Dr Lee claiming to need the prescriptions and used Ms Edwards identity 12 times to obtain painkillers including Endone, OxyContin and Valium. When Martin filled out a new patients form she would claim to not have her Medicare card and told doctors Ms Barretts ovarian cancer story to seal the deal. The $33,800 Cartier engagement ring which has been put up for sale on Facebook in Sydney has been revealed to belong to Scott Disick's rumoured flame and Australian model, Megan Blake-Irwin. The stunning 1.23 carat engagement ring was bought for the blonde beauty by Pedestrian TV's co-founder Oscar Martin in December last year. Martin listed the ring as a 'regretful sale' on Facebook's High End buy, swap and sell page but revealed selling the ring didn't mean he missed out on his 'happy ending'. Megan Blake-Irwin poses with her now ex-fiance Oscar Martin at Christmas time wearing the ring which is now for sale The post about the ring attracted hundreds of comments as Martin reveals he is in love with another woman 'I've since met an incredible girl and we have fallen well and truly head over heals (sic).' He listed the ring for $28,800 on the Facebook Page on June 17. His asking price is $5,000 less than he bought it for just over six months ago. 'Comes with all original/ new Cartier packaging, ring box, all certificates, receipts, bag etc. 'Note this ring was worn for one week only,' the post read. He first listed the ring for sale on his own Facebook Page just hours before he uploaded pictures of the ring to High End. The first advertisement there was more casual. Megan Blake-Irwin with Oscar Martin. The couple were engaged last year but it 'fell through' Martin is asking for $5,000 less for the ring than what he paid for it in December The 1.23 carat ring was bought for $33,800. Martin is now trying to sell it over Facebook 'I know this guy who's selling a breathtakingly beautiful Cartier engagement ring that's literally been outside it's (sic) box for two weeks. PM me if you're interested! Lol,' he wrote. Ms Blake Irwin posted a picture of herself wearing the ring on Christmas Day last year alongside her then fiance. Martin has had 205 comments on his posts many asking about the couple's break up. 'Ouch... Did someone say 'no' ?' asked one curious social media user. Martin kept his cards close to his chest when he responded. 'That would have been the logical answer under the circumstances... Unfortunately not,' he said. He posted the ring for sale on his own Facebook Page as well as a High End buy swap and sell page The ring has only been 'out of the box for two weeks' according to the seller Blake-Irwin has been linked to Kourtney Kardashian's ex Scott Disick since her move overseas Blake-Irwin, 21, and Disick, 32, have most been seen putting on an affectionate display as they went for a dinner date at Koi Japanese restaurant in LA. They have also been seen partying in the city but the blonde beauty has refused to confirm if she and Disick are in a relationship. Scott shares three young children with Kourtney Kardashian, Mason, six, Penelope, three, and Reign, 15 months. The FBI claims that there wasn't enough information for a full investigation after a Florida gun store reported a 'very suspicious' man who they say was Orlando shooter Omar Mateen. Robbie Abell, co-owner of Lotus Gunworks, told ABC news that the FBI never visited the south Florida store and failed to check their surveillance footage after he alerted them to the potential threat. Just five weeks later, the 29-year-old self-radicalized gunman obtained an AR-15 and a semiautomatic pistol from another store in the area, bought stacks of ammunition, then opened fire at Pulse nightclub, where he killed 49 people and wounded 53. The FBI insists that, while there were follow up conversations, there wasn't enough information to conduct a 'meaningful investigative follow up' after the initial report. Scroll down for video Omar Mateen, 29, (left) killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 others in the mass shooting in Orlando last week. Lotus Gunworks' owner Robbie Abell (right) reported Mateen to the FBI weeks earlier, he claims The bureau said agents had visited Lotus Gunworks in May on an 'unrelated investigative matter'. Whilst in the store, staff mentioned that a 'very suspicious' man had come in asking about high-end body armor. 'During this visit, Lotus personnel advised that there had been an individual who had been in the store days earlier asking about a specific type of body armor,' the FBI stated. 'Because the store did not carry that particular style of body armor, it referred this unknown individual elsewhere but was unable to collect any information about him, to include name, date of birth, charge card, telephonic information or e-mail address.'' Employees had become concerned about the customer's behavior and turned him away but called the FBI to investigate. However, Abell claims that agents never returned to the store to carry out an investigation or to examine their security footage. The video has since been overwritten. 'Unfortunately, given the lack of information about this individual, FBI agents were unable to conduct any meaningful investigative followup,' the bureau told ABC News. Staff say Mateen came into the store in May and asked for heavy-duty body armor like the kind used by law enforcement, which they did not sell. 'Turned away': The owner of Lotus Gunworks claims Omar Mateen came into the store in South Florida in May and asked for heavy-duty body armor like the kind used by law enforcement, as well as bulk ammunition Robbie Abell, co-owner of Lotus Gunworks, told ABC news that while there was a follow-up conversation with agents, the FBI never visited the south Florida store after he alerted them, or investigated further After the 29-year-old was denied he asked to buy bulk ammunition. The request was shut down by staff who refused to sell him anything else. Abell told the Wall Street Journal: 'The questions he was asking were not the normal questions a normal person would be asking... He just seemed very odd.' He added that Mateen was speaking to someone on the phone in Arabic and was walking around the store texting. Mateen is of Afghan descent, where the official languages are Pashto and Dari. It is not clear how Abell's staff deduced he was speaking Arabic. He added that staff were on high alert since authorities has recently warned them to look out for suspicious activity in the area. Abell did not specify which authorities gave this warning. Port St Lucie police said they did not receive a report about Mateen's suspicious behavior. Once it emerged that Mateen was the perpetrator of the worst mass shooting in history, Abell said Lotus staff instantly recognized him and reported their experience to the FBI. Speaking Thursday Abell said: 'He slipped through the cracks.' Investigators outside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, where Omar Mateen killed and wounded his victims He added that he was glad they did what they could to block him. 'If something is suspicious, it's our discretion. We are the gatekeeper,' Abell told the Journal. Mateen bought his murder weapons from St Lucie Shooting Center days before his attack. Ed Henson, the retired NYPD officer who owns St Lucie Shooting Center, defended himself in the wake of the massacre saying: 'I don't make the laws.' He insisted he put Mateen through the necessary background checks before selling him an AR-15 and a semiautomatic pistol. The FBI has also come under fire after reports that the bureau investigated Mateen years before about purported links to extremists. In both investigations, in 2013 and 2014, agents determined that he was not a threat. A widow's 'homophobic' in-laws have been charged with stealing her late wife's ashes. Chris Cataldo, 43, and her wife Elina Cataldo, 36, married on August 3, 2011. Tragically, on June 4, Elina died following a battle with liver disease and pneumonia. The heartbreak was only exacerbated when Elina's parents Gemadly Grinman, 63, and Svetlana, 58, allegedly stole their daughter's ashes and buried them in a plot in Brooklyn, the New York Daily News reported. 'I want the ashes returned,' Chris, a retired city cop, told the Daily News. 'It's all I ever wanted. I just want to grieve in peace. I lost my wife. I lost my best friend.' Widowed: Chris Cataldo (right) lost her wife Elina (left) to pneumonia and liver disease in July, but now faces another tragic heartbreak after her in-laws allegedly kidnapped Elina's daughter and stole her ashes In-law: Cataldo says Gennadiy Grinman, Elina's father (pictured), buried Elina's ashes in the family plot - and is now fighting for custody of Elina's daughter, who is in Cataldo's care The Grinmans also took their 12-year-old granddaughter away from Chris, saying the girl 'is not coming back to stay with you to finish school', it is claimed. In a court document Gemadly said: 'The ashes are mine and will be buried with my wife's family because you are not my family.' On Monday the Grinmans were arrested at the Barnes Intermediate School in Great Kills on Staten Island, where their granddaughter is a student. They have been charged with petty larceny and possession of stolen property, and custodial interference for allegedly taking their granddaughter with the intention of keeping her. 'Both defendants did, acting together and in concert... intend to hold that child permanently or for a protracted period,' court papers read. The documents say that the Grinmans were invited by Chris into her home on June 10 and allowed her step-daughter to go home with her grandparents. The following day Chris noticed the urn was missing and her in-laws failed to return the child. The papers say instead they took the 12-year-old child to a cemetary so she could witness the burial of her mother's ashes. The couple was arraigned and released without bail Tuesday after Svetlana showed Cataldo documents proving that Elina was buried in her family plot, the Daily News reported. Chris implied her in-laws were homophobic and didn't agree with her relationship to their daughter, she told the New York Daily News. 'The parents never liked me for obvious reasons,' Chris said. 'I had a very tumultuous relationship with them.' 'You know your soulmate at the end of the day. Love is love, not to sound cliche.' Svetlana told the Daily News she is distraught after being arrested. 'I lost my daughter. I sit in jail with my husband because that b****** called police and said I stole my daughter's ashes, she said. She also said she would fight tooth and nail to gain custody of her granddaughter. 'I just came from Family Court. I sat there all day, OK?' she said. Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen was 'involuntarily dismissed' from a corrections officer training program in 2007 after he reportedly talked about bringing a gun to class. Mateen's dismissal from the program came after he was in the academy for six months and within days of the tragic Virginia Tech shooting, documents released on Friday revealed. 'He did not complete his academic program and was not certified as a correctional officer,' the Florida Department of Corrections told CBS in a statement. Scroll down for video Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen was 'involuntarily dismissed' from a corrections officer training program in 2007 after he reportedly talked about bringing a gun to class A memo (above) recommending a probationary dismissal of Mateen indicates most disturbing was an incident documented only days after the Virginia Tech mass shooting when a classmate said Mateen mentioned bringing a gun to class The corrections department said Mateen had worked at the Martin Correctional Institution in Indiantown, Florida from October 27, 2006, to April 27, 2007. During that time, he was disciplined for reasons including sleeping in class and being absent, according to corrections records. However, a memo recommending a probationary dismissal of Mateen indicates most disturbing was an incident documented only days after the Virginia Tech mass shooting when a classmate said Mateen mentioned bringing a gun to class. 'I was notified K Lapham, Academy Coordinator, Indian River Community College, that recruit Mateen has two documented instances of sleeping in class as well as undocumented instances of sleeping in class,' Martin Correctional Institution Warden PH Skipper wrote at the time. 'Additionally officer Mateen has been documented as being absent without permission 'And most disturbing, an incident documented on 4/23 by another recruit where officer Mateen approached officer Thompson on 4/14/07 and asked 'if he was to bring a gun to school would I (officer Thompson) tell anybody. 'In light of recent tragic events at Virginia Tech, officer Mateen's inquiry about bringing a weapon to class is at best extremely disturbing.' The corrections department noted Mateen was 'not fit to serve as a member of the FDC team as he was unable to meet the basic requirements of the correctional officer academy,' CBS reported. The corrections department said Mateen had worked at the Martin Correctional Institution (pictured) in Indiantown, Florida from October 27, 2006, to April 27, 2007, when he was asked to leave His dismissal came after the tragic April 16, 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech where 32 people were killed by a student gunman (mourning Virginia Tech students pictured above at the time) His dismissal came after the tragic April 16, 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech where 32 people were killed by a student gunman. At the time, the shooting was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in recorded US history until Mateen opened fire at a gay bar last week in Orlando, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others. He was then killed during a shootout with police. Investigators have said the massacre was an act of terrorism and a hate crime. Last year, Mateen made one last attempt to become a full-fledged police officer when he applied for an intensive six-month law enforcement academy in his hometown of Fort Pierce, Daily Mail Online previously learned. But officials at the Indian River State College's Criminal Justice Institute were so concerned about his behavior, 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 told Daily Mail Online. '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.' Mateen, 29, graduated from the two-year Indian River State College's law enforcement program after high school in 2006 and aspired to work in law enforcement. Ten years ago when he applied to be a state prison guard, his highest recommendation (letter shown above) came from a police officer in his hometown who said Mateen's 'character is beyond reproach' He was a longtime private security guard and most recently was working for security contractor G4S. Ten years ago when he applied to be a state prison guard, his highest recommendation came from a police officer in his hometown who said Mateen's 'character is beyond reproach', Yahoo News reported. In the recommendation letter to the corrections department, Port St Lucie officer Steven Brown described Mateen's judgement, work ethic, sensibility and problem-solving ability as 'impeccable'. 'Omar has the ability to provide the highest levels of professionalism while performing his duties,' Brown wrote in the letter dated September 10, 2006. 'Omar is proved to be trustworthy and reliable both personally and professionally. 'It takes a certain person to perform the duties of a Correctional Officer. The amount of responsibility is one of the greatest a profession can demand. 'Omar does possess a character which would compliment the requirements of a Correctional Officer. 'I guess to sum up my opinion of Omar and his endeavors to become a Correctional Officer: I would sleep soundly at night knowing that a person like Omar is protecting us for the element which resides behind your concrete and steal walls.' Brown, who is still a Port St Lucie officer, declined to comment on the matter, according to Yahoo News. Mateen's dismissal came after the tragic April 16, 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech where 32 people were killed by a student gunman. At the time, the shooting was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in recorded US history until Mateen opened fire at a gay bar last week in Orlando During the shooting at Pulse nightclub (pictured) Mateen fatally shot 49 people and injured 53 others before he was killed in a shootout with officers On Monday, the FBI said Mateen appeared to be a 'homegrown extremist' who espoused support for a jumble of often-conflicting Islamic radical groups. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group. FBI Director James Comey said Mateen was clearly 'radicalized', at least in part via the internet. The FBI became aware of him in 2013 when co-workers reported that he claimed to have family connections to al-Qaida and to be a member of Hezbollah too, Comey said. The agency 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. 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. Investigators have said the massacre was an act of terrorism and a hate crime and then abused staff when asked to pay He locked himself in the Ibrail Khan racially abused a member of staff and assaulted a waiter after his date walked out on him A jilted diner locked himself in a toilet, racially abused a restaurant manager and assaulted a waiter after his date walked out on him. Ibrail Khan, 32, admitted calling restaurant manager Laura Sanz 'fat' and a 'f****** Spanish b****' after being asked to foot the bill for drinks and tapas. New Zealander Khan arrived at the restaurant at 9pm with a woman who left 45 minutes later. Khan, himself a restaurant manager, then locked himself in the eaterie's bathroom for 30 minutes before resuming his meal and then abusing staff when he was asked to pay. He initially denied racially aggregated assault and assaulting waiter Steven Gosnall, but changed his plea to guilty as his trial at City of London Magistrates' Court when CCTV footage of the incident emerged. The court heard New Zealand born Khan became abusive when asked to pay the bill at Port House tapas restaurant on The Strand in central London on April 20 this year. He then refused to pay the bill, racially insulted Miss Sanz and pushed a waiter in the chest when confronted. Simone Brown, prosecuting, told the court: 'At around 9pm the defendant and a woman came into order drinks and food. 'The waiter and assistant manager went to check on the defendant and he told them to go away. Then he came back 10 minutes later and finished the food. 'There was an exchange when Miss Sanz asked him to pay he made reference to her origins, saying 'I'm not paying for the food or drinks, f****** Spanish girl'. 'He then said 'look how fat you are, you must be pregnant, how many babies do you have in there? At least three. He touched her arm and called her a Spanish b****. 'In the melee Steven Gosnall, a waiter, went over to help Miss Sanz and tried to block the defendant from going any further and was pushed in the chest. 'Miss Sanz says she was shocked and stunned by what happened.' Khan admitted racially aggregated assault and assaulting the male waiter, but denied assaulting Miss Sanz and not paying his bill. Ms Bowman said: 'In the interest of justice we are not going forward with the other two charges. We are offering no evidence.' Caroline McAdam, defending Khan, said: 'Mr Khan was with a female friend who left soon after they arrived. The court heard New Zealand born Khan became abusive when asked to pay the bill at Port House tapas restaurant (pictured) on The Strand in central London on April 20 this year 'He is a man of good character and has never been in the criminal justice system before. 'He is in this restaurant business himself and is appalled that he would use such language. He has found it difficult to accept what he has done. 'He is not xenophobic and shares a flat with two Spanish people so is appalled at what he has said. 'He was very drunk and it was approaching the first anniversary of his father's death. He was preparing to go back to Fiji where his family are from to say prayers. 'He was not eating as well so this coupled with the drinking had an even bigger effect on him. He is very sorry for what he has done.' Khan, of Twickenham, south west London, was fined 340 for racially aggregated assault as well as being ordered to pay compensation to his victim of 200. For the assault on Steven Gosnall he was fined 100 and ordered to pay 50 compensation along with court costs of 400 plus a victim surcharge of 34. Chair of the bench Sonia Henley told him: 'This is a very unpleasant incident - to insult a woman like that is quite disgraceful. 'It was an evening where people were out enjoying themselves, people had witnessed what happened. 'You are in the restaurant business yourself, so you know what it is like for people to be rude to you. 'Your behaviour was appalling we hope you never do anything like this again. We want to make direct between your actions and your victims.' Leaving his camera just 100m away from an inquisitive pride of lions may not have been this photo-tourist's smartest move. But fellow photographer Thomas Selig certainly enjoyed getting some amazing shots of the curious cats, after they began chewing up the 1,300 camera. At the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya the unlucky tourist had set up his Canon DSLR on a tripod to take pictures using a remote control. With the tripod just 100m away the cluster of female lions and cubs came over to investigate. A female lion at the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya picks up a DSLR camera with her teeth Chewy: The photo-tourist had set his camera up on a tripod to take remote-control pictures of the pride At first it looked as though the mothers wanted to take some shots of their cute cubs walking in front of the lens. But unsure how to work the EOS 40D camera, worth about 1,300 including the lens, they resorted to trying to eat it instead. Fortunately the photographer got his possession back after the female lion had strutted around with her spoils. But it was all chewed up and the lens was destroyed. Engineer Thomas Selig, 28, was able to capture some hilarious images of lions in the safari park. He said: 'On the morning I took the photographs, we were watching the lions and they started to move and play. Curious cats: With the tripod just 100m away the cluster of female lions and cubs came over to investigate Unsure how to work the Canon camera, worth c. 1,300 including the lens, they resort to trying to eat it instead 'This was the moment another photographer on the safari got the idea to try to take a picture of the lions from very close with a landscape lens. 'But the photographer didn't anticipate how curious the lions are. 'When they saw the strange thing they all moved towards it. 'Their first reflex was to smell it. I imagined they smelt the human, so they started to lick the camera. French engineer Thomas Selig, 28, was able to capture some hilarious images of lions in the safari park Chew-snapper: Fortunately the photographer got his possession back after the female lion strutted around with her spoils 'I was already thinking 'oh oh it doesn't seem so good for the material. 'And then the first lion took the camera into her mouth and she bit the lens - that was the moment we heard the first cracks.' The photographer, from Annecy in France, added: 'For the lions it was really like a game. 'When the first one took the camera with the tripod, they all really wanted to play with the camera, thinking 'it seems so funny', so the camera changed many times from mouth to mouth. Broken: But the lens of the camera could not stand the test of being inside the big cat's mouth for long 'The whole scene lasted at least one hour, until the lions finally got bored with the camera and they went off to do something else.' Thomas said: 'While I felt really sad for the photographer, because it obviously was not what he was expecting, it was at the same time really funny and surreal. The family plans to file a civil lawsuit against the airline A flight attendant moved him when she saw a tear roll down girl's cheek Camp then allegedly slid it up her thigh multiple times, despite protests He is accused of repeatedly brushed up against the girl before putting hand on her knee Chad Cameron Camp, 26, has been charged with abusive sexual contact after he allegedly groped a 13-year-old girl during an American Airlines flight A 26-year-old man is behind bars after he allegedly touched a teenage girl inappropriately at least 15 times during an American Airlines flight. The 13-year-old girl's father had to pay a $150 fee required by the airline to provide extra supervision because she was an unaccompanied minor. But the family's attorney claims Chad Cameron Camp repeatedly groped the girl for half an hour before a flight attendant noticed a single tear rolling down her cheek and made him change seats. The girl was sitting in the window seat for a flight back home to Portland from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport when Camp took a seat next to her, attorney Brent Goodfellow said. A flight attendant informed Camp that there were a number of empty seats available on the plane, including the aisle seat in the girl's row, but he told her "No, I'm fine" and did not move, the complaint states. The girl told FBI agents that she could hear Camp mumbling and cursing to himself before he began asking her questions, asking if it was her first time in Portland and whether she was born in Texas. Camp then allegedly began to lean toward the girl and find various ways to touch her, brushing his elbow against her arm every time he turned the page of a magazine. The girl told agents she continued to lean into the window to try and move away from him as much as possible, but Camp would just laugh at her attempts. Camp then took the teen's boarding pass and read it out loud before tossing it at her feet, according to the Gresham Patch. He then stood up and put his head up to the window, mere inches from the girl's face, before nudging her with his elbow as he sat back down, the complaint states. The girl said Camp also offered her one of his earphones twice and after she refused both times he threw them on her lap. That's when Camp allegedly began to repeatedly place his left hand on her knee, sliding it to her upper thigh. The teen crossed her right leg over her left to try and break contact and repeatedly moved Camp's hand away but he only laughed at her and tried again, according to the Oregonian. A flight attendant then walked by during drink service and saw Camp's hand in the girl's crotch area, it is claimed. She saw the teen leaning against the plane's wall and looking out the window, a tear rolling down her cheek, and immediately told Camp he needed to move. The teen and a witness were moved to the front of the plane and Camp was moved to the back. Goodfellow said the girl didn't move for the rest of the flight, despite the fact that she had to go to the bathroom, because she was so afraid of seeing Camp. The 13-year-old girl's father had to pay a $150 fee to provide extra supervision because she was an unaccompanied minor, but the family said it took half an hour for anyone to notice Camp's abuse The teen was allowed to leave the plane before Camp after it landed and was met by her stepfather at the gate. Camp was taken into custody but the girl saw him one more time as she tried to make her way to the nearest bathroom at the airport. The teen returned to her stepfather in tears. 'She is already saying she doesn't want to be on an airplane ever again,' Goodfellow told KOIN 6. 'I sat with the family for about three hours... she didn't want to be touched by her mom, every time she went to give her a kind of loving touch she would jump.' The girl was interviewed by an FBI agent and Portland police officer. Camp was taken into custody and charged with abusive sexual contact, a felony. Camp, who has no prior criminal convictions, pleaded not guilty on Thursday and remains behind bars at Multnomah County Jail. Goodfellow said the family plans to file a civil suit against American Airlines. 'They didn't make him move, they let him sit there until she was abused for 30 minutes,' he told the station. 'From what I understand she was the only child on the airplane that evening, so it would have been pretty easy to take a few small steps.' American Airlines charges a $150 unaccompanied minor service fee for children aged five to 14. It is meant to ensure children are 'boarded onto the aircraft, introduced to the flight attendant, chaperoned during connections and released to the appropriate person at their destination', the website's policy reads. Advertisement Raging wildfires met with blustering winds have caused a new kind of challenge for firefighters in the southwestern United States: fire tornadoes. A fire tornado kicked up in California early Saturday morning, causing flames and embers to spew over the already damaged forested area of Santa Barbara count. In three states, wildfires have continued to wreck havoc and destroy thousands of acres of land, while some have tripled in size. California, Arizona and New Mexico have been battling raging wildfires this week as temperatures shot into the triple digits, stoking the flames. Tens of thousands of acres of land have been ravaged, the Weather Channel reported, and in New Mexico specifically, the fire exploded in size. 'Humidity values less than 15 per cent and dew points as low as the single digits will be present and persistent across a large portion of the southwest through at least Sunday,' said meteorologist Jonathan Belles. The fire tornado throws embers up into the air as the raging blaze continues to consume acres of California (pictured) nature and wildlife A fire whirl, or fire tornado, rises from advancing flames in the early morning hours on Saturday as blustering winds challenge hundreds of fire fighters trying to contain the blaze Fire whirls (California, pictured) may occur when intense rising heat and turbulent wind conditions combine to form whirling eddies of air The moon can be seen reflected in the ocean as the fire tornado whirs in the darkness of the California (pictured) evening air In the driest parts of the southwest, especially in Phoenix where temperatures are nearing a 20-year high of 120 degrees, the weather could continue to stoke the flames. A state of emergency has been declared in New Mexico as the 'Dog Head Fire' tripled in size to 17,000 acres on Saturday. Manzano Mountains, south of Albuquerque, has had forced evacuations due to the growing blaze caused by wind and high temperatures. In New Mexico 24 homes and 21 other minor structures have been destroyed. Fires raging in California (pictured), New Mexico and Arizona have grown in size and burned thousands of acres of land Tens of thousands of acres of land have been ravaged, the Weather Channel reported, and in New Mexico specifically, the fire exploded in size (California, pictured) 'Humidity values less than 15 per cent and dew points as low as the single digits will be present and persistent across a large portion of the Southwest through at least Sunday,' said meteorologist Jonathan Belles Firefighters battle an expanding wildfire at the Sherpa Fire near Santa Barbara, California (pictured). A fire in the Los Padres National Forest had expanded to two square miles Embers fly around a firefighter at the largest fire in the area since 2009. Strong winds have led to the spread of the fire Residents in Chilili, Mercid, Escobosa Ponderosa Pines and Yrisarri were forced to leave their homes, and officials cut electricity in evacuated areas as a precaution, the Associated Press reported. More than 600 firefighters have worked to stop the flames as the cause of the fire is investigated. The largest of the fires has been a 30,000 acre blaze in San Mateo Mountains in the southwest of New Mexico, caused by a lightning strike. Fire fighting crews have used every method of dousing the blaze possible, including using helicopters and planes to drop water (California, pictured) Along with dropping water, fire fighting planes are also dropping retardant chemicals on the brush to prevent the spread of the fires (California, pictured) A British Aerospace BAe-146 belonging to Neptune Aviation makes a drop on Saturday over the wildfires in Santa Barbara county In Arizona (pictured), more than 10,000 acres have burned and the community of Cedar Creek has been evacuated and thousands more have been told to prepare to leave In Arizona, a fire near Show Low has grown to 10,000 acres and - like the Dog Head Fires in New Mexico - has caused evacuations. Thousands of residents in the area are in pre-evacuation mode. So far only a dozen people have been forced to leave their homes. In California, a fire spread by the 'Sundowner' winds has caused a massive 6,000 acre fire to spread in the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County. Mandatory evacuations are in place and the state's main highway U.S. 101 had to be shut down for hours on Friday as firefighters battled the blaze. Fire tornadoes caused by strong winds also tore through the area. A state of emergency has been declared in New Mexico (pictured) as the 'Dog Head Fire' tripled in size to 17,000 acres on Saturday Residents of the town of Chilili, New Mexico, (pictured) along state road 337 begin to evacuate due to the Dog Head Fire raging closer The Dog Head wildfire burns as seen from the town of Tajique, New Mexico (pictured) near the Manzano Mountains, which have seen mandatory evacuations Hot weather climbing into the triple digits in the southwestern United States is stoking the flames of the raging fires in three states A fleet of planes and helicopters have been brought in to assist the army of firefighters on the ground, the Weather Channel reported. 'This has been a significant and challenging fire. It's burning in an area notorious for life and property loss, structure loss and fuels that have not burned for over 70 years,' Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Eric Peterson told KSBY. The fire was burning 'very close' to the ExxonMobile facility in Las Flores Canyon, according to KEYT.com. They said they were hoping to have the fire contained by June 23. 'The refinery has fire around it, and companies in place protecting it,' Zaniboni told the AP, adding that it has a cleared buffer zone. Evacuation centers have been set up at the Wake Center in Goleta, California, and Santa Ynez Union High School in Santa Ynez, California, Inciweb reported. A large animal evacuation center has been set up at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Goleta. This fire was just five per cent contained as of Friday afternoon. Death is being investigated by Greater Manchester Police and the RSPCA Killer hanged Troya with washing line and put a carrier bag over her head Her body was discovered three weeks later in a canal in Romiley, Stockport A rare-breed dog that was strangled and dumped in a canal has become the first canine killing to be featured on BBC programme Crimewatch. Two-year-old Troya, a Spanish presa canario, was stolen from her kennel on Christmas Eve and her body was discovered more than three weeks later floating in a canal in Romiley, Stockport. She had been hanged with a length of washing line and was found with a blue Aldi carrier bag over her head and secured around her neck with curtain wire. Two-year-old Troya, a Spanish presa canario, was stolen from her kennel on Christmas Eve and her body discovered more than three weeks later floating in a canal in Romiley, Stockport Troya's owner Anthony Taylor, pictured left, explained how the pet was thought of as part of the family before her death Her death is being investigated by both Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the RSPCA and more than 2,000 is been offered to help find her killer. A social media campaign lobbying Crimewatch's spin-off show Crimewatch Roadshow led to the programme launching the appeal on Friday which included a reconstruction of the theft. The canine's owner, Anthony Taylor, 34, described Troya as his 'best friend'. He told Crimewatch: 'Everybody loved Troya, everybody. She was part of the family.' GMP officer Joseph Torkington also appeared on the programme, and called the killing 'horrific'. The dog's death is being investigated by both Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the RSPCA and more than 2,000 is been offered to help find her killer Troya was taken in the early hours of December 24 2015 from her kennel behind Mr Taylor's home in Stockport. She was found floating in the canal on January 18, prompting the set-up of a Facebook page dedicated to investigate the death which has garnered more than 13,000 supporters. Well-wishers raised money for a private autopsy that revealed the dog had been hanged or strangled. Animal campaigner Chops Owen said it was the first time Crimewatch had featured a dog that had been deliberately killed. Anyone with information should call Crimewatch on 0800 0468 999, text 63399 with 'CW' and their message, tweet @BBCCrimewatch, or call the RSPCA on 0300 123 8018. It's believed to be the first punishment of its kind in the UK A 15 year-old teenage offender has become the first child in the UK fitted with a GPS tag which allows police to track his every move after he terrorised Oxford with anti-social behaviour - including brandishing a gun in the street - for months. In a landmark ruling, the rebellious teen, who cannot be named, was handed a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) which requires him to wear the ankle tag for six months. It comes after the boy wreaked havoc in Oxford and Didcot in November 2015, committing a string of crimes including burglary and robbery. In a landmark ruling, the rebellious teen, who cannot be named, was handed a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) which requires him to wear the ankle tag for six months He was given a youth order but continued to offend, including threatening a 14-year-old girl with a replica firearm and brandishing a firearm in the street. Fed up with his behaviour, a judge issued a CBO and ordered the boy's movements be monitored using a tag in April this year. PC Mike Ellis, Oxford anti-social behaviour officer, said it was the first case in the country where an under-18 had been given the punishment. He said: 'We believe there may have been a similar order made with an adult in London but this is the first in the country with a youth. 'I think it will be very successful not just in this case but also in the future.' The offender must wear the tag at all times. PC Ellis added: 'It allows us to see if he is involved in any anti-social behaviour we get reported to us. 'The tag allows us to see if he has been in the area where the crime took place or whether he is behaving himself. 'This is really to act as a deterrent to the offender as they know we will be able to see whether they were near where a crime took place. 'It is also in his interest because if he is not doing anything wrong, and not going to the places he should not be - then great.' He said: 'The youth offending services do all they can to stop a defendant from going into custody, which means they use a lot of time and resources to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. 'With the tag it will take the pressure off offending team officers, allowing them to concentrate on the more complex cases.' Normally a tag can only transmit to one monitoring unit, which is placed in the offender's home. At a thanksgiving service at St Pauls to celebrate the Queens 90th birthday, she dazzled in head-to-toe Chanel, looking every inch the chic and refined modern Royal. But away from the spotlight, Lady Amelia Windsor is a cigarette-smoking, cleavage-flashing party girl who could give Prince Harry a run for his money for the title of the wildest member of the Firm. Snaps from social media accounts show that the 20-year-old granddaughter of the Duke of Kent prefers completely different parties to the one to which was she was invited by the Queen. Cooling off: Lady Amelia Windsor, 20, is pictured above, posing in her bikini as she sips a fizzy drink Lady Amelia is pictured, left, looking chic in Chanel at the Queen's 90th birthday celebration and, right, in a sarong in Greece During a trip to India, Lady Amelia puffs on a cigarette as she cavorts on a beach with a group of friends. In a second shot taken on the same night, she is seen bending forwards and inadvertently exposing her chest as she parties the night away. And in another snap taken by a friend during the Indian adventure, the young Royal showing off her figure in a tiny, coral-coloured bikini drinks a fizzy drink through a straw. A different trip took her to Greece where she pulled a face as a party chum took a snap of her in a bikini top and sarong while grasping a cigarette. Such frolics are perhaps not surprising for a young lady whose Instagram profile motto used to be Go hard or go home. Let's party: Amelia, circled, is pictured puffing on a cigarette at an all-night beach bash in India In a second shot taken on the same night in India, she is seen bending forwards and inadvertently exposing her chest as she parties the night away She shows more decorum on a visit to Paris, where she is pictured in a fluffy bathroom robe with her hair up, and sipping tea from a cup and saucer. Amelias trips clearly help her relax from her studies at the University of Edinburgh though she has done her fair share of partying there too. She was once spotted on St Patricks Day dressed in olive green with a green woolly hat, and downing pints of beer with friends. Lady Amelia, who is 36th in line to the throne, has seen her profile rise significantly after being labelled the most beautiful member of the Royal Family by society magazine Tatler when she appeared on its cover in April. One bizarre shot shows her in a lavatory during a debutantes' ball (left) while another shows her enjoying a cuppa during a trip to Paris Three years ago, the younger daughter of the Earl and Countess of St Andrews made a huge impression at the annual debutantes ball in Paris, dressed in a dramatic Elie Saab gown that won her significant praise from fashion critics. Yet while the then 18-year-old didnt put a foot wrong at the prestigious event, behind the scenes she let her hair down. In a picture from the evening, Amelia is seen in a lavatory with her haute couture dress bunched up around her. Posting on Jo Cox's death, she said it should not cloud judgement over EU Swastika-covered Vote Leave activist Eva Van Housen (pictured) Swastika-covered Vote Leave activist Eva Van Housen caused further outrage on Saturday by describing the killing of Jo Cox as an unfortunate event that should not stop people voting for Britain to leave the EU. The Mail on Sunday can also disclose shocking tweets by a neo-Nazi group in support of the MPs alleged killer, Thomas Mair. The National Action group posted vile messages including, Our thoughts go out to Thomas Mair #Britain-First #JoCoxMP and, Dont let this mans sacrifice go in vain. #JoCox would have filled Yorkshire with more subhumans. The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month that Ms Van Housen, who has several tattoos of Nazi symbols, had distributed Vote Leave campaign materials with her boyfriend, a former BNP official, in Leeds. Commenting on Mrs Coxs death on Facebook, Ms Van Housen said: Whilst it is unfortunate for this to happen, we must not let this deter us from voting out of the EU do not let emotions override facts and logic, that is exactly how you fail. Accusing the Remain side of exploiting Mrs Coxs death for political advantage, she said the media was turning her death into a huge attack on the Brexit campaign [it] has NOT changed any of the FACTS and REASONS as to why we NEED to leave the EU. Her boyfriend Mark Collett weighed in: The murder of Labour MP Jo Cox is being used as an emotional tool to attack Vote Leave. This is how desperate the establishment is; they will do or say anything in order to con people into voting to stay in the EU. A message left by a supporter under their messages read: The leftist w*****s will use this as a tool to keep the vote to leave supporters in. Ms Van Housen also compared Mrs Coxs death to that of pro-EU Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh she was killed in 2003 on the eve of her countrys vote on joining the single currency. She forwarded a message on Facebook yesterday saying: In 2003, Sweden was about to vote out of Europe. On September 11, 2003, three days before the vote, pro-euro Anna Lindh was brutally stabbed to death. Debate was suspended in the media and replaced by eulogies for the politician. The polls reversed and Sweden adopted the euro. However, the 22-year-old was twisting history. The Swedish people rejected the euro but the country remains in the EU, as leaving was not the question put in the referendum. Ms Van Housen declined to speak to The Mail on Sunday. One of the Tweets sent out by the secretive National Action fascist group, accompanied by a picture of alleged killer Thomas Mair Popular MP Jo Cox died after she was shot three times and stabbed as she arrived for a constituency meeting in Birstall near Leeds. She leaves behind her husband Brendan and two children Meanwhile, the secretive neo-Nazi group National Action used Twitter to spread their hatred. One message, next to a cartoon of two dark-skinned apparent terrorists wielding weapons, read: This is the types #JoCox welcomed into our lands. She and her ilk have blood on their hands. National Action did not respond to the MoSs messages. Another group, the Notts Casual Infidels, caused outrage by linking to a Guardian article about Mrs Coxs killing with the comment: We knew it was only a matter of time before we take it to the next level. We have been mugged off for Far to [sic] long. An unnamed user of the site went on to make vile and inflammatory comments about the newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan. An allied group, the North West Infidels, were revealed in the MoS expose to have displayed diversity = white genocide banners next to Vote Leave slogans, to have been involved in violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters in Liverpool, and to have links to online hate campaigns. The Notts Infidels have since removed the Facebook post about Mrs Cox and apologised. The New Jersey couple accused of hoarding 276 dogs in a home filled with flies, fleas and rotting floors have been charged with 552 counts of animal cruelty. Charlene and Joseph Handrik received two counts for each dog taken from their Howell home, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. They were charged with inflicting unnecessary cruelty upon a living animal by providing inhumane living conditions and failing to provide veterinary care for dogs. The New Jersey couple accused of hoarding 276 dogs in a home filled with flies, fleas and rotting floors have been charged with 552 counts of animal cruelty Charlene (right) and Joseph Hendricks (pictured sitting down in the left photograph) received two counts for each dog taken from their Howell home, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office They were charged with inflicting unnecessary cruelty upon a living animal by providing inhumane living conditions and failing to provide veterinary care for dogs Officials said the house was in 'deplorable' condition and called it the worst hoarding case they had ever seen in the history of Monmouth County 'You've got to charge for every animal,' Monmouth County SPCA Chief Ross Licitra told the Asbury Park Press. 'Every animal is a victim.' The dogs were found on the shelves, living under beds and even between the walls of the couple's home. Many saw the outside world for the first time in their lives when they were rescued. Officials said the house was in 'deplorable' condition and called it the worst hoarding case they had ever seen in the history of Monmouth County. The floors were covered in urine and feces and a stench filled the air, so bad that even neighbors had complained in the past. Pugs, chihuahuas and Yorkshire terriers were seen shaking in fear as they was rescued by workers in hazmat suits. Eighty dogs were vaccinated at the scene before authorities ran out of supplies The dogs were found on the shelves, living under beds and even between the walls of the home Licitra said the Handriks have been cooperative and knew the charges, which are all disorderly person offenses, were coming. Prosecutors said the charges could have been more serious if any dogs were found dead or severely malnourished. 'This decision was due in large part to the miraculous fact that despite living in deplorable conditions and not receiving proper veterinary care, the dogs seized from the residence were in relatively good health,' Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said in a statement. The Handriks could face fines between $250 and $1,000 on each charge they're convicted of if found guilty, as well as jail time. Authorities became involved when an official from the Associated Humane Society came by the neighborhood because a dog was on the loose. The official came across the Handriks' home and could immediately smell a stench and hear dogs barking inside. After no one answered the door, the official contacted the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to NBC New York. The Handriks could face fines between $250 and $1,000 on each charge they're convicted of if found guilty, as well as jail time The couple, who are cooperating with authorities, said they had started three years ago with eight dogs Dog urine and feces covered the home's floors, creating a stench so bad the neighbors would complain Officials began pulling out dogs from the home the very next morning on June 3, including one that was in the middle of giving birth and 20 other dogs who were visibly pregnant. The total number of animals rescued from the home is now at more than 300 after puppies were born. It took 12 hours for the workers to complete the rescue. The dogs were 'undersocialized' and 'fearful', as they had been exposed to few people, and some received oxygen at the scene or were transported to emergency veterinary care. Eighty dogs were also vaccinated at the scene before authorities ran out of supplies. One rescuer said Charlene was in tears as she watched her dogs get taken away, calling them 'my family'. 'We're not bad people,' Joseph told the Asbury Park Press. 'It's more than you think,' Charlene added, without explanation. One neighbor said she had not seen Charlene outside of the home in five years. The couple said they had started three years ago with eight dogs, and the numbers just grew and grew as the dogs had more and more pups. 'Domesticated dogs need emotional support,' Licitra said. 'They need to feel loved, they need to feel comforted, they need to have interaction with their owners and their family.' 'It's impossible to have 276 dogs and bond with all of them. They're all severely neglected just by the sheer numbers in their living conditions.' The dogs were 'undersocialized' and 'fearful', as they had been exposed to few people, and some received oxygen at the scene or were transported to emergency veterinary care A strange video shows a naked Oregon man crawling around outside a convenience store. The man, who is not wearing any clothes, is seen lying face-down on the ground in broad daylight at one point in the clip posted to YouTube by user Jeff Cronin on June 6. A shirtless man wearing jeans approaches the naked man, and proceeds to start yelling at him to put his clothes on. Scroll down for video A strange video shows a naked Oregon man crawling around outside an convenience store earlier this month The man, not wearing any clothes, is seen lying face-down on the ground in broad daylight at one point in the clip posted to YouTube by user Jeff Cronin on June 6 A shirtless man wearing jeans approaches the naked man, and proceeds to start yelling at him to put his clothes on A female police officer comes up to the two men outside the store. The naked man at one point gets up and rushes into Ray's Market. The man, identified by KOBI as 36-year-old Dustin Lee Rice of Klamath Falls, had earlier argued with Ben Bliss's girlfriend Ashley Layne on June 3rd, the TV station reported. Bliss told the station: 'I woke up to her arguing with the gentleman that decided to make a big old scene about feeding our dogs tacos.' Layne also spoke to KOBI, revealing that Bliss booted Rice from the yard before Rice undressed himself. A female police officer comes up to the two men outside the store The naked man, identified as 36-year-old Dustin Lee Rice of Klamath Falls, at one point gets up and rushes into Ray's Market Police apprehended Rice inside the convenience store, the news outlet reported. KOBI reported that authorities booked Rice for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, with Rice later released on his own recognizance. Capt. Ryan Brosterhous told the TV station: 'We don't know exactly what the external factors were with this gentleman. 'We took him for his own safety to be evaluated at the hospital, at which time he was released to the jail.' Rice had earlier argued with Ashley Layne (left). Her boyfriend Ben Bliss (right) kicked Rice out of the yard before Rice undressed himself Thomas Mair, 52, has been charged with the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox A hard-right group connected to Thomas Mair (pictured) is linked to the Brexit campaign, The Mail on Sunday can reveal A hard-right group connected to Thomas Mair is linked to the Brexit campaign, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Our investigation has established that the racist Springbok Club, which once described Mair as one of its earliest subscribers and supporters, has sent newsletters to British members urging them to support the Leave campaign. The leaflets, all sent in the last three months, say: Supporters should suspend all activities to focus on securing a Leave vote in the referendum; Subscribers should sign a referendum petition which criticises David Cameron; Britain has been invaded by millions of ethnically alien migrants who it blames for a big rise in lawlessness. The Springbok Club is part of the Patriotic Forum, which moved from South Africa to Britain after the downfall of apartheid. Its newsletter in April said that the anti-EU Bruges Group had asked for help with a Vote Leave campaign centre it had set up in West London. And it congratulated the Swinton Circle a sister far-Right British outfit under the Patriotic Forum umbrella for deciding to suspend all activities so that supporters can concentrate solely upon campaigning for a Vote Leave victory. Marchs newsletter promotes an anti-EU petition, initiated by our friends in the Get Britain Out campaign entitled Stop Cameron spending taxpayers money on Pro-EU Referendum leaflets. The June newsletter said the EU was always intended to be a political project, whereby the belligerent aggressors from the two World Wars of the 20th Century [Germany] could achieve their goal of domination of the European continent by peaceful means after they had failed to achieve the same aim by armed invasions. It added that the UK had been invaded by millions of ethnically and culturally alien migrants threatening [its] national identity, and crime had risen out of all proportion as a direct result of their lawlessness It is almost impossible to understand why any British voter would want to remain in the EU. Popular MP Jo Cox died after she was shot three times and stabbed as she arrived for a constituency meeting in Birstall near Leeds Thomas Mair appeared in the dock at Westminster Magistrates Court, where he was charged with the murder of Jo Cox The banner of the racist Springbok Club, which once described Mair as one of its earliest subscribers and supporters Mays newsletter promoted support for apartheid and included a readers letter which said South Africa is now governed by savages. It claimed Sadiq Khans victory as Mayor of London had brought shame and humiliation on the British nation, asking: How come the White electorate of London voted for not only a non-White, but even worse a non-White Muslim? The USA went mad and elected a Coloured President now the people of London have gone mad. Tories and Labour now both had a dozen racial aliens as MPs, the group claimed. Another far-right group linked to Springbok is the German-based Pegida, notorious for its demonstrations against Islam and immigration. The April newsletter said its British offshoot, Pegida UK, had specifically contacted the Swinton Circle as a similarly-minded organisation and asked them to support their forthcoming activities and campaigns. Last night the Bruges Group denied any contact with the Springbok Club or the Swinton Circle. The Springbok Club said: We were appalled and sickened to learn of Jo Coxs murder. It added that Mair had no contact with the organisation since the 1980s. We have never met Mr Mair and all attempts to try to link our magazine with him during more recent years are without foundation. Mr Mair has never been a subscriber to the Springbok Cyber Newsletter. It was the Swinton Circle which the Bruges Group asked for support in their Vote Leave campaign. A Vote Leave spokesman said it had no connection to the Springbok group and no knowledge of the Bruges Groups alleged invitation. Corporal Hannah Campbell was given just a one in ten chance of surviving the terrible injuries she sustained in Iraq when she was buried alive in a mortar blast. Things were more desperate still for Sergeant Rick Clement, one of the most badly wounded British soldiers ever to survive his injuries. He had been flown home from Afghanistan with one leg missing from the hip, the other torn off just a little lower, and with devastating damage to his genitals and bowel. He was given just a one in 50 chance of pulling through. Now, however, the pair have defied even higher odds by falling in love, having originally found themselves together in the same ward of the military wing of Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham. Against all odds: Rick and Hannah together last week. Their romance will touch the nation, proving that love and courage really can conquer all The two have much in common, including a long and very public fight, not just to reconstruct their ravaged bodies, but their lives too. Despite his devastating injuries, Rick had to battle for full compensation from the Government. Hannah, meanwhile, recounted her own story and the seemingly impossible birth of a baby girl in her book Never Broken, serialised in The Mail on Sunday. Both soldiers then suffered the sadness of marriages that could not be sustained. Yet today has brought a romance that will touch the nation, proving that love and courage really can conquer all. Sergeant Rick Clement was one of the most badly wounded British soldiers ever to survive his injuries Hannah, pictured second from right in 2002, as part of Windsor Platoon. Her leg was shattered by a mortar blast in Iraq Rick, 36, who is now a charity campaigner, says: Its miraculous either of us is still alive. 'To go through similar life experiences of recovery, acceptance, divorce and then to be reunited, is wonderful. It is as if fate waited until the time was right. It is a sentiment echoed by Hannah, 32. The way I see myself and the qualities I look for in a man have changed massively since I was injured, she says. At the beginning I hated myself I didnt think I would feel sexy again. Then I made peace with the fact that I was different, and it changed the way I thought about a partner too. I wanted someone who was my best friend as well as my lover. Their union has its roots in the ultra-clinical surroundings of Selly Oaks critical care unit in 2010. Rick was in a medically induced coma after the explosion that had caused his horrific injuries. Rick was flown home from Afghanistan with one leg missing from the hip, the other torn off just a little lower, and with devastating damage to his genitals and bowel. He was given just a one in 50 chance of pulling through Hannah was also there, unconscious, recovering from the elective amputation of a leg shattered by a mortar three years earlier in Iraq. In the aftermath of the blast, she had been left wheelchair-bound, ballooned to 21st and, in her mind, become redundant as a mother, unable to play with her little girl because she was in so much pain. After 18 operations, she decided to have her leg removed. Although Rick and Hannah were too desperately sick to acknowledge each others presence, his parents accountant Kay and retired transport foreman Graham Plant were meeting Hannahs mother and father, lecturer Ann and engineer Ron McIlwraith, almost daily in the family room next to the ward. It was at the Ministry of Defences rehabilitation centre, Headley Court, where the pair finally got to know each other. As both were in committed relationships, they focused on their respective recoveries while enjoying the bond that unites all Headley Court veterans. Hannah defied the odds and fell pregnant despite shrapnel damaging her womb in the blast (right). Pictured left in the aftermath of the blast Rick, who spent two years there, says: At Headley Court, Hannah did stand out because for a time she was the only female soldier. I didnt see her in a romantic way as I was engaged to be married to Leanne, and Hannah was with her husband Jamie. But I do remember she was learning to walk again in high heels during one session, and I said, Are you going out clubbing or are you off to the gym? and everyone laughed. The lads were always having a joke and Hannah was involved with the banter. His rehabilitation was a life-changing experience. Seeing other guys with similar injuries opened my eyes to what I could achieve, he says. Over time I learned to drive again, learned to swim and walked on prosthetic legs, although Ill always need my wheelchair. Independence was the one thing I really wanted and I achieved that goal. For Hannah too, Headley Court was a time of radical change. Overweight, depressed and in pain from her damaged leg, she became an amputee who felt as if shed been given a second shot at life. But by the time the couple found themselves single, they were no longer in touch. Instead, both threw themselves on to the dating scene. Hannah tried blind-dating and trawled the internet for a match. Rick went on a string of doomed outings with women who he believes struggled to see past his disability. I had all but given up on ever meeting anyone again He says: My self-esteem didnt change a great deal after I was injured as I was so grateful to be alive, and Ive always had confidence. What was hard was seeing the massive change from others. A lot of women didnt look at me in the way they might have done before. Just being in a wheelchair, without the other injuries, made a difference to them. It wore me down to the point where, before I met Hannah, I had all but given hope of meeting someone. But in March, he spotted Hannah on social media and sent her a message: Im so pleased to see how well you are doing. He says: I never imagined we would be anything more than mates. But I was delighted to hear back from her and we started keeping in touch. A month later I bought a copy of her book to take with me on a break to Majorca. I sent her a picture of it sticking out of my suitcase saying, Im taking you on holiday with me. It was only as he flicked through the pages that he realised Hannah had been the female patient at Selly Oak all those years earlier. I emailed her and said, I was there! We started talking and I ended up spending my entire holiday trying to find wi-fi spots. The more I read and the more we talked, I realised how much we had in common. Our chat turned to flirting and I realised this could be something deeper than friendship. Indeed it was. They began as tentatively as any other ordinary couple, with a meal at a romantic restaurant. Then they went to a Coldplay concert and took Hannahs two daughters Milly and Lexi-River to the funfair in Ricks home town of Blackpool. They have both met each others family, an introduction made easier by those desperate days six years ago when both sets of parents were by their hospital bedsides. They have decided to make their relationship public now because Hannah was spotted last Monday supporting Rick as he undertook a charity abseil. They are undeniably well matched. Hannah understands Ricks need for independence, despite his wheelchair, and his hunger for life. And he is sympathetic to the body issues which have plagued her since she was injured. It is quite possibly the bravest love affair in Britain. Hannah says: I fancy Rick I find him attractive on many levels but I also believe hes my soul mate. Hannah is divorced from Jamie, the man to whom she was married when she was critically wounded in June 2007. He nursed her through all her injuries from the mortar attack, which left her blind in one eye and with shrapnel wounds to her abdomen, and split her left hand in two. Hannah recounted her own story and the seemingly impossible birth of a baby girl in her book Never Broken, serialised in The Mail on Sunday She says of her former husband: He showed remarkable strength of character in how he supported me through the worst years of my life. Yet neither of us were the people we married any more and it felt hard to be a sexual woman with someone who had performed the most intimate tasks as my carer and I know he struggled too. Rick married the woman to whom he was engaged when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) in 2010 but ultimately the union did not survive his physical reversal from fit, frontline sergeant to wheelchair-bound former soldier. Rick lost both his legs in extremely high amputations, his pelvis was broken in two, his genitals were badly damaged both his testicles were lost. Initially, he had to be fitted with catheters and a colostomy bag while a series of operations to repair his bowels and genitals was carried out. His right arm was also badly damaged and his stomach had to be sewn back together. His marriage suffered similarly. He says: The dynamics of our relationship had changed since I was injured. It transformed our relationship into a platonic friendship, like brother and sister. I will always appreciate that Leanne stuck with me through the hardest time possible but we were better off separating in the end. Although he has undergone reconstructive surgery so that he can have sex and use the toilet, he can no longer father a child, something that encouraged him to campaign for frontline soldiers to be allowed to freeze their sperm. Now he and Hannah are together and refusing to let their disabilities hold them back. Rick admits: What began as a friendship has developed into love. I didnt think it would happen this quickly its been completely unexpected. Emotionally my walls were still up, but Hannah has broken through them very quickly. Both agree that all theyve been through has made them stronger and that their own experience of disability has taught them that looks fade but courage and good humour stand the test of time. Rick says: The past few years have been hard. Weve both been blown up and had to overcome life-changing injuries. Yet here we are today, sharing how much we feel about each other. We are both pretty confident that this is going to last. Like any new couple were getting used to the fact weve got someone to trust and lean on after being on our own. Were enjoying that so who knows what well go on to achieve and do together in our future. The Remain camp has surged into a three-point lead in the EU referendum campaign in the aftermath of the death of Jo Cox. A Mail on Sunday poll by Survation shows David Camerons Remain campaign on 45 per cent support, with Boris Johnsons Leave on 42. It reflects a dramatic six-point turnaround since a similar Survation poll on Thursday, hours before the Labour MP was killed. The new telephone poll was conducted on Friday and Saturday as the nation mourned Mrs Cox. The Remain vote has surged ahead of Brexit since Thursday's murder of Jo Cox in West Yorkshire Murdered MP Jo Cox, pictured, was a strong supporter for Remain and campaigned for Syrian refugees Only 10 per cent of voters think Nigel Farage has had a good campaign while 43 per cent think this poster depicting migrants was inflammatory with less than a third thinking it was fair In addition to her prominent campaign for Syrian refugees, Mrs Cox was a leading Remain supporter. The six-point switch confirms claims by some commentators that voters could take a more risk-averse approach to leaving the EU so soon after Mrs Coxs shocking death. Survations Thursday poll showed Leave on 45 and Remain on 42, the exact reverse of todays figures. The number of undecided 13 per cent has stayed the same. If undecided voters are excluded, the poll produces a 52-48 per cent majority in favour of staying in the EU. And the gap could get bigger: 46 per cent say Remain are likely to benefit from any additional late surge, with 33 per cent forecasting a late swing to Leave. A win for Remain is forecast by 40 per cent, with 26 per cent predicting victory for Leave. Mr Cameron tops the table for best campaign with 17 per cent, ahead of Boris Johnson on 15, Nigel Farage ten, Michael Gove nine and George Osborne two. Those polled thought Prime Minister David Cameron has had the best referendum campaign so far However, voters disapproved of Mr Farages controversial Breaking Point migrant queue poster 43 per cent said it was inflammatory while 28 per cent said it was fair. Nearly a third (31 per cent) said Mr Camerons Remain side had conducted the most responsible campaign, with 27 per cent favouring Leave, while an overwhelming seven out of ten said MPs must tone down their verbal attacks on each other. Britains top pollster, Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University, said: After a week in which many polls suggested Leave had leapt into the lead, todays poll will come as a relief to the Remain camp. Mr Cameron will hope the tide has begun to turn. However, he added that it was far from clear if the turnaround was the result of criticism of the Leave campaign following Mrs Coxs death. Staying Strong: Jo's sister Kim holds back the tears There was a moment yesterday when all three clung tightly to each other. Jo Cox's parents, Jean and Gordon Leadbeater, and her younger sister Kim appeared utterly alone with their thoughts and memories. But the people of Birstall, West Yorkshire, and the rest of Britain beyond, were by their side as each halting step brought them closer to Jo's memorial, near the spot where she was cut down. They had arrived at the market town shortly after 2pm to survey the ever-growing mound of flowers laid in tribute. Undeniably, it was the most painful of pilgrimages. Yet entirely consistent with the selfless way in which Jo lived her life, her family would later pick out friends in the crowd and, with remarkable kindness, dispense consoling hugs and soothing words. They had been touched by fine tributes from David Cameron and Barack Obama, but they were among ordinary folk now; their own. Everyone marvelled at the family's strength; at how Kim summoned the courage to face the cameras and, smiling through tears, deliver a speech of finely judged potency that, in the words of Jo's husband Brendan, 'did her sister proud'. Brendan had paid his own emotional tribute to his wife in the hours after the killing. He wanted to attend yesterday but remained behind to look after the couple's two young children. 'We will never let Jo leave our lives,' declared Kim, 40, a lecturer, who, like her sister, cut a diminutive figure but exuded energy and passion. 'She will live on through all the good people in the world through Brendan, through us, and through her truly wonderful children who will always know what an utterly amazing woman their mother was.' Kim's parents stood behind her: her father sucking in air to stop himself breaking; her mother, holding his hand draped over her shoulder. Earlier Jo's constituents paid their own respects, filing respectfully towards the market square, laying flowers at the foot of a statue to another of Birstall's luminaries, Joseph Priestley, the scientist who discovered oxygen. With true Yorkshire grit, most struggled hard not to cry. SISTER'S EULOGY THAT BROKE BIRSTALL'S HEART There are some things in life you should never have to do. Last night I had to go and identify my sister's body. Yes, this was Jo Cox, the MP, and she was many things to many people in her too-short life. But she was my sister, my only sibling, my parents' first-born child, a wife and a mother. I could not continue to watch the overwhelming outpouring of genuine grief, sympathy and love there has been since this horrendous incident occurred without speaking on behalf of Jo's family. We want to say a most sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has expressed their love and affection for Jo and sent their thoughts and sympathy to us. It has genuinely made a difference and helped us through some dark times in the last 48 hours. We'd like to thank the brave and courageous gentleman Bernard Kenny, who tried to help her in her hour of need. We wish him well in his recovery. From a very young age all Jo wanted was for everyone to be happy. We were brought up to see the positives in everything and everyone and have endeavoured to do so all our lives. Our parents instilled in us a real 'glass half full' mentality and while I sometimes tend to add a large measure of Yorkshire cynicism to this, Jo generally did not. She only saw the good. We know that there are some evil people in this world. But there are an awful lot of good people too. When Jo would get abuse on Facebook or Twitter, we would talk and sometimes cry together. But she would still focus on the positive and talk about the silent majority who she knew were in her corner. But over the past 48 hours people have not been silent. They have been vocal and passionate and have spoken from the heart with genuine emotion with no hidden agendas. Jo would have loved it. We have to continue this strength and solidarity in the days, months and years to come as part of Jo's legacy to focus on, as Jo would say, 'that which unites us and not which divides us'. For now our family is broken, but we will mend over time. Jo will live on through all the good people in the world. Through Brendan, through us, through her wonderful children who will always know what an amazing woman their mother was. She was perfect. Advertisement We will mend: Parents Gordon and Jean support each other as they honour Jo, right Grief: Jo's assistant Fazila Aswat who ran to the Labour MPs side and lashed out at the attacker with her handbag before he forced her back But now Kim was talking and for some it was simply too much to bear. A burly rugby player, who stood alone, began to weep, like a spring forcing its way to the surface. Some stared at the ground, shaking with emotion. 'There are some things in life you should never have to do,' said Kim. 'Last night I had to go and identify my sister's body.' Some in the crowd closed their eyes with the pain. Others simply shuddered. As Kim concluded her speech, a burst of applause broke out. She had indeed done Jo proud. Just 80 yards away her sister had fallen early on Thursday afternoon. But at no point did Kim submit to the inevitable pain and crumple. Instead she kept telling people that she was there with her family to celebrate Jo's life. Asked how she and her family were coping she replied: 'We're doing all right. My parents are like Jo they're strong. We all just want to celebrate Jo. That is our focus.' Standing near Kim as she made her address was Jo's aide, Fazila Aswat, 37, who drove the MP from her office to what would be her last surgery. The people of Birstall, West Yorkshire, and the rest of Britain beyond, were by the family's side They had arrived at the market town shortly after 2pm to survey the ever-growing mound of flowers laid in tribute. Undeniably, it was the most painful of pilgrimages Recognising a familiar face a moment later, Kim weaved her way through the crowd and asked: 'Do you remember when I knocked on your door and said, 'Please vote for my fab sister?' The man she was addressing, Norman Butterfield, 70, said he most certainly did. He said afterwards: 'I'd been chairman of the local Labour party, and it was me who gave Jo her letter of endorsement. I'll never forget the first time we spoke. I was lying on a beach on holiday in Tenerife with my wife when my mobile phone rang. I picked it up and a voice said, 'Hi Norman, it's Jo Cox here. We've not met, but I'm thinking of standing for the party at the General Election'. 'I asked her to tell me why she thought I should endorse her. Ten minutes was all she needed to show me that she was a winner. Today I am sad beyond comprehension.' In another exchange, the MP's heartbroken mother Jean revealed the family planned a quiet celebration to mark what would have been Jo's 42nd birthday on Wednesday. The 47-year-old will face court on Sunday charged with attempted murder De Heredia was arrested in April as he arrived in London from Spain A former TV host who 'faked his own death' after allegedly trying to blow up a Penthouse Pet and her boyfriend has been extradited back to Australia after 17 years on the run. Roberto de Heredia fled the country in 1999 when he was accused of sending explosives to the home of Brett Boyd and his glamour model girlfriend Simone Farrow. Mr Boyd lost an eye and suffered serious burns to his face in the attack at his home in Belrose in Sydney's Northern Beaches in 1998. He committed suicide ten years later. De Heredia, now 47, was arrested at the time but left the country while on bail. Police found his car abandoned and blood spattered days later and feared he may have been murdered. He was arrested in London in April this year after attempting to enter the UK from Spain and extradited back to Australia on Sunday. Scroll down for video Roberto de Heredia, a former Foxtel presenter who fled Australia in 1999 after being charged with attempted murder, has been extradited back to Sydney to face court. He is seen above being frisked by police on Sunday The former Foxtel presenter will appear at Parramatta Bail Court in Sydney on Sunday charged with one count of attempted murder. Daily Mail Australia understands de Heredia is not facing any other charges as yet. He was seen being escorted through a Surry Hills police station on Sunday morning after arriving back in the country from the UK where he was arrested by police earlier this year after attempting to enter the country on a fake passport. The presenter is thought to have been living in Spain as a foreign exchange trader for years before coming out of hiding to visit his family in England earlier this year. After his disappearance in 1999 police initially feared the man may have been murdered. He survived a shooting three weeks before vanishing. He allegedly tried to have Mr Boyd killed over an unpaid $80,000 loan. Farrow, who was in the house at the time but unharmed, has since pursued a glamour modelling career. De Heredia (above in an old photograph) as been on the run for 17 years. Police feared he may have been murdered when they found his car in 1999 abandoned and blood spattered The 47-year-old was arrested by police in London after attempting to enter the UK from Spain. He was extradited back to Australia on Sunday The 47-year-old will face Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday charged with one count of attempted murder Brett Boyd (left) lost an eye in the attack and was badly burned. His girlfriend at the time, former Penthouse Pet Simone Farrow (right) was unharmed Farrow was arrested in 2012 for running an international drug ring while working as a high-paid glamour model She was arrested in 2012 for running an international drug ring as she arrived back in Australia from the US and is currently in jail. NSW Police confirmed on Sunday de Heredia had been extradited from the UK. 'On Monday 14 September 1998, detectives arrested a 29-year-old man: the man was committed to stand trial on attempted murder, however, while on bail he allegedly left Australia on 27 July 1999 using a stolen passport,' a spokesman said. TIMELINE OF ATTEMPTED MURDER June 1998: Brett Boyd loses one eye and suffers serious burns when he opens an explosive package at his house September 1998: Roberto de Heredia is arrested and charged with one count of attempted murder July 1999: While on bail, de Heredia flees the country using a stolen passport 2008: Boyd commits suicide 2012: Simone Farrow, who was Boyd's girlfriend at the time, is arrested on suspicion of running an international drug ring while working as a glamour model April 2016: De Heredia is arrested in London trying to enter the UK from Spain June 2016: Former Foxtel presenter is extradited back to Australia to face charges Advertisement 'In November 2015, detectives from Northern Beaches Local Area Command re-examined the case and on Sunday 17 April 2016, a 47-year-old man was arrested with the assistance of the Australian Federal Police and British law enforcement authorities, as he tried to enter the United Kingdom using alleged fraudulent travel documents. 'About 5am today (Sunday 19 June 2016), detectives from Northern Beaches Local Area Command arrived in Sydney with the man; he has been taken to Surry Hills Police Station where he has been charged by virtue of a District Court Warrant for the offence of attempted murder. 'The man has been remanded in custody to appear before Parramatta Bail Court later today.' Northern Beaches Local Area Commander Superintendent Dave Darcy commended investigators involved in resurrecting the case. 'The arrest of this man some 18 years after the alleged offence demonstrates the lengths my officers will go to ensure matters are appropriately investigated. 'Id like to congratulate them on their perseverance and professionalism. 'Arrests like this powerfully demonstrate to victims of violent crime; we are determined to bring offenders before the courts irrespective of how challenging the investigation may be,' he said. Police feared de Heredia may have been murdered when he vanished in 1998. He will appear before court on Sunday after being remanded in custody at a Surry Hills police station (above) A couple were arrested after their 23-month-old son ate a morphine pill and died. Thomas Marvin Howard, 34, and Christian Lachelle Morgan, 26, face aggravated child neglect charges after their son, Bradley Chris Howard, found a morphine pill on the floor that Howard had allegedly dropped, according to the Florida Times Union. According to police, Howard bought two five-milligram morphine pills from a coworker on April 1, and at some point, Howard lost one of the pills. Thomas Marvin Howard (left), 34, and Christian Lachelle Morgan, 26, of Starke, Florida were arrested in connection with the death of their 23-month-old son Bradley Chris Howard, above, was found dead the day after his parents allegedly ingested morphine pills in the home and he managed to get a hold of one of them and eat it The couple told police they searched for the pill inside of their truck, and thought that Bradley 'had got a hold' of it, according to the arrest report. The couple then reportedly drank beer, smoked marijuana, and shared the morphine pill, according to the outlet. In the morning, Howard left for work, believing Morgan and Bradley to be asleep. When Morgan woke up, she reportedly found the child dead and called 911. Toxicologists found morphine in the child's system, according to the arrest report. The Florida Department of Children and Families took custody of Bradley's two brothers. An autopsy is being performed on the dead child. There may be additional charges once a full toxicology report comes back. Advertisement The Las Vegas area is grappling with a squatter problem, fueled by a big inventory of empty houses abandoned by people with deep financial problems when the economy crashed. Las Vegas police don't have a dedicated squatter unit, but received at least 4,458 squatter-related service calls in Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County last year, more than double the tally in 2012, according to the Las Vegas Sun. City officials recently launched a pilot program to secure abandoned houses with a sheet plastic made of polycarbonate, a supposedly unbreakable alternative to plywood. The Las Vegas area is grappling with a squatter problem, fueled by a big inventory of empty houses abandoned by people with deep financial problems when the economy crashed. Pictured is the inside of a home where a squatter family left an open box of Pop-Tarts, an iron, a jug of Clorox and what appears to be trash Some squatters have used fake rental applications, prompting utilities officials to use paperwork traps to spot fake rental contracts and push squatters out. Code-enforcement officer Matt Meanea (pictured) said squatters used so many identical tactics that he looked online to see if someone posted step-by-step instructions In Henderson, police and the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors created forms for landlords to fill out, to show whether the occupants signed a lease with the actual owners. Code-enforcement officer Matt Meanea said squatters had used so many identical tactics that he looked online to see if someone posted step-by-step instructions. In North Las Vegas, police, code enforcement and utilities officials use paperwork traps to spot fake rental contracts and push squatters out. 'We're working as one to put it together, because without that, we'd be out there spinning our wheels,' said police Officer Scott Vaughn, who leads the department's squatter enforcement. By all accounts, it's not difficult for squatters to find an abandoned home, and it's easy to draw up a bogus lease. Vaughn said he has heard about how-to classes being taught to squatters. In the first four weeks that North Las Vegas police targeted squatters, they cleared more than 50 houses and made four arrests, Vaughn said. Officers have been visiting six to 10 suspected squatter homes per week. Squatters move to nice and run-down houses, come from 'every walk of life' and target neighborhoods city-wide, according to Vaughn. Officers cleared a two-story house in May where a woman and five children lived for eight months, with no water service for the last two months, Vaughn said. Some squatter homes can become drug dens, weapons caches and fraud labs, and magnets for child neglect or other criminal activity. Pictured is the inside of a home where a woman and five children had been staying for eight months An open box of Pop-Tarts, a child's bicycle, furniture, barbecue, mop, water bottles and other items were still inside on a recent visit. The woman squabbled with neighbors, sent her kids with buckets to get water from neighbors' hoses, and ran an extension cord to another squatter house next-door for power. Southern Nevada's once-battered housing market is recovering from the Great Recession, but it's still ripe for squatting. About 2.1 per cent of Las Vegas-area homes, or 13,850 properties, are vacant, compared with 1.6 per cent of US homes, according to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac. Squatter homes can become drug dens, weapons caches and fraud labs, and magnets for child neglect or other criminal activity, police say. 'We're finding hardcore felons, serious criminals in these houses,' North Las Vegas police Officer Ann Cavaricci said. Statewide, the state Legislature last year made crimes of housebreaking, or forcibly entering a vacant home to live there or let someone else move in without the owner's consent, and unlawful occupancy, or moving to an empty home without permission. North Las Vegas City Councilwoman Anita Wood proposed creating a task force in May 2014 and tactics to target squatters. Today, if someone tries to get water turned on at a house listed in the city foreclosure registry, utilities officials are alerted to give the application closer scrutiny and try to contact the owner of record. Water doesn't flow until officials verify the lease is real, utilities director Randy DeVaul said. Code-enforcement officers, working with police, also compare the landlord's name and signature on an applicant's lease with property records. Today, if someone tries to get water turned on at a house listed in the city foreclosure registry, utilities officials are alerted to give the application closer scrutiny and try to contact the owner of record. Meanea is pictured outside a vacant home A former North Las Vegas police chief, Joe Forti, said he didn't see squatters until the mid-1980s. He said fake leases surfaced about 15 years ago. But it can be difficult to sort through foreclosure, bankruptcy, county recorder and other filings to figure out who owns the home, and track down owners who left the area when the economy collapsed. 'You don't even know which bank or mortgage company owns them anymore,' Forti said. North Las Vegas was one of the fastest-growing cities in America when the southern Nevada real estate bubble burst. State figures say it grew from 165,000 to 230,500 residents from 2004-2014, a more than 70 per cent increase. When the crash came, the city declared a financial emergency, its bonds fell to junk status and its housing woes became especially severe. By early 2012, about 31 per cent of US homeowners with mortgages were underwater, meaning their debt outweighed their home value. In southern Nevada, the figure was 71 per cent, according to listing service Zillow. In North Las Vegas, it was about 81 per cent. In 2008 and 2009, lenders were filing more than 1,000 default notices and repossessing more than 500 homes in North Las Vegas a month, according to RealtyTrac. With thousands of empty homes around the valley, a squatters market began to take shape, according to police and real estate pros. He has triumphed over local corruption and drunken workers to lead China's wine revolution. But now Chris Ruffle is fighting his biggest ever battle with the country's Communist Party. The millionaire financier from Yorkshire, who has spent 12 years and more than 5 million building an award-winning vineyard in a remote area of China, was horrified to be told that party officials intend to build a four-lane motorway through his land. Now Mr Ruffle has published a book that reveals his remarkable story and the incredible rate of change that has already transformed his little corner of China. 'When the Chinese Communist Party makes a decision, you are told there is nothing you can do about it,' he said. 'The party is God in the countryside. But I am not going to give up.' He has triumphed over local corruption and drunken workers to lead China's wine revolution. But now Chris Ruffle (pictured) is fighting his biggest ever battle with the country's Communist Party Mr Ruffle's dream started in 2004 when he came across one of China's best-known vineyards in the eastern region of Shandong and met a French winemaker who suggested that he could set up a vineyard for 700,000. After banquets with local officials, where he ate donkey, dog and insect larvae and consumed large quantities of local hooch, he was told he could go ahead. Not content with a vineyard, Mr Ruffle also built a replica Scottish castle on the site, but quickly learned nothing was done after lunch because of the workers' heavy midday drinking. The millionaire, who has spent 12 years and more than 5 million building an award-winning vineyard in a remote area of China, was told party officials intend to build a four-lane motorway through his land (file picture) The castle was finally completed in 2009, and a good yield from the vineyard came a year later. Throughout the project, Mr Ruffle said he was confronted by corruption. Then, last year, he received an email informing him that the government planned to build an elevated four-lane motorway through the vineyard. He sent letters to Chinese and British officials including David Cameron but said he received no response. However, he remains hopeful of victory. 'When I first started this, there was just a mud track, no lighting and a few small villages. Now there is a new airport, a motorway being built and Chateau Lafite have built a vineyard next to mine,' he said. 'We can make this into China's Napa Valley. I just don't want the motorway to bisect my property.' A leading French politician has warned that the UK will become as significant as the island of Guernsey if Britons backed Brexit. Finance Minister Emmanuel Macron, who has been tipped as a possible future French president, said the UKs world standing as a trading nation would plummet if it walked out of the European Union after Thursdays referendum. The Minister also said the EU would have to send a very firm message and timetable in the event of a Leave vote, saying: Youre either in or youre out. French finance minister Emmanuel Macron, pictured, warned Britain would lose influence post Brexit Macron claimed Britain after leaving the EU would be as relevant on the world stage as Guernsey, pictured In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, Mr Macron said: Leaving the EU would mean the Guernsey-fication of the UK, which would then be a little country on the world scale. It would isolate itself and become a trading post and arbitration place at Europes border. His comments coincided with dire warnings about Brexit from other European politicians, including ex-Italian prime minister Mario Monti who said holding the referendum was highly irresponsible. Mr Macron said if the UK wanted access to European single market benefits, it must contribute to the European budget just as Norway and Switzerland are required to do. If London doesnt want that, then it must be a total exit, he added. The minister said that, whatever the outcome, the EU would have to work hard to avoid a possible knock-on effect among other countries tempted to leave. The Mail on Sunday today publishes the last article written by Labour MP Jo Cox. Finished just four days before she was killed, it warns voters not to fall for 'anti-EU spin' and says it is important for the UK to stay in the EU while arguing for more immigration curbs... With many voters still making up their minds about a decision that will shape the future of our country, Oxford University's Migration Observatory offered a stark warning that despite offering the world, the Leave campaign cannot guarantee what would happen to migration if we left. Devoted campaigner: Jo Cox, photographed by The Mail on Sunday on the Thames last June, used her last message four days before she died to support plans to curb EU migrants Most voters recognise that our country has reaped many benefits from immigration, from the brilliant doctors in our NHS to the skilled workers helping our economy to grow. Yet across the country, people face everyday worries about job security, school places and GP appointments. In the last days of the campaign, voters should know that despite these legitimate concerns, Brexit is not the answer. Here's why: First, Brexit doesn't guarantee that migration will come down. In fact, a more liberal approach to non-EU immigration as advocated by the Leave camp could actually see it increase. Australia whose points-based system is so admired by Outers has twice as many migrants per person than we do. The whole purpose of their system is to allow businesses to control who comes into their country. For us, this would lead to an increase in cheap labour, bringing down wages and doing nothing to ease voter concerns about insecure employment. Finished just four days before she was killed, thearticle warns voters not to fall for 'anti-EU spin' and says it is important for the UK to stay in the EU while arguing for more immigration curbs Voters also need to know that the free movement of EU citizens to Britain will not automatically stop if we left. The only way to do that is to leave the single market an act of economic self-destruction that would be catastrophic for businesses and jobs across the country. Second, we can do far more to deal with the pressures caused by migration from inside the EU. Labour has long pushed for an end to the payment of benefits to people who don't live permanently in this country, and for a major extension of the time EU migrants have to wait before being able to claim benefits a commitment secured by the Prime Minister as part of the renegotiation deal. Britain is stronger, safer and better-off in We can also help communities facing the greatest pressure from migration. Since 2001, EU migrants have contributed 20 billion more to our economy than they've taken out in benefits. This money must go quickly to areas where migrants are living, to fund schools and health services. This will ensure that people come to this country knowing they need to play by the rules and work hard, and will reassure Britons that we have a fair, under-control system that works for everyone. And finally, the overall benefits of EU membership are massive. From businesses in Yorkshire to the President of the United States and pretty much everyone in between there is an unprecedented consensus that leaving the EU would hurt our economy and hit our pockets. We cannot allow voters to fall for the spin that a vote to Leave is the only way to deal with concerns about immigration. We can do far more to address both the level and impact of immigration while remaining in the EU. I very rarely agree with the Prime Minister, but on this he's right: we are stronger, safer and better-off in. He may be one of the youngest presidents to ever take office, but even Obama needed help getting up after he sat down to take a picture with a group of schoolchildren at Yosemite National Park. The fourth graders from San Francisco happily obliged, all grabbing at the president's arms to lift him up during the Saturday event at Yosemite Falls in California. Obama and his family touched down at the park on Friday night after visiting the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. It's a working vacation for the First Family's last Father's Day in the White House, with Obama taking time off from hiking with Michelle, Malia and Sasha to celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service. Obama can't help but laugh as a group of fourth graders from San Francisco join forces to try and help him get up after snapping a photo together Obama told the schoolchildren to 'say cheese' and 'say national parks' during the cute photo op Obama and the First Lady were up early Saturday morning to meet with the fourth graders as part of the Every Kid in a Park initiative at the California landmark Obama and the First Lady were up early Saturday morning to meet with the fourth graders as part of the Every Kid in a Park initiative at the California landmark. The White House youth initiative gives every fourth grade student across the country free access to America's public parks, forests and wildlife refuges for the 2015-2016 school year. Michelle greeted the children by asking them if they knew how to scare bears away. As the kids all began to scream, the president remarked: 'Oh, I would get out of here!' The president then talked to the group of youngsters about the initiative before personally handing out free national park passes, according to the Fresno Bee. Obama told the children about the very first time he saw moose and deer in a national park when he was 11 years old. 'That changes you. You're not the same after that,' he told the group. 'We've got kids all across this country who never see a park. We've got to change that.' 'We want to make sure that you and kids all around the country get a chance to use the national parks more often.' The First Couple then got on the children's level, literally, and sat down on the ground for a photo op as Obama instructed them: 'Everybody say cheese. Everybody say national parks.' He then asked the children to say happy birthday in honor of one of the girl's in the group. Michelle greeted the children by asking them if they knew how to scare bears away. As the kids all began to scream, the president remarked: 'Oh, I would get out of here!' Obama told the children about the very first time he saw moose and deer in a national park when he was 11 years old and how it 'changed' him Obama personally handed out free national park passes to the youngsters after his talk 'Who is going to help me up now?' he asked after the photo was taken. Yosemite Falls, one of the world's tallest waterfalls as 2,425 feet, served as a stunning backdrop as Obama gave a speech about climate change on Saturday afternoon. 'Make no mistake. Climate change is no longer just a threat. It's already a reality,' the president warned the crowd. 'Rising temperatures could mean no more glaciers at Glacier National Park. No more Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park,' he said, adding that a changing climate could destroy vital ecosystems in the Everglades and threaten landmarks like Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Obama said global warming was already affecting the very land they were standing on, noting how rising temperatures were causing Yosemite's meadows to dry out. 'We have more work to do to preserve our lands and culture and our history,' he said. We're not done yet.' The weekend getaway has also given Obama the opportunity to recap his record on preserving open spaces and promote administration initiatives aimed at boosting tourism at the more than 400 national and other parks, monuments, battlefields and other sites in the National Park System. Officials say there's an economic case for supporting the sites: They sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs while visitors pump billions of dollars into surrounding economies. Yosemite Falls, one of the world's tallest waterfalls as 2,425 feet, served as a stunning backdrop as Obama gave a speech about climate change on Saturday afternoon Obama said global warming was already affecting the very land they were standing on, noting how rising temperatures were causing Yosemite's meadows to dry out The First Family touched down at Yosemite on Friday night during the Father's Day weekend getaway Rhe first stop of their family vacation was in Roswell, New Mexico (pictured) The Interior Department said in a report Friday that more than 305 million people visited national parks last year. They spent $16.9billion in nearby communities. 'I want to make sure that the American people are able to enjoy the incredible national parks, the incredible beauty, the mountains, the oceans that have been one of the greatest gifts that we've ever received,' Obama said in a Facebook video about the trip. 'And I want to make sure that the whole world is able to pass on to future generations the God-given beauty of this planet.' Obama has protected more than 265 million acres of public lands and waters from development, more than any other president, the White House said. Environmental and advocacy groups applaud what Obama has done so far, but have been urging him to exercise his authority under a 1906 law to put even more public spaces off limits before his term ends in January. Some members of Congress accuse Obama of overreach every time he uses that authority to create a national monument without their input. Congressional objections aside, Obama will use the postcard-perfect scenery at both of the parks he's visiting with his family after a difficult week Obama was most recently in Orlando to mourn the deaths of the 49 people shot at gay nightclub Pulse last Sunday, the worst mass shooting in the history of the country. The family stared in amazement while a member of a National Park Service gave them a tour of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico on Friday Carlsbad Carverns (pictured) has more than 119 caves, which were formed when sulfuric acid ate through the surrounding limestone Boris Johnson's Turkish cousin has accused him of making ridiculous and irresponsible slurs on his ancestral homeland during the campaign for Brexit. The former Mayor of London was condemned by Sinan Kuneralp for Vote Leaves controversial claim that Turkey is on the verge of joining the EU bringing murderers, terrorists and kidnappers flocking to Britain if the UK does not cut ties with Brussels. In a withering attack, Mr Kuneralp told The Mail on Sunday that Mr Johnsons approach to his Turkish roots was not very honest. The former Mayor of London was condemned by his cousin Sinan Kuneralp for Vote Leaves controversial claim that Turkey is on the verge of joining the EU bringing murderers, terrorists and kidnappers flocking to Britain if the UK does not cut ties with Brussels. The two are pictured in Istanbul before their EU fallout Mr Kuneralp, who is staunchly opposed to Brexit, even said he found it difficult to imagine Boris leading his country. On Mr Johnsons ambition to succeed David Cameron as the next Prime Minister, he said: I would be very proud of him but I cant take him seriously. Mr Kuneralp shares a Turkish grandfather with Boriss father, Stanley Ali Kemal, a journalist turned politician who suffered a grisly death at the hands of an angry nationalist mob in 1922. Kemals descendants remain close. A young Boris stayed with his Turkish family on a visit to Istanbul the former capital of the Ottoman Empire on his gap year after leaving Eton, and in 2008 he and Mr Kuneralp appeared together in an episode of the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? Mr Kuneralp shares a Turkish grandfather with Boriss father, Stanley (above with his son) Ali Kemal, a journalist turned politician who suffered a grisly death at the hands of an angry nationalist mob in 1922 Stanley Johnson, an author and former Conservative MEP, regularly visits Istanbul. But Mr Kuneralp, 68, a historian and publisher who is the son of a distinguished Turkish diplomat, has grown increasingly alarmed by the claims made by Brexit campaigners including his famous cousin. He said that Mr Johnson, who was previously a vocal supporter of welcoming Turkey into the European Union, used to be very pro-Turkish. Mr Kuneralp said: When he was campaigning for the mayorship, he was canvassing very strongly the Turkish vote. 'There are a few hundred thousand Turks in London and he was playing the Turkish card and Im sure that all the London Turks voted for him. Boris recently insisted that he was pro-Turkish but warned of the impact of Turkish EU membership. What I certainly cant imagine is a situation in which 77 million of my fellow Turks and those of Turkish origin can come here without any checks at all, he said. Mr Kuneralp described the remarks as absolutely ridiculous, adding: Doesnt he have fact-checkers? Seventy-seven million Turks want to come to Britain? No. They wont come. Theyve got jobs here. They like it here. When Tory MP David Davis first spoke to Jo Cox (pictured) he thought she had a long and bright career ahead of her in the House of Commons When I first spoke to Jo Cox, I remember thinking that this smart and gutsy lady had a long and bright career ahead of her in the House of Commons. I did not imagine for a moment that her bright shining life would be extinguished. The last MP to be murdered was Ian Gow, assassinated in 1990 by the IRA in another vicious and insane act. This gently mannered Englishman helped me in my dealings with his erstwhile boss and heroine, Margaret Thatcher, closeness to Thatcher making him an IRA target. When he was blown up in his own front drive, there was a frisson of concern about MPs safety around the House of Commons, with the House Authorities being suddenly galvanised into action. The previous 11 years had seen four MPs murdered. Today, we are hearing similar calls to protect MPs. At least one MP has told the press that they would like to have a policeman at their constituency surgeries. Others have called in more generalised terms for an increase in MPs security. I worry about this. In particular I worry that in the calls for something to be done we accidentally dilute or damage something that is central to our democracy, namely the accessibility of our Members of Parliament. Few countries, even democracies, have the level of sheer unfettered access to their representatives that we have in Britain. The link to our constituencies is fundamental to the operation of our Parliament, and that link is much more than some dry constitutional convention. Constituency surgeries, school visits, campaign meetings, party gatherings, even just walking down the street, travelling on public transport or going to the pub all provide opportunities for the public to talk to you and raise matters of concern. These are the ties that bind our democracy together. This is one of the reasons that our democracy works better than most others. Jo Cox was remarkable in many ways. Before Parliament, her choice of career took her to Darfur to meet rape victims, to Uganda to witness child soldiers, to Afghanistan to see the devastation and neglect visited on its citizens. For her, courage was a given It is not possible to make this process absolutely safe. Labours Stephen Timms is the nicest and most mild mannered of people. Yet in 2010 a woman constituent tried to murder him, stabbing and seriously injuring him in his Newham constituency surgery, supposedly because he voted for the Iraq War. I bumped into him on the bus last week, and walked with him down a few hundred yards of busy London streets. With no bodyguards and no security, he was available to anybody who cared to stop him, which was as it should be. Is the answer to this an armed policeman in every constituency surgery? A police presence at every political meeting? At every public gathering attended by an MP? Bodyguards? I do not think so. The actions the police can take are pretty limited, even when an MPs name is found on a terrorist death list. David Davis (pictured0 said hs 'hunch' is that Jo Cox 'would not want her tragic death to be a reason for the link between MPs and their constituents to be weakened in any way, even by accident' Unless a specific action against the MP is discovered, the help is largely limited to a briefing on how to minimise personal risk and the occasional letter telling them when the risk is elevated. An MP doing his or her job is too much in the public domain to be fully protected without interfering in that job and the ability to do the job must be protected. Jo Cox was remarkable in many ways. Before Parliament, her choice of career took her to Darfur to meet rape victims, to Uganda to witness child soldiers, to Afghanistan to see the devastation and neglect visited on its citizens. For her, courage was a given. As, judging from the comments of the last few days, was community service. First look: The planned statue shows Lady Thatcher in Baroness robes She was one of the most formidable and polarising leaders Britain has ever had. And in death, Margaret Thatcher is proving just as divisive, with a planned statue enraging her children, who are furious that the design without her trademark handbag does not reflect her indomitable spirit. Now it can be revealed that the man championing the memorial for Parliament Square has branded her twins 'ungrateful' and 'philistines' for opposing the 300,000 bronze, which is pictured here for the first time. The depth of anger between Carol and Sir Mark Thatcher, and Ivan Saxton, chairman of The Public Memorials Appeal charity behind the plans, is exposed in letters obtained by The Mail on Sunday under Freedom of Information laws. In one, Carol branded sculptor Douglas Jennings's 10ft design 'very disappointing', saying that portraying her in her House of Lords robes 'does not reflect the Iron Lady at all: No handbag, nothing'. But in a letter to Boris Johnson, when he was Mayor of London, Mr Saxton hit back: 'Carol Thatcher is a philistine in the truest sense of the word because she does not recognise a wonderful work of art when she sees one. She is obsessed by a fantasy image of her mother as being the Iron Lady. 'Normally the family of a person who is being sculpted show a high degree of gratitude towards those people who have made a statue possible. But not the Thatcher twins: it appears that they don't know the meaning of the word gratitude. 'It's like spitting into the faces of the all those people who have donated time and money. Their mother would have been ashamed.' He was just as scathing about Sir Mark's refusal to engage with the project, sniping: 'To my mind, a man who ignores communications is an ignorant man.' And he said it would be hypocritical of Sir Mark to object to the statue as he had unveiled others in Madrid and the Falkland Islands. Mr Saxton urged Mr Johnson to ignore the objection of the twins, whom he called 'the obstacle', and back the project. But the then Mayor declined to endorse a statue hated by the family. And his deputy, Sir Edward Lister, said the Thatchers' 'firm opinions that they do not like the proposed statue simply cannot be ignored. This is not about handbags, it is about depicting Baroness Thatcher at the pinnacle of her career which you must agree was when she was Prime Minister and not as peer.' It is thought a new home is being sought for the statue, possibly in Lady Thatcher's birthplace of Grantham, or her former Oxford college, Somerville. Details of the statue and Carol Thatcher's objection were first revealed by The Mail on Sunday in April. No one involved in the row would comment last night. We know a little about Thomas Mairs online activity, including his apparent interest in far-Right websites set up by SA Patriot, a South African pro-apartheid group, and National Alliance, set up in the US in 1974 by William Pierce. Pierces 1978 book The Turner Diaries imagines a world in which the government is overthrown and all black people, Jews and gays exterminated. It is said to have inspired Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh to kill 168 people in 1995. Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is another point of possible comparison. Like McVeigh, he targeted the institutions of government. Scroll down for video Criminologist David Wilson, left, wonders whether Thomas Mair, right, was a lone wolf seeking a moment of fame Popular MP Jo Cox died after she was shot three times and stabbed as she arrived for a constituency meeting in Birstall near Leeds Breivik first detonated a bomb in the government quarter of Oslo before going on to kill 69 participants at the Workers Youth League at their 2011 summer camp on Utoya Island. In total he killed 77, mostly children. In his manifesto 2083: A European Declaration of Independence Breivik claimed that white, Christian Norway was in danger of being swamped by Muslims. He pleaded not guilty on the grounds that his mass murders were needed to save Norway for Norwegians. Breivik and McVeigh were convicted of a different scale of crime. Mair is accused of killing one person. But it is possible that he, too, is a lone wolf with a personality reflecting isolation? Such people tend to be taciturn and anonymous. Indeed it is this which keeps them off government watch-lists and results in family and neighbours being surprised when the man next door goes on to kill. But, of course, anonymity is not what they are seeking. What McVeigh or Breivik, or possibly Mair, crave most of all is fame or at least infamy five minutes when they can be someone. The context for understanding killers like this may not be mental illness but community and belonging. They do not want to live in a democracy, but in a world that they can shape to their own liking. Perhaps we might also consider Bradford serial killer Stephen Griffiths who, when asked his name in court, replied the Crossbow cannibal. He meant to shock and to instil fear, for fear is a form of currency for people like Griffiths. It is possible that this is what Mair wants, too power. We should unite to deny him and others that possibility. I count myself as one of Boris Johnsons greatest admirers. I watched him closely as his spokesman and director of communications in his first four years at City Hall. My office was next to his. My wife moaned that there were three people in our marriage, and the blonde always seems to come ahead of me! When Francois Hollande promised punitive taxes on high earners in Paris, Boris issued an open invitation to them, declaring: Bienvenue a Londres. Many took up the invitation and are still here, paying UK taxes Ive seen how his magic touch resonates as powerfully in Chelsea as in the East End. Ive been handed thousands of smartphones to snap Boris selfies for the fans. He travelled everywhere without a driver or security. No one ever hurt Boris, but he was often greeted with a heartfelt Tory Tosser, a badge of honour as he saw it. As we cycled to Westminster together one day, we happened to pull up at traffic lights next to David Camerons limo. Arent you the Mayor of London?, shouted another cyclist. Yes, I guess I am. Then he spotted the face in the car. Isnt he the leader of the Opposition? Yes, says Boris, were the outriders! It was less amusing when staff rang to say they had caught a man trying to smuggle a gun in to attack the Mayor. Fortunately, he was apprehended. What happened to Jo Cox was tragic. Politics, if it is worth doing, involves taking a stand that some will disagree with, and the tributes to the MP from across the divide remind us of the universal respect for those who champion a worthy cause and speak plainly. So I respect my former boss for taking sides in the referendum debate. Sadly in my view he picked the wrong side. How can this Brussels-educated, multilingual, half-Turkish, quarter-French, Catholic-christened former Mayor even contemplate London, let alone Britain, leaving the EU, asks Guto Harri On the day reporters were camped outside his house waiting to discover whether he would back Leave or Remain, I was trying to talk him back from the brink, arguing that Brexit would cast the UK adrift. I failed. The reason I struggle to understand his decision is because of my experience of working alongside him. As Mayor, Boris was a passionate champion for London. Hes always hated those who talk London down, and once frustrated US TV interviewer Katie Couric by being too positive about London during the worst days of the financial crisis. Stopping the interview, she told him: Youre coming across as a recession-denier. Thats my job, he said. Start the camera again. Those were the days when he took the courageous and counter-intuitive decision to support the financial sector at a time when most of the world wanted to string up bankers. Guto Harri (above): 'I respect my former boss for taking sides in the referendum debate. Sadly in my view he picked the wrong side' I heard him describe bankers in terms that would make many blush. But he was also clear about their contribution to the capital. Behind every top finance chief is a food chain that stretches from the corporate lawyer, accountant and PR to the driver, shop assistant, sous chef and nanny, he would argue as well as a stripper, he would occasionally add. I was there when Boris argued for a fall in the top rate of tax so London would not lose its competitive advantage over fierce rivals for flows of capital and high net-worth individuals. When Francois Hollande promised punitive taxes on high earners in Paris, Boris issued an open invitation to them, declaring: Bienvenue a Londres. Many took up the invitation and are still here, paying UK taxes. And I helped him lobby the EU to modify proposals for an Alternative Investment Directive that would have undermined the City he was so determined to protect. The directive was modified, London pulled through the recession and the mass hysteria against bankers burnt itself out. Yet now Boris would cut London adrift from the EU. Short of a devastating terrorist attack, I cannot imagine any action more damaging to the City of London than Brexit. As a distinguished historian he understands the wider context of the referendum debate. His book, The Dream Of Rome, explored how the Romans achieved political and cultural unity in Europe. His biography of Churchill reflects on his post-war vision of peace between warring nations. And his Life Of London champions the enormous benefits to the capital of centuries of immigration. As Mayor, he opposed David Camerons immigration cap, advocated an amnesty for illegal immigrants, held citizenship ceremonies at City Hall and boasted how every visiting athlete would play to a home crowd at the London Olympics. For all its flaws, the EU has anchored Europe in democratic government and given us access to a market of 500 million on our doorstep. Just five years ago Boris wrote a newspaper article advocating an EU Services directive which, as he put it, would allow everyone from opticians to estate agents to insurance brokers to set up more freely in other European jurisdictions. The ultimate test as he saw it was to produce a common standard for electric plugs a Europlug, he called it. Now is the time to set out a positive vision for a Europe that actually helps individuals and businesses, he wrote. She has been lambasted for ignoring her Royal role by preferring to write about gas meters rather than the Queens 90th birthday. Now Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy is risking even more criticism by declaring: God is gay. The claim appears in a new poem she has written in the wake of the massacre of 49 people in a gay club in Orlando, Florida, last weekend. In the 19-line verse, Dame Carol expresses her sympathy for the gay community by listing a range of people who are gay, including priests, farmers, teachers, politicians, doctors and judges. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has written a poem on behalf of the Orlando dead claiming God is gay She completes the verse, titled Gay Love, with the lines: The actress is gay; spotlit in the smash-hit play; the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker; our children, are gay. And God is gay. The poem has already been criticised on Twitter, with one contributor posting: Fair play to Carol Ann Duffy for writing a poem as bad as any atrocity to occur in the 21st Century. Leading clerics have also questioned her grasp of theology, while praising her desire to sympathise with the gay community. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, said: You dont expect a poet to be a theologian, however eminent the poet is. Although I may have questions about the phraseology of the poem, the intention is to say we side with all those who are the victims of a terrible ideology. Lord Carey said that God was neither male nor female, even though Christians referred to Him as a male. Dame Carol, who has been Poet Laureate for seven years, announced in April that she would be writing a landmark new poem about the demise of mechanical electricity and gas meters, which are to be phased out in 2020 and replaced with digital versions. She did not contribute to the Royal birthday celebrations early this month and failed to mark the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte. She did, however, write poems in celebration of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, entitled Rings, and marked the Queens Diamond Jubilee. Duffy has caused controversy earlier by failing to write a poem for the Queen's birthday or Diamond Jubilee Meanwhile, a controversial cleric has stoked the growing row within the Church of England over homosexuality by suggesting that Jesus would have backed gay marriage. The comments by the Dean of St Albans, Jeffrey John, come as a growing number of bishops call for a rethink of traditional interpretations of Bible verses apparently forbidding homosexuality. The controversy will fuel tensions as the Church prepares to discuss whether it should relax its ban on clergy blessing or entering same-sex marriages at a meeting of the General Synod. In a sermon at Liverpool Cathedral, Dr John, who is in a civil partnership with a man, said that most of the Church of England now wanted to celebrate same-sex marriage, adding: How sad that we cant just do what Jesus did and get on with including the excluded now. Supermarket sweep: A Waitrose nearby adds an average 8 oer cent to the value of homes, claims a new report by Savoy Stewart Estate agents and househunters alike are so familiar with the Waitrose effect that it has become one of the big cliches in the world of property. You cant go wrong if you buy near a Waitrose. Someone, somewhere, is thinking that right now as they dither over a house purchase. A Lloyds Bank report last year suggested that proximity to a Waitrose added a thumping 12 per cent, or an average of 40,000, to the value of a property. Starbucks used to be invested with the same magical aura. Good brands equalled good areas. But how about the shops/retailers at the other end of the scale? Businesses that depress prices rather than inflate them? Some interesting new research by commercial property agents Savoy Stewart, in conjunction with journalistic.org, has put the spotlight on some well-known brands which are not exactly a hit with homeowners. By taking 27 towns in Hertfordshire, then matching the retail outlets in those towns against the average property price, the study finds a clear correlation between towns with downmarket or value brands and towns with below-average property prices for the county. If you live near a McDonalds, for example, you are quids in when it comes to buying cheap meals for the family, but quids out when it comes to living in a sought-after residential area. The Waitrose effect in this survey adds 8 per cent that is the percentage by which house prices in a town with a Waitrose exceed the local average. The M&S effect equates to 9 per cent. The strongest brand of all is Zaza, the posh Italian restaurant chain, which, it is claimed, adds an astonishing 42 per cent. Just follow the smell of funghi al gorgonzola and you will find yourself in a property hot spot. But the McDonalds effect, by contrast, subtracts 24 per cent. Perhaps it is the lingering whiff of Big Macs that puts off househunters. A McDonalds is not good news. A branch of the fast food chains pushes nearby house prices down by 24%, Savoy Stewart claim and Assa and Primark signal lower value areas too Or just those lurid yellow signs. There are a hundred subtle snobberies at work here. Primark (minus 23 per cent), Asda (minus 22 per cent) and Poundland (minus 16 per cent) the usual suspects, you might say have a similarly negative effect on house prices. Great for shoppers on a budget. Not so great for homeowners who want to live in areas that are on the up and, just as importantly, seen to be on the up. Perception is everything in property. And nothing does more to shape perceptions of towns than the shop brands which we all recognise, with their signs. The findings were not a surprise to me, says Darren Best, managing director of Savoy Stewart. Previous studies have highlighted the Waitrose effect, but this one indicates an overall High Street brand effect which extends well beyond Waitrose and encompasses both luxury and value brands. Estate agents who know their stuff not only understand that Waitrose trumps Asda and why the distinction matters, but also keep an eye out for new stores. The opening of a new Waitrose or John Lewis does not lead directly to an increase in house prices, but it does make an area more desirable, which in the long run can amount to the same thing, says Paula Moore, of Strutt & Parker in Horsham. However, a 2013 study by American Express found that towns whose High Streets had a high proportion of independent shops outperformed towns dominated by chain stores by 17 per cent in terms of property prices. 'Promise me, dad, that youll never take us anywhere tropical ever again! said my 14-year-old daughter. This is not what you want to hear when you have forked out for the trip of a lifetime to Sri Lanka. But I knew what she meant. Along with her similarly unimpressed 16-year-old brother and stoical mother, she had been dragged by her cruel father away from the comforts of the lush southern half of Sri Lanka, with its white beaches and boutique hotels, to the northern-most tip of the island, which couldnt be more different. Arid, burning hot and scarred by bullet holes, this was the region that saw the bloodiest fighting in the 25-year civil war between government forces and the Tamil Tigers. Until 2009, it was closed to tourists and even now is an adventure. Bright and beautiful: A temple at Trincomalee in north-east Sri Lanka. This deep-water port of offers spectacular diving and whale watching Our obliging driver, Suresh, had taken us from our rudimentary hotel in the norths capital Jaffna to a beach resort, owned and run by the army, which supposedly had the best chef on the island. We hadnt slept much because of the dodgy air-conditioning. It was almost too hot to go outside for a swim and, anyway, my wife and daughter felt uncomfortable being stared at by the locals who, in the north, arent used to Westerners in bathing costumes. Then came the final straw. Lunch.Just the night before, we had enjoyed the best curries of our lives at a place called Green Grass in Jaffna mounds of succulent spicy prawns and tender crab, all costing next to nothing. Todays extravaganza, however, comprised cold chips sweating beneath clingfilm, and about eight tiny prawns each the size of raisins. The people in Sri Lanka are so gentle, warm and welcoming, according to our writer Apparently, the local army chief had been promoted and left the previous day, taking his amazing personal chef who also ran the restaurant with him. It was a reminder of how much the military still dominates the north. Every few miles there are army bases, signalling the governments determination never to let the conflict which cost 100,000 lives break out again. The people in Sri Lanka are so gentle, warm and welcoming much more so than in India, I found, and with a more playful sense of humour. For the first time in years you are now safe to visit hitherto-closed places such as Jaffna, with its candy-coloured Hindu temples and battle-scarred fort, built in the early 17th century by the Portuguese; the deep-water port of Trincomalee with its spectacular diving and whale watching; and the gorgeous beaches stretching south along the largely undeveloped east coast. Things began to look up on arrival at Jungle Beach, 100 miles south of Jaffna, where we recovered in two luxurious huts with our own private plunge pool. These blended in discreetly with the jungle scrub on the edge of the white sand. There were giant butterflies, a tame sambar deer (reared from an orphan, now a loveable menace at breakfast), even snakes harmless ones which terrify the more squeamish guests. Tigers, too. Not real ones leopards are the only big cats in Sri Lanka but former guerilla fighters, now employed as friendly hotel staff as part of an enlightened rehabilitation programme. Apart from two trips snorkelling at Pigeon Island; whale watching off Trincomalee theres gloriously little to do here except bake in the sun and sip sour mango cocktails. At Minneriya game reserve, James Delingpole saw elephants and a purple-faced leaf monkey About 50 miles further down the coast we paused at another beachside resort, Uga Bay, which really does have the best chef on the island. If you want to sample Sri Lankan cuisine in all its glories breadfruit curries, fat banana shrimps, traditional breakfasts of string hoppers (like rice vermicelli), daal, coconut sambal and fish or chicken curry this is the place. I recommend the evening beach feast, where they carve you a table from the sand, and serve you barbecued lobster, crab, and more prawns by candlelight under the stars. You need these moments of self-indulgence, though. Otherwise Sri Lanka whose spectacularly varied scenery (from the northern salt plains to mountain tea plantations to jungles and beaches), ancient temples and game reserves require long, slow four- or five-hour drives would be too much of a slog for a family break with bolshie teenagers. Nilaveli Beach and the Indian Ocean at Trincomalee, where you can enjoy the sun One of the highlights was Ulagalla, a tranquil lakeside resort on a 58-acre estate in the middle of Sri Lankas Cultural Triangle within easy reach of sights such as the temple complex at Anuradhapura and several game reserves, including Minneriya, where we saw 200 elephants and a rare purple-faced leaf monkey. We all loved the half-days train journey from the Central Province to Jaffna; the festival at the Hindu village where the bare-chested men all proudly displayed the mutant bulge on the back of their necks caused by years of devoted bearing of stupendously heavy religious floats; and the visit to our local guide Patthis home. The male teenager has admitted that this was the best holiday of his life. The female teenager has since withdrawn her ban on going anywhere tropical. You know youre in California when the local museums leading exhibition is devoted entirely to marijuana. But what was most thrilling at the Oakland Museum was the weekly Friday night salsa band playing outside to a packed crowd. If this is a regular Friday night at the museum, Im sold. Oakland has been quietly growing a reputation as the trendier little sister to San Francisco. A 20-minute journey under the river from the heart of San Fran, the cutesy, red-brick city is welcoming an influx of hipster hangouts. This trendification is apparently due to the arrival of several tech start-ups. Cool: Sarah enjoys an ice cream in Oakland, which has been quietly growing a reputation as the trendier little sister to San Francisco A must visit while staying in Oakland is Temescal Alley and its smattering of quirky pop-up shops and cafes. Reminiscent of Shoreditch in East London before the bankers descended, I recommend starting with a coffee at Cro Cafe before wandering around the boutiques. Eating out is a way of life in Oakland and the local food scene is gaining momentum apace. Jack London Square sits along the Oakland and Alameda estuary, exuding the laid-back outdoor lifestyle that we Brits envy. Restaurants, yachts and sensational views bring the vibrant waterfront to life. A personal highlight was Californian wine-tasting at the informal and very jolly Rosenblum Cellars. We also took the scenic two-hour drive from Oakland to the capital of California, Sacramento. Sarah also took the scenic two-hour drive from Oakland to the capital of California, Sacramento (pictured) Initially, a somewhat pantomime gold-rush tour of the old town didnt do much to quash my trepidation of what Sacramento would have to excite a twentysomething Londoner. How wrong I was, for when the Californian sun goes down, Sacramento hots up. Classic buildings have been transformed into kitsch establishments serving delicious barbecued fare and locally brewed beer. Particularly impressive was the Federalist Public House, a beer and pizza joint made from nine industrial containers. With street parties and local festivals a regular occurrence, its not quite the city that never sleeps yet, but dont bank on getting an early night. With Norwegian Air having launched a new direct flight last month from Gatwick to Oakland, its now easier and more affordable than ever to visit these two up-and-coming cities. It was the schoolboy writing that stopped me in my tracks. In looping script on a yellowing scrap of paper, the note said in Polish: I suddenly realised we were to be walled in. I got so scared that I eventually burst into tears. One of a number of striking exhibits in Krakows haunting Schindlers Factory museum, made world-famous by Steven Spielbergs Oscar-winning Holocaust film, the handwritten note encapsulated the terrors of the citys Jewish ghetto under Nazi occupation more powerfully than any history book. But it was the signature at the end that really gave me goosebumps: Roman Polanski, 8. While the Polish director somehow survived the war, his mother was killed at Auschwitz. Historic: The 700-year-old Wieliczka salt mine, a 1,000ft-deep complex with 100 miles of tunnels As I nursed a beer in one of the numerous bars that skirt the vast, stately market square at the heart of the old city, with its twin-towered medieval church and Cinderella-style horse-drawn carriages clip-clopping over the cobbles, Krakow appears more like a fairy tale. I passed the time contentedly watching the dusk settle over the bustling square, as street lamps cast a theatrical glow over the handsome Renaissance facades. As the clocks struck the hour, a trumpeter appeared in the window of one of the towers of the Gothic St Marys basilica and blew a short tune before stopping abruptly. Above: Roman Polanskis note in the Schindlers Factory museum, written when the director was eight Enchanting: Horse-drawn carriages in Krakow The next day, my guide Jolanta explained that the truncated solo marked an incident during one of the former Polish capitals many invasions it suffered at the hands of the Tartars, Teutonic knights and even Swedes before the Germans arrived when a bugler attempted to sound the alert but was struck by an arrow and killed. It is remarkable, therefore, that the ancient city has remained so unscathed and retains such an authentic sense of its past. Just outside the city is one of the more extraordinary attractions in Europe, the 700-year-old Wieliczka salt mine, a 1,000ft-deep complex with 100 miles of tunnels. Carved in the granite-grey rock salt by generations of miners, there are looming statues of figures such as the regions favourite son, Pope John Paul II. The late Pope, the former Archbishop of Krakow who was canonised in 2014, is a ubiquitous presence in the city, whose Catholic roots are evident in its 1,000 churches, chapels and monasteries. A stroll through the old streets will take you past his former palace, and the window from which he made hugely significant appearances when, as Pope, he returned to the city where he was a priest and a bishop under the Nazis and then the communists. The current Pope, Francis, will preside at a World Youth event in Krakow between July 25 and 31, which is expected to draw more than two million young Catholics. If my brief visit is anything to go by, the pilgrims are in for a treat. Forget package holidays and screaming kids, Thomas Cook has launched a surprising new lifestyle brand for adults-only getaways. The new brand, Casa Cook features upmarket resorts with a 'bohemian' design and a sociable atmosphere that is described as 'like staying at a friend's house, where the kitchen is always open.' Boasting wooden pool decking, vintage furniture and handcrafted features, the first boutique property in the Casa collection has been unveiled in Rhodes, Greece. Casa Cook Rhodes, the first boutique hotel of the new brand has 90 bedrooms spread across several buildings A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said the hotel is designed to feel like staying at a friends house, where the kitchen is always open The spokesperson added: Casa Cook offers a relaxed bohemian atmosphere, which is different to our other own-brand hotels, and is aimed adults only looking for this in a holiday. Casa Cook Rhodes is an adults-only 90 room hotel spread across several white buildings framed by lush vegetation, wood decks and pools. The brainchild of design agency, Lambs&Lions, the Mediterranean resort is peppered with vintage furniture, playful print patterns and handcrafted pieces throughout. A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said: Casa Cook offers a relaxed bohemian atmosphere, which is different to our other own-brand hotels, and is aimed adults only looking for this in a holiday. Holidaymakers to the hotel at Kolymbia Beach can choose from five room categories with each building flanked by its own swim-up pool and private terrace The brainchild of design agency, Lambs&Lions, the Mediterranean resort is peppered with vintage furniture, playful print patterns and handcrafted pieces throughout The beach-side property infuses a more relaxed approach to hospitality than typical package holiday hotels by creating a home-away-from-home experience to reflect the current popularity of brands such as Airbnb and Onefinestay. Thomas Cook say the hotel is designed to feel like staying at a friends house, where the kitchen is always open. The stylish website explains: We want to create hotels that connect and inspire like-minded travellers. Those who like to eat local and adventure authentic. The beach-side property infuses a more relaxed approach to hospitality than typical package holiday hotels by creating a home-away-from-home experience to reflect the current popularity of brands such as Airbnb Some rooms feature indoor Jacuzzis including the two bungalow suites which have private pools Holidaymakers to the hotel at Kolymbia Beach can choose from five room categories with each building flanked by its own swim-up pool and private terrace. Some rooms feature indoor Jacuzzis including the two bungalow suites which have private pools. Casa Cook Rhodes opened in May and the brand has plans to continue to grow to more destinations. The hotel has been created to 'inspire like-minded travellers who like to eat local and adventure authentic. More and more brands are tapping into the Millennial mindset offering perks and services valued by younger travellers. Last October, MailOnline Travel reported on Aloft Hotels introducing room service which can be ordered by sending emoji texts at their Manhattan property. The Text it, Get it, programme (TiGi) consists of six packages that can be ordered by sending over a string of images along with the guests room number and surname. For guests suffering the effects of a big night out, they can text the water droplet, pill and banana emoji for the $10 (6.50). This 'Hangover Package' is made up of two bottles of Vitamin Water, Advil and two bananas. A clampdown on hidden fees imposed on passengers by airlines is set to be launched by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), with Ryanair set to face particular scrutiny. Reviews into every airline selling tickets in the UK will assess whether costs are presented in an 'open and clear' way to prevent travellers being saddled with unexpected extra expenses. Charges for basic services such as name changes, checking in at the airport rather than online and re-issuing boarding passes will be scrutinised by the watchdog. Ryanair has been challenged to make it as clear as possible what extra charges could face holidaymakers Currently, changing the name on a flight ticket costs 110 with Ryanair, up to 50 with easyJet and 35 for short-haul flights or 50 for long-haul flights with Thomas Cook. Choosing to check in for a Ryanair flight at the airport instead of through its website can land passengers with a bill of 45. And to get a boarding pass re-issued at the terminal by the Irish airline requires a payment of 15. A CAA spokesman said the investigation is 'about making sure airlines are open and clear so that people understand what they are actually paying for'. He added: 'You've got the headline price of the ticket, but are there any additional things that people have to be aware of that they will have to pay for?' Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill has announced the Civil Aviation Authority will now scrutinise the pricing systems of airlines BUT RYANAIR IS CUTTING BAGGAGE FEES... Ryanair has slashed baggage fees ahead of the summer holidays that will see passengers save as much as 50 per cent. The Irish-based carrier has cut its checked-in bag fees for 92 per cent of its 116m customers, and has cut the number of luggage charge options from 108 to just six. Passengers flying a domestic flight of two hours or less used to have to pay 30 to check in a 15kg bag and 40 for a bag weighing 20kg. But this has been cut to just 15 for a 15kg item, and 25 for 20kg worth of luggage. Advertisement Aviation minister Robert Goodwill recently faced calls to challenge Ryanair over the costs associated with amending travel documents with the airline. He said this week: 'The Government and the CAA continue to emphasise to the airlines the importance of compliance with ticket transparency obligations, ensuring that terms and conditions - including any administration fees and charges - are clear to passengers when they choose between airlines. 'To enhance consumer protection in this area, the CAA will start work on unfair contract terms with the airlines this summer, in accordance with the CAA's Strategic Plan 2016-2021. 'The work will include a review of the airlines' terms and conditions with the aim of ensuring the rights and obligations of the consumers and businesses are fair and balanced and consumers are not being penalised by unfair contract terms.' Two cases are currently being prepared against airlines by legal website CaseHub - including one concerning Ryanair and the matter of fees. CaseHub founder Michael Green said the case involving Ryanair will claim charges to check in at the airport, re-issue boarding passes and name-fee changes are unlawful. A spokesperson for Ryanair told MailOnline Travel: 'All Ryanair charges and fees are clearly outlined on the Ryanair.com website and throughout the entire booking process. 'Customers are asked to ensure that the details they enter at the time of booking are correct before completing their booking and we offer a 24 hour grace period to correct minor booking errors. 'A 110/110 name change fee is charged in order to discourage and prevent unauthorised online travel agents from screenscraping Ryanairs cheapest fares and reselling them on to unwitting consumers at hugely inflated costs.' He's not one to take things too seriously and clearly likes to make people laugh. And Rove McManus revealed his comical side once again as he attended the Taronga Zoo Masquerade Ball in Sydney on Thursday night, taking along a large zebra head as his mask. It was a stark contrast from Miss Universe Australia Monika Radulovic, who also walked the red carpet and opted for a more subtle and sexy black lace mask. My, what a big mask you have: Rove McManus had some fun at the Taronga Zoo Masquerade Ball in Sydney on Thursday night, opting for a large zebra head as his mask for the evening Posing for photos and holding the mask instead of wearing it, Rove looked dapper in black tie attire. The 42-year-old radio presenter, who is married to Tasma Walton and has a two-year-old daughter Ruby, was sporting a sleek black suit, a crisp white shirt and a thin purple tie. Rove co-hosts a breakfast radio show with The Bachelorette star Sam Frost on 2DayFM and despite the early morning start, the media personality was fresh-faced at the fundraiser. Batman and Catwoman: Miss Universe Australia Monika Radulovic also attended the event with her fiance Alesandro Ljubicic and opted for a fashionable black lace mask to match her fiance's Batman mask Supporting the cause: The couple are not only supporters of the cause but ambassadors of the Zoo Looking slightly more demure, yet sleek and sexy, Taronga Zoo ambassadors Monika Radulovic and her fiance Alesandro Ljubicic donned smaller face pieces for the event. The 25-year-old model cut an elegant figure in a three-quarter-length white dress that hugged her curves before falling loosely to her calves. The semi-sheer frock by Elliatt revealed a shorter slip underneath and featured a wavy cut-out design. Monika wore her dark tresses down but pulled away from her face and parted in the centre, allowing her delicate lace mask to remain the focus. Working woman: Monika received the title of Miss Universe Australia in June last year and has been busy this year with plenty of work and new projects The Bosnian-born beauty accessorized with a simple necklace to complement her dress, a black clutch and black high heels. Monika received the title of Miss Universe Australia in June last year, and speaking to Daily Mail Australia in May, she said she's excited about upcoming projects and seeing out her duties in the role. 'I'm still Miss Universe Australia so that's my number one goal at the moment and my number one focus - to continue being the best Miss Universe I can be and the best ambassador, and then easing into other things. 'I knew this year was going to be a challenging year and a full-on year with a lot of work and that's what it has been and I'm really grateful for that,' she said. She was spotted out exactly one month following the split from her longtime beau, Evan Peters. And despite sporting new blonde locks last week Emma Roberts appeared solemn while out in West Hollywood on Friday. The 25-year-old actress showcased her endless slim pins in a floral mini dress as she grabbed lunch in the trendy neighborhood. Somber: Emma Roberts appeared solemn following the split of her longtime beau Evan Peters while out in West Hollywood on Friday The Scream Queens star kept her head down and remained concealed behind a pair of dark sunglasses. Her short black frock included a ruffled hemline and was adorned with assorted flowers in various sizes and shades of mauve and burgundy. She skipped the cosmetics to feature her natural beauty and wore her golden tresses in a centre part. Leggy blonde! The 25-year-old Scream Queens star showcased her slim pins in a floral mini dress as she grabbed lunch in the trendy neighborhood The niece of Hollywood A-lister Julia Roberts rounded out her ensemble with a black leather handbag and matching loafers. She's had a roller-coaster month after splitting with her on-and-off-love of four years, Evan Peters, 29. The young couple originally started dating in Spring of 2012 after they met on the set of Adult World. They became engaged Christmas 2013, but called it quits last June, only to rekindle their romance two months later, before splitting again last month. Low-key: The American Horror Story actress kept her head down and remained concealed behind a pair of dark sunglasses Pretty as a petal! Emma's mini dress included a ruffled hemline and was adorned with mauve and burgundy flowers Just last week, Emma sent rumours into overdrive as she walked arm in arm with Christopher Hines in London, although nothing has been confirmed. And although she may be suffering tremendous heartbreak over her former flame, luckily Roberts has a busy upcoming schedule that will help keep her mind off her ex. Emma will be returning to her role as murderous Queen Bee Chanel Oberlin in the second season of Scream Queens. Natural beauty! Roberts skipped the cosmetics and wore her golden tresses in relaxed waves As well as working on the next season of the Fox horror/comedy, she has two movies due for release later this year. Roberts appears opposite Kevin Spacey, Taron Egerton, Ansel Elgort and Suki Waterhouse in 1980s set Billionaire Boys Club. The film centers around a group of wealthy boys in Los Angeles who set up a get rich quick scam which turns deadly. She also stars in the upcoming thriller Nerve, due out in September, alongside the likes of Juliette Lewis and Dave Franco. New romance? Emma sent rumours into overdrive as she was spotted with Christopher Hines in London last week, although nothing has been confirmed She said Friday's PR conference would be her last, after allegedly telling friends she felt 'cursed'. And PR maven Roxy Jacenko celebrated her final-ever In Conversation With Roxy Jacenko seminar with a short highlights video of the event, which she later uploaded to Instagram. In the 30-second clip, a beaming Roxy could be seen reclining back in an office style chair and providing her intrigued audience with 'tips and tricks' on how to build a successful social media presence and strong brand. Last show: PR maven Roxy Jacenko was all smiles at her final speaking conference, In Conversation With Roxy Jacenko, on Friday just hours before supporting husband Oliver Curtis in court Other scenes in the flick flashed between audience attendees showing off their over-filled gift bags to taking selfies and eating the sweet treats on offer at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney. 'Morning I will never forget - to all the attendees, my incredible team and our sponsors - thank you,' the 36-year-old Sydney-based publicist captioned the post. The successful mother-of-two, who is the founder and director of Sweaty Betty and The Ministry of Talent, was dressed to impress for the event, taking to the stage in a pink jumper and silver skirt by Gucci totalling AU$5,000. All smiles: A beaming Roxy could be seen in the clip looking relaxed as she reclined back in the chair on-stage Imparting her knowledge: The PR guru providing her intrigued audience with 'tips and tricks' on how to build a successful social media presence and strong brand Lots on offer: Other scenes in the flick flashed between audience attendees showing off their over-filled gift bags to taking selfies and eating the sweet treats on offer at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney But the PR guru swapped her colourful ensemble for a sombre black dress and YSL high heels when she arrived at a Sydney court, just hours after the conference, to be with her husband Oliver Curtis. Earlier this month, Oliver was found guilty of conspiracy to commit insider trading following a three week trial. The 30-year-old father-of-two could face up to five years imprisonment and/or a $220,000 fine over the charge. Sold out: The event was filled with eager attendees wanting to know the secrets to a successful business Time for selfies: The mother-of-two happily posed with some of the attendees 'When you start the day with this incredible talent': Roxy showed off the exquisite snacks on offer at the event thanks to chef Anna Polyviou, who appeared on MasterChef last week in the Deathstar dessert challenge Roxy loyally stood by his side throughout, and attracted plenty of media attention for her stylish and expensive outfits. And it was no different for Oliver's sentencing as she revisited a Dior dress she previously wore during the trial. The designer frock featured a lace detail on the hemline and perfectly matched her ankle strap heels. The Sweaty Betty PR founder accessorised with a few gold bracelets on her right hand also wore her blonde hair loosely. Obligatory lift selfie: The mother-of-two dressed to impress for the event, showing off her pink jumper and silver skirt by Gucci (totalling AU$5,000) en-route to her talk with a lift selfie posted to Instagram It appeared Roxy was trying to keep a low profile as she concealed her gaze behind a pair of dark sunglasses. The outfit could not be more different from the brightly coloured ensemble she wore at Sydney's Shangri-La Hotel earlier that day. A week earlier, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Roxy had decided to end the talks after she told friends she feels 'cursed.' The publication also claimed that the savvy mother-of-two had banned all media from attending the seminar, claiming she does not want her husband, Curtis' insider trading conviction to 'overshadow' the event. Last year, Roxy took to the stage at the InterContinental in Double Bay, Sydney, with an intravenous drip still attached to her arm as treatment for a serious infection following her rhinoplasty surgery, despite strict orders to remain in hospital. Quick change! The PR guru swapped her colourful ensemble for a sombre black dress and YSL high heels when she arrived at a Sydney court, just hours after the conference, to be with her husband Oliver Curtis Taylor Swift took a break from her rebound romance with Tom Hiddleston on Friday to share a handwritten list of the 49 Orlando shooting victims along with her condolences to their grieving families. The 26-year-old pop diva wrote to her 235.1M followers: 'As you bury your loved ones this week, please know that there are millions of us sending you love and our deepest sympathy in the face of this unthinkable and devastating tragedy.' It was the least the 10-time Grammy winner - who boasts a $250M fortune - could do six days after the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in American history. Scroll down for video 'With a heavy heart': Taylor Swift took a break from her rebound romance with Tom Hiddleston on Friday to share a handwritten list of the 49 Orlando shooting victims along with her condolences to their grieving families (pictured Monday) The 26-year-old pop diva wrote to her 235.1M followers: 'As you bury your loved ones this week, please know that there are millions of us sending you love and our deepest sympathy in the face of this unthinkable and devastating tragedy' Pray for Pulse victims: It was the least the 10-time Grammy winner - who boasts a $250M fortune - could do six days after the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in American history Mourning: Taylor's 'thoughts and prayers' post for the LGBTQ community followed similar sentiments from her pop rivals Lady Gaga (pictured Monday), Madonna, Janet Jackson, Beyonce, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry Taylor's 'thoughts and prayers' post for the LGBTQ community followed similar sentiments from her pop rivals Lady Gaga, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Beyonce, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry. It's the first fans have heard from Swift since her Nicholas Sparks-worthy liplock session Monday with the 35-year-old Englishman on the Weekapaug shoreline near her $17M Rhode Island estate. Some even accused the New Romantics songstress of staging the PDA-filled, perfectly-positioned pictures with The Night Manager heartthrob. 'She's very charming. She is amazing,' Hiddleston gushed to MTV UK last month following their Met Gala dance-off. Calculated? It's the first fans have heard from Swift since her Nicholas Sparks-worthy liplock session Monday with the 35-year-old Englishman on the Weekapaug shoreline near her $17M Rhode Island estate Not exactly keeping their relationship 'Loki': Some even accused the New Romantics songstress of staging the PDA-filled, perfectly-positioned pictures with The Night Manager heartthrob Following their Met Gala dance-off, Hiddleston gushed to MTV UK last month: 'She's very charming. She is amazing. I mean, I've seen a couple of her, like, videos. I think I remember Shake It Off was released around the time we made I Saw the Light. She's very cool, yeah' 'I mean, I've seen a couple of her, like, videos. I think I remember Shake It Off was released around the time we made I Saw the Light. She's very cool, yeah.' Taylor and Tom's sudden intimacy raised eyebrows because she amicably ended her 'magical' 15-month relationship with DJ Calvin Harris less than two weeks ago. By Friday, all traces of Swift and the Scottish 32-year-old - born Adam Wiles - had been bitterly wiped from their respective social media accounts. And as the Out of the Woods belter's longest relationship ends and a movie star one begins, her fans are eager to hear the resulting songs. Too fast? Taylor and Tom's sudden intimacy raised eyebrows because she amicably ended her 'magical' 15-month relationship with DJ Calvin Harris less than two weeks ago (pictured in 2015) DELETED! By Friday, all traces of Swift and the Scottish 32-year-old - born Adam Wiles - had been bitterly wiped from their respective social media accounts Wait for it...: And as the Out of the Woods belter's longest relationship ends and a movie star one begins, her fans are eager to hear the resulting songs 'The only love worth being in is the love worth singing about': The boy-crazy crooner's past muses have included Jake Gyllenhaal (pictured in 2010), John Mayer, Joe Jonas, and Taylor Lautner 'The only love worth being in is the love worth singing about,' the boy-crazy crooner explained to Rolling Stone back in 2013. 'And kind of mad love. I think that, for me, when you experience something that's worth writing a song about, chances are it's the same kind of intense feeling that someone else has felt.' Taylor's past muses have included Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, seven-time Grammy winner John Mayer, DNCE frontman Joe Jonas, and The Ridiculous Six's Taylor Lautner. The Apple Music spokesmodel will compete for two Teen Choice Awards - female artist and song - when the ceremony airs July 31 on Fox. But the two-time Golden Globe nominee isn't scheduled to perform again until October 22 when she headlines the Formula 1 US Grand Prix in Austin. Who will win? The Apple Music spokesmodel will compete for two Teen Choice Awards - female artist and song - when the ceremony airs July 31 on Fox The fourth season of Orange Is The New Black premiered on Netflix earlier this week. And while Ruby Rose isn't expected to make a return in the new series, many fans have been led to believe the Australian star's character Stella Carlin will be making a comeback. 'Repost @nlyonne secret squirrels xo,' 30-year-old Ruby captioned an image of her and fellow OITNB star Natasha Lyonne on Friday, the coy message putting many viewers into a frenzy, speculating Ruby is back for season four. Scroll down for video 'Secret squirrels': While Ruby Rose isn't expected to make a return in the fourth series, many fans have been led to believe the Australian star's character Stella Carlin will be making a comeback after she shared this throwback snap of her and co-star Natasha Lyonne on Friday The image showed Ruby and 37-year-old Natasha, who plays Nicky Nichols on the show, in their inmate costumes, the photo being a throwback snap from their time on set. Some fans believed Ruby would be making a return to season four, with one Instagram user penning: 'So happy your in season 4! #beautifuleyes (sic)'. Meanwhile, other viewers weren't too certain, with one asking, 'Is ruby in season 4? (sic)' and another enquiring, 'Are they back for season 4? Please tell me yess (sic)'. Certain: Some fans believed Ruby would be making a return to season four In character: Ruby's character Stella Carlin appeared in the show's third season last year Ruby's character Stella caused a ruckus when she turned up in Litchfield Penitentiary and made a play for Piper in season three. The series catapulted Ruby to instant fame, thanks to her steamy naked shower scenes. After betraying Piper, her character was sent to a maximum security prison, much to the dismay of dedicated fans who wanted to see more of Stella on screen. Earlier this year the Australian actress and DJ expressed how grateful she was to have been a part of the show. While she was unable to attend the SAG Awards and help her cast accept the award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series, she did share a special social media post to acknowledge the victory. Excited: Meanwhile other viewers weren't too certain, though hoped the Australian would be returning to the Netflix program Drama: Ruby's character caused a ruckus when she turned up in Litchfield Penitentiary and made a play for Piper (Taylor Scilling pictured) in season three She wrote: 'Wow thank you #sagawards I am without words, sad that I couldn't fly back to see my beautiful cast and family'. She went on: 'Life long friends who changed everything about life as I know it. Something so special to be so proud of so many people, to be part of such an important show. 'I will forever be grateful I was lucky enough to be cast in this series. People took a chance on me. 'It's because of this show I'm here in Europe shooting a film and that my life will never be the same.' Since starring on Orange Is The New Black, Ruby has scored some major movie roles in two action-packed Hollywood blockbusters John Wick 2 and xXx: Return of Zander Cage, which both began filming earlier this year. Meanwhile Natasha will be back for season four of Orange Is The New Black. She joined the likes of Taylor Schilling, Jessica Pimental and Laura Gomez at the fourth season premiere in Manhattan on Thursday. Heartfelt: The Australian star took to Instagram in January to gush about the cast the show which she thanked for taking a chance on her He is known for his death-defying stunts and his unique mix of comedy. And famed movie star Jackie Chan is heading Down Under next month to film in the science-fiction thriller, Bleeding Steel. According to Hollywood Reporter, the movie will be the biggest budget Chinese production ever to be shot in Australia. Scroll down for video Down Under: Famed action movie actor Jackie Chan is heading to Australia to film new science fiction film Bleeding Steel The movie follows a Special Forces agent (played by Jackie) who fights to protect a young woman from a sinister criminal gang. Village Roadshow Pictures Asia and Heyi Pictures will co-produce and co-finance the anticipated film. President and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures Asia Ellen Eliasoph told Hollywood Reporter they were thrilled to be working with Heyi Pictures on the new film. New role: The movie follows a Special Forces agent (played by Jackie) who fights to protect a young woman from a sinister criminal gang 'Given Village Roadshow's deep roots in Australia, the film's concept resonates strongly with us, and naturally we are thrilled to be a part of a Jackie Chan production,' Ms Eliasop said. Meanwhile, Jackie had his first breakout success in China with the 1978 movie Snake In The Eagle's Shadow that established the comedic kung-fu genre. He was propelled into mainstream success with his leading role in the 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy Drunken Master, a jolly romp in which his character's fighting style mimics a drunk person. Jackie enjoyed his first blockbuster success in the United States in the 1988 buddy cop action movie Rush Hour with Chris as his crime-fighting partner. First role: Jackie had his first breakout success in China with the 1978 movie Snake In The Eagle's Shadow that established the comedic kung-fu genre In 2010, Jackie starred in the remake of The Karate Kid as Mr. Han, a kung-fu master who teaches Jaden's character how to fight in order to protect himself from bullies. The much-loved actor made a name for himself by performing most of his own stunts throughout his lengthy career. He's been critically acclaimed over the decades for matching his kung-fu abilities with strong comedic timing. And Jackie is no stranger to Australia as his family moved to Canberra from Hong Kong when he was a child, he remained in Asia to study at the China Drama Academy. Over the course of 40-years, the star has visited the country and even filmed a section of Rush Hour, in Melbourne, in 1996. Regular visitor: Over the course of 40-years, the star has visited Australia and even filmed a section of Rush Hour, in Melbourne, in 1996 There's a new man on the block when Offspring returns later this month, with TJ Power having recently joined the cast. But it's unclear whether the Eat Pray Love actor's character, Will Bowen, will actually be playing the on-screen love interest of Asher Keddie's character, Nina Proudman. In a new promotional video for the Channel Ten show's sixth season, lawyer Will is put on the spot when queried on his personal life, and sexual preferences. Scroll down for video Is he or isn't he? The latest promotional video for Offpspring's sixth season initially hints TJ Power's character Will (R) likes Asher Keddie's character Nina (L), before it's suggested he may be 'into something else' The trailer opens with the voiceover teasing: 'The new chapter of Offspring has a mystery man'. It looks like Will turns up on Nina's doorstep, the pair becoming acquainted before Nina's sister Billie gets to know him too. The voiceover continues: 'But the biggest mystery is... is he into Billie?'. Will and Billie are then seen meeting up, with the mystery gent a little sceptical of the real-estate agent's motives. Here he is: The trailer opens with the voiceover teasing: 'The new chapter of Offspring has a mystery man' Shocked: Nina is surprised to see Will at her doorstep 'You got me here earlier on purpose, didn't you?' he casually enquires. After initially denying it with a firm 'no', Billie caves in and admits, 'yes'. Fans are then given the suggestion by the voiceover that Will could perhaps be interested in pursuing a romance with Nina after all. It looks like Billie at least suspects some sparks are flying, as she asks her sister: 'Are you two vibing together?'. Suspicious: It looks like Billie at least suspects some sparks are flying, as she asks her sister: 'Are you two vibing together?' Something suss? Will and Billie are then seen meeting up, with the mystery gent a little sceptical of the real-estate agent's motives Very defensive to say the least, a shaken Nina responds: 'No, we're not'. 'You are on a vibe,' Billie insists, to which Nina then retorts, 'Will you shut up?'. Viewers are then introduced to a new possibility altogether, as the voiceover says: 'Or is the mystery man into something else?'. Of course Billie seems to be the most curious of the Proudman family to suss out this newcomer once and for all. Different take: Viewers are then introduced to a new possibility altogether, as the voiceover says: 'Or is the mystery man into something else?' Sitting next to her younger brother Jimmy, played by Richard Davies, Billie asks Will: 'Do you have a partner?'. When Will laughs and says he doesn't, Billie further prompts: 'If you did, would that person be of a different or the same sex?'. 'You're about to find out,' the voiceover then cheekily informs fans of the show, leaving them in anticipation until the sixth season premieres on Wednesday June 29. Over the past five seasons, Asher's character Nina has experienced several ups and downs, the most recent series showing her adapt to motherhood after giving birth to a daughter named Zoe. Getting to the bottom of it: Sitting next to her younger brother Jimmy, played by Richard Davies, Billie asks Will: 'Do you have a partner?' According to the show's official website: 'Season six of Offspring picks up 18 months on, with baby Zoe now two-and-a-half years old. 'With the Proudman family rocked by a heart-breaking event, Ninas story and her unpredictable, messy and often hilarious life continues.' Main cast members including Asher, Kat , Deborah Mailman and Patrick Brammall are returning for the sixth season. Meanwhile TJ is a new addition to the show alongside Australian actor Dan Wyllie. She has been nominated for two Aria Awards, and her latest album Run has reached gold sales. So it comes as no surprise that Australian DJ Alison Wonderland, real name Alex Sholler, performed in front of thousands of adorning US fans at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Friday. The 29-year-old Sydney native belted out her well-known hits, including Cold, I Want You and Games in an oversized black T-shirt with a graphic white print emblazoned across the front. Scroll down for video Moving on up: Australian DJ Alison Wonderland dazzleD in a simple black T-shirt while performing her top hits for adorning Las Vegas crowd on Friday evening Alison Wonderland left her shoulder length blonde tresses out and straight, and opted for a natural palette of make-up to highlight her striking features. The electronic artist seemed to enjoy herself as she pulled a range of animated dance moves which flowed with the beat of her songs while on stage. The star also performed the song Run which reached number 59 in Triple Js Hottest 100 annual countdown behind Parkway Drive and Sia. Screaming and waving: The Australian native filled the venue with hundreds of screaming fans In high spirits: The electronic artist seemed to enjoy herself as she fist pumped and pulled a range of animated dance moves which flowed with the beat of her songs while on stage Alison Wonderland is currently on her US tour and her Las Vegas show was well received among her followers. One fan, Toni Plur Bizzle wrote after the show: Thank you for a powerful moment in our lives last night. We are right here with you. While Quentin Ewing added: I like girls with attitude. Showstopper: The 29-year-old Sydney native belted out her well-known hits, including Cold, I Want You and Games in an oversized black T-shirt with a graphic white print emblazoned across the front Positive feedback: One fan, Toni Plur Bizzle wrote after Alison Wonderland's show, Thank you for a powerful moment in our lives last night. We are right here with you More comments: Quentin Ewing wrote, I like girls with attitude' The Australian native originally trained in classical music before moving into electronica. More recently, the DJ slammed NSW Premier Mike Baird over Sydney's lock-out laws, calling Sydney an international 'laughing stock'. The musician posted the scathing review to social media in February. 'Dear Mike Baird,' it began. 'You obviously don't listen to anyone younger than you, so perhaps you'll listen to someone who travels abroad more than you. 'Our beloved Sydney's reputation has taken a f***ing battering and words can't explain how embarrassed I am that my home, the most beautiful and once most vibrant city in the world has become a laughing stock internationally.' Pleading for change: The DJ slammed NSW Premier Mike Baird over Sydney's lock-out laws, calling Sydney an international 'laughing stock' In awe: She has been nominated for two Aria Awards and her latest album Run and song I Want U has reached gold sales Alison went on to detail people's concerns about visiting the city after its 'Nanny State' laws were introduced. 'Those who have recently are vowing not to return. Yet Melbourne (sans lockout) moves ahead safely and prosperously,' the DJ wrote. 'I miss the feeling of being able to discover music whilst exploring Sydney. That's what made me fall in love with what I do. Sydney is now a ghost town. 'Go on... keep arrogantly ignoring us. It seems to have worked well for your predecessors. This is not footloose', her letter ended. He recently revealed he contracted HIV after engaging in unprotected sex just twice. But on Friday, actor Charlie Sheen took his mind off things as he enjoyed a night out in London. The 50-year-old actor was seen leaving Novikov restaurant in London's Mayfair with a group of friends before heading to his hotel. Scroll down for video Painting the town red: On Friday Charlie Sheen took his mind off things as he enjoyed a well-deserved night out in London The Wall Street star looked in good spirits as he enjoyed a cigarette with his friends and a photographer outside the upscale eatery in Green Park. And it looked as though he treated his lady pals to a red rose, as they both emerged clutching flowers. The American actor looked casual in a grey unbuttoned shirt and jeans, carrying a pair of sunglasses despite the dreary English summer. Night out with pals: The 50-year-old actor was seen leaving Novikov bar in London's Mayfair with a group of friends before heading to his hotel Taxi! The Wall Street star looked in good spirits as he enjoyed a drink with his friends and outside the upscale bar in Green Park Chatting with fans, Charlie seemed happy and relaxed before he got into a cab which took him back to his hotel. The Anger Management star, who revealed his HIV diagnosis to the world in November, is in London for a live interview with journalist Piers Morgan in front of an audience. The one-off show will take place on Sunday 19th June at London's prestigious Drury Lane Theatre and will give a rare glimpse into his world with on-screen and backstage tales of the world of showbusiness. Gentleman: It looked as though he treated his lady pals to a red rose, as they both emerged clutching flowers The actor turned producer will also engage in a question and answer session with the audience. Speaking about the show, which is advertising tickets online, Charlie said: 'I'm excited to be coming to London, appearing at this fantastic venue and seeing my British fans in person. It's going to be a great night!' In a recent interview with The Sun, Charlie revealed it only took one night for him to contract HIV. Meeting fans: Charlie enjoyed a cigarette with the photographer outside upscale bar Novikov 'I was always the guy that promoted it and said youve got to use condoms, this and that,' he said, adding 'I was too drunk or too bored one night and here we are.' 'People say, "What does it feel like to be the face of HIV?." Im like, "Euugh, unintentional." But if thats the reality of it, then so be it.' Seeing the positive in his situation, he added: 'I have mad gratitude, 100 per cent. Thank you. My life is more fluid, its more courageous, its more heroic.' They are enjoying a whirlwind European getaway. And having arrived in Santorini yesterday, Anna Heinrich, 29, and Time Robards, 33, made the most of their time on the Greek isle by hitting a rocky beach on Saturday. In a happy snap uploaded to Anna's Instagram page, the svelte blonde is seen posing in a cherry red bikini with one arm wrapped around the muscular shoulder of her shirtless beau. Scroll down for video Splash splash! Anna Heinrich and Tim Robards made the most of their time in Santorini by hitting a rocky beach on Saturday Beaming up at the camera, Anna wrote in the caption: 'SPLASH SPLASH #Santorini @mrtimrobards'. Meanwhile, Tim appears to have spent much of his stay in Santorini keeping up with his strict workout regimen. In one photo shared to his Instagram page on Friday, the former Bachelor star is seen running up a whitewashed outdoor staircase overlooking the water. 'Who needs a donkey on Santorini when you have these hoofs??' Meanwhile, 33-year-old Tim appears to have spent much of his stay in Santorini keeping up with his strict workout regimen Fitness babe! Anna, 29, also put some time aside to take part in a quick run 'Who needs a donkey on Santorini when you have these hoofs?? #magical #hangingforsunset' he quipped in the caption. He also shared a photo of himself working out on the porch of his hotel, using a pair of resistance bands and rings that were attached to an overhanging beam. 'Training on holiday? Hell yeah! It never takes my energy, it gives me energy! Especially when the view is this good...' he wrote in the caption. 'This is actually where my passion with the rings started. Being able to pack my gym in my luggage and find awesome places to hang them is a great way to keep inspired and keep up some training abroad', he went on. No rest for the wicked! He recently shared a photo of himself working out on the porch of his hotel, using a pair of resistance bands and rings that were attached to an overhanging beam Holiday heaven! Anna Heinrich, 29, who marked her arrival in Santorini on Friday with yet another sizzling Instagram holiday snap Anna, who has been travelling through Europe with her hunky beau Tim, has been sharing a slew of envy-inducing holiday snaps. The lovebirds have have been travelling in style throughout their holiday, with the pair enjoying a five-star stay at the Villa Boheme hotel last week. 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. Gee, life's tough! A day earlier, she shared a photo of herself luxuriating by a rooftop pool in Florence She has been enjoying the visual splendour of the Italian Riviera this week. And TV presenter Sami Lukis, 46, appeared to be in pure holiday bliss as she strolled through Portofino with a male companion on Friday. The blonde beauty showcased her decolletage in a breezy, plunge-neck maxi dress as she enjoyed the sunny weather with a suited mystery man. Breezy! Sami Lukis, 46, appeared to be in pure holiday bliss as she strolled through Portofino with a male companion on Friday. She completed her look with a pair of sunglasses, a silver chain necklace with a crucifix pendant and an elegant silver wrist watch. The Morning Show guest presenter was also spotted on Friday donning a different outfit as she endulged in a spot of shopping at a local Dior boutique. Sami appeared to be in good spirits as she sashayed in her aqua-coloured strapless maxi dress and sunhat, all-the-while swinging a Dior-branded shopping bag on one arm. Daring to bare! The blonde beauty showcased her decolletage in a breezy, plunge-neck maxi dress The mystery gentleman was again sighted by her side with a shopping bag on his arm. While it's not clear what exactly Sami purchased that day, she did provide her fans with a hint via Instagram when she took a selfie wearing a pair of Dior sunglasses earlier that day. 'Portofino just got a little more fabulous', she wrote as she posed wearing her new sunglasses inside the Dior boutique. She then used the hashtags '#newshades #sunglasses #love #portofino #purchase #shopping #dior #italy #loveitaly #traveller #wanderlust #holiday #lovetravel #samilukistravel' The media personality has not made any mention on social media of the dark-haired gentleman with whom she has been enjoying her stay in Italy. However, Sami has had several high-profile boyfriends in the past, including millionaire Anthony Bell and former housemate Peter Timbs. Tyler Hoechlin has something in common with Henry Cavill, Christopher Reeve and Tom Welling- and it's more than just good looks. The former Teen Wolf star, 28, was this week announced as the latest actor to play Superman and, like his dashing predecessors, certainly has big shoes to fill. Speaking to Daily Mail on Saturday during the Sydney Film Festival premiere of Everybody Wants Some, the American native was quizzed about whether he felt nervous about living up to Henry Cavill's recent portrayal of the iconic superhero in his new role on CW's Supergirl. Scroll down for video 'I never try to compare and contrast performances': Tyler Hoechlin has revealed that he won't try to live up to Henry Cavill's recent portrayal of Superman in his upcoming role on CW's Supergirl 'I never try to compare and contrast performances because it's such an iconic character already', he revealed. 'Superman is Superman so I'm just going to try to carry on the tradition of that and play that part'. Tyler also revealed that he was especially excited about playing the Man Of Steel's alter ego, Clark Kent, admitting: 'I think the fun is going to be finding where Clark Kent is in this world. I'm just excited to find out Clark's sense of humour'. Two roles in one! Tyler also revealed that he was especially excited about playing the Man Of Steel's alter ego, Clark Kent Tyler will play Superman in the upcoming series Supergirl and will star opposite lead actress Melissa Benoist. According to EW, fans won't have to wait long to see Tyler in action, as he's set to appear in the very first episode of the new season. On Friday, Tyler announced to his fans on Twitter that he would be playing Superman, Tweeting: 'Could not be more honored & humbled to be given the opportunity to play this incredible & beloved character. Cant wait to get to work!' Buff! Henry Cavill maintains a strict workout regimen in order to maintain his Superman-esque physique Tough act to follow? Henry Cavill notably took on the role of Superman in the 2016 flick Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Flash star Grant Gustin quickly Tweeted a congratulatory message to Tyler, while Arrow co-executive producer Beth Schwartz welcomed Tyler Hoechlin to the family in a friendly Tweet. Meanwhile, Tyler has been busy filming his scenes for Fifty Shades Darker, in which he will portray the character of Boyce Fox, a co-worker of Anastasia Steele. Speaking of his experiences filming the highly anticipated film, Tyler said: 'It was fun to be a part of [filming]. It's interesting going from something like Teen Wolf where we had to build a fan base and then go into something like that where there's already such an existing fan base'. She's an in-demand supermodel juggling her career with bringing up two children. But on Friday, Alessandra Ambrosio let her hair down as she escaped to Las Vegas for a girlie weekend. The Brazilian beauty, 35, showed off her amazing body in a daring low-cut asymmetrical black dress as she partied at the Intrigue nightclub in the Wynn Las Vegas. Scroll down for video Woah momma! Alessandra Ambrosio shows off her amazing figure in a sexy black dress as she arrives at the Intrigue nightclub in Las Vegas The mother-of-two showed off the figure that won her a Victoria's Secret contract in the unusual number, which featured a short hemline on the left and floor-length on the right. She completed her look with her brunette locks tied back in a bun and gave her 5ft 9in height a boost with a pair of black strappy sandals. The model was joined by a host of gal pals in Sin City, including fellow Brazilian models Fernanda Motta, Renata Maciel, Gabi Lopes and Michelli Buback. Leggy: The mother-of-two showed off the figure that won her a Victoria's Secret contract in the unusual number, which featured a short hemline on the left and floor-length on the right Taking the plunge: The Brazilian was enjoyed a weekend off parenting as she escaped to Sin City with her girlfriends There was one token boy allowed - Brazilian TV presenter Matheus Mazzafera. Las Vegas was a short trip from Los Angeles, where Alessandra has lived for years with her fiance Jamie Mazur and their two children Anja, six, and Noah, four. The Victoria's Secret model admitted in a recent interview she had actually lost her engagement ring from the businessman, who runs denim brand RE/Done. What a beauty: The Brazilian supermodel completed her look with her brunette locks tied back in a bun Here come the girls: Alessandra was joined by a large group of pals, including Brazilian models Fernanda Motta, Renata Maciel, Gabi Lopes and Michelli Buback She told Vogue in an interview last month: 'I actually lost my engagement ring a few years ago, so I do want to replace it. I don't know if he's going to make me replace it myself since I lost it.' Despite being engaged for eight years, Alessandra said she and Jamie aren't even close to setting a wedding date because they're both so busy with their respective careers. She told Extra! in December: 'When I do the wedding, it's gonna be very special, so I want to take time for that.' Party time! Alessandra and her friends swilled vodka and Red Bull as they hit the club He cemented his Hollywood status with action flicks such as Fight Club and Ocean's Eleven. However, Brad Pitt fuelled his adrenaline in another form as he took a full lap at the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit in Le Mans, France on Saturday. The 52-year-old actor was given the honorary starter role, which saw him wave 60 cars off the grid - but that wasn't before he toured the circuit and revved up the engine for a speedy ride himself. Scroll down for video Rev up your engines! Brad Pitt, 52, spoke to Austrian champ Alex Wurz after taking a full lap at the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit on Saturday in Le Mans, France Winner's mentality: Brad looked typically handsome as he sported his subtly spiked blonde hair Brad looked typically handsome as he sported his subtly spiked blonde hair and greeted Alex Wurz - Austria's two-time Le Mans winner. When he was wearing his shiny black helmet, the father-of-six easily blended into the crowd. Completing the look was all-white racing gear as he posed for a few pictures before making his way to the race-car. Putting on his red racing gloves and making the final few touches, he clambered in to the low-lying racing vehicle. Looking like he meant business, he sped around the track much to the delight of spectators. Getting prepped: Completing the look was an all-white racing gear which skimmed his fine-tuned physique Movie star duties: He took a few pictures in his sunnies and racing gear before hopping in to the race-car Avoiding any accidents: Brad ensured his shiny black helmet was securely fastened Listen carefully: Brad received some last minute advice before climbing behind the wheel In good spirits: Brad seemed to be taking the occasion in his stride It was obvious that Brad was looking forward to his opportunity, as earlier he was spotted rushing to the venue - however he did manage to stop and sign a few autographs. He oozed sex appeal in a suede black jacket, quirky sunnies and jeans as he engaged in fan duties ahead of his lap. His jovial demeanour and trendy style made him look much younger than his 52 years. The actor was joined trackside by his Snatch co-star Jason Statham, who looked every inch the action man he is on screen, as well as Jackie Chan. Brad's prestigious honour comes after the Oklahoma-native was linked to a film project about the Ford versus Ferrari battles at Le Mans in the 1960s. Focused: However, despite his casual demeanour he look fully focused on what he had to do Always a head-turner: The head-gear gave way to his dazzling blue eyes Prestigious: Brad has been given the honourary starter role at the event, which will see him wave 60 cars off the grid in abid to beat last years winners- Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Formula One driver Nico Hulkenberg Michael Mann is known to be working on a script titled Go Like Hell based on a book by US author and journalist Brock Yates about Enzo Ferrari. Le Mans 24 Hours has been going strong since 1923 with Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Formula One driver Nico Hulkenberg emerging triumphant just last year. Meanwhile, Brad's stunning wife Angelina Jolie was spotted with two of her sons, seven-year-old Knox and 14-year-old Maddox, at New York City's JFK airport on Friday morning. Star-studded: Jason Statham and Jackie Chan joined Brad trackside Famous faces: Jason sported his trademark stubble and looked every inch the action man he is on screen What did you say? The Expendables star screwed up his face while talking to the Rush Hour actor Leading man: Brad oozed sex appeal in a suede black jacket, quirky sunnies and jeans as he engaged in fan duties before the adrenaline based event While their children have inherited their good-looking genes, the By The Sea director revealed in an interview with the BBC that none of them want to follow in their footsteps. 'None of my kids want to be actors,' said the LA native. 'They are actually very interested in being musicians. I think they like the process of film from the outside. Mad is interested in editing. Pax loves music and deejaying.' Mummy duties: Meanwhile, Brad's wife Angelina Jolie was spotted with two of her sons, Knox, 7, and Maddox, 14, at New York City's JFK airport on Friday after admitting none of her children wanted to follow in their acting footsteps They have been inseparable since meeting at a party in late 2015. And Lindsay Lohan and her reported fiancee Egor Tarabasov looked more in love than ever, as they visited a Hindu community in the Savanna district of Mauritius. The 29-year-old American actress beamed as she spent the day with 22-year-old Russian heir Egor. Scroll down for video Happy couple: Lindsay Lohan and her reported fiancee Egor Tarabasov looked more in love than ever, as they visited a Hindu community in the Savanna district of Mauritius The couple were spending the day at a local Indian temple in Ganga Talao - a crater lake situated in a secluded mountain area in the district of Savanna, deep in the heart of Mauritius. The duo looked stylish as the laughed and chatted on their way to the pretty temple, with Egor presenting Lindsay with a tropical flower. Looking casual in a loose-fitting tangerine layered sundress and blue wedges, the Parent Trap star wore a khaki jacket around her shoulder to shield herself from the wet weather as the tropical island is currently transitioning from monsoon to winter season. In love: The 29-year-old American actress beamed as she spent the day with 22-year-old Russian heir Egor Tarabasov who presented her with a tropical flower Exploring the island: The couple were spending the day at a local Indian temple in Ganga Talao Power couple: The duo looked stylish as the laughed and chatted on their way to the pretty temple Accessorising with an intricate gold necklace and sunglasses, Lindsay integrated with the local culture, wearing a pretty red Tilaka- a religious mark, painted onto her forehead. Looking natural with minimum make-up, Lindsay left her trademark red hair loose. Boyfriend Egor, who is an avid traveller, looked smart coordinating his cobalt blue suede loafers with his t-shirt and completing his chic outfit with smart white shorts. Opposite seasons: Looking casual in a loose-fitting tangerine layered sundress and blue wedges, the Parent Trap star wore a khaki jacket around her shoulder Keeping warm: The tropical island is currently transitioning from monsoon to winter season Like Lindsay he wore the religious mark on his forehead, accessorising with a necklace and sunglasses. Appearing besotted with his girlfriend of eight months- who he is rumoured to be engaged to after she was spotted sporting a huge emerald engagement ring in April, the businessman kissed and hugged Lindsay attentively. The couple spent the day with children from the local Hindu community - Lindsay with the girls and Egor with the boys. Meeting the locals: Lindsay integrated with the local culture, wearing a pretty red Tilaka- a religious mark, painted onto her forehead Giving back to the community: Boyfriend Egor, who is an avid traveller, looked smart coordinating his cobalt blue suede loafers with his t-shirt and completing his chic outfit with smart white shorts spent the day with the boys while Lindsay looked after the girls Temple visit: The religious landmark sits on stilts to avoid floods and is the heart of the Hindu community nestled in the mountainous region of Mauritious Lindsay previously revealed on social media that she is working on a documentary to help stop human trafficking in Indian and Pakistan. Taking to Instagram she shared a picture as she talked to a young boy with the caption: 'Help the children suffering in India & Pakistan - everywhere actually #endhumantraffickingproject - I will have a new documentary coming soon! Just don't rush me! Every second and all children count!' In another snap she posed seductively for the camera with a large bottle of water, writing: 'Trying to make water sexy so that we can start sharing it with others more rather than take advantage of it. #goalNo8 ?bad job maybe? Lol- #itriedmybest.' Her nurturing side: Lindsay previously revealed on social media that she is working on a documentary to help stop human trafficking in Indian and Pakistan The parent trap handshake: The local kids were thrilled to be spending time with the actress Lindsay and Egor were reportedly introduced through a mutal friend in late 2015. In April Lindsay was seen flashing an impressive emerald engagement ring on her wedding finger at a Duran Duran concert, with TMZ reporting he had asked for her hand in marriage. However her rep rubbished the claims, responding: 'The story is untrue and holds no merit'. Lindsay, who reportedly became engaged to Egor in April, is making a documentary to help stop child trafficking in India and Pakistan Despite her brutal battle with cancer, former Home And Away actress Tessa James claims the sickness has had a positive impact on her life. Last year, the 25-year-old - who is married to NRL player Nate Myles - announced that she was in remission from Hodgkin's lymphoma, having battled the disease since 2014. And during a new interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the Australian star has revealed that she is now taking a more relaxed approach when it comes to making decisions, especially when it comes to work. Scroll down for video 'I don't need added stress': Former Home And Away actress Tessa James has revealed that she is now taking a more relaxed approach when it comes to making decisions I was just in such a panic and I think by getting sick Im just so much more content, more patient, and more aware of the world in general, she confessed. My main goal now is to be happy. I can still work hard and achieve things but I dont need to be stressed out about it and in a rush. I believe being consistently stressed creates bad health and I dont need to put that on myself. Tessa - who left Channel 7s 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. Recovery road: Last year, the 25-year-old - who is married to NRL player Nate Myles - announced that she was in remission from Hodgkin's lymphoma Brave: The Australian star was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma in 2014 The Melbourne native currently splits her time between LA and Sydney, where her partner Nate plays for the Manly Sea Eagles. She added: I love it so much. My world just opened up moving here. Its actually been nice too because we lived here before and this is where I met Nate. I lived in Sydney for five years before so to get out of it and then to come back in and to know what I did and didnt want to get involved in has been awesome and I feel really happy. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Tessa was pictured enjoying life as she dazzled crowds on the first day of the Royal Ascot. Despite the chilly British climes, the blonde stunner exuded heaps of glamour in a chic white dress as she posed for pictures outside the Ascot racecourse in Berkshire. 'I feel really happy': The Melbourne native currently splits her time between LA and Sydney, where her partner Nate plays for the Manly Sea Eagles 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 Australian beauty swept recently dyed short locks to one side, while highlighting her striking facial features with subtle tones of flawlessly applied makeup. 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. Keeping it classy: On Tuesday, the actress was pictured enjoying life as she dazzled crowds on the first day of the Royal Ascot Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone has added another notch to his restaurant empire with a new meat-focused eatery opening in Hollywood. The recurring MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules guest judge has teamed up with brothers Luke Stone and Chad Colby on the venture. The 40-year-old said Luke, who leaves behind a florist in their native Melbourne, was perfectly suited to the new restaurant. Scroll down for video Growing portfolio: Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone has added another notch to his restaurant empire with a new meat-focused eatery opening in Hollywood 'His first job was in a butcher's job once upon a time,' he told the Herald Sun. 'We decided to do this together, (but) it did make me very unpopular with mum, taking her grand kids away from her. But it will be all good.' The upscale dining spot is named Gwen, after their maternal grandmother who fed them hand-cut lamb chops from the family livestock during their rural childhood. The meat focus is a contrast to the more vegetable-leaning Maude in Beverley Hills, named after Stone's paternal grandmother, who taught him to cook. Local work: Stone is a recurring guest judge on MasterChef In demand: He also used to appear on My Kitchen Rules (pictured with MRK judges) Gwen will be housed in a 1920s building on Sunset Boulevard and will serve a seasonal menu focused on making the best use of the whole animal to a vaulted 80-seat dining room. 'The menu is centric food, but it will be a multi cross degustation menu, which will be a lot of fun,' Stone said. Opening next month, it will also include a European-style butcher shop in its entryway, selling prime and rare-breed cuts which Stone said was something LA was missing. Top location: Gwen will be housed in a 1920s building on Sunset Boulevard and will serve a seasonal menu focused on making the best use of the whole animal to a vaulted 80-seat dining room 'We have beautiful produce, but we struggle a little to find excellent meat,' he told the Wall Street Journal. He said the expansive space which was formerly home to two other restaurants, would have a small bar offering 'cozy little places to sit and have a cocktail' or a bite to eat. The restaurant is now hiring chefs, with mandatory Michelin experience, along with butchers and bar and dining staff. Top export: Stone is Australia's richest and arguably most successful chef with a net worth north of $12 million (pictured with wife Lindsay Price) Stone is Australia's richest and arguably most successful chef with a net worth north of $12 million. In addition to his two LA eateries, he recently teamed up with Princess Cruises' superliner Sun Princess which will feature his new acclaimed restaurant, Share. It would be his first restaurant at sea, although the TV personality's Crafted by Curtis items were introduced on cruiser Golden Princess last year. Floating restaurant: Stone recently teamed up with Princess Cruises' superliner Sun Princess which will feature his new acclaimed restaurant, Share. Pictured here at a celebration of the partnership last August Gwen's opening comes hot on the heels of news that Stone will host a U.S. version of MKR alongside Iron Chef America's Cat Cora, with eight episodes ordered by Fox. The format will be exactly the same as the Australian original but instead of everyday people with aspirations to be professional chefs, all the contestants will be celebrities. Despite the increasingly large number of pies Stone has his fingers in, he plans to return to Melbourne in September for a break. She's known for her sexy outfits and jetsetting lifestyle. And on Friday Paris Hilton didn't disappoint as she attended the Dsquared2 after show party during Milan Men's Fashion week. The 35-year-old hotel heiress turned heads in Italy's fashion capital, donning a risque black lace dress. Scroll down for video Racy ensemble: Paris Hilton didn't disappoint when she attended the Dsquared2 after show party during Milan Men's Fashion week The off-the-shoulder piece featured sheer lace panels across her waist and hips, reaching all the way down her thighs revealing a rather apparent lack of underwear. Adding an edge to her ensemble, she wore white fingerless gloves and suede ankle boots. Showing off her french manicure, the perfectly preened American reality star held a quilted patent clutch bag by Dsquared2. Sizzling: The 35-year-old hotel heiress turned heads in Italy's fashion capital, donning a risque black lace dress on Friday Risque: The off-the-shoulder piece featured sheer lace panels across her waist and hips, reaching all the way down her thighs revealing a rather apparent lack of underwear The blonde beauty wore her golden locks blow-dried in loose waves, and went for statement lashes to accentuate her blue doe-eyes. Posing for pictures outside the star-studded party she beamed happily, having checked out the designer's Spring/ Summer 2017 collection. Later she posed alongside twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten who are the fashion designers, founders and owners of DSQUARED2, as they partied at the glamorous Ceresio 7 bar. Dangerous style! Adding an edge to her ensemble, she wore white fingerless gloves and suede ankle boots Paris recently attended the baby shower for her pregnant sister Nicky, 32, who is expecting her first child with financier husband James Rothschild this summer. The sisters' younger brother Conrad, 22, hasn't fared so well having just been sentenced to two months in prison after he admitted to using drugs during his probation. The famous family is 'disappointed' but not surprised, a source close to Conrad's parents Kathy and Rick Hilton told People. 'Of course they're disappointed, but the news wasn't a surprise for anyone,' the source said, adding: 'Conrad has had a drug problem for years, since he was a teen, and it's never gotten better.' Fashionable friends: Later she posed alongside twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten who are the fashion designers, founders and owners of DSQUARED2, as they partied at the glamorous Ceresio 7 bar They have enjoyed just six months on the air. But fraught 2DAY FM breakfast duo Rove McManus and Sam Frost may soon be waving goodbye to their early morning gig, according to the Daily Telegraph. The publication claims industry insiders have said that the duo may be bumped from breakfast to the drive slot when Hamish and Andy's contract expires. Will they be axed? 2DAY FM breakfast duo Rove McManus and Sam Frost may soon be waving goodbye to their early morning gig Meanwhile, executives are apparently eyeing off comedian Em Rusciano and The Bachelor host Osher Gunsberg to replace Rove and Sam. Em is an accomplished radio presenter, having hosted Perths 92.9 breakfast radio show for four years before taking the reigns at Southern Cross Austereo to co-host Mamamia Today in 2012 with fellow comedian Dave Thornton. Meanwhile, Osher has worked in radio since the late 1990s, having most recently signed with Southern Cross Austereo in 2015, where he hosted HIT 105's breakfast show alongside Abby Coleman and Stav Davidson. Taking over the show? Meanwhile, executives are apparently eyeing off comedian Em Rusciano and The Bachelor host Osher Gunsberg to replace Rove and Sam According to the most recent figures, Rove and Sam have collected a small 3.3 per cent audience share, while KIIS FM's Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson continue their reign with 9.9 per cent. NOVA FM duo Fitzy and Wippa sit in the middle with 7.4 per cent. The rumoured demise of the Rove and Sam show was predicted by Kyle Sandilands in January this year, telling his listeners on air that: 'Rove will stay for at least a year. They will blame that poor girl [Sam] for the ratings so they will replace her'. The king and queen of radio: According to the most recent figures, Rove and Sam have collected a small 3.3 per cent audience share, while KIIS FM's Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson continue their reign with 9.9 per cent 'She doesnt have the radio skills,' he said of former Bachelorette star Sam, adding, 'she is a sweetheart and a lovely thing but they will keep blaming people until they realise it [low ratings] keeps happening.' In a statement released to Daily Mail Australia a spokesperson said on Sunday: 'We're firmly committed to Rove & Sam as our 2Day FM 104.1 Sydney breakfast hosts - there are no and will be no changes to this line up.' 'She doesnt have the radio skills': The rumoured demise of the Rove and Sam show was predicted by Kyle Sandilands in January this year, with Kyle telling his listeners that Sam (pictured) wasn't up for the job Britney Spears showed her cheeky side as she returned to the stage at Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas on Friday. The 34-year-old flashed some skin in a series of revealing costumes as she performed her wildly popular Piece of Me show. Britney's performance came as her ex-husband Kevin Federline spoke out to say he found marriage to the star 'overwhelming'. Back at it! Britney Spears flashed her enviable figure in tiny, new costumes as she returned to her wildly popular Las Vegas residency on Friday Getting cheeky! A shimmery, pink backless number showed off Britney's pert derriere On Friday Britney wore a number of tiny, revealing costumes that highlighted her sculpted figure as she performed her hit songs for the Las Vegas crowd. She wore a long-sleeved, sheer, white leotard with a choker-style collar and cut-outs throughout, to highlight her taut stomach and ample assets. She coupled the daring piece with black, fishnet stockings as well as a pair of thigh-high, black leather boots. Commanding the audience: The mother-of-two sizzled in a sheer, white leotard with cut-outs as she performed at the Planet Hollywood Resort Sultry: The star put on a steamy display as she got up close and personal with a mystery male onstage Risque: The star showed off her toned abs in red lingerie, coupled with black fishnet stocks Britney wore her newly trimmed, blonde tresses pulled back into a playful ponytail with this number, and showed off a smoky eye. A shimmery, sequined, backless leotard showed off the star's pert derriere as she could be seen surrounded onstage by hunky backup dancers in neon costumes. Britney also donned bright red lingerie with a sheer, red lace sleeve on her left arm, and another pair of black, fishnet stockings. Following her lead: For the daring performance, Britney's backup dancers sported coordinating black lingerie Going hell for leather! The pop star accessorized her revealing look with a pair of thigh-high, black leather boots, also sporting black and red choker necklaces For this daring look Britney wore her long, blonde locks down, and in dramatic curls, accessorizing with black and red choker necklaces. Her back-up dancers mimicked her sultry look, also sporting black lingerie as they danced beside her for the number. Another one of the costumes in Britney's expansive collection featured long, lacy emerald green sleeves, along with cut-outs along her collar bone and stomach. Ringleader: The Circus hitmaker switched through a vast array of sexy, shimmery ensembles The cut-out areas, which showed off Britney's toned figure, were covered in large, shiny gems, and she coupled the eye-catching outfit with coordinating, thigh-high green boots. Britney returned to her popular Las Vegas show after announcing last week that she had added even more dates. The star added 25 more dates - all of which went on sale on Friday as well - which she announced in an Instagram post. She shared it just before revealing her new hair cut, which she captioned with: 'Cut my hair again! Now off to work!' Gorgeous in green : The blonde beauty coupled her sheer, green ensemble with a pair of thigh-high, green boots Looking fit: Another look featured large gems and showed off Britney's toned stomach Ready for battle: Britney sported a sexy camouflage look for another number, as her backup dancers looked to be wearing uniforms Britney already had shows running through September, adding new dates in October, January, November, and February. While Britney is hard at work, her former backing dancer turned lover turned ex, Kevin, was talking about their marriage. The 38-year-old star - who has Jayden James, nine, and Sean Preston, 10, with the hitmaker - admits the whole relationship was completely 'different' than he imagined it would be. He told VLAD TV: 'That was a whole different lifestyle than I ever imagined. I mean, just getting around from place to place and having 20 people follow you all day long - your whole life kind of being told through somebody else's eyes.' Looking fit! Britney's toned figure was on display throughout the high-energy show in her tiny costumes Gimme More: Britney took to Instagram to announce that tickets for her added dates went on sale on Friday as well And Kevin continued:'Everybody wants to put their own spin on it. We like, were caught right in the midst of that whole thing. It was so crazy. I look back at it and it's like, at times it was so overwhelming. 'That time of my life, there's so many different, like, pieces missing because of everything that was going on. 'That was at the, like, height of everything and you're thrown into this thing and you're thrown into that thing and the in-between stuff. I know it happened. I know why it happened. That's pretty much all that I'm going to say.' 'Now off to work!' Just ahead of Friday's show Britney debuted a shorter, new 'do Jessica Alba arrived back in Los Angeles on Friday after a hectic few days in New York City. The actress and businesswoman was clearly happy to be home, flashing a huge smile as she walked through the arrivals area with her luggage. Jessica, 35, no doubt couldn't wait to be reunited with her daughters Honor and Haven and husband Cash Warren ahead of the Father's Day weekend. Happy to be home: Jessica Alba was all smiles after landing back in Los Angeles on Friday following a business trip to New York The Fantastic Four star had dressed for comfort for her cross-country flight. She wore a baggy dark gray t-shirt with a pair of black cotton pants rolled up at the bottom and some platform leather sandals. She added a long black woolen cardigan that was left unbuttoned and her dark blonde hair was left loose. Beaming: The actress and Honest Company CEO couldn't stop smiling as she made her way through the arrivals area at Los Angeles International Airport Casual and stylish: The 35-year-old had dressed for comfort for her flight, pairing a baggy dark gray t-shirt with a pair of black cotton pants rolled up at the bottom and some platform leather sandals Going home: The busy mom-of-two was no doubt looking forward to being reunited with husband Cash Warren and their daughters Honor, eight, and Haven, four It's been a busy time both at work and in her personal life recently. On June 7, she and Cash celebrated their eldest child Honor's eighth birthday. The Sin City star then traveled to the Big Apple to promote her Honest Company's new hair care range. Natural beauty: The Sin City star added a long black cardigan to her ensemble and left her dark blonde hair loose Traveled light: Jessica wheeled her hardtop small LOMS suitcase with her blue leather tote on top as she made her way out to her waiting vehicle Success story: She has just made the Forbes list of America's Richest Self-made Women and is estimated to be personally worth $340 million Jessica is also gearing up to promote her new dramatic comedy film Dear Eleanor, that's slated for a July 5 release. And then she'll be going on a publicity tour for the action thriller Mechanic: Resurrection in which she stars with Jason Statham and Tommy Lee Jones. The mother-of-two co-founded the Honest Company, which sells non-toxic household products, in 2012, and last August it was valued at $1.7 billion. Jessica, who is said to be personally worth $340 million, has just made the Forbes list of America's Richest Self-Made Women. Sharon Osbourne has made it clear she is reconsidering her future following her husband Ozzy's affair with a hairdresser. But according to the couple's daughter Kelly, her parents are still very much together - at least for now. 'My mom and dad are together right now,' she told The Insider, explaining further than The Talk co-host Sharon was in London supporting Ozzy on his band Black Sabbath's tour. 'My mum and dad are together now!' Kelly Osbourne revealed on Friday night that her mum Sharon is supporting Ozzy as she attended the Babes For Boobs Bachelor Auction in Los Angeles And while Kelly might be angry that her father cheated on her mother, that doesn't mean she is at odds with the veteran rocker, 67. 'I will never not be good with my dad,' she added. 'That does not mean that I think what he did wasn't f***ing stupid, but that's between him and I. 'I'm a daddy's girl. I love my dad.' Sharon split from her husband after 34 years of marriage last month amid claims he had been unfaithful with hair stylist Michelle Pugh. But though she is still 'disgusted' by the rocker, they are said to be slowly taking steps to repair their relationship. Making a point: While Kelly might be angry that her father cheated on her mother, that doesn't mean she is at odds with the veteran rocker, 67 A source told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column recently: 'They're not about to book a trip to the Maldives together but they talk every day. She's still disgusted by him.' Sharon - who moved out of the couple's home after the split - has been receiving a lot of support. The source added: 'Sarah [Gilbert, her co-host on The Talk] has really been there for Sharon, and the kids are firmly on Team Sharon, not Team Ozzy.' It was recently claimed Ozzy has been attending marriage counselling with Sharon and will do whatever it takes to win her back. A source said: 'He wants his family back.' Working together: The Talk co-host Sharon is in London supporting Ozzy on his band Black Sabbath's tour Ozzy has reportedly been grovelling to Sharon in a bid to regain her trust and affection following claims he'd been unfaithful to her. The source added: 'The Osbournes have been through thick and thin together and have stayed together through it all. This is putting them all through a really horrible time.' Sharon recently thanked her friends and family for supporting her through such a troublesome few weeks. Speaking earlier this month, the TV star said: 'I honestly cannot thank people enough for their backing me. Fling: Ozzy was giving financial support to his alleged mistress, hair stylist Michelle Pugh, it has been claimed 'For saying they love me. For everybody here at my home, supporting me, sending me messages of love. I honestly am empowered and I have found this inner strength and I'm like, "Right. OK. What's next?"' It has been reported that in addition to sleeping with Michelle for a prolonged period of time, Ozzy was also offering her financial support. She keeps us guessing with her fashion moves, and Ashley James switched up her look again to go all biker chick for a day out. The former Made In Chelsea beauty looked stunning as she hid her curves away under her casual jacket and black jeans in Hoxton, East London on Friday. It comes as Ashley, 29 , posted a throwback shot which shows her looking sizzling in a bikini in Ibiza. Scroll down for video Going hell for leather: Ashley James, 29, went for a rock chick look in a black leather jacket and box braids on Friday in London Ashley turned heads for all the right reasons looking sensational in her day wear on Friday. She looked like the ultimate rock chick in her dark SilkFred biker jacket with zip detail on the collar. Mindful of the unpredictable weather, the reality TV star turned DJ kept her toned legs underwraps in skinny jeans and flat black boots. Missing the sun: Ashley, 29 , posted a throwback shot looking sizzling in a bikini in Ibiza alongside the caption: 'Happy place. #Ibiza' It comes as she teased her fans with a flashback shot of her soaking up the sun in a bikini in Ibiza earlier his week. She showed off her toned tum while wearing her two piece covered with intricate floral motifs. The busty star flaunted ample curves in the snap, with Ashley clearly missing the sunshine while posting the throwback from chilly London. Choker: Ashley looked on trend wearing a thin black choker as she headed out in East London Hair game: The style conscious star showed off her street style by rocking two boxer braids in her blonde hair Meanwhile back in Blighty on Friday, Ashley showed off her street style by rocking two boxer braids in her blonde hair. The model looked flash after revealing the back of her jacket - a diamond encrusted elephant surrounded by yellow and gold ethnic prints certainly gave her an edge as she stepped out. The star had made an appearance on a weekly Hoxton Radio Show in East London. She had her hair and make-up spruced up at home by Secret Spa. She opted for a simple and chic make-over wearing lashings of mascara, and a contrasting nude lip. The model looked flash after revealing the back of her jacket - a diamond encrusted elephant surrounded by yellow and gold ethnic prints certainly gave her an edge as she stepped out It's been a busy week for Ashley, who attended Day 3 of Royal Ascot races, Ladies Day, looking stunning in a red peplum outfit the day before. The statuesque beauty exuded glam in her fitted ensemble as she enjoyed the day with reality TV pals including Megan McKenna and Jess Wright. The beauties enjoyed champagne and had plenty of giggles as they watched the races from a box on the day. Busy lady: The star had made an appearance on a weekly Hoxton Radio Show in East London Halle Berry and her daughter Nahla, eight, enjoyed some bonding time on Friday as they went shopping together in LA. The Hollywood star held hands with the youngster, whose father is Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, as they strolled around The Grove shopping center. Mom and daughter each wore pretty summer frocks for their outing. Girl time: Halle Berry and daughter Nahla Aubry, eight, wore pretty summer dresses as they enjoyed a shopping trip together in Los Angeles on Friday Halle, 49, wore a baggy cotton peasant-style dress that fell to just below her knees and had long sleeves tied up at the elbow. She wore a pair of white flip flops that matched her white pedicure and manicure and carried a large taupe leather bag over one shoulder. The big screen beauty had her ombre locks tied up into a simple ponytail and wore a pair fo oversized sunglasses. Matchign outfits: The Oscar-winning actress held on tight to her daughter's hand as they strolled around The Grove shopping center in colorful frocks and flip flops Ready to shop: Halle, who's 49, wore her ombre hair in a simple ponytail and carried a large taupe bag over one shoulder Her little girl had on a white short-sleeved dress with colorful pastel patterns on it. She, too, wore flip flops and hers were decorated with purple bows. It was clearly girl time as Halle's younger child, son Mateo from her marriage to French actor Olivier Martinez wasn't with them. Trendy look: The Hollywood star shared a photo on her Instagram last weekend showing off her new undercut with a lotus flower design The Extant star has just returned to Los Angeles from London where she had been busy filming her new movie, The Golden Circle. The Kingsman sequel also stars Taron Egerton, Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore and Mark Strong. Now she's back stateside, Halle decided to have a little fun with her look and last weekend sported a new undercut at the nape of her neck. In a photo she posted to her Instagram, the actress posed with her hair pulled up into a bun revealing a shaved portion of hair with the shape of a lotus flower etched into it. Her baby daddy: Nahla is Halle's daughter with former love Canadian model Gabrial Aubry. They're pictured in 2012. She also has a son Mateo whom she shares with estranged husband, French actor Olivier Martinez James Middleton and Donna Air are back together after a four-month separation and Donna is now hoping an engagement could be on the cards, I can reveal. The couple, who split up in February, quietly got back together earlier this month, I am delighted to report. The Duchess of Cambridges younger brother, who at 29 is seven years younger than glamorous actress Donna, has recently returned to the UK after launching his marshmallow business Boomf in Hong Kong. Scroll down for video The couple, who split up in February, quietly got back together earlier this month, I am delighted to report The Duchess of Cambridges younger brother, who at 29 is seven years younger than glamorous actress Donna, has recently returned to the UK after launching his marshmallow business Boomf in Hong Kong And when he got back, Donna and her 12-year-old daughter Freya from a previous relationship, were spotted dining with him in Mayfair. Theres still a lot of love between them and they have been seeing each other again for the past few days, says a mutual friend. Theyve decided that what they have is the real deal. While James, 29, has told friends he is thrilled to be back with Donna, the reconciliation comes with a caveat. Donna is very aware that shes older than James, explains the source. She wants to get married and have another child and shes been very clear with James about this. She needs to know James is in it for the long term, and he is. An engagement could be on the cards. Its just a case of when. Donna, who is one of the contestants on this years Celebrity MasterChef which starts on Wednesday, had a brief fling with events company boss Robin Scott-Lawson, 38, just weeks after James left for Hong Kong, but her mind is now made up that James is the one. With Kates younger sister Pippa, 32, in a serious relationship with millionaire hedge fund manager James Matthews, 40, its a race over which Middleton sibling will make it up the aisle first. While matriarch Carole is said to be thrilled with Pippas suitor, shes been notably cooler towards Donna. Says a source close to James: Donnas only been to the family home a couple of times. Carole admires Donna for being a hard worker and a grafter, but James is her only son and shes incredibly protective of him. She's a music legend in her own right, first rising to fame in the Sixties as part of The Supremes. And over 40 years later Diana Ross looks as lovely as ever, showing off her fashion credentials on Friday during a grocery run. The 72-year-old looked youthful as she was spotted making her way back to her car with a cart full of a few reusable shopping bags. Laid-back: Diana Ross looked younger than her 72 years as she was spotted leaving Bristol Farms in Beverly Hills on Friday Diana wore a long, flowing, off-the-shoulder black blouse which revealed the strap of a coordinating, black bra. The loose-fitting top featured a low plunging front, which showcased the songstress's ample assets. The mother-of-five coupled the stylish blouse with a pair of loose-fitting, black trousers that hit at just above her ankles. Flashing some skin: The music legend sported a loose-fitting, off-the-shoulder, black top, which she coupled with a coordinating pair of black trousers She finished off the laid-back look with a pair of silver flip flops, and hid her eyes behind a pair of over-sized sunglasses. Diana wore her long, raven tresses in beautiful, voluminous curls, and looked to be going make-up free for the trip, showing off her natural beauty. She was spotted solo as she made her way back to her car following a shopping trip at high end grocery store Bristol Farms. Stocking up! A few days earlier Diana's son Evan - and his wife Ashlee Simpson - were spotted out on their own shopping trip, at Toys R Us in Calabasas It seemed to have been a successful yet small errand as her cart contained a few resuable grocery bags. The trip comes a few days after Diana's son Evan - and his wife Ashlee Simpson - were spotted on their own shopping errand, at Toys R Us. The doting couple were likely buying presents for their daughter Jagger Snow, as her first birthday is coming up in July. Time to celebrate: The couple were likely picking up presents for daughter Jagger Snow, who will be celebrating her first birthday in July Her angels: Ashlee and Evan shared the news of Diana's granddaughter four months after tying the knot at her estate in Connecticut. The former also has seven-year-old son Bronx from her previous marriage to Pete Wentz Jagger was born on July 30, 2015 and is the first child for Evan but the second for Ashlee, who already has seven-year-old son Bronx with ex-husband Pete Wentz, 37. Ashlee and Evan began dating in June 2013, and became engaged in January 2014. Their nasty divorce just became public amid claims he 'threatened' her and she 'attacked' him. So it must have been incredibly awkward as The Real Housewives Of New York star Jules Wainstein and her estranged husband Michael met up with their two young children on Saturday. Jules, 35, looked uncomfortable as she was spotted greeting her children on the street in New York City. The reality star otherwise kept her distance from her husband of eight years. Strained: Things certainly seemed tense as Jules Wainstein and husband Michael met up to care for their children in New York City on Saturday amidst abuse allegations Jules dressed low-key for the awkward meeting, wearing a loose-fitting, black tank top along with a pair of distressed, light wash denim shorts. The loose-fitting shorts fell to her mid-thigh, and she finished off the laid-back look wit a pair of slip-on, black leather sandals. The mother-of-two pulled her long, brunette tresses back into a ponytail, and hid her eyes behind a pair of over-sized sunglasses. At one point she was spotted leaning in to plant a kiss on her three-year-old daughter Rio's cheek, while son Jagger stood close by. Mommy's little girl: Though she had been careful to keep her distance from Michael, Jules did lean over to give daughter Rio a kiss Michael held young Rio in his arms throughout the awkward exchange, as Jagger stood between his parents. The principal at Private Capital Group wore a pink button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He sported the button down shirt tucked into a pair of fitted jeans, finishing off the look with black, leather loafers. Tense: It looked uncomfortable, as the meetup comes after Michael's attorney had told Us Weekly that 'in the winter of 2012, Julianne brutally and viciously assaulted her diminutive but brave husband' Out of here: Michael certainly looked ready to leave the awkward family reunion The strained outing comes after Michael's attorney Mark Jay Heller told Us Weekly that 'In the winter of 2012, Julianne brutally and viciously assaulted her diminutive but brave husband.' He added: 'But for the fact that he has two beautiful children, he would have left her a long time ago, but he has been trying to hold the family together.' However, Jules' rep denied the abuse allegations to DailyMail.com saying 'the truth with prevail.' News of the couple's split emerged this week, with a source telling DailyMail.com that Jules caught Michael cheating with one of her friends. 'The truth will prevail': Jules' rep denied the abuse allegations, after the news of the couple's split emerged as a source told DailyMail.com that Jules caught Michael cheating with one of her friends And on Thursday, police were seen swarming their apartment after the reality star had called 911- while Michael said she was acting like a 'drama queen.' On Friday, Jules looked strained as she was seen leaving her Manhattan home amid the ugly divorce battle. To make matters worse, Jules was also slapped with a lien after allegedly failing to pay more than $25,000 in condo fees, according to legal documents seen by the DailyMail.com. The Bravolebrity was allegedly slapped with a lien for refusing to pay condo fees on a $1 million penthouse apartment she purchased with her sister but of which she is now the sole owner. The Board of Managers of the Apthorp Condominium filed a lien against Wainstein accusing her of not paying them $25,243.74, according to legal filings seen by DailyMail.com. As she was spotted leaving her apartment the RHONY star, who has been candid about her struggle with an eating disorder, looked gaunt and sombre following the stress of the dramatic week. 'Drama queen': Michael's spokesperson, however, has said that Jules' 'reality show persona' has caused her to morph into a wannabe 'drama queen' who is totally out of sync with reality She has previously admitted that the strain of her marriage woes have taken a physical toll on her, revealing on Wednesday night's episode of her show that she was suffering small patches of stress-induced hair-loss. Jules was pictured on Thursday looking upbeat while in a pink dress, but by Friday she struggled to maintain her brave face. And earlier this week police were seen arriving at the home she shares with her estranged husband Michael. An officer was seen leaving the apartment carrying a written statement, with the words 'threatening me... going to ruin my life,' easily legible to those observing the scene. However, Michael has since written off the incident, branding her a 'drama queen' who doesn't have a grip on reality. Better days: In June of last year Jules had shared this sweet snap of the couple 'Rome-ing in Rome' His spokesperson told Page Six on Thursday that Jules' 'reality show persona' has caused her to morph into a wannabe 'drama queen' who is totally out of sync with reality to the grave detriment of her long-suffering husband, who no longer chooses to be her foil and assume the role of 'drama king.' He added: 'The marriage is over! But, not due to any fault [of Michael] who was not 'busted' for cheating as incorrectly alleged.' A source close to Jules exclusively confirmed to DailyMail.com on Thursday that the Real Housewives Of New York star had summoned police the day after the couple announced their divorce. She told another side of the story, saying: 'He's volatile,' as she revealed that Michael had been involved in an ongoing affair with a good friend of Jules. He regularly features on lists of the world's sexiest men. And Brad Pitt, 52, showed that even torrential weather couldn't stop him from sending hearts aflutter as the handsome Hollywood star braved heavy rain to start the 84th Le Mans 24 Hour race, on Saturday. The World War Z star looked much younger than his years as made his way to the start line under the cover of an umbrella as the heavens opened. Scroll down for video Heartthrob: Brad Pitt, 52, showed that even torrential weather couldn't stop him from looking good as the handsome star braved heavy rain to start the 84th Le Mans 24 Hour race, on Saturday With his short blonde-tinted hair wet through, the actor looked unfazed by the change in weather as he strolled in a stylish black jacket, jeans and black boots. Brad managed to raise a smile as he walked while putting in his earplugs. Organisers did their very best to keep the star dry, but it was apparent their brollies were no match for the strength of the rain. Once on the track the French flag was unfurled and Brad prepared to wave the competitors on their way. Wet, wet, wet: Organisers did their very best to keep the star dry, but it was apparent their brollies were no match for the strength of the rain Seeing the funny side: Brad and a female official could only smile when acknowledging what was happening Handsome: With his short blonde-tinted hair wet through, the actor looked unfazed by the change in weather as he stood in a stylish black jacket, jeans and black boots Can't dampen his day: Brad managed to raise a smile as he walked in the torrential conditions Looking good: Brad showed why he regularly features on lists of the world's sexiest men Walk this way: The star was soon on the move, not wanting to get caught in the rain in one particular spot Nonchalant: The superstar was not letting the rain get in the way of his enjoyment of the day All smiles: The actor appeared to share a joke as he walked with a driver and officials at the race Thumbs up: Brad interacted with the huge crowd at the event and was clearly happy to be in attendance Earlier in the day, Brad took a full lap of the famous French circuit in a suitably speedy race-car. Brad looked typically handsome as he sported his subtly spiked blonde hair and greeted Alex Wurz - Austria's two-time Le Mans winner. When he was wearing his shiny black helmet, the father-of-six easily blended into the crowd. All alone: The Hollywood hunk was left waiting by himself momentarily on the winner's podium Approachable: Brad was more than happy to engage with those around him Pat on the back: Brad appeared to appreciate all that was being done for him Deafening: The roaring engines of the race-cars meant Brad was wise in wearing earplugs Mr cool: Jason kept his shades on despite the overcast conditions Shades of Achilles: Brad pulled off one of his famous gazing into the distance looks The race must go on: Once on the track the French flag was unfurled and Brad prepared to wave the competitors on their way Over to you: The flag was passed to Brad as a cameraman moved to get a clear shot Flying the flag: Brad appeared happy to have the lavish flag in his hands The centre of attention: Hunky Brad stood out from the crowd as he walked in front of the grandstand Waiting patiently: Brad calmly waited to play his part in the ceremony On the march: Some serious military muscle made its way down the grid Beginning in style: Military servicemen dressed in camo gear carried the flag towards Brad Respect! Brad looked at the serviceman with admiration as they approached A job well done: The ceremony went off in impressive fashion despite the weather Completing the look was all-white racing gear as he posed for a few pictures before making his way to the race-car. Putting on his red racing gloves and making the final few touches, he clambered in to the low-lying racing vehicle. Looking like he meant business, he sped around the track much to the delight of spectators. On the up: The weather finally settled and allowed the star to enjoy the moment Proud: Brad looked honoured to be a special guest at the world-famous race Meet and greet: Brad looked like he was about to shake someone's hand while lining up with Jackie Fan favourites: Brad and Jackie Chan waved to their adoring fans as they walked past the pit area Costume change: The star switched jackets and put on a pair of tinted shades as he stood holding the French flag Round of applause: Brad politely clapped at the opening ceremony Happy! Brad sported some well-groomed silver facial hair for the occasion Star attraction: Members of the audience captured the moment on their phones Fist pump: Seeing the crowd clearly boosted Brad's spirits as he held his hand aloft Taking it all in: The star was typically cool as he stood calmly with his hands in his pockets Collected: Brad looked poised as he looked at the race's prestigious trophy Helping out: The actor clutched the flag as he stood behind a trio of soldiers dressed in fatigues It's all good: Brad seemed unperturbed as he stood under an umbrella during the downpour Happy: The star broke out in a smile as he carried the French flag emblazoned with the Le Mans logo Applause: Brad clapped at the opening ceremony while standing in front of the impressive trophy Rev up your engines! Brad Pitt, 52, spoke to Austrian champ Alex Wurz after taking a full lap at the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit on Saturday in Le Mans, France Winner's mentality: Brad looked typically handsome as he sported his subtly spiked blonde hair Getting prepped: Completing the look was an all-white racing gear which skimmed his fine-tuned physique Movie star duties: He took a few pictures in his sunnies and racing gear before hopping in to the race-car Avoiding any accidents: Brad ensured his shiny black helmet was securely fastened Listen carefully: Brad received some last minute advice before climbing behind the wheel In good spirits: Brad seemed to be taking the occasion in his stride It was obvious that Brad was looking forward to his opportunity, as earlier he was spotted rushing to the venue - however he did manage to stop and sign a few autographs. He oozed sex appeal in a suede black jacket, quirky sunnies and jeans as he engaged in fan duties ahead of his lap. His jovial demeanour and trendy style made him look much younger than his 52 years. The actor was joined trackside by his Snatch co-star Jason Statham, who looked every inch the action man he is on screen, as well as Jackie Chan. Brad's prestigious honour comes after the Oklahoma-native was linked to a film project about the Ford versus Ferrari battles at Le Mans in the 1960s. Focused: However, despite his casual demeanour he look fully focused on what he had to do Always a head-turner: The head-gear gave way to his dazzling blue eyes Prestigious: Brad has been given the honourary starter role at the event, which will see him wave 60 cars off the grid in abid to beat last years winners- Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Formula One driver Nico Hulkenberg Michael Mann is known to be working on a script titled Go Like Hell based on a book by US author and journalist Brock Yates about Enzo Ferrari. Le Mans 24 Hours has been going strong since 1923 with Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Formula One driver Nico Hulkenberg emerging triumphant just last year. Meanwhile, Brad's stunning wife Angelina Jolie was spotted with two of her sons, seven-year-old Knox and 14-year-old Maddox, at New York City's JFK airport on Friday morning. Star-studded: Jason Statham and Jackie Chan joined Brad trackside Famous faces: Jason sported his trademark stubble and looked every inch the action man he is on screen What did you say? The Expendables star screwed up his face while talking to the Rush Hour actor Laughing out loud: Jackie put a smile on Jason's face as the pair made their way through the hustle and bustle Getting on famously: The banter between the stars was flowing almost as freely as the rain Having a blast:Jason showed off his pearly whites as he smiled Leading man: Brad oozed sex appeal in a suede black jacket, quirky sunnies and jeans as he engaged in fan duties before the adrenaline based event While their children have inherited their good-looking genes, the By The Sea director revealed in an interview with the BBC that none of them want to follow in their footsteps. 'None of my kids want to be actors,' said the LA native. 'They are actually very interested in being musicians. I think they like the process of film from the outside. Mad is interested in editing. Pax loves music and deejaying.' Mummy duties: Meanwhile, Brad's wife Angelina Jolie was spotted with two of her sons, Knox, 7, and Maddox, 14, at New York City's JFK airport on Friday after admitting none of her children wanted to follow in their acting footsteps Looking all-white! Brad rocked a simple but chic look in coordinating shades of grey and white for the second day of the race Playing it cool! The actor covered his face with a pair of gold framed aviator shades as he watched the action unfold Relaxed: Brad rocked off-duty chic as he wore a slightly creased white shirt, which he left unbuttoned to reveal the T-shirt underneath Katie Holmes sported a black bikini while filming the TV miniseries The Kennedys After Camelot in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday. And the 37-year-old actress, who plays Jacqueline Kennedy, flashed her flat midriff in the two-piece that she wore on the location set. Katie was seen covering up with a lacy white cotton top that she pulled over her top and paired with the black bikini bottoms. Looking good: Katie Holmes sported a bikini while on the set of The Kennedys After Camelot in Toronto The simple ensemble served to show off the former Dawson's Creek star's incredible physique. The mother of one accented her simple yet classic look for the beach scene with a wedding ring and loose tresses. The dark haired beauty kept her makeup minimal, choosing a touch of blush and lipstick beneath defined brows. Beach ready: The 37-year-old flashed her flat midriff as she put a white cover up on before heading back to set on Saturday The four-episode mini series follows Jacqueline, the former first lady, after the assassination of her husband President John F. Kennedy. The show is a follow up to the hit eight-episode show The Kennedys, which aired on television in 2011. On Thursday, Katie was joined on the film set by her 10-year-old daughter Suri Cruise. Having a blast: On Thursday, Katie was joined on the film set by her 10-year-old daughter Suri Cruise Suri dressed in a pink, green and white flower patterned dress with a navy zippered hoodie, white socks and matching hued sneakers. Katie posted a black and white photo to her Instagram while sitting with her daughter on the set of the show; Suri sat in a chair that had her name on it, as well as 'director' written beneath it. The devoted mother captioned it: 'My sweetie. #setlife #gratitude.' 'My sweetie': Katie posted a black and white photo to her Instagram while sitting with her daughter on the set of the show; Suri sat in a chair that had her name on it, as well as 'director' written beneath it On Friday, Katie shared a sweet snap of her daughter to her Instagram as she rocked a flower crown, adding multiple hearts in the caption. Earlier in the day, the Batman Begins actress showed off her svelte figure in a black bikini top and shorts while laying in the sand; she wrote: 'Happy weekend.' Katie was previously married to Suri's father -Tom Cruise - from 2006 until 2012. Happiness: On Friday, Katie shared a sweet snap of her daughter to her Instagram as she rocked a flower crown, adding multiple hearts in the caption She's regarded as one of the top models of the noughties and has since gone on to pursue an acting career. And Agyness Deyn, 33, led the way as the cast of The White King arrived for the film's world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, on Saturday. The English beauty was stylishly smart for the occasion in a navy blazer, which she wore with the sleeves partly rolled up, and dark trousers. Scroll down for video Stylishly smart: Agyness Deyn, 33, led the way as the cast of The White King arrived for the film's world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, on Saturday The actress's shoulder-length mousy locks were styled in loose waves from a side-parting, and she wore a slick of pink lipstick which contrasted with her pale complexion. Joining her on the red carpet was Game of Thrones star Jonathan Pryce, his navy ensemble matching his co-star's perfectly. The 69-year-old wore a pair of amber framed specs and a cool polkadot scarf for the occasion for an extra cool edge. Coordinated: Joining her on the red carpet was Game of Thrones star Jonathan Pryce, his navy ensemble matching his co-star's perfectly A cool look: The 69-year-old wore a pair of amber framed specs and a cool polkadot scarf for the occasion Young and old: There was a whole spectrum of ages making up the cast with four young boys - William Ahern, Malachi Hallett, Lorenzo Allchurch and Louis Suc - joining their more experienced peers There was a whole spectrum of ages making up the cast, with four young boys - William Ahern, Malachi Hallet, Lorenzo Allchurch and Louis Suc - joining their more experienced peers. Olafur Darri Olaffssohn towered above the rest of the cast, the Icelandic-American actor wearing an impressive beard and a navy three-piece suit. The film's directors Alex Helfrecht and Jorg Tittel, who are also married, put on a close display upon arrival. Jorg confidently wore an eye-catching purple plaid suit and tinted shades, while Alex sported a stylish patterned coat. Manly! Olafur Darri Olaffssohn wore an impressive beard and a navy three-piece suit A joint effort: The film's directors Alex Helfrecht and Jorg Tittel, who are also married, put on a close display upon arrival According to IMDB, The White King tells the story of Djata (Allchurch), 'a care-free 12-year-old growing up in a brutal dictatorship shut off from the outside world. When the government imprisons his father, Peter (Ross Partridge), Djata and his mother Hannah (Deyn) are labeled traitors, and the boy will not rest until he sees his father again.' Late last year, Agyness and American actor Giovanni Ribisi, 41, finalised their divorce. In November, TMZ reported that Giovanni kept two of their five homes, while she got three. But he will keep his Harley Davidson motorbike, while she gets the vintage Mercedes Benz. Rising stars: The film's young contingent all looked dapper for the big occasion Louis styled his hair in bouncy curls and matched his suit with navy specs, while Lorenzo went for a traditional black suit and bow tie comnbination The couple married in a surprise ceremony in June 2012. At the time, her relatives were said to be stunned by the secret union, which was low-key and took place at Los Angeles County Registrar. In 2013 the model explained their whirlwind wedding to InStyle magazine: 'I dont know. I suppose you meet someone and youre just like you know.' She's a member of The Magnificent Seven - an elite group of supermodels whose indelible presence on the catwalk cemented their fame in the 1990s. And it appears Helena Christensen has not lost her runway prowess, turning a casual trip to the grocery store into an opportunity to prove she's still got it. The 47-year-old was spotted out in New York City on Saturday afternoon with multiple bags of goodies in tow. Summertime chic: Helena Christensen has not lost her runway prowess, turning a casual trip to the grocery store on Saturday in New York City into an opportunity to prove she's still got it Just another day: The Danish beauty flaunted her svelte figure in a light blue striped jumpsuit with cropped culottes and a casual pair of flip flops The Danish beauty flaunted her svelte figure in a light blue striped jumpsuit with cropped culottes and a casual pair of flip flops. A large bow tied around Christensen's mid-section exposed her impossibly small waistline as she sauntered down the busy street. She kept accessories to a minimum, relying on a dainty drop pendant necklace in silver and matching bracelet. Fit and fabulous: A large bow tied around Christensen's mid-section exposed her impossibly small waistline as she sauntered down the busy street The former Victoria's Secret Angel swept her chocolate brown locks into a messy bun atop the crown of her head and hid behind a pair of oversized tortoise shell sunglasses for the daytime outing. Just the night prior, Helena stepped out in the Big Apple's West Village neighborhood to grab dinner with a male friend. The mother of one looked effortlessly gorgeous in a rich pink wrap dress tied together with a light pink embellishment. Date night? On Friday evening, Helena stepped out in the Big Apple's West Village neighborhood to grab dinner with a male friend Perfectly pretty: The mother of one looked effortlessly gorgeous in a rich creme wrap dress tied together with a light pink embellishment Christensen appeared deep in conversation with her close pal, barely taking her eyes off him as they crossed the street. She let her shoulder-grazing tresses dry naturally in soft waves and let her natural beauty shine through with little makeup. Helena also let her 5ft 10in height do most of the talking, opting for a pair of elegant rope sandals in light brown and gold. No heels necessary: Helena also let her 5ft 10in height do the talking, opting for a pair of elegant rope sandals in light brown and gold Meanwhile, Christensen has created a capsule collection of 'boyfriend' shirts - all modeled by herself in a new exotic campaign. Created in partnership with Helena's design partner Camilla Staerk and Thomson Sensatori resorts, the shirts are intended as the perfect cover-up for beachside glamour. In the new campaign, the retired beauty queen poses up a storm in her custom designs, relaxing in hammocks against the glamorous backdrop of the Mexican resort. The Kardashians threw a joint birthday party on Saturday for North West and Penelope Disick. The two cousins, who celebrate their special days just three weeks apart, enjoyed a mermaid-themed bash with a cake each. And true to form, the reality family shared pictures and videos from inside the event with their fans via social media. Celebration: Khloe Kardashian in a light purple wig embraced her nieces North West and Penelope Disick who were dressed as mermaids for their joint birthday party held on Saturday. Also pictured is Mason Disick, six North, daughter of Kim Kardahsian and Kanye West, turned three on June 15, while Penelope, whose mom is Kim's big sister Kourtney and dad is Scott Disick, will turn four on July 8. Both little girls were dressed up as mermaids with shiny fish tails. North wore a blue sparkly bikini top with her shiny purple scales. Penelope had on a starfish-shaped bikini top to go with her turquoise tail. All dressed up: The celebration came early for Penelope, whose parents are Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick. The little girl doesn't turn four until July 8 Make a wish! North, the eldest child of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, turned three on June 15. She sat on the kitchen counter top to blow out the candles on her personalized birthday cake Aunty Khloe Kardashian, sporting a long pale purple wig, appeared to be the main ringleader for the party that was held at one of the Kardashian residences. The tots' moms Kim and Kourtney were there along with Penelope's dad Scott and Aunty Kylie Jenner. Also there were several extras dressed as Disney characters. Such a wonderful Aunt: Khloe posted an Instagram photo while posing with North, Penelope and Mason; she captioned the picture: 'The best seat in the house with my Mermaids and my Mase Caught on camera: Penelope struck a cute pose as she sat with Khloe next to her three-tier turquoise cake that had an image of her on the top of it Did as she was told! Khloe explained she wore the wig to keep North and Penelope happy Mama mia: North's mom Kim Kardashian was decked out in a low-cut white and green outfit That's my girl: Kim beamed a big smile on her daughter North while flashing the cleavage No expense spared: There were also extras dressed as Disney characters and caterers on hand to help out with the party North looked adorable in 'Kim braids' and her shell-shaped bikini top and purple skirt The little girls both had matching turquoise three tier birthday cakes with their own image on the top set against a pink background. It appeared that the matching cakes had been created by Hansen's, the Kardashian family's go-to bakers of choice despite Kim tweeting earlier in the week she was looking for a new cake maker. The reality star had asked the day before North's birthday: 'Ok guys my family is looking for a new bakery. What are the yummiest cake spots in la that makes amazing cakes & cupcakes?' However, a representative from Hansen's told the Dailymail.com that everything is sweet between the business and the family. Shared with fans: Kim, 35, dressed in a shiny green skirt and silver top, led the group of family and friends in a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' for her daughter, as Kylie Jenner documented proceedings on Snapchat Round 2! Kourtney, 37, then led more singing for her little one who waited eagerly to blow out her candles on her matching cake And as everyone gathered in the kitchen, Kim, wearing a shiny green skirt and low-cut silver bra-top led the group in singing happy birthday to her daughter. Then Kourtney, 37, led another round of singing for Penelope. Kylie was so overcome with emotion at the display of cuteness going on around her that she shared a selfie using a filter to show waves of blue tears gushing from her eyes. Moved to tears: Kylie, 18, was so overcome by emotion at the cuteness of it all that she used a Snapchat filter to show waves of blue water pouring from her eyes Sweet treat: She then showed herself picking at the frosting on one of the cakes Siblings: The teen reality star also shared this selfie with older half-sister Khloe Two can play that game: Khloe, 31, also shared a selfie with her sibling and turned the image purple to match her wig. Khloe will celebrate her own birthday on June 27 Mer-man: Khloe also turned Scott purple and added flowers to his hair The party-goers also gathered outside around the swimming pool, naturally, given the theme. Tables had been set up covered in white tablecloths with matching white covered seating and large umbrellas provided shade from the sun. The pool area was decorated with balloons and sea creatures to maintain the 'under the sea' theme. Outdoor bash with water: North held hands with Disney characters as she headed outside where revelers gathered around the swimming pool 'Birthday girls': Kylie posted this pic of herself with her nieces and the Disney characters 'Under the sea': Kim shared a picture of the swimming pool area decorated with balloons and sea creatures Saturday fun day: Everyone seemed to be having a good time in the California sunshine Having a blast with family: Kylie shared a photo to her Instagram on Saturday while posing with the birthday girls North and Penelope Back to reality: After the party, Khloe took off her lavender wig, which she documented on Snapchat Looking good: Khloe sported large framed reflective sunglasses in a Snapchat video she shared after the party before heading home Never one to miss a trick, Kim later posted a graphic of herself at the mermaid party on her Instagram to promote her Kim Kardashian Hollywood app. Meanwhile, Kris Jenner who's been vacationing in Europe with toyboy Corey Gamble, posted a throwback snap to her Instagram showing Kylie and her sister Kendall as children dressed as hula girls with grass skirts and bikini tops. Always making money! Business-savvy Kim shared this image to her Instagram on Saturday afternoon to promote her game app Fun: Kim shared a kimoji version of her look to her Twitter on Saturday, writing: 'Im wearing this same costume today #kimojis' Reminisced: Kris Jenner, who has been vacationing in Europe, posted a throwback photo of Kylie and Kendall dressed as hula girls in grass skirts and bikini tops She's off: Kylie posted this snap on her Instagram before heading to the bash Hong Kong bookseller defies Beijing by leading protest A Hong Kong bookseller who said he was blindfolded, interrogated and detained in China led a protest march Saturday defying Beijing as pressure grows for authorities to answer questions over the case. Lam Wing-kee is one of five booksellers who went missing last year -- all worked for a publisher known for salacious titles about leading Chinese politicians. The case heightened fears that Beijing was tightening its grip on semi-autonomous Hong Kong, with Lam's explosive revelations earlier this week about how he had been detained in China further fanning many residents' concerns. Lam Wing-kee (L), one of five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing last year, speaks at a protest in Hong Kong on June 18, 2016 Isaac Lawrence (AFP) Lam told AFP Saturday that he did not feel afraid after breaking bail, refusing to return to the mainland and breaking silence on his detention. "I don't feel scared because there are so many people here," said Lam, surrounded by more than 1,000 supporters who had gathered in Hong Kong to protest against his detention and to demand answers from the city's authorities over the booksellers' case. "I'm happy to be back in Hong Kong." He added that he had been contacted by the city's police but had not yet responded to them. He would give no detail about where he was now living. Leading the rally, he shouted slogans including "Say no to authority!" and "Hong Kong has a bottom line!" The protesters, carrying banners saying "Fight until the very end" are marching from the Causeway Bay Bookstore, the business at the centre of the controversy, to China's liaison office. In a surprise press conference Thursday Lam told how he had been blindfolded and transported north after crossing the border into the mainland to visit his girlfriend in October. Lam said he was kept in a room, interrogated for months and forced to sign away his right to a lawyer or contact with his family. He also described how he recited a scripted confession broadcast on Chinese state television, admitting to trading banned books, out of fear. - 'Come clean' - Pro-democracy lawmakers are demanding to know what Hong Kong authorities have done to help the booksellers, accusing them of being a puppet of Beijing. They say China has violated the semi-autonomous system under which the city is ruled. Protester Simon Chan, 60, said it was time for people to speak up. "If we don't voice out, then this will just continue and we will be very scared," he told AFP. Beijing has refused to be drawn on Lam's accusations, saying only that it is entitled to pursue the case as he broke mainland Chinese laws. Hong Kong authorities have expressed "concern", saying they are attempting to speak to Lam. Pro-democracy lawmakers are urging the government to admit what it knows about the case. "I request that the government clearly explain what they have done to help Lam or the other Causeway Bay bookstore workers in these past eight months. If they don't, then they're not our government," said legislator Frederick Fung. In an editorial Saturday, the South China Morning Post, which has recently been criticised for being too Beijing-friendly, also demanded both sides "come clean". Lam said he was allowed to return to Hong Kong on Tuesday on condition that he go back over the border Thursday, bringing with him a hard disk listing bookstore customers. He says he did not want to hand over the records and decided to speak out instead. Lam is one of four booksellers under investigation on the mainland for trading banned books in China. The fifth, Lee Bo, the only bookseller to disappear on Hong Kong soil, has said he is simply helping with enquiries and is currently back in the city. He has refuted Lam's claims that Lee told him he had been taken to the mainland against his will. Lam Wing-kee (C-in cap), defied Beijing by speaking out about his detention and leading a protest in Hong Kong on June 18, 2016, as pressure grows for authorities to answer questions over his case Isaac Lawrence (AFP) Five booksellers who published salacious titles about leading Chinese politicians disappeared at the end of last year in a case that exacerbated fears Beijing was tightening its grip on Hong Kong Philippe Lopez (AFP/File) Migrants in Indonesia boat stand-off brought ashore: official Dozens of Sri Lankan migrants stranded on a boat off Indonesia were allowed to come ashore Saturday after a tense stand-off, but local authorities insist they will still be towed back to sea. The 44 migrants, who include many women and children, were allowed to disembark in Aceh province and take refuge in tents, a week after their Indian-flagged vessel broke down en route to Australia. Authorities in the western province had drawn international condemnation by refusing to allow the migrants ashore, but relented Saturday as huge waves threatened to upend the damaged boat. On June 16, 2016 migrants from Sri Lanka jump out from their stranded boat onto the beach in Lhoknga, Aceh province Prossa (AFP/File) However a local official said authorities would proceed as planned and tow the migrants out to international waters once their boat had been repaired and the weather improved. "The policy is still the same as yesterday," Al Hudri, the head of social services in Aceh province, told AFP. "After the boat is repaired, they will be towed back to sea and sent home." He said the migrants were brought ashore as rough seas and strong winds were threatening to capsize the damaged vessel. The boat had suffered serious damage during its journey, with engine trouble and holes that needed repairing before it would be seaworthy, he added. In the meantime a kitchen has been set up to feed those brought ashore, as police began photographing the migrants in a bid to establish identities, an AFP journalist at the scene said. The Sri Lankans were prevented from coming ashore for a week, despite Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla ordering Aceh officials to allow them to disembark. "We're happy to see that is finally being implemented," said Lilianne Fan, international director of Aceh NGO the Geutanyoe Foundation, whose team on the ground witnessed the disembarkation. "At this point the most urgent thing from our point of view is that immediate access is given to the UNHCR," she added, referring to the UN refugee agency. When asked if the UNHCR teams in Lhoknga -- the town where the boat ran aground -- had been granted access to the refugees, Hudri said: "No, not yet". The week-long impasse boiled over Thursday when police fired a warning shot to disperse a crowd that had swarmed around the vessel. That incident prompted Amnesty International on Friday to issue a statement accusing local authorities of employing "crude intimidation tactics" against the migrants. "The immigration office and security forces in Aceh are flouting the authority of their own Vice President and not letting the UNHCR do its job," Josef Benedict of Amnesty International said in a statement. Hundreds of Myanmar Rohingya came ashore in Aceh last year during a regional boat people crisis and were warmly welcomed by residents of the staunchly Islamic province, who felt sympathy for their plight as a persecuted Muslim minority. A migrant from Sri Lanka is photographed by police as he takes shelter in Lhoknga, Aceh province, on June 18, 2016 after authorities agreed to allow them to leave their stranded boat temporarily Chaideer Mahyuddin (AFP) Corpses and silence after Boko Haram's Niger strike Rotting bodies, looted buildings and a grim silence mark the once bustling town of Bosso in southeastern Niger following one of Boko Haram's deadliest ever attacks in the west African nation. In the empty, dusty streets, soldiers outnumber the few remaining residents -- including the elderly who were unable to flee the insurgents, and some who have returned briefly to collect their possessions. "Corpses littered the streets," said Abdelaziz Zembada, a 50-year-old local shopkeeper on a visit to see if it was safe to return for good. Boko Haram attacked a military post in the Niger town of Bosso killing 26 soldiers, including two from neighbouring Nigeria, and a number of civilians Issouf Sanogo (AFP) Boko Haram attacked a military post in town on June 3, killing 26 soldiers, including two from neighbouring Nigeria, and a number of civilians as well. Everywhere, there are traces of people's rush to escape. A single abandoned sandal rests in the courtyard of a building. Pots, pans and containers are scattered on the ground. Inside one earth-and-straw home there is nothing, save a mattress and broken tea cups. Behind a sheet of corrugated metal, a rotting goat gives off a putrid odour. A man's unclaimed body decomposes in a local authority building. Witnesses believe there are more undiscovered dead scattered throughout the town. Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless in its quest to form a hardline Islamic state. Extending the attacks to neighbouring countries, the group's ascendancy has prompted a regional military fightback involving troops from Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as Nigeria. Zembada, the shopkeeper, said he and his wife managed to whisk three of their children to safety, but a four-year-old daughter was among those killed in the attack. "When we came back to get her, that's when the shell landed," he said. "My daughter was inside with two of my neighbour's children... She hasn't been buried yet." During the assault the local military contingent was overrun, its barracks looted and a handful of their armoured vehicles, trucks and cars were torched. In the charred ruins of their dormitory, only skeletons of beds are still identifiable. - 'Getting better' - All the town's public buildings -- gendarme offices, the town hall and an administration centre -- were pillaged. A local school and health centre, where someone had scrawled "Boko Haram" on a chalkboard, were not spared either. In addition to what they took from the buildings, the attackers also carted off some 200 tonnes of grain that were supposed to feed needy locals. Niger's military claim to have regained full control of Bosso, but it refuses to reveal the exact size of its force. "Soldiers are there. It is a consequential number," said Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum. "Within a few weeks we will repopulate Bosso and the residents will return to their lives," he said. For now, many residents are shuttling back and forth between neighbouring towns and Bosso to pick up what is left of their belongings. "We spent the night of (June) 3 on the roof and ran away on foot in the morning with the whole family," said El Hadj Abba Makani, a father of 10 with two wives, as he loaded all he could into a battered 4x4. "We are afraid, but if everyone comes back we will too," said the shopkeeper. Some residents are already home, beginning the struggle to rebuild lives shattered by the attack. "We're discouraged. We want people to come back," said Souleymane Salissa, a barber. His home and shop were looted, but he is back and managing to get by with business from the soldiers. In addition to cutting hair he also offers a service to charge mobile phones. "Things are getting better, even if yesterday we heard gunfire," Salissa said. "(But) if you hear 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest), that's when you have to worry." In the empty, dusty streets of the Niger town of Bosso, soldiers outnumber the few remaining residents following an attack by Boko Haram fighters Issouf Sanogo (AFP) Niger's military claim to have regained full control of Bosso, but it refuses to reveal the exact size of its force Issouf Sanogo (AFP) Afghan-Pakistan border reopens after deadly clashes A major Afghan-Pakistan border crossing reopened on Saturday after it was closed for several days following deadly clashes between the two countries after the construction of a gate on the Pakistani side to control cross-border movement, officials said. The clash, which erupted along the Torkham border a week ago, left at least three Afghan policemen and a Pakistani military officer dead, with dozens wounded. "The Torkham border reopened around 6 this morning after around five days of closure," Mohammad Ayub Hussain Khil, border police chief in eastern Afghanistan, told AFP. Pakistani soldiers patrol at the Torkham crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, on June 14, 2016 Sajjad Mian (AFP/File) "Everyday huge crowds of Afghans used to cross the border for medical purposes, but now they are only allowing people with visas and passports," he said. The spokesman for the governor of the Afghan province of Nangarhar, Ataullah Khogyani, confirmed the reopening of the border saying it happened after "days of negotiations" between the two sides. A Pakistani official who declined to be named told AFP that the border had reopened and "the construction work on the gate has also resumed". Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman posted a message on Twitter saying: "Only passport holders allowed from Afghan side." The new requirement will affect thousands of people who formerly crossed the busy border post without travel documents. The border clash prompted bitter recriminations on both sides, with Islamabad and Kabul summoning each other's diplomats to lodge strong formal complaints. The Pakistani military justified the construction of the gate at Torkham, saying "terrorists" were using the crossing point. Afghan officials have always accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban and continuing to nurture sanctuaries on its soil in the hope of maintaining influence in Afghanistan. Pakistan also accuse some elements in the Afghan government of supporting a senior Pakistani Taliban leader Fazlullah who is said to be orchestrating attacks on Pakistani soil from Afghanistan. Hours after the border was opened the Pakistani ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement saying an Afghan delegation will visit Islamabad to ease the tension in Torkham. "Pakistan welcomes the visit and looks forward to meaningful deliberations through a constructive engagement between the two sides." the statement said. Torkham is one of the major crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where hundreds of trucks and thousands of people cross the border daily through the Khyber Pass. The border was closed over similar clashes last month, but was reopened after an understanding was reached between the two countries. IS mounts fierce defence of besieged Syrian bastion Islamic State group jihadists have launched a wave of suicide and car bombings to defend a besieged stronghold in northern Syria against US-backed fighters, a monitor said on Saturday. A Kurdish-Arab alliance last week encircled the city of Manbij and severed a key supply route used by IS from the Turkish border to the jihadists' de facto Syrian capital, Raqa. But since then the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by US air strikes, have been slowed by almost daily suicide bombings by IS, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Syrian conflict has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government demonstrations Thaer Mohammed (AFP/File) On Friday, IS carried out two suicide attacks and five car bombings in the southwestern suburbs of Manbij, according to the British-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground. The number of casualties from the attacks was unknown, but hundreds have been killed since the offensive to retake the city from IS began on May 31. According to the Observatory, a total of 352 IS fighters and 37 SDF combatants have died, as well as an estimated 78 civilians. The operation has also been complicated by the presence of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the city, although more than 1,000 have managed to escape with the help of the SDF. "On Friday, six members of the same family were killed when they were targeted by jihadists while fleeing," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. SDF commanders have accused IS of using civilians as human shields. Southeast of Manbij, regime forces backed by Russian air strikes have also faced IS counterattacks after advancing towards another jihadist bastion, Tabqa. The town lies around 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of Raqa city, and recapturing it would cut a key supply route. The army is now reported to be 15 kilometres away from Tabqa's military airport. Syria's five-year conflict has evolved into a multi-sided civil war involving a range of combatants including Western- and Gulf-backed rebels, jihadists, Kurds and pro-regime forces supported by Russia and Iran. The northern province of Aleppo in particular has been carved up by a complex set of front lines and key supply routes, and has seen some of the worst fighting. Opposition-held areas of Aleppo city were hit by fresh barrel bomb attacks on Saturday, while rebel fire killed seven civilians in a Kurdish-majority neighbourhood, the Observatory said. South of the city, rebel groups backed by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front were locked in battles with government forces and allied militia. Since Tuesday, 186 fighters have been killed in those clashes -- 100 rebels and jihadists along with 86 members of pro-regime forces, including 25 from Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, the Observatory said. "It's the highest toll for Hezbollah fighters in a single battle," said Abdel Rahman. Iraq forces hunt IS in Fallujah and eye Mosul Iraqi forces hunted down holdout jihadists in Fallujah Saturday after retaking the city centre and trained their sights on Mosul, the Islamic State's last remaining major hub in the country. While not fully under government control yet, Fallujah is the latest in a string of battlefield losses for IS, which has seen its two-year-old "caliphate" shrink significantly in recent months. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday declared Fallujah retaken after the national flag was raised over the main government compound, but IS fighters still hold most northern neighbourhoods. Iraqi government forces patrol the city of Fallujah on June 18, 2016 as they hunt down holdout jihadists after retaking the Islamic State group's last remaining major hub in Iraq Elite Iraqi forces "are continuing their progress in the liberation of neighbourhoods in northern Fallujah", Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, overall commander of the operation, told AFP. Forces led by the police of Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, were meanwhile combing reconquered southern neighbourhoods for pockets of IS fighters and explosive devices, he said. Abadi announced the recapture of the city of Ramadi, Anbar's provincial capital, in December but the security forces only established full control over the city in February. Over the past few days, IS has carried out several significant attacks in the Ramadi area, the latest on Saturday in a region called Zankura. - Most vulnerable - Saadi and other commanders said Iraqi forces faced only limited resistance during the major advance that saw them push into the heart of Fallujah and secure a breakthrough in the four-week-old operation. Security sources said IS members have been slipping out of the city by blending in with civilians fleeing the fighting. IS's retreat in Fallujah sparked what the Norwegian Refugee Council described as "an unprecedented tidal wave of mass displacement from Fallujah". It said late Friday that up to 20,000 people fled the city in just a few hours. Footage on social media showed hundreds of people swimming across the Euphrates to reach safety. "It is unknown how many families are still trapped inside Fallujah but we are concerned they are the most vulnerable -- pregnant women, elderly people, people with disabilities," the NRC said. Aid groups have been warning for days they would be overwhelmed by the flow of displaced and were running low on funding and supplies to respond to the humanitarian crisis. Building on the momentum of the Fallujah operation, Iraq announced on Saturday that joint Kurdish-federal forces were starting a new phase in the push on Mosul from the south. "We started at 5:00 am (0200 GMT) the second phase of the liberation of Nineveh," Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi told AFP. "The target of the operation is to take Qayyarah and make it a launchpad for Mosul," Obeidi said. - Mosul next - Qayyarah, which has an airfield, lies across the River Tigris from the main base for pro-government forces in the Kurdish-controlled area of Makhmur. It is some 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul. Forces working their way up from the south along the Tigris also revived a stalled offensive on Saturday, security officials in the Salaheddin province said. Abadi ignored US advice to focus on Mosul last month when he declared the launch of the Fallujah operation, but he vowed on Friday that the liberation of the northern city was "very near". The embattled premier has promised that IS would be defeated nationwide by the end of 2016, but an ongoing offensive in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, has achieved only modest gains so far. Fallujah, where US forces suffered some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War, looms large in modern jihadist mythology but Mosul is much larger. Analysts argued that IS could survive the sequence of military losses a bit longer but that their self-proclaimed caliphate was already looking moribund. "The ISIS (IS) messaging machine will likely find ways to continue attracting recruits and encouraging lone wolf attacks despite the loss of Fallujah," Patrick Martin, Iraq analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, said. The jihadist group, which has recorded few military successes on home turf lately and grabbed more headlines for claiming attacks in the West, now faces major offensives ultimately aimed at its Syria de facto capital Raqa and at Mosul. "Mosul and Raqa could be very different battles since when they fall the delusions of holding a caliphate completely fall away," said Patrick Skinner, an analyst with the Soufan Group. Iraq: the battle for Fallujah Valentina BRESCHI, Thomas SAINT-CRICQ (AFP) Iraqi government forces drive their armoured vehicles during an operation in Fallujah's southern Shuhada neighbourhood to retake the area from the Islamic State group on June 15, 2016 Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP/File) A man was killed by his wife's father and brothers because they disapproved of their marriage, Pakistani police said. Muhammad Irshad, 43, reportedly had his throat slit in the middle of a marketplace in the Punjab city of Burewala on Friday, officials said today. Each year, hundreds of Pakistani woman are murdered by family members who claim to be punishing them for perceived wrongs, but it is rare for men to be targeted in such attacks. Pakistani activists hold placards during a protest against honour killing in Islamabad Mr Irshad married Mussarat Bibi, the daughter of a rich local agricultural family, 12 months ago but later fled the area, fearing his in-laws would kill him. He was attacked when he returned to see his parents, police said. 'The assailants were armed with knives and hatchets and after inflicting several wounds on Irshad's body they slit his throat,' district police chief Ghazi Salahuddin told AFP. A manhunt had been launched to find Mr Irshad's in-laws, who remained at large, he added. Last week 16 year-old Zeenat Bibi was killed in Lahore by her mother for marrying a man of her own choice in a case that sparked condemnation throughout the country. It was swiftly followed by another killing, of a couple in Lahore who married without their family's consent. On Thursday relatives slit the throat of a young mother who was pregnant with her second child after she married against their will in the village of Buttaranwali, some 46 miles north of Punjab provincial capital Lahore. On Sunday a young girl was killed by her brother for insisting on marrying the man of her choice in the city of Sialkot, also in Punjab. Obama touts environmental record on family outing to national parks President Barack Obama and the first family celebrated America's cherished natural heritage Saturday during a weekend tour marking the 100th anniversary of the nation's vaunted national park system. Obama, also using the occasion to tout his environmental record, is the first sitting president since John F. Kennedy in 1962 to visit California's Yosemite National Park. Obama has made protecting nature areas one of the hallmarks of his presidency. US President Barack Obama speaks while celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Parks system at Yosemite National Park, California on June 18, 2016 Brendan Smialowski (AFP) Since 2009, he has set aside as protected areas more than 265 million acres (100 million hectares) of public lands and waters across the country, more than any of his predecessors did. A large part of that involves a marine sanctuary around islands and atolls in the Pacific. In doing so, he relied on the Antiquities Act, a law signed in 1906 by then president Theodore Roosevelt, a fervent advocate of preserving the country's natural resources. For Obama, who has made the fight against climate change a priority of his two terms in office and complains of systematic obstructionism by the Republican-controlled Congress, the law has been key to circumventing his opponents on environmental issues. It allows the president to move swiftly to preserve threatened areas, which can be transformed into national parks if Congress gives the go ahead. The Grand Canyon, Death Valley and vast swathes of Alaska have benefited from the law. Before Obama, 16 presidents have used the measures. Only three, all of them Republicans, did not do so: Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Before leaving office in January, Obama could sign off on other protection projects awaiting his signature, such as an expansion of the Papahanaumokuakea marine reserve in Hawaii, declared a decade ago by George W. Bush and home to many endangered species. Over the years, such presidential designations have often triggered conflicts because they end up prohibiting exploration and development of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal on the protected lands or in protected waters. Some lawmakers question the legal foundation of the Antiquities Act and what they see as a carte blanche for the president. These lawmakers complain of poor management of federal lands and stymied economic development. They have tried in vain several times to have the law erased. But the national park system remains hugely popular in the United States. The 400-odd parks received a record 305 million visitors last year. The system turns 100 on August 25. "We have more work to do to preserve our lands and culture and our history. We're not done yet," Obama said in a speech against the spectacular backdrop of Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in the park. "For this centennial, we're asking all Americans to find your park so everyone, including those from underserved communities, can experience these wonders." - 'Spectacular !' - On Friday ,the president and his family visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, which features more than 100 caves, three of them open to the public. The Obamas visited the Big Room, a large cave chamber located 754 feet (230 meters) underground and filled with stalactites and stalagmites. It is also a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of bats. "Spectacular," Obama said. "How cool is this?", he added as he turned to journalists, although the comment seemed aimed more at his teenage daughters, Malia and Sasha. Several hours later, after flying over waterfalls and granite peaks, the first family traveled to Yosemite, known for its giant redwood trees. At one point, he and first lady Michelle stopped to chat with some kids at a park facility under bright, sunny skies and Mrs Obama asked them what they would do to scare away bears. As the kids started yelling, the president said: "Oh, I would get out of here!" The Obamas then sat on the ground for a photo with the group, with the president making sure all kids were smiling. "Everybody say cheese," he said. "Everybody say 'national parks.' Everybody say 'happy birthday,'" he added, mentioning a birthday girl in the group. "Who is going to help me up now?" he added. The family outing is reminiscent of one the Obamas made in 2009 to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. With seven months left in Obama's second and final term, environmental groups are urging the president not to rest on his laurels when it comes to protecting nature. "What he has done so far has been significant," said Sharon Buccino of the National Resources Defense Council. "But the real measure of his conservation legacy is going to be judged based on what he does with his remaining time." Marine One -- carrying the US first family -- flies past 'Half Dome' at the Yosemite National Park Brendan Smialowski (AFP) US First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama pose with children after speaking in Yosemite National Park, on June 18, 2016 Brendan Smialowski (AFP) US President Barack Obama and the first family walk through Ahwahnee Meadow after arriving on Marine One in Yosemite Vally, California, on June 17, 2016 Brendan Smialowski (AFP) Egypt's Morsi sentenced to life in espionage trial An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to life in prison in an espionage trial in which six of his co-defendants were handed death penalties. Morsi, who has been sentenced to death in a separate trial, was Egypt's first democratically elected president but the army overthrew him in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters. He was given life in prison Saturday for leading an unlawful organisation and 15 years for having "stolen secret documents concerning state security," his lawyer said. Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi gestures from behind the defendant's bars during his trial on espionage charges at a court in Cairo on June 18, 2016 Mohamed El-Shahed (AFP) But Morsi was acquitted of having supplied classified documents to Qatar, one of his main backers, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud told AFP. The six defendants sentenced to death for helping to pass secret documents to Qatar include three journalists, two from Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera, tried in absentia. The media network denounced the verdict as an attack of free press. Al-Jazeera "denounces, condemns, and entirely rejects the verdict," a statement said. The verdict is "unjust and politicised" and "part of the ruthless campaign against freedom of speech and expression, in order to muzzle the voice of free press." Qatar's government also rejected the verdict, saying it was "unfounded, goes against truth and contains misleading claims" that are contrary to Doha's policies. "The charge of espionage for Qatar against a former president and media men is surprising and unacceptable," added Ahmed Al Rumaihi, director of information at the foreign ministry. Morsi came to power after the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak. But after about one year in office, he was overthrown and detained by then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now Egypt's president. Courts have since sentenced hundreds of Islamists to death, including other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, though many have appealed and been granted new trials. Hundreds of Morsi supporters were killed during protests following his ouster. Thousands of others were detained in a crackdown that was later expanded to include leftist and liberal dissidents. The Brotherhood has been blacklisted as a terrorist group. Jihadists who have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group intensified their attacks following Morsi's overthrow, killing hundreds of Egyptian policemen and soldiers, mainly in the north of the Sinai Peninsula. The jihadists say the attacks are in retaliation for the crackdown on Brotherhood supporters. - 'Ludicrous charges' - Two of the journalists sentenced to death, Ibrahim Mohamed Hilal and Jordanian citizen Alaa Omar Mohamed Sablan, worked for Al-Jazeera. The third has been named as Asmaa Mohamed al-Khatib, a female reporter with pro-Muslim Brotherhood news outlet Rassd. The three others handed the death penalty, who were present during the trial, are documentary producer Ahmed Ali Abdo, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohamed Adel Kilani and university teaching assistant Ahmed Ismail Thabet, said the prosecution. The death sentences were sent to the mufti -- Egypt's official interpreter of Islamic law -- as his opinion is legally required on death sentences although it is not binding. Rights group Amnesty International criticised the trial outcome as "appalling" and called for the death sentences to be overturned and for the "ludicrous charges" against the journalists to be dropped. "Egypt's broken and utterly corrupted justice system is now little more than a handy tool for the authorities' repression of any vestiges of opposition or criticism," said Magdalena Mughrabi-Talhami, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa. The defendants can appeal the rulings before the court of cassation, and those tried in absentia can seek a retrial if they turn themselves in. Egypt has cracked down on Al-Jazeera and imprisoned three of its journalists in Cairo, including Australian Peter Greste and Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, before releasing them by presidential decree. Mostefa Souag, the acting director general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, said all sentences issued against the channel's journalists since Morsi's ouster were "legally baseless". Morsi has already received sentences in several other separate trials. In 2015, a court sentenced him to death in connection with prison breaks and attacks on police stations during the 2011 uprising. He is appealing that verdict. Morsi was one of the Brotherhood leaders who were jailed during the 18-day uprising, escaping with thousands of inmates who broke out of prison. He has also been sentenced to life in prison for "espionage" on behalf of Iran and other countries, as well as militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Another court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for clashes that erupted outside his presidential palace in December 2012 between his supporters and opponents, killing up to 10 people. The clashes broke out after Morsi issued a decree placing his decisions above judicial review. Millions took to the streets demanding his resignation before the military intervened to remove him. Pentagon voices 'strong concerns' to Russia over strikes on US-backed Syria rebels The Pentagon voiced "strong concerns" over Moscow's bombing of US-backed forces in southern Syria, a spokesman said on Saturday. US military officials holding a video conference with Russia "expressed strong concerns about the attack on the coalition-supported counter-ISIL forces at the Al-Tanaf garrison, which included forces that are participants in the cessation of hostilities in Syria," said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook after the talks. He added that the Pentagon "emphasized that those concerns would be addressed through ongoing diplomatic discussions on the cessation of hostilities." Moscow in September launched a bombing campaign in Syria to support long-time ally Bashar al-Assad, and the West has accused Russian forces of targeting the opposition with air strikes Paul Gypteau (AFP/File) US defense officials said that Russian forces in Al-Tanaf targeted a meeting of combatants supported by the US-led coalition that was held to coordinate the fight against forces of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. The Syrians belonged to the New Syrian Army, trained by the British and the Americans in a coalition camp in Jordan, while the Iraqis were tribal fighters, officials said. Russia's defense ministry said late Thursday however that it had not carried out any strikes targeting opposition forces included in the ceasefire, without mentioning Al-Tanaf -- an assertion challenged by the United States. "Regarding safety, department officials conveyed that Russia's continued strikes at Al-Tanaf, even after US attempts to inform Russian forces through proper channels of on-going coalition air support to the counter-ISIL forces, created safety concerns for U.S. and coalition forces," Cook said. Afghan refugees already 'forgotten' before migrant crisis: UN Displaced Afghans had already been "forgotten" by the international community before they began arriving in Europe en masse last year, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said on Saturday in Iran. Grandi, who on Friday began his first regional tour as the new UN High Commissioner ahead of World Refugee Day on Monday, said his trip was focused on Afghan refugees. "I decided that this year, my first year as High Commissioner, I would use that opportunity to highlight the unresolved plight of Afghan refugees," he said in a joint press conference with Iran's Deputy Interior Minister Hossein Zolfaghari. A woman sits with her child inside a tent at the refugee camp of Schisto, on June 8, 2016 in Athens Aris Messinis (AFP/File) "Afghan refugees unfortunately have been forgotten by the international community," said Grandi, who will mark World Refugee Day in Afghanistan. "It is only when they started arriving in Europe together with many other refugees that the international community suddenly remembered." A record 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants have entered Europe since January 2015. Iran currently hosts more than three million Afghan immigrants, one million of them legally. Grandi urged the international community to increase their support for Tehran's refugee protection programmes because "unless we help refugees" more they will look elsewhere. "We have seen this happening last year with hundreds of thousands of Afghans moving toward Europe," he said. "This is dangerous for them and destabilising for everybody." Grandi called on the world community to help stabilise Afghanistan so more refugees choose to return since "voluntary repatriation has gone down to very few numbers". He called the services Iran offers refugees "of very high quality compared to what we see in most countries in the world". Last year, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a decree allowing all Afghan children to be allowed into schools in the Islamic republic. It was "one of the most important gestures that any country has expressed for refugees anywhere in the world in the past few years," Grandi said. Zolfaghari told reporters that Iran has borne great costs to prevent illegal immigration to other countries, especially to Europe. "In the past year, we have repatriated 753,000 people who had entered Iran illegally to their home countries and paid great costs in this regard," he said. The solution to the refugee crisis is "to eradicate insecurity and poverty" in those countries, he added. Gay Pride prouder and louder after Orlando attacks Tens of thousands of Europeans paid tribute in Gay Pride marches on Saturday to the 49 people massacred in a gay nightclub in Orlando last weekend in a defiantly festive atmosphere. At the largest, Vienna's "Rainbow Parade" involving around 130,000 people according to organisers, a minute's silence was held during the 20th annual anything-goes parade. Leading the march was a black-clad group called "Victims of Hate Crimes Marching for those who can't", holding a rope around a space where normally a float full of dancers would be. People gather in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin with rainbow flags to pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando killing, on June 18, 2016 Jorg Carstensen (DPA/AFP) The "ghost float" represented "those lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender and inter-sex people who lost their lives in Orlando and who can't be marching with us", organisers said. The deadliest mass shooting in US history saw lone gunman Omar Mateen murder 49 people in the Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning with a legally purchased assault rifle and pistol. Mateen was killed when police stormed the club. Officials say he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. But witnesses said he had frequented Pulse in the past and used gay dating apps. - Not scared - Lui Fidelsberger, co-head of the Vienna Homosexual Initiative (HOSI), Austria's oldest lesbian and gay organisation, said the best answer was to be even louder and prouder. "The response must be more visibility and pride. And so despite the great sadness... this year's Rainbow Parade will again celebrate loudly and stridently a big festival of diversity," Fidelsberger said. Security in the Austrian capital was tighter, however, with several hundred police on duty -- more than last year because of the Orlando attacks, police spokesman Roman Hahslinger told AFP. In Italy, tens of thousands of people took part in Gay Pride events nationwide, with 30,000 in Florence, 5,000 in Genoa and thousands more in Palermo, Treviso and Varese, organisers said. In Genoa, the first procession float sported a large rainbow flag crossed with a black banner reading: "We are Orlando". The Palermo event's organiser, Massimo Milani, appeared at the parade in a white wedding dress splattered in fake blood and with a ribbon reading: "We will survive". In Lisbon, a parade of more than 5,000 people paid tribute to the Orlando victims, according to organisers, but with pumping music and extravagant costumes they still managed to have fun. A large black banner at the head of the procession in the Portuguese capital carried the photos of the victims in Florida. "This massacre has affected us all," said gay rights campaigner Paulo Corte Real. "We are here to show our strength and to refuse all this hatred that we are still confronted with." Around 2,000 revellers, police said, took part in a Gay Pride event in Metz in eastern France. Local reports said a memorial was set up with the inscription "Solidarity with Orlando". Around the same number gathered in Vilnius while around 1,000 held a minute's silence at the Soviet Army monument in downtown Sofia, waving flags, some of them with the #weareorlando hashtag. The Bulgarian crowd chanted "Stop Homophobia!" and "Happy Pride!" and was addressed by several foreign ambassadors, although numbers were significantly smaller than last year. "There are fewer people this year but I would like to think that it's the scorching heat that is to blame and not fear after the Orlando tragedy," said participant Ria Naydenova, 24. A woman smiles as she takes part in the Ljubljana Pride Parade in Slovenia, on June 18, 2016 Jure Makovec (AFP) A car passes with people holding balloons and rainbow flags during the Gay Pride Parade in Lisbon on June 18, 2016 Patricia de Melo Moreira (AFP) A man runs under a giant rainbow flag during the Gay Pride Parade in Lisbon on June 18, 2016 Patricia de Melo Moreira (AFP) Russian defence chief, Assad coordinate on 'anti-terrorist fight' Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu met in Damascus on Saturday with President Bashar al-Assad to discuss anti-terrorist "cooperation" in Syria's conflict, a bone of contention between Moscow and Washington. Shoigu, the highest ranking Russian official to travel to Syria since the conflict erupted five years ago, was sent by President Vladimir Putin for the surprise meeting with Moscow's long-time ally Assad, the Syrian state news agency SANA said. "The talks focused on military cooperation between the two countries and joint action to fight against terrorist organisations on Syrian soil," it said. Russian servicemen prepare an SU-24 fighter jet for a mission from the Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, in northwest Syria on May 4, 2016 Vasily Maximov (AFP/File) In Moscow, the defence ministry said the discussions centred on "current questions of military and technical cooperation... as well as certain aspects of the cooperation in the fight against terrorist groups operating in Syria". The visit came as a US defence department spokesman said that Pentagon officials in a video conference with Russian counterparts had voiced "strong concerns" over Moscow's alleged bombing of US-backed forces in southern Syria. US military officials "expressed strong concerns about the attack on the coalition-supported counter-ISIL (Islamic State) forces at the Al-Tanaf garrison, which included forces that are participants in the cessation of hostilities in Syria", Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. The Pentagon "emphasized that those concerns would be addressed through ongoing diplomatic discussions on the cessation of hostilities", he said. US defence officials have said Russian warplanes carried out raids in Al-Tanaf targeting a meeting of combatants supported by the US-led coalition that was held to coordinate the fight against IS jihadists in Syria and Iraq. The Syrians belonged to the New Syrian Army, trained by the British and the Americans in a coalition camp in Jordan, while the Iraqis were tribal fighters, officials said. Russia, however, said it had not carried out any strikes targeting opposition forces included in a ceasefire brokered by Washington and Moscow that excludes IS, without mentioning Al-Tanaf. Shoigu, whose country's military intervention since last September turned the tide of the conflict in favour of Assad's regime, also inspected Russia's air base in Hmeimim in the Syrian coastal province of Latakia, his ministry said. Dead trees, dry earth: Western US a tinderbox Tens of millions of dead trees, record temperatures in June and persistent drought can only mean one thing for the American West this fire season: it's going to be a tinderbox. Experts are already predicting that Alaska and the Southwest will be hit hard by fires, while California could see its worst season yet. "Many areas of California are still in severe and exceptional drought," Daniel Berlant, spokesman for state firefighting agency Cal Fire told AFP. Near Santa Barbara, the so-called Sherpa Fire in the Los Padres National Forest has expanded from two to six square miles (fifteen square kilometers), prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency and intermittently shut highways David McNew (AFP/File) "Over the past couple months, wildfire activity has quickly increased," he said. Across the United States, approximately 3,280 square miles (8,500 square kilometers) have gone up in flames since the beginning of the year, including land burned by the 10 major fires currently raging (four of which are in the southwest states of Arizona and New Mexico). Near Santa Barbara, north of Los Angeles, the so-called Sherpa fire in the Los Padres National Forest is raging full speed, fanned by strong winds. Thursday to Friday, it spread from two to six square miles, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency and intermittently shut highways. The fire is the tourist region's largest since 2009, a Santa Barbara spokeswoman said. Nearly 270 buildings have been threatened, hundreds of residents have been forced to evacuate and 1,230 firefighters have battled the flames. At the top of Northern California, the Pony Fire has burned some four square miles. And two weeks ago, a separate blaze forced the evacuation of 5,000 people in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles home to a number of celebrities, including Jessica Simpson and members of the Kardashian family. - Fire-prone - After four years of record drought in California, the slightest spark can set a wildfire ablaze. Forests, especially those in the Sierra Nevada, were put through the wringer, with 29 million trees dead -- a number only compounded by an epidemic of bark beetles that eat the trees' roots. California Governor Jerry Brown has even mobilized emergency funds for what he has called "the worst epidemic of tree mortality in its modern history." The dead trunks lying in the forest are equivalent to fuel waiting to be ignited, said Lynne Tolmachoff, a Cal Fire spokeswoman. Another major risk factor is the sheer heat, with temperatures not only poised to set new records but also becoming dangerous in the southern half of California in the coming days. In Los Angeles, thermometers are expected to reach 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) and in Palm Springs, the number climbs all the way to 117 degrees Fahrenheit. "We're only in June. If temperatures continue like this, it's going to make things difficult," said Tolmachoff. The northwestern states of Washington and Oregon are also facing a drought. Last year, Washington state had the worst fire season in its history. The primary fire season is in June and July, and two areas are watched particularly closely -- Alaska and the southwest, according to the website of the National Interagency Coordination Center's predictive services program. "As seasonal drying progresses, expect above normal levels of significant fire potential to remain dominant though at least early July," it added. Firefighters battle an expanding wildfire, the Sherpa Fire, near Santa Barbara, California on June 17, 2016 David McNew (AFP/File) Malaysia to host meeting on MH370 search plans Malaysia said it will host a two-day meeting with Australia and China beginning Monday to discuss next steps in the fruitless search for missing flight MH370. Malaysian state-run Bernama news agency late Saturday quoted a Transport Ministry official saying the meeting would focus on "the future direction of the search operation for MH370". The three countries have said previously they will call off the Australian-lead hunt for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 if nothing is found in a designated search area in the remote Indian Ocean. A candle burns a prayer message for passengers of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia on March 8, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File) So far 105,000 square kilometres (40,500 square miles) of the 120,000-square-kilometre seafloor search zone has been covered without success. Recent bad weather has delayed the expected completion of the search to August, Australian authorities said earlier this month. The jet disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board in March 2014, and is presumed to have crashed into the sea far off Western Australia's coast. A year after marriage ruling, LGBT rights struggles continue NEW YORK (AP) On a Friday evening almost a year ago, the White House was awash in rainbow-colored lights, celebrating the momentous Supreme Court ruling that led to nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage. Across the country, gays and lesbians embraced and partied and in some cases scrambled to arrange can't-wait-another-day weddings. "Love Wins!" was the catchphrase of the moment. Since that ruling last June 26, same-sex marriage has been widely accepted as the law of the land, with only small pockets of defiance. Yet it has not been a year for LGBT-rights activists to bask in triumph, as starkly underscored by the June 12 attack that killed 49 patrons and staff at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. FILE - In this Friday, June 26, 2015 file photo, Hinds County Circuit Clerk Barbara Dunn, right, reads an order by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood that puts a hold on circuit clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples, including, from left, Duane Smith and Knol Aust, both of Jackson, Miss., and Laurin Locke and Tiffany Brosh, at the Hinds County Court House in Jackson, Miss. They were able to get married three days later. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) "We're still living with this random violence that can strike at any time," said Ken Darling, owner of a gay bar in Minneapolis. "We had the White House lit up with colors, the Supreme Court finally acknowledges our right to marry, and at the same time this kind of stuff can happen." In the aftermath of the attack, some conservative leaders have expressed a new degree of empathy for LGBT Americans raising the question of whether the massacre could change the political equation on LGBT rights the way the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing and other acts of violence against blacks helped change the course of the civil rights movement. Thus far, however, there's been no rush by Republican politicians to back a pending LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination bill in Congress or to enact state-level versions of that bill in the many states, including Florida, that lack such protections. Even before the Orlando attack, LGBT gains were being challenged by many of the social conservatives who had opposed same-sex marriage. They have asserted that religious freedom is threatened by various legal advances for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and they are trying to prevent transgender people from accessing public bathrooms and locker rooms on the basis of their gender identity. Indeed, the "Love Wins!" slogan of a year ago has a blunt successor: "We Just Need To Pee." LGBT-rights groups are playing both defense and offense, city by city and state by state. They're working to persuade more jurisdictions to broaden nondiscrimination protections, while fending off lawsuits and legislation by their opponents that threaten to weaken such protections. "There's no question that momentum is on our side for equality," said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "But there's no question our opponents are working harder than they ever have before to roll back our rights where they can." Among the conservative groups engaged in multiple lawsuits is the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom. Earlier this year it lost a bid to overturn a $13,000 fine against an upstate New York couple who, citing their religious beliefs, did not want two lesbians married at their wedding venue. Kristen Waggoner, the alliance's senior vice president of legal advocacy, said such cases reflect "bullying tactics" by gay-rights supporters. "The Supreme Court decision has sharply increased the polarization of our culture," she said. "It's not just about marriage. It's about silencing any dissent, and basically ridding our culture and marketplace of those who disagree." ___ In hindsight, the spread of same-sex marriage came relatively swiftly after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize it in 2004. By the time of the Supreme Court ruling, gay marriages were taking place in 37 states as a result of lower court orders, referendums or legislative action. Since last June, however, the pace of gay-rights advances has been sporadic. There are still 28 states that do not cover gays and lesbians in their statewide nondiscrimination laws. Efforts to change that in Pennsylvania stalled in the Republican-controlled legislature; in Indiana there are plans for a study committee to look into the matter. From the other side, about 200 bills were introduced in state legislatures this year that would have curtailed LGBT rights in some way, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The vast majority of these measures were shelved, defeated or vetoed, but a few have created a furor after being signed into law. North Carolina's legislature passed a law limiting protections for LGBT people and requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate. Mississippi passed a law allowing certain government employees and businesspeople to cite their religious beliefs as grounds for denying some services to LGBT people. Both those measures have prompted strong counteraction. The Mississippi law is already the target of three federal court lawsuits. North Carolina's law has sparked wide protests by activists, businesses and entertainers. Bruce Springsteen was among many performers canceling concerts in the state, and Pay-Pal dropped plans to open a new global operations center in Charlotte. Both sides in the transgender bathroom controversy believe the debate, which has spread across the country, will play out in their favor. Mat Staver, who heads the conservative legal group Liberty Counsel, predicts that a growing number of Americans will oppose moves to rethink traditional male/female distinctions and develop more fluid concepts of gender. "The transgender issue is the Achilles heel of the whole gay and lesbian movement," he said. "It will activate people into pushing back." To James Esseks, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBT & HIV Project, the bathroom debate represents a cynical attempt by social conservatives to rebound from their defeat on marriage. "They think they've got a wedge issue that's a winner with the public, but it's not going to be a wedge issue much longer," Esseks said. "Public opinion is moving." The advocacy group Freedom to Marry, which helped win the right to same-sex marriage, recently put itself out of business in the glow of victory. Its former president, Evan Wolfson, has been following the transgender-rights debate and is encouraged to see a revival of certain tactics that helped win marriage equality. "The transgender movement has worked hard to figure out how to replicate the elements of success we employed sustained, real conversation about who we were, our lives and our shared values," Wolfson said. "Transgender people are now doing that, and we'll see relatively quickly a greater understanding of who they are." The ultimate goal for LGBT-rights activists is to win passage of a sweeping federal nondiscrimination law, the Equality Act, which would extend basic civil-rights protections to gays, lesbians and transgender people. At present, the measure has no chance of passage due to minimal Republican support; activists are hopeful they can win court rulings that would accomplish some of the goals of the proposed act. ___ As for same-sex marriage, national support for it is at an all-time high of 61 percent, up slightly from a year earlier, according to a Gallup poll released in May. In 20 years of Gallup's polling on the topic, it marked the first time a majority of Americans 65 and older joined other age groups in backing legal gay marriage. The high court ruling has provoked instances of outright defiance, but they've been striking for their rarity. In Kentucky, county clerk Kim Davis spent a few days in jail after refusing to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples; Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore has been suspended for steps he took to resist the ruling. On June 25, the National Organization for Marriage a major player in the fight against same-sex marriage will once again hold a march in Washington, D.C. The group's president, Brian Brown, said the high court's marriage decision "will go down as one of the most infamous, illegitimate rulings in the court's history, along the lines of their decision in Dred Scott to sanction slavery." Yet evidence abounds as to the extent to which same-sex marriage has been normalized. There's a congressman from New York, Sean Patrick Maloney, raising three children with his husband. Salt Lake City, home base of the Mormon church, recently hosted a gay wedding expo. And Bud Light launched an ad this month in support of gay marriage featuring comedians Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer. "Gay weddings, they are just like any wedding," says Rogen, who munches on some cake, then joins Schumer in a toast: "To the groom. And the groom." It's impossible to calculate how many same-sex marriages have taken place as a result of the court ruling, but it's certainly in six digits. Gallup calculated last November that there were about 486,000 same-sex marriages in the U.S. 96,000 of them occurring in the four months after the ruling came down. In the 13 states where same-sex marriage remained banned until that ruling, there were many gay and lesbian couples who had waited for years for the chance to be wed in their home states forgoing the option of getting married elsewhere. Among them were Gail Wischmann, a sheriff's office sergeant in Fargo, North Dakota, and Laurie Baker, who heads a local coalition advocating for homeless people. "We didn't want to do it until it could be legal for everyone," said Wischmann, 58, who had known Baker for 20 years before they married on Dec. 26. Wischmann said she and Baker feel fully accepted by their circle of acquaintances and colleagues, yet she is dismayed that the legislature has thus far balked at eliminating North Dakota's now-unenforceable law banning same-sex marriage. "To me it's a no-brainer it's what the Supreme Court decided," Wischmann said. "But there are some people who will just fight to the end." A Dallas couple, Patti Fink and Erin Moore, married on April 1, the 15th anniversary of their first date. Moore, 51, is executive assistant to a county commissioner; Fink, 54, is president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance and co-host of a weekly radio show. They feel comfortable in Dallas, which has a sizable LGBT community, and are somewhat bemused that the state's powerful conservative forces can no longer block couples like themselves from marrying. "They want to treat us like they always treated us, but they can't anymore," said Moore. "It's fun to watch their heads explode trying to think of some new way to discriminate against us." Transgender people have in some ways replaced gays and lesbians as a prime target for Texas conservatives. A Houston ordinance that extended nondiscrimination protections to transgender people was overturned by voters last November, in a campaign featuring the slogan, "No Men in Women's Bathrooms." Now the state's GOP political leaders are leading a multistate lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's push to let transgender students choose which school bathrooms and locker rooms they want to use. Among the other states that held out to the end against same-sex marriage, Mississippi has launched the most aggressive counterattack, passing a law in April saying businesspeople can cite religious beliefs to deny services to LGBT people. The law also lets government clerks cite their religious beliefs to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex partners. Knol Aust, a 40-year-old graphic and web designer in Jackson, Mississippi, wasn't surprised by the law. He was predicting a backlash within days of marrying his longtime partner, Duane Smith, three days after the Supreme Court ruling. In many ways, their life is little changed from the years before that ruling, yet there are some welcome differences, like referring to "my husband" in conversations with other people. "We'd sometimes say that jokingly before," said Aust. "It has a whole new meaning now. It feels good to finally be able to say that." ___ Follow David Crary on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CraryAP FILE - In this Monday, June 29, 2015 file photo, Duane Smith, left, and Knol Aust of Jackson, Miss., kiss during their marriage ceremony in front of the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson, Miss. They were the third same-sex couple married at the courthouse following a statement from attorney general instructing circuit clerks to begin issuing licenses. (C. Todd Sherman/The Clarion-Ledger via AP) FILE - In this Monday, April 25, 2016 file photo, Lee Churchill, of Raleigh, shows her support of HB2 during a rally at the Halifax Mall in Raleigh, N.C. While demonstrators circled North Carolina's statehouse on Monday, for and against a Republican-backed law curtailing protections for LGBT people and limiting public bathroom access for transgender people, House Democrats filed a repeal bill that did not pass. (Chuck Liddy/The News & Observer via AP) In this April 1, 2016 photo provided by John Selig, Patti Fink, left, receives a ring from Erin Moore during their wedding ceremony in Dallas, Texas. At center is Judge Tena Callahan. Same sex marriage was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26, 2015. (John Selig via AP) FILE - In this Monday, June 13, 2016 file photo, Jennifer, right, and Mary Ware light candles during a vigil in Orlando, Fla., for the victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub. On Sunday, June 12, 2016 a gunman killed dozens at the crowded gay nightclub, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (AP Photo/David Goldman) FILE - In this Friday, June 26, 2015 file photo, people gather in Washington's Lafayette Park to see the White House illuminated with rainbow colors to mark the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to legalize same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Report finds Grand Canyon bison are native to region FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) The effort to come up with a way to manage bison at Grand Canyon National Park has taken a turn back in time thousands of years to determine the massive animals' roots. A new National Park Service report declares bison are native to the area and says they perhaps arrived sporadically in small, dispersed herds over the past 11,000 years. The designation means authorities can cull the beasts that have been damaging the landscape but not remove them entirely from the park. The study released Thursday acknowledges the current herd descends from bison that were brought to northern Arizona in the early 1900s by a rancher who wanted to crossbreed them with cattle. But that's just a snapshot of the animal's history in the region, the report says. FILE- This Aug. 26, 2010, file photo provided by the Kaibab National Forest shows bison in the national forest adjacent to the Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona. The hundreds of bison that roam the far northern reaches of Arizona are descendants of the massive animals brought to the region in the early 1900's as part of a crossbreeding operation. But a new report issued Thursday, June 16, 2016, by the National Park Service says thats just a snapshot of bison history in the region. (Kaibab National Forest via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT Bison historically weren't a dominant part of the landscape. But they did appear in the area, which was the edge of their historic range, said Glenn Plumb, acting chief of science and resource management at the Grand Canyon and one of nine wildlife biologists who authored the report. "All the evidence shows that northern Arizona was not a black hole for bison," he said. "It was part of the narrative; the habitat was suitable for them." The study replaces an internal report meant to inform efforts to quickly reduce the burgeoning population from as many as 600 animals to between 80 and 200, and come up with a long-term strategy to manage the bison and have a huntable population outside the Grand Canyon. The animals that can weigh 2,000 pounds or more are trampling vegetation, grazing in pristine meadows and polluting water sources in the park, officials say. Environmental groups say the internal report and the new study are not grounded in science and marked a surprising change in the Grand Canyon's onetime classification of bison as nonnative. Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the new report reaches an absurd conclusion that possible ancient sightings of bison in small numbers make the current herd native to the park. "That is the leap that is hardest for everyone to swallow," he said Thursday. "This was a group of animals, imported, bred with cattle, part of the commercial enterprise and don't fit most people's idea of what native wildlife would be." In 1906, a rancher brought dozens of bison to northern Arizona to crossbreed them with cattle. But the operation produced no male calves and was abandoned. The state now manages the animals. The report points to various factors as evidence of the animals' previous existence in the region: a 2010 survey of bison in North America, bison remains recently discovered at a 3,000 year-old hunting site in southern Arizona, and oral stories from American Indian tribes. According to a Hopi story, Ute tribal members bestowed a herd of bison as a gift during a visit to the northeastern Arizona reservation, and it is remembered through dances today. Paiute tribes have names for the buffalo, and one story recorded by explorer John Wesley Powell describes an encounter between a porcupine and buffalo, the report says. Ruch contends the report reached what appears to be a predetermined management decision that up to 200 bison can be supported in the Grand Canyon. He contends the Park Service is aligning interests with the Arizona Game and Fish Department to appease hunters. Hunting tags for bison are the most sought-after of the state's big game species on lands adjacent to the Grand Canyon. Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain has said he wants state-licensed hunters to be able to participate in any effort to cull the population and be allowed to keep the meat. Visitors can see bison on the drive to the Grand Canyon's North Rim, sometimes grazing near the park entrance gates. The animals have been spending more time within the Grand Canyon where they can't be hunted, but they rarely, if ever, go below the North Rim, wildlife officials say. In recent years, the Park Service has focused on restoring and sustaining wild bison populations across the central and western United States. Plumb said state, federal and tribal officials envision a 215,000-acre area of northern Arizona where bison can roam free, including on 54,000 acres of the Grand Canyon. Millions of bison once roamed the Great Plains, but the number has dwindled to around 500,000 in the U.S. Few bison herds roam freely in areas including Utah and Arizona, with the largest wild population in Yellowstone National Park. The Latest: Celebration begins for student denied graduation NEW ORLEANS (AP) The Latest on the delayed graduation ceremony for Amite High School student Andrew Jones (all times local): 7:15 p.m. About 200 people have gathered to celebrate a Louisiana honors student and standout athlete who was blocked from participating in his graduation ceremony last month because of facial hair. In this May 24, 2016 photo, Amite High senior Andrew Jones, an honors student and standout athlete who refused to shave his goatee and as a result was blocked from participating in his graduation ceremony, stands in Amite, La. Jones is getting the graduation celebration he was denied. Democratic state Rep. Katrina Jackson, of Monroe, and the Rev. Roosevelt Wright III, of New Orleans, are sponsoring a ceremony for Jones after news spread that he was prevented from attending his graduation ceremony because of a Tangipahoa Parish Schools System policy about facial hair. (Patrick Dennis /The Advocate via AP) MAGS OUT; INTERNET OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; NO FORNS; LOUISIANA BUSINESS INC. OUT (INCLUDING GREATER BATON ROUGE BUSINESS REPORT, 225, 10/12, INREGISTER, LBI CUSTOM); MANDATORY CREDIT Democratic state Rep. Katrina Jackson of Monroe and the Rev. Roosevelt Wright III of New Orleans are sponsoring Friday's delayed ceremony for Andrew Jones held at the African-American Heritage Museum in Hammond. Some students from Jones' class and other graduates from the area are expected to participate. ___ 8:37 a.m. A Louisiana honors student and standout athlete who was blocked from participating in his graduation ceremony last month because of facial hair is getting the celebration he was denied. Democratic state Rep. Katrina Jackson of Monroe and the Rev. Roosevelt Wright III of New Orleans are sponsoring a delayed ceremony for Andrew Jones. The new celebration is scheduled Friday at 7 p.m. at the African-American Heritage Museum in Hammond. 4-year-old Iowa boy dies after being shot in the head ELGIN, Iowa (AP) A 4-year-old boy has died after being shot in the head in a small town in Iowa. The Fayette County Sheriff's Office says deputies found the boy with a gunshot wound to his head in Elgin after two 911 calls Friday afternoon. The child was pronounced dead at a hospital in West Union. Two adults and two small children were also at the scene. Authorities haven't released any additional details about the shooting, including how it happened or the boy's name. The Sheriff's Office has asked the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation for assistance. Celebration held for Louisiana student denied graduation NEW ORLEANS (AP) About 200 people showed up Friday to help celebrate a Louisiana honors student and standout athlete who was blocked from participating in his graduation ceremony last month because of facial hair. Democratic state Rep. Katrina Jackson of Monroe and the Rev. Roosevelt Wright III of New Orleans sponsored a ceremony for Andrew Jones after news spread that he was prevented from attending his graduation ceremony because of a Tangipahoa Parish Schools System policy about facial hair. The dress code policy, found in the Student Handbook for grades 4-12, states the following: In this May 24, 2016 photo, Amite High senior Andrew Jones, an honors student and standout athlete who refused to shave his goatee and as a result was blocked from participating in his graduation ceremony, stands in Amite, La. Jones is getting the graduation celebration he was denied. Democratic state Rep. Katrina Jackson, of Monroe, and the Rev. Roosevelt Wright III, of New Orleans, are sponsoring a ceremony for Jones after news spread that he was prevented from attending his graduation ceremony because of a Tangipahoa Parish Schools System policy about facial hair. (Patrick Dennis /The Advocate via AP) MAGS OUT; INTERNET OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; NO FORNS; LOUISIANA BUSINESS INC. OUT (INCLUDING GREATER BATON ROUGE BUSINESS REPORT, 225, 10/12, INREGISTER, LBI CUSTOM); MANDATORY CREDIT "Hairstyles and mustaches shall be clean, neatly groomed and shall not distract from the learning environment nor be a safety factor for any of the school's curricular offerings. Beards will not be allowed. Any hairstyle that distract from the unique environment of a school shall be dealt with by the principal or his/her designee of that school." The new celebration was held at the African-American Heritage Museum in Hammond. Some students from Jones' class and other graduates from the area are expected to participate. Superintendent Mark Kolwe defended the decision to prohibit Jones, a 4.0 student and summa cum laude graduate, from walking with his class at Amite High School, saying rules have to be enforced and Jones received enough warning before the ceremony to shave. A telephone message from The Associated Press left for Kolwe was not immediately returned. Kolwe in an earlier statement noted that Jones was one of four graduates who arrived at the ceremony unshaven. Three of them shaved in a restroom at the site where the ceremony was held with a razor provided by the school. Jones, who had a professional shave off the sides of his beard and neatly trim his goatee, refused. "This policy was explained to the student in question on multiple occasions prior to graduation day, and the consequences for failing to comply with that policy were explained to him and his parents on multiple occasions on graduation day. The student's parents tried to convince him to shave, but he ignored their request ... Andrew made that decision for himself by failing to comply with the reasonable requests made by his parents and school officials that he comply with the rules applicable to all other students," Kolwe's statement said. Amite High School Principal Renee Carpenter declined to discuss the situation when contacted by The Associated Press. Jones and his family have told other media outlets that the rule was not enforced throughout the school year and they know of students with facial hair at other schools in the district who were able to participate in their graduation ceremonies. They refused comment when contacted by The Associated Press, citing a pending lawsuit. "He was unfairly excluded from the most important day of his life," Jackson and Wright said in a statement. "A beard should NEVER upstage academic excellence." Jackson said when she initially heard about Jones' situation, she believed he should have submitted and shaved because he didn't follow the rules. But after hearing that he was allowed to participate in other school activities with facial hair, she believes the prohibition was unfairly enforced on what is generally considered a student's biggest day. "It's wrong to enforce that policy on a young man who had worked so hard to achieve his goals," Jackson said. "Students are responsible for following rules, but we as adults are responsible for enforcing them. As adults, we can't arbitrarily enforce the rules. This was a rule that was never enforced until graduation." Questions rise over Bangladesh jailing 11,600 in crackdown NEW DELHI (AP) Within six days of announcing a crackdown on Islamist militants, Bangladesh had filled its jailhouses with 11,600 new detainees in what seemed like an astonishing display of law enforcement might. The problem is, less than 2 percent of those picked up are suspected radicals, and not one is considered to be a high-level operative. The rest? Most are accused of petty crimes such as theft, burglary or small-time drug smuggling. At least 2,000 are members of the main opposition party, according to its spokesman, while others were believed to belong to a key ally of that party. Analysts, rights groups and opponents of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's secular government now question the crackdown. Was it truly an effort to stop a series of brazen, deadly attacks by Muslim extremists on various minorities, or an attempt to gain political advantage from the fear the killings have generated at home and abroad? FILE- In this June 13, 2016, file photo, Bangladeshi men detained as part of crackdown on extremists are escorted by policemen in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A crackdown on Islamist militants and crime in Bangladesh has drawn international criticism after thousands accused only of petty crimes are jailed. Rights groups and analysts say the government may be trying to prove too much, too fast, in its fight against violent Islamists, while the opposition accuses it of staging the law enforcement raids to stomp out political dissent. (AP Photo, File) Lisa Curtis, an expert on South Asia at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C., said a crackdown on extremists was needed. But given that only 177 of the thousands detained are actually suspected of radical militancy, according to police, she said that the dragnet will begin to look more like a tool to pressure the political opposition rather than a serious effort to stop the attacks. The law enforcement campaign could actually deepen the divide between the secular government's supporters and those longing for Islamic rule, possibly even encouraging militants, analysts said. "The current political deadlock in the country is opening the door for Islamist extremists to gain more recruits and influence, and will make it difficult for the Bangladeshi government to build a national consensus against the extremists," Curtis said. Bangladesh, in addressing the criticism over the crackdown, pledged to refocus its security efforts against suspected militants blamed for the killings of nearly two dozen atheist writers, publishers, religious minorities, social activists and foreign aid workers since 2013. Many of those deaths have occurred in recent months. The so-called "machete attacks" have terrified the country's minorities and triggered alarm in the United States and Europe, where some governments have begun offering asylum to those at risk. In most of the killings, a group of young men cut their victims down with meat cleavers and machetes before fleeing the scene. While most of the attacks have been claimed by either the Islamic State or groups affiliated with al-Qaida, the government denies the presence of either transnational jihadi group in Bangladesh. Instead, Hasina's government accuses local terrorists and Islamist political parties especially the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami of orchestrating the violence in order to destabilize the nation. The two parties deny any involvement. Hasina announced the crackdown last week, after the wife of a police superintendent was shot and stabbed to death. The victim had been an ardent campaigner against militants, and many within the country's establishment were stunned by the attack on someone they had considered as one of their own. Yet police now say the crackdown was never meant to target only radicals, but was also aimed at arresting people accused of trading in narcotics and firearms. While that "special drive" was carried out in tandem with the anti-militancy campaign, it was never communicated to the media until it was over, police spokesman Kamrul Ahsan said. Human Rights Watch said in a statement Friday that while Bangladesh should be stepping up its anti-militancy efforts, it "should immediately stop arbitrarily arresting people without proper evidence of crime" and release those who are not charged. The group's Asia director, Brad Adams, accused the government of trying to make up for "a slow and complacent response" to the militant attacks by "falling back on old habits of rounding up the 'usual suspects' instead of doing the hard work of carrying out proper investigations." Most of the detainees were still in custody on Friday, with their families and friends crowding into police stations, court houses and jails in an effort to pay bail or in some other way secure their loved ones' release. According to local media, that has included bribing the police. Those rounded up this week included two suspects who, under questioning, revealed the identity of a man wanted in an October attack against a publisher, police said Thursday. That suspect, they said, could help authorities apprehend more suspects wanted for the separate killing of another publisher on the same day. Still, most attack suspects remain at large. Authorities have yet to explain why the investigations have been so difficult even as they insist they know who is behind them. The U.S. State Department's South and Central Asia bureau this week repeated its support for helping Bangladesh root out Islamist militancy, while also advising transparency in its investigations and "respect for fair trials and other protections envisioned by domestic and international law." Analysts suggested the crackdown was also likely aimed at placating international concerns about security in the country. "For a long time, Bangladeshi officials have tended to lump together political opponents and criminal adversaries. We may be seeing some recognition that a more professional approach is needed," said Jonah Blank, senior political scientist and expert on South Asia at Rand Corp. in Washington, D.C. A former police chief who served when the opposition was in power suggested the crackdown was designed to cover up the deterioration of law and order. "Police wanted to show the countrymen and the international community that they have engaged all its strength to arrest the killers and stop the attacks," said Nur Mohammad, who served three years as the police inspector general from 2007, when a caretaker government was in office. "Usually, such drives are launched without any groundwork and thus large number of innocent people are nabbed and harassed," he said. BNP officials say Hasina is blaming them for the attacks to divert attention from her loss of control over security. It also accuses her of cracking down on political opponents to prevent challenges to her mandate. Hasina's Awami League party easily won the 2014 elections, which opposition parties boycotted, alleging unfair conditions. "Hasina is playing a dangerous game," said BNP's London-based spokesman Humaiun Kobir. "She is using the crackdown to kill off democratic opposition," and could end up clearing the way for militants to mount their own political challenge. "We think extremists are now trying to come in on the back of democracy," sensing an opportunity among critics who feel the country isn't working, Kobir said. ___ Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report. ___ Follow Katy Daigle at www.twitter.com/katydaigle FILE- In this June 13, 2016, file photo, Bangladeshi men detained as part of a crackdown on extremists look out from a prison van outside a court building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A crackdown on Islamist militants and crime in Bangladesh has drawn international criticism after thousands accused only of petty crimes are jailed. Rights groups and analysts say the government may be trying to prove too much, too fast, in its fight against violent Islamists, while the opposition accuses it of staging the law enforcement raids to stomp out political dissent. (AP Photo, File) FILE- In this June 16, 2016, file photo, officials of Bangladesh Police Detective Branch escort Mohammed Sumon Hossain in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A crackdown on Islamist militants and crime in Bangladesh has drawn international criticism after thousands accused only of petty crimes are jailed. Rights groups and analysts say the government may be trying to prove too much, too fast, in its fight against violent Islamists, while the opposition accuses it of staging the law enforcement raids to stomp out political dissent. (AP Photo, File) FILE- In this Feb. 20, 2016, file photo, local residents watch a police raid on a building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A crackdown on Islamist militants and crime in Bangladesh has drawn international criticism after thousands accused only of petty crimes are jailed. Rights groups and analysts say the government may be trying to prove too much, too fast, in its fight against violent Islamists, while the opposition accuses it of staging the law enforcement raids to stomp out political dissent. (AP Photo, File) Trump's approach to staffing in states unconventional, risky DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) His campaign riled by infighting and Republican revolt, Donald Trump is working to address a battleground state staffing shortage that highlights his reliance on a skeptical GOP establishment. The New York billionaire has slowly begun to add paid staff in a handful of swing states Wisconsin and Iowa, among them even as campaign officials concede the presumptive presidential nominee has little desire or capacity to construct the kind of massive national operation that has come to define modern-day White House campaigns. Trump plans instead to depend upon the national Republican Party to lead state-based efforts on his behalf, while Democrat Hillary Clinton has had an army of staff dedicated specifically to her campaign in general election battlegrounds for months. "It would be disingenuous and wrongheaded to take a playbook that has been used over and over again," said Trump senior aide Karen Giorno, in charge of an 11-state Southeastern bloc including battlegrounds Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. "We are creating the playbook." In this photo taken June 14, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. His campaign riled by infighting and Republican revolt, Donald Trump is working to address a battleground state staffing shortage that highlights his reliance on a skeptical GOP establishment. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) The unconventional approach reflects Trump's disdain for traditional Republican campaign practices and inclination to implement businesslike decision-making. It also carries substantial risk. If, for instance, Trump is lagging Clinton badly in polls come early fall, there is nothing to stop the RNC from cutting its losses and focusing instead on saving Republican control of the Senate or other competitive contests also on the ballot this November. Beth Myers, who managed 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign, said White House candidates have unique needs that a broader-brush approach cannot always meet. "The presidential campaign is going to want to have someone on the ground whose interest is 100 percent Donald J. Trump," said Myers, who is not involved in the 2016 Trump or RNC efforts. "Most campaigns by June would have that person in place in key states." Trump is largely outsourcing what's typically called a campaign's ground game, which includes the labor-intensive jobs of identifying and contacting potential supporters. Ed Brookover, recently tapped to serve as the Trump's liaison to the RNC, says the campaign is making progress on adding its own staff in key states. The campaign estimates it currently has about 30 paid staff on the ground across the country. "There are some holes," Brookover said. "There are fewer holes than there were." Specifically, Trump has added at least one paid staffer in both Wisconsin and Iowa in recent days, targeting two Midwestern states where he hopes to reverse Democrats' winning streaks in the November general election. The campaign has also added for the first time a human resources professional to assist with hiring. Trump's plan to rely on his party's establishment comes as party leaders lashed out at his message in recent days. GOP leaders including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week condemned Trump's renewed call, as part of his anti-terrorism strategy, to impose a temporary ban on foreign Muslims allowed to enter the country. Republican officials reacted with similar disdain after Trump insinuated President Barack Obama may sympathize with terrorists in the wake of the weekend Orlando massacre. Just a week earlier, some Republicans decried as racist Trump's claim that a judge's Hispanic heritage disqualified him from presiding over a court case involving Trump University. Relationships remain strained within Trump's campaign as well as rival factions jockey for influence. The RNC in recent days hired Trump's former political director, Rick Wiley, just weeks after he was fired by the campaign. The move took some of Trump's senior team by surprise, despite the RNC's insistence that it had the campaign's blessing. Committee Chairman Reince Priebus rejected reports of rising tensions between the RNC and Trump's campaign. "Flying to Dallas now with @realDonaldTrump...Reports of discord are pure fiction. Great events lined up all over Texas. Rs will win in Nov!" committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted this week. Amid the uproar, Trump is forging ahead with his unconventional approach to building a presidential campaign. He has largely avoided campaigning in battleground states since clinching his party's nomination, spending valuable time instead in reliably Republican states like Georgia and Texas, and reliably Democratic California. He has also been slow to embrace an aggressive plan to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fund both his campaign and the RNC's ground game. Trump has set his sights on carrying states in the upper Midwest, from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, which have voted reliably Democratic in recent presidential elections, but are also home to white, working-class voters that have fueled his primary bid. In many states, Trump has no paid senior general election staff in place. In a handful of others, he has no more than one. At the same time, the RNC has 483 paid staffers in the field in states across the country "dedicated to beating Hillary Clinton," said RNC spokeswoman Lindsay Walters. Florida has the most staff at almost 60. They're also in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado and Wisconsin. They're not necessarily wholly focused on Trump, however. "We're focused on Mr. Trump all the way down the ticket," Walters said. "We're working with all the different candidates running for election." By contrast, Clinton began placing state-level directors in April, and has such paid campaign staff in at least Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. For now, the Trump campaign's goal is to figure out by the end of the month who is doing what where, Giorno said. "We'll be able to execute by July 1," she said. "Mr. Trump insists on hard deadlines." __ Crews make progress against home-threatening Western fires LOS ANGELES (AP) Firefighters battling home-threatening wildfires in the West caught a break overnight as gusty winds died down but with the region bracing for sweltering heat, Saturday's respite could be brief, authorities said. A four-day-old fire in California coastal canyons was 45 percent contained after 40-mph "sundowner" winds failed to materialize. Those evening and night gusts had driven the flames through steep, brushy canyons west of Santa Barbara on previous nights and forced closure of a major highway. A DC-10 makes a drop on the east flank of the Sherpa Fire in Santa Barbara County, Calif., Friday, June 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) No homes have burned, but about 270 homes and ranches are at risk and campgrounds are evacuated with flames only 2 miles from more densely populated coastal communities. In New Mexico, Gov. Susana Martinez directed the New Mexico National Guard to assist in securing communities affected by a massive wildfire in the central part of the state. Guardsmen will be patrolling and protecting evacuated homes from possible looting. They also will be called on to help with potential flooding. Firefighters took advantage of cooler weather overnight to reinforce holding lines around a blaze that has destroyed two dozen homes. Fire lines were strengthened on the western and southern boundaries of a blaze that erupted in the Manzano Mountains south of Albuquerque. However, erratic light winds were possible during the day, which could drive embers and start new spot fires, the U.S. Forest Service warned. The fire has burned more than 27 square miles about 6 miles northwest of Tajique since Tuesday and spread a pall of smoke as far as Denver. The damage includes 24 homes and nearly as many structures near the small community of Chilili. In Arizona, a fire southwest of Show Low was 30 percent contained. Firefighters beefed up containment areas on the northern and western sides of the blaze. Evacuation orders remain in effect for the community of Forestdale. The fire has burned nearly 19 square miles since Wednesday. Crews in Utah also made gains against three wildfires in the southern part of the state. A 350-acre wildfire near Cedar City was 30 percent contained, but the blaze still threatened 20 structures including homes and outbuildings. More than 1,200 firefighters attacked the California fire, which has engulfed nearly 12 square miles of mountain and agricultural lands. Overnight, crews nailed down lines on the fire's west side, which hadn't moved for days, Santa Barbara County fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni said. However, the eastern side of the blaze was uncontrolled and virtually inaccessible. "It's straight up and down...we can't put bulldozers in there," Zaniboni said. Crews were relying on aircraft water drops and on cutting firebreaks ahead of the flames. They hoped to set backfires to stop the spread, Zaniboni said. The battle had a deadline because "sundowner" winds gusting to 50 mph were expected to return Saturday evening and that could stir up the fire, Zaniboni said. "We're far from having a handle on it," he said. Weekend fire dangers already were expected to worsen as a heat wave will bring potentially record-shattering temperatures across the Southwest. Helicopter drop of the Sherpa Fire in Santa Barbara County, Calif., Friday, June 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Firefighters watch as a helicopter makes a water drop over a wildfire near Santa Barbara, Calif., on Friday, June 17, 2016. The latest size estimate Friday morning is nearly three times the previous acreage, with just 5 percent containment. The fire has been stoked by the region's afternoon and evening "Sundowner" winds, which blast down the face of the Santa Ynez Mountains toward the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Attempt to hold pan-Orthodox synod stalls over disputes MOSCOW (AP) A historic attempt to bring together all leaders of the world's Orthodox churches for the first time in more than a millennium has stalled after the powerful Russian church and three others pulled out at the last minute over disputes ranging from the seating plan to efforts to reconcile with the Vatican. The Holy and Great Council, set to open Sunday on the Greek island of Crete, was to be the first meeting of all Orthodox leaders since the year 787, when the last of the seven councils recognized by both Orthodox and Catholics was held. The meeting is still on, but with the Russian Orthodox Church and three others staying away, its pan-Orthodox aura has faded. Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, considered "the first among equals" since the time when Constantinople was the seat of the Byzantine Empire, has been the main driving force behind efforts to bring together the leaders of all 14 independent Orthodox churches. The gathering, for which preparations began 55 years ago, was meant to promote unity among the world's more than 300 million Orthodox Christians. But in recent weeks, differences that at first seemed minor escalated as the date for the meeting approached. FILE In this file photo taken on Tuesday, May 25, 2010, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, left, and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill tour the Kremlin during a meeting in Moscow, Russia. The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians said a historic meeting of church leaders the first in more than a millennium will take place on the Greek island of Crete despite a pullout by Russia. (Dmitry Astakhov, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP, file) The Rev. John Chryssavgis, a spokesman for Bartholomew, said the 10 patriarchs attending the council met Friday and issued a final plea "even at the 11th hour" for the other churches to attend, saying whatever issues they have will be examined. But he added that the council will go on without them, and organizers say the decisions made by the remaining 10 will be binding a claim certainly to be rejected by Moscow and the others. But Russian Patriarch Kirill reiterated Friday that his church would not attend, saying in a message to the council that he considered the Crete gathering a preparatory session for a synod that will unite all the churches "without exception." "Our prayers will be with you in the days of the work ahead of you," he added. The argument is certain to further fray the brittle relationship between many of the churches. Unlike the Roman Catholics, the Orthodox churches are independent and have their own leadership. They also have different priorities, with some in recent years becoming more inward looking and nationalist, while others have turned more liberal as they try to appeal to a more globalized flock, which has been growing distant from what is perceived to be a conservative faith clinging to centuries-old traditions. The Council was to be an important step not only to show a unity of cause, but to rekindle interest in the faith among an often disparate community of believers scattered in small churches around the globe. But at the heart of the matter is a struggle for spiritual influence over the world's Orthodox faithful between the large, rich and dynamic Russian church, which represents more than 100 million faithful, and the older but far smaller Ecumenical Patriarchate headquartered in predominantly Muslim Turkey. "The Russian Orthodox Church and the churches allied with it are on the rise," said Roman Silantyev, a Moscow-based scholar, and "can afford to resist any compromise." Andrei Desnitsky, a Moscow-based author and commentator on religious affairs, said the rift reflected long-running tensions between the ecumenical patriarchate and Moscow. "Any serious issues related to Orthodox policies reflect a soft rivalry between the two patriarchates," he wrote in a recent commentary. One of the first disagreements was over seating. According to some reports, the Russian church strongly opposed a plan for the ecumenical patriarch to take a presiding seat during the council session, seeing it as an attempt to promote primacy. Instead, Moscow and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church reportedly insisted that the participants sit at a round table. While the seating issue was settled, other disagreements were more difficult to deal with. The Bulgarian church was the first to drop out, citing a lack of "particularly important" topics on the agenda, the seating plan, and the handling of documents. The Damascus-based Antioch Patriarchate said it would not attend unless an ongoing dispute with the Jerusalem Patriarchate was resolved ahead of the council. The two broke relations over the jurisdiction of the Muslim Gulf state of Qatar. The Georgian Orthodox Church cited a doctrinal issue to pull out. Some observers say the three may have been influenced by the Russian church. Because of an agreement that all council decisions should be reached through consensus, the Moscow Patriarchate insisted on a postponement, arguing that the absence of even a single church would make that impossible. Chryssavgis said Bartholomew could not postpone the council and unilaterally overturn the collective decision to meet. "Bartholomew is not the pope, he can't just decide," he told the AP, adding that it can't be ruled out that the 10 churches present could vote for a postponement when they gather. Some in the Russian church have been deeply suspicious of the ecumenical patriarch's intentions, fearing that the council could pave way to closer ties to the Vatican, Protestants and others, anathema for conservatives in that institution. "There are fears that the Orthodox will surrender their positions in the face of the Catholics," Silantyev said. "There are a certain number of priests and some bishops who share that view." "It's a confrontation between liberals and anti-liberals, and Constantinople represents the liberal side," Silantyev added. The "Great Schism" split Christendom in 1054 over the Vatican's power. Despite a landmark meeting between Pope Francis and the Russian patriarch Kirill in Cuba, many in the Moscow Patriarchate and other Orthodox churches do not want any rapprochement with the Vatican. Some conservatives in the Russian church have been critical of Kirill's decision to endorse a set of compromise documents prepared for approval by the council, including one on relations with other Christian churches. "The Russian church's leadership has found itself in an awkward position and preferred to dodge attacks for taking part in the project initiated by its Constantinople rivals, posing instead as keepers of Orthodox unity," Alexei Makarkin, a deputy head of the Center for Political Technologies, a Moscow-based think-tank, wrote recently. The Moscow Patriarchate has tried to downplay the rift, saying that differences could be settled and a council be held at a later date. "We aren't inclined to dramatize it or see it as some sort of catastrophe," Moscow Patriarchate's spokesman Vladimir Legoida told the AP. "We don't see the difficulties that have emerged as insurmountable." ___ Quinn reported from Cairo. In this Friday, June 17, 2016 photo released by Holy and Great Council, leaders of ten Orthodox churches pose for a family picture at the Orthodox Academy of the Greek island of Crete, from left to right, Patriarch Sawa leader of the Orthodox Church of Poland, Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos, Patriarch of Serbia Irinej , Patriarch of Alexandria Theodoros , Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, Patriarch of Romania Daniel , Archbishop of Greece Ieronymos , Archbishop of Albania Anastasios and Archbishop Rastislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. Orthodox Christian leaders meeting for a historic council aimed at promoting unity have made a last-minute appeal to the Russian Orthodox Church and three others to attend the first such gathering in more than a millennium. (Holy and Great Council via AP) FILE - In this file photo taken on Friday, April 29, 2016, Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, center, conducts the service during the Good Friday Mass in the Christ The Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia.The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians said a historic meeting of church leaders the first in more than a millennium will take place on the Greek island of Crete despite a pullout by Russia. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file) In this Friday, June 17, 2016 photo released by Holy and Great Council, Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, second right, and Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos, second left, arrive at the Orthodox Academy of the Greek island of Crete to take part in an meeting between leaders of Orthodox churches. Orthodox Christian leaders meeting for a historic council aimed at promoting unity have made a last-minute appeal to the Russian Orthodox Church and three others to attend the first such gathering in more than a millennium. (Holy and Great Council via AP) Trump verbal volleys leave jarred GOP bracing for convention WASHINGTON (AP) If Donald Trump's Republican Party were a family and its national convention a reunion, a therapist might say there are issues to resolve. For all his harangues, the blustery billionaire remains on track to become the party's nominee at its Cleveland gathering next month. Yet his incendiary comments following the Orlando massacre have rattled the GOP, and pockets of apprehension and outright defiance are, if anything, growing. More congressional Republicans are not endorsing Trump and planning to skip the convention. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., one of Trump's top House backers, says his support among lawmakers "has stalled." And there's a longshot movement among conservative delegates and operatives including supporters of Trump's vanquished rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to change party rules so the convention can pick a different nominee. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally Friday, June 17, 2016, in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) "We're acting to save the Republican Party from imminent disaster," said Steve Lonegan, who chaired Cruz's New Jersey campaign and is helping organize an effort to let delegates chosen to back one candidate vote instead for another. Lonegan, others leading the drive and Cruz aides say the Texas senator is not involved in that effort. Yet even with Trump's poll numbers dipping, many of his harshest GOP critics concede it's likely too late to pick someone else in Cleveland. They say such efforts lack sufficient support, are disorganized and have no alternative candidate. That view prevails even after a shooter left 49 people dead in Orlando and Trump suggested that President Barack Obama was sympathetic to Islamic extremists, saying "there's something going on." Asked what line Trump must traverse before imperiling his own nomination, Trump detractor Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., said, "I don't know, because I think he's crossed it 20 times already." Congressional Republicans aren't hesitating to distance themselves from Trump, who this month asserted that a Mexican-American judge couldn't fairly preside over a Trump civil case. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who's unenthusiastically backed Trump, said in an interview recorded for NBC's Sunday show "Meet the Press" that GOP lawmakers should follow "their conscience" when considering endorsing Trump. Others not supporting him or attending the convention include House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., who for the first time in his 30-year congressional career is not backing the party nominee. Many say, like him or not, Trump won and efforts to dump him would be crushed and would devastate the GOP. According to The Associated Press, Trump has 1,542 delegates, including 1,447 required by party rules to back his nomination, well above the 1,237 needed for victory. One catch: Delegates "bound" to one candidate can vote freely in convention rules fights. Delegates could sour on Trump and approve procedures opening the door to an alternative. "It's a fantasy, it won't happen," said Morton Blackwell, a Republican National Committee member from Virginia who initially backed Cruz. "We have a responsibility to respect our democracy, and that means we accept the outcome of the vote," said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., who supported the presidential bid of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Some are trying anyway. Kendal Unruh, a Cruz delegate from Colorado, is helping lead the drive to allow delegates bound by current rules to one candidate to instead cast a "vote of conscience" for another. Delegates could do so if their original candidate has committed "grievous acts" including scandal, crimes or supporting views "in gross violation" of GOP stances. Ryan, who has said he doesn't want to be an alternative should Trump falter, didn't know Unruh like him used the word "conscience," said Ryan spokeswoman Ashlee Strong. Unruh's group, which Lonegan is helping, is using social media and emails and held a conference call Thursday night to organize efforts to find support. To prevail, Unruh needs a majority of the 112 members of the convention rules committee, which has two delegates from each state and territory. Then, a majority of the full convention's 2,472 delegates would have to approve. There's a Plan B. If Unruh can win over one-fourth support from the rules committee just 29 delegates the full convention must vote on her proposal. So far she's got around 10 supporters though some prefer delaying the rule's impact until the 2020 convention, she said. "Circumstances change and delegates aren't robots," said Unruh, who cited Trump's belittling of a Mexican-American judge as grounds to abandon him. Party officials looking to smooth Trump's convention path are already counting noses. Randy Evans, Georgia's RNC committeeman, says his informal tally suggests it will be a "pretty tall order" to prevent the full convention from voting on unbinding delegates. But he said he expects Trump forces to win a convention floor showdown "pretty comfortably." "They can make everything look tumultuous," Cindy Costa, South Carolina's RNC committeewoman, said of those attempting to let delegates vote freely. But it would be "a big mistake" and would lose, she said. In one indication Trump is moving to assert control, one of his operatives ensured at a meeting of Maryland delegates that the state's two slots on the convention rules committee went to Trump supporters, said Louis Pope, the state's RNC committeeman. AP Explains: In 50-state race, not all states are equal WASHINGTON (AP) The likely Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton race won't be a contest over who can win the most votes nationwide. U.S. presidential contests are essentially simultaneous, winner-take-all state elections to choose electors. Whoever wins a majority of electoral votes that's 270 votes wins the presidency. A state's share of electoral votes is roughly related to its population. So it would seem logical for candidates to focus their attention on the most populous states, which offer the most electoral votes. But that's not the case. Many of the biggest states are reliably Democratic or Republican, so campaigns don't waste much time on them. Instead, they focus on states less predictably Democratic or Republican, the so-called battleground states. The Associated Press explains what battleground states are and why they are important. In the photo taken March 15, 2016, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. The likely Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton race wont be a contest over who can win the most votes nationwide. U.S. presidential contests are essentially simultaneous, winner-take-all state elections to choose electors. Whoever wins a majority of electoral votes, thats 270 votes, wins the presidency. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) ___ THE RED, THE BLUE AND THE PURPLE American political junkies look at the map of the United States and see a patchwork of mostly red and blue. Red states are the ones that usually vote Republican, such as Texas and Wyoming. Blue states are reliably Democratic, such as New York and Vermont. But there are also spots of purple. About a dozen of the 50 states are not consistently red or blue. Those are the battleground states. The biggest are Florida and Ohio. Those are the states that often effectively decide elections. The map gives a clear advantage to Clinton, the presumed Democratic nominee. If she captures all of the states that have voted solidly Democratic in the last six presidential elections, she would start out with 242 electoral votes. Trump, the presumptive nominee, would start with just 102. That number is higher, though, if states that voted Republican in the last four elections are included. Even with Clinton's advantage, she can't reach the 270 votes without winning some battleground states. Or at least one. If she keeps the 242 electoral votes and wins Florida too, she wins the presidency. ___ ALL VOTES ARE NOT EQUAL California has 55 electoral votes. New Hampshire has four. Yet presidential campaigns may try harder to woo voters in New Hampshire than in California. That's because New Hampshire is a battleground state. California isn't. Trump says he can win California, but the odds are against him. The state has voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in the last six presidential elections and there's little indication that will change. New Hampshire leans Democratic, but the votes there have been closer and a Clinton win isn't assured. There's little incentive for either Clinton or Trump to spend precious time and money on states where the outcome appears to be a foregone conclusion. New Hampshire is another matter. That doesn't mean states like California are ignored altogether: Candidates do swing by for fund-raising. ___ BLUE IS THE NEW PURPLE The political map is in a perpetual state of flux, especially because of population shifts. California, which had Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Republican governors, was once a battleground state. An influx of Democratic-leaning Hispanic voters now makes it very hard for Republicans to compete in presidential elections. North Carolina and Virginia had been solidly Republican. Now they are swing states. West Virginia used to be solidly Democratic. Now it leans Republican. Candidates often talk about remaking the political map. This year is no different. Trump says he can win over blue-collar voters in northern industrial states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which have been reliably Democratic. Clinton supporters suggest she could win in Republican strongholds like Georgia with the help of an increasingly engaged African-American population, or even conservative Utah, where the large Mormon population has shown disdain for Trump. Sometimes it's worthwhile for campaigns to target a rival's state even if a win is unlikely. Campaigns try to force rivals to defend the rival's turf while their own candidate focuses on battleground states the ones that really swing elections. Police lock down Chinese village to ward off protests BEIJING (AP) Police have locked down a village in southern China to ward off fresh anti-corruption protests nearly five years after an uprising there made it an internationally known symbol of grass-roots defiance against the ruling Communist Party. A resident from Wukan village in Guangdong province said that police swept in late Friday night to surround sensitive government buildings and take away the village's democratically elected leader, Lin Zuluan, who had planned protests Saturday against illegal land grabs. Local police announced on social media early Saturday that Lin had been detained on bribery charges and urged villagers to maintain social stability and "not allow a small number of lawbreakers to incite drastic behavior." FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, villagers chant slogans as they gather for a protest in Wukan village, Lufeng city, in southern China's Guangdong province. Local police announced on social media early Saturday, June 18, 2016 that Lin Zuluan, the village's democratically elected leader, had been detained on bribery charges as scores of paramilitary police have locked down a restive village in southern China to ward off fresh anti-corruption protests nearly five years after an uprising garnered international attention. (AP Photo/File) The village resident said by phone Saturday that paramilitary police were patrolling Wukan's streets and guarding buildings including the police department, but that shops were open and daily life was carrying on as usual. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal. Another villager said police had established checkpoints and were requiring identification cards for everyone entering or leaving Wukan. Zhang Jianxing, a young Wukan resident who was one of the most well-known faces of the 2011 uprising, has not been reachable in several days, said this villager, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Lin's detention and the heavy police presence appeared to have staved off planned protests against land confiscation and collusion between property developers and higher-ups a common complaint in rural China. In 2011, Wukan residents with similar grievances expelled government officials and police and barricaded the village, prompting a weekslong standoff that was peacefully resolved when Guangdong's Communist Party secretary, Wang Yang, agreed to let the village hold a series of elections to directly elect new leaders. Lin, a protest leader, was named the village's new party secretary after more than 6,000 villagers cast secret ballots in an election that was hailed abroad as a potential model for grass-roots political reform in China. Before his detention, Lin had prepared a speech for Saturday that said the villagers of Wukan, frustrated with ongoing high-level corruption, are "prepared to sacrifice more than they did in 2011" in a new round of protests, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper. On Saturday, Lin's Weibo microblogging account posted what appeared to be a 30-second video, shot in darkness, of his overnight arrest, with the caption "help me, help W K." Zhang Ming, a political science professor at Renmin University in Beijing, said that Lin's bribery charge was "strange" because he did not have the authority as a village chief to sign off on projects that would have presented opportunities to collect kickbacks. The peaceful resolution of the 2011 standoff amounted to a career boost for Wang, the Guangdong provincial boss who was elevated to the Politburo in 2013 and made vice premier. Another standoff would pose a test for Hu Chunhua, the current Guangdong party secretary and one of the Communist Party's brightest up-and-coming stars. But Zhang did not foresee a repeat of the insurrection five years ago, which quickly escalated beyond the party's control. "China today is a much higher-pressure political environment," he said, adding, "But anything could happen." PICTURED: A selection of pictures from the past week Highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see. This week's gallery features images of mourners attending a candlelight vigil in downtown Orlando for the victims of a mass shooting; a man praying inside a church in Santiago, Chile; and Oscar Pistorius, his prosthetics lying on the floor, walking on his amputated legs during a court hearing. ___ Mourners attend a candlelight vigil in front of the Dr. P. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando, Fla., on Monday, June 13, 2016, the day after an attack at the Pulse gay nightclub - the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history. (Loren Elliott/The Tampa Bay Times via AP) This gallery contains photos published June 10-17, 2016. See the latest AP photo galleries: http://apne.ws/TXeCBN The Archive: Top photo highlights from previous weeks: http://apne.ws/13QUFKJ ___ 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/ ___ This gallery was produced by Patrick Sison in New York. Krystle Martin cries as she speaks to the media near a makeshift memorial Monday, June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Fla., one day after a fatal shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A man prays inside the Santo Domingo Catholic church in Santiago, Chile, Friday, June 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) Israeli border police officers stand guard as a Palestinian woman waits to cross the Qalandia checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Friday, June 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) A Pakistani religious student takes a nap in a class during the Islamic month of Ramadan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, June 17, 2016. Muslims across the world are observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, when they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) A young girl watches the laying of the wreath ceremony, at the Hector Pieterson Memorial, in Soweto, South Africa, Thursday, June 16, 2016, next to a painting based on the iconic photo of 13-year-old Hector Pieterson carried away after being shot by police during the 1976 Soweto uprising. South Africans are commemorating the 40th anniversary of a pivotal moment in the anti-apartheid struggle, a 1976 black student uprising in the Soweto area of Johannesburg that led to a deadly crackdown but launched a new phase of opposition to white minority rule. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Imran, 11, holds a tool as he works at a factory that makes metal utensils in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The World Day Against Child Labor, which was initiated in 2002 by the International Labor Organization to highlight the plight of child laborers, is observed across the world on June 12. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) Oscar Pistorius' prosthetics lay on the floor as he walks on his amputated legs during argument in mitigation of sentence by his defense attorney Barry Roux in the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, June 15, 2016. An appeals court found Pistorius guilty of murder and not a lesser charge of culpable homicide for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (Siphiwe Sibeko via AP, Pool) Members of the ancient Samaritan community walk during the holiday of Shavuot on Mount Gerizim near the West Bank town of Nablus, early Sunday, June 12, 2016. Samaritans are descended from the ancient Israelite tribes of Menashe and Efraim but broke away from mainstream Judaism 2,800 years ago. Today, the remaining 700 Samaritans live in the Palestinian city of Nablus in the West Bank and the Israeli seaside town of Holon, south of Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) The shadow of a demonstrator waving a flag is cast on a wall as Greek police officers secure the Greek Parliament during a protest in central Athens, Wednesday, June 15, 2016. Several thousand anti-government protesters gathered in central Athens Wednesday to demand the resignation Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, accusing his government of breaking promises to end austerity and sinking the country deeper into financial distress. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Iraqi security forces advance their positions during the fight against Islamic State militants in Fallujah, Iraq, Wednesday, June 15, 2016. Fallujah has been locked in a cycle of conflict since 2003, when it emerged as a bastion of the insurgency against the U.S. Militant attacks and bombings were followed by sweeping arrest raids, which further stoked local grievances. In 2004, U.S. troops launched two massive assaults on the city, where they fought their bloodiest battles since Vietnam. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) Opposition supporters stand by burning barricades set up in protest over a pro-government MP whom they allege made offensive remarks about the opposition leader, in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The protesters then threw rocks and engaged in running battles with police who fired teargas and chased them through the streets and alleys. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi) Passengers wait to catch a train at Atocha train station during a 24-hour partial strike by train drivers in Madrid, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. It was called by the Semaf trade union. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Accused killer of UK lawmaker makes defiant court statement LONDON (AP) The man accused of murdering British lawmaker Jo Cox gave his name as "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain" in court Saturday, following the killing that has brought campaigning ahead of the country's EU referendum to a standstill. Thomas Mair, 52, made his defiant statement as he made his first appearance in Westminster Magistrates' Court in London after being charged overnight with the murder of the popular Labour Party lawmaker. Mair refused to give his correct name and did not answer when asked for his address and date of birth. Members of the media set up outside Westminster Magistrates Court, London, Saturday June 18, 2016, where Thomas Mair was due to appear charged with the murder of British Member of Parliament Jo Cox. Labour Party lawmaker Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed to death Thursday after getting out of her car in the town of Birstall in her home constituency. (Anthony Devlin/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT Labour Party lawmaker Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed to death Thursday after getting out of her car in the town of Birstall in her home constituency. The rare killing in broad daylight of a British politician has stunned the country and silenced what had been a furious campaign ahead of Thursday's referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union. Both sides suspended campaigning as a sign of respect for Cox, who became the first sitting member of Parliament to be killed in a quarter-century. Major campaign events and rallies are not expected to resume until Monday or later, but there were signs Saturday of low-level campaigning being reactivated, with the "leave" campaign adding new posts to its Twitter feed. Time is running out, and analysts say they expect the campaign tone to be more conciliatory and less confrontational when it resumes. It is not clear what, if any, impact the killing of Cox may have on the referendum vote, which is expected by many observers to be close. Mair was charged with murder, inflicting grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit a crime, and other gun-related charges. Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said in court that a psychiatric report should be prepared "bearing in mind the name he has just given." Mair will be kept in custody at Belmarsh Prison until his next court appearance, set for Monday at the Old Bailey courthouse. He was not required to enter a plea during the brief session Saturday, during which he was handcuffed to a guard throughout the proceedings. Authorities have not offered a motive for the killing. Counter-terrorism police were involved in the investigation looking for possible links, but the charges filed did not include terrorism offenses. Cox was a former aid worker who championed immigrant rights, bringing an end to Syria's civil war and keeping the United Kingdom in the European Union. The day before her killing, Cox joined her husband and two young children in campaigning for the pro-EU cause on the River Thames, where the family had lived in a houseboat since her election last year. Vigils have been held across the country in her memory and Parliament has been recalled Monday to honor her. U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned her husband from Air Force One to express condolences and released a statement praising her commitment and service. "The president noted that the world is a better place because of her selfless service to others, and that there can be no justification for this heinous crime, which robbed a family, a community, and a nation of a dedicated wife, mother, and public servant," the White House statement said. Police have praised the bravery of a 77-year-old man who tried to aid Cox during the attack and was seriously injured. The man is recovering in hospital. The attack has raised security concerns for other members of Parliament who routinely meet with constituents in public meetings. It has long been a tradition in Britain for lawmakers to hold regular "surgeries" in which they discuss local, national and international issues with residents of their district. ___ Pogatchnik reported from Birstall, England. An image and floral tributes for Jo Cox, lay on Parliament Square, outside the House of Parliament in London, Friday, June 17, 2016, after the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament was fatally injured Thursday in northern England. The mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds. A 52-year-old man has been arrested but has not been charged. He has been named locally as Tommy Mair. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Staff from Britain's opposition Labour Party including at the front MP John Cryer, left, the Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party and Iain McNicol, right, the party's General Secretary pay their respects after placing floral tributes for their colleague Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot to death yesterday in northern England, on Parliament Square outside the House of Parliament in London, Friday, June 17, 2016. The married mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds, in northern England. Thomas Mair, 52, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing Cox, outside a library. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage lays a floral tribute for Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot to death yesterday in northern England, on Parliament Square outside the House of Parliament in London, Friday, June 17, 2016. The mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds. A 52-year-old man has been arrested but has not been charged. (Yui Mok/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn prepare to lay floral tributes in Birstall, northern England, for Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot to death in northern England, Friday June 17, 2016. The mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds. A 52-year-old man has been arrested but has not been charged. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT Staff from Britain's opposition Labour Party stand together before placing floral tributes for their colleague Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot to death yesterday in northern England, on Parliament Square outside the House of Parliament in London, Friday, June 17, 2016. The married mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds, in northern England. Thomas Mair, 52, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing Cox, outside a library. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Staff from Britain's opposition Labour Party stand together before placing floral tributes for their colleague Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot to death yesterday in northern England, on Parliament Square outside the House of Parliament in London, Friday, June 17, 2016. The married mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds, in northern England. Thomas Mair, 52, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing Cox, outside a library. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) A Union flag is placed in front of floral tributes in Birstall, northern England, for Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot to death in northern England, Friday June 17, 2016. The mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds. A 52-year-old man has been arrested but has not been charged. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT 3 International Space Station astronauts land in Kazakhstan MOSCOW (AP) An International Space Station crew including an American, a Briton and a Russian landed safely Saturday in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA's Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and the Russian agency Roscosmos' Yuri Malenchenko touched down as scheduled at 3:15 p.m. local time (0915 GMT) about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. All descent maneuvers were performed without any hitches and the crew reported feeling fine as their ship slid off the orbit and headed down to Earth. Helicopters carrying recovery teams were circling the area as the capsule was descending slowly under a massive orange-and-white parachute. Member of the International Space Station (ISS) crew Britain's Tim Peake waves after landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) Support crew helped the trio get out of the capsule, charred by a fiery descent through the atmosphere, and placed them in reclining chairs for a quick check-up. Squinting at the sun, Peake said he felt "elated," adding that "the smells of Earth are just so strong." "I'd love some cool rain right now!" he said with a smile as he sat in scorching heat in his balky spacesuit. After a medical check-up, the crew will change their spacesuits for regular clothing and be flown separately to their respective bases. Maj. Peake, a 44-year-old former army helicopter pilot, has become a hero at home, helping rekindle an interest in space exploration. He was not the first Briton in space. Helen Sharman visited Russia's Mir space station in 1991 on a privately backed mission and several British-born American citizens flew with NASA's space shuttle program. But Peake is Britain's first publicly funded British astronaut and the first Briton to visit the International Space Station. He performed the first British space walk and was honored by Queen Elizabeth II in her annual Birthday Honors List. He excited many at home by joining the 26.2-mile (42-kilometer) London Marathon from 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth, harnessed to a treadmill aboard the ISS with a simulation of the route through London's streets playing on an iPad. Peake finished the race in 3 hours and 35 minutes, a record for the fastest marathon in orbit, according to Guinness World Records. The trio spent 186 days in space since their launch in December 2015. They have conducted hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science. "I'm going to miss the view definitely," Peake said after landing. NASA said the data received would help in the potential development of vaccines and could be relevant in the treatment of patients suffering from ocular diseases, such as glaucoma. For Malenchenko, it was a sixth mission, and he logged up a total of 828 days in space, the second-longest accumulated time in space after Russian Gennady Padalka. Kopra has logged up 244 days in space on two flights. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams along with Russians Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will operate the station for three weeks until the arrival of three new crew members. Member of the International Space Station (ISS) crew Britain's Tim Peake gestures shortly after landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) Member of the International Space Station (ISS) crew Tim Kopra of US speaks on a satellite phone shortly after landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) Member of the International Space Station (ISS) crew Russia's Yuri Malenchenko rests shortly after landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) Ground personnel carry International Space Station crew member Britain's Tim Peake shortly after landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) The International Space Station crew, from left, Britain's Tim Peake, Russia's Yuri Malenchenko and Tim Kopra of US, surrounded by ground personnel, rest shortly after landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA's Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and Russian agency Roscosmos' Yuri Malenchenko descends beneath a parachute near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA's Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and Russian agency Roscosmos' Yuri Malenchenko descends beneath a parachute near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA's Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and Russian agency Roscosmos' Yuri Malenchenko lands near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA's Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and Russian agency Roscosmos' Yuri Malenchenko lands near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) Search and rescue team members roll the Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA's Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and Russian agency Roscosmos' Yuri Malenchenko, shortly after landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, June 18, 2016. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP) UN's Ban visits refugee camps on Greek island of Lesbos ATHENS, Greece (AP) The United Nations secretary-general on Saturday visited camps on the eastern Greek island of Lesbos, where hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants first set foot in Europe over the past 18 months on their way to the continent's prosperous heartland. Ban Ki-moon was accompanied by Greek officials to the Moria and Kara Tepe camps, where about 3,400 people live pending the lengthy process of having their asylum applications assessed. Most reached Greece after a deal came into effect between the European Union and Turkey on deporting refugees and other migrants back to Turkey. Human rights groups have strongly criticized the agreement, saying refugees face poor conditions in Turkey. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, left, puts on a life jacket presented to him by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The United Nations secretary-general has congratulated Greece for its assistance to more than a million refugees and other migrants who flowed through the country towards Europe's prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) Earlier, Ban held talks in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who presented him with an orange life vest jettisoned by migrants arriving on a Greek beach. Ban briefly donned it the wrong way round. He congratulated Greece for its assistance to more than a million refugees and other migrants who have flowed through the financially troubled country since the beginning of 2015, and called for greater global participation in the relocation of refugees. About 57,000 refugees and other migrants have been stuck in Greece since a series of Balkan border closures in March prevented them from travelling further north. The border crackdown, combined with the EU-Turkey deal, has drastically reduced the flow of migrants from Turkey to the Greek islands in unsafe, crowded smugglers boats. Accidents were frequent, and hundreds of people drowned. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visits the refugee camp of Kara Tepe on the Greek island of Lesbos, on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The United Nations secretary-general has congratulated Greece for its assistance to more than a million refugees and other migrants who flowed through the country towards Europe's prosperous heartland. (Manolis Lagoutaris/InTime News via AP) GREECE OUT U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, center, visits the refugee camp of Kara Tepe on the Greek island of Lesbos, on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The United Nations secretary-general has congratulated Greece for its assistance to more than a million refugees and other migrants who flowed through the country towards Europe's prosperous heartland. (Manolis Lagoutaris/InTime News via AP) GREECE OUT U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, center, greets a refugee during a visit at the refugee camp of Kara Tepe on the Greek island of Lesbos, on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The United Nations secretary-general has congratulated Greece for its assistance to more than a million refugees and other migrants who flowed through the country towards Europe's prosperous heartland. (Manolis Lagoutaris/InTime News via AP) GREECE OUT U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, left, wears a life jacket presented to him by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The United Nations secretary-general has congratulated Greece for its assistance to more than a million refugees and other migrants who flowed through the country towards Europe's prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, left, speaks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The United Nations secretary-general is visiting a charity in Athens, ahead of talks with Greek government officials and a trip to the island of Lesbos, which is at the forefront of Greece's immigration crisis. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) Hoax? Rome firm claims new Modigliani but offers no evidence ROME (AP) It's a story almost too fantastical to be true: A flea market dealer finds a painting near a subway trash bin, submits it to laboratory analysis and emerges convinced he has a Modigliani on his hands. No one would believe it, given the modernist master is one of the most sought-after and forged artists around. But a public relations firm in Rome that doubles as the Amedeo Modigliani Institute is claiming a signed portrait of "Odette" could be a real deal. It's putting the work on public view next week saying it hopes to start an academic debate on its authenticity. This picture taken Friday, June 17, 2016, shows art historian Alberto D'Atanasio showing scientific tests results and speaking during an interview with the Associated Press in Rome about an unidentified painting, at left, which is under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani. D'Atanasio said: "Nothing makes me think this is a fake." In November, Modigliani's 'Nu Couche' (Reclining Nude) fetched $170 million at a Christie's auction in New York, the second highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) "I assure you, this isn't a fake and we are dealing with a discovery," insisted Luciano Renzi, the institute's president and head of an eponymous publicity firm. While acknowledging that experts must make such a certification, he said he wouldn't put it up to critical review "if the institute didn't firmly believe it." However, the institute has no role or expertise in authenticating Modigliani works, has a financial interest in drumming up publicity for its exhibit, and even the lab it hired refuses to date the painting. Amedeo Modigliani died in 1920 in Paris at age 35 of tubercular meningitis after a short but intense career that produced masterpieces: portraits, nudes and sculptures, many featuring the distinctive lithe necks of his muses. The most authoritative catalogue of his works, completed in 1972 by critic Ambrogio Ceroni, lists 337 known pieces. The timing of "Odette's" appearance is certainly suspect: In November, Modigliani's "Nu Couche" ("Reclining Nude") fetched $170 million at a Christie's auction in New York, the second highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction. A host of museum exhibits around the globe are planned in the run-up to the 2020 centenary of his death. And it comes as the Amedeo Modigliani Institute tries to recover from a credibility scandal involving forgeries and its past president, Christian Parisot, who was arrested in 2012 on charges he knowingly authenticated fake works. Parisot and Renzi founded the institute a decade ago to house the artist's documentary archive, which had been bequeathed to Parisot by Modigliani's only daughter. The institute wasn't implicated in the scandal, but its reputation suffered by association. Experts cautioned that any purported Modigliani must be greeted with an overdose of skepticism, given the propensity for hoaxes, fakes and forgeries and the financial interests of all involved. Most significantly, "Odette" has no provenance, or paper trail of past owners, rendering it virtually unsellable by any reputable gallery and problematic for any serious scholars to consider. "It's extremely rare that a work would pop up out of nowhere without any previous trace," said Kenneth Wayne, a leading Modigliani scholar who heads the Modigliani Project in New York. "If a work just appears in 1990 or 2016 without any history whatsoever, no exhibitions, no programs, that's a major cause of concern. It's a red flag." The institute and the painting's owner point to two sets of laboratory analyses that they claim date the painting to the first two decades of the 1900s, during the artist's lifetime and before the first Modigliani copies started to appear. The analyses show no trace of titanium white, which only came into use in 1924 and would be a tell-tale sign of a fake given Modigliani's death four years prior. The analyses point to the wood frame, canvas, colors and surface dirt as being consistent with the era in which Modigliani lived, said Alberto D'Atanasio, a docent at a Brescia art academy who was brought in by the institute to give an artistic assessment before going public. "We don't know anything about this painting," conceded D'Atanasio, who is not a Modigliani expert. "Nevertheless, nothing, nothing makes me think this is a fake." But even the laboratory hired by the institute refuses to make any claim about the painting's age based on its analysis. "The paint suggests an ageing years have passed but to bring it back to 100 years, we can't do anything like that," said Luana Casaglia, restorer at the Cooperativa Beni Culturali in Spoleto. "It would be risky for us to say that." Wayne, who hasn't viewed the painting, noted that the absence of titanium white doesn't exclude a more recent forgery using old paint. He also noted that "Odette's" measurements 73x54 centimeters (29x21 inches) aren't found with any consistency in the Ceroni catalogue. Modigliani's portraits often measured 100x65 centimeters, he said. The owner hasn't come forward publicly, another red flag. His Rome-based lawyer, Gennaro Arbia, says only that his client is a flea market dealer who in June 2006 found the painting resting up against a trash bin at the La Rustica metro stop in Rome's periphery. Rats had gnawed some holes in it. Arbia, who previously represented a man claiming to be the son and heir of painter Renato Guttuso, said he sent a photo to Parisot's Paris-based operation in 2006 hoping to get it certified. Parisot's office responded saying there were no elements to suggest it could be authentic and declined to analyze it further, Arbia said. His client persisted and 10 years later Arbia approached the Rome institute with a first set of lab analyses. The institute then hired the Spoleto lab for a more invasive analysis of the paint and accumulated dirt. Arbia freely admits his client wants to sell the work, even though he would be hard pressed to find a collector willing to spend serious money for a painting with no provenance. The institute, too, has a financial stake in promoting it given the publicity for its upcoming exhibit of Modigliani reproductions at a Spoleto arts festival where "Odette" will be shown. And all involved concede that Modigliani hoaxes abound: One of the greatest involved the "discovery" in 1984 of three sculpted heads purportedly tossed by the artist into a canal in his hometown of Livorno. Three young men eventually confessed to having carved the heads themselves with power drills and tossed them in as a joke. What if "Odette" is found to be a fake? Arbia pauses. "The dream is over." ___ Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield This picture taken Friday, June 17, 2016, shows art historian Alberto D'Atanasio speaking during an interview with the Associated Press in Rome about an unidentified painting, at left, which is under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani, portrayed in a photograph at center partially covered. D'Atanasio said: "Nothing makes me think this is a fake." In November, Modigliani's 'Nu Couche' (Reclining Nude) fetched $170 million at a Christie's auction in New York, the second highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) This picture taken Friday, June 17, 2016, in Rome shows an unidentified painting that is under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani. Modigliani died in 1920 in Paris at age 35 of tubercular meningitis after a short but intense career that produced masterpieces. In November, Modigliani's 'Nu Couche' (Reclining Nude) fetched $170 million at a Christie's auction in New York, the second highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) This picture taken Friday, June 17, 2016, shows lawyer Gennaro Arbia speaking during an interview with the Associated Press in Rome. At left an unidentified painting which is under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani, portrayed in the photograph at right. Arbia said that his client, a flea market dealer who wishes to remain anonymous, found what he thinks is a Modigliani in June, 2006, resting up against a trash bin at the La Rustica metro stop in Rome's periphery. In November, Modigliani's "Nu Couche" ("Reclining Nude") fetched $170 million at a Christie's auction in New York, the second highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) This undated photograph made available on Friday, June 17, 2016, by the Amedeo Modigliani Institute in Rome, shows from left, Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso, and French poet Andre Salmon. Modigliani died in 1920 in Paris at age 35 of tubercular meningitis after a short but intense career that produced masterpieces. A recently emerged painting is under investigation to determine wether it is an authentic work by the Italian 20th century master. The painting will be contained in an exhibition called 'Modigliani, Les Femmes' that opens in Spoleto, central Italy, June 24th through Sept. 10. (Istituto Amedeo Modigliani via AP) This undated photograph made available on Friday, June 17, 2016, by the Amedeo Modigliani Institute in Rome, shows Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani. Modigliani died in 1920 in Paris at age 35 of tubercular meningitis after a short but intense career that produced masterpieces. A recently emerged painting is under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by the Italian 20th century master. The painting will be contained in an exhibition called 'Modigliani, Les Femmes' that opens in Spoleto, central Italy, June 24th through Sept. 10. (Istituto Amedeo Modigliani via AP) In this picture taken Thursday, June 16, 2016, at the COOBEC laboratories in Spoleto, central Italy, restorer Luana Casaglia, left, and art historian Alberto D'Atanasio discuss the outcomes of scientific tests conducted over a painting that recently emerged and which is under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani during an interview with the Associated Press. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) This image released on Friday, June 17, 2016, by the Arbia Law Firm in Rome, shows an unidentified painting illuminated with an UV-A light, during a test conducted at Milan's Science Museum's Scientific Laboratories, northern Italy, and part of scientific examinations aimed to determine whether the recently emerged painting is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani. (Arbia Law Firm via AP) In this picture taken Thursday, June 16, 2016, at the COOBEC laboratories in Spoleto, central Italy, restorer Luana Casaglia shows during an interview with the Associated Press how she examines paintings under UV-A light. Luana Casaglia has conducted tests over a painting that recently emerged and under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani Modigliani. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) In this picture taken on Thursday, June 9, 2016, restorer Luana Casaglia conducts tests at the COOBEC laboratories in Spoleto, central Italy, on a painting recently emerged and under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani. (COOBEC via AP) In this picture taken on Thursday, June 9, 2016, restorer Luana Casaglia conducts tests at the COOBEC laboratories in Spoleto, central Italy, on a recently emerged painting that is under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by Italian 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani. (COOBEC via AP) In this picture taken Thursday, June 16, 2016, in Spoleto, central Italy, prints and reproductions of Amedeo Modigliani's paintings are arranged during an interview with the Associated Press in the rooms where the documental exhibition 'Modigliani, Les Femmes' (Modigliani, the women), will open on June 24, 2016. The exhibition, open through Sept. 10, 2016, will contain a painting that recently emerged and that is under investigation to determine whether it is an authentic work by the Italian 20th century master. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) Obama: Teach children to love and cherish differences YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) President Barack Obama asked parents Saturday to teach their children to love, not hate, and to appreciate differences as something to cherish, not fear. In his weekly radio and internet address, Obama said he's thought a lot about parents who've had to explain the shooting deaths of 49 people at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub to their kids. He lamented that moments of silence observed after deadly mass shootings have given way to months of "inexcusable" silence and inaction. He called on parents who want their children to reach adulthood in a safer, more loving world to speak up for it and to speak out about the dangers guns present. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, arrive in Roswell, N.M., Friday, June 17, 2016, on their way to touring Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The President is touring several of the nation's national parks to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Juan Labreche) "They need to hear us say these things even when those who disagree are loud and are powerful," Obama said in the pre-Father's Day address. "We need our kids to hear from us why tolerance and equality matter, about the times their absence has scarred our history and how greater understanding will better the future they will inherit." The president, who has two teenage daughters, said being a parent teaches that some things can't be controlled. "But as parents, we should remember there's one responsibility that's always in our power to fulfill: our obligation to give our children unconditional love and support, to show them the difference between right and wrong, to teach them to love, not to hate, and to appreciate our differences not as something to fear, but as a great gift to cherish," Obama said. Indonesia lets migrants ashore after week on stranded boat LHOKNGA, Indonesia (AP) Indonesia allowed a group of Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka to come ashore in Aceh province on Saturday after confining them to their stranded boat for a week, but is insisting they'll be towed out to sea once the vessel is repaired. Rights groups have criticized Indonesia's treatment of the 44 men, women and children and the Aceh provincial government's plan to abandon them in international waters. The migrants were being sheltered in tents after being allowed off their boat Saturday during rough weather. FILE - In this June 17, 2016 file photo, Indonesian officials load food supplies onto a boat carrying Tamil migrants which have been stranded on the beach in Lhoknga, Aceh province, Indonesia. Indonesia has allowed a group of Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka to come ashore in Aceh province after confining them to their stranded boat for a week. The migrants are now being sheltered in tents after being allowed off their boat Saturday, June 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Heri Juanda, File) Ahmad Samadan, chief of the local immigration office, said authorities still plan to tow the migrants into international waters once further repairs to the vessel are completed. "They are being sheltered ashore," he said. "We still have our initial plan of towing them back to sea." The group was trying to reach the Australian territory of Christmas Island when their boat's engine malfunctioned off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. They had been at sea for about a month after leaving from India in the Indian-flagged boat. Amnesty International has said the minority Tamils may have been fleeing persecution in Sri Lanka. Officials from the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations' refugee agency have been denied access to the migrants. Earlier in the week, police fired a warning shot when six women tried to leave the beached vessel. Some of the migrants appealed for a new boat, saying theirs was in bad condition. "Please help us, this ship is not good. We are going to die with this boat," Fakky Sharen, a 34-year-old migrant traveling with his wife and 18-month-old son, said Saturday during an exchange with lawmaker Nasir Djamil, who visited the group. A 22-year-old woman who identified herself as Artika said she was very afraid because of the boat's condition and wanted to be assisted by UNHCR, the U.N.'s refugee agency. Turkish fighter jets hit PKK targets in the southeast ISTANBUL (AP) Turkey's state-run agency says fighter jets have carried out a bombing run against Kurdish rebels in the country's southeast. Anadolu agency reported a total of 16 PKK targets were hit early Saturday in the district of Lice, including shelters and ammunition depots. Turkish war planes periodically bomb the PKK, or the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which wants greater autonomy for Kurds living in Turkey. The PKK routinely attacks military and police targets in southeast Turkey, where large-scale security operations to flush out Kurdish rebels have left hundreds dead, displaced entire communities and done extensive damage to urban infrastructure. Syrian militants capture government-held areas, dozens dead BEIRUT (AP) Militants have captured two villages from Syrian government forces and their allies in the northern province of Aleppo after days of heavy fighting that left scores of fighters dead, Syrian activists said Saturday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the four-day offensive by different militant groups, including the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, killed 86 troops and pro-government gunmen, including 25 members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group. The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, both of which monitor the conflict through networks of local activists, say militants now control the villages of Zeitan and Khalsa, south of Aleppo city. Nusra Front and its allies have launched several offensives south of Aleppo in recent months, inflicting heavy casualties among pro-government forces. Government forces have meanwhile closed in on rebel-held parts of the city, which have been under daily bombardment. "The situation is very good," a Nusra Front fighter in southern Aleppo told The Associated Press by telephone. The fighter, who goes by the name of Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajer, confirmed that the militants have captured the villages. Hezbollah issued a statement in Beirut on Saturday saying it lost a number of "martyrs" in "direct and fierce confrontations with terrorist organizations." The group denied Arab media reports that said Hezbollah fighters were killed in clashes with Assad's forces and struck by Syrian government warplanes, saying its relations with the Syrian army and other allies are "strong." Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to back President Bashar Assad's forces and has played a key role in a string of government victories. In Aleppo city, shelling killed seven people and wounded more than a dozen in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud. The area is under the control of the main Kurdish militia, the People's Protection Units, or YPG, which has clashed with Syrian insurgents as well as the Islamic State group. In Damascus, meanwhile, Assad met with Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu on Saturday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported, without providing further details. Russia has been a key ally to Assad throughout the civil war and began carrying out airstrikes to bolster his forces last September. Obama says climate change already damaging national parks YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) President Barack Obama said Saturday that climate change is already damaging America's national parks, with rising temperatures causing Yosemite's meadows to dry out and raising the prospect of a glacier preserve without its glaciers someday. "Make no mistake. Climate change is no longer just a threat. It's already a reality," Obama said from a podium, with Yosemite Falls, one of the world's tallest at 2,425 feet, as a backdrop. At the California park, where Obama was spending the weekend with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha, the president also talked about how a rabbit-like animal known as a pika is being forced further upslope at Yosemite to escape the heat. President Barack Obama speaks by the Sentinel Bridge in the Yosemite Valley, in front of Yosemite Falls which is the highest waterfall in the park at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) "Rising temperatures could mean no more glaciers at Glacier National Park. No more Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park," he said, adding that a changing climate could destroy vital ecosystems in the Everglades and threaten such landmarks as Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Obama spoke near Yosemite's Sentinel Bridge, where views of Half Dome, a well-known rock formation in the park, and Yosemite Falls created a picturesque background behind him under a sunny, blue sky. After a night with his family in a rented cabin in the popular park, Obama stuck to his usual routine by rising early Saturday and heading to a recreation center on the grounds for his daily gym workout. Obama's weekend in the great outdoors was planned to encourage more people to appreciate and visit many of the nation's parks. The National Park Services manages more than 400 sites around the country and celebrates its centennial in August. ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap President Barack Obama speaks by the Sentinel Bridge, in the Yosemite Valley, in front of the Yosemite Falls which is the highest waterfall in the Park at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) With a log being used as a buffer zone, President Barack Obama speaks by the Sentinel Bridge in the Yosemite Valley, in front of the Yosemite Falls the highest waterfall in the park, at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Barack Obama jokes that he needs help getting up and is assisted by children as he and first lady Michelle Obama met with children during the "Every Kid in a Park" event at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) The sun rises over Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016, as the Obama family visits the park to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama take a photograph with children attending an "Every Kid in a Park" event at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Barack Obama leaves he podium to greet the crowd after speaking in the Yosemite Valley in front of Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in the park, at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Barack Obama speaks by the Sentinel Bridge, in the Yosemite Valley, in front of the Yosemite Falls which is the highest waterfall in the Park at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Barack Obama hands out tickets for entry to National Parks to children attending the "Every Kid in a Park" event at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) First lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama meet with children during the "Every Kid in a Park" event at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family traveled to Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Secret Service Police work the area near where President Barack Obama and the first family are staying at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Obama family is visiting Yosemite to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Democrats to give Trump 'rude awakening' in summer onslaught NEW ORLEANS (AP) Donald Trump's unconventional campaign is about to feel the heat of political organization. Hillary Clinton and her Democratic allies have invested at least $41 million in commercials in crucial states such as Ohio, Florida and Nevada over the next six weeks, a series of summer broadsides against her Republican opponent. Those messages will be echoed by hundreds of Clinton workers in those same states and amplified by President Barack Obama and other top Democrats. Trump has made few preparations for contending with that sort of well-oiled political machine. His campaign has no advertising plans and is just now hiring employees in important states. Republican leaders are far from in agreement on how best to talk to voters about the polarizing billionaire, or if they will at all. And Trump is running out of time: Early voting starts in Iowa in just 3 1/2 months. In this photo taken June 15, 2016, Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks in Hampton, Va. Donald Trump coasted through much of the Republican primaries largely untouched by his rivals, relying on little more than media coverage of his controversial statements and massive rallies to win contest after contest. That free ride is about to end. Democrats are planning a summer of brutal attacks on the billionaire businessman, reserving more than $26 million in cable and network airtime for largely negative advertising against him over the next six weeks. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) "It's political malpractice," said Mitch Stewart, Obama's 2012 battleground states director and a Clinton backer. "He's in for a rude awakening. This isn't a national vote contest where you can be on cable news every day and dominate coverage. This is literally going state by state and coming up with a plan in each." Clinton's large June and July ad buy comes as a reward for her near-constant fundraising. In May, she raised $27 million in primary election money that must be used before she accepts her party's nomination at the convention in late July. Trump is playing catch up. He did not begin raising money in earnest until May 25, having largely financed his primary bid through personal loans to his campaign. Clinton's latest spots, highlighting her past advocacy for children, are an attempt to reintroduce the returning presidential candidate she lost the 2008 Democratic primary to Obama to general election voters. Her campaign is spending about $23 million on ads by the convention, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG. But those voters are also hearing from Priorities USA, a super political action committee financed by millions of dollars from Clinton's staunchest supporters. The goal of those that $18.7 million batch of ads: cast Trump as a con-man and bully unprepared to be commander in chief. "When I saw Donald Trump mock someone with a disability, it showed me his soul. It showed me his heart," says the father of a young girl with spina bifida, whose story is featured in one of the ads. It's a strategy Democrats successfully used four years ago against Obama's GOP opponent, Mitt Romney. Over that summer, Priorities USA relied on an intensely negative advertising campaign to define Romney as unconcerned with the worries of average Americans. Now, facing an opponent with far higher negative ratings and a weaker political organization, Democrats see an opportunity not only to retain the White House but make a strong play for winning control of the Senate and adding scores of Democrats to the House. In the past week, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have lined up behind Clinton. Her primary rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, is expected to support her eventually. Trump has struggled to win over much of his party's establishment and lacks that kind of a bench behind his message. Many top Republicans, including Romney and past Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, do not plan to attend the party convention in July. Others refuse to answer questions about their nominee, largely leaving Trump to defend himself. "Donald Trump has people hiding under rocks hoping he doesn't know where they are," said New York Rep. Steve Israel, former chairman of the House Democrats' campaign arm. For example, in critically important Ohio, where the state GOP backed Gov. John Kasich's failed presidential campaign, party officials have been unwilling to throw much support behind Trump. Kasich, who had signed a pledge to back the Republican nominee, recently told MSNBC he "just can't do it" unless Trump makes some significant changes. Marc Short, a Republican strategist who advised Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign and previously led political operations for the billionaire Koch brothers' network of conservative donors, said Trump would be in a far stronger position if he weren't still getting organized. "He has been underestimated throughout the process, so I'm hesitant to be too judgmental," Short said. "But it is always better when everyone is singing from the same song sheet." Trump, who has belittled the need for endorsements, has signaled a willingness to go it alone if he believes the Republican leadership is undermining him. "Republicans, either stick together or let me just do it by myself," he told a rally this past week in Atlanta. Undeniably, Clinton's long-cultivated donor network and commitment to fundraising gave her a running start on general election staffing. She began sending employees to Ohio and other states months ago. Trump, who plans to rely on Republican National Committee support, has few, if any staff singularly devoted to his campaign in any of the most competitive states. Clinton's aides argue their early investment will pay off in the final weeks of the campaign. Data analyzed by Obama's campaign in 2008 showed the enthusiasm of his supporters in the last six weeks was higher in areas where the campaign's local operations got an early start, according to former staffers. Greg Beswich, executive director of the Ohio Democratic Party, said of Trump's people: "They're not putting together the kind of campaign you need to win in Ohio, never mind in a number of swing states." ___ Lerer reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed to this report. ___ Follow Lisa Lerer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/llerer and Julie Bykowicz at http://twitter.com/bykowicz German FM warns against 'saber-rattling' toward Russia FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) Germany's foreign minister has warned against relying on "saber-rattling" in the wake of military exercises aimed at demonstrating NATO's resolve to defend members in eastern Europe against Russia if that becomes necessary. Frank-Walter Steinmeier was quoted by the Bild newspaper's website Saturday as saying that a "symbolic tank parade on the eastern border of the alliance" would not ensure security. He argued for "embedding Russia in an international partnership of responsibility" through cooperation on arms control, the Middle East, and efforts to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Members of the U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade take position, during a military exercise 'Iron Wolf 2016' at the Rukla military base some 130 km. (81 miles) west of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Wednesday, June 15, 2016. Iron Wolf 2016, the part of the annual multinational Exercise Saber Strike held in Lithuania, is running in June in Rukla and Pabrade, two training areas of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. In total, over 5 thousand soldiers from 7 NATO allies are training at the same time in Lithuania this year. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) Some 31,000 troops from 24 NATO and partner nations last week rehearsed defensive operations in Poland and Lithuania. German troops were among them. Russia's conflict with non-NATO member Ukraine has led to financial sanctions against Moscow and more attention to military readiness, but Western governments sometimes differ on how tough a stance to take. The 28 European Union member countries last week extended for another year sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region barring imports from there. A different and tougher set of sanctions limiting Russian companies' access to Western capital markets is up for renewal in coming days. The EU and U.S. have said lifting the sanctions depends on implementation of a peace deal agreed in 2015. Alexey Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of Russian parliament, the State Duma, hailed Steinmeier's comment as a "voice of reason" amid what he called anti-Russian hysteria promoted by NATO and its secretary-general, former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. "Steinmeier spoke against Stoltenberg's course for scaring Russia. Some voices of reason could be heard from behind the curtain of threats and hysterics," Pushkov tweeted. President Vladimir Putin, speaking Friday at an economic forum in St. Petersburg, said that the U.S. and its allies have used the Ukrainian crisis to "justify the existence of the North Atlantic bloc." "They need an external adversary, an external enemy, otherwise what's the purpose of this organization?" he said. "There is no Warsaw Pact, no Soviet Union, so whom is it directed against? ___ AP staff writer Vladimir Isachenkov contributed from Moscow. Soldiers from NATO countries attend an military exercise 'Iron Wolf 2016' at the Training Range in Pabrade some 60km.(38 miles) north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Thursday, June 16, 2016. Iron Wolf 2016, the part of the annual multinational Exercise Saber Strike held in Lithuania, is running in June in Rukla and Pabrade, two training areas of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. In total, over 5 thousand soldiers from 7 NATO allies are training at the same time in Lithuania this year. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) A member of the Lithuania's Army takes part in a military exercise 'Iron Wolf 2016' at the Training Range in Pabrade some 60km.(38 miles) north of the capital Vilnius,, Lithuania, Thursday, June 16, 2016. Iron Wolf 2016, the part of the annual multinational Exercise Saber Strike held in Lithuania, is running in June in Rukla and Pabrade, two training areas of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. In total, over 5 thousand soldiers from 7 NATO allies are training at the same time in Lithuania this year. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) Prosecutor wants 2 charged over French police attack PARIS (AP) A French prosecutor asked that two suspects with links to the killer of two French police officials earlier this week be handed preliminary terrorism charges Saturday connected to the murders. There was a morning deadline to release Charaf-Din Aberouz and Saad Rajraji or pursue charges, and the prosecutor moved to prolong their detention. The decision to charge the suspects will be technically validated by an anti-terrorism judge later Saturday. Police officers carry the coffins of the two police officials killed by an extremist claiming allegiance to IS, during a ceremony, Friday June 17, 2016 in Versailles, near Paris. Police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his companion, police administrator Jessica Schneider were stabbed Monday by attacker Larossi Abballa, who was killed in a police raid. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu) Both individuals, aged 27 and 29, had been convicted along with the police killer, Larossi Abballa, in September 2013 for their roles in a jihadi network on the Pakistan-Afghan border and claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group. Larossi Abballa, 25, knifed to death Officer Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and police administrator Jessica Schneider in their home on Monday. Abballa was killed by a police intervention unit shortly after Monday's stabbings, which shocked a country that's been in a state of emergency since November's jihadist attacks killed 130 people. It was unclear whether Abballa had crossed paths in the past with either of his victims. But Abballa had crosses paths with the law, and Commander Salvaing had worked in the Yvelines Department, where both men lived, since 2001. He was appointed No.2 in 2014 at the police station in Mureaux. Abballa and his family lived in the next town over and at one point Abballa apparently had a food delivery business in Mureaux. Abballa was among eight people convicted in 2013 for his role in a jihadi network sending recruits to the lawless border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sentenced to three years in prison, with six months suspended, he was freed immediately because under French law time in detention during an investigation counts toward a prison term, Molins said. A police officers reacts during an homage ceremony for the two police officials killed by an extremist claiming allegiance to IS, during a ceremony Friday, June 17, 2016 in Versailles, near Paris. Police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his companion, police administrator Jessica Schneider were stabbed Monday by attacker Larossi Abballa, who was killed in a police raid. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu) French President Francois Hollande attends a ceremony for the two police officials killed by an extremist claiming allegiance to IS, Friday, June 17, 2016 in Versailles, near Paris. Police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his companion, police administrator Jessica Schneider were stabbed Monday by attacker Larossi Abballa, who was killed in a police raid. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu) Police officers hug as they pay homage to the two police officials killed by an extremist claiming allegiance to IS, during a ceremony Friday, June 17, 2016 in Versailles, near Paris. Police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his companion, police administrator Jessica Schneider were stabbed Monday by attacker Larossi Abballa, who was killed in a police raid. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu) EU seeks talks with Cairo as migrants depart Egyptian coast BRUSSELS (AP) As the European Union struggles to seal off migrant routes into the continent, people seeking sanctuary or work in Europe are turning to a longer, more expensive option. Mostly Syrians, but also other nationals, are increasingly setting out from Egypt, boarding bigger boats for sea voyages of up to 10 days toward Italy, as the EU, NATO and Turkish coast guard tighten controls in the Aegean Sea. The coastline near the port city of Alexandria is a preferred jumping off point. The problem has become so acute that the EU is seeking talks with Egyptian authorities to see what can be done. Andreas Tsigkanas, who is first mate on board the "Aquarius", jokes around with colleagues at the ship while out on the Meditarranean sea, Wednesday, June 15, 2016. A total of seven humanitarian organizations work in the so-called 'Search and Rescue' (SAR) zone near the Libyan coast. The medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the rescue group SOS Mediteranee work together on board the ship to rescue migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) The EU's border agency, Frontex, says that some 19,000 migrants arrived in Italy last month, in part due to "a growing number of departures from Egypt." The deputy director of the European Commission's migration and home affairs department, Olivier Onidi, told EU lawmakers this week that talks with Egypt are needed "to try to better understand why this is happening." According to experts, some migrants, many of them Syrian, are paying up to $5,000 to leave Egypt in ships. These vessels meet up south of Italy with smaller boats coming from Libya and bound for the Italian coast so the passengers can transfer. Some Egyptian police are thought to be working with the smugglers. Tuesday Reitano, from the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, says the Egyptian migrant route "is the business class departure point." "Whereas people pay 1000-1,500 dollars to depart from Libya, you would pay 3-5,000 dollars to depart from Egypt and you would have a totally different class of voyage," she said. The trip west takes more than a week. Food and water is stored onboard and vessels have a proper crew. Unlike on the perilous crossings from Libya, few incidents of migrant abuse have been reported. The route is not new - such departures have been going on since 2011 - but given the way the smugglers work, with transfers happening at sea, the operations are almost impossible to detect. Any EU talks with Egyptian officials are unlikely to be easy. It comes even as the 28-nation bloc steps up financial assistance to the country under a migration partnership scheme it is developing with several nations, most of them in Africa. "It's a very discreet, very effective, highly corrupt industry that's been going out of Egypt the whole time," Reitano said. "It's really well sewn up. It's very, very organized." It's also a variation on an old theme. According to Frontex, smuggling networks in Egypt used to use small fishing boats but switched a few years ago to larger "mother ships" with strings of fishing boats towed behind. On leaving Egypt, the migrants were stowed in the mother ship. Once close to the Italian shore, migrants were transferred to the fishing boats while the mother ship returned to port. It's a modus operandi that makes it difficult to track where migrants are coming from and who is smuggling them in. Zimbabwe: Ostracized albinos describe life as hell on earth HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) Loveness Mainato was admitted into a hospital with severe depression after giving birth to a second child with albinism. Her husband deserted her, and some of her relatives accused her of being cursed. Rejected, ostracized and laughed at, albinos and their parents in Zimbabwe describe life in a country with little tolerance for them as hell on earth. It is a regional concern. In neighboring Malawi, 18 albino people have been killed since 2014 because they are targeted for their body parts, according to a report this month by Amnesty International. Similar murders also have been reported in Tanzania. An Albino child, centre, joins marchers on the streets of Harare during belated World Albinism Awareness Day in the capital Harare, Saturday, June, 18, 2016. Rejected, ostracized and laughed at, albinos and their parents in Zimbabwe describe life in a country with little tolerance for them as hell on earth. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) No such killings have been recorded in Zimbabwe so far. But albinos and their parents say life is just as tough because of deeply rooted myths and prejudices. Some believe sleeping with albinos can cure HIV, while others see albinism as a curse, said Anderson Chimusoro, a World Health Organization disease prevention and control officer in the capital, Harare. And deteriorating economic conditions in Zimbabwe mean many albino people struggle to get skin lotions and other medicines, said Nesbert Mudzviti, an occupational therapist born with albinism. WHO estimates that 39,000 people out of the southern African country's 13 million people are born with albinism. "Many of us die a little inside each time we step into the public," said Gwen Marange, an albino who said she divorced her husband because he made fun of her condition. She said men whistle and verbally abuse her when she walks in the streets. Mainato is not an albino, but two of her four children are. After the second was born, her husband married their maid and walked out on her, saying he couldn't risk another albino child, she said. "My landlord would tell me to hide my children each time there were visitors," said Mainato, who formed the Albino Charity Organization in 2009 after overcoming her depression. Both she and Marange spoke in Harare at an event organized by the United Nations on June 15 to mark International Albinism Awareness Day. An Albino woman looks at herself in the mirror after getting her make up done during belated World Albinism Awareness Day in the capital Harare, Saturday, June, 18, 2016. Rejected, ostracized and laughed at, albinos and their parents in Zimbabwe describe life in a country with little tolerance for them as hell on earth. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Members of the Albino community talks with colleagues during belated World Albinism Awareness Day in the capital Harare, Saturday, June, 18, 2016. Rejected, ostracized and laughed at, albinos and their parents in Zimbabwe describe life in a country with little tolerance for them as hell on earth. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) An Albino child and his friend follow proceedings during belated World Albinism Awareness Day in the capital Harare, Saturday, June, 18, 2016. Rejected, ostracized and laughed at, albinos and their parents in Zimbabwe describe life in a country with little tolerance for them as hell on earth. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) An Albino girl gets her make up done during belated World Albinism Awareness Day in the capital Harare, Saturday, June, 18, 2016. Rejected, ostracized and laughed at, albinos and their parents in Zimbabwe describe life in a country with little tolerance for them as hell on earth. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) An Albino child marches on the streets of Harare during belated World Albinism Awareness Day in the capital Harare, Saturday, June, 18, 2016. Rejected, ostracized and laughed at, albinos and their parents in Zimbabwe describe life in a country with little tolerance for them as hell on earth. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) A mother holds her Albino child during a march on the streets of Harare to commemorate World Albinism Awareness Day in the capital Harare, Saturday, June, 18, 2016. Rejected, ostracized and laughed at, albinos and their parents in Zimbabwe describe life in a country with little tolerance for them as hell on earth. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Lawyers for Ferguson seek any Michael Brown juvenile records KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) The city of Ferguson and other defendants in a wrongful-death lawsuit by Michael Brown's parents are seeking access to any juvenile records of the black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2014 a request once rejected by a judge after a newspaper and blog sought such documents. The motion, filed this month, seeks St. Louis County family court records concerning outcomes of any Brown-related juvenile cases "or records of any alleged delinquent acts committed by or pertaining to" him. The motion argues that any such information "is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence" in the lawsuit against the St. Louis suburb, former Police Chief Thomas Jackson and Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed the unarmed Brown during an August 2014 confrontation. Brown's parents "have no standing to assert any privilege with respect to the requested information," and at the time of Brown's death "the interest in safeguarding the confidentiality of any juvenile court records became less compelling," according to the motion, scheduled for a hearing Thursday. The filing, first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, claims a "legitimate interest" in the records without elaborating. FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2014 file photo, the parents of Michael Brown, Lesley McSpadden, left, and Michael Brown, Sr., right, sit for an interview with The Associated Press in Washington. Attorneys representing Ferguson, Mo., its former police chief and an ex-officer in a wrongful-death lawsuit by Brown's parents are pressing the latest quest for access to any of the late 18-year-old's juvenile records. Anthony Gray, a Brown family attorney, has said any brush by Brown with the juvenile court system is irrelevant to whether Brown's 2014 death resulted from excessive police force.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) Peter Dunne, the attorney who filed the motion, did not reply Friday to requests for an interview. Anthony Gray, an attorney for Brown's family, said that even if Brown had a brush with the juvenile court system including for such low-level offenses as truancy those details are irrelevant to whether his death resulted from excessive force. "This is just a smear tactic, a smear campaign," Gray told The Associated Press. Wilson's "decision to use deadly force has to be predicated on what he knew at the time (of his confrontation with Brown) and the circumstances he was facing," not anything about his past. "It is my full anticipation (searchers of Brown's juvenile past) will find nothing of any significance or relevance," Gray added. "If there is something there that would go to Michael Brown's propensity as to what happened (during his encounter with Wilson), we would have known that by now." Police have said Brown had no adult criminal record. Juvenile records are confidential in Missouri, although being charged with certain violent crimes removes those privacy protections. In September 2014, a month after Brown's death, another St. Louis County family court judge denied without offering an explanation a request by the Post-Dispatch and California blog GotNews.com to release any Brown juvenile records. At a hearing, a juvenile court system lawyer said Brown did not face any juvenile charges at the time he died and never was convicted of a serious felony such as murder, robbery or burglary. It's unclear whether Brown had ever faced lesser offenses as a juvenile. A St. Louis County grand jury's November 2014 decision to not indict Wilson rekindled sometimes-violent protests that immediately followed Brown's death. Wilson later resigned. The U.S. Justice Department ultimately concluded that evidence backed Wilson's claim that he shot Brown in self-defense after Brown first tried to grab the officer's gun during a struggle through the window of Wilson's police vehicle, then came toward him threateningly after briefly running away. The latest motion over juvenile records came after a federal judge ordered that both sides in the lawsuit be given unredacted transcripts of the grand jury proceedings involving Wilson, marking the first time anyone outside of the secret proceedings will see its uncensored workings. Gay leaders turn to old nemesis, the police, for safety Decades ago, an early morning raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York sparked violent protests among gay patrons who fought back after police burst in and tried to arrest them for daring to drink and dance with members of the same sex. Nearly 50 years later, officers armed with assault rifles stand guard outside the historic bar, protecting patrons after a gunman in Florida staged a massacre at a gay nightclub and spread fear of more attacks. The irony isn't lost on the gay community that used to see police as the oppressor and counts the 1969 Stonewall Inn raid as the start of the gay rights movement. FILE - In this June 12, 2016 file photo, an armed police officer stands guard outside the Stonewall Inn, in New York. Decades ago, an early morning raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York sparked violent protests among gay patrons who fought back after police burst in and tried to arrest them for daring to drink and dance with members of the same sex. Nearly 50 years later, officers armed with assault rifles stand guard outside the historic bar, protecting patrons after a gunman in Florida massacred a gay nightclub and spread fear of more attacks. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) "Once upon a time they hit us with nightsticks, and now they're our protectors," said Gil Horowitz, 80, a retired research psychologist in New York who took part in the riots at Stonewall. At gay pride parades this weekend, that evolution will be on display in cities like Denver, where the first parade in 1975 was in response to police raids on gay bars and arrests of gay men. On Sunday, police will march in solidarity and will have a robust presence among the crowd of 300,000 plus people. "That's a snapshot of 40 years of progress," said Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, named for the University of Wyoming gay student who died after he was beaten and tied to a fence by two men in 1998. Living an open gay lifestyle was unheard of across most of the U.S. just decades ago, and police routinely raided private gay clubs. During the raids, vice officers would beat the patrons sometimes the targets were those not wearing sex-appropriate clothing and arrest them on morals charges. The persecution reflected views in society at large: Until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental disorder, and it was only in 2003 that a Supreme Court ruling declared state sodomy laws to be an unconstitutional violation of personal privacy. The change in attitude didn't happen overnight, and it doesn't mean echoes of the past don't resurface, even in places seen as progressive. In San Francisco, the police department has been shamed by the recent discovery of racist and homophobic text messages traded by officers. And a long-standing undercover police tactic in the Southern California city of Long Beach was dealt a blow last month when a judge dismissed lewd conduct and indecent exposure charges against a man arrested in a public bathroom. The judge said police improperly targeted gay men in the sting operation. Numerous studies in the past six years have shown there is still a strong distrust of law enforcement, especially among LGBT people feeling bias, harassment or being assaulted by law enforcement, said Jeremy Goldbach, assistant professor at the University of Southern California School of Social Work. "The relationship has changed in some ways, but I don't know it has changed as much as we would like to think," he said. But in cities across the U.S., police officers who once were criticized for enforcing outdated laws are instead undergoing robust LGBT cultural sensitivity training. Atlanta's police department has two full-time officers assigned as LGBT liaisons. Officer Eric King, one of the liaisons, said they try to regularly visit and keep in touch with businesses that focus or draw LGBT customers. King, who is gay, said building a direct line of communication is important to build trust. He hopes LGBT leaders, working with city and police officials, can develop a plan that makes people feel secure but not "like big brother is watching." "I wouldn't want there to be an overconcentration of police where people are always in fear, but I do want them to know we're present if you need us," King said. While large departments for years have been more welcoming to the gay community and many have gay officers on the force, rural, conservative states are trying to catch up, too. In the Idaho communities of Boise and Pocatello and in Missoula, Montana, officers are assigned as liaisons to the gay community. More people are openly gay and demanding they be treated as just another part of the larger community. Montana state Sen. Diana Sands said that is driving the shift in attitude. "That change has been revolutionary in the last decade," said Sands, who is gay. In Anchorage, Alaska, Police Chief Christopher Tolley will march in the city's parade, and has ordered extra officers to be on scene, not because there's been an identified threat but to show support for the LGBT community. And in Juneau, at a gay pride festival last weekend, a woman wearing a pride T-shirt asked a police officer if her shirt made her a target. "I am here to put myself between anyone who would hurt you and that T-shirt," Lt. Kris Sell told her. Looking back over nearly 50 years of progress, Horowitz, who was arrested during the second night of rioting at the Stonewall Inn, said even if things haven't come as far as they need to, the changes in society have meant there is at least the appearance of acceptance. "Police were homophobic at that time, maybe still a little bit. They understand now they're not supposed to exhibit it," Horowitz said. "If they act as if they accept us, whether they do or not, that's all we can really ask." ___ Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in New York; Kathleen Foody in Atlanta; Janie Har in San Francisco; Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Matt Volz in Helena, Montana; and Ben Neary in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report. In this June 15, 2016 photo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, second from left, and New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, fourth from left, in front of de Blasio, stand during the presentation of colors, which includes the rainbow flag, during a Gay Officers Action League Ceremony at police headquarters in New York. The change in attitude from the days of police brutally rounding up men under vice laws to now undergoing robust LGBT cultural sensitive training didn't happen overnight, and it isn't complete. While large departments for years have been more welcoming to the gay community and many have gay officers on the force, rural, conservative states are trying to catch up, too. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) FILE- In this June 12, 2016 file photo, a heavily armed police officer stands guard in New York's Greenwich Village neighborhood, as a man arrives to the makeshift memorial near the Stonewall Inn for the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. The change in attitude from the days of police brutally rounding up men under vice laws to now undergoing robust LGBT cultural sensitive training didn't happen overnight, and it isn't complete. While large departments for years have been more welcoming to the gay community and many have gay officers on the force, rural, conservative states are trying to catch up, too. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File) FILE- In this Aug. 31, 1970 file photo, a NYPD officer grabs a youth by the hair as another officer clubs a young man during a confrontation in Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march in New York. Decades after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn bar in New York sparked the gay rights movement, gay community leaders from across the country have been turning to an old nemesis - police departments - to ensure safety at bars, clubs and pride parades after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (AP Photo/File) In this June 13, 2016 photo, the Juneau Police Department's Kris Sell joins residents attending a noon vigil at Marine Park in Juneau, Alaska, for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings. Gay community leaders from Atlanta to Alaska have been turning to an old nemesis, police departments, to ensure safety at bars, clubs and pride parades after Sunday's attack at an Orlando nightclub. The irony hasn't been lost on the gay community that used to see police as the oppressor and counts the 1969 Stonewall Inn raid as the start of their movement. (Michael Penn/The Juneau Empire via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT FILE- In this June 30, 2013 file photo, members of the Gay Officers Action League of the New York police department are cheered during the gay pride march in New York. The change in attitude from the days of police brutally rounding up men under vice laws to now undergoing robust LGBT cultural sensitive training didn't happen overnight, and it isn't complete. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File) FILE - In this June 30, 2013 file photo, members of the New York City Police Department carry flags, including one with the rainbow colors, during New York's Gay Pride Parade in New York. The change in attitude from the days of police brutally rounding up men under vice laws to now undergoing robust LGBT cultural sensitive training didn't happen overnight, and it isn't complete. But large departments for years have been more welcoming to the gay community and also welcome gay officers into their police forces. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File) FILE- In this July 24, 2011 file photo, Bryan Gregory, second from right, and his partner Mike Humberstone, stop to talk with members of the New York Police Department about the process after getting their marriage license. The change in attitude from the days of police brutally rounding up men under vice laws to now undergoing robust LGBT cultural sensitive training didn't happen overnight, and it isn't complete. But large departments for years have been more welcoming to the gay community and also welcome gay officers into their police forces. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File) FILE - In this June 24, 2011 file photo, people celebrate in front of the Stonewall Inn bar, right, after the passing of the state's same sex marriage bill, in New York. Decades after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn sparked the gay rights movement, gay community leaders from across the country have been turning to an old nemesis - police departments - to ensure safety at bars, clubs and pride parades after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano, File) FILE- In this March 16, 1996 file photo, protesters from the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization are carried away by police officers at 62nd Street and Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York. Decades after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn bar in New York sparked the gay rights movement, gay community leaders from across the country have been turning to an old nemesis - police departments - to ensure safety at bars, clubs and pride parades after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel, File) FILE- In this March 17, 1992 file photo, New York City police officers on motorcycles escort about 1,000 green-clad members of the Irish Gay and Lesbian Organization, who were barred from marching in the St. Patrick's Day parade, in their own mini-march up New York's Fifth Avenue. Decades after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn bar in New York sparked the gay rights movement, gay community leaders from across the country have been turning to an old nemesis - police departments - to ensure safety at bars, clubs and pride parades after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File) In this June 15, 2016 photo, with the message "NYPD Out And Proud" displayed in rainbow colors on a screen behind him, Detective Brian Downey speaks during a Gay Officers Action League Ceremony at police headquarters in New York. The change in attitude from the days of police brutally rounding up men under vice laws to now undergoing robust LGBT cultural sensitive training didn't happen overnight, and it isn't complete. While large departments for years have been more welcoming to the gay community and many have gay officers on the force, rural, conservative states are trying to catch up, too. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) In this June 15, 2016 photo, participants stand as the names of the victims of the Orlando attacks are recited during a Gay Officers Action League Ceremony at police headquarters, in New York. The change in attitude from the days of police brutally rounding up men under vice laws to now undergoing robust LGBT cultural sensitive training didn't happen overnight, and it isn't complete. While large departments for years have been more welcoming to the gay community and many have gay officers on the force, rural, conservative states are trying to catch up, too. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Undocumented Cubans found on rugged island off Puerto Rico SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Authorities in Puerto Rico have detained 10 undocumented Cuban nationals who landed on an uninhabited island off the U.S. Caribbean territory. A statement from the island's police force says seven women and three men were found early Saturday on rugged Mona Island west of Puerto Rico's mainland. All were reported in good health. Coast Guard authorities will transport the Cubans to the Puerto Rican coastal town of Aguadilla later in the day so authorities can determine their immigration status. Under the U.S. "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil are generally allowed to remain in this country. Those intercepted at sea usually go back. Restoration done on vessel that sank more than 300 years ago AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Archeologists have finished restoring the partial remains of a frigate that was carrying French colonists to the New World when it sank in a storm off the Texas coast more than 300 years ago. The restored remains of the La Belle's hull will be put on display at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas A&M University said in a statement sent Friday to The Associated Press. "When excavated, the archaeological site was found full of merchandise everything requisite to form a colony and establish trade knives, axe heads, pottery, tiny glass beads, bottles and brass pins," Peter Fix, Texas A&M's watercraft conservator, said in the news release. "Personal items including clothing, combs, and even a signet ring were found, and also weaponry such as long guns, lead shot, sword parts and three bronze cannons." This undated handout photo provided by Texas A&M shows the La Belle, one of four ships under the command of French explorer La Salle. A team of archeologists has completed the restoration of the partial remains of the frigate that was carrying French colonists to the New World when it sank in a storm off the Texas coast more than 300 years ago. (Texas A&M University via AP) The 54-foot-long oak frigate sunk in 1686 during an expedition led by famed Mississippi River explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle. Faulty maps led the colonists to miss their intended destination, the Mississippi River delta, and arrive more than 400 miles away along the Texas coast. The La Belle's sinking is blamed for dooming France's further exploration of what would become Texas and the American Southwest. But La Salle's short-lived Fort St. Louis near the shipwreck site in Matagorda Bay, about 100 miles southwest of present-day Houston, also convinced Spain to boost its presence in the region to ward off a feared French territorial expansion. The keel and other large structural pieces of the ship that resemble old railroad ties were discovered in 1995 by Texas Historical Commission archaeologists. Researchers built a dam around the site, pumped it dry and then retrieved the nearly intact hull, which had been preserved in up to 6 feet of mud. In 2012, the 600 waterlogged pieces were taken to Texas A&M, where the timber was stored at 60 degrees below zero in the world's largest archaeological freeze-dryer to remove more than three centuries of moisture. La Salle was the first European to travel the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming all of the land along the river and its tributaries for France in 1682. This undated photo provided by Texas A&M shows the La Belle, one of four ships under the command of French explorer La Salle. A team of archeologists has completed the restoration of the partial remains of the frigate that was carrying French colonists to the New World when it sank in a storm off the Texas coast more than 300 years ago. (Texas A&M University via AP) Russia's defense minister visits Syria, meets Assad MOSCOW (AP) Russia's defense minister visited Syria on Saturday to meet the country's leader and inspect the Russian air base there, a high-profile trip intended to underline Moscow's role in the region. Sergei Shoigu met with President Bashar Assad in Damascus for talks that focused on cooperation between the two militaries and "some aspects of cooperation in the fight against terrorist groups," the Russian Defense Ministry said. It said Shoigu held talks with Assad on orders from President Vladimir Putin. The visit comes a day after President Vladimir Putin suggested that some in the Syrian opposition could join the Cabinet to help advance the stalled peace process. Syrian President Bashar Assad shakes hands with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, June 18, 2016. Russia's defense minister visited Syria on Saturday to meet the country's leader and inspect the Russian air base there, a high-profile trip intended to underline Moscow's role in the region. (Vadim Savitsky/ Russian Defense Ministry Press Service pool photo via AP) Shoigu also visited the Hemeimeem air base in the coasvival province of Lattakia, where he met with pilots and inspected their quarters, according to the Defense Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov. Russia has conducted an air campaign in Syria since last September, helping Assad's forces win back some ground. Putin pulled back some of Russia's warplanes in March in what he described as a move to help encourage peace talks, but the military has maintained a strong presence at Hemeimeem. A U.S.- and Russian- brokered cease-fire that began on Feb. 27 has helped reduce hostilities, but fierce fighting has continued in many areas, particularly around Aleppo. The Islamic State group and the al-Qaida branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, have been excluded from the truce. Fighting around Aleppo and other areas in Syria has escalated in recent weeks, and Russia has recently issued an ultimatum for the U.S.-backed opposition units to leave Nusra-controlled areas or face air strikes, but later agreed to give more time for them to pull out. Russia and the U.S. have traded mutual accusations over the truce. The U.S. accused Moscow of failing to prevent violations by Assad's forces, while Russia criticized the U.S. for its failure to encourage opposition groups it backed to pull out from areas controlled by Nusra. The Pentagon said it held a video conference Saturday with the Russian military to discuss Russian air strikes conducted Thursday on the At-Tanf border garrison, striking Syrian opposition forces fighting the Islamic State group. "Russia's continued strikes at At-Tanf, even after U.S. attempts to inform Russian forces through proper channels of ongoing coalition air support to the counter-ISIL forces, created safety concerns for U.S. and coalition forces," it said in a statement. The video conference was held as part of bilateral communications channels intended to prevent incidents in the crowded skies over Syria. The cease-fire is meant as a first step to a political solution that could end the civil war. Putin said Friday that creating a new government that will have the trust of most of Syria's population is key to ending the five-year conflict. He said that this goal can be achieved only through drafting a new constitution and holding new elections. The Russian leader also welcomed what he described as a U.S. proposal to "think about incorporating some opposition representatives in the existing government structures, including the Cabinet." Putin added, however, that it would be "unrealistic" to expect that such a Cabinet would effectively take over power from Assad. Russia has staunchly backed Assad throughout the five-year Syrian conflict that started as an uprising against the Syrian ruler and morphed into an all-out civil war. The Defense Ministry said that Shoigu discussed the current operations with the top Russian military commander in Syria, Col. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov. The minister ordered the Russian Reconciliation Center at the base to intensify contacts with local administrations and militants to encourage them to join the cease-fire, Konashenkov said, adding that Shoigu also instructed increasing humanitarian assistance to civilians. Shoigu also inspected the S-400 air defense missile systems protecting the base in the coastal province of Lattakia. The military has deployed the powerful long-range missiles after a Turkish fighter jet downed a Russian warplane at the Syrian border last November, vowing to fend off any threat to its aircraft. The Russian military has reported 10 casualties in Syria since the campaign's start: seven Russian servicemen died from enemy fire, two were killed in a helicopter crash and one killed himself. Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, meets with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, second right, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, June 18, 2016. Russia's defense minister visited Syria on Saturday to meet the country's leader and inspect the Russian air base there, a high-profile trip intended to underline Moscow's role in the region. (Vadim Savitsky/ Russian Defense Ministry Press Service pool photo via AP) Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visits the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, Saturday, June 18, 2016. Russia's defense minister visited Syria on Saturday to meet the country's leader and inspect the Russian air base there, a high-profile trip intended to underline Moscow's role in the region. (Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service pool photo via AP) Registered sex offender accused of touching woman on flight NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Federal prosecutors say a registered sex offender improperly touched a sleeping woman aboard a flight in May from Israel to New Jersey. Yoel Oberlander, of Monsey, New York, has been charged with abusive sexual contact. A judge ordered the 35-year-old man detained after he was arraigned Friday. It wasn't known Saturday if he has a lawyer who could comment on his behalf. Prosecutors say Oberlander was sitting next to a woman during a May 29 El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty airport. They say he repeatedly placed his hand on the woman's thigh and breast. Authorities say Oberlander was convicted in 2002 in New York of sexual abuse involving an 11-year-old girl. Haiti officials schedule vote next week on interim president PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Haiti's legislative chiefs have scheduled a parliamentary session next week to decide whether to extend an interim president's mandate or pave the way for another provisional leader. A National Assembly meeting is now scheduled for Tuesday. Senators and deputies ignored calls to convene earlier this week as they tried to negotiate a solution. The vote potentially could extend interim President Jocelerme Privert's expired mandate. FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2016, file photo, Haiti's provisional President Jocelerme Privert stands for the national anthem after delivering his speech at an installation ceremony, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The U.S. State Department's special coordinator for Haiti said Thursday, June 16, that he recognizes Jocelerme Privert as the troubled countrys interim president for now even though the divided Parliament is avoiding a vote on potentially extending his expired mandate. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery,File) The opposition argues that Privert is unlawfully holding onto power. Privert insists he will stay in office until Parliament makes a decision. In February, a majority of lawmakers elected Privert to be caretaker leader for 120 days amid suspended elections and an institutional vacuum in the presidency. Killing threatens Britain's easy public access to lawmakers BIRSTALL, England (AP) Frozen in time, Jo Cox's website advises the public in her native West Yorkshire to meet her and discuss how she might help them with daily problems. "No appointment is necessary, please just come along," the message says. The advice with dates, times and locations remains unaltered two days after a man armed with a hunting knife and handgun ambushed and killed Cox as she arrived, almost to the minute advertised, beside Birstall's bustling street market. Many of Cox's colleagues in the 650-member House of Commons now openly wonder whether Britain's unusual tradition of constituency "surgeries," as the weekly face-to-face meetings are known, can survive in an increasingly uncivil age. Keira Firth, left, Jessica Clarkson, center, and Jodie Britton stand with their children for the photographer in Birstall, England, Saturday June 18, 2016, after laying floral tributes for Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot and stabbed to death Thursday. Both Britton and her friend, Jessica Clarkson, had come to pay respects to Cox after both received help from the lawmaker in fixing problems with their state-provided homes. (AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik) "Parliament needs to look very carefully at how it protects its MPs in their constituencies in a world that has changed," said Charlotte Leslie, a lawmaker in the ruling Conservative Party who had hate messages spray-painted on her car last year. "Social media has had a very dramatic impact on people who are isolated and lonely. ... My colleagues and I have noticed a rise in hatred born out of social media." Britain's politicians broadly say they cherish the ability to make personal contact with voters and help them find solutions to problems with government-funded services, litter, traffic problems or community crime. Yet even before Cox's slaying Thursday, she and many others had complained they felt vulnerable when away from the heavily guarded Parliament in London. Anna Turley, like Cox a lawmaker elected last year for the opposition Labour Party, said the only security measure she has been provided when pressing the flesh in her North Yorkshire district is a police-summoning alarm on her keychain. She said lawmakers needed security present "if something starts to go wrong." Turley said she and Cox had regularly discussed "the increasing nature of hostility and aggression, particularly toward female MPs, particularly on social media." On Saturday, at the bouquet-filled memorial to Cox in Birstall's market square, ashen-faced locals described the moment when they heard Cox had died, the last time they saw her and how she had helped their families. "I wish I could thank Jo, but it's too late now," said Jodie Britton, who laid a bouquet on behalf of herself and her father, a hospital union representative whom Cox had supported on a recent picket line. Both Britton and her friend, Jessica Clarkson, had come to pay respects to Cox after both received help from the lawmaker in fixing problems with their state-provided homes. In Britton's case, her two children were suffering breathing problems because of a leaky roof and moldy, damp walls. Months of complaints to the local council had achieved nothing. Two days after appealing to Jo's office, Britton said, "the council called me to sort the repairs." "Jo were amazing. She got it sorted and both of my children are fine now," Britton said, employing the Yorkshire dialect, which prefers the plural "were." Britton and Clarkson said they doubted whether West Yorkshire's next parliamentarian would be nearly so available, because stronger security was needed. They said the attack on Cox showed that unprotected politicians could be magnets for extremists. "If I was coming out from the surgery, it could have been my kids who got shot," said Clarkson as she cradled her youngest child, 20-week-old Lochlon, and rocked a stroller bearing her 16-month-old son, Jamson. "Local MPs need protection just like (Prime Minister) David Cameron." Long before Thursday's killing, evidence had mounted of lawmakers' unease with an often-hostile public. Britain's Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology in January published a study of lawmakers' experiences and found that 82 percent had experienced threats or attacks. Half had been targeted in their own homes, and 15 percent expressed fears of going out in public without protection. The national mood has grown particularly edgy in the run-up to Britain's referendum Thursday on whether to remain in the European Union. Left-wing lawmakers like Cox, who was outspoken in supporting immigrants' rights and staying in the EU, faced social media threats from British nationalists. She also fielded abuse from the other extreme after arguing in favor of extending British air strikes against Islamic State militants. Police tracked down one man responsible for sending her menacing messages and gave him a criminal caution. Diane Abbott, a Labour lawmaker from London, said Cox had "contacted police on several occasions over threats made to her before her murder." She said social media platforms had "turbocharged a culture of misogyny and violent threats." Yet others have resisted calls to boost security at their offices and other spots where they meet voters. "We don't sit behind glass screens when we talk to our constituents. We don't, with a handful of exceptions, go around in armored cars. We need to be out there," said former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman. "So we need to create a climate where we can do our jobs without being under threat from a culture of venom." "I don't think any of us want to put up barriers to people coming to see us," said Stephen Timms, another London lawmaker who has maintained open surgeries despite nearly being killed at one in 2010. A 21-year-old woman angered by Timms' past support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq stabbed him twice in the stomach with a 6-inch (15-centimeter) knife. "After I was attacked, the question was put to me: Would you like a metal detector in your surgery?" Timms said. "The problem with doing this is it makes going to see your MP a grim experience. ... We want it to be a pleasant experience because these are the people who will be voting for us." And as he laid his own bouquet at the Birstall memorial, fellow West Yorkshire lawmaker Barry Sheerman said Cox would never have sacrificed public surgeries to ironclad security. "Jo would have hated it if we abandoned our commitment to open engagement with the public," Sheerman said. "She was so good at it." An image and floral tributes for Jo Cox, lay on Parliament Square, outside the House of Parliament in London, Friday, June 17, 2016, after the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament was fatally injured Thursday in northern England. The mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds. A 52-year-old man has been arrested but has not been charged. He has been named locally as Tommy Mair. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Staff from Britain's opposition Labour Party stand together before placing floral tributes for their colleague Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot to death yesterday in northern England, on Parliament Square outside the House of Parliament in London, Friday, June 17, 2016. The married mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds, in northern England. Thomas Mair, 52, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing Cox, outside a library. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Staff from Britain's opposition Labour Party including at the front MP John Cryer, left, the Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party and Iain McNicol, right, the party's General Secretary pay their respects after placing floral tributes for their colleague Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament shot to death yesterday in northern England, on Parliament Square outside the House of Parliament in London, Friday, June 17, 2016. The married mother of two young children was shot to death Thursday afternoon in her constituency near Leeds, in northern England. Thomas Mair, 52, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing Cox, outside a library. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) The Latest: California wildfire now 45 percent contained GOLETA, Calif. (AP) The Latest on wildfires in the Western U.S. (all times local): ___ 12:20 p.m. Helicopter drop of the Sherpa Fire in Santa Barbara County, Calif., Friday, June 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) A four-day-old brushfire that threatens homes near coastal California is now 45 percent contained. Fire officials say they were able to nail down the west side of the blaze west of Santa Barbara on Friday night after 40-mph "Sundowner" winds failed to materialize. Those evening and night gusts had driven the flames through steep, brushy canyons on previous nights and forced closure of a major highway. No homes have burned, but about 270 homes and ranches remain at risk and campgrounds and canyons remain evacuated. Fire officials say the big issue Saturday is the virtually inaccessible nature of the fire's active eastern side. Aircraft are dumping water and fire crews are trying to cut firebreaks in advance of the flames before the sundowner winds return Saturday night. ___ 11:54 a.m. Firefighters have been able to reinforce holding lines around a New Mexico wildfire that has destroyed two dozen homes. Fire officials said Saturday that crews took advantage of cooler weather overnight to strengthen lines along the western and southern boundaries of a blaze that erupted in the Manzano Mountains south of Albuquerque. However, they say hot and dry conditions and light winds later in afternoon could cause the fire to become more active. The fire has burned more than 27 square miles since Tuesday. The damage includes 24 homes and nearly as many structures near the small community of Chilili. More than 700 personnel are assigned to the fire. The fire remains uncontained and the cause is under investigation ___ 11:24 a.m. Containment lines have been secured along some areas of a wildfire that is still a threat to several communities in east-central Arizona. The fire was burning Saturday roughly 9 miles southwest of Show Low. Crews say the fire will spread and more smoke will be visible because of burnout operations to deprive it of fuel. US Highway 60 remains closed as a stretch is along a containment line. ___ 9:20 a.m. Firefighters battling an 11-square-mile blaze in California have caught a break from the weather but it may not last. Fire officials say 40-mph "sundowner" winds that usually sweep down the mountains near Santa Barbara didn't materialize Friday night. That allowed fire crews to make progress. The blaze was 24 percent contained Saturday morning. No homes have burned, but 270 remain at risk, and evacuations remain in place for campgrounds and ranches in the steep rural canyon areas. A heat wave also means firefighters will face temperatures in the 90s as they hack through heavy brush. Forecasts call for the sundowner winds to return Saturday night. The fire began Wednesday. More than 1,200 firefighters are on the scene. Firefighters watch as a helicopter makes a water drop over a wildfire near Santa Barbara, Calif., on Friday, June 17, 2016. The latest size estimate Friday morning is nearly three times the previous acreage, with just 5 percent containment. The fire has been stoked by the region's afternoon and evening "Sundowner" winds, which blast down the face of the Santa Ynez Mountains toward the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Santa Barbara firefighters work the crest of a ridge after a wildfire burned the hill west of Goleta, Calif., Friday, June 17, 2016. Stoked by winds, a wildfire burning west of Santa Barbara roared down mountain slopes toward the Pacific Ocean, shutting down California's major coastal highway and forcing a group of firefighters to seek shelter behind a fire engine as flames licked at them. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) A DC-10 makes a drop on the east flank of the Sherpa Fire in Santa Barbara County, Calif., Friday, June 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) A DC-10 tanker drops fire retardant at a low altitude to help combat a wildfire near Santa Barbara, Calif., on Friday, June 17, 2016. Stoked by winds, a wildfire burning west of Santa Barbara roared down mountain slopes toward the Pacific Ocean, shutting down California's major coastal highway and forcing a group of firefighters to seek shelter behind a fire engine as flames licked at them. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) A DC-10 tanker drops fire retardant at a low altitude to help combat a wildfire near Santa Barbara, Calif. on Friday, June 17, 2016. The latest size estimate Friday morning is nearly three times the previous acreage, with just 5 percent containment. The fire has been stoked by the region's afternoon and evening "Sundowner" winds, which blast down the face of the Santa Ynez Mountains toward the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Firefighters from the Lompoc City Fire Department take shelter behind their engine Thursday, June 16, 2016, as wind driven flames advance from the Sherpa Fire. The flames were crossing Calle Real near El Capitan State Park in Santa Barbara County. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP) Heavy smoke rises over a hill as a wildfire burns west of Goleta, Calif., Friday, June 17, 2016. The latest size estimate Friday morning is nearly three times the previous acreage, with just 5 percent containment. The fire has been stoked by the region's afternoon and evening "Sundowner" winds, which blast down the face of the Santa Ynez Mountains toward the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) East mountain residents evacuate their homes as the Dog Head Fire burns on Thursday, June 16, 2016 in Albuquerque, N.M. Firefighters struggled Thursday to make progress against a fast-moving wildfire in central New Mexico as it consumed tinder dry forest, sent up a towering plume of smoke that could be seen for miles, and forced more residents from their homes. (Greg Sorber/The Albuquerque Journal via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Iran arrests suspect in hacking of state-run websites TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency says authorities have arrested a suspect in the hacking of several websites of state-run organizations. It quotes the Revolutionary Guard on Saturday as saying its cybercrimes unit arrested the hacker, who referred to himself online as the "Mafia Hacking Team." It says he hacked into the websites of the Iranian postal service, universities and other government-run organizations. It did not give a motive or say if any information was stolen. The semi-official Fars news agency reported Saturday that the website of Iran's state-run Statistics Center was briefly taken down on May 24, and that the Culture Ministry's website was also hacked. Dolce&Gabbana jazz things up with fashion cacophony MILAN (AP) Nothing stays the same in fashion, but this is over the top. This season, a huge number of Milan brands are managing transitions in creative and business leadership, and using the shift to experiment with the way they communicate with their public. That means some fashion houses, including Ermenegildo Zegna and Roberto Cavalli, have opted for a menswear calendar break, while others have forsaken the choreography of runway shows for more personal presentations, where the designers can discuss their creations and materials more in depth. That includes Ermanno Scervino and Bottega Veneta. Models wear creations for Dolce&Gabbana men's Spring Summer collection part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016 (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) And no few are in creative transition, presenting on the strength of their design team and without a headline stylist or creative presence, namely Salvatore Ferragamo, Canali, Tod's and Calvin Klein. Versace introduced a new CEO. But for those reveling in the show, there was no shortage of spectacle on Day One of Milan Fashion Week, with a jazz band performing live at Dolce&Gabbana while a short film by Bruce Weber and some never-before-heard Prince soundtracks were unveiled at Versace. Here are some highlights from Saturday's menswear previews for spring-summer 2017: SUMMER JAZZ FESTIVAL Dolce&Gabbana invited the fashion crowd to a Sicilian jazz festival with echoes of New Orleans and the Copa Cabana resounding along the checkerboard runway. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's prolific collection for next spring and summer was a carefully arranged cacophony, like jazz itself. The live soundtrack to the runway show was provided by the New York jazz band The Hot Sardines. Among the pleasingly discordant looks: A black-and-white ensemble featured a checked sweater worn over a floral print shirt and with striped pants. A sweater emblazoned with jazz musical references in bold white on black was paired with slim leopard print trousers. There were looks for performers of all musical traditions, from slim, highly disciplined suits to oversized T-shirts over loose trousers and billowing silken floor-length caftans in wild prints. Stage-ready black and white dominated the runway, with flashes of gold and animal prints. Suit jackets ranged from tuxedo collars to double-breasted looks, while trousers, be they slim or loose and pleated, were almost always cropped to show off thick-soled shoes. Bomber jackets and boxy tops were the canvas for the recurring motifs, including palm fronds and pineapples along with jazz band instruments. The show ended with a New Orleans-style jazz parade, the popping of sparkling wine corks and a flurry of golden confetti. MILLENNIAL GENERATION Outside the Dolce&Gabbana theater, hundreds of screaming female fans waited to catch a glimpse of Internet star Cameron Dallas. The 21-year-old Californian boasts 7.5 million followers on Twitter, 4.7 million on YouTube, 9.4 million on Vine and 13 million on Instagram. A representative sample made the trip to Milan, blocking traffic outside the Dolce&Gabbana venue. Dallas, wearing a red bomber jacket, took a front row seat inside alongside a veritable who's who of the Millennial generation. They included style icon Luka Sabbat, British rapper Tinie Tempah and famous offspring Gabriel Kane Day-Lewis, Rafferty Law and Lucas Maurice Morad Jagger. The designers called the Millennials "the new and upcoming global stars." "These young men have the power in their hands, thanks to their smartphones," the designers said in a note. REMEMBERING PRINCE Donatella Versace paid sweet tribute to Prince, capping her runway show with a black ruffle shirt. The frilly gesture, referencing the artist's Purple Rain costume, was in stark contrast to the rest of the collection, which was otherwise defined by a relaxed silhouette more befitting an essential nomad than the ostentatious performer. The collection featured muscle-revealing silk knitwear worn under long, trailing overcoats. Button-down shirts were worn long like tunics, and sweaters wrapped androgynously at the waist. Single-breasted suit jackets were hastily buttoned over loose trousers with an elasticized cuff. The Versace empire bag was worn both cross-body, messenger-style and as a backpack, and footwear included sturdy sandals and technical sneakers. The color palette was mostly a traveler's easy monochrome, including olive, blue, gray and sand -- and Prince's own purple. The show was set to a soundtrack of music that Prince recorded as a gift to Versace five months ago. The designer said she wanted "to share this incredible music from a dear and much-missed friend." BRAND FIRST Canali has bidden farewell to its creative consultant of two years, Andrea Pompilio, putting the collection into the hands of an in-house team while it considers its next creative move. Elisabetta Canali called the experience with Pompilio "very positive," but said "we don't want to link to someone specific. I think our DNA is very important." The collection epitomized the relaxed looks that appeal to young consumers entering the luxury market. There was an aviator flare to bomber jackets worn with a scarf flung loosely around the neck. Double-breasted suit jackets in a kinetic black and white linen and wool weave known as "malafile" were paired with T-shirts, while shorts returned to the spring-summer Canali mix, worn with suit jackets or sweaters. DSQUARED2 LOVES ROCK 'N ROLL Rockers, Canada's designing twins Dean and Dan Caten, the forces behind the DSquared2 label, have the footwear for you: Prince-worthy high heeled boots available in any combination of sequins and glitter. The ever-so glam boot was paired with jeans cropped perfectly to meet the leather upper mid-calf. The looks were topped with sleeveless muscle shirts with sewn-on suspenders, shimmery striped lurex sweaters or jackets featuring checkerboard or chevron designs. The twins wore long rainbow scarves to greet the crowd in a Fashion Eve event Friday evening, an apparent tribute to the Orlando shooting victims. NEAPOLITAN LUXURY In a twist, youthful customers come to the luxury Neapolitan brand Kiton for tailored looks while its older clients are looking for leisure wear. Take the brand's fine knit jogging suits, meant for the ultimate jet-setters. "Our clients wear this above all when riding in their private jets," CEO Antonio De Matteis said on a walk-through of the new collection during Milan Fashion Week. Kiton won't reveal its client list, but De Matteis says it is more likely to include Silicon Valley entrepreneurs than bellicose billionaires. Suits for the next warm weather season were kept relaxed for young clients, nearly deconstructed, and in soft fabrics. Colors feature blues to recall the sea by Naples. Kiton strives to know its clients personally, meeting them at made-to-measure events around the globe, at private one-on-one dinners or visits to the company headquarters. "We are lucky to get to know most of our clients personally," De Matteis said. "They come to Capri on vacation and then come visit our company." Fashion designers Stefano Gabbana, fourth from left, and Domenico Dolce third from right, acknowledge the applause of the audience after presenting their men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Dolce&Gabbana men's Spring Summer collection part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016 (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Models wear creations for Dolce&Gabbana men's Spring Summer collection 2016/2017 part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016 (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Models wear creations for Dolce&Gabbana men's Spring Summer collection 2016/2017 part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Dolce&Gabbana men's Spring Summer collection 2016/2017 part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016 (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model presents a creation for Dolce&Gabbana men's Spring Summer collection 2016/2017 part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016 (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Dolce&Gabbana men's Spring Summer collection 2016/2017 part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016 (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Models wear creations for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Fashion designer Donatella Versace acknowledges the applause of the audience after presenting the Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Models wear creations for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Models wear creations for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Models wear creations for Versace men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Dsquared2 men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Friday, June 17, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Model wear creations for Dsquared2 men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Friday, June 17, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Dsquared2 men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Friday, June 17, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) A model wears a creation for Dsquared2 men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Friday, June 17, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Twin brothers fashion designers Dean and Dan Caten walk on the catwalk at the end of Dsquared2 men's Spring-Summer 2016-2017 fashion show part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Friday, June 17, 2016. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Ansa via AP) Parents 'overwhelmed' by support after gator kills toddler ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) The parents of a Nebraska toddler killed by an alligator at Florida's Walt Disney World said Saturday they are overwhelmed by the support they have received since the death of their son. Matt and Melissa Graves of Omaha, Nebraska, said in a statement they appreciate the support and love from friends in their community and around the country. "Melissa and I continue to deal with the loss of our beloved boy, Lane, and are overwhelmed with the support and love we have received from family and friends in our community as well as from around the country," the family said. "We understand the public's interest, but as we move forward this weekend, we ask for and appreciate the privacy we need to lay our son to rest. Neither Melissa, myself or anyone from our family will be speaking publicly; we simply cannot at this time." An Orange County Sheriffs helicopter searches for a young boy early Wednesday, June 15, 2016, after the boy was dragged into the water Tuesday night by an alligator near Disney's upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT Sara Brady, who is serving as a spokeswoman for the family, declined to comment on when the funeral has been scheduled. An alligator described as being as long as 7 feet snatched 2-year-old Lane Graves as he waded in shallow water in a lake at a Disney hotel Tuesday night. The boy's remains were found after a long search the following day. An autopsy showed that he died from drowning and traumatic injuries, according to the Orlando medical examiner. The beach, located at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa across a lake from the Magic Kingdom, had "no swimming" signs but no warning about alligators. The company added alligator warning signs on Friday. The resort's beaches remain closed. Construction workers have started to put up wooden posts connected with rope along the edge of the lagoon where Graves was snatched. Turkey's Erdogan returns to plan to redevelop Istanbul park ISTANBUL (AP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he will build a historical monument at an iconic Istanbul park that was at the heart of anti-government protests three years ago. Erdogan said a historical monument will be built at Taksim's Gezi Park, reviving development plans that triggered mass demonstrations in May and June 2013. He said: "One of the issues that we have to be brave (about) is Gezi Park in Taksim. ... We will construct that historical building there." Erdogan was referring to plans to rebuild a replica of Ottoman-era military barracks. In 2013, Turks took to the streets denouncing Erdogan's increasingly autocratic leadership and demanding more democratic freedoms. A man who owned a gun shop was fatally shot by one of his students in a conceal and carry class. James Baker, 64, who owned the Kay Jay Gun Shop in Amelia, Ohio, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati, was accidentally shot in the neck on Saturday around 1pm as he sat in another room during a gun class. The student has not been identified. Officials say the shooting was an accident Gun shop owner James Baker (above) was accidentally killed when a gun discharged in one of his classes The Kay Jay gun shop sold all sorts of guns and rifles and 'builds full auto machine guns for law enforcement, military, and government customers only' The Kay Jay Gun Shop (above) was the scene of tragedy on Saturday when it's owner was accidentally killed by a student A gun shop owner was shot during a conceal and carry class at his store, he was shot through the neck According to the gun shop's website, the class taught basic pistol safety, gave attendees range time and reviewed Ohio's gun laws. 'Seats available for this weekends Tactical Rifle/Carbine class. First class of the year so this one will cover a lot of the basics in the first portion of the class and we'll go up from there,' said a post about the class on the shop's Facebook page. The student was practicing weapon malfunction drills when the bullet went through a wall and killed Baker. 'He loved the community and he wanted to protect [it], that's why he did what he did,' friend Anita Fritz told WCPO. The gun shop manufactured both firearms and ammunition and sold the KJ class of rifles The business holds a Type 07 and Type 06 federal firearms license allowing it to manufacture both firearms and ammunition. It also holds a Class 72 Special Occupation Taxpayer license, which is needed to manufacture firearms regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934 that placed tighter restrictions on fully-automatic weapons and other categories of firearms, according to Cincinnati.com. The shop advertises that it sells the Ares Rifle, the KJ-M4, and 'builds full auto machine guns for law enforcement, military, and government customers only.' Dispute over New Mexico Hatch chile labeling heats up SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) A federal appeals court has sided with a green chile growers group in southern New Mexico's Hatch Valley in a dispute over what food can be labeled with the renowned Hatch name. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled in favor of the Hatch Chile Association and allied Albuquerque food distributor El Encanto in their efforts to subpoena records that may indicate whether a rival's products contain purely Hatch-grown chile as marketing suggests. The subpoenas could influence the outcome of a related dispute before a federal trademark board over efforts by the Hatch Chile Co. to trademark the term "Hatch" for its exclusive use. FILE - In this Aug. 30, 2008 file photo, framed by ristras, John Trewitt bites into a pod of fresh Hatch green chile, at the Hatch Chile Festival in Hatch, N.M. A federal appeals court is siding with an association of green chile growers in the Hatch Valley of southern New Mexico in a dispute over what food can be fairly labeled with the renowned Hatch name. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, June 17, 2016, ruled in favor of the Hatch Chile Association and allied Albuquerque food distributor El Encanto in their efforts to subpoena records that may indicate whether a rival's products contain purely Hatch-grown chile as marketing suggests. (Norm Dettlaff/The Las Cruces Sun-News via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT The written court decision pays tribute to the winding desert Hatch Valley for "producing some of the world's finest chile peppers," venturing that the area "may be to chiles what Napa is to grapes." Reversing a district court ruling, a three-judge panel noted Hatch Chile Co. initially said it did not know where its chiles came from, and directed questions to supplier Mizkan Americas, the owner of Border Foods and its southern New Mexico chile processing plants. When a subpoena was issued to Mizkan asking about the provenance of its green chile, both Hatch Chile Co. and Mizkan filed successful motions to block the request in federal court. "This seemingly mild dispute turned hot during discovery," the judges wrote. "After seeming to encourage El Encanto to ask its suppliers for just this information, Hatch Chile filed a motion seeking a protective order." El Encanto does business under the Bueno Foods label. Ross Perkal, an attorney for Hatch Chile Co., declined to comment on the ruling, citing pending litigation. Sect leader extradited to Minnesota to face charges MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A religious sect leader has been extradited from Brazil to face charges that he sexually abused girls in rural Minnesota. The Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1sM4QDO ) reports 54-year-old Victor Barnard was booked into the Pine County Jail on Saturday afternoon. The jail's online roster lists Barnard as an inmate. Barnard was arrested in Brazil last year after being on the most-wanted list of the U.S. Marshals Service. He was charged in April 2014 in Pine County with 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly having sexual relationships with two girls he had inducted into his "Maidens Group" at the River Road Fellowship's secluded compound near Finlayson. Defense attorney Marsh Halberg said last month that one condition of the Brazilian court was that any potential sentence for Barnard in the U.S. not exceed 30 years. ___ Man to face court charged with murdering MP Jo Cox A man has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox. Mrs Cox, 41, was attacked in the street outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, at lunchtime on Thursday. West Yorkshire Police said Thomas Mair, of Birstall, has been charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon. Jo Cox was attacked in the street outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds The 52-year-old will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday. West Yorkshire Police Temporary Chief Constable Dee Collins said on Friday that a 77-year-old man remains in a stable condition in hospital after he was injured when he "bravely intervened" in an effort to help Mrs Cox. Vigils were held across the UK on Friday evening as members of the public and politicians came together to lay flowers, light candles and stand in silence in memory of Mrs Cox. The vigils followed a joint visit to her home town by David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn, where the Prime Minister issued a plea for tolerance in British politics. The Prime Minister said the whole nation was "rightly shocked" at Mrs Cox's death, and called for people to "value, and see as precious, the democracy we have on these islands". Politics is about public service and MPs want to "make the world a better place", he said. Labour leader Mr Corbyn described Mrs Cox was "an exceptional, wonderful, very talented woman, taken from us in her early 40s when she had so much to give and so much of her life ahead of her". Downing Street confirmed that a female MP wrote to Mr Cameron last year raising concerns about the safety of her colleagues and attacks on her personally. A statement from Number 10 said: "The Prime Minister replied to the letter and voiced deep concern about the attacks she had suffered. The Prime Minister added that he would raise the issue with the Home Secretary. The Prime Minister also spoke to the MP about her concerns. "The Home Secretary wrote to the MP as well and voiced her 'deep concern about the appalling incidents'. The Home Secretary also wrote to the chief constable of the MP's local police force and urged the police to 'do everything in their power' to deal with the incidents. The Home Secretary also met the MP at the end of last year." In January, a new security package for MPs was unveiled with additional funding. Downing Street said this covered security measures at MPs' homes - in London and their constituencies - as well as constituency offices. Chris Bryant, shadow leader of the House of Commons, told BBC Newsnight he had warned Westminster authorities about "inadequate protection in their constituencies". He said: "I've said in terms an MP will be shot. This will happen. And the truth is we all know we can't guarantee that something like this won't happen again but we need to make sure that we've taken all the proper precautions." More than 200,000 was raised on Friday evening on a fundraising page set up by friends of Mrs Cox to support three charities "closest to her heart". President Barack Obama phoned Mrs Cox's husband from Air Force One and offered his condolences. "The president noted that the world is a better place because of her selfless service to others, and that there can be no justification for this heinous crime, which robbed a family, a community and a nation of a dedicated wife, mother and public servant," a White House statement said. The Remain and Vote Leave sides have suspended national campaigning in light of the death of Mrs Cox, who entered Parliament as MP for Batley and Spen in last year's general election. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have announced that they will not contest the by-election resulting from her death, giving Labour a probable free run at retaining the Westminster seat which she won with a majority of 6,057. In an apparent reference to the EU referendum campaign, German chancellor Angela Merkel urged British politicians to "draw limits" around the language used in political debate, warning that otherwise "radicalisation will become unstoppable". The National Police Chiefs' Council said forces are contacting MPs around the country to give security advice. Defiant MPs have vowed to go ahead with constituency surgeries after the horrific murder. Jo Cox murder accused gives name as 'Death to traitors, freedom for Britain' The man charged with the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox gave his name as "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain" during his first court appearance. Mrs Cox, 41, died after being shot and stabbed in the street outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, on Thursday. Thomas Mair, 52, from Birstall, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London charged with murdering Mrs Cox, grievous bodily harm against a pensioner who tried to help her, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of a knife. A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Jo Cox Mair, who was brought to court in a police convoy, refused to give his correct name to the court and remained silent when asked his address and date of birth. He wore a grey jumper, tracksuit bottoms and black shoes and w as handcuffed to a guard in the dock during the hearing. Mair was not required to enter a plea at court and his lawyer Keith Allen said there was no indication of what plea would be given. He also told the court that legal aid has been applied for. Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot ordered that he be remanded in custody until his next appearance, a bail application at the Old Bailey on Monday. He will be held at Belmarsh Prison, and Ms Arbuthnot suggested that a psychiatric report should be prepared, saying: "Bearing in mind the name he has just given, he ought to be seen by a psychiatrist." Mrs Cox was attacked after spending Thursday morning at a local school and a care home when she made her way to a pre-arranged constituency surgery in Birstall library at lunchtime. At around 12.45pm, after she got out of her vehicle in Market Street, a man approached and began attacking her with a knife. Bernard Kenny, 77, who was waiting in his car after dropping his wife off to visit the library, went to Mrs Cox's aid and tried to save her, but was himself stabbed and forced to retreat to a sandwich shop to seek cover. Mrs Cox was then repeatedly stabbed, shot three times as she lay on the ground, and then stabbed again as she fought for her life. As she was assaulted the attacker is believed to have said: "Britain first, keep Britain independent", and "Britain always comes first, this is for Britain". Mrs Cox died at 1.48pm. Mair was arrested at 1.25pm in Risedale Avenue, about a mile from the scene, by two officers who saw a white man wearing a black blood-smeared baseball cap and carrying a black holdall. They tackled him to the ground and as he was detained he was heard to say "I'm a political activist", and told police he had a knife in his pocket. Searching his trouser pockets, officers instead found a plastic bag containing what appeared to be a large number of bullets. They also found a single barrelled firearm in the bag, as well as a magazine and a number of rounds. There was also a bloodstained mobile phone, a bloodstained dagger and a black wallet. A search of Mair's house found material relating to far right ideology and white supremacy groups, as well as newspaper articles relating to Mrs Cox. New Zealand beat Wales in Wellington to clinch series New Zealand once again showed their ruthless streak after the break to condemn Wales to a series-deciding 36-22 defeat in Wellington. The world champions scored 26 unanswered points in the second half, thanks to tries from Ben Smith, Beauden Barrett, Waisake Naholo and Ardie Savea, to go 2-0 up in the three-match series. Alun Wyn Jones cancelled out Israel Dagg's first-half score at Wellington's Westpac Stadium, while late tries from Liam Williams and Jonathan Davies proved too little, too late. Jonathan Davies scored a try but it was not enough for Wales Wales' expansive approach forced New Zealand back-rower Sam Cain to slow the ball down at a ruck, and Dan Biggar kicked the resulting penalty to give Wales a 3-0 lead after 16 minutes. But New Zealand replied almost immediately. Naholo broke clear down the left wing, before Ross Moriarty offended at the ruck. Aaron Cruden turned down a shot at goal and opted for a lineout at the corner, and the gamble paid off when Malakai Fekitoa found the returning Dagg, who dummied past Rhys Patchell to score his 15th Test match try. Cruden converted to put the All Blacks 7-3 ahead after 20 minutes. New Zealand had found their rhythm and began to threaten the Welsh defence. Smith used his evasive footwork to move his side close to the try-line, before the visitors gave Cruden a second penalty after 29 minutes. His game was soon ended by a serious-looking neck injury. But Davies inspired Wales to go in level at the break. The centre burst down the middle to set his side on the offensive. Biggar then moved it right to Roberts, who handed the ball off to Davies, who looped a pass over Smith into the hands of Jones, who dotted down at the corner. Biggar kicked the conversion from the touchline to make it 10-10 at half-time. A Sam Warburton break fizzled out after the break, and they were punished by the clinical All Blacks after 52 minutes. Barrett wrestled through and found Smith, who sprinted past Hallam Amos to score at the corner. Barrett converted to restore New Zealand's seven-point lead. The replacement stand-off pressed his case in the absence of Cruden, and put New Zealand clear two minutes later. A strong scrum gave Barrett the perfect attacking platform, and he wrestled past Biggar to stretch over the line. And it got even worse for Warren Gatland on the hour-mark, when Kieran Read combined with Aaron Smith at the back of a scrum to set up a walk-over try for Naholo. Ruthless Belgium deliver hammer blow to Republic hopes at Euro 2016 Romelu Lukaku finally got Belgium's Euro 2016 up and running as one of the pre-tournament favourites derailed the Republic of Ireland's hopes of an extended adventure in France with a 3-0 win. The Everton hitman struck twice in succession either side of Axel Witsel's 61st-minute header as the Belgians put their opening loss to Italy behind them and began to live up to their ranking as the second best team in the world. Marc Wilmots' men simply had too much for Ireland, who barely landed a blow at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux with Belgium dominating possession from the off and forcing them on to the back foot. Romelu Lukaku, right, struck twice in succession either side of Axel Witsel's, left, 61st-minute header But Ireland could find neither the defensive resilience, nor a cutting edge further up the field to trouble a team packed with household names, and while the Belgians will need just a point against Sweden in their final Group E game on Wednesday to secure second spot, the Republic will need to beat Italy in Lille to stand any chance of progressing. O'Neill had been at pains to underline the depth of individual talent available to Wilmots and play down talk of disharmony within the Irish camp, and his caution proved well-founded as his side battled simply to stay afloat during a difficult opening 45 minutes. The Belgians dominated possession with full-backs Thomas Meunier and Jan Vertonghen joining forces with wide men Yannick Carrasco and Eden Hazard, and Kevin de Bruyne relishing the freedom given to him by Mousa Dembele. However, Ireland managed to get themselves to the break unscathed, if largely by virtue of some last-ditch defending and some sub-standard finishing. For all Belgium threatened repeatedly, keeper Darren Randolph had few saves of note to make in the first half, fielding one scuffed De Bruyne effort as defenders Toby Alderweireld and Meunier both missed the target when presented with opportunities. De Bruyne's set-piece delivery piled the pressure on Ireland and it was from his 13th-minute corner that Alderweireld glanced wide. However, Belgium should have been ahead eight minutes later when, after John O'Shea could only head De Bruyne's cross into his path, he blazed wastefully high and wide. Wes Hoolahan, whose goal against Sweden almost got Ireland's tournament off to the best possible start, came to the rescue three minutes before the break when he headed off the line after Alderweireld had connected with another De Bruyne corner. For their part, Ireland had only one effort on goal with keeper Thibaut Courtois helping Stephen Ward's looping 19th-minute header on to the roof of his net. They were appealing in vain for a penalty within two minutes of the restart when striker Shane Long appeared to take a boot in the face as central defenders Thomas Vermaelen and Alderweireld attempted to prevent him from reaching Robbie Brady's teasing free-kick, but worse was to come. Referee Cuneyt Cakir waved play on and Belgium broke at pace with De Bruyne surging down the right before picking out Lukaku, who shifted the ball on to his left foot before drilling into the bottom corner with Randolph powerless to resist. Ireland knew they had to throw caution to the wind in search an equaliser and went close when Brady saw a close-range shot blocked by Meunier with 59 minutes gone, but the Belgian defender helped to turn the screw two minutes later when he crossed for Witsel to power a header past Randolph and effectively seal victory. There was no way back for the Republic with 20 minutes still remaining when substitute James McClean was robbed by Meunier. He found Hazard, who skipped away from the white shirts before handing Lukaku his second of the afternoon on a plate. TWEET OF THE MATCH "Ah here Belgium! Double #Brogue kick on Shane Long?? Hard luck Ireland. On to the Italians. #BELIRL #EURO2016" Irish WWE wrestler Sheamus (@WWESheamus) was not happy that two Belgium players stole his signature move. PLAYER RATINGS Republic Darren Randolph: 6/10 Seamus Coleman: 6 Ciaran Clark: 4 John O'Shea (Capt): 5 Stephen Ward: 5 Jeff Hendrick: 6 Glenn Whelan: 6 James McCarthy (McClean, 62 mins): 5 Robbie Brady: 7 Wes Hoolahan (McGeady, 71 mins): 6 Shane Long (Keane, 79 mins): 7 Substitutes James McClean: 5 Aiden McGeady: 5 Robbie Keane: STAR PLAYER Romelu Lukaku's finishing was deadly, but he was indebted to the work of the men behind him for his opportunities and Kevin de Bruyne was instrumental in most of Belgium's most impressive work. MOMENT OF THE MATCH Lukaku's left-foot strike to open the scoring oozed class, but so too did De Bruyne's run and pass, which left him to do what he does best. VIEW FROM THE BENCH Martin O'Neill knew this was always going to be a tall order and while he could not fault the effort put in by his players, Ireland were porous at the back and toothless in attack and never looked like getting anything out of the game. Marc Wilmots spent the days leading up to the game having to dismiss talk of a dressing room revolt and defend his team - and he can only have been delighted with both their quality and application. MOAN OF THE MATCH Some Ireland fans found themselves having to run to the stadium with just minutes to go until kick-off as trams ended their runs three stops away, leaving many seats unfilled until the last minute. WHO'S UP NEXT Italy v Republic of Ireland , UEFA Euro 2016 (Wednesday, June 22) Russia failed to heed U.S. call to stop targeting Syrian rebels -U.S. WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) - Russia launched a second air strike on Syrian fighters, including some backed by the United States, even after the U.S. military asked Moscow through emergency channels to stop following a first strike, a U.S. official said on Friday. Russian gold miner Polyus plans 5 pct stake sale in Moscow By Katya Golubkova ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 17 (Reuters) - Russia's largest gold producer Polyus plans to sell 5 percent of its existing shares on the Moscow bourse when market conditions are right, Chief Executive Pavel Grachev told Reuters on Friday. Polyus, controlled by the family of Russian tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, needs to raise its free float to at least 10 percent from 5 percent to meet Moscow Stock Exchange requirements after an upgrade of its listing, which Grachev has said would enable it to increase liquidity and attract new investors. "We are intending for a public deal if conditions are right. These (conditions) mean sufficient interest from a large amount of investors," Grachev said on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. The decision on whether the Kerimov family, or Polyus itself, will sell shares will be taken "at the last moment", he said, adding that the company met investment funds in London last week to discuss its plans. Polyus hopes to increase the free float by the end of this year, said Mikhail Stiskin, its vice-president for finance and strategy. The 5 percent stake earmarked for sale is worth about $450 million at the current market value. Once that stake has been floated, Grachev said the next step for Polyus could be inclusion on the MSCI Russia index, which would require an increase in the free float to 15-20 percent, though the company has no such plans for now. Grachev also said that the company's 2016 production forecast remains unchanged at between 1.76 million and 1.8 million troy ounces of gold despite last month's accident at the Vostochny pit of its Olimpiada mine in Siberia. Vostochny is close to operating normally after the landslide, Grachev said, though he expects the company will need to spend up to several hundred million roubles on repairs at the site. Polyus has net debt of $3.6 billion and expects 2016 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be no lower than last year's $1.3 billion, Stiskin said. Boko Haram militants kill 7 police in attack in Niger - military NIAMEY, June 17 (Reuters) - Boko Haram militants killed seven soldiers and injured others in military barracks in southeastern Niger and stole weapons, the Nigeria-based radical group said in a statement on Friday, according to SITE Intelligence Group. Before the statement was issued, military sources had said that militants from Boko Haram attacked a town in Niger while a delegation of ministers were visiting, killing seven gendarmes and wounding 12 in a gun battle. They said none of the ministers had been hurt. The attack happened on Thursday in a region that hosts refugees and internally displaced people who have been forced from their homes by the Islamist insurgents, officials said. Boko Haram said in the statement that "a detachment from the soldiers of the Caliphate carried out an attack on military barracks of the Nigerien apostate army in the town of Ghafam in the area of Diffa ... A quantity of weapons and various ammunition was taken as spoils." Neighbouring Chad has sent troops to help Niger in a planned counterattack against Boko Haram after the militants seized the southern Niger town of Bosso in an attack that killed 26 soldiers. Niger's government has called on former colonial power France, which already has 3,500 troops spread across five countries in West Africa, to strengthen military operations against the Nigeria-based Boko Haram and other militants. Niger's defence minister, Hassoumi Messaoudou, told Radio France International on Friday that regional leaders needed to "rethink Boko Haram" and called on regional forces to defeat the group in Nigeria. Brazil fines Samarco 142 mln reais for damages to protected areas SAO PAULO, June 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's Environment Ministry fined mining company Samarco 142 million reais ($41.6 million) for damages to three protected areas resulting from a tailings dam burst in November, the ministry said on Friday. The ministry said in a statement the three areas on the coast of Espirito Santo state were contaminated by metals such as lead, coper and cadmium. The metals spilled from the dam and were carried all the way from Minas Gerais through the Doce River to the ocean. Experts from the Environmental Ministry found several species had been wiped out in the contaminated areas, the statement said. Samarco, a joint venture between Brazil's Vale SA and BHP Billiton, has shut its iron ore operation in Mariana, Minas Gerais state, since the accident late last year. The company sealed a deal with the Brazilian government in March to pay as much as $5.1 billion over 15 years for damages resulting from the dam burst. In a statement late on Friday, Samarco confirmed the new fines and said it was evaluating a possible appeal. China home prices rise faster in May as smaller cities join rally By Clare Jim HONG KONG, June 18 (Reuters) - Sizzling home price rises in China's biggest cities showed signs of easing in May but sharp gains appeared to be spreading to smaller cities, making policymakers' job harder as they look to support the faltering economy without inflating bubbles. The recovery in China's property market since late last year has been a rare bright spot in the world's second-largest economy, which has been slowing amid weak demand at home and abroad, cooling investment and excess industrial capacity. Average new home prices in 70 major cities climbed 6.9 percent last month from a year ago, accelerating from April's 6.2 percent rise, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) on Saturday. The NBS data showed 50 of the 70 major cities it tracks saw year-on-year price gains, up from 46 in April. "The average (price) growth of new homes in first-tier cities started to narrow, while it continued to widen in second- and third-tier," said Liu Jianwei, a senior NBS statistician. The southern city of Shenzhen remained the top performer, with prices surging 53.2 percent from a year earlier, slower than the 62.4 percent rise in April. But on a month-on-month basis, prices were up just 0.5 percent after April's 2.3 percent rise, evidence that property cooling measures introduced by some big cities recently are starting to bite. Shenzhen and Shanghai have tightened downpayment requirements for second homes and raised the eligibility bar for non-residents to purchase properties. Shanghai prices rose 27.7 percent on-year, easing from 28 percent in April. The monthly gain cooled to 1.9 percent from 3.1 percent. "Easing growth in first-tier cities is a good thing, preventing a bubble from inflating," said Liao Qun, China chief economist of CITIC Bank International in Hong Kong. While the cooling trend in megacities may be good news for policymakers in Beijing, the survey showed sharp price rises are now spreading to other parts of the country. The coastal city of Xiamen surpassed the top-tier cities and saw the second highest price rise of 28 percent. Prices in second-tier cities Nanjing and Hefei also rose over 20 percent, more than the 19.5 percent seen in Beijing. The spillover of higher prices to major second-tier cities is fuelling speculation that local governments there may also tighten restrictions on home purchases soon. The government of Tongzhou, the eastern suburban district of Beijing, tightened rules last month on purchases of second homes. The eastern cities of Nanjing and Suzhou have put limits on how much developers can offer in land auctions. But CITIC Bank's Liao said he did not expect widespread tightening across the country just yet, saying overall prices in second-tiers were still well below those in top cities. Some small cities which have a glut of unsold homes may even need continued support to encourage homebuyers, he added. China's top banks are lending more to homebuyers and developers than at any time since at least the global financial crisis, making them vulnerable to a property market downturn if prices overheat. Investment growth in Chinese real estate slowed in May for the first time since December on a year-on-year basis as tightening measures in big cities took their toll. Mother saves son from mauling by mountain lion in Colorado By Keith Coffman DENVER, June 18 (Reuters) - A mother fought off a mountain lion that attacked her five-year-old son while he was playing with his older brother outside his home in western Colorado on Friday, the local sheriff said. The unidentified boy's mother heard screams and raced outside the house northwest of Aspen where she found the cougar on top of her son, the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office said. The woman "was able to physically remove her son from the mountain lion" and the boy's father called 911 as he drove his son to hospital, the sheriff added. A hospital spokeswoman said the child sustained injuries to his face, head and neck and was in fair condition. His mother was treated for injuries to her hands and legs and released. Sheriff's deputies and a law enforcement officer from the U.S. Forest Service found the mountain lion in the front yard of the residence and put it down, the sheriff said. Officials were searching for a second mountain lion after witnesses said two lions were seen in the area prior to the incident, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife department said. Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said there have been two, possible three, fatalities related to mountain lion attacks in the state since 1991, while some 16 people have been injured by cougars since 1970. The last known attack in the state occurred in July 2015 when a young lion attacked a man as he fished in a remote area in northwest Colorado, the wildlife department said. U.S. dangles large land return as anti-base resentment surges in Okinawa By Tim Kelly OKINAWA, Japan, June 18 (Reuters) - The United States Marine Corps in Okinawa may hand back a 10,000 acre (40.5 square km) tract of land to Japan early next year, its commander said on Saturday, as Washington confronts a surge in opposition to U.S. military bases there following the murder of a Japanese woman. The return of the land, part of a jungle training camp, known as Camp Gonsalves in Northern Okinawa, was agreed in 1996, but has been delayed by protesters blocking the construction of helipads by the Japanese government that the Marines say they need before the handover. "There have been discussions recently and we are hopeful that in the second half of this year there will be some movement," Lieutenant General Lawrence D. Nicholson said at his headquarters at Camp Foster in Okinawa. "It would be the largest land return since 1972." Okinawa, which was under U.S. occupation until 1972, still hosts 30,000 military personnel living and working on bases that cover a fifth of the island. Local resentment about that burden surged after an American civilian working at a U.S. base was arrested last month in connection with the murder of a local 20-year-old Japanese woman. The incident has spurred calls, backed by Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, for the United States to move military personnel off the island. In 1996 the U.S. and Japanese governments agreed to relocate some troops outside Okinawa and move others to less populated parts of the island after the rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen. "They came with guns and bulldozed people's homes to build their bases. We didn't give it to them," said Junsei Shimoji a 76-year-old taxi driver whose family home was destroyed during the U.S. invasion of the island in 1945 at the end of World War Two. Nicholson announced a 30-day mourning period following the murder last month, banning marines from drinking at bars off base. "If you violate Japanese law, you will be subject to it and I think that is an important and strong message that the Okinawan people need to know," he said Troops will be allowed back into public bars from June 25, Nicholson said, although major fourth of July celebrations such as firework displays will be canceled. "We are going to have a subdued fourth of July, and that is on all of Okinawa and probably throughout the whole of Japan," he said. Nicholson said he has ordered all of his troops to stay away from a demonstration on Sunday in Okinawa's capital, Naha, to protest against U.S. bases. The organizers are expecting thousands of people at what could be the biggest such gathering in at least two decades. Motor racing-Brazil joins Monza on the F1 endangered list By Alan Baldwin BAKU, June 18 (Reuters) - The Brazilian Grand Prix at Sao Paulo's Interlagos circuit could be axed after this season due to the country's economic crisis, Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Saturday. "I think the chances are that it won't happen next year," the 85-year-old Briton, whose wife is Brazilian, told reporters in oil-rich Azerbaijan where the sport is making its debut this weekend. Brazil, home of champions Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and the late Ayrton Senna, has had an unbroken run on the calendar since 1973 with the race held in Rio de Janeiro in 1978 and from 1981 to 1989. Rio's Jacarapagua circuit has been demolished with the area redeveloped for this year's Olympic Games. Interlagos organisers have carried out improvements to the ramshackle pit and paddock facilities but some of the changes sought by Ecclestone have not happened due to financial reasons. Brazil, whose race is Formula One's only South American round, is going through its worst recession since the 1930s and a political crisis that last month led to the suspension of President Dilma Rousseff. Ecclestone said talks continued with neighbouring Argentina, a Buenos Aires race that was dropped in 1998 due to the country's financial difficulties. "We are talking to them all the time. We can have a race there but where they are suggesting is not where we want to be. We want to be in the main part (of Buenos Aires)," he said. The future of Italy, home to the sport's oldest and most successful team Ferrari, remained uncertain with Monza yet to sign a new deal and the current contract expiring after this September's race. Ecclestone said he hoped Italy stayed on the calendar, possibly with a race at Imola -- the circuit where Senna died in 1994. "We've spoken to them, obviously," he said of that circuit near Bologna. "We need to rely a little bit on the national sporting authority in the country to support it. If it doesn't happen in Monza and they want to support Imola, we'd be happy to be in Imola." Ecclestone could not say what the chances were of that happening, but said Imola was doing a lot of work to upgrade the facilities there and would be good enough if given the go-ahead. Countries must do more to help Greece with migrant crisis - U.N. chief ATHENS, June 18 (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Saturday for countries to do more to help cope with Europe's migrant crisis, saying Greece could not manage on its own. Speaking in Athens before heading to the Greek island of Lesbos, the gateway into Europe for nearly a million people last year, Ban said Greece had shown "remarkable solidarity and compassion" in dealing with the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war, despite its economic hardship. "Greece should not be left alone to address this challenge on its own," Ban told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "We must work together to protect people and address the causes of displacement. I continue to call for a greatest sharing of this responsibility across Europe and indeed across the world." About one million people crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greek islands last year in small and often overcrowded inflatable boats. Hundreds drowned trying to make the crossing. The migratory shift from Turkey to Greece has slowed to a trickle since March, when the European Union and Turkey reached an agreement for Ankara to seal the route in return for financial and political rewards. The accord obliges Greece to return to Turkey those migrants who either do not apply for asylum or have their claims rejected. Officials say about 8,400 migrants are currently on Greek islands, nearly all of whom have expressed interest in applying for asylum, overwhelming the system. Additionally, there are an estimated 48,000 on the Greek mainland, stuck there after a wave of border shutdowns throughout the Balkans. Tsipras said Greece had taken a big burden on its shoulders and asked for solidarity so that his country could deal with the situation. Capsule carrying space station crew lands in Kazakhstan ZHEZKAZGAN, Kazakhstan, June 18 (Reuters) - A soyuz capsule bringing back three astronauts from the International Space Station, including the first to represent the British government, made a safe parachute landing on the steppe near the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan on Saturday. The crew, which included a Russian and an American as well as Britain's Tim Peake, left the space station about three hours earlier after spending half a year in Earth's orbit. The capsule landed on its side, a frequent occurrence in the windy steppe area, after parachuting for 14 minutes. A search and recovery team quickly extracted the trio from the capsule. Peake smiled as he was being examined by flight surgeons and told reporters he was enjoying "the smells of Earth" and fresh air, a stark contrast to the artificial atmosphere and high temperature inside the capsule. Alongside were commander Yuri Malenchenko, who quickly put on sunglasses to shield his eyes from the midday sun, and NASA astronaut Tim Kopra. Former army major Peake, who turned 44 aboard the station, was on a mission for the European Space Agency (ESA) and became the first astronaut wearing a Union Jack flag on his arm. The first Briton in space was Helen Sharman, who travelled on a Soviet spacecraft for eight days in 1991. Peake's mission, called Principia after Isaac Newton's seminal work, included a number of scientific experiments, such as testing the use of nitric oxide gas as a tool to monitor lung inflammation. During his 186-day stint in space, Peake ran a marathon strapped to a treadmill and held a science lesson for 300,000 schoolchildren. Yemen's warring sides swap 194 prisoners in Taiz RIYADH, June 18 (Reuters) - Houthi and pro-government forces exchanged nearly 200 prisoners in Taiz in central Yemen on Saturday, the largest such swap to take place in the embattled city since the beginning of a civil war last year, local sources said. The exchange of 118 Houthis and 76 pro-government fighters, will raise hopes that a ceasefire declared in April may be taking hold in Yemen's third largest city after repeated violations by both sides. The threat from an emerging common enemy may be galvanizing the two sides' efforts to cooperate. Islamic State militants appear to be behind a rapid uptick in suicide attacks and al Qaeda fighters continue to hold sway over swathes of Yemen, which abuts Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter. Fighting between the Iranian-allied Houthis and supporters of the internationally-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has eased in much of Yemen since they announced the truce before the start of U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait. But the fighting has continued in Taiz, with neither side able to extend control over the entire city. A rocket attack there in early June killed 12 civilians and wounded more than 122 others after it hit a busy market. The conflict in Yemen has raged since March 2015, when a Saudi-led alliance intervened to try to restore Hadi to power after the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam, advanced on his temporary headquarters in Aden and forced him to flee to Saudi Arabia. The talks in Kuwait have made little progress towards ending the war, which has killed more than 6,200 people and displaced more than 2.5 million, causing a severe humanitarian crisis. More than 14 million Yemenis, more than half of the country's population, are in need of emergency food and life-saving assistance, according to a report this month by the United Nations and the Yemeni government. U.S.-backed forces advance against Islamic State in Syria By Lisa Barrington and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN, June 18 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian forces edged closer to an Islamic State stronghold on the border with Turkey on Saturday while Russia's defence minister visited President Bashar al Assad to discuss military operations. The visit came only hours after the Syrian army and its Iranian-backed militias, which have been supported by Russian air power, lost several villages to Islamist rebels as they made significant advances in the countryside south of Aleppo. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebel capture of three villages from government control - Zeitan, Khalsa and Barna - had caused significant losses among government forces and their allies. The villages lie in an strategic area near a main highway that links Aleppo with the capital Damascus. Government forces captured the area at the end of last year in a major offensive, assisted by Iranian-backed militias and Russian jets. State media said Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited an airbase in the coastal Latakia province on Saturday after his talks with Assad in Damascus. Russia's military intervention in Syria in September helped turn the tide in Assad's favour after months of gains in western Syria by rebel fighters, who were aided by foreign military supplies, including U.S.-made anti-tank missiles. Russia, which has been bombing opposition-held areas, is blamed by the opposition and rights activists for causing hundreds of civilian deaths and targeting hospitals, schools and infrastructure in what they say are indiscriminate attacks. An escalation in Russian and Syrian air and artillery strikes in recent weeks around a highway to rebel held parts of the northern city of Aleppo has made the road virtually impassable, putting hundreds of thousands of people under siege and worsening their humanitarian plight. A 48-hour ceasefire in Aleppo announced by Russia on Thursday has had little impact on fighting, and air strikes and shelling have continued in and around the city. At least seven people died in rebel shelling of a neighbourhood of Aleppo held by the Kurdish YPG militia at dawn on Saturday, the Observatory said. Syrian helicopters also threw barrel bombs on several residential areas in opposition-held quarters. CLOSE TO MANBIJ Hundreds of people have been killed in Aleppo since peace talks broke off in April, as President Assad seeks to regain control of what was Syria's largest pre-war city, now split between rebel and government sectors. Washington and some other Western countries that have called on Assad to step down accuse Russia of focusing mostly on strikes against the moderate so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), and less on attacking hardline Islamic State militants. On the border with Turkey, U.S.-backed Syrian forces fought to the western entrance of Manbij city for the first time since a major offensive to seize the last territory held by Islamic State militants on the frontier, a source in the Syrian group said on Saturday. The source from the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance - which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, Arab fighters and is being helped by scores of U.S. special forces - told Reuters its troops were now almost two km from the city centre. Since the start of the offensive on May 31, the SDF has taken dozens of villages and farms around Manbij but has held back from entering the city with many thousands of people still trapped there. The SDF is one of a number of sides fighting in Syria's complex civil war which has pitted rebels against Assad and is now in its sixth year. The Observatory, which tracks violence across Syria, confirmed heavy fighting broke out for the first time on the edge of the city, adding that the militants had rammed a suicide vehicle into an SDF outpost but gave no details. Bangladesh Hindu teacher's attacker killed in shootout DHAKA, June 18 (Reuters) - A suspected Islamist militant was killed on Saturday in a shootout, police said, days after he critically wounded a Hindu college teacher in the latest attack on minority groups. Ghulam Faijullaha Fahim, 19, who was in police custody, was shot when officers took him with them to help capture his associates, said Sarwar Hossain, police chief of Madaripur, 70 km (44 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka. He was caught in crossfire that erupted after people started shooting at the police, he said, adding that Fahim was dead on arrival at a hospital. Mathematics teacher Ripon Chakraborty was attacked on Wednesday by Fahim and two other knife-wielding assailants when he answered the doorbell at his home. Fahim was caught by people who rushed to the rescue of the screaming teacher and his family, and was handed over to the police. He told them the attack had been planned by members of the banned militant group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Militants have killed more than 30 people since early last year, ranging from atheist bloggers and liberal academics to gay rights campaigners, foreign aid workers, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups. Greece could lift capital controls by year-end - bank association head ATHENS, June 18 (Reuters) - Greece could lift most or all capital controls imposed at the height of the euro zone crisis by the end of the year, the head of the country's banking association said on Saturday. The controls, which restricted the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks to 420 euros a week, were imposed last June to halt a flight of deposits that threatened to wreck the banking system as Greece was embroiled in acrimonious bailout talks with its international lenders. More than 50 billion euros left banks from November 2014 to July last year on fears that the country could crash out of the euro, forcing them to resort to emergency borrowing from the European Central Bank and the Bank of Greece. "Personally, I believe that the biggest part of the restrictions, if not all of them, can be lifted this autumn and towards the end of the year," Louka Katseli, who also chairs National Bank, Greece's second biggest lender, told Greek state TV. Katseli said one of the conditions for this to happen had already been met after Greece succesfully concluded a first review of its bailout reforms this month, helping to restore investor confidence in the country. The next immediate step would be for the ECB to give Greek banks access to cheap funding by accepting Greek bonds as collateral, she said. While Greece is rated "junk" by credit agencies, the ECB is almost certain to waive its investment-grade credit rating requirement at its June 22 Governing Council meeting, allowing Greek banks to start coming off an emergency liquidity lifeline and tap into the ECB's regular and cheaper funding. Katseli said that two remaining conditions for fully removing capital controls - an effective management of a loan of non-performing loans and a return of deposits to Greek banks - were not easy to achieve. China's Xi highlights Serbia trade as Beijing signs 22 deals By Aleksandar Vasovic BELGRADE, June 18 (Reuters) - China sought to strengthen its economic presence in central and eastern Europe on Saturday by signing 22 agreements on finance and infrastructure with Serbia. The deals, in areas such as currency swaps, renewable energy and highway construction, came during a visit to Serbia by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Beijing sees the visit as part of its One Belt, One Road initiative, which is intended to open new foreign trade links for Chinese firms as its own economy slows. At a ceremony in Belgrade's Palace of Serbia, Xi said the Balkan country had a significant role to play in this, while Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said his country was ready to become one of China's most important partners in the initiative. China has already invested more than $1 billion, mostly in the form of soft loans, to finance road building and energy projects in Serbia. On Saturday, Serbia's energy minister signed a deal to finance renewable energy sources and to build Serbia's first waste-to-energy plant as it seeks to replace its aging coal-fired power plants to meet green energy targets. Serbia's central bank governor, Jorgovanka Tabakovic, signed a currency swap deal aimed at boosting trade and investment, while the China Communications Construction Co signed a deal to build a section of a ring road in Belgrade. Serbia's minister for infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlovic, said China was interested in building a port on the Danube river as well as an industrial zone, but details were not announced. In April, China's Hebei Iron & Steel (HESTEEL) signed a 46-million euro deal to buy a steel plant located on the Danube, an investment which analysts said opened door for Chinese investment in Serbia's ailing metals sector. "China and Serbia are traditionally friendly nations. Our intention is to raise our strategic partnership to a higher level," Xi said, adding that the two countries agreed that their presidents should meet once a year to discuss ways to work together including "military cooperation." Xi said China would support Serbia's bid to join the European Union. Bangladesh Hindu teacher's attacker killed in shootout By Ruma Paul DHAKA, June 18 (Reuters) - A suspected Islamist militant was killed on Saturday in a shootout in Bangladesh, police said, days after he critically wounded a Hindu college teacher in the latest attack on minority groups. Ghulam Faijullaha Fahim, 19, who was in police custody, was shot when officers took him with them to help capture his associates, said Sarwar Hossain, police chief of Madaripur, 70 km (44 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka. "He was caught in crossfire that erupted after miscreants started shooting at the police," he said, adding that Fahim was dead on arrival at a hospital. Mathematics teacher Ripon Chakraborty was attacked on Wednesday by Fahim and two other knife-wielding assailants when he answered the doorbell at his home in Madaripur. Fahim was caught by people who rushed to the rescue of the screaming teacher and his family, and was handed over to the police. He told them the attack had been planned by members of the banned militant group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Militants have killed more than 30 people since early last year, ranging from atheist bloggers and liberal academics to gay rights campaigners, foreign aid workers, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups. The Islamic State or al Qaeda groups have claimed responsibility for most of the killings, but the government denies that either has a presence in Bangladesh, a majority Muslim country of 160 million. Police blame home-grown militants from groups such as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and Ansarullah Bangla Team. At least 11 suspected militants have been killed in shootouts since November, including five earlier this month, as the authorities step up a hunt for Islamists to stop a wave of deadly attacks. More than 100,000 Islamic scholars and clerics on Saturday issued a fatwa against militancy in the name of Islam. On Saturday, police recovered a large cache of firearms, including 108 pistols and 1,000 bullets, from a canal on the outskirts of Dhaka. Brexit would turn UK into minor trading post - French minister PARIS, June 18 (Reuters) - Britain would become a minor trading post no more important on the world stage than the island of Guernsey if it voted to leave the European Union next week, France's economy minister was quoted as saying on Saturday. In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Emmanuel Macron said the EU would also have to send "a very firm message and timetable" to Britain if its voters backed quitting the EU, known as Brexit, in a referendum on Thursday. "In the interests of the EU, we can't leave any margin of ambiguity or let too much time go by," Macron was quoted as saying. "You're either in or you're out." "Leaving the EU would mean the 'Guernseyfication' of the UK, which would then be a little country on the world scale. It would isolate itself and become a trading post and arbitration place at Europe's border." Guernsey is a tiny island in the Channel between Britain and France. The International Monetary Fund has said a vote to quit the EU could leave Britain's economy more than 5 percent smaller by 2019 than if it stays in the 28-nation club. Former Italian prime minister Mario Monti also had a severe message for the British government on Saturday, saying holding the referendum at all was "highly irresponsible". "The British government and Prime Minister (David) Cameron decided to risk the European Union dissolving, basically to strengthen the prime minister's position within his own party," Monti said. Speaking to SkyTG24 television at a conference in Venice, Monti said the British government's actions had also raised the risk of Scotland leaving the United Kingdom. Opinion polls this week suggested the "Leave" camp was ahead of the "Remain" side ahead of the June 23 vote. Campaigning was suspended after the murder of British parliamentarian Jo Cox on Thursday. Britain's partners are stepping up warnings that if it votes to leave, banks and financial firms based in London could lose their money-spinning "passports" to EU markets. "If the UK wants a commercial access treaty to the European single market, the British must contribute to the European budget like the Norwegians and the Swiss do. If London doesn't want that, then it must be a total exit," Macron warned. Egyptian court hands ex-president Mursi another life sentence CAIRO, June 18 (Reuters) - Egypt's former president Mohamed Mursi was handed another life sentence on Saturday, after a court found him guilty of espionage and leaking state secrets. Mursi, leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has already been sentenced in three other cases, including the death penalty for a mass jail break during the 2011 uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak and a life sentence for spying on behalf of Palestinian group Hamas. The court on Saturday also said the death penalty had been approved for six others accused alongside Mursi, including three journalists sentenced in absentia. Two other defendants that had worked in Mursi's office were sentenced to life in prison. The sentences are the latest in a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since an army takeover stripped Mursi of power in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Prosecutors argued Mursi and his aides were involved in leaking sensitive documents to Qatari intelligence that exposed the location of weapons held by the Egyptian armed forces. All of the defendants can appeal the verdicts to the Egyptian Court of Cassation, the country's highest civil court. Relations between Qatar, a Gulf Arab state, and Egypt have been icy since July 2013 when Egypt's then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Mursi. Qatar had supported Mursi, who is in jail along with thousands of Brotherhood members, many of whom have been sentenced to death on separate charges. Niger says no Chadian troops have been deployed in Diffa region By Joe Bavier DIFFA, Niger, June 18 (Reuters) - Niger's interior minister said on Saturday that no Chadian troops have been deployed in its southeastern region of Diffa after a deadly attack carried out by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram two weeks ago. Several military sources had said Chad had sent 2,000 troops to Niger to prepare a counterattack against the militants, whose attack on June 3 killed 24 Niger troops in Bosso, a town in the Lake Chad region on the Nigerian border. The attack, one of the deadliest in Niger by Boko Haram, prompted Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou to fly one week later to Chad for talks with his counterpart Idriss Deby. The aim of the discussion "was mainly to accelerate the implementation ... of the FMM (mixed multinational force) and I think it's already done", Niger's Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum told Reuters in an interview. The multinational force includes Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin. "It seems Chadian troops are already on the ground, they are in Nigeria, they're not in Niger", Bazoum added. Asked about the 2,000 Chadian troops believed to be sent to Niger after Bosso attack, he said: "I think it was a particularly vivid imagination of some journalists." Chad was instrumental in forcing the Nigeria-based Boko Haram to cede territory last year, undermining its seven-year campaign to carve out a Nigerian caliphate. But guerrillas have since ramped up attacks in remote border areas around Lake Chad, where the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria meet. Seven gendarmes were killed and 12 others wounded in the group's latest attack on Thursday on a village in Niger, the military said on Friday. Croatia's Modric set to miss Spain match with groin injury LYON, France, June 18 (Reuters) - Key midfielder Luka Modric is highly likely to miss Croatia's final Euro 2016 group D match against holders Spain in Bordeaux on Tuesday with a groin injury, team doctor Boris Nemec said. Modric limped off in the second half of Croatia's volatile 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic in a match marred by crowd trouble as Croatian flans threw flares on to the pitch and clashed with each other in St Etienne on Friday. "Modric's groin is strained and swollen," Nemec told Croatian media on Satutrday. "He will train at less than full intensity in the next few days and is very unlikely to be available for the Spain match," he said. Defender Vedran Corluka, who needed stitches after a clash of heads during Croatia's opening 1-0 win over Turkey, is also doubtful after the injury recurred against the Czechs and forced him to wear a water polo cap in the second half. Amid melting Arctic ice, Kerry sees looming climate catastrophe By Lesley Wroughton ABOARD THE HDMS THETIS, Greenland, June 18 (Reuters) - S tanding near Greenland's Jakobshavn glacier, the reputed source of the iceberg that sank the Titanic over a century ago, U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saw evidence of another looming catastrophe. Giant icebergs broken off from the glacier seemed to groan as they drifted behind him, signaling eventual rising oceans that scientists warn will submerge islands and populated coastal region. Briefed by researchers aboard a Royal Danish Navy patrol ship, Kerry appeared stunned by how fast the ice sheets are melting. He was struck by the more dire warnings he was hearing about the same process underway in Antarctica. "This has been a significant eye-opener for me and I have spent 25 years or engaged in this issue," Kerry said on the deck of the HDMS Thetis with Denmark's Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen during the two-day visit that ended late on Friday. Kerry made his first visit to this part of the Arctic to witness the effects of climate changes and press the need to implement the Paris climate accord. He has called climate change "the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction". The United States chairs the Arctic Council, a forum created in 1996 to tackle issues arising from increased Arctic activity. The landmark Paris agreement included commitments by most nations to reduce carbon emissions contributing to climate change but lacked any enforcement mechanism, leaving open who will pay costs that will rise into the trillions of dollars. "What we did in Paris ... is critical now to be implemented, but it is not enough," he said. "We have to all move faster in order to embrace new energy policies that are sustainable, that are clean, all of which are there for the using if governments and private sector make the right choices." HUMAN CONTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE By visiting Greenland and Svalbard in Norway's extreme north this week, Kerry focused on some of the most visible impacts of climate change. "There is no mistaking that we are contributing to climate change, we human beings have choices that can undo the damage," said Kerry. "There is profound change throughout the Arctic." Jakobshavn is one of the world's biggest glaciers and the most active in the Arctic, where ice sheets are melting at a rate faster than ever before. David Holland, a New York University scientist studying changes on Jakobshavn, explained that the glacier could retreat by about 62 miles (100 kilometers) over the next 100 years if the thawing of its ice sheet continues at its current pace. If Greenland's ice sheets all melted, that would raise sea levels by about 6 meters (20 feet) over thousands of years. That is modest compared to what could happen if Antarctica keeps thawing, said Holland. Two developments in recent days show the magnitude of the challenge. For the first time in 4 million years, levels of carbon dioxide - a heat-trapping gas produced by burning fossil fuels - hit 400 parts per million in Antarctica, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The threshold shows the rising levels of climate pollution. Last week, temperatures in Greenland's capital hit a record 24.8 degrees Celsius (76.6 Fahrenheit) for a single day in June, according to records dating back to 1958. Worldwide, 2016 has set repeated monthly records after a record warm 2015, according to NASA. "GIGANTIC TRANSFORMATION" "This is a gigantic transformation that is taking place," said Kerry. "You can see it with the naked eye, you see it where the ice has retreated from just in the last 15 to 20 years." The Arctic is warming at about twice the global average, partly because the melting of the ice cover has revealed darker ground and water underneath that soak up even more heat. "Things are changing and we are perhaps the last generation that can do something about it," said Jensen. This new access to the ground underneath has opened the Arctic to increased political and commercial competition, including exploration for oil and minerals by countries that used to have no access to the region. Kerry warned that exploiting newly accessible resources would undermine the carbon-reduction strategy of the Paris accord. He also said the public was still not sufficiently conscious of the challenge ahead. "Even where there is awareness, the steps people are taking are not big enough, fast enough. We have a huge distance to travel," he said at the Blomstrand glacier at Ny-Alesund. Temperatures in the Svalbard archipelago are now between six to 11 degrees warmer than normal, according to Jan-Gunner Winther, director of the Norwegian Polar Institute, who wonders whether the changes are a tipping point. Southern California wildfire spreads as blazes hit parched states By Jon Herskovitz June 18 (Reuters) - A wildfire fed by parched land and high winds spread in Southern California on Saturday, prompting hundreds of people to evacuate their homes as the blaze formed destructive columns of flames known as "fire tornadoes." The so-called Sherpa Fire in Santa Barbara County, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, had burned through about 7,100 acres (2,870 hectares) by early Saturday and firefighters had contained about a quarter of the blaze, Santa Barbara County said on its Twitter feed. More than 1,200 firefighters have been dispatched to battle the flames being fueled by dry chaparral and grass in coastal canyons about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of the affluent city of Santa Barbara. "Now is the time to gather your family members, pets and important documents in case you need to leave quickly," the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office warned people living in areas threatened by the fire. So far no serious injuries or damage have been reported. The fire broke out on Wednesday and has been expanding since then. Little relief is in sight with high winds and temperatures set to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) over the weekend. The fire is one of a series of blazes in western and southwestern states brought about by high temperatures and a prolonged dry spell. One of the largest has been southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico, destroying about two dozen homes and forced evacuations. The so-called Dog Head Fire has burned through about 17,000 acres (6,880 hectares) of timber and logging zones in four days. Governor Susana Martinez this week declared a state of emergency to free up resources to fight the blaze. For an area stretching from Southern California to southern Nevada and into Arizona, the National Weather service has put out "red flag warnings," indicating conditions that could lead to dangerous fires. German minister warns NATO of "sabre-rattling" against Russia BERLIN, June 18 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has criticised NATO's decision to stage military manoeuvres in eastern Europe, warning such moves could worsen tensions with Russia. His comments reflect growing divisions within Germany's ruling right-left coalition over policy towards Moscow. Steinmeier's Social Democrats (SPD) generally back a more conciliatory stance towards Russia than Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc. "What we shouldn't do now is to inflame the situation by loud sabre-rattling and shrill war cries," Steinmeier told Bild newspaper in an interview to be published on Sunday. "Whoever believes that symbolic tank parades on the alliance's eastern border will bring more security is mistaken," Steinmeier said. "We are well-advised not to create pretexts to renew an old confrontation." Steinmeier did not make clear which manoeuvres he was referring to but NATO has just completed a large-scale, 10-day military training exercise in Poland involving more than 20 NATO and partner countries. Germany was among those taking part. The exercise, involving 30,000 troops, was part of NATO's drive to reassure east European nations rattled by Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea pensinsula and its support for rebels opposed to Kiev's forces in eastern Ukraine. "IRRESPONSIBLE SIGNAL" Steinmeier said history showed dialogue and cooperation were crucial elements of any successful deterrence policy. This month the United States, Britain and Germany advanced plans to spearhead a new NATO force on Russia's border from next year, prompting President Vladimir Putin to order snap checks on the combat readiness of his armed forces. Only weeks before a critical NATO summit in Warsaw, the three allies said they would each command a battalion on NATO's eastern flank to help deter any show of force against Poland or the Baltic states. NATO's battalions are part of a wider deterrent due 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. Steinmeier's comments drew fierce criticism from Rebecca Harms, co-chair of the Greens group in the European Parliament. She said Steinmeier was sending an "irresponsible signal" to Moscow at a time when Russia was still refusing to fully support efforts to end the Ukraine crisis and pull back troops from the eastern territory of the ex-Soviet republic. Moscow denies having any troops in Ukraine or providing arms to the rebels. Elmar Brok, a close Merkel ally and head of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, told German daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung on Saturday there was "no question" that the EU would extend by a further six months its economic sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. Turkey's Erdogan revives plans to redevelop Istanbul park ISTANBUL, June 18 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday he would revive plans to redevelop a park in central Istanbul, three years after they triggered large-scale anti-government protests. Four people were killed and about 7,500 people wounded during a police crackdown in June 2013 against the protests, the Turkish Medical Association said at the time, in a major challenge to the rule of Erdogan, who was then prime minister. The plans to build a mosque, a replica of an Ottoman-era military barracks and a shopping mall were then put on hold while the government and its critics fought over the issue in the courts. Critics of the plans said they would destroy one of the few green areas of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and commercial hub which already boasts a large number of shopping malls as well as mosques. In a speech at a ceremony in Istanbul, Erdogan stressed his wish to build a replica of the barracks, a mosque and also an opera house, though he made no mention of the shopping mall. "One of the areas where we need to be courageous is Taksim Gezi Park ... If we are going to reclaim our history, there was a historical building there, we will rebuild it," he said, referring to the barracks. "Whether it will be a history museum or a city museum, we need to do this," said Erdogan, a pious Muslim who often extols the glories of Turkey's Ottoman past. Since the 2013 protests Erdogan has further strengthened his grip on power and is now trying to introduce a powerful executive presidency. Dubai group pays $2.4 bln for control of Kuwait's Americana DUBAI, June 18 (Reuters) - An investment group led by prominent Dubai businessman Mohamed Alabbar has agreed to buy a majority stake in Kuwait Food Co (Americana) from the Kharafis, a wealthy Kuwaiti merchant family, for about $2.4 billion. Under a legally binding agreement with Al Khair National for Stocks and Real Estate, controlled by the Kharafis, all of Al Khair's Americana shares will be bought at 2.650 dinars each, the group, named Adeptio, said on Saturday. That represents a 26 percent premium over their last market price. Al Khair had been offering a 69 percent stake in Americana, which owns the Middle East franchises for fast food chains KFC and Pizza Hut and also produces branded consumer foods. The deal appears to end one of the region's longest running acquisition sagas. The stake had been up for sale since early 2014. Adeptio originally agreed in February to buy the stake, but that agreement collapsed at the end of May. Reuters reported last week that talks had restarted. After Adeptio completes the purchase of the stake from the Kharafis, it will launch a mandatory takeover offer to remaining Americana shareholders at the same price under Kuwaiti securities rules, Adeptio said. "We look forward to building on Americana's success and taking advantage of the growth potential of the business going forward," Alabbar, also chairman of Emaar Properties, Dubai's top real estate firm, said in a statement. In the last week of May 2016, Afghanistan, India and Iran signed a tripartite agreement under which India will develop the Iranian port of Chabahar and link it with Afghanistan via the Zaranj-Delaram highway that had been constructed by India. The agreement will provide land-to-sea connectivity to Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics (CARs) through Iran, bypassing Pakistan. A week later, two former Pakistani defence secretaries expressed grave reservations at the move.Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik said, "The alliance between India, Afghanistan and Iran is a security threat to Pakistan." He feared that Pakistan was getting isolated."In view of the regional and global environment, I see Pakistan falling into an abyss of isolation primarily because of its own mistakes and partly due to the hostile policies of other states." Expressing similar apprehensions, Lt Gen Naeem Lodhi said that the existence of a "formidable bloc" in Pakistans neighbourhood would have "ominous and far-reaching implications". He said, "We need to break out of this encircling move with help from friends... diplomatic manoeuvres and by forging a strong deterrence." Clearly, while the tripartite agreement is seen by the signatories as being intended to enhance trade and provide landlocked Afghanistan and the CARs access to the sea, Pakistan perceives it as a pincer movement designed to encircle it from the west. Hence, Pakistan sees the building of Chabahar by India as a security threat and a move to counter the development of Gwadar as a major port. Gwadar will be the southern point and the sea terminal of the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Gwadar and Chabahar lie directly opposite the Gulf of Oman and adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz. Both ports have strategic significance and were on the radar of the US and Russia till a few decades ago. It has been long conjectured that the US was interested in developing Chabahar as a naval base, but the plans were foiled as the Shah of Iran was overthrown by the revolution led byAyatollah Khomeini. Before that, throughout history, both Chabahar and Gwadar had been of importance to the Greeks, the Arabs, the Portuguese and the British. Now, a new great game is truly underway. As part of its strategic outreach, India has undertaken to develop Irans Chabahar port, 80km to the west of Gwadar. In 2013, Pakistan handed over Gwadar port on the Makran coast to China for 40 years. Gwadar will be the southern point and the sea terminal of the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that will extend to Kashgar in Xinjiang. The CPEC is part of Chinas "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) initiative designed to extend Chinas sphere of influence and give a fillip to its flagging economy through large-scale construction of roads, railway lines and ports. At the time of independence from Britain, Gwadar was a principality that had been in the possession of the Sultan of Oman for almost 200 years. Gwadar was given as a gift to Oman by the Khan of Kalat in 1783. From 1863 up to independence in 1947, it was administered by a British assistant political agent. At that time, the enclave was not much more than a number of fishing villages. After independence, according to the diplomatic community grapevine, Gwadar was administered by India on behalf of the Sultan of Oman as the two countries enjoyed excellent relations. When the Khan of Kalat asked the Sultan to return Gwadar to Pakistan, reportedly, the Sultan first offered it to India, but India declined to accept the gift. This offer was probably made verbally. While senior diplomats confirm that such an offer was made, its authenticity could not been verified independently. Oman then sold Gwadar to Pakistan for $3 million on September 8, 1958. Since December 1958, it has been an integral part of the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Whether the government of independent India declined to accept the deep water port in keeping with its policy of shunning imperial inheritances, or due to the lack of contiguity and the inability to defend it, or simply because of a lack of appreciation of its potential, will not be known till the diplomats concerned decide to write their memoirs. HERTOGENBOSCH - Netherlands - Saint Bob Geldof is to be launched into space in a rocket his publicist revealed today. Space X, a private space company gained enough donations to buy Sir Bob a one way $100,000 ticket to oblivion. The rocket is one of many which will propel celebrities into space for a once in a lifetime experience, the only drawback for them is that its a one way ticket. Liftoff Bob Geldofs spokesman, Gary Winesap told ITV news that the Boomtown Rat was grateful for the mass of donations to get him a seat on the rocket and he was also glad that there were no bathing facilities onboard. Others who have already signed up include DJ Z403-2a and pop star 78564-y. The rockets boosters will propel Geldof to a height of 89 miles above earths atmosphere where he will just keep going, and going and going. India in March extended the 25 per cent import tax on wheat by three months to June 30. (Representational Image) India has extended a 25 per cent tax on wheat imports, the food minister said on Friday, to help curb cheap shipments with domestic stockpiles rising at the world's second-biggest wheat producer. India in March extended the 25 per cent import tax on wheat by three months to June 30. The government has approved a further extension of the import tax, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in a tweet, without specifying any timeline. Wheat stocks at state-owned warehouses in India reached more than 40 million tonnes at the start of June. That is at least 12 million tonnes more than the government-set target for wheat inventory by July 1. Despite plentiful wheat stocks at home, some flour millers near port cities in southern parts of the country have been importing the protein-rich variety of the grain mainly used to make pizzas and pasta. Flour millers find it cheaper to import wheat from countries such as Australia than transporting local wheat from northern and central states, the grain basket of India. Still, India's wheat imports could surge to a decade-high in 2016/17, forcing the country to look at cutting import taxes, a leading consumer products company said last week. Bollywood actor Salman Khan had opened a website in 2013 to put up information and latest updates on the court cases filed against him. The actor set up the website after it was noticed that the information floating around in connection with his cases were misleading and inaccurate. This in turn had affected him on a personal and professional level. Salman decided to open the online forum to allow his fans access to all the updates and progress of his impending cases. The actor opened up about the reason behind starting The Salman Khan Files. He said, "Certain court cases are filed against me. There is widespread media reporting of these cases. The reports are sometimes inaccurate and misleading, and cause damage to my reputation, both personal and professional. I have been advised to put up this website to provide easy accessible information about the ongoing status of these cases." A screenshot of the website salmankhanfiles.com However, after the actor was acquitted of all charges in the 2002 hit-and-run case, the site has now become redundant. On December 10, 2015, Salman Khan walked away form the Bombay High Court a free man, for lack of incriminating evidence against him. "On basis of evidences produced by the prosecution, the appellant cannot be convicted, no matter how differently the common man thinks," the Bombay High Court ruled. Salman had kept several film projects on hold as he was unsure of the courts ruling. In interviews proceeding the acquittal, he also revealed why he remained single for this long. In an interview with a magazine, Salu revealed that he kept marriage and fatherhood on hold because he didnt want his child to grow up with its father in prison. On the work front, Salman is waiting for the release of his film Sultan. The actor will also begin work on Kabir Khans next film that is expected to go on floors next month. Priyanka Chopra, who has been juggling between several projects at once, is constantly flying in and out of Mumbai. Priyanka took some time off from her work commitments to celebrate her mother Madhu Chopras birthday in London. Priyanka took to her social networking handle to post a picture and wrote, Birthday night in London Town. Love u @chopramm2001. On the work front, Priyanka is now shooting for Quanticos second season. She will also be making her Hollywood debut with Baywatch. The actress is yet to announce her next Bollywood film. The actress is said to have been approached by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Zoya Akhtar, but an official announcement is yet to be made. The print train of the fashion world appears to be unstoppable these days. From Valentino, Burberry Prorsum and Diane von Furstenberg to Stella McCartney, Edward Hutabarat and more, design gurus have been frequently showcasing print-based pret collections on national and international runways. Although their lines have little to do with each other in terms of inspirations and design sensibilities, they do have one thing in common: batiks. From wacky to homey, idiosyncratic to fiery florals, dazzling geometrics to folk-inspired, the batik print revolution underpins one of the biggest new statements in fashion at the moment. Batik is both an art and a craft. And its growing popularity in the West as a wonderfully creative medium reinforces the fashion worlds fascination with the East, avers designer Rashmi Srivastava of Banka Silk. The art of beautifying cloth using wax and dye has been practised for centuries especially in Indonesian regions where some of the finest batik cloths in the world are still made. The word batik originates from the Javanese tik which means to dot. A batik pattern is achieved when selected areas of the cloth are blocked out by brushing or drawing hot wax and then dyed. The parts covered in wax resist the dye and retain the original colour. This process of waxing and dyeing can be repeated to create more elaborate and colourful designs. After the final dyeing, the wax is removed and the cloth is ready for wearing or showing, she explains. Pointing out its evolution into modern digital versions, designer Sunieta Narayana says, Inspired by this traditional eastern technique, a Belgian printer developed the machine-made wax-print fabric by applying resin to cotton cloth. But this developed a crackling effect a series of small lines, dots and imperfections where the resin cracked and dye seeped through that didnt appeal to Indonesian batik purists. In need of a market for the new textiles, the Dutch turned to West Africa where people actually appreciated these imperfections. West African tastes then shaped the evolving designs. According to designer Lalit Dalmia, there are no set rules to wearing the trend. He elaborates, You can explore the traditional batik, reworked in various clashes and combinations via an assortment of zingy, artificial colours inspired by a make-up palette and pastels all pared back with nudes and blush hues. Also, this technique has an oriental flavour, so you can reload your wardrobe with kimono jackets, pyjama trousers, fringed sashes, gowns and wrap dresses in various digital batik patterns. About batik-friendly fabrics, Rashmi informs, For summers, go for soft cottons, voiles, cambric or poplins. These days, viscose is also a big trend along with the gauze and loosely woven fabrics. You can mix and match batik patterns with different silhouettes as well. Go for combinations such as a high-low crop top with high-waisted pants, flared batik print trousers with a solid jersey vest and a contrasting scarf, or a batik printed fringed cape with a plain top and trousers in white, red, fuschia, aquamarine, etc. Accessorise with beaded, brass or colourful stone-embedded jewellery to complete the look. Pearls and wooden accessories will also go really well with batik patterns. Surgeons have successfully removed a rubber band from a young boy's wrist in China after it had it had grown right into his flesh. The 4-year-old boy, who is known as Longlong, was also at a risk of getting his arm amputated had the operation been delayed any further, according to People's Daily Online. Doctors who treated Longlong explained that the object was affecting the boys bone growth and was preventing him from moving his arms freely. Reports say that Longlong had been given a silver bracelet by his mother when he was just a year old as a protection charm. But last December, his grandmother noticed that the bracelet was too tight for him and took it off. She then discovered that a red mark was left on the boys wrist and it had become red and swollen. Although she took the boy to the hospital for a check up, the mark did not fade away. Longlongs condition worsened in June when a giant blister appeared on his wrist. When doctors drained it and cut the skin open, they were shocked to find a rubber band growing into the flesh of his wrist. He was also unable to stretch his left arm straight. Dr. Fu said that X-ray reports showed that the bone of the boys wrist was being affected by the rubber band. If we didn't take the rubber band out, Longlong might have faced the danger of amputation, the doctors were quoted as saying. After the surgery, the boy confessed to his mother that he had tied the rubber band on his wrist. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration enacted a lifetime ban for gay and bisexual men in the 1980s to protect against transmitting HIV. (Photo: AP) US health regulators are under increasing pressure to remove restrictions keeping most gay and bisexual men from donating blood, but experts say any change would require years of research to guarantee the safety of the blood supply. The US Food and Drug Administration enacted a lifetime ban for gay and bisexual men in the 1980s to protect against transmitting the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. The agency reduced the ban in December to a 12-month wait since a man's last sexual encounter with another man. Following Sunday's mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, more than a dozen Democratic Party lawmakers called on the FDA to move toward lifting the ban altogether. They argued that it wrongly discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, rather than determining whether a donor's actual behavior puts them at risk of HIV. Their call came after members of the gay community tried to donate blood in the aftermath of the Orlando attack but were turned away based on their recent sexual history. "We're still in an inherently contradictory posture of straight men who are having unsafe sex with multiple partners being allowed to give blood. A gay man in a 30-year monogamous relationship, who practices safe sex, is not," Representative Mike Quigley, an Illinois Democrat who serves as vice chair of the congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, told Reuters. The FDA maintains there is not enough scientific evidence to remove the restrictions. "We empathize with those who might wish to donate, but reiterate that at this time no one who needs blood is doing without it," spokeswoman Tara Goodin said in a statement. "That being said, the FDA is committed to continuing to reevaluate its blood donor deferral policies as new scientific information becomes available." Blood supply experts say the FDA will need to determine whether the move to a one-year waiting period for gay and bisexual men made the blood supply less, more or just as safe. That effort will take several years, and only then would the agency be able to consider relaxing its restrictions further, said Brian Custer, who has led a number of studies on the nation's blood supply and is associate director of the Blood Systems Research Institute (BSRI) in San Francisco. Removing the waiting period altogether would also likely require a large-scale study that tested blood samples of people who would be banned under current criteria, said Dr. Michael Busch, a co-director of BSRI. Busch helped discover in the 1980s that HIV could be transmitted through blood transfusions. "Those are difficult to design and execute," he said. Existing Risk HIV disproportionately affects gay and bisexual men. While only about 4 percent of US men have sex with other men, they represent about two-thirds of the country's new infections, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All blood donated in the United States is screened for HIV, as well as other transmissible diseases such as Hepatitis C and syphilis. Blood supply experts note that such testing cannot detect HIV within the earliest window of exposure, nine to 14 days. In the past 12 years, as many as six people have been infected with HIV through blood transfusion in the United States, according to Dr. Richard Benjamin, a former chief medical officer of the American Red Cross. "That risk is always going to be there. People who donate blood within two weeks of exposure always will be missed by testing," said Benjamin, now an executive at Cerus Corp, whose technology kills pathogens in blood plasma and blood platelets. One study by FDA researchers published in January suggested that dropping all donor restrictions on men who have sex with men would result in 31 more units of HIV-infected blood being missed by screening tests and entering the blood supply each year. Nearly 16 million blood donations are collected in the United States each year, according to the American Red Cross. Groups representing the nation's largest blood centers, including the American Red Cross and America's Blood Centers, said they support the FDA's current rules, which are in line with policies in the UK, France, Australia and the Netherlands. "Policy at this level moves at a slower pace than people would prefer, but it is years, not decades away," said Custer, one of the blood supply experts, referring to the FDA. Of the millions of sperm that enter the vagina, only about 10 or so make it to the oocyte or egg. (Photo: Pixabay) Washington: Scientists are developing new low cost sperm sorting devices that can select the best sperm cells for assisted reproductive technologies such as in-vitro fertilisation, increasing the chances of a successful pregnancy. The competition is fierce and only the strongest survive the obstacle course within the female reproductive tract. Of the millions of sperm that enter the vagina, only about 10 or so make it to the oocyte or egg, demonstrating how rigorous the natural sperm selection process really is. While in-vitro fertilisation, intrauterine insemination, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection have been effective treatment options for infertile couples, only about one-third of these methods result in live births. The most commonly used or conventional method for assisted reproductive technologies involves a technique called centrifugation. This technique spins the sperm samples around and at the end, the most motile sperm are used for reproductive medicine. Although this method is efficient at selecting motile and normal sperm, the process is problematic because it tends to increase levels of chemicals that cause DNA damage. This technique is less efficient at selecting mature sperm or getting rid of sperm that are near death. Waseem Asghar from Florida Atlantic University in the US is currently working on developing easy-to-use and inexpensive sperm sorting devices that have applications in intrauterine insemination, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and in vitro fertilisation. "Microfluidic based technologies have surfaced as a novel substitute to conventional methods that use centrifugation," said Asghar. "These are devices that use small volumes of fluid, can enable more control to precisely sort cells within small volumes, and are created to mimic what happens naturally in the female genital tract," he said. Asghar's device consists of one inlet for the injection of a raw unprocessed semen sample and two plastic chambers separated by porous membrane. The most healthy and motile sperm swim through the porous membrane leaving behind less functional and dead sperm in the bottom chamber. Using this sorting technology, a technician just has to inject the semen sample into the device and can then collect healthy sperm from the top chamber in about 30 minutes, making it very easy to use. Prior studies of microfluidic devices have shown that motility of the sperm sample increased to almost 100 per cent and morphology of the isolated sperm also was improved after microfluidic sorting. Compared to other techniques used for assisted reproductive technologies, the use of the microfluidic device resulted in significantly lower rates of DNA damage and improved sperm recovery using this method. The Zika virus has recently been linked to serious birth defects including shrunken heads in newborns and neurological disorders. (Photo: AP) Geneva: The World Health Organisation said Friday that USD 122 million is needed to fund an 18-month anti-Zika battle plan that will focus on women of child-bearing age. The mosquito-borne virus has recently been linked to serious birth defects including shrunken heads in newborns and neurological disorders having previously been thought to cause just flu-like symptoms. The ongoing outbreak has affected more than 60 countries. Brazil remains the hardest-hit country, with Rio de Janeiro set to host the Olympics in less than two months. WHO director general Margaret Chan said that the organisation's new Zika Strategic Response Plan reflects the rapidly growing amount of new information available about the virus. "The response now requires a unique and integrated strategy that places support for women and girls of child-bearing age at its core," Chan said in a statement. Funding needs have risen significantly since the first USD 56 million plan was announced in February, when only 23 countries and health organisations needed Zika-related support, Chan said. Since then the virus has spread while near conclusive evidence has emerged linking it to the congenital defect microcephaly -- an abnormally small head -- and neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can cause paralysis and death. Priorities for the new response include contingency planning in case Zika spreads further as well as sexual and reproductive counselling for people who may want to delay pregnancy. WHO has urged pregnant women to avoid travel to Zika-affected areas. One in four men who reported having a new non-UK-resident sex partner said they had paid for sex. (Photo: Pixabay) One in 10 men and one in 20 women who travel internationally from Great Britain find new sexual partners abroad, according to two new studies. Sexually transmitted infection and HIV prevalence is higher in certain parts of the world, so some overseas partnerships may be riskier than others, said the lead author of one paper. When people travel from home they have the opportunity to meet new people and, depending on why they are traveling, may feel less constrained by social taboos controlling sexual expression, said Dr. Clare Tanton of the Research Department of Infection and Population Health at University College London. Tanton and colleagues analyzed responses to the British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles between 2010 and 2012. Of more than 15,000 adults living in Britain who responded, over 12,000 said they had at least one sexual partner within the previous five years. About 1,000 said they had sex with a new partner while traveling overseas. This was slightly more common for men and women under age 35, but even for those over age 35, one in 20 men and one in 40 women said they had hooked up abroad. We found that a similar proportion of people reported having had sex for the first time while overseas in our latest survey (carried out 2010-2012) as we found in the previous survey (carried out 1999-2001), Tanton said by email. In the more recent survey, those who had sex overseas tended to have more sexual partners total, and were less likely to use condoms in general and more likely to use drugs or alcohol than others. They were also more likely to have been to a sexual health clinic or have been tested for HIV in the past five years, according to the results in Sexually Transmitted Infections. Unfortunately we dont know what proportion of this sex while overseas was protected but other studies of travelers and STI clinic attendees suggest that a sizable proportion of it probably wasnt, Tanton said. Id like to see people think about buying and packing condoms in the same way they do for suntan lotion as part of their travel preparation. Only one third of men and 40 percent of women who reported a partner while overseas had been to a sexual health clinic in the past five years, so improvements can still be made, she said. One in four men who reported having a new non-UK-resident sex partner said they had paid for sex within the past five years. Another study in the same issue of the journal surveyed international backpackers visiting the islands of Thailand in 2013, more than half of whom were traveling without a sexual partner, and 40 percent of whom said they had sex with a new partner during the trip often another backpacker. Many of the travelers reported never or inconsistently using condoms, most often those from Britain or Sweden. The results demonstrate a mechanism by which disease may be spread from one population to another, said Christopher Lewis of the Institute of Clinical Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, at the University of Birmingham, who coauthored the second study. This is a particular concern as we see the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of gonorrhea in some parts of the world, and our worry is that gonorrhea may become an untreatable infection, he told Reuters Health by email. Unprotected sex can lead to unplanned pregnancy, HIV infection and infertility, he said. Consistent condom use is the most effective means of preventing the spread of disease during intercourse, Lewis said. We encourage all backpackers, irrespective of age and gender, to pack (and use!) condoms on their travels. Sex may be the main purpose of travel for some people who choose to travel to Thailand, said Dr. Alberto Matteelli, of the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Clinic at the University of Brescia in Italy, who coauthored an editorial in the journal. There is nothing wrong with Thailand, Matteelli told Reuters Health by email. What is wrong is the business of sex that is built at the expenses of the dignity and life of many people including a significant proportion of adolescents. Scuba diving in Thailand, surfing in Mangalore and cliff diving in the Philippines these are just some of the exhilarating activities you could indulge in if you opt for a holiday that includes taking part in an adventure sport. For youngsters who are adrenaline junkies, holidays arent just about chilling by the beach, theres a whole lot of thrill in store for them as they plan vacations that are centered on adventure sports. Entrepreneur Anand Vecham says, One day in office, we thought of doing something different and chose to scuba dive. We started our research on the certification and we did the level one certification at St Josephs School. This led to our first scuba dive expedition to Pondicherry to complete our open water certification and ever since, we havent stopped diving. We have travelled to Andaman, Thailand, Philippines and Maldives on our diving trips, says Anand, who has also participated in off roading events in Sakleshpur, Coorg and Wayanad. Recently, I even went camping in the forests of Kanakapuraorganised by Campers Creek. As for scuba diving, going around the corals and ship wrecks is a memory which will never fade away, says Anand. Thirty-year-old Juhi Sheth did a trip centered around bungee jumping when she lived in South Africa. I did a road trip to Africas highest bridge called the BloukarnsRiver Valley. You have to walk upto the middle of the bridge which is 216 metres high in order to do the bungee here. Just before I went, my dad called me and when he heard that I had chickened out, he encouraged me to get past my fear. I gathered my wits and made the jump which was a free fall of seven seconds it was the most exhilarating experience of my life, recollects Juhi. Senior product manager Nimish Jain has done the Chaddar trek in Leh in February. It involved walking on a river which was frozen, it was a six-day trek done under extreme conditions. The temperature was minus 35 degrees! There were parts of the river which were not frozen, so we had to climb mountains in order to pass those areas, he reminisces. Nimish has also surfed in Mangalore. Theres a place called Yoga Ashram located on the bank of a river. A group of 12 of us took surf lessons and surfed there. One needs to be really strong to do surfing as its an extreme sport, says Nimish , who is also a fervent diver. Ive dived in Thailand, Philippines and Maldives and I intend to travel to Indonesia this coming season, he shares. Durga Kami, the father of six and grandfather of eight, goes to school six days a week to complete his studies. (Credit: YouTube) Nepalese grandfather Durga Kami brushes his bushy white beard, puts on his school uniform and, with the aid of his walking stick, trudges for over an hour to class for another day of learning. Poverty prevented Kami finishing his studies as a child and achieving his goal of becoming a teacher. Now 68, the father of six and grandfather of eight goes to school six days a week to complete his studies and escape a lonely home life following the death of his wife. Walking into the Shree Kala Bhairab higher secondary school and the buzz created by 200 children is a welcome contrast to the hush of the isolated one-room home, with its leaking roof and frequent power cuts, where Kami lives in Syangja district, some 250 km (155 miles) west of Nepal's capital Kathmandu. "To forget my sorrows I go to school," said Kami, one of the oldest students in Nepal, in the classroom where he studies alongside 14 and 15-year-olds. Kami, whose children have all left his hilltop home, first went to Kaharay primary school where he learnt to read and write with the seven and eight year olds before leaving after finishing grade five with the 11-year-olds. Shree Kala Bhairab teacher D.R Koirala then invited Kami to his school, which provided the grandfather with stationary and a school uniform including grey trousers, blue striped tie and white shirt. "This is my first experience teaching a person who is as senior as my father's age," Koirala said. "I feel very excited and happy." The school scholarship does not stretch to cover food, though, meaning Kami's breakfast of rice with a fermented green vegetable known as 'Gundruk' must sustain him until dinner. The 20 children in his grade 10 class have dubbed Kami 'Baa', which means 'father' in Nepali, but despite his age their elderly class mate joins in all activities, including volleyball in the schoolyard. "I used to think 'why is this old man coming to school to study with us?' but as time passed I enjoyed his company," Kami's 14-year-old class mate Sagar Thapa said. "He is a little bit weak in studies compared to us but we help him out with that." Kami said he wanted to study until his death, adding he hoped it would encourage others to ignore age obstacles. "If they see an old person with white beard like me studying in school they might get motivated as well," he said. The case of a 65-year-old man who suffered a fatal heart attack while watching the horror blockbuster movie Conjuring 2 has taken a spooky turn after his body mysteriously went missing. He had passed away in a cinema hall in Andhra Pradesh before the ambulance arrived on Thursday. The deceased, who hospital records identify as G Ram Mohan of Gandhi Nagar in Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh, was accompanied by his friend H Prasad at the Sri Balasubramaniar Cinemas in Thiruvannamalai on Thursday. It was while watching the climax of the movie that Mohan had complained of chest pain and fainted. He was then rushed to the Old Government Hospital where doctors had declared him dead upon arrival. The paramedical staff in the hospital then asked his friend, Prasad, to take Mohans body to the Thiruvannamalai Government Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem. But shockingly, Prasad disappeared with the body of the deceased, according to reports. As no complaint was lodged, the police will not be investigating the issue further. We get celebrities to give their take on a current issue each week and lend their perspective to a much-discussed topic. this week we talk about LGBTQ and sensitivity. On June 12, a shooter, allegedly riled up by looking at a same sex couple kiss, opened fire at a gay night club in Orlando, making it the worst mass shooting in the US. The very next day, a heavily armed man was intercepted on his way to a pride parade in Detroit. Despite the growing acceptance of the LGBTQ community worldwide, does the movement have a long way to go to? What can be done to curb homophobia and make the society more sensitive towards the LGBTQ community? Prasad Bidapa, Fashion Guru: Abolish section 377 Homophobes plus guns equate a dangerous cocktail. Hatred and intolerance can only be passed on through teaching impressionable minds the wrong doctrine. We must teach our young to love, understand and accept plurality. What happened in Orlando is really sad. India can start with abolishing Section 377. When you criminalise a community for their sexual preferences, you leave them defenceless and it is the first step in teaching the young to hate them. Ganesh Nallari, designer: Community must not call itself queer Even though we are progressing, we are taking one step forward and 10 steps backwards. Thats what happened when homosexuality was decriminalised in 2009 and was criminalised again in 2013. People will come out of the closet only if they feel reasonably comfortable with the society around them. But when the law itself says that it is a criminal activity, is there hope for society to change? I would say an open dialogue is most important to reduce homophobia. Just talk about it to everybody, whether to an auto-rickshaw driver or a friend, we must explain to them that what really matters is if a person is living an honest, good life and not their sexual orientation. Many people stay in the closet, are married to a partner of the opposite sex, have a family but are leading a miserable life, so they hate themselves. This is how even homosexuals become homophobes. I also think people of the community must stop calling themselves queer. The dictionary meaning of queer means odd, strange or unusual. I read somewhere that the number of homosexuals in India is quite large. So many people cannot be wrong. They cant call themselves unusual. Anwesh Sahoo, Mr Gay World India 2016: Were still fighting jail sentences and death threats People need to come out and assert themselves strongly. When I came out, I was also able to change the mindsets of those 100 people around me, which included my parents, friends, the guys I was sharing a room with, my professors and neighbours. And honestly, not a single person has despised me since I came out. Gender is a spectrum and nobody should be forced to not be who they are inside. Ive often come across homosexuals who are also the most homophobic people. That is somewhere down the line, the result of our social construct. It breaks my heart as I wake up every day to a hate crime against homosexuals. It baffles me to see how its 2016 and we as a community are still struggling with acceptance and fighting against jail sentences and death penalties. Instead of trying to make perfect men and women out of their kids, parents and teachers should rather be focusing on making them empowered independent individuals first. Sheethal Shyam, LGBTQ activist: Make space to talk about sexuality Although there have been discussions about LGBTQ communities in Kerala of late, these are mostly about their gender and not about their emotions. We can hear people talking in support of queers and transgenders to an extent but not about gays, lesbians or trans-sexuals. The point is, on humanitarian grounds, the society should make a space to talk about sexuality and emotional feelings such as love and attachment when they discuss about the LGBTQ community. But since the society is obsessed with the concept of morality, people always connect the discussion about this community along with rules of nature and the term abnormal. There should be legal freedom for people of LGBTQ community to fall in love, marry and get a marriage certificate and adopt a child. Sushant Digvikar, model and actor: Never mix religion with sexuality I think the fundamental problem is that we are not educated well enough about sexuality as a whole, with all its dimensions. And we dont want to talk about sex either. We want to do it, but not talk about it. In our education system, theres no systematic way of studying sexuality. Sex education too, is very minimal. At the moment, the power corridors have so many members of the older generation who just do not understand the concept of LGBTQ. They dont understand that there is nothing unnatural about being the way we are. In another decade or so, there will be a new batch of people in the corridors of power who might actually understand this and bring about reforms. Also, you should never mix religion with sexuality. They are two completely separate topics and people need to understand that. Mumbai: The Thane police on Saturday named former actress Mamta Kulkarni as a prime accused in a multi-crore drug racket linked to drug baron Vicky Goswami, claiming that she was actively involved in the illicit activities and would seek her extradition from Kenya. The police is going to inform to Interpol through the CBI to issue a red corner notice against the actress in connection with the drug racket. The police successfully established involvement of Mamta Kulkarni in two months time with the help of the Drug Enforcememt Department of USA. The Thane police officials have taken statements of two witnesses under section 164 of the CRPC, where they have mentioned that Mamta Kulkarni, Vicky Goswami, Jay Mukhi, Manoj Jain, Kishore Rathod the son of former MLA of Gujurat, Dr Abdulla and his two associates attended two meetings in Kenya and Dubai. It was revealed that first meeting was held on January 1, 2016 in Kenya. The second meeting was held in Dubai at Burj Khalife that was not attended by vicky goswami," said Parambir Singh, Commissioner of Police, Thane. American Drug Enforcement officials who were already on Goswamis drug trail shared the details of the case. They revealed that Abdullah tried to set up a factory in Mombasa in Kenya and he already has two factories running in Tanzania in his own name. ADGP B. Sandhya, heading the special investigation team on the Jisha murder case, briefs the media about the arrest of the culprit at Aluva police club in Kochi. (Photo: Sunoj Ninan Mathew) Kochi: The Ernakulam chief judicial magistrate court on Saturday granted permission to conduct an identification parade of accused, Ameerul Islam, in the rape and murder case of a 30-year-old Dalit law student in Kerala on April 28. The culprit was arrested on Thursday after 50 gruelling days of social uproar, political upheavals and major shake-up in the police department. Islam, 23, a migrant worker hailing from Assam and known to the victim for some time, was taken into custody from Kancheepuram after a detailed interrogation. Islam has been remanded in judicial custody till June 30 by the Perumbavur Judicial First Class Magistrate Court. Bengali friend helped cops nab culprit The police who nabbed Ameerul Islam were helped by his Bengali friend, Jinjal, in identifying him while he was working at a company in Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu. Jinjal was among those questioned by the cops about the migrant labourers gone missing from the region post the murder of Jisha on April 28. Among a few others, he told us the case of Ameerul. However, by that time, the accuseds mobile phone was switched off. Our team even went to his house in Dholda Gramam of Assam and learned that he had left the place after a seven-day stay, sources said. Ameerul, who reached Kancheepuram early this month, got a temporary job at an electronics company on June 9. He inserted a new SIM in his old mobile phone and the cyber cell soon tracked him to the Tamil Nadu border town. However, the cops did not have his photo or any other means to identify him. A four-member police team took Jinjal along with them to Kancheepuram and began to search for Ameerul. Their attempts bore no fruit for the first three days but Jinjal identified his friend from a group of workers coming out of the factory after their evening shift on June 13. Though Ameerul resisted, the cops overpowered him and took him into custody. Meanwhile, it was a local person who helped the cops in recovering the weapon used by the accused for the crime. They were alerted by Arun Prashob, DYFI Perumbavur block secretary. When the election results came on May 19, we celebrated atop a building next to the lodge where the cops said Ameerul was staying for the last five months. Then I saw a knife at the balcony veranda of the adjacent three-storey lodge but didnt realise its importance. After the news broke out of his arrest and other details, it struck me the knife must be that weapon and immediately alerted the police, he said. Lodge owner Kadappadam George said he was not aware of Ameerul staying there and that he had originally extended rental accommodation to 19 Bengalis. Kochi: Ameerul Islam, the Assam migrant labourer arrested in the Jisha murder case, was remanded in judicial custody till June 30 by the Perumbavur Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Friday as hundreds of people jostled on the premises to get a glance of the accused. However, they were disappointed as Ameerul was brought to the court with a helmet covering his head under tight police security to avoid any untoward incident. The Special Investigation Team didnt seek the custody of the accused as his identification parade is yet to be conducted. Magistrate V. Manju considered the remand application and asked Ameerul whether he wanted any legal assistance to which he replied in the positive. Soon lawyer P. Rajan was appointed his counsel after the former gave his consent. To another query on whether he had any complaint against the police, he said no. Wrapping up the court proceedings in just 15 minutes, the magistrate remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days and he was taken to the Kakkanad district jail. Earlier, the chargesheet submitted by the cops revealed that the Assamese youth was booked under IPC sec 302 (punishment for murder), 376 (rape) and sec 3 of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The police didnt file custody application as the identification parade is to be held in the jail. Weve submitted the application for this along with the remand application. The same will be held on Saturday and after that a fresh application will be filed in two or three days time seeking his custody for 15 days, said Mr P.M. Abdul Jaleel, assistant public prosecutor. Earlier, hundreds of people had assembled on the court premises from morning itself to see the accused. The cops ousted all except the court officials and media staff from the court premises and they were allowed to stand only 200 metres from the entrance. The covered police van carrying the accused accompanied by pilot vehicles arrived at the court at 4.41 p.m. The crowd became restive and in the melee one of the pilot vehicles even brushed against an electric post. Since his identification parade was yet to be done, the cops took extreme care not to reveal Ameeruls face. After the court proceeding, he was lodged in the Kakkanad jail by 5.30 p.m. Coimbatore: A 40-year-old alcoholic was arrested on Saturday for allegedly branding his minor daughter while she was asleep in their house near Negamam area here, police said. The accused Govindarajan came home in an inebriated condition last night, lifted his 8-year-old daughter by her ears while she was asleep and branded her cheeks with a hot iron string used in construction sites, they said. His wife was away at work during the time of the incident. On hearing the child's screams, neighbours rushed to the house and informed the mother, who came back home and took her daughter to the Pollachi Government Hospital. She then lodged a complaint against her husband. The man is lodged in the central jail here, police added. The three cadets who will be inducted in the Indian Air Force on June 18 as the first batch of women fighter pilots. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Indias first three women fighter pilots have been advised by the IAF to restrain from motherhood for the next four years so as not to adversely impact their ongoing training process. However, IAF sources clarified that the advisory is not legally binding and is to ensure that their training does not get affected. The three women pilots will be commissioned into the fighter stream on June 18 this year after successful completion of the initial training. Thereafter, they would undergo advanced training for one year and would enter a fighter cockpit by June 2017. Continuous training is required for a minimum of five years for fighter pilots, men or women, to become combat ready. The three women are about to complete one year of training, the sources said, adding that pregnancy means that the entire training schedule gets disturbed. It is not just the cost but the time also that gets affected. Even young fighter pilots are advised not to think about marriage till a particular age, they said. Bhawana Kanth, Mohana Singh and Avani Chaturvedi are the trainees who qualified for the fighter stream after it was thrown open to women in October 2015. It may be noted that they will go to Bidar in Karnataka in June 2016 for their stage-III training for a year on Hawk advanced jet trainers, before they get to fly supersonic warplanes. They are not combat ready even when they finish their Hawk training. They do multiple flying on various fighter jets also before being declared combat ready, sources further said. Mumbai: Beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya was on Tuesday 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. Khammam: The crop year in the second week of June commenced in the district amidst anxiety, tension and confusion of the farmers. Anticipating timely entering of South-West monsoon, the farming community made all arrangements such as seeds and fertilisers placing for the Eruvaka. But, there is no sign of the monsoon. The Met does not see any quick progress of its arrival, which is crucial for farming. The Met office had initially said monsoon was on time, only to clarify later saying it is delayed by a week. The monsoon rains are the main source of water for 60 per cent of the districts land. These rains are crucial for four lakh farmers in the district. M. Rama Rao, a farmer from Thallada said that anxiety over delayed rains is not new to the farmers of Khammam. The peasants are facing such an experience for the last four years and bearing heavy losses in farming. They cannot bear another trouble this year too, he said. As the agriculture department campaigned more on pulses and cultivation of cotton, many of the farmers obtained seeds to sow redgram and maize this kharif. Interestingly, some mandals such as Karepalli, Mulakapalli, Kusumanchi, Chandr-ugonda, Pinapaka, Tekulapalli, Garla, Bayyaram, Sattupalli and Aswaraopet witnessed some rains in the last week of May. But, there are no rains after commencement of Eruvaka. K. Sampath, an agricultural officer said that erratic monsoon has become common in the country and the farmers should be immune to the new system. Chennai: Shame on India. While no major public institution in India has put up a statue for its famous, Peoples President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the iconic Jaffna Public Library in northern Sri Lanka has stolen the credit. Kalams statue was inaugurated on Friday amid a huge gathering of cheering student admirers there. Jaffna, a stop on the last foreign trip that Dr Kalam undertook before his sudden death in July 2015, mourned his death with posters all over its walls. This just shows how Sri Lankan Tamils value their culture and education. During his visit to Jaffna a month before he breathed his last, ethnic Tamils gave Dr Kalam a rousing reception. The statue of Dr Kalam has been installed at the India Corner of the now refurbished Jaffna Public Library and was inaugurated by Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha and Chief Minister of Northern Province, C. Wigneswaran in the presence of A. Natarajan, Indian Consul General in Jaffna. No major institutions, except the DRDO of which Dr Kalam was chief, has a bust of the celebrated President, who stressed on educating the masses to make India a super power by 2020. A few schools and private institutions have installed statues of Dr Kalam at their own expense, but the Indian Government has not thought it fit to erect a statue for the man most loved by post-independent Indian youth in this land of a million and more statues. The statue at the Jaffna Public Library, installed by the Indian Government, has been unveiled in memory of Dr Kalam's historic address at the Jaffna University in 2012 where he spoke of his dream for youth of the northern province to land in well-settled jobs. Jaffna had a special place in Dr Kalam's heart since his fifth grade Maths teacher in Rameswaram, Kanagasundaranath, hailed from the city. Dr Kalam also spoke fondly of his teacher from Jaffna in his address, which also stressed the need for creation of atmosphere where in all communities of Sri Lanka lived in peace. I did not learn just Maths from him (Kanagasundaranath), but also learnt values and great lessons of life. He belongs to Jaffna and I am happy to be in Jaffna today, Dr Kalam had said during his address. The public library in Jaffna, the capital of the northern province of Sri Lanka, was burnt down in 1980s during the heights of the ethnic crisis and rose from its ashes a decade ago. It now gets the distinction of boasting of the first statue of Dr Kalam outside India. Speaking about the Sri Lanka visit, Dr Kalams former aide V. Ponraj said the former President kept talking about the future of the island nation and Tamils there even during his flight back from Jaffna. He got such a rousing reception in Jaffna that no Indian leader would have got. His address at the Jaffna University was historic, Mr Ponraj said. The arrest was made on a complaint from the CPI(M) that the women had barged into their party office in Thalassery and attacked one M Shijin, a party activist. (Photo: Representational Image) Thalassery: The arrest of two Dalit sisters, daughters of a local Congress leader, for allegedly attacking a CPI(M) activist in Thalassery has kicked up a row in Kerala with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes intervening in the matter. Akhila (30) and Anjana (25), daughters of Indian National Trade Union Congress leader N Rajan were summoned to the police station on Friday, where a case was registered against them. They were then sent to the women's jail after being charged with non-bailable offences. Akhila went to the jail with her one-and-half-year old daughter, family sources said. According to police, the arrest was made on a complaint from the CPI(M) that the women had barged into their party office in Thalassery and attacked one M Shijin, a party activist, some days ago. However, Rajan, their father, rejected the charges and said the case was "politically motivated." Rajan, who had contested in the last local body elections against a CPI(M) candidate, also said Shijin had mocked his daughters calling them by their caste name when they were passing by in front of the party office and the girls had just questioned the verbal abuse. CPI(M) activists manhandled my daughters when they entered the party office, he said, adding that the party workers even attacked their house the same day. Meanwhile, National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairman PL Punia said it would intervene in the matter. "We will intervene and inquire into the matter," he told a Malayalam news channel in New Delhi when asked about the issue. DGP Loknath Behera has sought a report from ADGP North Zone on the matter immediately. Condemning the attack, state opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should intervene in the matter. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also attacked the CPI(M)-led LDF government and said police had violated all the guidelines and directions of the Supreme Court in the arrest of the Dalit women. He sought a comprehensive probe into the matter and demanded action against the officials responsible for the incident. The practice has been that the ticket fares used to be increased once every four or five years. Hyderabad: A hike in the RTC bus fares appears imminent, with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao suggesting to the RTC management that any fare hike should be done gradually to ensure that people are not burdened. The Chief Minister also suggested that the possibility of bringing transport and tourism sectors under TSRTC control can be examined seriously so that commercial goods transportation, courier service and tourist operations through RTC buses can be planned properly to significantly raise the revenues of the Corporation. Speaking at a review meeting with top RTC officials, including depot managers, the Chief Minister said bus fares were hiked unscientifically all these years. The practice has been that the ticket fares used to be increased once every four or five years. As a result, the burden of hike was more on people and its impact used to be adverse. The TSRTC does not have monopoly on the transport sector. Its management and employees should learn to survive in the competitive market instead of blaming illegal operations of private buses, autos and jeeps as the reasons for the corporation running in losses, Mr Rao said. It is my responsibility to strengthen public sector undertakings. My objective is to strengthen the RTC on the lines of power utilities. Officers and employees should work as a family and cooperate with the government to strengthen the RTC, he said. Use technology to increase passenger satisfaction. Take their feedback. Give quality food in canteens. Make arrangements for passengers to take rest at night at bus stands. RTC has Rs 2,000 crore of debts and is incurring Rs 700 crore losses per annum. Government will help to some extent. Officers, employees and Union leaders along with their members should work as a family along with the Government to strengthen RTC, Mr Rao said. When we could achieve statehood, which people said was an impossible task, putting RTC back on track should not be impossible, he said. VVIPs, including the Prime Minister, also visits and stay here and Priyanka's house has put the security of the dignitaries at stake, says Suresh Bhardwaj, BJP's Shimla MLA. (Photo: Twitter/ANI) Mandi, Himachal Pradesh: Raising objections to the construction of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's house, Suresh Bhardwaj, BJP's Shimla MLA, has written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for cancelling the permission granted to her by the state government, saying it is being built close to 'The Retreat', the President's guest house in Shimla. "I have written a letter to the Home Minister pertaining to the construction taking place, around the President of India's summer residence The Retreat in Shimla. No construction should be allowed in the vicinity of either The Retreat or the Kalyani helipad, as it is a high security zone," Bhardwaj told ANI. "VVIPs, including the Prime Minister, also visits and stay here and Priyanka's house has put the security of the dignitaries at stake," he added. Bhardwaj further said the permission to construct a house near The Retreat was denied to several persons, including Commodore Devinderjeet Singh (a retired senior naval officer) for security reasons. "The commodore had purchased around 2,400 sq yards near The Retreat and submitted an application for permission to build cottages. However, permission was denied to him," he said. "How is it possible that Priyanka Gandhi got the permission," asked the BJP MLA. Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Centre of pursuing vindictive politics and using central agencies like CBI and ED to terrorise people in the non BJP-ruled states. "They are terrifying everybody by using the CBI, ED or the Income Tax Department. In states which have no BJP governments they are using the three central agencies against them," she said. Addressing a programme of Trinamool Congress, the chief minister also ticked off BJP for "selling" the country in the name of "Make in India". "They don't care for the values and principles of the country," she alleged. Banerjee indirectly accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to take credit for everything positive happening in Bengal and "spreading lies". "In Bengal, we have cancelled more than 1.35 crore fake ration cards. He is claiming that they have saved so much of leakage of PDS by saving Rs 30,000 crore. In Swachh Bharat, under the Nirmal Bharat scheme we have taken a lead, but they are taking credit by saying they are doing Swachh Bharat. "We have opened accounts in Panchayat for women working in ICDS. They are taking credit that they have opened accounts. Sitting back and tweeting about those achievements and trying to take credits. There should be a limit in telling lies," Banerjee said. She asked her party MPs to expose the lies on the floor of Parliament. Banerjee attacked CPI(M) and Congress for protesting only in West Bengal against the hike in fuel prices, saying "everyday the prices of fuel are increasing. And whenever the fuel prices are increasing CPI-M and Congress are protesting. Why are they not protesting against it in Delhi? They have their offices in Delhi." She accused the BJP of trying to flare up communal passions in the country. "The Congress too has joined them these days while the CPI-M is also there with them." She alleged the CPI-M and the Congress had sacrificed their ideologies for the sake of returning to power and that a section of the media acted as their "stooges". Hyderabad: Defence deals, unlike purchase of televisions or mobile phones, are not made overnight and take "a lot of time" owing to bureaucratic procedures, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Saturday. Speaking at a function here, Parrikar noted that at times, in the bureaucracy, those who do not understand anything about the product have to deal with their procurement. "Things do take time in defence (deals). Even if I make an order, it does not happen overnight because it requires time to mature. Army items are not procured off the shelf like you buy a TV or a mobile, like you walk into a shop and come out with the product," he said. "To place a defence order, it takes a hell lot of time. With every Tom, Dick and Harry sitting in the department...those who do not understand anything about actual product asking some vague questions, sometimes funny questions, also sometimes relevant questions. After he satisfies himself he gets transferred and somebody else comes in and raises different kind of queries again...it takes lot of time," Parrikar said. The Defence Minister was speaking at the foundation-laying ceremony of a new facility here for Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited (TBAL), a joint venture between Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems. Parrikar said the government's emphasis was on skill development programmes for aviation sector, and it was working with Boeing towards that. The minister, who in the morning visited T-Hub, a technological incubator started by the Telangana government, interacted with the budding entrepreneurs there. Pune: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday expressed confidence that former revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who had resigned from the state cabinet, would emerge clean from the probe into allegations against him. While stating that he would not like to comment on the issues involving former state revenue minister who resigned recently in the wake of accusations of wrongdoing, as an inquiry has been ordered, Fadnavis nevertheless said "I am confident that Nathabhau (Khadse) will emerge clean from this "Agnipariksha" (test by fire)." Khadse, who drew flak for alleged irregularity in buying an MIDC plot at Bhosari in Pune and subsequently stepped down, was present on the dais when Fadnavis made the comments during the two-day BJP state executive meeting here. Addressing the meeting here, the chief minister attacked the opposition Congress and NCP saying they were "targeting" the ministers because there were no scams in the government that was working "honestly". He alleged that NCP leaders had grabbed government plots and deserved criminal investigation into their dealings, adding that they had no moral right to accuse the BJP ministers of wrongdoing. "Return the government plots before making such baseless allegations against our ministers", Fadnavis said. Those who were present at the meeting included union ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari and BJP state president Raosaheb Danve. Khadse resigned on June 4 after facing heat over a series of allegations including irregularities in a land deal here and calls allegedly received from mob boss Dawood Ibrahim's residence in Karachi on his mobile phone besides the alleged bribe sought by his "PA". Nellore: Taking strong objection to the Union governments decision against declaring Tirumala a no-fly zone, devotees of Lord Venkateswara staged a protest at Padala Mandapam in Alipiri on Friday. Led by Rayalaseema Porata Samiti convener P. Naveen Kumar Reddy, they demanded that the Centre reconsider the decision. Mr Naveen criticised civil aviation minister P. Ashok Gajapati Raju and Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu for not intervening in the issue even after they reacted positively to the demand during their visits to Tirumala in the past. He said they do not want an international airport in Tirupati if it is a hindrance in the way of protecting the sanctity of the world-renowned Tirumala shrine. He criticised both the BJP and the TD for failing to secure the no-fly zone for Tirumala, though the parties are in power in the Centre and in the state. Referring to the statements of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and TTD chairman Ch. Krishnamurthy that Lord Venkateswara has saved their lives in the Alipiri bomb blast after the incident, he questioned the rationale behind their silence on the issue, knowing full well about the threat to Tirumala from terrorists. Mr Naveen appealed to the seers of all the mutts and peetams to react and bring pressure on the government to differ with their decision on flying zone. They must remember that their outcry citing Agama Sastras led the government to put off the idea of a ropeway to Tirumala. They would launch an agitation with support from the devotees of Lord Venkateswara across the globe apart from the seers of various peetams if the Centre failed to review its decision, they said. The court sentenced 11 convicts to life imprisonment in the case of burning alive of 69 people, including Jafri, in the 2002 post-Godhra violence. (Photo: PTI) Ahmedabad: Ruling out any conspiracy angle in the 2002 Gulberg Society massacre, a special court on Friday said firing by former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, in which one person was killed, provoked and infuriated the mob that led it to the killing frenzy, but asserted that the firing cannot condone the acts of the mob. It was the private firing by Shri Ehsan Jafri that acted as a catalyst and which infuriated the mob to such an extent that it went out of control, the limited police force available there had no means to control or disperse such mob, which had gathered in large numbers post the incident of private firing, special SIT court judge P.B. Desai said in his order. Read: Gulberg massacre case: 11 convicted of murder get life in jail Shri Ehsan Jafri had perpetrated acts of firing from his weapon from different locations within Gulberg Society upon the mob, causing injuries and the death of one person, which in my opinion was the catalyst, which provoked the mob to such proportions that it went out of control and thus resulted into the killing frenzy, where a large number of innocent persons lost their lives, the court said. Rejecting the conspiracy angle, the court said it was unnatural that things turned ugly all of a sudden after 1.30 (on February 28, 2002) pm as if some tap was turned on, which resulted in a flood of water and the carnage was perpetrated. Read: BJP, Congress spar over Gulberg massacre case verdict The court, however, added that this fact cannot in any manner excuse or condone the acts of the mob, which perpetrated the violence needlessly upon innocent men, women and children and hacked them to death and ensured that many others were burned to death in the carnage that followed such private firing. The incidence of Gulberg society is in fact a culmination of a series of incidents, which happened at different time frames. Suddenly transgressing into this grave and heinous carnage which has resulted in the death of such large number of women, children and elderly, it said while rejecting conspiracy theory. Read: 2002 Gulberg case: Ahmedabad court convicts 24, acquits 36 The carnage took place on account of a spontaneous gathering of a large mob on accounts of the news having spread that number of persons of the majority community have been injured/killed in a private firing by Shri Ehsan Jafri, which further resulted in the entire carnage taking place, it said, while rejecting the conspiracy theory. Read: Timeline of the 2002 Gulberg society massacre The court sentenced 11 convicts to life imprisonment in the case of burning alive of 69 people, including Jafri, in the 2002 post-Godhra violence. The court also awarded 10-year jail term to one of the 13 convicted for lesser offences while 12 others have been given seven-year sentence each. Hisar: With the pro-quota agitation by Jats entering its 14th day, as many as 20 persons belonging to the community were on Saturday detained by police for holding a dharna without permission at Surewala Chowk here. Former district president of All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) Ami Singh said the organisation had applied for permission for staging an indefinite dharna starting on Saturday, which was turned down by the district administration. When the Jat protesters assembled near the Chowk on Hisar-Tohana road, about 40 km from here, at around 10 am on Saturday, police along with officials from district administration asked them to lift their dharna. Later, police detained 20 persons and took them to Barwala police station. Those detained include spokesperson of Kundu Khap, Jagbir Kundu and ex-president of Hisar Zila Parishad, Ajit Litani, among others, Singh said. Jat protesters have been demanding reservation in central as well in state government jobs and release of "innocent youths" arrested during the stir in February. They are also demanding adequate compensation and jobs for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the earlier round of protests, and cancellation of the sedition case registered against AIJASS president Yashpal Malik. Meanwhile, an indefinite dharna by the members of community continued for 14th day today at Mayyar village in Hisar district. Several Jat leaders who addressed the protest meet, accused the Khattar government of having an "indifferent" attitude towards reservation and alleged that the state government was not serious about the issue. They claimed that reservation is the right of Jats and they would get it from the government. The protesters also demanded withdrawal of cases registered against Jat leaders and other agitators. The spokesperson of the Samiti, Ram Bhagat Malik, said the dharna would remain peaceful. Meanwhile, district administration said they have made elaborate arrangements to deal with any situation. Chennai: Forty four Sri Lankan Tamils, including several women and childrenincluding a heavily pregnant woman and a sick child, face uncertain risks at sea as the Indonesian authorities appear determined to tow out to the deep sea their boat, stranded at their shore when its engine failed on way to Australias Christmas Island on a refugee mission. Reports reaching here said the rickety boat, flying under an Indian flag, could have set off from somewhere in south Tamil Nadu a month ago and has been in sea since then on its perilous trip carrying its human cargo of fortune seekers in distant Australia, which has been making it amply clear for the past several months that its shores are sealed for such migrant boatpeople. A massive painting is put up by the Australian immigration department on the Jaffna train platform wall informing the public there about this ban on refugee landings in that country. High drama has been going on since the Tamil boat beached at Lhoknga shore south of Banda Aceh on Saturday and the screaming and yelling passengers cried for permission to land so that a very sick baby could get medical assistance. Some also pleaded for food and said they had been drifting for several days after the boats engine failed. With the locals rushing in, the police cordoned off the area and fired a warning shot in the air after about five women jumped out on to the beach in an effort to make a forced landing. In the process, they sustained injuries in the legs. The women and also some others on the boat, including a few men were seen gesturing to the armed Indonesian guards to allow them to land or shoot them dead. Shoot us if you want, please shoot us, a woman was heard screaming in Tamil, with her two fingers aimed at her forehead in a video put out by popular Australia media company, Fairfox House. The video has gone globally viral and has been drawing sharp comments from rights activists and organisations pleading with Indonesia to permit the sea-tired Tamils to land for food, shelter and medical help rather than push them out onto their perilous journey to nowhere. Interestingly, the Indonesian national government had on Wednesday asked the local authorities to allow the boatpeople to land and seek asylum by the latter ignored the directive and are getting ready to tow the boat back into the open sea after getting the engine repaired and the sea gets less rough. Heavy weather is predicted out there at sea. Local UNHCR and other rights groups have not been allowed to the distressed Tamils. Noting that the issue has been most distressing, S. C. Chandrahasan, founder of Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation in Chennai, said, There is absolutely no need for these people to undertake such perilous sea trips because conditions have vastly improved back home in Sri Lanka and they can return home to start life afresh. Noted Tamil leader Charles Antonidas in London told DC in a phone interview: When they return to Sri Lanka, which they can do without fear now, opportunities await them; so, why are they taking these dangerous boat trips? Sri Lankan Government should impress upon these people (refugees living in Tamil Nadu) to come back home and provide them all facilities. Over 700 Tamils have perished on such refugee voyages from India and Sri Lanka in the last few years even though the bloody war ended in May 2009 in north Lanka. Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Friday greeted Ms Hillary Clinton for having clinched the Democratic partys nomination for the upcoming US Presidential election, while recalling their meeting here in 2011. It is a matter of immense pride and satisfaction for all women in the world and in particular, women in democratic electoral politics that you have become the first woman to be a candidate of one of the two major political parties in the United States for the Presidency, she said in her letter to Ms Clinton. I have fond memories of your visit to Chennai on July 20, 2011, as the Secretary of State, and our warm and cordial interaction on the occasion on a range of issues of mutual interest. My best wishes are with you for the further stages of the campaign and for the Presidential Election in November this year. I have no doubt that as your political career peaks, you will continue to be a role model for women across the world, Ms Jayalalithaa added. The girl and her three friends were travelling to Srinagar from Dhaka via Kolkata and New Delhi. (Photo: Representational Image/PTI) New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Saturday said that the police must have had detained the Kashmiri girl, who was travelling to Srinagar from Dhaka on the basis of suspicion. "I am not aware of it, if the security forces had stopped them, they must have done it based on some suspicion. They did not get anything and she was released later on," Singh told the media here. A Kashmiri medical student was on Friday detained at the IGI Airport in Delhi after the security staff claimed they saw 'carrying bomb' written on her check-in luggage. The girl, a resident of Rajbagh in Srinagar, was taken to the police station at the domestic airport and put through an hour-long joint interrogation by the police and intelligence agencies. The girl and her three friends were travelling to Srinagar from Dhaka via Kolkata and New Delhi. The parents alleged that luggage of the girls was checked at Bangladesh and Kolkata, but questions were only raised by officials at the Delhi airport. The parents have taken up the issue with the Jammu and Kashmir government, which is in touch with the Delhi Police. Earlier responding to a tweet about the detention of the girls, National Conference working president Omar Abdullah wrote, "What is the reason for their detention? Can you please share some more details?" Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday ordered the police to probe the Narada controversial tapes. "The state government will conduct probe in the matter. I want the truth to come out," she said. Earlier in April, the Calcutta High Court had formed a three-member committee to probe the controversial tapes. Narada News, led by its editor-in-chief Matthew Samuel, had earlier released three sets of videos of its sting operation, where top Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders were allegedly seen accepting bribes from journalists posing as businessmen. The ruling party had dismissed the tapes as 'doctored' and said the 'dirty tricks departments' of its political opponents were behind the 'smear' campaign. Mufti invoked her late father and former CM Mufti Sayeed who was a member from Anantnag when he passed away in January. (Photo: PTI) Srinagar: Seeking entry into the Assembly as a member from Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday urged voters to give her a strong and decisive mandate so that she can continue efforts to take the state out from the morass of political and economic uncertainties. Read: Clashes in Jammu as 'lunatic' defiles Hindu temple; Mehbooba monitoring situation( Addressing a series of election meetings in Anantnag which will go to polls on June 22, she invoked her late father and former Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed who was a member from this constituency when he passed away in January and said she was seeking the mandate to carry forward his mission of development and progress. She insisted that her party PDP is the only dependable party "If you want a change of direction, not just a change of government; if you want new priorities, not just politics." Read: Mehbooba Mufti asks Army to minimise visibility in J&Ks civilian areas Mehbooba, who is heading a PDP-BJP coalition government since April, said the next five years are crucial for not only ensuring good governance but accomplishing the challenging task of rebuilding safe, sustainable and planned infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir. She is currently a member of Parliament from Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. "It is my party's resolve to retrieve Jammu and Kashmir from the morass of political and economic uncertainties and usher the state into an era of peace and prosperity. "We have started picking up the threads from where we left in 2005 (when the tenure of previous PDP-led government ended) to revive the process of political reconciliation and economic rejuvenation so that we can secure a peaceful and prosperous future for the state and its people," she said. The 57-year-old leader who took the party's mantle after her father's demise said the people of the state, more than ever before, want today the politicians to stand up and address the political and economic issues that matter to them. "They want leadership, they want commitment, they want accountability, they want political stability, they want economic prosperity, they want development and they want employment. "As a dependable regional political force, PDP has demonstrated that it can deliver on all these counts with unflinching consistency and has in fact set the momentum for tangible transformation on the ground through path-breaking developmental and welfare initiatives," she said. "I urge the people of Anantnag to join us in this enterprise of hope, as together, we can make the difference and rebuild a safe, sustainable and prosperous Jammu and Kashmir for our future generations," she said. The efforts by AIADMK to create confusion in DMK will not succeed, said Stalin. (Photo: File) Chennai: DMK treasurer and Opposition Leader in Tamil Nadu assembly MK Stalin on Saturday rejected reports of differences with his father and party chief M Karunanidhi, as he charged arch rival AIADMK with trying to create confusion among DMK workers. Stalin also described as "indecent allegation", Finance Minister O Panneerselvam's claim that DMK's demand for proper facilities for wheelchair-bound Karunanidhi to attend Assembly proceedings was due to problems between him and Karunandhi. "Panneerselvam has embarked on creating confusion in the party and the family by claiming that there are differences between the father and the son. This does not behold his Minister's post," Stalin said in a statement in Chennai. He, without elaborating, said Panneerselvam was not known to make such statements "but has been forced to do so". "The contention by Panneerselvam and reports in some dailies supporting them (AIADMK) that there are differences between the father (Karunanidhi) and the son (Stalin) are completely false. The efforts by AIADMK to create confusion in DMK will not succeed," he said. Panneerselvam should not resort to making such "baseless" allegations, he said. "There cannot be a worse allegation than that I snatched away the Opposition Leader's post from Kalaignar (Karunanidhi). In fact, when DMK was in power, he allowed me to reply on the debate on Governor's address," Stalin said recalling his father's Chief Ministerial tenure. On Panneerselvam's claim that a letter from Stalin to Speaker P Dhanapal on the seating arrangement for DMK MLAs did not mention Karunanidhi's name, the Opposition Leader said his party whip R Sakkarapani had seperately taken up the DMK chief's case through a letter. Stalin said he himself had drawn Karunanidhi's attention to that particular letter and that he had approved it. He also chided Panneerselvam for Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa not taking him along during her Delhi visit earlier this week. She had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and presented a dossier of demands for funds for projects in various sectors. On Friday, Panneerselvam had alleged that DMK's row over seating arrangement for Karunanidhi in the Assembly was a fallout of differences between him and Stalin. He had also alleged that Stalin had "snatched away" the Opposition Leader's post from Karunanidhi, who was the top DMK leader. Tibetan people were grateful to the US for encouraging dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities to lower tensions and resolve differences. (Photo: AP) Dharamshala: Expressing gratitude to the US for supporting the "genuine cause" of Tibetan people, the Tibetan 'parliament-in-exile' has thanked President Barack Obama for meeting the Dalai Lama at the White House, despite objections from the Chinese government. "On behalf of Tibetans in and outside Tibet, the Tibetan parliament-in-exile sincerely express our heartfelt gratitude to Your Excellency for welcoming and meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 15th June at the White House, despite strong objections from the Chinese Government and the Orlando tragedy," Speaker of the 16th Tibetan 'parliament-in-exile', Khenpo Sonam Tenphel said in a statement yesterday. He said the Tibetan people were grateful to the US for encouraging dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities to lower tensions and resolve differences. "We are immensely grateful for your continued support to our 'Middle Way Approach' and for encouraging meaningful and direct dialogue between the Dalai Lama and his representatives with Chinese authorities to lower tensions and resolve differences. "We are thankful for you and your administration's expressions of concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in Tibet, preservation of our unique culture and protection of fragile environment of Tibet plateau," he said. He thanked the US administration for "supporting the genuine cause of the Tibetan people". The event was organised by the 100 Foot Journey Club, set up as a collaboration between the Indian High Commission and LSE last month. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Vijay Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender by a Mumbai court in a money laundering case, has been spotted at a book launch event at London School of Economics this week that was attended by the Indian envoy. Read: Court declares Vijay Mallya a proclaimed offender in bank loan fraud case Social media was in a frenzy after it emerged that Indian High Commissioner Navtej Sarna, who was one of the special guests at the event on Thursday evening to mark the launch of Suhel Seth's new book 'Mantras for Success: India's Greatest CEOs Tell You How to Win', was also present at the event when the business tycoon arrived. Seth claimed that Mallya was not an invited guest at the event, which was open to anyone who wanted to attend. Seth took to Twitter to clarify: "About @TheVijayMallya at my book launch. It was an open @SAsiaLSE & advertised on Twitter. No specific invitations. Anyone could attend." About @TheVijayMallya at my book launch. It was an open @SAsiaLSE & advertised on Twitter. No specific invitations. Anyone could attend. SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) June 18, 2016 "Upon realising that @TheVijayMallya was in the audience as any other person, @NavtejSarna left before the Q&A expressing displeasure." And upon realising that @TheVijayMallya was in the audience as any other person, @NavtejSarna left before the Q&A expressing displeasure. SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) June 18, 2016 "The High Commissioner upon seeing Mallya walk in actually at the mid of the event, got up and left. To say he rubbed shoulder or he met Mallya is incorrect," Seth told a news channel. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also got into the act when it issued a statement, saying Sarna left the event without waiting for the interactive session after he spotted Mallya. "When the High Commissioner spotted Mallya in the audience he left the stage and venue immediately after making his comments and without waiting for the interactive session," the MEA said in the statement. The MEA said, "There were two clear segments the book launch by UK Minister Jo Johnson and discussion at LSE and later a reception at the High Commission for select guests. "The list of invitations for the LSE event was determined by LSE. They have written to the High Commissioner that Mallya was not on their list. They have also said that the event was advertised widely through social media and attendees were not required to register in advance. "Mallya was certainly not an invitee to the reception at the High Commission for which the invitations were issued by the High Commission, and was not present." Read: Being deemed guilty without trial: Vijay Mallya The event was organised by the 100 Foot Journey Club, set up as a collaboration between the Indian High Commission and LSE last month as a forum to discuss and debate issues of contemporary relevance within the India-UK sphere. The club had been launched in May with a talk at LSE on 'Rethinking the Global Monetary System' by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. Mallya, a flamboyant 60-year-old beer baron left India in March for the UK, under hot pursuit from banks over $1.34 billion in 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, which suspect him of misusing loaned funds. Mallya responded to reports that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was taking further steps to probe him and the airline. "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." He claimed that he was willing to be interrogated by videoconferencing. The Modi government revoked Mallya's diplomatic passport in April after he repeatedly failed to appear before investigators. It has been instructed that govt employees shall wear only formal clothes (Reprsentational Image) Lucknow: Mr N.K.S. Chauhan, the district magistrate of Sambhal district has banned jeans and t-shirts for government employees during working hours. Mr Chauhan has issued the orders to maintain the dignity of the office. The employees have also been barred from smoking and chewing paan and tobacco on the premises. The collectorate is not an aisa-waisa (ordinary) place where you come in jeans and a T-shirt. It has been instructed that employees shall wear only formal clothes, and not jeans, corduroy or T-shirts during office hours and to official functions, the district magistrate told reporters. The DM did not explicitly say what kind of clothes employees should wear to work but he did classify them as Hindustani which should make employees look serious about their work. Senior officials at the department have been asked to keep an eye on dress code violations. Chennai: Riding high on its consecutive victories in Tamil Nadu assembly polls, the AIADMK executive committee on Saturday vowed to secure a massive win in local body elections, expected to be held in October. The executive meet resolved to work according to the road map set by AIADMK chief and chief minister J Jayalalithaa for the civic polls in the state. The meet was attended by Jayalalithaa and presided by party presidium chairman E Madusudanan. "This executive committee takes a vow to bag a massive victory in the coming local body elections," a resolution adopted in the meet said. It said the victory would be presented as a gift to Jayalalithaa "by following her poll strategies and instructions who is leading the party on a path of consecutive electoral victories." A resolution lauded Jayalalithaa for becoming Chief Minister for the sixth time and thanked her and the people for ensuring the party's victory in the May 16 Assembly election. Also, she was praised for implementing electoral promises like free power of 100 units to households, enacting a legislation (in previous tenure) providing 50 per cent quota for women in local bodies and announcing an aid package to farmers for Kuruvai crop. Other resolutions urged the Centre to take steps to raise water storage level in Mullaiperiyar dam to 152 feet, implement a plan to link rivers of South India, stop "harassment" of Tamil Nadu fishermen at the hands of Sri Lanka. The central government was also urged to constitute the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee immediately and to release pending and new funds to the state for implementing welfare schemes. In aggregate, 14 resolutions were moved by Madusudanan and seconded by all executive members, one of which thanked Jayalalithaa for taking up state's issues with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in her recent meet with him. After the executive meet, Jayalalithaa addressed a meeting of party MLAs. A condolence resolution passed separately expressed grief at the passing away of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Syed, CPI top leader A B Baradhan and former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma. It also condoled the passing away of 100 others, which includes party functionaries and personalities of Tamil Nadu from different walks of life, including Jayalalithaa's school teacher Catherine Simon and Tiruparankundram MLA-elect S M Seenivel. Stopping short of condemning the central government, an AIADMK resolution said it was not fair on the Centre's part to not release thousands of crores of rupees (to Tamil Nadu), and claimed it tantamount to "injustice" to the people. The resolution, among others, referred to a comprehensive Rs 1,520 crore financial package for deep sea fishing and related infrastructure development and Rs 1,500 crore for textile development from the Centre. It also referred to "Rs 576.37 crore pending from the Centre for Sarva Siksha Abhyan (2015-16)." Besides it sought from the Centre Rs 1,167.69 crore to Tamil Nadu for its contribution towards SC, ST scholarship for students and urged release of pending portion of funds from the 13th Finance Commission recommendations. Chennai: No disruptions, no screaming and no expulsions. The atmosphere in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday when Governor K. Rosaiah opened the first session of the newly elected House was in complete contrast to earlier sessions of previous Assemblies. The ruling AIADMK and Opposition DMK members heard the address in rapt attention without any noise, ushering in a new era of amity between the treasury and opposition benches after decades. Ever since the elections were over, the ruling AIADMK and Opposition DMK have shown signs of maturity in dealing with each other be it MK Stalin attending the swearing-in of Ms Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister thanking him for his attendance at the event and even expressing regret for not allotting him a seat in the front rows and the Opposition leader assuring on the floor of the House that the DMK will just function as an opposition party, not as an enemy party. Mr Stalin, the Opposition Leader, has been very careful in his criticism against the government since it returned to power and also offers suggestions to the ruling party in matters of importance. And the DMK did not attack the Chief Ministers visit to New Delhi but made its stand know only after she returned to Chennai after a daylong visit. As the newfound bonhomie between the arch-rivals becomes the talk of the town, the way Thursdays Assembly session sailed through without any disruption has raised hopes among the public that the hitherto unseen cooperation between the ruling and the Opposition parties could soon become a reality in Tamil Nadu. Ruling party-Opposition amity is not a rarity in Indian politics and in fact the warmth between top brass of both sides would be visible at public events in national politics. After having lost a bitter battle for the South Block, the seat of the Union government, Congress Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul did attend the swearing-in of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister and even dined with him at the high table after the glittering ceremony on May 26, 2014. In a state where the Chief Minister and leader of the main rival party would not even see eye-to-eye or come face-to-face, exchange of pleasantries and the Chief Minister reassuring the Opposition Leader that she looks forward to working with his party in the interest of the state was a refreshing change and one that people were yearning for. The 15th Assembly has the strongest opposition that the House has seen since its inception with 89 members and this could have weighed high on the minds of both parties in ushering a new era of cooperative politics. Political analysts and observers feel it is too early to come to a conclusion on the amity between the two sides since the Assembly has not begun debating issues of interest of the state. Political analyst Sumanth C. Raman says the bonhomie between the ruling and Opposition parties is a good sign and they should maintain this cordial atmosphere for the next five years in the interest of the state. DMKs T.K.S. Elangovan says the party has always been active and had functioned as a constructive Opposition and asked the ruling party to stop indulging in mudslinging the DMK and its leaders on the floor of the Assembly. We have always been constructive in nature and we will continue to be so. Our leader M.K. Stalin had told the House that the DMK would function as an Opposition party, not as an enemy party. We hope the government of the day would allow us to raise our issues, he said. However, the AIADMK put the ball in the court of the DMK for maintaining the relationship. On the very first of the session, Amma made it clear that ruling party and Opposition are like two sides of the same coin and they should work for the betterment of the state. We hope the DMK would be constructive and disruptive. If they cooperate, then we will only be happy since it will be in the interest of the people, party spokeswoman C.R. Saraswathi said. Chennai: Taking a cue from her party president Amit Shahs move to dine with dalit families, BJP state president Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan has decided to have one meal a day at a dalit home for the next one year to know and understand their problems. I have decided to have a meal a day at a dalits home for next 365 days to know their problems and sufferings. I took this decision following our party president Amit Shahs advise to party leaders to work closely with cadres and dailts. I thought it will be good to have a meal at dalit home for one time a day, she told DC. In fact, Mr Shah had lunch in a dalits home in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh to mark second year anniversary of his party government at the centre on May 31. After attending her partys national executive committee meeting in Allahabad last week, Dr Tamilisai returned to Chennai taking a vow to eat at dalit homes. She had her first meal at Thidir Nagar slum in Egmore on Wednesday. On the next day, she visited her partys dalit functionary Jeevanandams residence in Salem after addressing a public rally on her partys two-year achievement at the Centre. Jeevanandam said that when she wanted to visit his house, he did not think she would have food. The BJP leadership is clearly in a fix. It just does not know how to solve a problem like Varun Gandhi. The party MP from Sultanpur created a buzz at the BJPs national executive meeting in Allahabad when his posters and hoardings were plastered all over the city virtually declaring him a contender for the UP CMs post. This was obviously not well received by UP leaders, especially Allahabad Lok Sabha MP Shyama Charan Gupta, who lodged a strong protest with BJP president Amit Shah. Mr Gandhi was conspicuous by his absence at this meeting. Local leaders complained to Mr Shah about how they were pelted with rotten eggs and vegetables by Mr Gandhis supporters when they objected to the MPs posters. But worse was in store for them as Mr Shah merely heard them out in silence. Although furious with Mr Gandhi, the BJP leadership has chosen to play down the drama enacted by him as it cannot afford to upbraid Mr Gandhi for fear that he might create trouble in next years UP polls. As it is, a restless Mr Gandhi keeps sending out feelers that he has an open offer from the Congress. At the same time, it will be difficult for the BJP to project him as the partys CM candidate given the fact that he does not attack the Gandhis. The knives are out in the Congress against the partys communications department chief Randeep Singh Surjewala after the recent fiasco in the Haryana RS elections. Mr Surjewala was among the 14 party legislators whose votes were declared invalid in the June 11 election which eventually led to the defeat of R.K. Anand whose candidature was supported by the Congress. While former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda is in the firing line for engineering the drama, Mr Surjewala is being especially targeted by his detractors because of his proximity to Rahul Gandhi. It is a known fact in Congress circles that Mr Surjewala is positioning himself as Mr Gandhis future political secretary. But the partys communications chief appears to have blotted his copybook following his questionable role in the RS polls. Nobody is willing to believe this was a genuine mistake because Mr Surjewala is supposed to be well-versed with rules since he was a parliamentary affairs minister in the Hooda government. President Mukherjee is all set to travel to the Kedarnath shrine, which was heavily damaged during the 2013 floods. He was actually slated to visit the shrine last year but he deferred his plans after Rahul Gandhi decided to trek to Kedarnath. Now that the temple has been restored, the President will get an opportunity to take a closer look at the shrine. More importantly, Mr Mukherjee will perform a special puja at the temple. Apparently, the President had recently remarked that he will pray at the Kedarnath shrine if his wish is fulfilled. His decision has obviously got everybody guessing about the Presidents wish for which he is offering prayers at Kedarnath. Of course, the overwhelming view is that perhaps Mr Mukherjee has been assured a second term by the Modi government. But that appears to be unlikely as the BJP would like to install somebody from the RSS ranks as the next President now that the party has the numbers to get its candidate elected. Home ministry official B.K. Prasad was handpicked by home minister Rajnath Singh to conduct an inquiry into the missing files in the Ishrat Jahan case. The Modi government had raked up this matter in the Budget Session with the express purpose of putting the Congress, especially former home minister P. Chidambaram, on the defensive. A dutiful Mr Prasad delivered on what was expected of him and submitted a report which met with the governments expectations. Unfortunately, Mr Prasad found himself in the eye of a storm the day after he submitted his report when media reports revealed how he had tutored a witness during the enquiry. The controversy could not have surfaced at a worse time for Mr Prasad since he was being considered for a post-retirement position in the NDMA. But a question mark has now arisen over his reward posting. It appears Mr Prasad may have to wait longer. The Gulberg massacre case verdict does not bring a sense of closure. The sentencing of just 11 of the 24 convicts to life in jail for murder and those convicted of lesser charges getting lighter sentences are indications of leniency in a case of a murderous mob killing 69 persons in a paroxysm of violence. Justice must not only be done but also be seen to be done, which does not seem to be the case here and not just because the relatives of those killed are dissatisfied with the quantum of punishment. The Gujarat riots of 2002 were one of two of the worst incidents of barbaric and murderous behaviour by a large group of people, the other being the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. When we say Gujarat riots, it also subsumes the Godhra carnage in which 59 people of a particular community were targeted and killed and which was believed to be the trigger for retaliatory events in which over 1,000 people were killed. The sentences handed down in the case of the Godhra train burning were not disproportionate to the crime, but, in the Gulberg Society case, they seem to be so. It is not the debate over capital punishment that we enter into here in this comparison as much as bringing out the contrast in evaluating the intentions behind two crimes that took a toll of innocent lives. The fact that the special SIT court tried to find mitigating circumstances to conclude there was no criminal conspiracy and so disregarded capital punishment betrays the difference in approach. To conclude that ex-MP Ehsan Jafri firing at a bloodletting mob was the trigger is simplistic and cannot be sustained in view of the evidences tendered. If a criminal conspiracy was judged to be behind the Godhra murders, it should equally have applied to the Gulberg case. Having come to the correct conclusion that this was the darkest day in the history of civil society, the judge seems to have been side-tracked by the thinking that the firing was the catalyst and not the collective murderous intent of the mob that had surrounded Gulberg Society which housed members of a particular community and besieged it for hours before getting down to the business of murder. The sentencing is unlikely to be the last word on the Gulberg killings. Each incident of the collective Gujarat riots was an affront to civilisation. They were a reminder that unless we learn from history we are not only the lesser for it as a nation but also we are condemned to repeating its mistakes. Only by stripping the issue of its politics and the interplay of religions will it be possible to see the events for what they really were. It is a slender hope that those punished will repent their acts as much as we do this blot on modern Indian history. The promising young British Labour MP Jo Cox described by Tory Prime Minister David Cameron as a star was stabbed and shot in her constituency in West Yorkshire less than a week before Britain is to vote on whether to stay in the European Union or leave. It is evident, however, that the murder, which has sent shock waves around the world, has little to do with the key issues pertaining to Brexit (a possible British exit) from the EU. The MP became a victim of the passions being aroused in the British public discourse on lines of race and nationalism in the run-up to the Brexit vote. The debate should have been fundamentally on the economic consequences of being in the EU or out of it, but much of it regrettably swirled around the issue of West Asia immigrants who have been pouring into Europe. Ms Cox, a former Oxfam head of policy, was a campaigner for allowing some 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees from the wars in West Asia. Her assassin appears to have been an avid member of white supremacist groups, in particular one that calls itself Britain First, an outfit high on being a patriotic political party and street defence organisation. We in India can hardly fail to see parallels with the actions and words of far right political and paramilitary outfits which seek to punish those not conforming to their notions of nationalism, patriotism, and culture. In an interview to Saibal Chatterjee, Shyam Benegal, director and screenwriter, says he wholeheartedly welcomes the Bombay high court judgment on Udta Punjab and that he is personally against censorship. What is your take on the entire film censorship question? Officially, there is no censorship today. The Central Board of Film Certifications job is to certify films, not censor them. Any attempt to censor a film only means harking back to the old days. We have to go by the demands of the times we live in. Today one can watch just about anything on television, the Internet and on other multimedia platforms. We cant be blind to the reality of a changing world. Under the Cinematograph Act 1952, we once did have a board of film censorship. So films were censored. In 1983, the board was renamed CBFC. It tends to be paternalistic; it sees people as children whose viewing has to be monitored. Things have changed, but not enough. Vestiges of the past continue to linger. When you submitted your own first few films in the mid-1970s Ankur, Nishant, et al did you face any censorship trouble? Oh yes, most of my films had trouble. None of my films went through unscathed. Nishant had a problem. I had to put a disclaimer in the beginning and a disclaimer at the end. The reason was all political. How different is the present case related to Udta Punjab? It is very different. Some say the film defames the Punjab government; others assert it is one-sided in its depiction of the problem. The controversy was triggered by the CBFC chairman. The filmmakers had applied for an adult certificate, not a universal certificate, so there was no reason why all those cuts had to be ordered. Most filmmakers want their films to be given a U certificate. But what if a difficult CBFC chief acts tough on the grounds that the film has elements unsuitable for universal viewing? A filmmaker knows best the kind of film he or she has made and what kind of audience the film is meant for. So if a particular certificate is applied for, the question of the board refusing the certificate does not arise. But yes, in certain cases the courts might have to come in to interpret the Constitution. A film cannot be exhibited if it is unconstitutional. That is a given in any country. But films do often face the threat of violence in our country, dont they? Yes. That is an area we have to think about. Take the example of (Deepa Mehtas) Fire. The film had a proper certificate. But there was violence outside the halls in Mumbai and Delhi where it was screened. So the government was forced to ban it in order to avert a serious law and order situation. No government can allow public order to be disturbed. Censorship is a vexed issue in India because we are a fairly complex country. Our diversity comes in the way of certifying films. The audience here ranges from the completely unlettered to the highly educated. Nationalism means different things to different people in India. Different regions have different issues. Censorship is easier in European countries because they are largely homogenous and single-language nations. A lot of censorship disputes arise these days over foul language used in films. What are your thoughts on the matter? Contemporary Indian cinema increasingly uses the language of the street to reflect the reality of our lives. In many parts of India, expletives are used as a punctuation. That is the sort of language that you hear all the time around you. There was a time when if you went to London and interacted with the working class or members of the British Army, the use of the F-word was very common. Every sentence would be peppered with it. But nobody really paid any heed to the actual meaning of the word. Why, then, are we so touchy about the use of expletives in films? Cinema in India was, since its very birth, designed for the urban middle class, which was educated and accustomed to a certain kind of language. The films that were made in those days kept that in mind. So, Indian cinema took a step away from the real world and that is the way it developed in the early decades. So you are suggesting that there is more reality in Indian films today. Yes indeed, Indian cinema today, in terms of the language that it uses and the themes that it tackles, has moved far closer to reality. The language we hear on the screen reflects that. What the language in a film does is provide the background of the characters and set up the story. The language is an integral part of character development. It gives the audience clues about where a character has come from and what kind of person s/he is. Arent you worried about films that are socially regressive and insensitive to people with disabilities and yet face no difficulty in sailing through the censorship process? Unfortunately, it is true that Indian cinema is notorious for the way it often mocks disability of different kinds. People with disabilities are subjected to ridicule and their condition is used to raise laughs. Characters who have a stutter are especially targeted. They are used solely for comic purposes. That is definitely hard to digest. So would you recommend that such films be subjected to censorship? I am personally against censorship of any kind. Of course, I am appalled by filmmakers who are insensitive to disabilities. It is really about the sensibility of the people who make such films. Censorship isnt the solution. These attitudes would need to be weeded out from society as a whole. It would not be enough to merely penalise films that perpetuate such attitudes. How do you see the Bombay high court verdict on Udta Punjab? I wholeheartedly welcome the Bombay high court judgment on Udta Punjab. The high court has given the right verdict. It has ruled that Udta Punjab is a film for an adult audience and deals with a social problem, and that it should be released without cuts. Amid the growing concerns about climate change, NASA has decided to build an eco-friendly electric plane to accelerate the production of zero-emission aircraft that will use less energy and cruise at a higher speed, as compared to currently used aircrafts. The electric plane, named X-57 will be designed only to seat a pilot. The plane will sport 14 motors that power propellers. While all the 14 motors would operate during takeoff and landing, only two would be required once the plane is cruising high in the sky. However, the X-57 will have a limited range of 100 miles and an hour or less of flight time. NASA is considering advances in battery technology to augment the planes power in future years. In a statement reported by The Washington Post, Matt Redifer, the chief engineer on the project said, If batteries continue to be on the same rapid increase in energy density that they have been on over the past 10 years or so, one can envision five to 10 years out in the future the battery technology would be such that this particular aircraft could be enabled for a commercial-type aspect. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, commercial aircraft contributes 11 per cent of US transport emission and 3 per cent of all US emission. With this, NASA hopes that switching to an electric plane would be more valuable and will be five times more efficient as a typical plane. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Boko Haram attacked a military post in town on June 3, killing 26 soldiers, including two from neighbouring Nigeria, and a number of civilians as well. (Photo: AFP) Bosso, Niger: Rotting bodies, looted buildings and a grim silence mark the once bustling town of Bosso in southeastern Niger following one of Boko Haram's deadliest ever attacks in the west African nation. In the empty, dusty streets, soldiers outnumber the few remaining residents -- including the elderly who were unable to flee the insurgents, and some who have returned briefly to collect their possessions. "Corpses littered the streets," said Abdelaziz Zembada, a 50-year-old local shopkeeper on a visit to see if it was safe to return for good. Boko Haram attacked a military post in town on June 3, killing 26 soldiers, including two from neighbouring Nigeria, and a number of civilians as well. Everywhere, there are traces of people's rush to escape. A single abandoned sandal rests in the courtyard of a building. Pots, pans and containers are scattered on the ground. Inside one earth-and-straw home there is nothing, save a mattress and broken tea cups. Behind a sheet of corrugated metal, a rotting goat gives off a putrid odour. A man's unclaimed body decomposes in a local authority building. Witnesses believe there are more undiscovered dead scattered throughout the town. Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless in its quest to form a hardline Islamic state. Extending the attacks to neighbouring countries, the group's ascendancy has prompted a regional military fightback involving troops from Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as Nigeria. Zembada, the shopkeeper, said he and his wife managed to whisk three of their children to safety, but a four-year-old daughter was among those killed in the attack. "When we came back to get her, that's when the shell landed," he said. "My daughter was inside with two of my neighbour's children... She hasn't been buried yet." During the assault the local military contingent was overrun, its barracks looted and a handful of their armoured vehicles, trucks and cars were torched. In the charred ruins of their dormitory, only skeletons of beds are still identifiable. 'Getting better' All the town's public buildings -- gendarme offices, the town hall and an administration centre -- were pillaged. A local school and health centre, where someone had scrawled "Boko Haram" on a chalkboard, were not spared either. In addition to what they took from the buildings, the attackers also carted off some 200 tonnes of grain that were supposed to feed needy locals. Niger's military claim to have regained full control of Bosso, but it refuses to reveal the exact size of its force. "Soldiers are there. It is a consequential number," said Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum. "Within a few weeks we will repopulate Bosso and the residents will return to their lives," he said. For now, many residents are shuttling back and forth between neighbouring towns and Bosso to pick up what is left of their belongings. "We spent the night of (June) 3 on the roof and ran away on foot in the morning with the whole family," said El Hadj Abba Makani, a father of 10 with two wives, as he loaded all he could into a battered 4x4. "We are afraid, but if everyone comes back we will too," said the shopkeeper. Some residents are already home, beginning the struggle to rebuild lives shattered by the attack. "We're discouraged. We want people to come back," said Souleymane Salissa, a barber. His home and shop were looted, but he is back and managing to get by with business from the soldiers. In addition to cutting hair he also offers a service to charge mobile phones. "Things are getting better, even if yesterday we heard gunfire," Salissa said. "(But) if you hear 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest), that's when you have to worry." Morsi as well as other defendants have been convicted for leaking classified documents to Qatar and selling them to Al-Jazeera channel. Cairo: Egypt's toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was on Saturday sentenced to life imprisonment by a court for passing state secrets to Qatar. The court also upheld death sentences given to six Muslim Brotherhood members in the same case and awarded life imprisonment (25 years in prison) to two others. Read: Egypt court spares ousted president Mohamed Morsi the death penalty Morsi was given an additional 15 years in prison in the same case, increasing his jail term to 40 years. Last month, the court ordered that the case documents of the six defendants, excluding Morsi, be referred to the Grand Mufti, who according to the Egyptian law must review all death sentences. However, his decision is not binding. Read: White House 'deeply troubled' by Mohamed Morsi sentencing The six defendants include Ahmed Abdo Ali Afifi, a documentary film producer (who is in jail), Asmaa el-Khateeb reporter in Rassd news network (RNN) (sentenced in absentia), Alaa Omar Mohammed, a Jordanian news producer in Al-Jazeera (sentenced in absentia), and the news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal in Al-Jazeera (sentenced in absentia). The verdict is not final and can be appealed. Morsi as well as other defendants have been convicted for leaking classified documents to Qatar and selling them to Al-Jazeera channel. The classified documents allegedly include information on general and military intelligence, the armed forces, its armaments and the state's policy secrets. Other charges include leading and joining the outlawed group, the Muslim Brotherhood, that aims at changing the country's regime by force, and attacking army and police posts and public property. Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 35 other members of the proscribed Islamist group were last month sentenced to life for committing violent acts after the ouster of country's first democratically elected President in 2013. Badie and Morsi were also sentenced to life in prison in the espionage case. Their sentences are currently in appeal. Morsi himself alongwith Badie and 100 other leaders were also sentenced to death in June last year for escaping from prison in 2011. However, an Egyptian court later quashed the death sentence against Badie. Hundreds of other Muslim Brotherhood members were also sentenced for life in various cases. The Egyptian government has been cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters since the ouster of Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood was designated as a terrorist group in November 2013 by the government. India has got strong support from the countries he visited -- Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Namibia-- on the urgent need for reforms in the United Nations Security Council. (Photo: PTI) On Board Special Aircraft: India has, in principle, agreed to look into Ghana's request for cooperation in civil nuclear energy field, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday as he wrapped up his six-day visit to three African countries which he said will "reinvigorate" the already "strong and time-tested" bonds with them. "Although the details are yet to be worked out, in principle, we have agreed that we will examine civil nuclear cooperation," he said on the question of proposal from Ghana seeking cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy. The President said, "There are questions of cooperation in technology, cooperation in the supply of raw material, availability of uranium and also in sharing the experiences because we are also new in the area of the nuclear technology." India has got strong support from the countries he visited -- Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Namibia-- on the urgent need for reforms in the United Nations Security Council. "There was agreement that the present structure does not reflect current realities and that reforms have been delayed for too long. "The leaders of all three countries expressed the view that there is a need for urgent reforms of the UN. India, with one-sixth of the world's population, as well as the African continent must be represented in the UN Security Council," Mukherjee said. The President also underlined the issue of international terrorism and dangers posed by it to the civilised world. "I conveyed that the scourge of terrorism must be fought jointly, without any distinction between 'good' and 'bad' terrorism. "I called for an early conclusion of negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism," he said. India has also got assurance from Namibia that it will work towards ironing out issues which are hindering the implementation of an agreement with it for supply of uranium for peaceful nuclear energy use, he said. "We have already entered into an agreement with Namibia on supply of uranium. Up to now that has not been done so I requested the President to take special care to meet the commitment of the past President and he agreed and also it was suggested that two technical teams will exchange details as there are various lack of understanding or misunderstanding about the supply of uranium," he said. Mukherjee said some believe that one has to be member of NSG to supply uranium which is not correct and he pointed that out during bilateral talks with Namibia. "Therefore it is not a new agreement. Agreement has already been signed. Supply of uranium has not taken place that's why I raised this issue and I requested the President to look into it and twice he assured," he said. The President also emphasised on improving connectivity or opening new lines of connectivity with African countries as it is one of the most important aspects of improving relationship. "I believe my visit to these countries has helped reinvigorate our already strong and time-tested bilateral relations. They provide fresh momentum to our overall relations with Africa," Mukherjee said. The President said India is committed to further consolidate its cooperation with all African countries. These visits conveyed the message that India takes its engagement with Africa seriously and intends to follow up with determination on the announcements made at the Third India Africa Forum Summit, he said. "Drawing lessons from our own colonial experience, we will continue to focus on capacity building, with a view to strengthening their self reliance. "We will remain an active partner in Africa's nation building efforts even as we strengthen our political, economic and trade relations with all 54 countries of the continent," he said. Mukherjee said warmth with which he was received in all these three countries is testament to the unparalleled and historic bonds of friendship that exist between India and Africa. "We seek today to build on this strong foundation and forge new relations based on shared values of mutual benefit," he said. The President said all three countries sought increased investments from India to tap the full potential of trade and economic relations. "I assured them that both public and private sector companies in India are enthusiastic about the opportunities in their countries. "I requested them to create a conducive environment for investment and initiate a dialogue with our industry," he said. Washington: Amid a spate of shootings in the US, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has called for strong gun control laws and plugging the loopholes in the rules that are currently prevailing. In an open letter on the first anniversary of Charleston church massacre and less than a week after the horrific shooting in Orlando, Clinton said an average of 90 people a day are killed by gun violence in our country. "This must stop. A good first step is closing the 'Charleston Loophole' in our gun laws, which allows a person otherwise prohibited from buying a gun such as a domestic abuser or other violent criminal to buy one if a background check isn't completed within three business days," Clinton said. "This loophole allowed the alleged Charleston shooter to buy his gun despite his prior arrest record. How many more innocent people need to be cut down before we act and close this dangerous loophole?" she asked. Last year nine churchgoers, all African-American, were shot by a young, white man who entered their Charleston, South Carolina, church, joined their Bible study for an hour and then opened fire. "On that terrible evening and every day since, Americans across the country have joined our hearts with the people of Charleston and South Carolina. Millions of Americans are still walking with them in grief, solidarity and determination," Clinton said. "In the spirit of the Charleston Nine, let's bridge our divides, fight for change and remember that love never fails," Clinton said. Her remarks come just days after the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which Afghan-origin gunman Omar Mateen massacred 49 people. Washington: Many US policymakers and stakeholders are concerned that neither the Indian governments rhetoric nor Americas bilateral engagement with it has led to substantial economic reforms in India, according to a report by US Congress research wing. Two years into the Modi administration, many US policymakers and stakeholders are concerned that neither the Indian governments rhetoric nor bilateral engagement has led to substantial, sustained economic reforms in India, superseding earlier optimism about the likelihood of expanding Indo-US commercial ties, the bipartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a brief report on India. Others, meanwhile, argue that incremental reforms have occurred, the report said. While being critical of the governments economic measures, the report was optimistic about Indo-US defence cooperation. US-India security cooperation has blossomed in the 21st century despite a concurrent US military alliance with Indias rival Pakistan, the report said. CRS is an independent and bipartisan research wing of the US Congress which prepares periodic reports on issues of interest for the lawmakers to take informed decision. This is not an official report or view point of the Congress. US diplomats rate military cooperation among the most important aspects of transformed bilateral relations, view the bilateral defence partnership as an anchor of global security and extol Indias growing role as a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean Region, it said. Co-authored by K Alan Kronstadt, specialist in South Asian affairs and Shayerah Ilias Akhtar, specialist in International Trade and Finance, the CRS Insight on India was prepared for US lawmakers ahead of the Washington visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week. The report dated June 6, a copy of which was seen by PTI on Thursday, refers to the number of pro-India legislations pending in both chambers of the US Congress in particular those related to the bilateral defence relationship. In 2005, the US and India signed a 10-year defence framework agreement to expand bilateral security cooperation; the agreement was renewed for another decade in 2015. In April 2016, the US Secretary of Defence was in India for his fourth meeting with his Indian counterpart in 14 months, producing a joint statement with priorities for the coming year, including expanding collaboration under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and New Delhis Make in India efforts, the report said. Many observe that Indo-US trade ties are at an all-time high with total trade crossing USD 100 billion, investment trending upward and multi-pronged economic cooperation. Yet, many also see greater potential given Indias position as the worlds third-largest and fastest-growing economy, it said. Mohammed bin Salman will be in New York next week for meetings with business leaders after a visit to the US West Coast. (Photo: AFP) New York: Saudi Arabia's powerful deputy crown prince is due to meet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday, the kingdom's ambassador said, after the United Nations infuriated Riyadh by briefly blacklisting a Saudi-led coalition for killing children in Yemen. Mohammed bin Salman will be in New York next week for meetings with business leaders after a visit to the US West Coast, UN officials told Reuters. "An official request has come to the office of the secretary-general for a meeting with the deputy crown prince and as soon as we're able to confirm something we shall," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Saudi UN Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said that the meeting had been confirmed for Wednesday. President Barack Obama and the deputy crown prince met on Friday and discussed ways to support Iraqis in their fight against Islamic State (ISIS) militants and the importance of a political transition in war-torn Syria, the White House said. Dujarric said that the UN had not yet responded to a June 8 letter to Ban from Mouallimi on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. The letter asked the United Nations to reveal details on the sources of information for its report on violations of child rights during armed conflicts. Dujarric said this week the United Nations would not disclose those sources. The UN 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 major UN donor, had threatened to cut off funding to a Palestinian aid program and other UN initiatives. Saudi Arabia has 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 including Human Right Watch, Amnesty International and Oxfam, which accused Ban of caving to pressure from powerful countries. They said that Ban, in the final year of his second term, risked harming his legacy as UN chief. The Saudi-led coalition includes Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan. Chinese technology might help Maharashtra in curbing the drought situation. Beijing: China is in talks with India to provide cloud-seeding technology to drought-hit Maharashtra to induce rain and train the staff of local meteorological department. A team of scientists and officials from Beijing, Shanghai and China's eastern Anhui province mooted the cooperation during their recent visit to Maharashtra which has experienced severe droughts over the past two years. China has over the years used the cloud seeding rockets tipped with silver iodide to cause precipitation. But it requires clouds to cause precipitation. If the discussions are successful, Chinese experts would provide training to officials of the Indian Meteorological Department on their latest cloud-seeding technology, state-run China Daily quoted officials as saying. The training is expected to be given on procedures to seed clouds successfully, the daily said. The training is aimed at inducing rain over Maharashtra's Marathwada region in the summer of 2017 if needed, it said. The development follows a meeting between Shanghai's top official Han Zheng and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai in early May. Han, who is also a Communist Party of China Politburo member, had asked Fadnavis if China could do anything for drought relief in Maharashtra, it said. China started to use cloud-seeding technology in 1958, and today it has one of the most advanced systems in the world, the report said. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman pictured while he was being escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City. (Photo: AP) Mexico City: The decapitated bodies of seven men were found in Mexico's western Sinaloa state, near the heart of jailed drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's old home turf, a state law enforcement official said on Friday. Martin Robles, Sinaloa's deputy attorney general, told reporters in the state capital of Culiacan the seven men were loggers attacked near the town of Rosario, located about 60 miles (100 km) south of the Pacific resort of Mazatlan. In recent years, the state has been host to a number of confrontations between the army and drug traffickers, but it was not immediately clear if Guzman's notorious Sinaloa cartel was involved in the killing of the loggers. Gruesome displays of violence have been rare in Sinaloa despite a longstanding rivalry between the Sinaloa cartel and a separate criminal organisation run by Isidro Meza, also known as "El Chapo." Robles said he could not confirm widely circulated reports from earlier this week that dozens of armed gunmen attacked the Sinaloa home of Guzman's mother. Guzman, currently held in a prison near the U.S. border, is awaiting extradition to the United States to face drug trafficking, money laundering and murder charges. London: The 33-year-old suave looking Prince William has always mesmerized people with his disposition and aura, but his sheepish reaction to his grandmothers rebuke during an event on Friday has taken people by surprise. While the royal family was watching an RAF flying past from the balcony of the palatial Buckingham palace, Prince William was seen attending to the boisterous Prince George who failed to keep his calm amid the ostentation in wake of Queens birthday celebrations. William sat down to address his son, when the 90-year-old monarch said, Stand Up William! Prince Williams immediate reaction to his grandmothers call was worth a watch, as he sheepishly abided by her command and rose to his feet. The event also marked Princess Charlottes debut on the balcony of the palace. I felt liberated," Hamidi said after swapping her black face-covering veil for a red head scarf. "They made us wear it against our will so I removed it that way to spite them." (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) When US-backed forces seized Souad Hamidi's village in northern Syria from Islamic State last week, the 19-year-old swiftly tore off the niqab she had been forced to wear since 2014 and smiled. I felt liberated," Hamidi said after swapping her black face-covering veil for a red head scarf. "They made us wear it against our will so I removed it that way to spite them." For the last two weeks, the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by US-led air strikes, have waged an offensive against the Islamic State-held city of Manbij, near the Syria-Turkey border. The SDF have been cutting off routes into Manbij, encircling the city by seizing outlying villages like Hamidi's, Am Adasa. Hamidi said she woke up one morning to hear that the SDF, which includes the Kurdish YPG militia and Arab fighters, had arrived in her village. "We saw (SDF) fighters behind our house, digging to station their snipers, we thought they were Daesh (Islamic State) fighters, who were still inside the village," she said. "We left, fearing we would be used as human shields during air strikes," she said. The family later returned once SDF fighters had pushed out remaining Islamic State forces. Am Adasa had been under the militants' control since 2014, when Islamic State proclaimed its caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq. The governments of Syria and Iraq have launched offensives on other fronts against the group. Under Islamic State, life was strictly regulated, Hamidi said, including dress codes. "They would punish people who did not follow their rules, sometimes forcing them to stay in dug-out graves for days," she said. "Since they (SDF) took control, we are living a new life." Sitting in her family home, Hamidi said she still fears Islamic State may return one day. "I want to erase Daesh from my memory," she said. "I hope every area controlled by Daesh is liberated, that people are free of them and can live like we do now." Iraqi security forces raise an Iraqi flag as they hold a flag of the Islamic State group they captured in central Fallujah, Iraq, after fighting against the Islamic State militants. (Photo: AP) Baghdad: An Iraqi military official says government forces are clearing mines and explosives left behind by members of the Islamic State group in areas recently retaken from the extremists in the city of Fallujah. Brig. Haider al-Obeidi said on Saturday that operations are still ongoing in Fallujah, with the air force hitting targets in the city including IS snipers positioned near the main hospital. Al-Obedi's comments came a day after Iraqi special forces swept into Fallujah, recapturing most of the city as IS's two-year-old grip crumbled after weeks of fighting. He said troops are advancing toward the hospital cautiously, concerned that militants stationed there may use patients as human shields. The Fallujah offensive began in late May, and IS's defenses in much of the city collapsed abruptly. Sindh, Pakistan: A young married Hindu woman was forcefully remarried to a 56-year-old man from her community by local elders in Pakistan's Sindh province, a media report said. The woman, identified as Wadia Bai Meghwar, had married her cousin Suresh in a Karachi court on May 4. However, a few days later someone from an influential family of the area took Wadia from their home, promising to marry the couple in a traditional wedding but was instead forcibly married to another man by her brother on orders from jirga, Dawn reported. "Instead of handing her to me, her brother Gayanchand Meghwar married her off to an old man," said Suresh. Suresh said his wife has been married to elderly man Chetan Meghwar. Inspector General (IG) Sindh AD Khawaja took notice of the issue and ordered an inquiry. "The girl's brother and other relatives have been arrested in a raid on Friday, and an investigation into the matter is underway," a police officer said. He added that senior police officials have ordered the girl be recovered and produced in court as soon as possible. Local activists called for a thorough inquiry into the jirga and the Hindu girl's forced remarriage, demanding severe action against all those involved under the recently-enacted Hindu Marriage Act and other laws for woman. Bangladesh in recent months witnessed a series of deadly clandestine attacks on religious minorities and secular and liberal activists. (Representational Image, Photo: AP) Dhaka: A 17-year-old militant who was arrested this week while carrying out a failed assassination attempt on a Hindu lecturer in southwestern Bangladesh was killed overnight in what police claimed to be a "shootout". "Golam Faizullah Fahim's cohorts fired gunshots as he was guiding us (police) to a hideout of theirs...He died in crossfire as we retaliated," Madaripur's Superintendent of Police Sarwar Hossain told PTI over phone. Another official familiar with the incident said police took Fahim to an area on the outskirts of the district town last evening where the shootout occurred. He was injured and declared dead when brought to a hospital after the "shootout". The surprise shootout came a day after police secured a court order to interrogate Fahim in custody in connection with the murder attempt on Ripan Chakraborty, 50, a mathematics lecturer of a government university college in Madaripur. Bangladesh in recent months witnessed a series of deadly clandestine attacks on religious minorities and secular and liberal activists. The machete-wielding militants fled the scenes after carrying out the murders. But Fahim, a student of a college in Dhaka, was the lone assailant to be grabbed by people in the neighbourhood though two other attackers fled the scene after attack on Chakraborty who sustained injuries. Islamic State or al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent claimed responsibilities for most of the attacks. However, authorities attributed the attacks to home grown militant outfits like Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh or Ansaral Islam (ABT). According to police, Fahim claimed himself to be a member of a third outfit, Hizbut Tahrir, a grouping of mainly university level students and young professionals. Bangladesh banned Tahrir, an international organisation, several years ago after years of its overt activities in the country when it was believed to be a non-militant grouping despite radical rightwing outlook. According to media reports, Fahim told police that Tahrir had recruited him through a former student of the college he studied while his family members said they had no idea that the boy was a member of a militant outfit. Teachers of his Uttara collage also described him as a good student who scored well in the last Secondary School Certificate Exam. Fahim's father works in the apparels industry while his mother Kamrun Nahar is a homemaker. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to eradicate the 'evil' of honour killings, but no legislation has been tabled yet. (Photo: Representational Image) Multan: A man's throat was slit by relatives of his wife who disapproved of their marriage in the latest "honour killing" to hit Pakistan, police said Saturday. Hundreds of women are murdered by relatives in conservative Muslim Pakistan each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour, but it is rare for victim to be a man. Read: Mother slits open throat of pregnant daughter in name of 'honour' in Pak The murder happened at a marketplace in the Punjab city of Burewala on Friday, when Muhammad Irshad, 43, was attacked by his father-in-law and two brothers in-law, police said. "The assailants were armed with knives and hatchets and after inflicting several wounds on Irshad's body they slit his throat," district police chief Ghazi Salahuddin told AFP. Read: Pakistani religious body declares honour-killing 'un-Islamic' Irshad had married Mussarat Bibi, the daughter of a rich local agricultural family, about an year ago and fled as he feared his in-laws would kill him, but he had returned to see his parents, the police chief said. A manhunt had been launched to find Irshad's in-laws, who remained at large, he added. Last week 16 year-old Zeenat Bibi was killed in Lahore by her mother for marrying a man of her own choice in a case that sparked condemnation throughout the country. It was swiftly followed by another killing, of a couple in Lahore who married without their family's consent. On Thursday relatives slit the throat of a young mother who was pregnant with her second child after she married against their will in the village of Buttaranwali, some 75 kilometres (46 miles) north of Punjab provincial capital Lahore. On Sunday a young girl was killed by her brother for insisting on marrying the man of her choice in the city of Sialkot, also in Punjab. A film on honour killings in Pakistan won an Oscar for best documentary short in February. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to eradicate the "evil" amid publicity for the film, "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness", but as yet no fresh legislation has been tabled. Punjabi language students and teachers continue to suffer due to years of government apathy with declining enrolment for the subject and inadequate resources. However, the AAP governments recent promise to give the language its due by improving facilities has given teachers and students some hope of possible revival of the states second official language. But till the time things change on the ground, the teachers would continue to face poor working conditions, and that too for abysmal salaries. The condition of ad hoc Punjabi teachers is particularly precarious, with salaries as low as Rs 2,800-4,600. Since 2007, our salaries are stuck at Rs 4,500. We have approached several authorities but nothing has happened. We cannot even meet our expenses from this meagre amount, says Rani, a teacher with MCD Primary School, Wazirpur Village-I. For over 2,000 Delhi government- and municipal corporation-run schools in the capital, there are only 700 teachers, out of which around 250 are permanent and the rest have been working ad hoc for many years. The salary for such teachers in primary schools is Rs 2,800. For those teaching secondary classes, it ranges from Rs 3,800-4,500. Teachers say that many of their colleagues have left the profession after being de-motivated because of the dismal salaries, which further aggravated the problem of shortage of teachers for the language over the years. No fresh appointments were made simultaneously to replace them, claim experts. Students who want to learn Punjabi are forced to opt for Sanskrit in many schools which dont have teachers for the subject, said Parminder Pal Singh, Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee spokesperson. And in some of the schools which have dedicated teachers for Punjabi, the students do not have regular classes as the same teachers have as to cater to both boys and girls shift. One such school is Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Surajmal Vihar where the Punjabi teacher teaches three days in the girls morning shift and three days in the boys evening shift. Besides, even the conditions in which the language is taught have deteriorated over the years. Ninety per cent of Punjabi teachers teach the language in the school verandas as there is no dedicated room for them, said Mahendra Pal Singh, a teacher of Punjabi with Govt Co-ed Senior Secondary School, Sector 6, Dwarka. However, after the recent announcement by Delhi government declaring that Punjabi will be taught in all government schools and each school will have at least one teacher for the subject, the teachers and students are hopeful. In an advertisement, the government also said that the salaries of the teachers will be raised to between Rs 7,000 and Rs 14,000. Punjabi teachers at both government and MCD schools get their salaries from Delhi government. Even though the opposition alleged that the announcement has been made keeping in mind the Punjab Assembly elections and that it is not a government decision but a High Court order, teachers are positive that the situation will change for the first time. Delhi government has decided to reorganise West and South-West civil districts, sessions division, metropolitan areas of the national capital, seeking to ease administrative access for people. The decision was taken at a meeting of Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held at Delhi Secretariat. The reorganisation will also have a positive impact on the residents of these areas. The Cabinet gave nod to the proposal of reorganisation of West and South West civil districts/sessions divisions/ metropolitan areas of Delhi in as much as transfer of three police stations Uttam Nagar, Vikaspuri and Janakpuri from West district to South-West district so as to enable the cases under their jurisdiction be filed in the sessions division at Dwarka Court Complex, a senior government official said. The official, however, said the existing criminal cases relating to police stations of Uttam Nagar, Vikaspuri and Janakpuri, which were filed and are pending in the Sessions Court at Tis Hazari should not be transferred to the Sessions Court at Dwarka. The new police station, envisaged at Vikas Nagar, will comprise substantial areas presently under the police station of Ranhoula. The Vikas Nagar police station will form part of South-West Sessions Division and hence criminal cases emanating from Police Station at Vikas Nagar will be filed in the Sessions Division at Dwarka Court Complex. Eight revenue areas of West district viz., Budhela, Nangli Jalib, Posangi Pur, Asalat Pur, Hastsal, Raja Pur Khurd, Nawada Mazara Hastal and Matiala have been taken out of Patel Nagar sub-division of West district and added to Dwarka sub-division of South-West District, without creating a new district, the official said. So, the new civil cases filed on or after cut-off date, relating/pertaining to territorial jurisdiction of the eight villages mentioned above, should be filed at the District Court Complex at Dwarka. However, existing or cases already filed before a cut-off date, which can be fixed should not be transferred and should be dealt with and adjudicated in the District Court Complex at Tis Hazari, the official said. Several government buildings have come under the scanner with the NDMC issuing notices to these for mosquito breeding on the premises. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has issued notices to New Maharashtra Sadan, Baroda House, Doordarshan Bhawan, Safdarjung Airport and the Delhi High Court after parts of these premises were found positive for mosquito breeding recently during inspections by the council. The Ashok hotel was also sent a notice by the council for mosquitogenic conditions. The health department sent a notice to The Ashok hotel after the team found mosquito breeding on its premises. Other government buildings like the New Maharashtra Sadan, Shivaji Stadium, Delhi High Court, Baroda House have also been sent notices. If further breeding is found in these buildings, they will be issued challans, said an inspector at the council health department. After conducting a workshop with around 300 stakeholders like hospitals, state bhawans, Railways, CPWD, the council has now planned to invite representatives from over 100 Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in its jurisdiction on July 2 to educate them on the precautionary measures of dengue and malaria. In addition to this, we are also holding meetings with at least four RWAs every Saturday where they will be educated through public lectures, pictorial representations on how to prevent mosquito breeding, said Dr R N Singh, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Public Health, NDMC. In another effort, the council will send 50,000 messages every week to residents of NDMC area to sensitise them how early prevention can help bring down dengue fever cases. Also, wherever our workers go, they are giving out booklets to residents, said Dr Singh. The NDMC is in the process of recruiting around 60 seasonal workers to step up dengue prevention measures in its areas. Currently, the council has 37 seasonal workers which is not adequate to cover all the areas. The NDMC had issued 265 challans and 3,965 notices last year against hospitals and buildings for mosquito breeding. Last year, the capital saw a dengue outbreak with the municipal body recording 15,867 dengue cases and 60 deaths. The unofficial toll, however, was much higher, according to data collected from across hospitals. Leader of House of North Delhi Municipal Corporation Vijay Prakash Pandey on Friday refuted the charges of corruption levelled by Aam Aadmi Party against the civic agency in the allotment of sanitation work in its three hospitals and construction of Rani Jhansi flyover. "Delay on the part of the Delhi government in releasing funds, giving compensation to affected persons and shifting utilities from the site have become a roadblock in the completion of the project," said Pandey. He added that Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government is "misleading the people by spreading false information about the working of the corporation". Pandey said that the contruction period of Rani Jhansi Grade separator has been extended "not because of corruption but due to difficulties in acquiring land, enhanced compensation, shifting of religious structures, among other issues". The construction cost of Rani Jhansi Grade Separator still remains Rs 93.84 crore. The main reason for the delay is difficulties in acquiring land for the project which is to be done by the Delhi government. The cost of exchange of land has increased from Rs 70 crore originally to Rs 524 crore out of which approximately Rs 111 crore has been paid and Rs 413 crore are still required, Pandey said. The leader of House of North Delhi Municipal Corporation said that instead of blaming the corporation and levelling "baseless" charges against the North Corporation, AAP leader Dilip Pandey should cross check the facts. Pandey said that the services of various departments of Delhi government such as Delhi Jal Board, TPDDL, BSES and DUSIB had to be shifted from the project site and North Corpiration bore the cost for that. Despite that many departments are yet to shift their services from the area, making it difficult for the corporation to wrap up the project. Enhanced compensation as per the directions of the court and Delhi government departments not shifting their services from the area are major reasons for increase in cost and extension of time period, he said. Rehabilitation policy Pandey added that though the corporation did not have any policy for rehabilitation yet it offered its land at Model Town for relocation of person affected by the project in order to expedite the process of transfer of land. Taking into consideration all factors, a revised cost of the project was prepared at Rs 724.22 crore. Since North Corporation is unable to make the entire expenditure on its own due to paucity of funds, it approached Delhi government which allocated Rs 20 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 50 crore in 2015-16. However, amount allocated for 2015-16 has not been released by the Delhi government so far." On the charges of scam in allotting sanitation work in three hospitals Hindu Rao, Kastrurba Hospital and Rajan Babu TB hospital, Pandey said that it is another failed attempt to malign the image of the corporation. Creating history, Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh today became the first women fighter pilots to be formally commissioned by the Indian Air Force. Batting for gender parity in the armed forces, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was chief guest at the combined graduation ceremony at Air Force Academy, Dundigal on the city outskirts, termed the event as a "milestone" as it also the first time that women have been given a combat role. "It is a golden letter day...," he said, asserting that "step-by-step", "total gender parity" will be achieved in the armed forces in the coming years. "There are technical and administrative difficulties which we are likely to face in certain areas, so, step by step we will see that this parity is achieved. Number will depend on how many we can accommodate depending on our infrastructure," Parrikar said. Expressing happiness, the three women pilots, who successfully completed pre-commissioning training by the Flight Cadets of various branches of IAF, said they consider themselves "fortunate" and were excited to take on their duties. The trio will go to Bidar in Karnataka for their stage-III training for a year on Hawk advanced jet trainers, before they get to fly supersonic warplanes. Six female 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 female trainees were selected for the fighter stream. Former actress Mamta Kulkarni was today named as a prime accused in a multi-crore drug racket linked to drug baron Vicky Goswami, with Mumbai police claiming that she was actively involved in the illicit activities and would seek her extradition from Kenya. Addressing a press conference here, Thane Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said the statements of a couple arrested in the case and inputs received from the US Drug Enforcement Agency have confirmed Kulkarni was a prime accused in the case. Police have initiated the process for extradition of Kulkarni and Goswami, who are said to be in a relationship and are currently based in Kenya. The first step towards this would be issuance of Red Corner Notice against them through Interpol, the officer said. He said the probe conducted so far reveals that Kulkarni was actively involved in the international racket which was busted two months ago. In all, there were 17 accused in the case, of whom seven were still at large. The remaining 10 were arrested and are now in judicial custody. The drug racket came to light when police seized around 18.5 tonne of ephedrine, worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore, after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Maharashtra's Solapur district in April. According to police, ephedrine, which is a controlled drug, was allegedly being diverted from the Solapur unit of Avon Lifesciences and sent abroad after processing. The ephedrine power is used for sniffing and is also used to produce popular party drug methamphetamine. Singh said police have information that Kulkarni and other members of the drug syndicate participated in a meeting held on January 8, 2016 in Mombasa, Kenya where the logistics involved in transporting ephedrine were discussed. Another meeting was held on April 8 in Dubai where two persons from Morocco were present along with Goswami and Kulkarni, he said. It was decided that the ephedrine would be dispatched to Mombasa where it would be processed into methamphetamine and sold in the international market. Singh said as per information with the police one kg of meth costs USD 50,000. Avon, whose executives are among those arrested in the case so far, had 2 crore shares of which 11 lakh was to be alloted to Kulkarni. She was also to be inducted on the company's board. Assets and bank accounts of Kulkarni in India, managed by Goswami and her sister, were being probed, he said. Just before the racket was busted, 100 kg of ephedrine was manufactured at Avon Lifesciences' premises and dispatched by air to Kenya. Payment for the same was sent by Goswami to Mukesh Jain, a director of the company, through hawala (an informal channel for transferring funds), the Thane police chief said. Jain had gone abroad several times to meet Goswami. The accused who are currently in jail are: Sagar Suresh Powle, Mayur Suresh Sukhdhare, Rajendra Jagdambaprasad Dimri, Dhaneshwar Rajaram Swami, Puneet Ramesh Shringi, Manoj Tejraj Jain, Hardipsingh Indersingh Gill, Narendra Dhirajlal Kacha, Babasaheb Shankar Dhotre and Jai Mulji Mukhi. Those on the run include Kishore Rathod, said to be the son of a former politician, and an accused identified only as Dr Abdullah, who is based abroad, as well as two of his associates, police said. The US Drug Enforcement Administration authorities have already shared details about Abdullah, they said. The entire drug racket first came to light when Thane Police arrested a Nigerian national in a drug case on April 18. His interrogation led police to Solapur, where they conducted raids in the premises of Avon Lifesciences. Hundred samples of power seized from the factory were sent for chemical analysis and 50 of them were found to be ephedrine. Results of other samples were awaited, police said. The man charged with the brutal street killing of UK's first-time woman lawmaker JO Cox today gave his name as "death to traitors, freedom for Britain" when he appeared in a court here, as the EU referendum campaigning was suspended nationally until tomorrow in tribute to her. Thomas Mair, 52, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London charged with murder and grievous bodily harm. He has also been charged with possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon. Mair, who was wearing a grey, police issue tracksuit, refused to give his correct name and did not reply when asked to confirm his address and date of birth. Asked at the court to confirm his name, Mair said: "My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain." The judge then asked his lawyers to confirm his name, which they did. Mair was remanded in custody and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday. Cox, a mother-of-two, was shot and stabbed to death in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday afternoon. The 41-year-old lawmaker was attending a regular constituency meeting when her assailant described as a far-right loner with mental health issues and neo-Nazi link struck. A 77-year-old man, who came to the aid of Cox, was also injured and remains in a stable condition in hospital. Vigils were held across the country last evening in memory of the Labour MP and Parliament will be recalled on Monday to allow MPs to pay further tributes. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn visited Cox's Batley and Spen constituency yesterday in a rare joint appearance. Meanwhile, the EU referendum campaigning has been suspended nationally until Sunday, with less than a week before polling day, after the fatal attack on Cox. The Remain and Leave groups, which have not campaigned since Thursday, have cancelled events planned for today. "The campaign will continue to suspend all its planned national campaign events, street stalls, and rallies tomorrow as a mark of respect for the tragic murder of Jo Cox," Will Straw, executive director of pro-Remain Britain Stronger in Europe, said in a statement. Vote Leave yesterday said it "will be suspending major campaign events tomorrow such as the planned rally in Birmingham". It, however, added that "low key campaigning like leafleting at a local level is likely to take place." BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha today once again floated the name of Varun Gandhi as the party's face in Uttar Pradesh, where elections are scheduled for next year. "It is my personal opinion and not that of the party. He (Varun Gandhi) is a young, good and committed party leader," he told reporters on the sidelines of a book launch here. The Patna Saheb MP, however, said it would be the party's parliamentary board which would decide whether anyone has to be projected (as the CM face for UP polls). "The Parliamentary board's decision would be final for me," he said when asked about his take on Varun's projection for UP Assembly polls. Sinha, who has often supported the name of Varun Gandhi as the party's face in politically sensitive Uttar Pradesh, said he was not comparing him (Varun) with any other BJP leader as there were many other leaders in the party capable of holding the CM's post. Sinha named Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh as equally capable of being projected as the face of party in UP. "Rajnath Singh is my close friend. He has held evey important post. He is the man who worked as a party worker to become national president. Who else can be better than Rajnath Singh," Sinha asked. He also named UP party chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath among several others who could steer the party in the state. The BJP leader was speaking on the sidelines of a function organised for the release of a book titled 'Suicide? There is tomorrow' written by senior journalist Sanjay Kumar Sinha. Asked if there should be a change in party leadership in Bihar in the wake of the severe drubbing in the recent state Assembly polls, he said cryptically, "So it is still being discussed (change in state party leadership)...the change has not taken place so far?" Sinha who was reportedly sidelined in the state elections had made many statements which put the party in a tight spot. "There should be a change in the state leadership for the betterment of the BJP," Sinha, who had on several occasions taken digs at top BJP leaders in Bihar including Sushil Kumar Modi, said. re, the Patna Saheb MP was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially his efforts behind the declaration of 'International Yoga Day' on June 21 by the United Nations. "I have been practising Yoga for the past 25-30 years. It should be propagated so that our younger generation start practising Yoga," he said. Sinha said Yoga was related with humanity and not with religion. Asked about his chance of becoming a Union minister in an apparent reshuffle of the Union council of ministers, Sinha said, "Fakir hoon. Mujhe Kaun Puchhta hai. Unse sawal puchhen jo decision making me hain (I am a destitude. Who cares about me. Ask those who are into decision making)." "Whatever work or assignment the party will give me, I will discharge it whole-heartedly. I have no demand, no command and lust for any post," Sinha, who was a Union minister in the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said. Sinha is the second term Lok Sabha member from his native Patna Saheb constituency. Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul Deborah Rodriguez Sphere 2016, pp 306, Rs 399 Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul is Deborah Rodriguezs sequel to The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul. The book reintroduces a cast of characters from its predecessor, and introduces some new ones as the story goes along. Sunny, the protagonist from The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, finds herself on a soul-searching journey outside of her beloved Afghanistan, on her way to an island she doesnt want to go to. The novel begins quite enigmatically, with a girl running from something... or someone. That girl, however, is not the protagonist. Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul stands well on its own even though its a sequel. Whatever happened in the previous book is reintroduced slowly and clearly, making the characters and events seem lucid and relevant. Sunny Tedder, the headstrong, free-willed owner of the Kabul Coffee Shop, is left alone after the sudden death of her partner Jack. She is also, she discovers, the owner of the Screaming Peacock Vineyard after Jacks death. The inheritance of the vineyard is something of an annoyance to Sunny, whod rather remain in Afghanistan with her coffee shop than return to the US. But the vineyard beckons, and Sunny hands over the coffee shop to the unconventional Halajan, her son Ahmet, and her daughter-in-law Yazmina. But theres reverse culture shock to contend with back in America, and Sunny soon finds herself missing Afghanistan. Despite all that, Sunny does manage to make new friends. Her Japanese American neighbour, Joe, is philosophical, wise, and full of good humour. The punk-like and young and good-natured Sky takes to Sunny immediately. Theres Kat, the mysterious Afghan-American girl, who has a dark and murky past. Then theres Layla, Yazminas younger sister, on a stay in America. Between them and their antics, Sunnys initial displeasure at the vineyard begins to soften. As a character, Sunny is bold, almost brash, and fixed in her ideas. Jacks dream of owning a vineyard was never hers, and she is headstrong, almost unrelenting in her belief that she wants to sell the place and be rid of it as soon as possible. The change of fortunes is, for her, confusing and at times shattering. Back in Afghanistan, things are changing, and not for the better, as the elderly Halajan notes. There was a time in her youth when things were different for women. Now, she worries about terrorist strikes and social oppression, and despite that, has managed to marry for the second time, learn a new skill otherwise forbidden, and keep her cigarette smoking a secret. Yazmina, her daughter-in-law, is a gentle woman who takes pride in her life and the coffee shop. She manages to keep her spirit despite a violent past. Her husband, Ahmet, is something of an idealist and a reformist, holding secret meetings in the coffee shop. The story moves back and forth, sometimes focusing on the present, sometimes drifting into the past, and these transitions are a little overdone, for they appear throughout the book. The characters appear unusually idealistic as well. Sunnys friend Candace, with her contacts and connections, rescues the Afghani characters from the turmoil of the war-torn country. They are indebted, it seems, to Sunny, for creating a coffee shop that helps them live, and to Candace, for pulling the right strings and giving them hope. It seems a little odd that folks in a country which, by Sunnys admission, has thousands of years of culture, cannot fend for themselves without an Americans help in their own country. Nevertheless, the clash of cultures comes across pretty convincingly in the novel, especially where Layla and Kat are concerned. Both are from the same country, and both view their homeland differently. Kat, with her secrets, is trying to forget, and the effort makes her short-tempered and more of a rebel, with her hair dyed black and white. She does not believe in wearing the hijab, or in Laylas devout prayers. Layla, on the other hand, is devout, traditional, and finds it hard to adjust to American ways. She cannot abandon her beliefs because Kat disapproves, but Kat cannot understand why anybody would stick to what she is convinced are regressive ways. As for Sunny, she is caught in the middle, feeling both uprooted from a country she admires, and yet oddly at home in a place she thought shed despise. Each character has his or her own quirks and backstories, and each of them is woven into the events that unfold. Zara, for example, is struggling to avoid a forced marriage she does not want. And Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul does a commendable job of juggling multiple themes within the story. An enjoyable read to be sure. Sixteen years ago, I made the acquaintance of an erudite gentleman named John Jenkin. When I learnt that John (as he asked me to call him) had taught English in Western Kenya for 2 decades, I invited him to the school where I was teaching English. I felt that my class XII students would enjoy an encounter with the genial scholar, and requested John to spare some time to address the girls. Retired and settled in his native Cornwall, John was spending a month in Bengaluru. He said that he would be delighted to meet young people and brought along one of his former students. John told my colleague in the English department and me that he would willingly discuss any subject except Shakespeare! We regretfully replied that Shakespeare was the subject of the day! The Bard was central to the ISC Compulsory English curriculum, and we hoped that John would shed light (we needed illumination no less than our students) on Hamlet. Befitting a discourse on revenge tragedy, John turned the tables on us. Instead of a serious analysis, he made fun of the play. A bad choice, John declared. Teenagers, he felt, ought to read romantic Romeo and Juliet rather than gloomy Hamlet. We politely informed John that we did not select the texts prescribed for study. We also reminded him that Romeo and Juliet ends just as disastrously for the principal characters as Hamlet. Lets talk poetry! suggested John, merrily changing the topic. I remembered that he had 2 published volumes of verse to his credit. They deal with Johns experiences in Wales, where he spent his childhood; in Kenya, where he worked; and in countries that he had visited, including India. John particularly liked our city and recited his humorous Lines Written at Bangalore: Auto-rickshaws scuttle round, Black, crazy beetles, in and out,Rubber squeeze-horns honking honking,Motor-cycles swarm in hundreds,Buzzing round like fiery wasps. Lovely ladies riding solo,In saris bright, with silk scarves streaming. Bikes and rickshaws driving offside,Swerve and jostle, miss the potholes. People crossing missed by inches,All ignoring zebra crossings. Perhaps we should do some grammar to earn your teachers approval, remarked John, with a mischievous glance. What happens when you use the indefinite instead of the definite article? He went on to write a poem on the blackboard... Today is passing out parade. Police cadets are slashing the grass. The gates bedecked with banana fronds, The presidents due as honoured guest. The mess is ready, the tables set. Above the entrance a banner proclaims, Your excellencys welcome to a mess. Barrelling along a straight, smooth motorway flanked by rolling meadows on either side, I catch glimpses of sheep, cows and deer grazing lazily in the idyllic setting. Apple orchards with trees laden with fruits are a visual treat. The nip in the air adds that much-needed fun quotient to my exciting journey. On my way, I stop several times to drink in the beauty of the picturesque surroundings, and to click pictures. Im on my way to Picton, the scenic seaside town in the Marlborough Region of New Zealands South Island. Pretty Picton announces itself with its wide array of street side cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops and stylish art galleries that offer an unimpeded view of the seafront. Im here during Easter holidays, so I see people with their near and dear ones enjoying a leisurely brunch. Sipping on Karma Cola, the organic cola produced in New Zealand, taking measured bites of kingfish, the speciality of the day at Le Cafe, a contemporary continental dining place, I enjoy the ambience of the charming seaside town even as a live band plays in the background. Its almost dreamlike. Its time for me to check in to a cruise thatll take me to the Bay of Many Coves, a luxury resort situated deep in Marlborough Sounds. Poetry in nature The journey by sea is in itself is a memorable experience. As the cruise makes its way tearing the deep blue waters of the sea, marine birds of all hues, shapes and sizes make an appearance. White-fronted tara, variable oystercatcher, shags and gulls of various kinds, Australasian gannet, fluttering shearwater, albatross, and seals, too, happily sunning themselves on the rocks, unmindful of the attention they are garnering. Or, do you think its their way of daring the world? Probably. Peering into a pair of binoculars, I cant stop exclaiming. At this point in time, little do I know that this is just the beginning of many such wow moments. Nestled in the lap of pristine nature, flanked by mountains and the water front, Bay of Many Coves leaves me smitten. The view from each of the rooms, the adventure activities on offer, the calming tranquillity The experience is mesmerising, to say the least. The glow worm experience here is breathtaking, I hear. Unfortunately, the evening is not moist enough for glow worms to put up a show for me. I miss the spectacle. The delectable spread on the dinner table, complemented with classic wines, and the hospitality of the hosts, leaves me floored. I drift into a peaceful slumber. Waking up to the chirping of birds and the rumble of waves, I am all set to embark on my Paua Pearl Farm tour. Cruising through Queen Charlotte Sound, a myriad of waterways and tranquil bays, I reach Whekenui Bay on Arapawa Island. Stepping on the island, I wonder if the experience is for real. Blue waters on one side, green hills on another, a picture-postcardish house at a distance with horses galloping in the background, pear trees laden with ripe fruits along the way, cherubic kids playing hide and seek Am at Arapawa Seafarms, where the unique blue abalone pearls or paua pearls are grown. Way back in 2001, US citizens Mike and Antonia Radon fell in love with the place and decided to make Arapawa Islands their home. Today, their labour of love, the seafarm, relates the story of paua pearls, considered the most lustrous and one of the rarest cultured pearls in the world. The couple, along with their children who are home-schooled, give us a tour of the pearl farm and treat us to some homemade goodies and coffee. My favourite is the pear tart. They also load me with fresh, juicy pears, a paua shell, and lots of good memories as takeaway presents. I love them all. Back at Picton, Im now able to appreciate paua pearl and shell jewellery in the rows of shops lining the pretty port town. After all, each pearl takes 2-3 years to grow, with only 5-10 pearls out of 50 making it to shops nationwide. I quickly pick them up as souvenirs. Expensive, but worth every penny. The excitement never seems to end. I soon find myself kayaking in the crystal-clear waters of Pelorus River, taking in the beauty of the pristine native forest in all its glory. Renowned for river swimming and river rafting, Pelorus River is a quaint riverside location offering a range of adventure activities, including the bush walk to a nearby bat reserve. To add to my sense of wonder, I am told it is exactly the spot where the barrel scene from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, where the dwarves are seen floating in barrels down the river, was shot. Peter Jackson, the director, writer and producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy, loved visiting Pelorus River as a child and didnt think beyond the river when it came to choosing an ideal spot to shoot the famous barrel fight scene. Am sure he wouldnt have found a better spot, even if he had wanted to. The setting is such. I look around, sincerely wishing I could pitch a tent in the forests around and live here, all by myself, savouring the beauty of the place, engaging in silent conversations with nature. The wish seems overwhelmingly worthwhile. FACT FILE Getting there The drive from Nelson to Picton is roughly 90 minutes by road; Pelorus River is about a 50-minute drive from Picton Must-do Water taxi rides that offer a scenic view of the picturesque surroundings, and of sea birds and animals, plus an unforgettable experience Must-buy Jewellery made of paua pearls & shells Maori masks Must-visit Brancott Estate Heritage Centre overlooking the site where the first ever Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc grapes were planted Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre that relates the story of aviation in World War Over 100,000 Islamic scholars and clerics in Bangladesh today issued a fatwa against violent extremism in the light of brutal attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular writers in the Muslim-majority nation. A total of 1,01,524 Islamic clerics including imams signed the fatwa which was published here. The fatwa titled "the edict of peace for wellbeing of humanity" denounces the clandestine attacks on minorities and secular activists. Militants will not get involved in the act of killing people out of the aspiration of reaching to the heaven once they will realise that it is a path of hell, not heaven, Farid Uddin Masoud, Chairman of Bangladesh Jamiyatul Ulama said. "These fanatic militants are not only enemies of Islam and Muslims but also the enemies of humanity," Masoud was quoted as saying by The Daily Star. The fatwa comes in the wake of continued attacks on religious minorities, intellectuals and secular writers in the country. Masoud was leading an 11-member panel of Alems and Ulamas (Islamic clerics) to declare a set of fatwas against militancy in Dhaka. Calling for peace, harmony and tolerance in the country, the Islamic clerics came up with the anti-terror edicts. Masoud, the grand imam of the country's largest Eid congregation at Sholakia in Kishoreganj, is also the convener of fatwa for humanity and peace against terrorism and militancy initiative. "Even if the fatwas fail to stop terrorism completely, it will definitely help in curbing violence," he said. Claiming that a section of criminals are spreading panic in several parts of the country with misinterpretation of the Quran and Hadith, Masoud said law enforcers will not be able to prevent them if the criminals' misperception is not eradicated. The process to launch the fatwa began in January after the attacks on liberal and secular activists and religious minorities including Hindus and Christian by suspected Islamists sparked an international uproar, Masoud said. Bangladesh is 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. Over 11,000 criminal suspects have been arrested this week as part of an intensified crackdown against extremists in the country. Amnesty International India on Saturday said the government decision to cancel Teesta Setalvads NGOs licence was due to her work in seeking justice for the victims of the Gujarat riots. The Centre on Thursday cancelled NGO Sabrang Trusts licence on violation of various FCRA rules, which means it will not be able to collect foreign funds. Seeking revocation of the decision against Teesta Setalvad-led NGO, Amnesty said it was not a coincidence that the most prominent use of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010, has been against NGOs who seek to hold the government accountable for its actions. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) appears to be persecuting Sabrang for its founders work in seeking justice for the 2002 Gujarat riots victims, Amnesty executive director Aakar Patel said in a statement. This pattern of using the FCRA as a pretext to go after NGOs that dont toe the government line needs to stop. The government must end its NGO witch-hunt, Patel said. Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand were among those who had helped a section of victims fight the then Gujarat government then led by Narendra Modi. Anand said the MHA's decision was a mechanical reiteration of the very same allegations made earlier, in total disregard of the detailed and reasoned explanations and arguments put forward by the trust. Last Thursday, three United Nations special rapporteurs urged India to repeal the FCRA, which they claimed was being increasingly used to obstruct civil societys access to foreign funding. A new row has erupted after industrialist Vijay Mallya was seen at a book launch in London, which was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Navtej Sarna. Television cameras spotted Mallya and Sarna in the same hall attending the launch of socialite Suhel Seths new book. Last week, Mallya was declared a proclaimed offender by a Mumbai court in a money laundering case. As the news flashed across television channels and social media, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was quick to distance itself from the event. When the high commissioner spotted Mallya in the audience, he left the stage and venue. Mallya was certainly not an invitee to the reception at the high commission, said MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup. Aiming to promote public transport, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways plans to extend concession to passenger buses on toll-gate fees across the country. The ministry has submitted a proposal to the Cabinet seeking its approval granting concession to passenger buses. As the proposal involves financial implications, the Finance Ministry is studying it, a senior official in the Road Transport Ministry told DH. If the government extends the rebate to passenger buses, bus fares are also expected to come down, said the official. At present, certain types of vehicles such as those belonging to VVIPs and police, and ambulances are exempted from paying the toll. The ministry has also sought an annual grant of Rs 2,500 crore to strengthen the public transport system. The newly inducted ministers will take their oath at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday at 4 pm. Governor Vajubhai Vala will administer the oath of office and secrecy. Earlier in the day, sources said, the governor would issue a notification on the ministers to be dropped and those being inducted. The Congress high command, in its rejig in the Karnataka council of ministers, has largely adopted some tried and tested principles. It hasnt risked any major experimentation. Though Siddaramaiah had hinted on incorporating representation from varied communities in his Cabinet, the party has done a balancing act by replacing leaders based on the communities they represent. On his return from Delhi after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah was closeted with Bengaluru Development Minister K J George and other leaders at the latters residence in the city. During the meeting, names of the probables kept changing, while dissident voices were heard from Minister Srinivas Prasad, supporters of Minister M H Ambareesh and aspirant Maalaka Reddy (Yadgir MLA). This is Siddaramaiahs first major reshuffle after two expansions. Last October, three new ministers had been inducted into the ministry. Of them, Manohar Tahasildar, who held the excise portfolio, is learnt to have been dropped. Tahasildar belongs to the Balija community and the party is likely to replace him with another Balija, MLC M R Seetharam, who is also the vice chairman of M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology. Kalghatgi MLA Santosh Lad, who had been dropped from the ministry on corruption charges, is said to be re-inducted into the Cabinet. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who failed to impress upon the party leadership to retain ministers Qamarul Islam and Baburao Chinchansur, however, was successful in getting his son Priyank Kharge to be considered for a ministership, sources said. Kharge, if inducted, will be one of the youngest in the Cabinet. He is 36 years old, and a first-time MLA. Like him, another young MLA, who is being considered for a Cabinet berth, is Udupi MLA Pramod Madhwaraj. Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa and Srinivaspur MLA K R Ramesh Kumar who have been openly criticising Siddaramaiahs functioning, too, might find a place in the Cabinet. Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga strongman, might be given dual responsibility. He is tipped to become the next KPCC chief in the state. He is said to be continued as Energy Minister for the next 6 months to 1 year, before he takes over the party affairs. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, who might be dropped, is likely to handle the party affairs as KPCC working president or AICC general secretary. There is no end to the impasse over government seats and fees in private medical colleges as a meeting scheduled for Saturday was postponed to Monday. Private colleges and the medical education department were supposed to meet on Saturday. However, owing to the absence of a high-ranking official, the meeting was postponed to Monday. An earlier meeting scheduled for Friday was postponed as Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil was not in town. M R Jayaram, secretary, Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation, which has 12 colleges under it, said: We were to meet today and the government was to decide on our offer. The meeting didnt happen as the minister insisted that the official should be there, he said. Private medical colleges have sought 30% hike in the fees. This is in addition to the 10% already agreed upon by the government as part of a consensual agreement. In lieu of the 40% seats the colleges have agreed to give the government. As many as 700 seats from these private medical colleges will come into the CET pool once both parties agree. Patil explained: Private colleges have asked for Rs 5.75 lakh for COMEDK MBBS seats and Rs 75,000 for CET MBBS seats. We will decide on the matter on Monday. The present fees are Rs 4.25 lakh for a COMEDK MBBS seat and 55,000 for a CET MBBS seat. The hike in BDS seats will also be along these lines. Minority medical seats Patil highlighted that while minority colleges have asked for time till June 25 to come to a decision, they are expected to comply with a fee hike similar to that of private medical colleges. Shafi Ahmed, speaking for minority colleges, had told Deccan Herald earlier that he would like the government to enhance fees to the tune of Rs 15 lakh to 20 lakh a year. Deemed universities are supposed to reply to the department by June 22. Even before the Congress leadership could finalise the council of ministers, dissent voices were heard from those rumoured to have been dropped. Some of them have even threatened to resign from the party if they are not made minister. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar was among the first to remark on the reshuffle. He put up a Facebook post late on Friday night, hinting at his exit. He thanked his supporters and well-wishers and said he never lobbied for a position and chose not to do so this time as well. Ratnakar said his rivals called him a white-collar politician while many considered him arrogant. He said he fulfilled his ministerial responsibilities efficiently, and signed off by saying that his responsibilities lay with the electorate, and that he was not power-hungry. Revenue Minister V Srinivas Prasad, however, openly expressed his discontent. He attacked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who, he said, failed to review ministers performance. Prasad told reporters in Mysuru, The chief minister failed to review the performance of ministers properly. He has not taken into account corruption charges and other allegations against some of the ministers. Though reshuffling is the discretion of Siddaramaiah, he should have properly reviewed the performance of all ministers in the past three years, before deciding to drop a few of them. The minister insisted that he neither lobbied for a Cabinet berth nor was against being dropped from the ministry. I am least bothered about the ministerial position. People are well aware of my performance, he said. While Prasad is learnt to have threatened to resign from the party, senior legislator Maalakareddy from Yadgir also is contemplating quitting the Congress. Among the many MLAs who were aspiring for a Cabinet berth, he was the most vocal. There is a lot of pressure from my followers to resign as MLA and from the party. I will go to my constituency and discuss the future course of action with party workers, said Maalakareddy who was lobbying in New Delhi. Maalakareddy, who was earlier a minister, questioned Siddaramaiahs decision-making. What kind of clean administration can one expect from the current dispensation when senior and efficient leaders are not part of it, he said. Loyal workers ignored Another leader and Mayakonda MLA, Shivamurthy Naik, said the Congress had ignored its loyal workers and able administrators. Urging the high command to halt the reshuffle, he said, The leaders should tell why they have not considered me. Kimmane returns govt vehicle, staff Minister for Primary & Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar politely sent back the escort vehicle, staff, government vehicle, and returned to his native Kimmane after learning that he would be dropped from the Cabinet, reports DHNS from Thirthahalli (Shivamogga dist). He arrived in his home constituency Thirthahalli at 11 am and moved to his native Kimmane in a private vehicle. He directed the escort staff to return to Bengaluru. Later, he held discussions with the party leaders and the activists. The escort personnel, however, in the first instance refused to leave the town and said that they would escort him till they get further orders from the government. Kimmane said there was no need for it and thanked them for discharging their duties effectively. He moved to his home in the town. Speaking to reporters, Kimmane said that he has discharged his duties as minister for Primary & Secondary Education for three years to the best of his ability. The two-time MLA said that he is neither capable nor is he interested in retaining the ministerial berth through lobbying. Kimmane said that he does not believe that the position and car would indicate the status of an individual in the society. He said that he had discussed in detail with the chief minister in advance and would abide by the decision taken by the party high command. When questioned on ministerial berth for Sagar MLA Kagodu Thimmappa, he said he would be very glad if the veteran Congress leader is inducted into the ministry. Karnataka Lokayukta sleuths on Saturday raided the offices of 10 advertising agencies in Bengaluru in connection with flooding the city with illegal hoardings and not paying dues to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The agencies are: Prakash Arts Private Limited, Spark Advertising, Outdoor Media Enterprises (Max Media Solutions), Pro-Arts, Popular Advertisers, Poorva Advertising, Rainbow Advertising, Maverick Advertising, Bhavani Advertising and Sujay Advertising. The coordinated raids were carried out by 10 teams comprising 50 Lokayukta officials from Bengaluru urban and rural districts. Many incriminating documents, hard drives and other materials were seized. Sources in the Lokayukta said the officials found entries showing details of payments made to the BBMP officials, total tax evasion and putting up many hoardings using single licence number and the litigation number. A Lokayukta press note said there were many complaints about thousands of illegal hoardings in Bengaluru. In his preliminary investigation report, Lokayukta police inspector Suresh Kumar, too, found connivance between BBMP officials who allowed the advertisers to display hoardings without permission from the competent authorities. The Lokayukta is probing the Rs 2,000 crore advertisement scam based on a report by former BBMP assistant commissioner (advertisement) K Mathai. The government had ordered a CID inquiry but the latter informed the state that Lokayukta probe was better as they had already done the ground work and had powers to file a charge-sheet in court. DH News Service As part of its ambition to win 150 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections in Karnataka, the BJP has decided to intensify its efforts against the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government. The partys spokesperson, S Suresh Kumar, was all guns blazing at the end of a meeting of the executive committee here on Saturday. He blasted the government and said the BJP would not rest until the Congress was ousted from power. The meeting was the first-of-its-kind after former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa took over as president of the BJPs state unit. Every leader in the party will work to oust the Congress from power as this government has failed on all the fronts. Constitutional bodies like the Lokayukta, the KPSC and the human rights commission have been reduced to nothing, he said, criticising the governments move to appoint IAS officer Sham Bhatt as KPSC chairman. Kumar said the NDA government at the Centre had released Rs 2,635 crore for the welfare of drought-affected farmers in Karnataka but the state government spent only 68% of the money. Siddaramaiah failed to avert farmer suicides, he suggested. According to him, the state government borrowed Rs 91,000 crore in just three years, while the law and order had worsened. He said Siddaramaiah had no control over the administration. Kumar criticised the chief ministers media advisor Dinesh Amin Mattu for behaving like a politician. Amin Mattu not only brought disrepute to the position he holds, but has misused the CMs office, he said. BSY seeks White Paper Yeddyurappa described Siddaramaiah as a self-styled leader of backward, minority and dalit communities. The BJP demands White Paper on measures taken by him for the welfare of these communities. Let the people decide whether the BJP initiated more welfare measures for these communities or the Congress, he said, addressing BJP workers at the meeting. The Congress party has failed to appoint the Lokayukta, and Siddaramaiah created the Anti-Corruption Bureau only to protect himself, he said. Union Law Minister and former chief minister Sadananda Gowda warned BJP leaders against repeating the mistakes of the past that led to the partys downfall in the last Assembly elections. He asked them to check the background of leaders from other parties before welcoming them to the BJP. The BJP has a strong base in the state. The background and conduct of any leader entering the party should not affect its image, he said. Cinephiles now have a chance to watch some of the finest and riveting films from Europe. The 21st edition of European Union Film Festival ( EUFF) returns to Bengaluru, after a gap of three years with a feast of 23 award-winning movies. The festival, that will be inaugurated on June 20, will screen movies from varied genres ranging from comedy, drama, romance to action. The programme will kickstart with the screening of French film L'illusionniste, that has won many international awards. Directed by Sylvain Chomet, the animated film revolves around a French illusionist who finds himself out of work and travels to Scotland, where he meets a young woman and the ensuing adventure. Some of the other award winning movies that would be screened are Jack (Germany) , Wild Duck (Greece) , Utoelet (Hungary), Three Brothers (Czech Republic), and StilleHjerte/Silent Heart (Denmark). The films are between one to two-and-a-half hours long. Movie lovers can head to Alliance Francaise de Bangalore ( AFB), Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan and British Council from June 20 to July 2 to watch the movies. These institutes have partnered with the Delegation of the European Union and embassies of EU Member States to organise the festival. The second screening of all movies (except 'Coriolanus') will be held at Suchitra Film Society from June 22 -July 2. Movies to be screened twice Given the increasing interest and demand for the festival, this time around, the movies will be screened twice. EUFF aims to showcase diversity through the wonderful selection of films from each of the countries of the EU, said Vice Consul General of France in India, Remi Rouillon. The festival is currently running at Delhi, Chennai and Chandigarh and will traverse through Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Pune, and Jodhpur over the next eight weeks. For more details and schedule, one can visit http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/india/more_info/euff_2016_en.htm Eminent lawyers deliberated upon the various aspects of Real Estate Regulatory Authority Act (RERA) a law aimed at protecting the interests of prospective property buyers at a Namma HakkuCitizens' Rights series workshop on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, former Karnataka High Court judge, Justice A V Chandrashekara said the preamble of the Act makes it clear that it is meant for the regulation and promotion of the real estate sector. He asked the people to read the preamble in detail to understand what the law is all about. Senior lawyer Sajan Poovayya said, It is for the civil society to ensure that they put pressure on the state government to ensure that a person of impeccable repute becomes the regulator. Citizen activist Prof Rajagopalan said when the projects get delayed and the property buyers pick a fight with the builders, it is the buyers who face the heat. More often than not, the buyers get harassed by the builders, who file false cases against them. The challenge is not promulgating the law but its implementation. One must ensure that the spirit of law must be protected, said Rajagopalan. Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar spoke about the obligations of the developers and urged citizens to come forward to exercise their rights using RERA. The event was organised by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF), which said more such citizen oriented programmes will be organised under its Namma Hakku series. The Mahadevapura police arrested a 21-year-old unemployed man for kidnapping a girl and demanding a ransom of Rs 2 crore. According to police, the accused has been identified as Rahul, an aspiring actor and a resident of Ittamadu. He had taken Maya, 18 (name changed), daughter of a businessman, to Ooty in Tamil Nadu and confined her in a room for about six hours. He later took her to Ramanagaram, where he locked her up in a room. He also snatched $4,000 from her and demanded more, threatening to post intimate photographs of her with him on social networking sites if she failed to cough up the money. A few months ago, Rahul and Maya, a PUC student, met through Facebook. After texting each other and talking on the mobile for some time, they fell in love and entered into a relationship, the police said. Rahul learnt that Maya was from a rich family and her father was a successful businessman. He was emotionally blackmailing her by threatening not to marry her if she failed to bring money. Maya, who feared her parents, did not discuss the issue with anyone. She was also worried about Rahul threatening to post a few intimate photographs of her he had clicked. At the same time, she did not want to stay away from Rahul and listened to whatever he said, added the police. On June 15, they both decided to go to Ooty and met at Phoenix Market City mall in Mahadevapura. When they reached Ooty, she was locked up in a room for six hours. Rahul took away $4,000, which he had asked her to get it from her house. He made a ransom call to Maya's father and demanded Rs 2 crore. He later took her to Ramanagaram and again locked her up in a hotel room, police said. Mayas parents contacted her friends and found that she had gone to Phoenix Market City and filed a kidnap case with the Mahadevapura police. The police checked with Maya's friend and found out about Rahul. They started tracking both their mobile phone calls, which pointed to Ramanagaram. In the early hours of June 16, police reached Ramanagaram and arrested Rahul and rescued the victim, said a senior police officer. A case has been registered in Mahadevapura police station and investigation is on. Namma Metros north Bengaluru commuters who had hoped to ride the Green Line seamlessly from Nagasandra to Majestic in a couple of months, may have to wait till November. Even as tunnel boring machine (TBM) Margarita broke through last November followed by Godavari TBM this April, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd has not been able to connect the northern corridor of Namma Metro to the citys centre. On an average, about 40,000 commuters use the Nagasandra-Sampige Road Metro line every day. Commuters depend on BMTC feeder buses to reach Majestic Metro station as work on the underground stretch is still under progress. When asked about the status of work on the crucial 800-metre stretch between Sampige Road to Majestic Metro station, a BMRCL source said the corporation is preparing to lay tracks in one of the tunnels (Margarita) while the dismantling the Godavari TBM in the other tunnel is almost over. BMRCL needs about three months to lay tracks till the Majestic Metro station from the northern side, he said. Even if BMRCL completes the work on this stretch anytime in three months, another BMRCL official noted that the corporation cannot start work on systems and signalling on this small stretch till the track work on the southern side (KR Market to Majestic) is over. At present, BMRCL is dismantling the giant Kaveri TBM (southern side), which is expected to take two months. The corporation will be able to take up signalling work on the entire underground stretch only after completing the track laying work, he said, without guessing the timeline for the work. Earlier, the Kaveri TBM had made a breakthrough at the Majestic metro station in the second week of June, after boring through a mix of hard rock and soil beneath densely populated areas from KR Market. On the other hand, Krishna TBM is boring through another tunnel, which is expected to breakthrough in two months. Meanwhile, it is almost certain that the corporation will not be able to meet the proposed deadline (November 1) as Krishna TBM is unable to keep pace of the target, the official noted. Sources also said commercial operations on the entire North-South Corridor connecting Puttenahalli in the south to Nagasandra in north Bengaluru via Majestic might begin from November by using a single line since the completion of another tunnel would be delayed beyond November. It takes only a few spells of rain to expose the city's poor civic infrastructure. A few important junctions and low-lying areas are especially prone to frequent inundation, clogged roads and drains among others. Traders on Avenue Road take additional precautions during downpours as the lane turns into a dirty cesspool with sewage water oozing out of damaged manholes and shoulder drains. When it rained last on June 4, as many as 15 to 20 shops were inundated. Commercial activities came to a standstill for hours as the road turned virtually inaccessible by customers. A V Krishnamurthy, a senior citizen who runs Kusum General Stores on the busy Avenue Road complains that waterlogging has become a recurring problem here. He attributed the problem to non-clearance of silt from the shoulder drains and negligent attitude of the BBMP. Traders are unanimous in their grouse that the drainage in this area is very old and has not been upgraded for more than 20 years. The problem of waterlogging is city-wide. For instance, at the Doddanekkundi underpass, flooding during rains gives nightmares to the motorists and residents alike. Every time there is a downpour, the rainwater stands at three feet. This slows down vehicular movement, triggering unbearable traffic chaos. According to Clement C Jayakumar, a member of Whitefield Rising (WR), the frequency of waterlogging has increased manifold at the underpass in recent years. He explains that there is no stormwater drain (SWD) along the neighbouring Alpine Eco Road and hence, rainwater gets accumulated at the underpass. Besides, says Jayakumar, the sand and debris on Outer Ring Road ( ORR) at Doddanekkundi have not been cleaned from March this year due to ownership issues between the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the BBMP. During rains, debris get washed away into the drains, triggering floods on roads in the vicinity. Similar issues plague the underpass in KR Puram that leads to Hoodi side. The Palike control room staff informs that they receive plenty of complaints of choking from this underpass. A traffic police inspector attached to the KR Puram station explains that the drains connected to the underpass are filled with muck. Since it is not cleared well before the rains, the underpass tends to get waterlogged easily. However, some desilting action is now underway. But whether it will withstand a heavier downpour is another question. Is stop-gap desilting the only way to free the citys roads of perennial waterlogging every time it rains? As long-term solutions such as a comprehensive redesign of the stormwater drains take the backseat, the desilting contractors thrive. Trapped in peak-hour city centre traffic, Jayanth Rao dreaded that impending drive back home. The drizzle had quickly morphed into a downpour, engulfing the roads ahead in vast sheets of water. Rao knew the water, already knee-deep, wouldnt drain out in a hurry. As dusk dawned on Bengaluru, and the streetlights went dark in the rains, the dreaded nightmare unfurled its fury. The big showers are just round the corner. But the recent rains have already exposed the citys acute inability to quickly drain out the water from its roads and low-lying areas aplenty. As motorists struggled to negotiate the water-logged streets, the civic agencies fumbled for excuses. Out they came with their standard statements: Desilting of stormwater drains, under way. Desilting, a scam Stop-gap desilting is a scam, assert people well-informed about the contract system in the BBMP. Before every monsoon, a crisis situation is created to aid the desilting contractors. Big money is hijacked, reveals an insider preferring anonymity. That explains why the civic agencies are publicly perceived as totally unprepared to deal with the rains. The contracts are then dished out in haste. How long should Bengalureans endure this stop-gap crisis management? Are there no long-term solutions at all? Indeed they are. But the one obvious option -- Remodelling and developing the entire 842 km of stormwater drains-- has never been a priority. Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs recent statement on the citys drainage system is indicative of the pathetic state: Only 115 of the 842 km have been desilted and restored with concrete retaining walls. The Palike is now working on an additional 25 km at a cost of Rs 200 crore. Restoring the entire network would require over Rs 4,000 crore at Rs 7 crore a kilometre. Drain remodelling But the remodelling of the drains has been in the pipeline for 11 long years. STUP Consultants Private Limited had completed a survey of the drains way back in August 2005. The entire project to remodel drains along the four major valleys of Koramangala, Challaghatta, Vrishabhavathi and Hebbal was to be completed in the next 18 months. It is clear that the delay has substantially escalated the costs. Besides, massive encroachments of the buffer on either side of the drains and unregulated inflow of raw sewage into the SWDs have played havoc with the entire network. The natural flow of stormwater from road-side shoulder drains to secondary and tertiary drains is now severely hampered. Result: Roads flood in a flash! Bengalurus very apparent lack of rain preparedness raises a critical question: Can it handle a flood like what Chennai experienced last year? Analysing the citys rainfall data over several years, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre is not convinced. The rainwater runoff (water that drains away) has doubled over the years. That has raised the flooding risk. Flood vulnerability One analysis by the Centre shows that 20 mm rainfall for an hour could trigger flooding in many parts of Bengaluru. The capacity of SWDs is quickly saturated during rains as their Maximum Water Level (MWL) gets breached. As former BWSSB Chief Engineer Thippeswamy informs, once the water flows over the MWL, it gets onto the roads and low-lying residential areas. Houses should be built above the MWL. But that requires proper planning, he points out. Roads could be redesigned in such a way that the stormwater actually recharges the groundwater where the rain falls instead of flooding the area. An urban infrastructure expert contends that this will boost groundwater level in the city centre particularly, since the built-up area is more. To ensure this, a road by road assessment of the SWDs is necessary, notes the expert, V Ravichandar. Cylinderical SWDs In the citys central business district, roads being upgraded under TenderSURE have cylindrical underground SWDs. Explains Ravichandar: These drains of 600mm diameter have chambers at every 30 metre. Through these chambers, stormwater enters. Since the drains are round, there is less friction and can carry silt to a great distance. Traditional drains have flat surface, which needs regular desilting. The TenderSURE roads are designed to drain out the storm water within 20-25 minutes. However, in traditional roads without the required sloping, water collects in cavities in the poorly laid asphalt. These quickly become potholes, endangering motorist lives. This cycle repeats year after year. Concerned citizens of this city now seek a decisive shift in policy, a move away from stop-gap drainage solutions that aid only contractors to a more robust system. I Didnt Sleep A Single Minute For Those Two Days: Ekta On Udta Punjab Leak GOP candidate for Franklin County auditor says Twitter account hacked Jarrod Golden, GOP candidate for Franklin County auditor deleted his Twitter account linked to his campaign, saying it had been hacked. Halloween creatures owls, crows and bats all live at Crossroads, and that makes us very happy, for these scary animals make a positive contribution to the habitats of the preserve. We don't even mind black cats, IF they are kept indoors. Feral and outdoor cats are exceedingly harmful to wildlife ... and that's not a superstition! But to tamp down superstitions, we at Crossroads will spend the week demystifying Halloween creatures. On October 28, 2022, at 6 p.m. will be our Evening with Owls. The Open Door Bird Sanctuary will be at Crossroads, offering a one-hour presentation followed by the opportunity to meet and greet live birds. Learn all about owls and the other incredible birds in the care of the Sanctuary! Down through the centuries, in many cultures throughout the world, owls have been associated with evil and death. Truth is, owls probably are not smart enough to be evil. But researchers agree that owls are about as dim as the nighttime forests in which they hunt. Owls don't need to be smart. They have everything else going for them. They are muscular. They fly silently. Their huge eyes enable them to see in the dark. Their beaks and talons are strong and wickedly sharp. But their sensitive ears are what make owls extraordinary hunters. Most people assume that the plumicorns (a.k.a. "horns) of an owl are its ears. Not so. The actual ears lie under feathers on the sides of the head, and they aren't symmetrical. Because one ear is higher than the other and the ears are unequal in size, sound is different from different directions, helping owls locate prey, which they do almost unfailingly, even in total darkness. Owls do not smell their prey. As with most birds, the sense of smell is insignificant, if it exists are all. Great Horned Owls frequently prey on skunks. Enough said. But well-developed intelligence? Researchers have observed owls beating their wings on bushes to try to flush out little birds. Is this learned behavior? Is it problem-solving? Maybe. For the most part, owls do not have a lot of problems to solve. They appropriate abandoned nests of other birds, so they don't need building skills. They are stealthy by nature, and they pounce on and usually catch anything they hear, so they don't need hunting techniques. In spite of ghost stories, legends of American First People, and superstitions from Europe and India, hooting owls do not foretell impending death, although their nocturnal calls are spooky. We hear them now and then this time of year, but we will regularly hear those eerie calls at Crossroads in January or February. In contrast to owls, crows are noisy all year round and they are amazingly intelligent. They can learn. They can remember. They can solve problems. They can even identify individual humans. And they detest owls, though whether this is innate or learned behavior is not clear. Those curious about crows will want to attend the Crossroads Book Club on Wednesday, October 26, at 10:00 a.m. This month, the book Crow Planet, Essential Wisdom for the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt will explore the fascinating world of these remarkable birds. The program is free and open to all, whether or not they have read the book. So bring the family to our program on owls, learn about crows at the Crossroads Book Club, or learn about bats at our pre-school Junior Nature Club on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. or our Family Science Saturday program at 2:00 p.m. Costumes are encouraged but not required at Junior Nature Club and Science Saturday, and adult visitors are welcome. 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. Medicaid expansion and the ending of discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions are the greatest victories for working Americans in generations Rejoice, fellow Americans who dont enjoying seeing your fellow Americans die of indifference! More than 200,000 Louisianians will have health insurance on July 1 because the state elected a Democratic governor last year. And this could just be the beginning of the good news for Medicaid expansion, the aspect of Obamacare that most directly takes on income inequality by taxing the well-off a bit to get the working poor basic health coverage. If it becomes obvious the Affordable Care Act wont be repealed, a number of states will opt into the expansion fairly quickly, Louisianas new governor John Edwards told Modern Healthcare. The case to conservatives will be simple in 2017 its the same case that persuaded Republicans in Michigan not to make the insane decision to turn down free coverage for some of the states hardest working families. Edwards said he and his team overcame the resistance of the states Republican-controlled Legislature by stressing that the Medicaid expansion was funded by dollars Louisiana already was paying and that were going to other states. Continuing to expand Medicaid especially in the three states with some of the highest uninsured rates who are paying for coverage and refusing to expand it, Texas, Florida and Georgia is the most obvious way to cover millions in the next year. Because it doesnt need Congress to act to make it happen. We need to do much more, but its a start. A rational nation would look at the chart below, which shows the uninsured rate sinking to the lowest numbers ever recorded, and ask, How do we insure that last 10-11 percent, knowing that every country in the first world insures all their citizens and does it much more cheaply than we do? This election should be about the best ways expand coverage. But its not. Obamacares success like the success of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is undeniable. So conservatives must deny it and destroy it. Next week, House Republicans will propose the broad outline of an Obamacare replacement so vague it cant be scored so we wont know how many people would lose coverage under it. But you can be certain that millions possibly tens of millions of the 24 million whove gained coverage will lose it. Some of the big conservative ideas you can expect to see in the plan according to The Huffington Posts Jonathan Cohn and Jeffrey Young are: Make the sick pay more Make Medicaid better by shrinking it Turn Medicare into a voucher program Smaller subsidies for fewer people Coverage for (some) people with pre-existing conditions The last one is the most offensive. The greatest achievement of Obamacare is that it ended discrimination against ALL people with pre-existing conditions. It did it in a wonky way that used conservative ideas and we would be better off with single payer. But it did it in the way that was possible. Most importantly, it did it. Punishing people for people for having ever been sick is punishing them for being human. Encouraging people to avoid getting help by promising them that any diagnosis will haunt them for the rest of their lives is just wrong. And its ultimately a stupid thing to do knowing that anyone who gets old or sick enough ends up needing government assistance anyway. This is election isnt about which way we move forward. Its about whether we should pull the emergency brake in the fast lane and let our poorest sickest people clean up the wreckage. Yes, this election is mostly about whether a petty tyrant with the morals of a rotting peach gets the nuclear codes. But this is just another small way this election is the most important of our lifetime. [CC photo by Will ONeill | Flickr] Facebook on Sunday activated its Safety Check feature for the first time in the United States, in the aftermath of the mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida, night club that left 49 people dead and scores more wounded. Last years terrorist attacks in Paris marked the first time Facebook activated the feature for a crisis other than a natural disaster. Safety Check lets users notify loved ones and friends that theyre safe. Users can check on people thought to be in the affected area, and mark friends and loved ones as safe when they receive confirmation. Facebook earlier this month announced that it had tweaked Safety Check to streamline deployment anywhere. Many people practically live on Facebook, so this feature is a convenient way for people to notify others of their status, said Mike Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan. Rather than having to call many people discretely, this allows anyone on your Facebook network to obtain your status, he told TechNewsWorld. How It Works Were excited to continue working on Facebooks role in crisis response over the coming year, as well as to test new ways for the community to initiate and spread Safety Check in the coming weeks, Facebooks Peter Cottle wrote on June 2 little knowing that the upgraded system would be needed just 10 days later. Heres how it works: When a crisis erupts, Facebook runs a small piece of code, or hook, that executes after every News Feed load. When someone in the affected area loads their News Feed, Facebook invites that person to mark himself or herself safe with a feed prompt and a notification. It then searches for that persons friends in the area. Each friend gets a push notification inviting participation in Safety Check, and Facebook then searches that persons friends to see who might be in the affected area. It takes Facebook a few minutes to go through about 100,000 people, and 10-15 minutes to go through millions of people at full capacity. Facebook has created a proactive testing system that performs shadow launches every 12 hours for a variety of geographic areas, sending out notifications to a database rather than to members. The number of people found is compared against historical expected bounds, and the results are reported. Facebook has built an internal tool that enables trained teams across time zones to activate Safety Check any time of day for any event anywhere, without needing an engineer to do so. An internal bot built for Messenger continuously monitors new launches and provides on-demand data reports. Whats Good About Safety Check Police tend to get inundated during [emergencies], and they have very little information until well after the event is over, observed Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. This is more real time and lets people communicate en masse, he told TechNewsWorld. Facebooks massive user base could make Safety Check a valuable resource for people trying to establish the whereabouts and condition of loved ones, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. Safety Checks effectiveness depends on how and how well users utilize it, he told TechNewsWorld. If they dont buy in, Safety Check will be, at best only partially successful. If users leave geolocation off, that could be a problem. You could always enable geolocation after the fact, but most people will have their hands too full coping in a disaster to fiddle with their smartphones, King noted. Safety Check will probably get a big spike initially. Then, as time goes on three or six months or a year later people will get complacent, suggested Laura DiDio, a research director at Strategy Analytics. Issues With Safety Check One potential Safety Check problem is the possibility that it might send out a false alarm. Facebook earlier this year apologized for mistakenly sending notifications to the wrong people following a suicide bombing in Pakistan. Some users in New York and Virginia got text messages on their mobile phones asking if they were affected by the explosion with no mention of where it had taken place. Safety Check is a good thing but its not foolproof, DiDio told TechNewsWorld. Still, its better than nothing. 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That was when 18 year old Annabelle Smith, daughter of an Eielson Airman and a Girl Scout for 13 years, decided to take on a renovation project as a part of a Gold Award project, one of the highest awards in Times' Game of the Week Preview: Central Valley at Aliquippa Central Valley and Aliquippa are set to face off in arguably the biggest game of the year in the WPIAL. Check out the Times' Game of the Week preview. Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London. 13:33, 25 OCT 2022 A revolution is underway in the Muslim community with regard to girls' education. A larger number of Muslim girls is now enrolled in schools, than boys. However, education in Urdu medium, which is weakly linked with the state and market, signifi cantly affects aspirations among the girls. A substantial proportion of students from this community is found with "not clear or no aspirations." This may further compromise the socio-economic prospect of the community which is already at the margins. Of late, the educational level and enrolment of Muslim girls have shown a consistent rise in Maharashtra. With time, Muslim girls aspire to establish their rightful place in the society and the community. Currently, 95% of students enrolled in the Urdu medium schools in Maharashtra are Muslims. Among them, girls constitute a significantly large proportion at each level of enrolments. However, due to various reasons, as the Urdu medium schools have a relatively poor quality of education, Muslim girls larger educational mobility and career prospects are affected badly. The predicament and politics of language, specifically of Urdu in India, and its impact on Muslim education, specifically on girls education, and their career prospects, have been enormous. Urdu as a language is of secular origin. Unfortunately, a large section of the Muslim clergy and intellectuals have emphasised it as if it belongs only to Islam and Muslims. Also, a large section of Muslims send their children to Urdu schools as they consider that studying it is the only way to understand Islam and Muslim culture. Why does data about increasing rural consumption shock us? Urban imagination sees the rural as a static, timeless domain where people are bare-minimalists lacking in ambition, agency or entrepreneurship. However, even if agriculture is declining, the rural isnt. The rural is getting reconstituted amidst this confusion with ambivalent trends. Last years monsoon made a hasty exit, after an erratic and merely ritualistic annual appearance. Instead it has rained suicides in the countryside, signifying the acuteness of the crisis that has set on rural India. It is therefore understandable why almost all mainstream political parties are championing the cause of the rural during election rallies, even if it is in a slightly warped manner. One of the most telling and ubiquitous images in these rallies of late, has been the offering of a miniature wooden plough by the so called kisaan netas to their political bosses. It is true that a large number of farmers in India still lead a marginal existence, yet one would like to argue that this symbolic appearance of the wooden plough in our largely metropolitan imagination, is at best a continuation of our romanticisation, and at worst our ignorance of the world of rural. When we think of small farmers, do we think of them ploughing with leased or rented tractors? If not, then we better get real with the rural. A recent study on farm mechanisation, done at the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, reveals that the share of human power available for carrying out varied farm operations has shrunk to a mere 5%. Four decades ago, in 1971-72, 60% of the power was provided by humans and animals: 15% by farm labourers and 45% by animals. In 1991-92, this collective share had dropped to 26% (labour accounted for 9%). Tractors have made the biggest stride, from a mere 7% to 47%. It is not without reason that many recent images depicting rural India show men and women replacing bullocks under the yoke of the plough. While on the one hand it shows the utter distress of rural economic structure, on the other, it indicates the implausibility of keeping, maintaining and feeding of bullocks in a changed agrarian landscape. With shrinking common grazing land and short supply of family farm labor, the idea of plough as an integral component of agrarian tool kit is on the wane. Instead mechanisation has taken over, even among smaller and marginal farmers. When, for instance, National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) data for the year 2011-12 was released a few years back, the growth rate of rural consumption which had outstripped the urban, stunned a lot of observers. In 2011-12, the total rural consumption was Rs. 12.9 lakh crore against the urban figure of Rs. 10.45 lakh crore. Between 2009-10 and 2011-2012, the urban consumption grew at 17 percent while the corresponding figure was 19 percent for the rural. The shock value of this revelation, to a great extent, stems from the manner in which the rural has been produced, projected and perceived in the dominant discourse, whether academic or otherwise. The image of rural as the quintessential inferior other of the urban is a by-product of the grand thesis of modernisation and its accompanying network of folklores and metanarratives. Rural became regressive, traditional, backward and unmodern. In contrast urban was seen as progressive, modern and developed. While rural always pushed, the urban only pulled. The rural produced for its subsistence, the urban consumed for its gratification. The world was about binaries. At another level, the rural was romanticised as moral, pure and pristine. It was seen as harmonious and idyllic. Marx, Gandhi and others, including of course, most colonial anthropologists fell prey to the enchanting lure of a utopian construction of the Indian village as, what Charles Metcalfe called, little republics. Clearly, rural was seen as static and unchanging. People from rural areas were seen as bare-minimalists who lacked ambition, agency or entrepreneurship. It is precisely because of this indelible image of a villager as anything but a consumer that the NSSO data on consumption rate was received with such bewilderment. Consumption, after all, has been an integral element of the world of profanity in our discourses. The factual background of the countryside however, tells a different story. The steep decline in the agrarian sector and the general disenchantment with the profession of farming over the years, even in the green revolution belts, has been a matter of grave concern, given that a population as huge as three fourth of a billion live in rural areas. For example a 2007 report titled Status of Farmers who Left Farming in Punjab, compiled by Punjab State Farmers Commission in collaboration with the Punjab Agriculture University concludes that every ninth farmer in the state has quit agriculture over the last 25 years. According to 2001 census reports from Punjab, nearly 2 lakh marginal and small farmers left the occupation between 1991 and 2001. Reports with similar conclusions have come from other pockets of India. This decline in agriculture coupled with sustained growth in urban economy because of the service sector, and combined with the boom in real estate, facilitated and hastened the exodus of landless and marginal farmers to these urban pockets. The erstwhile agriculture laborers, laced with mobile phones and a new found identity-consciousness, preferred the anonymity and caste neutral spaces that cities provided them with. The soil of the village smelled of caste and its wretched history to the young generation of the subalterns in the villages. Agriculture was the worst hit. On many occasions, there was money, there was technology, there were landlords but there were no hands around to till the land. This general disenchantment, however, made rural people look urban-ward as never before. Importantly, it did not necessarily always mean uprooting from the village. Thanks to much improved rural infrastructure and use of motorised vehicles, people went for petty jobs in the morning to nearby towns and came back when the cows returned homes. The data on increasing trend of Rural Non-Farm Employment (RNFE) and the decline of agriculture sector bear testimony to this. Contrary to the trend in the 1980s when the agriculture sector used to contribute about two-third of the rural Net Domestic Product (NDP), studies of 2009-10 show that it is the non-farm sector that contributes about two-third of the rural NDP (Papola 2013). The migrants, predominantly male, send cash from the city and the women in villages dot the farms leading to what is referred to as feminisation of agriculture. According to a 2010-11 Crisil research based on the data drawn from NSSO, about 70 percent of the total income of the labor force in the urban sector, mostly migrant from rural areas, is remitted to their homes in villages (Times of India 2012). The developmental emphasis of governments on rural infrastructure like roads, education and other communication networks made it possible, for instance, for a barber in a village to start a roadside salon in a nearby city rather than be a part of the exploitative jajmani system and its largely non-monetised world. It is not that the Horis of today, to invoke the central character from Premchands Godan, have started buying Mercedes Benzs. Instead the demand for consumer goods such as televisions, two-wheelers, mixer-grinders, fans and mobiles in the countryside have grown multifold. The difference this time perhaps is that the largely cash strapped segment now has got some cash, to not just indulge in some luxury but also to demonstrate it. The sheer volume of this category of consumers is what makes the rural market the darling of the corporate sector today. Of course, the traditionally rich strata are not far behind. The lethal charm of consumerism is secular as it does not discriminate. With old agrarian sign posts of conspicuous consumption, including sturdy pairs of bullocks in front of havelis, fading fast, the old jeeps of the zamindars have given way to sleeker and bigger Taveras and Innovas. In a field visit with my students of MPhil in Development Practice to one of the poorest pockets of the Gondi tribal region in Hosangabad district of Madhya Pradesh last year, it was a moment of some serious reality check for us to find ubiquitous television dish antennae atop the thatched houses amidst signs of poverty all around, including dilapidated traditional wooden wheels and ploughs. In short, to understand the rural we need to look beyond the binaries and signposts. Our refusal to face facts amidst the soporific haze of rural utopia has made us look idiotic when faced with the realities of the rural, which is clearly not just about wooden ploughs anymore. Rural today is far more complex and dynamic and we perhaps need to invent newer conceptual tools to grasp this diversity and maltilayerity. Rural at the moment is in a flux, carrying bagful of contradictory signs, of patches of prosperity and extreme impoverishment, of promises of pesticides and suicides, of glittering dish antennae and broken wheels of bullock carts, of rack filled of soft drinks at local kirana shops and drying sources of natural drinking water. Agriculture is declining but not necessarily the rural; the rural is getting reconstituted amidst this confusion with utterly ambivalent trends. The younger generation of Indians today refer to the idea of a village as something which has to do with their grandfathersthe place where my grandfathers stayedwould be a standard response of a student in Delhi when asked about their rural links, even if they are originally from Uttarakhand, Jharkhand or even Punjab. And this is a worry, for they oversee that the rural also means their own survival, our survival. Hyping of the urban is a mirage, a dream world, that in fact needs a robust rural for its sustenance. So if you want a smart city, first invest in a smart rural. But before all this, we have to own the rural as our own, and not just as a place where my forefathers lived. References: Papola, T.S. (2013): Employment, Growth During the Post-Reform Period, Indian Journal of Labor Economics, Vol 56, No 1, pp 1-14. Times of India (2012): Rural Consumption Outpaces that in Cities, 30 August, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Rural-consumption-outpaces-that-in-cities/articleshow/15962293.cms.Rural consumption outpaces that in cities Rural consumption outpaces that in cities Rural consumption outpaces that in cities DanielaV said: Yes, we have EU passports, originally from Bulgaria. Any advice would be helpful Click to expand... In that case you're spared the admin hurdles to get here.Your biggest challenge as I see it will be to find a job, given that France has high unemployment, and not speaking the language, not having French qualifications (I assume you don't) and not having any contacts will put you at a disadvantage against the native jobseekers.Not only is finding somewhere to live a lot easier if you have a job, but you also need to look into the healthcare question. Normally you pay into the French social security system via your earned income, and this automatically entitles you to healthcare along with other benefits. If you have no earned income then you can join the healthcare system if you have sufficient unearned income, ie pensions, investments, property rental income. If you can't provide proof of any kind of income, you may not be accepted into the state system, and you would therefore be obliged to take out full private health insurance. Which for the three of you, could make a very large hole in your savings that you are hoping will last for a year if necessary.Quite honestly, if you need jobs in order to survive long term I would not invest everything in moving to France on the assumption that you will find work. By all means come and give it a go, but don't burn your bridges. Living here long term with no job and no income is firstly not a legal option (the EU is all about freedom of movement for workers, but if you have no job you're not a worker so you have certain criteria you must meet), secondly it leaves you with the healthcare problem, and thirdly it will leave you with a gap in your pension entitlement if it lasts for too long. And fourthly of course, you will eventually run out of money and then what, because if you've never worked in France the state has no obligation towards you.Get job hunting Hello everyone. First, i would like to thank you for your time reading my post. To begin with, i am a European citizen from Greece, and i am planning to move to Germany asap. I will book my tickets this week. I would like to ask everyone that is in the place to help me, which cities of Germany are the ideal to look for a job kind of easier. I could do any job, literally any job such as wash dishes or become a waiter. Last but not least i am 23 with an IT diploma, my german are B2 level with a Goethe- diploma, and if that works i speak english and spanish good enough (with a diploma in each language as well) Thank you again for your time, and please forgive me for my English. PS any advice could help, or you can just send me a private message. Mit freundlichen Grusen Basilis The biggest and most ridiculous hassle with banking in the Philippines is the fact that a banking company, (BDO, BPI, East West), here is not treated as a whole entity! If you bank at one particular bank branch, that is your bank and if you go to another branch, they either penalize you and in the case of the direct deposit, you cannot do this transaction at another branch, I must go to my original bank branch where the direct deposit account was initially opened and do the withdrawal and conversion in person! In the US, any bank branch is all one bank...no matter which branch you go to! Here in the Philippines, every separate branch is treated like an individual bank and they rarely do any crossover transactions without some sort of penalty or service charge. I had to change my address one time and BPI made me go all the way across town to my original bank branch just to do an address change. So I closed that account and changed to BDO and they do the exact same thing! And if I am traveling, I can use my ATM card at any bank ATM Machine but I cannot do my Direct Deposit transfer unless I go to the original bank branch in person...or you have to submit an entirely new direct deposit form to change which bank branch your money is deposited into. The bad part about this is I currently live in the Manila Metro area but my wife and I are purchasing some land out in the Province on another island and building a house there...so every month I will have to travel ALL the way back to Manila to transfer my US Direct Deposit funds from the US Dollar Account and into my Peso Account...until our house is built and we have an official address and I can open a new bank account at a local branch of BDO and then reapply for my Direct Deposit to go to this "NEW" account... What a hassle! Why can't every BDO be all in the same bank system? The same is true with East West Bank and BPI...they all do it the same way here... In the US, I banked at Wells Fargo and I could travel any where around the world and every Wells Fargo was treated the same...just my personal account number and all my money was accessible from anywhere. Here in the Philippines... every BPI branch is not the same and every BDO branch is not the same and there are so many transactions you cannot do from any other branch other than your original branch! How crazy is that? As long as you never move to a new location or travel at the time your Direct Deposit arrives, the system works great but there are times when the Philippine banking system really s**cks! WASHINGTON The future of oil and gas drilling in the U.S. Arctic faces a critical test as the White House considers whether to continue leasing undersea fields off Alaskas remote northern coastline. For decades, oil workers have drilled into the frozen tundra of northern Alaska, tapping a reserve that once accounted for close to a quarter of the nations oil production. But as the flow of oil from those fields has declined, companies such as ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell looked out to the iceberg-packed waters of the Arctic Ocean. Now, the Obama administration will decide whether the potential benefit to U.S. energy security outweighs both its commitment to reduce the countrys carbon emissions and the potential risk of an oil spill in what are perhaps the countrys harshest and most remote waters. Since Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced in March that lease sales along the Atlantic coastline were off the table, attention has shifted to the Arctic as energy industry trade groups and environmentalists try to sway the White House. That has sparked concern among oil companies operating in Alaska that their opportunity to drill off northern Alaska could be finished. Kara Moriarty, president of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, which represents companies such as Shell, BP and Exxon Mobil, said she thought canceling the lease sales would be incredibly shortsighted. The environmentalists should go look at what the forecasts show about where their energy is going to come from, she said. For now, lease sales are scheduled in 2020 and 2022 for fields off Alaskas Arctic coast in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. But those lease sales remain under review. Even if approved, the administration has warned that development and operations would be under strict oversight from government inspectors to ensure minimal danger to Arctic wildlife. A coalition of environmental groups that includes the Sierra Club and the Alaska Wilderness League was preparing this week to deliver a petition with 1 million signatures opposing lease sales in the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees offshore drilling, Greenpeace senior researcher Tim Donaghy said. Their demands follow a meeting of world leaders in Paris in December at which close to 200 countries agreed to put carbon emission controls in place to keep the planet from warming no more than 2 degrees Celsius. Weve discovered more than enough oil to put us over that limit, Donaghy said. Looking for more oil at this point is counterproductive. Efforts to tap the federal waters off northern Alaska stretch back to the 1980s, but companies have produced only one commercially viable well. Last year, Shell announced it was pulling out of the U.S. Arctic, despite having already spent billions of dollars, amid litigation from environmental advocacy groups like Greenpeace and a historic bust in crude prices. Companies including Exxon Mobil Corp., BP and ConocoPhillips have also relinquished offshore leases in the U.S. and Canadian Arctic, effectively ending any prospect of development there for years to come. For the oil industry that remains on the North Slope region of Alaska, offshore drilling is a lifeline. The amount of oil moved through the famed Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which runs 800 miles south to the port of Valdez, is down to less than 600,000 barrels a day, from more than 2 million barrels a day in the late 1980s, according to Aleyska, the company that operates the pipeline. The hope among those working in remote outposts like Prudhoe Bay is that once oil prices rebound, as some analysts predict, companies will be there to bid on the leases. At stake is an industry that is critical to the Alaska economy. With oil revenues down since the bust, the state government is now running a $4 billion budget deficit and is talking about imposing a state income tax for the first time in decades. I know (the oil companies) wont be there if they dont have access, Aleyska spokeswoman Michelle Egan said. Historically, theres been a lot of interest in that area. Only 1,200 miles from the North Pole, the vast majority of the North Slope is wilderness, uninhabited by man and ruled by caribou and wolves. But along the regions coastline live native Inupiat, who trace their history on the land back millennia. 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. The village of Point Lay, population 247, sits in perpetual sunlight this time of year, its people still hunting walrus and bowhead whales to feed their families, tribal President Marie Tracey said. The fear is an oil spill, like BPs Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico, would kill off the marine and bird life upon which the village depends for its survival. But native leaders are far from unified on the issue, with native-owned corporations such as the Arctic Slope Regional Corp. pressing for development that protects the ecosystem but also delivers the oil revenues to tribal members. But Tracey and other native leaders opposing the new leases say the risk of a spill is too great. We have our food source out there in the ocean, and if theres an oil spill out there, theres no scientific proof they clean it up, Tracey said. It would take days, if not weeks, for the Coast Guard to get up here. For now, its unclear whether the Obama administration will award new leases. At a Senate hearing last month, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management director Abigail Hopper demurred when asked to describe which way her agency was leaning on the Arctic drilling. But before Hopper could leave, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked about a tweet from the agencys account. It included a photo of Hopper meeting with Tracey and other native Alaskans, saying, Great meeting w/ Tribal Council of Native Village Point Lay & (at)alaskawild reps re: opposition to #Arctic drilling. I looked at it, and it doesnt necessarily show me theres impartiality within BOEM, Murkowski said. How do we not conclude that the die is already cast? This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A federal court case could give new meaning to Dont mess with Texas. Two portable toilet vendors are engaged in a trademark dispute over the use of the states outline and the Lone Star to adorn their outdoor loos. Texas Outhouse of Houston, which trademarked its Texas-and-star version earlier this year, has sued rival Texas Waste, claiming the Alvin companys use of similar images has diluted Texas Outhouses iconic brand, making it difficult for users to distinguish portable toilets and suggesting that the al fresco powder rooms are the same. Its an argument that legal specialists say may not pass the smell test. Practically speaking, said John (no pun intended) Keville, an intellectual property lawyer at the Houston law firm Winston & Strawn, logos iconic or otherwise dont matter when you gotta go. Texas Waste will probably flush that famous mark and dilution claims pretty quickly, Keville said. Texas Outhouse was founded in 1994, building a clientele among construction companies, local sport franchises and public festivals through word of well, lets just say user experience. In 2008, the company which is one of the bigger players in the local market, adopted its logo, registering it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in January, according to the lawsuit, filed in May in U.S. District Court in Houston. Rodney L. Drinnon, the lawyer representing Texas Outhouse, said the portable potty business is fiercely competitive in the Houston area, where at least 10 companies battle to put fannies in the seats. Texas Outhouse has become locally famous, according to the lawsuit, its products recognizable not only by the Texas logos adorning the fronts and the sides of units, but also their beige color scheme highlighted by green doors. In addition to adopting a similar logo, the lawsuit alleges, Texas Waste, formerly known as Fresh Can, changed the color of its units from bright blue to tan to benefit from Texas Outhouses reputation for high quality portable waste management. Texas Outhouse is asking the court to prevent its competitor from using an outline of Texas and a star on its toilets and marketing materials. Its all about protecting the goodwill Texas Outhouse has built over the years, Drinnon said. Travis Vargo, a Houston lawyer representing Texas Waste Co., said he only got wind of the dispute after Texas Outhouse filed its lawsuit. He said the companies are trying to settle their differences out of court but expressed surprise that anyone else would care. Who knew poop could be sexy? he said. If the case goes to trial, legal experts said, the outcome will likely depend upon the opinions of frequent outdoor toilet renters construction companies, sporting events and festivals to determine whether there is brand confusion among customers. In Bellaire, where the construction company Joslin is installing underground pipes at a new park, site superintendent Christopher Dean said the freshness date rather than the logo determines which portable toilet workers use. The longer a unit has stayed on site, he said, the less likely it will be a top choice. 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. Collin Dacus, the assistant superintendent, says that when he shows up at construction sites and sees portable toilets, he never says to himself: Yeah, this is going to be good. Given the choice between different brands of portable toilets, he said, hell head to a nearby gas station. Texas Outhouse vs. Texas Waste is not the first tussle over the use of the Lone Star in company logos, said Jane Langdell Robinson, who handles copyright issues at Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing in Houston. In 2010, in a case involving two self-storage companies, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the iconic image of Texas is not inherently distinctive and cant be legally protected as a trademark. She said she expects the courts would have a similar view of using an outline of the state. Jacqueline Lipton, a law professor and co-director of the Institute for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Houston Law Center, said the case will come down to two issues: whether there is a protected trademark and whether customers are likely to be confused by the similarities of the logos. As she delved into the doctrines of intellectual property law, she stopped herself for a moment: I cant believe Im talking about outhouses. lm.sixel@chron.com twitter.com/lmsixel This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Julian and Joaquin Castro took aim at Donald Trump, denounced Republican statewide leaders and raised a battle cry for Democrats to retake the Texas political field Friday in a star turn at their partys state convention. Call it just another day for the San Antonio brothers Housing Secretary Julian and Congressman Joaquin who carry the hopes of Texas Democrats, whose last statewide election victory is a memory more than two decades old. But while they are more than ready to accuse Republicans of having misused their power since sweeping statewide elections, neither was prepared to say hell lead the way for change with a run for statewide office anytime soon. For the first time in a long time in my life, I dont know exactly what Im going to be doing a year from now. And so Im looking forward to serving out the remainder of this administration and then taking a look at what the options are going forward, said Julian Castro, the former San Antonio mayor who is Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Barack Obama, in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News before addressing the convention. The secretary has been mentioned as a possible running mate for Hillary Clinton or a Cabinet member if she wins. Castro said he hasnt been vetted for the vice presidents slot and declined to say whether hed accept it. Asked about a run for state office, he said that right now I have zero plans to run for anything, including governor as early as 2018. I cant say that I would never do that, but its extremely unlikely, he said, adding that its going to take a lot of work to make Texas competitive for Democrats. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, state convention chairman, downplayed the mystique that keeps the twins at the top of Democrats dreams of a Texas comeback. Ive never spent too much time thinking about it. Its not really anything that weighs me down. Im just doing my work day to day, in Congress, and also trying to make the state competitive again by supporting Democrats across Texas, he said in an Express-News interview. Asked about his plans for 2018, when Republican powerhouses Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz are up for re-election, the congressman didnt tip his hand. Id like to see how 2016 turns out first. We believe its going to be a great year for Democrats, but any other decision is premature at this point, said Joaquin Castro, whose current post already allows him a powerful platform for weighing in on state issues. The brothers, who have a national profile, led Democratic criticism as Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, visited San Antonio for a fundraiser in the midst of the convention. Clintons campaign released a statement from Julian Castro decrying the intemperate billionaires hateful rhetoric, while Joaquin Castro joined a news conference with other Democrats to denounce him. Julian Castro delivered more of the same in his featured speech, saying Trumps promise to make America great again comes as he is violating all the principles that made America great in the first place. Hes not even behaving like a decent human being, Castro said. Though Castros name is just one among a number of those mentioned as possible vice presidential choices, the thought of him joining the national ticket stirs Texas Democrats. The prospect of a statewide run by one or both Castros, meanwhile, fires up Democratic speculation over timing and strategy. Democrats are eager for a charismatic candidate or two who could inspire their base, particularly the growing number of eligible Hispanic voters they see as key in this red state. But they dont want to waste the Castros potential on a losing bid that could tarnish their shine, mindful of former state Sen. Wendy Davis lopsided loss to Abbott in the 2014 race for governor. The Castros have a history of choosing their spots, from Joaquins run for the Texas House and then Congress to Julians move from the mayors office to the HUD post. A statewide race against a well-funded Republican incumbent would be a bigger fight than either has yet taken on. When they sense an opportunity is there, I think that theyll be ready to go, said Democratic strategist Colin Strother. Until then, he said, theyll bide their time and pick their spots. The Castros bring a striking story that began with being raised by a single mother who is a longtime community activist. Both graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School before entering public service and assuming high-profile roles, including a well-received speech by Julian Castro at their partys 2012 national convention. Theyre very impressive, said delegate Gail Kutin of Pearland, near Houston, who is retired after 30 years in the chemical industry. They exude confidence, and theyre very positive, whereas Trump is just negative, negative, negative. Kutin is more measured about whether they should run statewide in 2018. Possibly. But you know what? Its going to be tough in this state. Lets face it, she said. Theres more urgency from Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa, who laments his partys inability to turn out the Hispanic vote. I think 2018 is going to have to be the year for them, said Hinojosa, citing the Castros ages 41 as appropriate for a move. If they wait, that puts them at 48 years old. That puts a lot of pressure on them to do something by 2018. Look, the numbers are there. Texas is not a red state. Its a nonvoting state. Its a question of whether or not something can trigger this huge Hispanic population to participate. Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak, however, said Davis losing run in 2014 hurt Democrats efforts to tee up a chance of success in future elections. I dont think they have a chance to win (in 2018). Because of that, I think the chance that either one runs is pretty low, he said. Rice University political scientist Mark P. Jones said theres an argument that to be successful in the long term, Democrats need strong candidates who might nevertheless lose as they drive up voter registration and interest. Democrats are going to be under a lot of pressure to make 2018 competitive, but barring a sea change in public sentiment in Texas, whoever runs against Greg Abbott is going to lose, Jones said. I dont know if two people as ambitious and as talented as the Castro brothers want to spend a year or more of their life campaigning in a race where they know they are destined to lose, and possibly lose by a significant margin. Strother said that what I see are two guys that are getting ready in case an opportunity presents itself. Whether that opportunity is to join a ticket in November or join a Cabinet after January or to pursue a statewide office in two years. I see two guys that are in the gym getting ready. pfikac@express-news.net jgonzalez@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate David Varons mind is made up. Varon, a 25-year-old network technician from Houston, is a die-hard Bernie Sanders supporter and theres nothing, he says, that will get him to vote for Hillary Clinton in November. Im one of these people its Bernie or bust, said Varon, who is hoping to be selected as a Sanders delegate for the Democratic National Convention. If Hillary is the nominee, Im not voting. I dont trust her. Everything coming out of her mouth I feel is a lie. Varons comments reflect the deep divide among Democrats this election cycle in the Lone Star State and beyond. In Texas, Clinton and Sanders campaign officials have been preaching party unity for weeks in an attempt to coalesce the two factions, painting presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump as a boogeyman that should inspire Democratic harmony. For some in the Sanders camp, however, that message of kumbaya has yet to seep in. Hillary is a Democrat in name only, not in policy, said Scott Cockrill, a Sanders supporter from Dallas who also says he refuses to pledge support to Clinton. Thousands of fired-up Bernie Sanders supporters arrived at the state Democratic convention in San Antonio this week ready to keep fighting for their candidate, even with Clinton having won enough delegates to lock down the partys nomination. Sanders recently met with Clinton and earlier this week announced his support for her presidential campaign against Trump. But Sanders has yet to officially pull out of the race, further fueling his supporters on the ground. Im not willing to concede anything, said Kaitlyn Brenner, a 26-year-old Sanders enthusiast from San Antonio. Its important to actually get Hillary to move further to the left. We want to be reassured shes not just going to flip flop. On Friday, Sanders supporters scurried around the Alamdome jockeying for thousands of signatures to get the state Democratic Party to support resolutions on climate change, breaking up big banks, reducing money in politics and decreasing the influence of super delegates. They need signatures from more than half of the projected 6,000 to 10,000 delegates in attendance to automatically pass a resolution backed by the state party. That looked unlikely, as Clinton supporters would also have to sign on in large numbers. I have one signature from a Hillary supporter, said Phoebe Ceresia, a Sanders backer from Bastrop who was roaming the convention hallways for signatures on a superdelegate resolution. It seems like theyre not even interested in looking at it. The state partys platform, a symbolic document outlining party principles, and resolutions of support for certain political positions could help bring a group of Sanders devotees over to Clintons side. Some Sanders supporters at the convention say they are not willing to commit to Clinton until her campaign embraces some of Sanders populist positions. The state party platform, which will be finalized Saturday, would be a start, they say. The political reality has kicked in for others, however. Gabrien Gregory, a 19-year-old Sanders backer from San Antonio, said hes reluctantly ready to convert to Team Clinton to make sure Democrats stay in control of the White House. I am fully supportive of Bernie but at some point we have to recognize the reality, said Gregory. As a Democrat, I believe Trump is a very real threat. Democrats dont have time to argue. That Sanders supporters in Texas would be hesitant to support Clinton has not been unforeseen. Garry Mauro, the top Texas surrogate for Clintons presidential campaign, said earlier this week that a natural healing process would eventually overcome Sanders supporters to help them accept that their candidate failed to win the nomination. If you feel passionate about your candidate, and you end up not getting the most votes, it really makes you feel lousy, Mauro said at a news conference blocks from the state Capitol. You first go through the denial and then the grieving and then you have to start looking at where youre really going to end up. Mauro predicted Sanders supporters would eventually support Clinton, similar to how devoted Clinton backers ended up voting for Barack Obama in 2008. Sue Turner, a Clinton supporter from Boerne, said thats also what she expects. Most of them are going to unite, said Turner, 66. Theres going to be a percentage who got into it because of the extreme liberal, socialist view from Bernie. But I think theyll come on board for the most part. Gloria Moreno, a Clinton backer from Houston, had a more pointed message for Sanders supporters unwilling to get behind Clintons candidacy. Any Bernie delegate who does not support Hillary in the November election is basically voting for trump, said Moreno, 55. Thats the message they need to understand: if you dont vote for Hillary, youre voting for Trump, period. But Ceresia, the Sanders supporter gathering signatures for a resolution on superdelegates, said thats the kind of off putting statement that has her considering voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. They are trying to frighten me with a Trump presidency, she said. It feels like theyre trying to control my vote through fear. I just cant vote for Hillary. drauf@express-news.net A former Mexican prosecutor who helped the United States bring down cartel figures has been arrested on federal charges here and accused of having ties to that underworld himself. Sergio Guadalupe Adame Ochoa, 65, was arrested Thursday, accused in a federal indictment of making fraudulent statements to obtain bank loans totaling nearly $1.7 million for a commercial property in the Rio Grande Valley. Hes also charged with conspiring with alleged cartel members to launder money. Adame, who has homes in San Antonio and McAllen, is one of 16 people charged in an indictment returned in April and unsealed Friday, as prosecutors also took the unusual step of charging five business entities allegedly tied to the group. He is being held without bail, pending a hearing next week in San Antonio. Most of his co-defendants were arrested Thursday in McAllen or Mission; one was arrested in Austin. They will be sent to San Antonio for trial. Before moving to Texas, Adame served as director of intelligence and security for the state of Jalisco and was an adviser to then-Jalisco Gov. Luis Carlos Najera. Adame also served as a special prosecutor for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and was given the task of combating the Gulf Cartel. A July 1, 1995, Notimex story said Adame, as special prosecutor in Tamaulipas, had led investigations that resulted in 27 arrests of leaders under cartel boss Juan Garcia Abrego, including his brother, Humberto Garcia Abrego. Adames lawyers, Gerry Goldstein and Don Flanary, had no comment Friday. Former U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Adame was previously beneficial to the U.S. He was very helpful to the U.S. government as a prosecutor and director of intelligence, one of those officials said. He cooperated very transparently and helped the government make several cases. Several law enforcement sources told the San Antonio Express-News that the case is a spinoff from a money laundering investigation of Los Zetas, which began as the Gulf Cartels armed paramilitary enforcers but later broke off and became another cartel. In that case, prosecutors proved at a lengthy trial in Austin that the Zetas laundered drug proceeds through a quarter-horse racing operation in the U.S. In the San Antonio case, Adame is charged with four counts of wire fraud involving a bank. The indictment alleges that on multiple occasions beginning in 2006, Adame refinanced a $1.7 million note with Texas Regional Bank for Riverside Plaza in McAllen. The indictment claims that Adame falsely represented to the bank that he had a nontaxable annual cash flow income in excess of $500,000 for conducting legal work on behalf of the government. The indictment, announced by U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin, does not explain what Adame did for the government, but sources said he continued working with U.S. authorities after leaving Mexico. His indictment might jeopardize some of those investigations. This certainly has the potential to be problematic for pending cases, one former U.S. official said. The indictment charges all the defendants including the business entities believed to be fronts with conspiracy to launder money. The feds allege that since January 2000, the defendants engaged in financial transactions using cocaine proceeds and transported or transmitted money to locations outside the U.S. to conceal the source. During the investigation, authorities seized more than 220 poundsof cocaine. In raids Thursday, agents seized $500,000 in farm equipment, 20 vehicles, more than 60 firearms, more than 30 horses and more than $50,000 in cash. Federal prosecutors also accused some of Adames co-defendants Reymundo Mundito Villarreal Jr., 23, of Mission; Jesus Jaime Andrade, 37, of Mission; and Denis Winn, 54, of Oklahoma of using drug money collected in San Antonio to purchase American quarter horses from an auction house in Oklahoma in September 2011. They are alleged to have made at least six payments under $10,000 to avoid having to complete federal forms that would have alerted the IRS and possibly raised suspicion about the source of the funds, according to a news release issued by Durbin and several other agencies. Juan Juando Villarreal-Arelis, 43; Reymundo Villarreal-Arelis, 45; Jose Luis Villarreal-Gonzalez, 32; and Manuel Villarreal-Garcia, 40; all of Mission, are also charged with one count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The others charged include Mission residents Norma Leticia Villarreal-Garcia, 47; Iza Corina Flores-Alanis, 36; Jovanna Villarreal-Diaz, 37; Gilberto Villarreal-Villarreal, 27; Juan Antonio Villarreal, 24; Jose Luis El Cosas Villarreal-Arelis, 57; and Nancy Isela Villarreal-Gonzalez, 51. One person, whose name was not released, is believed to be in Mexico. The indictment also names as defendants Alan Land LP, Alan Management LLC, Edison Commercial LP, Edison Investments LLC and Antequera Partners LP. The companies, many of which list Adame as an officer in their public filings, own 11 pieces of real estate, mainly commercial properties and empty lots, worth almost $15 million, in Harlingen, Pharr and San Miguel. The government is also trying to seize a commercial tract in Mission owned by Iza Flores and Norma Villarreal valued at $1.2 million. In publicly available business filings, Antequera Partners lists its general partner as Antequera Commercial LLC. When the limited liability company filed its certificate of formation with the state of Texas in 2007, it listed four members, Adame among them. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of the properties and a judgment of $30 million against the defendants. If convicted, the defendants could face up to life in prison for the drug charge, up to 20 years for money laundering conspiracy and up to five years for the charge that they structured assets to hide them from the feds. gcontreras@express-news.net jbuch@express-news.net HUNTSVILLE Attorneys who contended junk science was used to send a father to death row for killing his 2-year-old daughter 14 years ago have won a reprieve blocking the Texas inmates execution set for next week. Robert Roberson III, 49, was set to die Tuesday for the February 2002 death of his daughter, Nikki Curtis, at his home in Palestine in East Texas. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent his case back to his Anderson County trial court late Thursday to review claims he is innocent of capital murder. There is no timetable for the appeal to be resolved. One judge on the nine-member court, Lawrence Meyers, voted to refuse the reprieve and dismiss the appeal. Lawyers argued Robersons conviction was based on junk science and false, misleading and scientifically invalid testimony and that new scientific evidence establishes he would not have been convicted. The child had serious head injuries, and Roberson contended she accidentally fell from a bed. Medical staff at a Palestine hospital called police because they considered the injuries suspicious. Physicians who examined her said bruises to her chin, cheek and jaw and a subdural hematoma bleeding outside her brain but inside her skull likely were intentional and no accident. Nikki died the next day, Feb. 1, 2002, and a medical examiner ruled blunt force head injuries as the cause. Defense attorney Benjamin Wolff told the appeals court that Nikkis death could be attributed to a number of things, such as undiagnosed meningitis, an accidental injury before Roberson began caring for her the day she died, a fall from the bed he didnt see or a fatal congenital condition. The Anderson County District Attorneys office did not immediately respond to a message left Friday. According to court records, shed been living with Roberson and his girlfriend, Teddie Cox, for about three months after a court awarded him custody of the child. Testimony from Cox, who was not the childs mother, showed he had no interest in caring for his daughter, but was her sole caretaker for the first time on Jan. 31, 2002, and was not pleased. Prosecutors initially said Roberson sexually assaulted the 2-year-old, based on statements from a hospital nurse, but dropped that element of the capital murder charge late in the trial when evidence could not conclusively support it. But by then, the damage had been done, Wolff said in Robersons appeal. The state used this rank speculation to drive home its view that Robert was not just a poor, mentally impaired father struggling with sobriety, but a deviant capable of raping and brutally shaking his own daughter to death. Roberson was a parolee with previous convictions for burglary and theft and parole violations. At least seven other Texas inmates have executions scheduled for the coming months, including one in July and four in August. Two incidents of domestic violence have left three people dead and one man facing charges. In the first, which occurred Thursday night, a pregnant 29-year-old died at the hands of her boyfriend following a domestic dispute on the North Side, the San Antonio Police Department said. SAPD Chief William McManus said the suspect, 29-year-old Charles Haltom, called police around 10 p.m. and confessed to killing his wife. Family members of the victim, who has not yet been publicly named, said the couple was not married. Officers arrived and found the woman dead inside a home in the 3300 block of Nacogdoches Road. An 8-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy were also in the house at the time of the slaying but were unharmed, police said. It is unclear whether the unborn child survived. Right now (Haltom is being charged) with murder, but that could go up to capital murder, McManus said. Police spokesman Sgt. Jesse Salame said the two children are now in the care of their grandmother, and Child Protective Services is working with the family. Hours later, on the Southeast Side, a man fatally shot a woman before turning the gun on himself outside the home, police said. Officers received reports of the shooting in the 2500 block of Schley Avenue around 5:30 a.m. and found the pair dead in the driveway of the home, according to a San Antonio Police Department sergeant who was at the scene. Police identified the woman as Rose Rodriguez, 45. The 44-year-old man has not been identified, pending notification of family. Officers are still trying to piece together exactly what happened, but preliminary details are that the man arrived at the home shortly after the woman, and followed her into the driveway, where he opened fire. McManus said the man and woman were involved in a romantic relationship, but specific details on the current nature of their relationship werent immediately clear. McManus said the woman had been shot multiple times, and that authorities are trying to determine whether she was dropped off at the home by another man. mdwilson@express-news.net Twitter: @MDWilsonSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A figure of hate appeared this week at a local prayer vigil for the 49 victims killed in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. His name is Steven Billingsley, a 21-year-old resident of San Antonio who initially disguised himself at the vigil in a skull mask while carrying a bull horn and a sign that read God Hates Fags with swastika symbols on the back. Officers advised Billingsley of ordinances he was required to follow and told him he should remain on the perimeter of Crockett Park. He followed all directions given to him, according to a preliminary police report. But his display of hate in that setting was too much for some to bear. After several attendees engaged him, one grabbed his sign and ripped it. Police separated both men, eventually arresting the one who had ripped the sign: 30-year-old Arturo Trejo. Surrounded by officers, his face now bare, Billingsley made a Sieg Heil Nazi salute for a photographer. Police then gave him a courtesy ride back to his vehicle and agreed that leaving was in his best interest for his safety, according to the report. Police confiscated his sign as evidence for the criminal case against Trejo, who was charged with criminal mischief and failure to identify with warrants. The report identified the Nazi-saluting protester as Billingsley. Reached late Friday on his Facebook page, Billingsley acknowledged that he was the protester at the vigil. He agreed to respond to my questions only with a single, chilling message: I am a member of the Atomwaffen Division, a new and rising US-based National-Socialist movement. Our members have been responsible for spreading recruitment drive materials on the campuses of the following universities: University of Central Florida, Old Dominion University and Boston University. This was my first action taken on behalf of the Division and our first public action you can expect to hear more of us in the future. I have attended the vigil at Crockett Park with a sign that reads God Hates Fags, which is a factual statement that I chose to use in order to spread awareness of that fact and make these degenerates aware that they are responsible for what they get, be it at the hands of a Muslim or AIDS it does not matter. The people attending the vigil are in denial over the nature of what was going on in that cesspool that they call the Pulse club, you can look up materials that depict the most foul behavior that is best left unsaid, not the least of which was hooking up for the explicit purpose of contracting HIV this is called bug chasing. We must preserve the purity of our race, oppose the intrusion of foreign religions and do away with homosexuality for good. Heil Hitler! Billingsleys Facebook page also contained expressions of hate scattered among depictions of daily life and even Christian prayers. (In addition to fascism, he is also apparently a fan of the Star Wars films.) One photo caption read: Sex offenders are now required to have transparent rainbows on their Facebook profile pictures. He posted a YouTube video entitled, With Open Gates: The collective suicide of European nations. Regarding the presidential race, Billingsley posted, The collective butthurt of anti-Trumpers is absolutely hilarious. Another photograph showed a Confederate flag hanging in a room, with the caption: So at the top of my list of Things That Aint Comin Down is my beautiful Blood Stained Banner or Confederate Third National Flag. Billingsleys hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. But for those of us who are appalled by it, we must remain watchful and aware. It reveals a virulent strain of American thought that can erupt into sudden violence, the sort that took the lives of nine black parishioners last year in a church in Charleston, S.C., where another 21-year-old racist, Dylann Roof, turned hate speech into a hate crime. For years, Ive had a bet going with myself, that this country will elect a president who is openly gay or lesbian before it elects an avowed atheist. After all, Americans have always loved to believe that their chief executive seeks the counsel of a higher power before making monumental decisions. Consider that Franklin Roosevelt framed his D-Day announcement as a prayer addressed to almighty God. And Ronald Reagan warned that if we ever forget that were one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under. In 1958, a Gallup poll found that only 18 percent of Americans were willing to consider voting for an atheist presidential candidate, and subsequent polling has consistently found that atheists are the least electable group in American politics. But evidence has been building of a gradual change in this mindset. In 2015, 58 percent of American voters expressed a willingness to vote for an atheist president. And 2016 Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders mounted a surprisingly successful insurgent campaign even while unabashedly conceding that hes not particularly religious. Thats why the Secular Caucus at this weekends Texas Democratic Convention was so intriguing. It marked the first time that a major political party in the United States allowed a nontheist organization to host a caucus at a convention, and it drew a surprisingly big crowd of more than 200 Democrats at the Alamodome on Friday morning. Sarah Levin, a legislative associate for the Secular Coalition for America, said her organization is not anti-religion, but merely opposed to the idea that faith should dictate public policy. We believe in freedom, and freedom means beliefs are protected, but not imposed, said Levin, who, like Sanders, describes herself as a secular Jew. In particular, Levin singled out the scientific logic of 20-week abortion bans, such as the one passed by the Texas Legislature in 2013. Policies should be evidence-based, she said. Twenty-week abortion bans? Theyre based on this idea that a fetus can feel pain after 20 weeks, and theres no evidence for that. Why do we have policies that are based on myths and junk science? Levin said her organization respects the views of those who oppose abortion as a personal choice for themselves, and added, We have to acknowledge that other people have different beliefs about these kinds of things. And thats why we believe in choice. One of the more colorful speakers at the caucus was James N. White, a mustachioed, Dallas-based retired tech-industry salesman, decked out in a white suit, orange tie and straw hat. Were Democrats, we want to be inclusive, White said. We want to make sure everyone can self-actualize in their own way. There are a lot of people like me, who are not religious. Their view of the world is more pragmatic. They want the world to be driven by practical, profound realities. White ran for Dallas City Council last year (without playing up his atheism), and finished a respectable third, drawing nearly 23 percent of the vote. As an example of how the secular movement is growing, White told me the story of a recent shopping experience he had while wearing an Unsaved t-shirt. An elderly man spotted me in the grocery store, White said. He sort of looked at me, walked over and asked, What does that shirt mean? I said, It means that Im not religious. Im science-based in my life. He looked at me, and said, We need more people like you. Secular Coalition for America came to San Antonio armed with three resolutions it planned to push for the Texas Democratic Party platform: a repeal of religious exemptions to child-protection laws; the removal of language from the Texas Constitution that requires public officeholders in this state to acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being; and a call for the support of secular reproductive healthcare policies. Granted, it all added up to a small step for the secular movement, but one that came with the suggestion that time might be on their side. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center study, 35 percent of American adults under 30 are religiously unaffiliated, nearly twice the national average. Maybe its just a matter of time before humanists, free thinkers, atheists, agnostics and skeptics unite under one banner and proclaim, in a twist on Tug McGraws old New York Mets rallying cry: Ya gotta non-believe! ggarcia@express-news.net Twitter: @gilgamesh470 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate REATA Real Estate Co. is adding six partners as co-founder Bob Barnes eases into retirement after more than 44 years in San Antonios commercial real estate sector. Barnes served as CEO of REATA for more than 13 years after co-founding the firm in 2001, according to a news release from the firm. He was lead developer of the Alamo Quarry Market and the Arbor Park retail center on the Northeast Side, and helped with the sale of nine downtown Houston Street properties to GrayStreet Partners last year. Im just tired. REATAs in great shape to go forward; we have a good CEO in place, Barnes said in a phone interview, referring to current CEO Michael Jersin. Barnes plans to build a house in Comfort and grow organic hay during his retirement. Six partners are joining REATAs three-member leadership team: David Ballard, Craig Garansuay, Brent Conlin, Danny Elliott, Price Onken and Asher Reilly. The incoming partners will bring new expertise to the firms executive team and will strengthen its presence in some sectors, including land sales and the leasing of office, industrial and medical space, Jersin said in a phone interview. By bringing in the new partners, REATA is both adding new talented guys to the decision-making team as well as adding new lines of business to the company, Jersin said. Barnes has been involved in the development of more than 5.5 million square feet of retail space during his career, according to the news release. His most recognizable project is the Alamo Quarry, which was innovative when it opened in 1998 as an adaptive reuse project one that moves into rehabilitated historic buildings. The Pearl Brewery development followed its example, and developers are now drawing up plans to turn the old Lone Star Brewery site into a mixed-use development. REATA is the largest commercial property leasing company in San Antonio and South Texas, according to the release. It now leases and manages more than 14.1 million square feet of properties in Texas. Since it was created, the firm has growth from five employees to 55, Barnes said, and it has followed the industry trend of developing more mixed-use projects in urban areas. When asked what he had learned in his 44 years in commercial real estate, Barnes said: You put people first whether employees or customers and success will follow. rwebner@express-news.net @rwebner I woke up this morning thinking about Gene Logsdon. And Orlando. Gene Logsdon, who lived in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and called himself The Contrary Farmer, died May 31. He was a farmer, but his gift was really his writing, and he left us with books and essays and blog posts and lots of contrary thoughts about farming and life. He was our Wendell Berry. Our Wes Jackson. Gene started his career well, not exactly started, because his life was filled with twists and turns as an ag journalist with the Farm Journal (1965-1974), and wrote his first two books through its book division. But journalism was not the kind of writing that I really wanted to do, so he quit his job and moved back to a small farm in Ohio without steady income or inherited money or a working spouse. Everybody who knew me thought I was crazy. And they were right. But I was so scared that I wrote like a demon. And write he did. Columns and articles and books, packing more character and humor and philosophy and down-to-earth wisdom into each sentence than anyone I know. Who else would write a book called Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind. Non-farm readers discovered his writings through Ohio magazine, which gave him a channel for creative writing from 1974 through 1998. I like to say that agriculture is the mother of all arts: the sustained, practical, intimate engagement between the power and creativity of both nature and humans, he wrote in the introduction to his 2007 book, The Mother of All Arts: Agrarianism and the Creative Impulse. More than anything, he challenged the status quo of modern farming practices. One reviewer called him a rabble rouser, another a sanely, unruly voice. Last December, in a blog post on diversity in agriculture, he wrote, From Farm Bureau I once got a letter scolding me for what I wrote. From Farmers Union, I got an award. He didnt call himself the Contrary Farmer for nothing. But Gene Logsdon made you think and thats a true gift. I have to be honest, we were sometimes on different places on the philosophical spectrum, but I respected his opinions and valued reading them because his thoughts made me reconsider my own. So I thought of Gene as I tried to make sense of the nightclub shooting in Orlando. They might seem like disparate thoughts, but hes been weighing on my mind since I learned of his death. Gene and I didnt always agree, just as you and I may not agree with people of a different political party, race, religion or lifestyle. But I always valued his right of expression, and what he believed in. I found an unlikely voice to my emotions in television comedian Jimmy Fallon, who said, in a monologue following the Orlando shooting, 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. We need to support each others differences and worry less about our own opinions. In a fable Logsdon wrote in 2001, The Man Who Created Paradise, our Contrary Farmer gave us a character who singularly inspired others to restore what had been destroyed. How one persons actions triggered a ripple of others actions. It was a story about the power of one person to change lives to change his world. One person. Thats all it takes. And then another. Thank you, Gene. As the shearing season gets underway, the NFU is showing its support for the work of the British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB). The non-profit organisation has been collecting, grading, promoting and selling great British fleece wool since the 1950s and represents 45,000 wool producers, returning the market price for their wool, less its own costs. The BWMB is essentially a farmers co-operative involved in all aspects of the industry from farm to product shearing, grading, auction and marketing/promotion, supporting the future of the UK sheep sector. It has its own training division for shearers and trains approximately 1,000 shearers per year, investing in the future. NFU livestock board chairman Charles Sercombe said: "Clearly, working together and collaboration are key to growing the market returns for wool which unfortunately remain relatively poor. "Weve seen over the past 12 months price volatility in the market place and challenging times across the livestock sector. "Although price volatility is something as an industry we have to accept and adapt to, the wool sector has seen little change in value. "How we grow its value to the producer is an ongoing challenge. "So with a producer organisation such as the BWMB, we continue to rely on them to achieve the best possible returns for producers. "This collective strength also ensures wool producers can maximise the value of their wool wool is a global commodity and British wool amounts to only two per cent of the worlds wool production. "Therefore, having a strong producer organisation to compete in this global market is essential. "I want to see a real commitment from the BWMB, working with our sheep farmers to promote wool on a global scale in order to achieve the best possible price." The wool market has been struggling globally as a result of the strong sterling for most of the selling season. This resulted in a lower return for producers this year compared to 2015. 'Wool prices under pressure' BWMB chairman Ian Buchanan explained: "It is no secret that wool prices are under pressure this year, resulting in producer returns being lower than in 2015, as is the case for wool producers across the globe. "This is a result of the strong sterling for most of the selling season coupled with a weak New Zealand dollar." Looking at the UK in particular Mr Buchanan said prices for some breeds may be harder hit than others due to a downturn in the demand for carpet style wools. "In the last six months there has been a continued demand for the fine and medium wools as a result of Chinese interest. "It would be easy to look at the overall average price for all wools, however, of greater interest and importance are the individual breed prices." Fine and medium wools such as Texel and Lleyn wool are expected to average 1.02/kg, with Cheviot wool at 1.20/kg and Romney wool around 1.12/kg. "The carpet wool market has been tougher, due to tight price boundaries being pushed by retailers and the increasing use of polypropylene. "On the lowest end of the scale we expect Swaledale wool to make in the region of 40p/kg, Blackface an average of 61p/kg and Welsh wool about 45p/kg based on current market trends in recent months. "Of course no one wants to see wool prices slipping and that is why BWMB is investing in new marketing initiatives to drive demand." Latest research reveals an active farmland market in Scotland, both in terms of the level of land being launched to the market and healthy level of buyer interest. According to estate agents Savils, there has been a 43% increase in the amount of land being offered for sale on the Scottish market compared to a modest drop south of the border, and viewer numbers in Scotland are up compared with the same period last year. Evelyn Channing of Savills Farm Agency team said there are several reasons why the Scottish market is bucking the UK trend, despite challenges facing the sector. These include referendum fatigue, improved bank lending, value for money and the desire to diversify farming income. Strong appetite She said: "Although it is early days for many farms launched on the open market across the length and breadth of Scotland, viewer requests and pre-emptive offers paint an unexpectedly positive picture in an industry beset with concerns. "In addition there is a strong appetite from farmers who are looking for purchasing advice in this uncertain market. "The farming industry is largely dependent on subsidies, and as such we anticipated a pause in market on the run up to the EU vote, but this has not been the case. "Coming hot on the heels of the Scottish Referendum and local elections, a level of fatigue has set in and the EU debate has had minimal impact north of the border as a result. "Our advice to sellers has not been to hold back until after the vote, but to launch their farms; albeit with delayed closing dates to accommodate any pre-referendum nerves. "In terms of buyers, we are seeing those who wish to stay in farming for the long term gearing up to expand in order to weather any storms that may lie ahead. "Again, this strategy is operating regardless of the EU vote. Banks are increasingly supportive of such expanding farms and lending is on the increase. Value for money According to Savills the commercial need to secure value for money has been a greater driver than politics in the current market. The gap in values between what is available in Scotland and prices in England and Ireland is therefore attracting a growing number of viewers to Scotland. Evelyn said: "Demonstrating outstanding value for money has been key to generating interest." "Crofthead in Dumfriesshire, an attractive mixed agricultural, forestry and sporting estate at a total of 1,258 acres, and Falahill in Midlothian, an extensive arable and stock farm in the Scottish borders at 1,500 acres are both attracting English viewers. "Overlaw, a small dairy farm of around 311 acres in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries & Galloway, has been inundated with viewers from far and wide despite challenges within the dairy sector. "Buyers from Northern Ireland, where land values have risen once again, are back in the market and we are also seeing those driven by the desire to relocate beef units from areas blighted with TB. "A unit such as Overlaw in a particularly attractive part of the UK is highly appealing in this regard. "Scale will be the key to attracting interest in Cowford, a 777 acre unit north of Perth which includes an established forestry plantation adjoining the principal equipped lot (417 acres) and a secondary bare land lot of 95 acres. "Meanwhile in Stirlingshire Alton of Bandeath, a 499 acre arable and stock holding on the Carse of Stirling, offers those developers and strategic land buyers the opportunity to acquire a well located unit with zoning for 75 houses in the Stirling Local Development plan and further land allocated for business use. "Recent launches demonstrate buyers are keen to secure a diversified income, which potentially can deliver a secondary income in more challenging times." Parknowe Farm near Cupar, Fife extends to about 250 acres and for the past 11 years has slowly evolved to become an established livery business, delivering an income in farming terms that would equate to 250 per tonne of grain produce across ever acre. Strong interest in Falside Farm south east of St Andrews is anticipated as a satellite unit to run in conjunction with a main holding given its reputation of comprising a compact block of arable land of quality. What was it like to be an Oath Keeper? John Zimmerman can tell you The 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival is underway and there is a whole host of terrific female filmmakers on the programme. Maggie's Plan Some of the directors are already well established while some are bringing their directorial debut projects to the festival and we take a look at some that cannot be missed. - Rebecca Miller - Maggie's Plan Rebecca Miller is set to return to the director's chair with her latest film Maggie's Plan, which will receive its UK premiere at the festival. Maggie's Plan is the fifth feature film from Miller, who has brought us Personal Velocity and The Ballad of Jack and Rose in recent years. This is her first feature since The Private Lives of Pippa Lee back in 2009. As well as being in the director's chair, Miller has also penned the screenplay and teams up with Greta Gerwig and Ethan Hawke for the first time. Gerwig and Hawke are set to take on the central roles of Maggie and John and are joined on the cast list by Julianne Moore, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, and Wallace Shawn. The film follows Maggie, a vibrant and practical thirty-something New Yorker working at the New School who, without success in finding love, decides now is the time to have a child of her own. But when she meets John Harding (Hawke), a 'ficto-critical anthropologist- and struggling novelist, Maggie falls in love for the first time and adjusts her plans for motherhood. Complicating matters, John is in a strained marriage with Georgette Norgaard (Moore), a brilliant Danish academic. With a Greek chorus of Maggie's eccentric and hilarious best friends Tony and Felicia (Hader and Rudolph) observing wryly from the sidelines, Maggie sets into motion a new plan that catapults her into a nervy love triangle with John and Georgette, intertwining their lives and connecting them in surprising and humorous new ways. Maggie learns that sometimes destiny should be left to its own devices. Miller has a knack of delivering great character driven drama and Maggie's Plan looks set to follow that tradition. The movie has already played at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was met well by the critics. - Mercedes Grower - Brakes Mercedes Grower is one of the British filmmakers to watch out for at the festival as she is set to make her feature film directorial debut with Brakes. Grower kicked off her career as an actress and is now making the transition into the director's chair for the first time with this feature project. It is always exciting when we get the chance to see new directing talent and Grower is a name to watch out for over the next couple of years. As well as being in the director's chair, Grower has also penned the screenplay for Brakes. The director has brought together a great cast as Julian Barratt, Julia Davis, Noel Fielding, Kerry Fox, Paul McGann, Steve Oram and Roland Gift are all set to star. Brakes is a raw, dark comedy about endings and beginnings. A failed relationship is rarely predicted but always reviewed, and the film adopts this reverse narrative. Split into two halves, the film follows the tumultuous stories of nine couples. Brakes will receive its world premiere at the festival and is also one in a series of British films that are on the programme at Edinburgh International Film Festival this year. - Isabel Coixet - Endless Night Isabel Coixet is no stranger to the director's chair with the likes of Another Me and Yesterday Never Ends under her belt in recent years. Endless Night is one of two films that we are going to see her direct this year as Learning To Drive is set to hit the big screen here in the UK later this summer. Endless Night sees the filmmaker tackle a period drama as she teams up with Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche, who takes on the central role of Josephine Peary. Binoche is joined on the cast list by Gabriel Byrne, Rinko Kikuchi, Matt Salinger, and Velizar Binev. Josephine (Binoche) travels to the hostile icy landscape of the remote North in search of her explorer husband. As winter descends and determined not to turn back she finds companionship with an Inuit woman (Kikuchi). With the elements against them and their survival reliant on each other it becomes clear they are waiting for a man they both love. Of all of the female filmmakers on the programme at the festival this year, Coixet is one of the most experienced and I cannot wait to see what she delivers with Endless Night. - Meg Ryan - Ithaca Meg Ryan is best known for her work as an actress in front of the camera but she is about to take up the director's chair for the very first time. Yes, Ryan is one of a string of actors who are making the transition to filmmaker in 2016 and Ithaca will mark her feature film directorial debut. Ithaca is one of the American movies on the festival programme and will receive its UK premiere in Edinburgh. The movie is based on the novel by William Saroyan and has been adapted for the big screen by Erik Jendresen. As well as being in the director's chair, Ryan is also on the cast list alongside Tom Hanks, Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater, Jack Quaid, and Alex Neustaedter. Neustaedter is set to take on the central role of Homer in what is one of the biggest acting parts of his career - he is a name to watch out for over the next couple of years. Set in a small town in California's San Joaquin Valley, Ithaca tells the story of 14-year-old Homer Macauley who is determined to be the best and fastest bicycle telegraph messenger anyone has ever seen. His older brother has gone to war, leaving Homer to look after his widowed mother, his older sister, and his 4-year-old brother, Ulysses. And so it is that as spring turns to summer, 1942, Homer Macauley delivers messages of love, hope, pain, and death to the good people of Ithaca. And Homer Macauley will grapple with one message that will change him forever - from a boy into a man. If you are a fan of the coming-of-age movie, then Ithaca is a movie that is not to be missed. I am looking forward to seeing Ryan's work as a filmmaker. - Rita Osei - Bliss! Bliss! is another coming of age film that will screen at the 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival and sees Rita Osei in the director's chair. Osei is another British filmmaker to watch out for as she is also making her feature film debut with Bliss! Osei already has short films Too Much Love, Room To Let and The Curry Club under her belt and is now making the transition into features. Freya Parks is set to lead the cast as she takes on the central role of Tasha Robson and is joined on the cast list by David Leon, Reece Noi, Joshua Osei, and Montserrat Lombard. Tasha Robson, 16, has run away from home! While she rides the waves aboard the large ferry heading from South Shields, England to Scandinavia in search of her unknown father, "The Viking" all is less than calm in the Robson household. Bliss! will receive its world premiere at the festival and is another of the British films that not to be missed. Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from 15th - 26th June. by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Emma Watson is set to return to the big screen this summer as she stars in new film The Colony. The Colony The Colony sees the actress star alongside Daniel Bruhl as they both team up with filmmaker Florian Gallenberger for the first time. This is the fourth feature film of Gallenberger's career and the first since City of War: The Story of John Rabe back in 2009. As well as being in the director's chair, Gallenberger has also teamed up with Torsten Wenzel to pen the screenplay. Watson and Bruhl take on the central roles of Lena and Daniel and you can seem them in action in a pair of terrific new clips. Check them out: Set amidst the Chilean coup of 1973, The Colony begins by depicting the masses who are out on the street, protesting against General Pinochet. Amongst them are Daniel (Bruhl) and Lena (Watson), a young couple who, like many others, get arrested by Pinochet's secret police for producing propaganda against the regime. Following his arrest, Daniel finds himself trapped in a secret interrogation camp located beneath the infamous Colonia Dignidad; a German sect under the leadership of the notorious, charismatic and unflinching Paul Schafer (Nyqvist). Presenting itself as a charitable mission, the Colonia is, in fact, a place of brutality and terror that nobody has ever escaped from. Desperate to rescue her boyfriend, Lena infiltrates the cult and witnesses the true darkness of Schafer's regime before she attempts a dramatic escape that puts both their lives on the line. The Colony is released in cinemas and on demand on 1st July. by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on According to a new report from The Sun Online, 25-year-old Geordie Shore cast member Aaron Chalmers has quit the show. Aaron Chalmers Chalmers joined the cast in 2014, already friends with Gaz Beadle. A 'show insider' gave the news to the website, which comes after Charlotte Crosby also decided to say goodbye to the series which shot her straight into the spotlight. Currently in Ibiza, the show has been repeatedly thrown into jeopardy, with Scotty T falling and fracturing his arm and reports of the crew clashing with local authorities. San Antonio Town Hall officials said earlier this week they were unhappy when they discovered the reality show cast were in the resort, insisting they didn't have permission to film. The matter continued today (June 17) when council bosses for San Antonio confirmed they'd be writing to the show's producers and also contacting the British Consulate in Ibiza to confirm whether unlicensed filming had taken place. A spokesman said: "If the answer is yes, we will be asking the producers directly to refrain from broadcasting these images since they would have no authorisation to do so, and we will be reinforcing that message through the Consulate." by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on If youre done with the cold coffees, even after you've made them Irish, we suggest you stop. If you dont want to, this definitive list of tea rooms in India will make you want to. Tea Trails Experience almost 80 varieties of teas with various blends and its added benefits at Tea Trails. From bubble teas like the Taiwanese bubble tea and the Tapioca bubble variant to Indian chais like adrak, pudina, kalimiri, masala and lemon grass chai, there is something for every palate here. Co-owners, Kavita Mathur and Uday Mathur decided to set up the place for people to meet over a good old cup of chai along with some of the more worldly teas, and have a pleasant break from the cliche of drinking coffee over conversations that often surround us. Enjoy it at: Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad June 28, 2016 (Vancouver, Canada) Lundin Gold Inc. ("Lundin Gold" or the "Company") (TSX: "LUG", Nasdaq Stockholm: "LUG") is pleased to announce the appointment of Alessandro Bitelli as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer with Chester See taking on the role of Vice President, Finance, effective July 1, 2016."I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Alessandro as our new Chief Financial Officer," said Lundin Gold President and Chief Executive Officer, Ron Hochstein. "Now that the feasibility study is complete and the project is moving into the next phase of construction, the demands on the finance team have increased. Project financing, in particular, has become a critical responsibility and will remain so over the next several years. Alessandro has extensive project financing experience and will bring depth in this field to our management team. Chester See's contribution over the last 18 months has been critical to the Company's success to-date, and I am pleased he will be continuing as a key member of the management team in the role of VP Finance. Alessandro and Chester together will make a formidable financial team."Alessandro brings over 30 years of experience in the resource industry and in public accounting to Lundin Gold, having worked both in North America and Europe. A member of the senior management team at the Lundin Group of Companies until January 2016, most recently he was Chief Financial Officer of Orca Gold Inc. Prior to that, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Red Back Mining Inc., a gold mining company with two African operations that traded on the TSX until its $8.9 billion takeover in 2010.About the CompanyLundin Gold Inc. owns the Fruta del Norte ("FDN") gold project located in southeast Ecuador. FDN is one of the largest and highest grade undeveloped gold projects in the world. The Company is advancing FDN in order to realize the significant potential of this asset.The Company believes that the value created will not only greatly benefit shareholders, but also the Government and people of Ecuador who are the Company's most important stakeholders in this project. Lundin Gold views its commitment to corporate social responsibility as a strategic advantage that enables it both to access and effectively manage business opportunities in increasingly complex environments. Lundin Gold is committed to addressing the challenge of sustainability - delivering value to its shareholders, while simultaneously providing economic and social benefits to impacted communities and minimizing its environmental footprint.Additional InformationThe information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Gold under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on June 28, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time.For more information, please contactLundin Gold Inc. Ron F. Hochstein President and CEO +593-2-299-6400 +1-604-806-3589Lundin Gold Inc. Sophia Shane Corporate Development +1-604-689-7842 info@lundingold.com www.lundingold.comAttachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=576957 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. Startups leverage the technology to change the world we live. Or, minimally, a small part of it either at work, improving our productivity, or how we go to office, our way to communicate, to book a holiday, just to make a few examples. But what about our place? Do startups try to improve our way to live and enjoy the home? The answer is YES. THEY DO. They try to do it by leveraging the Internet of Things to create products and tools that can make our home smarter and improve every aspect of how we and our loved ones live it. In 2016, smart home companies have continued to win the confidence of venture capitalists who have kept on betting on them. Room by room, without considering the best wireless dorbell, lets have a look at the most interesting startups among the venture backed ones in 2016. Our Kitchen San Francisco, CA-based June is bringing to market a computer based oven that aims to provide advanced heat distribution, broiling and baking performance as well as remote control and intelligent alert capabilities via mobile connctivity. San Francisco, CA-based Juicero has developed a WiFi-enabled, countertop cold-press juicing system, uniting technology, agriculture and design to make raw, organic and home juicing without making efforts.Living room For our Security & Energy Graz, Austria-based Nuki Home Solutions is making a Bluetooth smartlock, which works with European door cylinders. It allows home locks to be opened and closed automatically by Android & iOS apps on smartphones and controlled via Bluetooth and WiFi. San Francisco, California-based August Home provides smart locks and smart home access products and services. Provo, UT-based Vivint Smart Home offers a custom platform with integrated smart home products, including smart door locks, thermostat, cameras, doorbell camera, cloud storage and an array of sensors. LinkBee is advancing a tech platform which, centered around proprietary LED light bulbs and sensors, leverages environmental feedback and intelligent, self-learning algorithms to enhance the home environment and allow customers to enjoy a safer home and energy savings. Denver, Colorado-based Notion is advancing a multi-function sensor that provides recognition of doors or windows opening, water leaks, temperature changes, smoke alarms going off, etc. Berlin, Germany- and Dublin, Ireland-based Smartfrog provides a home security solution featuring a video camera, an app (to manage up to ten cameras) and video storage solutions. Italian Almadom.us is advancing domoki, a solution to save energy by monitoring lights, thermostats, valves and sockets and other objects connected to the Internet. Our Internet Connection San Francisco, CA-based eero offers a home WiFi system, which instead of a single router uses multiple access points placed throughout home to create a wireless mesh network that covers every room. The system can be managed via an app, while over-the-air software updates add new features and performance and security improvements. Luma provides a home WiFi system featuring cybersecurity and parental controls. Our Bedroom New York-based Eight (formerly known as Luna) makes a smart mattress cover that tracks sleep patterns. Child Safety NYC-based Nanit is advancing a smart baby monitor which leverages a machine learning camera that provide sleep insights to parents, a timelapse heat map that shows how babies move around the crib as well as tools to share videos, and digital scrapbooks, with other people. Our Pets San Francisco, CA-based Petcube provides an interactive Wi-Fi Pet camera that features real-time video and built-in laser pointer to allow owners to watch and play with their pets from their smartphone using the free Petcube app, available for iOS and Android. Bathroom At the moment, a mobile phone is enough. FinSMEs 18/06/2016 Beamery, a London, UK-based provider of recruiting software, raised $2m in funding. Backers included Edenred Capital Partners and Grupa Pracuj. The company will use the funds to continue to develop the software. Founded in 2014 and led by Abakar Saidov, CEO, Beamery provides recruiting software that lets companies connect with hiring prospects and nurture relationships long before they apply. The platform allows users to source candidates and automate the lifting, build talent pools, collaborate with the team and unify data, reduce time to hire and attract qualified applicants and improve candidate experience. FinSMEs 18/06/2016 TravelC, a Palma de Mallorca, Spain-based travel startup, raised 1m in funding. The round was led by Caixa Capital which made the investment via Caixa Capital TIC II. The company intends to use the funds to expand its commercial efforts and continue to develop the platform. Co-founded in 2014 by Manuel Aragones and Vicente Rossello, TravelC provides a tech platform for multidestination & multiservice B2B & B2C travel reservations. The company, which already serves 70 clients in 25 countries, has also acquired Hotelerum, a company founded in 2010 that develops a hotel booking management platform. In conjunction with the deal, Venturecap and Inspirit, Hotelerums shareholders will become investors in TravelC. FinSMEs 18/06/2016 Chevrolet India recently launched its 2016 Monsoon Service Camp at select dealerships across the country. Dealers in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will initially hold the monsoon camp until 19th June, 2016. Following that, Chevrolets remaining dealers will be hosting the camp according to the monsoon trend. The American carmaker will provide a quick 25 point check-up of items such as brakes, light bulbs, electrical, battery and tyres at these camps. Following that, discounts like 10 per cent off on all... House music, or music that gets you to move, has largely become the preserve of DJs who rely on a hit single to fill stadiums with young, throbbing bodies. After all, tours are the most lucrative way to make money today, and a DJ set is usually made up of original tracks, remixes of pop hits and hits from other mega DJs. As a result, the album is given short shrift, with a focus on a steady drop of singles. Shamir Bailey makes dance-pop, and seems to relish filling his debut album with an eclectic collection of songs, each of which is distinct. Bailey (who releases music under his first name, Shamir) is African American and queer yet makes some of the most inclusive dance music of the recent past. From the opening synth stabs on his debut album, Ratchet, Shamirs androgynous voice works in tandem with the thumping beat to recreate the heady disco days of the '80s. That doesnt mean the song sounds dated (though Princes influence can be seen all over) it's indebted to other electronic musicians working today, like Brooklyns Holy Ghost and Scotlands Hudson Mohawke. Shamirs range of influences coalesce to create an album that is rare in the dance music world it is something you can put on and play through from start to finish without getting aural boredom. Each song, while uniquely Shamirs, is varied enough to keep a party going. Where the music dips, theres always that voice, he refers to it as a countertenor, that confuses (Is that a girl singing? you find yourself wondering) but ultimately delights. On the Azealia Banks indebted On The Regular, Shamir raps over a synth trail that would work as an instrumental track itself. The punchy, under 3-minute track is one of many that never overstays its welcome, with most in fact ending before the listener has gotten their full. For a dance music album, the 11-track Ratchet clocks in at under an hour giving every song a chance to hold the spotlight before being led out from under the lights. Hot Mess is a stand out that hits in the middle of the album features a chorus that easy to sing along to, and serves as a palate cleanser before the album shifts gear with Demon about how relationships can serve to enable the worst in someone. Another song that will bury deep into your conscious is Youth which somehow manages to be both subdued and surprisingly spry. Coming off a 4-song EP, this could easily have been a collection of half-baked ideas that were never given the time or space to grow into the songs that they could be. Instead, the earnest, pithy listen is one of the most fun albums to be released in the last year and features a synth heavy song list that meanders into jazz (on In For the Kill) and more. For a dance party, a mood lift, or anything else, this is an album you can dip in and out of at will. Last week there was a big rumour buzzing on the internet that superstar Rajinikanth was no more. A little known Sri Lankan Tamil website put out a report saying that Superstar Rajinikanth is dead. The news spread like wildfire through various social networking platforms but sources close to the actor including his PRO denied it as a mere rumor. Rajinikanths spokesperson told a TV channel: This is an unnecessary rumor created by few websites, Rajini sir is fine and fans should stay calm. At the moment he is holidaying in USA, and doing fine. The buzz is that Rajini is taking complete rest as advised by his team of doctors and just chilling out in US, where his personal privacy is assured. The superstar had recently completed a strenuous schedule for his sci-fi thriller 2.O, directed by Shankar. But what ignited the rumours was that Rajinikanth had not come back to Chennai for a proposed grand audio launch of his Kabali, scheduled to release on 15 July. The Kabali teaser trailer had gone viral with over 20 million hits and the buzz on the film was humongous. It was a soft audio launch of Kabali, straight to the stores. Meanwhile the audio of Kabali and the 35 second song teaser 'Neruppu Da' went viral, with 2 million hits under 24 hours. Swaroop Reddy of Think Music said: We are thrilled by the response to the Kabali album. It is a big hit on all streaming platforms. Nothing compares to the excitement surrounding the release of a Rajinikanth film. Fans can also look forward to another song teaser closer to the release day. Kabali post-production work is almost over, as producer Kalaipuli S Thanu is busy getting it dubbed in four languages. After censor clearance sometime later this month, the release date will be officially announced. At a time when there is increasing scrutiny on how companies utilise their funds toward expansion and other miscellaneous purposes, shareholders, too, are becoming increasingly active, especially, when listed firms bypass dividend or bonus share announcements in the name of slowdown but don't hesitate to reward their chieftains through crazy salaries and perks. This is exactly what had happened at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the country's largest software firm TCS, when shareholders raised a query over CEO N Chandrasekaran's payout for FY16, pointing towards the ratio of his salary to the median remuneration. In the last fiscal, Chandrasekaran's salary increased 20 percent to Rs 25.6 crore while he also received an additional Rs 10 crore as a one-time special bonus. As a result, the CEO's compensation now stands at 459.84 times the median level at TCS, widening from 416 times in the previous year. "We have imposed restrictions on age in this country. We should impose restrictions on income. This is not the Tata tradition. This is uneven distribution of income. You only see this in two IT companies in India - one in Bangalore, one in Mumbai," the Economic Times quoted the shareholder. It didn't stop there. Another shareholder asked how it was possible to have such a large salary-to-median-ratio level, especially as shareholders have not been compensated, while a third asked why TCS was trying out these 'American practices' in a poor country, the ET report said. Chairman Cyrus Mistry fielding questions on CEO's compensation brushed aside concerns saying, "The board is totally cognisant of the benchmark salary structure within the industry and has applied those. We think we have applied them appropriately." In comparison to Chandrasekaran's package, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka earned about Rs 49 crore in the last financial year and his pay was 935 times the median remuneration of employees. Several shareholders also asked for issuance of bonus shares while referring to the low amount of capital funds compared to the cash balances and reminding the management about the approaching golden jubilee (50th year) of the firm. In fact, one of the shareholder even invoked the name of rival Infosys' Chief Executive and asked for a few "sikkas" (meaning coins) from the company in the form of bonus shares. Mistry said smilingly the board will consider such suggestions. The over $110 billion, salt-to-software Tata Group derives over half of its revenues from outside India. Amid worries about volatile financial markets, the Tata group Chairman also expressed hope that the rupee will remain stable on the back of the country's improving macroeconomic fundamentals. "Indian economy is doing well and our current account balances are well. At least, I look forward to a stable rupee going into the future. We can't say exactly what will happen," he said. He also acknowledged that there is a "lot of volatility" in the world and Tata Sons' largest company by profits, TCS, has multiple income streams spread across geographies and verticals to take care of the same. Calling 'Brexit' -- exit of Britain from EU -- as an "important" question, Mistry declined to answer specifically about its impact. A referendum is due this month in the UK to decide whether Britain stays in the European Union or not. Mistry further said he does not see any impact on the company's operations in Tamil Nadu as a result of the state government's decision to allow IT employees to unionise. On the $940 million claim by US-based Epic Systems alleging theft of trade secrets, Mr Mistry said TCS believes it has not misused any intellectual property of the American firm and is currently awaiting a judgement. Replying to a question on the lower provision despite the suit, Mistry said, "In the opinion of the company's legal counsel, the jury award is not binding, and it's currently assessed on the low possibility of the event." He sees the UK-based Diligenta, TCS' bet to expand in the insurance business, as having a good future from the long term perspective. With agency inputs Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to modify conditions of 'protection from arrest' granted to Rajya Sabha MP and real estate developer Sanjay Kakade, accused of helping former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal with money laundering. Kakade had filed an anticipatory bail plea, and the high court had given him interim protection from arrest. It also imposed a condition that he would not leave the Bombay High Court's jurisdiction. Kakade filed a fresh application saying being an MP and due to his business work he had to travel, so this condition be relaxed. Justice P M Deshmukh, however, today asked him to produce the itinerary of his business tours till 1 July, and posted the matter for hearing on 20 June. Hiten Venegaonkar, Enforcement Directorate's lawyer, opposed Kakade's plea saying the condition imposed on him was to ensure his presence in the court. According to the ED, Bhujbal paid Kakade Rs 28 crore in cash in return for cheques for the same amount. This was to convert Bhujbal's black money earned through bribes, etc., into 'white', it says. ED has alleged that at least a dozen persons helped Bhujbal launder his money through their companies. All of them have challenged non-bailable warrants issued against them by the trial court and filed anticipatory bail applications, and the HC have given them interim protection from arrest. Meanwhile, the division bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka today posted for hearing on 20 June the anticipatory bail application of Pankaj Bhujbal, Bhujbal's son, an accused in the same case as Bhujbal. The interim protection given by the HC to Pankaj has expired. According to the ED lawyers, Pankaj therefore wants immediate relief from the High Court to avoid arrest. Chhagan Bhujbal, a senior NCP leader, was the PWD minister during the Congress-NCP rule and is accused of taking kickbacks in construction of the state guesthouse 'Maharashtra Sadan' in Delhi and in some other contracts. New Delhi: A three-and-a-half-year-old boy was fatally run over by a tempo allegedly driven rashly by its drunk driver in south west Delhi's Najafgarh area, police said. The speeding Tata 407 tempo hit the boy, identified as Chinmay, who was playing outside the home while his father stood some distance away when the mishap occurred. 30-year-old tempo driver Dabbu Shah, who was in a drunken state, was caught by a mob and thrashed by them before being rescued by police. He was injured and admitted to a hospital here with multiple injuries, police said. A police officer said Shah, who was driving under the influence of alcohol, not only failed to see the boy playing in the lane, but also did not stop after running over the kid. In his statement to the police, Shah claimed he did not realise the boy came under the wheels of his vehicle. The police said the driver stopped the tempo only when local reidents screamed after seing the accident. The police said few bottles of liquor were found from inside the vehicle and the driver's medical test also confirmed that he was drunk at the time of the accident. "We arrested him for rash and negligent driving causing death," said the police officer. A defining moment marked the commissioning ceremony of Indian Air force Academy (IAF) Hakimpet, when the Air force for the first time inducted first women fighter pilots into its squad, ANI reported. Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh on Saturday created history when defence minister Manohar Parrikar commissioned them as India's first women fighter pilots. The IAF academy in Hakimpet Hyderabad held its graduation day parade, an event to marks the successful completion of pre-commissioning training of IAF's flight cadets, on Saturday, 18 June. But this year's induction parade was a watershed as in the history of Indian military as women pilots were commissioned for the first time ever. Hyderabad: Passing out parade underway at the Indian Air Force Academy in Hakimpet pic.twitter.com/cpcqvzrOru ANI (@ANI_news) June 18, 2016 The first women to be commissioned into fighter stream in IAF, they were the centre of attraction at the Combined Graduation Parade. However, the induction is on an experimental basis, as the Indian Air force will study the results of this step over the next five years and form a permamnent policy on women's induction accordngly, The Indian Express reported. The Union Minister for Defence, Manohar Parrikar was also present to witness the landmark event. He reviewed the passing out parde and conferred 'President's Commission' to 129 graduating trainees of various branches including 22 women trainees. Speaking on the event he complimented all officers on their successful induction to the squad. He said, "This is a golden day in the history of IAF. It should be an opening for more women for joining combat forces. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar reviews the passing out parade at the Indian Air Force Academy in Hakimpet pic.twitter.com/I7Zqqqk12V ANI (@ANI_news) June 18, 2016 India's first woman IPS officer and current Puducherry governer, Kiran bedi has also congratulated the women pilots for scripting hictory. "It's a glorius day for India; I Salute their (the 3 women pilots') parents and teachers and mentors," CNN-News18 quoted her as saying. The landmark event comes in the light of the fact that women in India are not allowed to serve on warships armoured corps or artillery, amid other combat roles that are out of their reach, CNN News18 reported. According to a report in the DNA, the officer's inducted on the Saturday' event have cleared the first stage of their training which includes about 150 flying hours. The three women pilots will now train for six months on the Advanced Jet Fighter 'the British-built Hawk' during their stage-III training at Bidar in Karnataka. They will get to fly like fighter jets like Sukhoi and Tejas next year after completion of the training and they will be assigned fighters and their squadrons. The newly inducted pilots have been asked by the IAF to avoid motherhood for the next four years. Initially, six women cadets were competing for the honour after the induction of women pilots was announced in October, on experimental basis. But only Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh could make it through the final selection for the fighter stream, the Indian Express report said. Avani Chaturvedi, Mohana Singh and Bhawna Kanth, female pilots who will be inducted in IAF fighter squadron shortly pic.twitter.com/wmAY106snR ANI (@ANI_news) June 18, 2016 Flight Cadet Bhawana Kanth, one of the girls to pen down her name in history, belongs to Darbhanga in Bihar. Her father, an engineer at IOCL, was always encouraging of her dreams. An excited Bhawana told News18 that she always dreamt of flying and that was the reason she applied for IAF. But when she got the opportunity to apply for fighter stream, that "was the best and the biggest thing" that has happened to her, she says. Avani Chaturvedi who also made it to the final list of inducted pilots, is an engineer and belongs to Satna, Madhya pradesh. She said her family members serving in the army inspired her to join IAF and then there was no looking back, News18 reported. Feel confident& good definitely. All our instructors were very supportive-Avani Chaturvedi,IAF fighter pilot pic.twitter.com/jVG4qXmxht ANI (@ANI_news) June 18, 2016 Flight Cadet Mohana Singh comes from a Air force background; her father is currently in service. Mohana says it was a dream instilled in her since childhoods. She said she wanted to take the family legacy forward by serving in the forces and inspired by her grandfather, who was a Flight Guner in Aviation research centre, she knew flying was the best option. On Mohana's induction, her overwhelmed mother told the press that she was proud of her daughter's achievements. The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday revealed that there were no plans to disband the Village Defense Committees (VDC), a state-run militia, which faces crisis over its constitutional validity with serious criminal charges registered against its members. The government, in response to the questions raised by two legislators of Opposition, National Conference (NC) in State Assembly, said the VDCs were under review and efforts were being made on a regular basis to improve their working. Whenever any member of Village Defense Committees is found to be involved in misusing the weapons, he is immediately disengaged and appropriate action is taken against him, the government said in its reply. The state government said a total of 221 cases were registered against the VDC members in Jammu region, which included 23 murder cases, seven rape cases, 15 rioting cases and three cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. So far, 205 cases have been challaned and the inquest proceedings were underway in four other cases. The government revealed that out of the 221 cases, only five accused have been convicted of their crimes, while 42 accused have been acquitted and 121 cases are still under trial. The VDCs came into focus after its members killed three persons in Rajouri district of Jammu region in December last year, in two separate incidents. The slain included a woman Shamima Akhtar (36), her four-year-old son Tawheed Ahmad of Samote village and a youth leader of NC, Ishtiyaq Choudhary, in Kalakote village. The then government headed by late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had to face severe criticism from all the quarters, including citizens, civil society groups, human rights organizations, Opposition parties and separatists as well. In the past, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has largely remained silent over the issue of the disbanding of the VDCs, while in the power. But its coalition partner Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has outrightly rejected any such proposals before. After last years killings, the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, a BJP leader, ruled out speculations of disbanding of VDCs. VDCs have played a major role in combating militancy in remote areas, he had said. If the member of a Force does something wrong, will the entire force be blamed for it?, Singh told reporter in Jammu last year. A senior PDP leader and Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Choudhary Zulfikar Ali, who belongs to the Rajouri district where the killing took place, said the government will not tolerate the use of state weapons to kill innocent people. The government will disband VDCs as it cannot tolerate the use of state weapons to kill innocent civilians, he said amid uproar over the three killings by VDCs last year. What are VDCs? The VDCs were formed in 1995 during the Presidents Rule in the state to combat militancy in remote and far-flung areas. According to the media reports, the VDCs have a strength of 26,567 members in 10 districts of Jammu region and Leh district of Ladakh. VDCs personnel are provided basic training in local Army and police camps and are armed with .303 rifles. Depending on the size of the village, each VDC consists of 5-12 members, including some Special Police Officers (SPO), who are paid a paltry sum of Rs 3,000 as stipend from the government. The VDCs operating in the villages are predominantly Muslim majority areas while the personnel recruited are from Hindu population which has created a sense of insecurity among the Muslims of these areas. Human rights violations The VDCs are accused of many human rights violations which include rape, murder, abduction, rioting, drug trade, etc. According to the newly released statistics by the government, a total of 221 cases stand registered against VDC members in the districts of Kishtwar, Doda, Jammu, Kathua, Poonch, Ramban, Udhmapur and Samba. Hue and cry by the Opposition The National Conference, which over the years maintained silence on VDCs, came out all guns blazing over the killing of their youth leader and called for immediate disbanding of Village Defense Committees. National Conference Chief Spokesperson, Aga Syed Ruhullah, had accused the PDP-BJP government of using VDCs to create an atmosphere of insecurity in the state. The coalition was using the Village Defense Committees as political militia to silence the dissent, Ruhullah had said. In 2013, when communal riots broke out in Kishtwar on the eve of Eid, the VDCs members were initially accused of instigating the clashes in which three persons were killed and eight injured. Any decision with regard to the VDCs will be taken by the police, Omar Abdullah, the then Chief Minister had said after the riots. After the Kishtwar riots, the current Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti accused Farooq Abdullah of being the brainchild behind VDCs and called for the disbanding of this force. The National Conference has maintained double standards on VDCs over the years. In 2011, when the Supreme Court of India declared Salwa Judum a militia created to counter Maoists unconstitutional, the then J&K government headed by Omar Abdullah had an opportunity to disband VDCs but it chose the other way. Instead, the Omar Abdullah-led government went on to introduce the draft VDC and Police Bill which could have regularized and given them legal cover. Eventually, the government failed to introduce the Bill following the widespread criticism to turn J&K into a police state. Even Omars father, Farooq Abdullah, has advocated for giving sophisticated weapons to VDCs in 2001. Congress leader Aijaz Khan, in a statement, had said the government was setting a dangerous trend by allowing the misuse of government weapons. Most of the senior leaders, including Omar Abdullah, preferred to remain tight-lipped on VDC after they killed three persons last year. Growing protests Protests and a partial shutdown was observed in December in Kashmir region against the killing of mother-son duo and a youth leader of NC by VDC members in Rajouri district with some of the protests turning violent. Hurriyat (G) Chairman, Syed Ali Geelani has termed the crimes of VDCs a growing barbarism. Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has expressed similar views to disband the VDCs. There are around 200 murder cases against VDC, still the government continues to patronise them. We demand their immediate disbanding in Jammu, Chenab and Pir Panjal regions, Mirwaiz tweeted last December. Besides, various civil society groups have also appealed the government to disband the VDCs. The revelations by the government in the state Assembly over the continuation of the VDC militia is likely to cause clamour from people particularly civil society groups, human rights organizations and separatists. A probe being conducted by the Shamli district administration into the alleged migration from Kairana has found that in the list of 346 families, who had apparently left the region, 188 had left over five years ago. A home department spokesman said that on verification of the list of 346 families provided by BJP MP Hukum Singh, it was found that 66 families had left Kairana 10 years ago. It was also found that 60 families were living elsewhere for reasons relating to education, employment, health, or others, the spokesman said. As many as 28 families mentioned in the list are still residing in Kairana, the spokesman said. The spokesman also added that names of seven families have been mentioned in the list twice and five who were on government service have left the town after retirement. The inquiry has, however, found that in three cases, the families had faced 'rangdari' threats and police took timely action. Some cases of Muslim families leaving Kairana and moving elsewhere in search of livelihood and education have also come to light, the spokesman said. A DNA report also said that another list, compiled by locals, had been handed over to the district magistrate and contains names of 45 Muslim residents who had also left Kairana. The report further said that the compilers of the list also claimed that another 145 Muslims had left Kairana in the last few years, which they will mention in their second list to the district magistrate. "Our aim is not to tell the administration that Muslim families have been forced to leave but to simply let the world know that migration of both communities has been taking place in Kairana for the last 10-15 years. There are number of reasons behind migration and crime is not the only one," the report quoted one of the compilers of the list as saying. On the other hand, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said BJP does not want to "communalise or polarise" the UP elections, but the state government must address the issue if there is "even some evidence of migration" from Kairana. "We don't want in anyway to communalise or polarise the election, but if there is even some evidence of migration taking place from Kairana, it's an important issue that the state government there must address it," Jaitley told Times Now. Asked about the statements being made by some BJP leaders from the region, Jaitley said, "At the end of the day, whatever statements are made in public domain are in public domain." On Friday, BJP MLA Sangeet Som had led a rally in Kairana, where prohibitory orders are in place. Atul Pradhan of the Samajwadi Party had also led a similar rally. Both politicians, the report added, did not have permission to hold the rallies and were stopped. Som, who led the 'Nirbhay' yatra was stopped around two km from his parliamentary constituency Sardana. Pradhan's 'Sadhbhavna' rally saw 500 people who set out from Meerut to Kairana. Som had then issued an ultimatum to the UP government and had asked it to ensure that people who migrated were brought back. On Thursday, the Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya had said that besides the problem of law and order, it was the terror faced by a section of the society, which led to the alleged Hindu migration in Kairana. He had also said that the district administration failed to check migration because of "government pressure" and that the report of the probe team sent by BJP to conduct an on-the-spot assessment of the large scale migration will be handed over to Governor Ram Naik on Friday. (With inputs from PTI) New Delhi: Return journey for a Kashmiri girl, a medical student in Bangladesh, turned horrible as she was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Friday after security staff saw "carrying bomb" written on her check-in luggage. The girl, a resident of Rajbagh in Srinagar city, was taken for questioning after the security staff at the airport informed the police. She was travelling from Dhaka to Delhi via Kolkata. Officials said the incident took place when the girl and her three friends, bound for Srinagar, landed at the airport from Dhaka via Kolkata about 11:00 am. She was questioned while security agencies carried out background check in Bangladesh and Srinagar. The girl was released after police found that everything was in order, the officials said. The incident was flagged by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who took to Twitter and sought help from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in this regard. @HMOIndia @PMOIndia kindly look in to the matter of the detention of two Kashmiri girls at Delhi airport. Their parents are very concerned. Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 17, 2016 @HMOIndia @PMOIndia The grounds, as explained to me seem rather flimsy given that they flew from Dhaka to Delhi via Kolkata & then detained. Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 17, 2016 @HMOIndia @PMOIndia Any assistance & information will be greatly appreciated by their families & loved ones. Thank you in anticipation. Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 17, 2016 The Home Minister responded with: @abdullah_omar please send the details to pstohm@nic.in HMO India (@HMOIndia) June 17, 2016 Bilal Ahmad, the father of one of the girls, said that he attempted to seek the help of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti but was refused a meeting with her. "There were four girls who were returning from Bangladesh. They flew from Dhaka to Kolkata and then to Delhi. Their luggage was checked and cleared at all the airports," Ahmad said in Srinagar. "After they were detained, the airport authorities or the police did not inform their families. We fear for their safety. We have only talked to them once so far," he said. The three other girls decided to stay put with their friend and did not board the flight to Srinagar and waited till she was released. "Delhi Police released her after a few hours of questioning. However, between all this, the girls missed their connecting flight to Srinagar from Delhi and will now take a flight tomorrow," the official said. WHY DONT YOU READ THESE? A learned professor of linguistics, David Crystal, of University of Wales, Bangor has asserted that the full stop the point one puts at the end of a sentence to signify the sentence has ended, may be dying. Reporting it, The New York Times emphasised the punctuation in the headline itself thus: Period. Full Stop. Point. Whatever Its Called, Its Going Out of Style By convention, headlines do not use the full stop, hence when quoted, I too did not in the preceding paragraph, but the finicky traditionalists would frown at it. How can sentence be ended without it, when it is a quoted headline, and not the headline itself? Every other punctuation mark can be found in headlines, but not the stop. Some tabloids do use even the exclamation mark! That is what makes languages fun, as long as one has got a grip on it. However, I would not worry too much about it. For what Prof Crystal so far has found is that the full stop, or the point, or the period is not being used in text messages, generally. Nor, even when the messages are single-word sentences. They have not shown an inclination to slowly evaporate from written English. If they do, there could be hell to pay. Heres one personal example. Let me hark back to 25 September 1990, when Lal Krishna Advani started on his Rath Yatra from Somnath, and which turned the politics of the country upside down, and defined the communal fault lines very clearly. Covering it for The Hindu, I waited till we reached Rajkot, and broke off to file a report by telex. Those days, the Post & Telegraph charged Rs 5 per minute of transmission time, and we had a credit card-type of arrangement, as did all newspapers. Those were the pre-email, whatsapp, and mobile phones days, all of which enable instant messaging, and major newspapers had taken themselves out of depending on news dispatches only by telegram. It is yet another matter that my reports had been sent from what in those were days were boondocks by Morse Code. More of that ancient thing some other time, lest we move away from the business of the full stop. Newspapermen and telegraphists and telex operators at the P&T had happy relationships, especially because the guy at the machine got to read what would be printed elsewhere the next day. There was no 24x7 news television if you believe that they purvey only news which is of use to the people and sometimes a travelling journalist even received the courtesy of a cup of tea from those nicely hospitable blokes. To save on time to which the charges were tied, unlike telegraphy where it was per word, the practice was to punch it out on a tape where a permutation and combination of five holes alongside just one or all five or some of them which was fed into the machine later. After handing over my copy text of the report to non-journalists to the operator, I left for my lunch. On return, he gleefully told me he had saved me some money: by eliminating all the punctuations. All punctuations, which meant full stop, comma, and even the inverted commas were missing. By the well-meaning but foolish mans reckoning, he had saved at least Rs 5 a full minutes transmission time. I grabbed the message as typed and as its author, just could not make head or tail out of it. Imagine the explosion in the newsroom back in Chennai when it landed as clear gibberish. It dawned on me that the missing punctuation mark, the oldest in the world perhaps when multi-sentence writing emerged, still has a role to play. Moses Ten Commandments can be as clear as the learned professors name, but there, by indenting each of the lines, he (Moses) may have escaped the need to look for a punctuation mark. Happily, the full stop is missing only from small texts transmitted over the cyberspace. It is true that text messages have led to a truncation of words, dropping even the vowels in most cases, like grt or gr8 for great, and use of cum for come, but it is quite likely the full stop has a place as long as we write long. Imagine this without a full stop, though, of course, one can write fairly understandable, but staccato sentences without the other punctuations. But not so nice to read. Not even the type one gets in poorly written stuff. Any stuff. Period. Shimla: A BJP leader of Himachal Pradesh has raised objections to the construction of a house by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi near the summer residence of the President of India in Shimla, arguing that it is a "high security zone" where such an activity is not allowed. Suresh Bharadwaj, BJP MLA from Shimla and former state unit chief, has written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, urging him that the permission for construction of the house near the Presidential Retreat should be withdrawn. He has said that no construction is allowed in the vicinity of either the Presidential Retreat or Kalyani helipad nearby due to security reasons and that other people had been refused such permission in the past. The former Rajya Sabha MP said dignitaries like Prime Minister also stay at Presidential Retreat during their visits and Kalyani helipad is used exclusively by the Air Force for these VVIPs and for other security sorties. "...but now Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is constructing a house in this area which has put security of his Excellency the President of India, Prime Minister and other dignitaries at risk," Bharadwaj said in the letter to Singh. According to him, the area is 'no-construction zone', because of which people sold their land at throwaway prices and Priyanka purchased about 4,000 sq mtr of land. Taking "advantage" of her family status, Priyanka managed to get permission to construct house in the high-security zone, the MLA claimed. "The security angle of the President and other VVIPs may kindly be re-examined and permission granted to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to construct a huge house near Retreat, Shimla may be withdrawn," he said in the letter. New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday that the BJP does not want to "communalise or polarise" the UP elections, but the state government must address the issue if there is "even some evidence of migration" from Kairana. Jaitley also took on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing his Aam Aadmi Party government of giving advertisements to only "friendly" media and not to the media houses that are critical. In an interview to Times Now, the senior BJP leader maintained that 'Ram Mandir' will not be made an electoral issue in UP, where assembly elections are due next year, and his party is not looking to polarise the state to win votes. A major controversy has erupted over alleged migration from Kairana in western UP, although the state administration has questioned any religion-specific migration. "We don't want in anyway to communalise or polarise the election, but if there is even some evidence of migration taking place from Kairana, it's an important issue that the state government there must address it," he said. Asked about the statements being made by some BJP leaders from the region, Jaitley said, "At the end of the day, whatever statements are made in public domain are in public domain. "But, I only tell you ultimately it is the party president who determines the stand of the party and therefore as far as electoral strategy of UP is concerned.... "Even in earlier elections, even though BJP stands committed to build a temple in Ayodhya, we have always said that we are not going to make it an election issue. For us its much more than an election issue." On another controversy surrounding the censor board and on whether its chief Pahlaj Nihalani would be sacked, Jaitley who also holds charge of Information and Broadcasting Ministry said, "I am reasonably certain, that once we are able to announce those new guidelines (for Central Board of Film Certification), the roles of individuals will get diluted. "How to deal with the individuals, I think you should trust the government. The government will deal with them and advise restraint or take whatever appropriate action is required in the matter," he said. He hinted that the new guidelines would be out in a couple of weeks. Asked about Kejriwal's allegations that Delhi Lieutenant General Najeeb Jung was interfering in his work, Jaitley said Delhi was not a state but a union territory. "It is the seat of the central government... Can we have a Union Territory which says we will bypass LG? Senior bureaucrats are not willing to serve Delhi...It's a historic opportunity for AAP to perform and govern...you have do your function through LG," he said. He said, "There are several non-BJP state governments in the country but "one union territory behaves as if it has absolute power.I think what has happened in Delhi is constitutional monstrosity". On why the government has not been able to bring back Vijay Mallya from the UK, Jaitley said, "Britain has one of the highest standards of civility in public life and therefore for Britain to become a heaven for any absconder out of India is something that I cannot fathom. "British government has taken a position that if you enter the Britain with a valid passport, then we are not going to deport a person, you come in by way of extradition. And conventionally they have been very slow and reluctant in extraditing people. "And I think where you criticise the government of India, we can take all the steps but ultimately we can not physically lift an individual and bring him back. Well I only hope that the British government had realised that absconders in one jurisdiction can't make a heaven in another jurisdiction. This is not civility. And this is not certainly British civility." He further said that "a mistake in Mallya case took place years ago when he was given a second round of restructuring, when airline was bleeding, when he was not in position to serve interest... "Probably at that stage, somebody thought may be we give him a new lease of life. They never knew Mallya's intention that one day he will disappear." He also said that any agency must go through the entire transactions before filing any FIR or chargesheet and they go through possibility of any siphoning of money. "Create that evidence and then move the chargesheet or FIR, as without evidence they will end up with egg on their face. Therefore, what the agencies are doing is that they are independently investigating the matter, going through the entire records... Banks themselves have been running from pillar to post ..." "I think at the end of the day, the banking situation overall will retrieve. Mallya is a bad example because I think he has done more injustice to India's private sector by making banks suspicious of borrowers. Banks should be enthusiastic in lending to borrowers," he added. On Subramanian Swamy's attack on RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Jaitley said some people are "outspoken" but it has been more than adequately clarified this was not the party's position. "Let me make it very clear that when this statement about the RBI Governor was made, I had publicly disagreed, Venkaiah Naidu made a statement publicly disagreeing with it and then the party president Amit Shah made a statement that this is not a party position. Now, some people are more outspoken and therefore speak their mind out. The others remain more conventional about it," he said. Pune: Former Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse on Saturday arrived at BJP's two-day state-level executive meet here, putting an end to speculations that he may not attend the event in the wake of his resignation from the Cabinet, after a host of allegations including irregularities in a land deal. The 64-year-old BJP leader arrived at Bal Gandharv auditorium, the venue of the meet at around 9.30 am on Saturday. BJP's state-level unit members, MLAs and MPs from the state besides ministers are participating in the meet, where Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Piyush Goyal, Prakash Javadekar along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadanavis, state BJP president Raosaheb Danve will address the inauguration ceremony. Considered "number two" in the Cabinet handling some vital portfolios, Khadse resigned on 4 June after facing heat over a series of allegations including irregularities in a land deal in Pune and calls allegedly received from mob boss Dawood Ibrahim's residence in Karachi on his mobile phone besides the alleged bribe sought by his "PA". He found himself in a spot over the purchase of a three-acre Maharashtra Industrial Development Corp land here allegedly at a low price of around Rs 3.75 crore from its original owner in the name of his wife and son-in-law. The market value of the land is reportedly Rs 40 crore. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is reportedly preparing for a ministry reshuffle before the Assembly session, which begins on 4 July. The swearing-in ceremony for the new ministers is likely to be held on 20 June. Siddaramaiah is expected to finalise the new list in a day or two after getting the green signal from Congress president Sonia Gandhi. "We discussed all names to be dropped and inducted with the AICC President and Vice President Sonia and Rahulji. We have convinced them. High Command has authorised me to go ahead with the reshuffle," Siddaramaiah told reporters after the second round of consultations "By tomorrow or the day after, I will prepare a list and submit it to the Governor, after which they will take oath," the Chief Minister said. "It has been three years for our government, time has come for me to reshuffle the Cabinet keeping the forthcoming election in mind. I will do it in consultation with Congress president Sonia Gandhi," Siddaramaiah said at a meeting of council of ministers on 15 June The Chief Minister has already signalled that the exercise would involve "dropping a few and inducting a few." He hopes to bring dynamism into his government and induct ministers to make the ministry more responsive, according to The New Indian Express. Some senior leaders have expressed their reservation over the chief ministers plan to reshuffle the Cabinet and more importantly, on the new list prepared by him. The state leaders feel that the list lacks regional and caste balance. This list could not get the approval of Sonia Gandhi, who wanted more deliberations on it. Several ruling Congress legislators are engaged in hectic lobbying for ministerial berths. Though many senior ministers are opposed to a major revamp, they conveyed their readiness to accept any decision that the high command would take in deciding the composition of the ministry, The New Indian Express reported. Labour Minister PT Parameshwara Naik who is likely to be dropped from the new Cabinet told the media in Bengaluru that he is ready to accept any job assigned to him. Similarly, Industries and Tourism Minister RV Deshpande said that it was the prerogative of the CM to undertake the Cabinet reshuffle, reported India Today. Deccan Chronicle reported that Siddaramaiah might drop Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharges loyalists. Reportedly Kharge met Sonia Gandhi before and after her meeting with Siddaramaiah. However, sources close to Kharge denied these allegations and termed the meetings as routine to discuss Parliamentary issues. The exercise is being undertaken to tone up the government after Congress' debacle in recent Assembly polls in four states, especially Assam. Karnataka is the only major state with the Congress in power after losing power recently in Kerala and Assam. Ottawa: Canada's parliament has passed a contentious bill to allow medically-assisted death for terminally ill people. The bill received royal assent on Friday afternoon after passing a final vote in the Senate earlier in the day. The bill was voted through after a final bid by senators failed to expand the scope of who qualifies for a doctor-assisted death, CBC News reported. It was approved with a vote of 44-28. The Senate had passed an amendment to include those who were not necessarily near death, but the House of Commons rejected it on Thursday. In a joint statement, the ministers reiterated that the legislation "strikes the right balance between personal autonomy for those seeking access to medically assisted dying and protecting the vulnerable." The law was put forward after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on doctors helping the incurably sick to die. The move makes Canada one of the few countries where doctors can legally help sick people die. Assisted suicide is currently legal in just a few countries, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Albania, Colombia and Japan. The practice is legal in the US states of Washington, California, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana. Cairo: Egypt's toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was on Saturday sentenced to life imprisonment by a court for passing state secrets to Qatar. The court also upheld death sentences given to six Muslim Brotherhood members in the same case and awarded life imprisonment (25 years in prison) to two others. Morsi was given an additional 15 years in prison in the same case, increasing his jail term to 40 years. Last month, the court ordered that the case documents of the six defendants, excluding Morsi, be referred to the Grand Mufti, who according to the Egyptian law must review all death sentences. However, his decision is not binding. The six defendants include Ahmed Abdo Ali Afifi, a documentary film producer (who is in jail), Asmaa el-Khateeb a reporter in Rassd news network (RNN) (sentenced in absentia), Alaa Omar Mohammed, a Jordanian news producer in Al-Jazeera (sentenced in absentia), and the news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal in Al-Jazeera (sentenced in absentia). The verdict is not final and can be appealed. Morsi as well as other defendants have been convicted for leaking classified documents to Qatar and selling them to Al-Jazeera channel. The classified documents allegedly include information on general and military intelligence, the armed forces, its armaments and the state's policy secrets. Other charges include leading and joining the outlawed group, the Muslim Brotherhood, that aims at changing the country's regime by force, and attacking army and police posts and public property. Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 35 other members of the proscribed Islamist group were last month sentenced to life for committing violent acts after the ouster of country's first democratically elected President in 2013. Badie and Morsi were also sentenced to life in prison in the espionage case. Their sentences are currently in appeal. Morsi himself alongwith Badie and 100 other leaders were also sentenced to death in June last year for escaping from prison in 2011. However, an Egyptian court later quashed the death sentence against Badie. Hundreds of other Muslim Brotherhood members were also sentenced for life in various cases. The Egyptian government has been cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters since the ouster of Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood was designated as a terrorist group in November 2013 by the government. BAGHDAD A top Iraqi general said the army may permit Islamic State militants to flee the offensive on Falluja, but he expected most of them would fight to the end and predicted they faced an internal uprising in the northern city of Mosul. Troops recaptured Falluja's municipal building on Friday, although the ultra-hardline militants are still holed up in several districts and have left many streets and buildings laced with explosives. The military has made quick progress in the city, an hour's drive from Baghdad, prompting the exodus of more than 68,000 residents. Asked if government forces would allow militants a path out of the city to avoid intense clashes in built-up areas that could kill remaining civilians and destroy infrastructure, General Talib Shaghati Mshari al-Kenani said they would try. "But the Daesh terrorists in Falluja will detonate suicide bombs to kill innocent Iraqis, believing they will enter heaven by doing so," he told Reuters in an interview on Thursday, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. Kenani, who heads the Joint Operations Command waging Iraq's war against Islamic State in coordination with a U.S.-led coalition, was speaking at his Baghdad office inside a compound guarded by black-clad special forces commandos. In previous offensives, Iraqi forces have often left a way out for the insurgents to escape, but after losing nearly half the Iraqi territory they seized in 2014 and major transit routes including to neighbouring Syria, their options are narrowing. Government troops launched a major operation with coalition air support on May 23 to retake Falluja, a bastion of the Sunni Muslim insurgency against U.S. forces that toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, and later Shi'ite-led governments. The participation of Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias alongside the Iraqi army raised fears of sectarian killings, and authorities are already investigating allegations that militiamen executed dozens of Sunni men fleeing the city. Kenani said the military plan for operations inside Falluja proper did not include a role for the militias, grouped under a government umbrella called the Hashid Shaabi. He said the Hashid would likely not be needed either in the campaign for the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, a predominately Sunni city which Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has pledged to retake this year. "The tribal Hashid, local police and volunteers from the Sunni areas occupied by Daesh will help to hold land. No need for additional forces from outside the area," he said, in an apparent reference to Shi'ite militiamen. HOPES FOR MOSUL UPRISING Falluja is seen as a launchpad for recent Islamic State (IS) bombings in the capital, making the offensive a crucial part of the government's campaign to improve security, though U.S. allies would prefer to concentrate on Mosul. The army is pushing about 60 kilometres (40 miles) south of Mosul towards Qayara, where an airfield could serve as a staging ground for the future offensive, but progress has been faltering. Kenani said the military had information that residents inside Mosul, estimated at more than one million, were preparing to rise up against the insurgents and was in contact with them to synchronise such action with an external military assault. "Cooperation and coordination with Mosul residents will contribute in a big way to the armed forces in liberating the city from Daesh," he said, but gave no details. Groups inside Mosul have reportedly scrawled anti-Islamic State graffiti in public places and attacked militants at checkpoints, but there have not been widespread acts of resistance. Kenani, who is also commander of Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) which has spearheaded battles against Islamic State for more than two years, said he expected special forces to remain in the vanguard against pockets of Islamist militants once the government regains control. "These sorts of operations which happen in densely populated areas don't require regular armed forces but rather special operations units which are small and adaptable." The roughly 10,000 members of CTS, established a decade ago with support from the U.S. forces, are considered the best-trained and -equipped fighters in Iraq. Kenani said they would be needed for the foreseeable future. (Reporting By Stephen Kalin) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: Amid a spate of shootings in the US, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has called for strong gun control laws and plugging the loopholes in the rules that are currently prevailing. In an open letter on the first anniversary of Charleston church massacre and less than a week after the horrific shooting in Orlando, Clinton said an average of 90 people a day are killed by gun violence in our country. "This must stop. A good first step is closing the 'Charleston Loophole' in our gun laws, which allows a person otherwise prohibited from buying a gun such as a domestic abuser or other violent criminal to buy one if a background check isn't completed within three business days," Clinton said. "This loophole allowed the alleged Charleston shooter to buy his gun despite his prior arrest record. How many more innocent people need to be cut down before we act and close this dangerous loophole?" she asked. Last year nine churchgoers, all African-American, were shot by a young, white man who entered their Charleston, South Carolina, church, joined their Bible study for an hour and then opened fire. "On that terrible evening and every day since, Americans across the country have joined our hearts with the people of Charleston and South Carolina. Millions of Americans are still walking with them in grief, solidarity and determination," Clinton said. "In the spirit of the Charleston Nine, let's bridge our divides, fight for change and remember that love never fails," Clinton said. Her remarks come just days after the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which Afghan-origin gunman Omar Mateen massacred 49 people. Brussels: A Belgian man has been arrested and charged in connection with the Islamic State suicide bombings that killed 32 people in Brussels in March, prosecutors have said. The 30-year-old, named as Youssef E.A, is one of several charged over the 22 March attacks that struck Brussels airport and a city metro station. The man has been charged on Friday with "participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempts to terrorist murders, as a perpetrator, co-perpetrator of accomplice", Belgium's federal prosecutor said. It added in a statement that several suspects linked to the bombings took part in a reconstruction Friday at an apartment in the Brussels suburb of Etterbeek. The flat is believed to have been "used as a safehouse" by the attackers and as the point of departure for the attack at Maalbeek metro station, the statement said. Osama Krayem, a Swede of Syrian origin who has been charged over both the Brussels bombings and November's jihadist attacks in Paris, took part in the reconstruction. He is suspected of buying the bags used for the Brussels suicide bombings. Caught on CCTV minutes before the metro bombing alongside suicide attacker Khalid El-Bakraoui, he decided not to go ahead with detonating his own device, according to his lawyer Vincent Lurquin. Brothers Smail and Ibrahim Farisi, 31 and 27 years old respectively, also assisted with the reconstruction. They are suspected of renting the flat to the attackers and cleaning it a day after the bombings. A 31-year-old man arrested in June, identified by prosecutors as "Ali E.H.A" and named by media as Ali El Haddad Asufi, has also been linked to the apartment and took part in the simulation. Bilal El Makhoukhi, a 27-year-old Brussels resident arrested in April, also took part, although his suspected role in the Belgium attacks is not clear. He was sentenced to five years in jail in 2014 after going on trial alongside several members of Sharia4Belgium, a group that sent jihadists to Syria. He is reported to have been injured fighting in the war-torn country. Washington: The United States killed six Al-Qaeda fighters last week in three separate air strikes in central Yemen, the military has said. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) "remains a significant threat to the region, the United States and beyond," US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said in a statement. "We remain committed to defeating AQAP and denying it safe haven regardless of its location." The United States, which considers AQAP the most dangerous Al-Qaeda branch, regularly conducts air strikes against the jihadist group in Yemen, mostly using drones. The first strike took place on 8 June in Al-Badya Governorate, killing two Al-Qaeda operatives and destroying their weapons-laden vehicle, CENTCOM said. A 10 June strike in Marib Governorate killed two fighters, while a 12 June strike in Shabwah Governorate killed two others. AQAP has several thousand "adherents and fighters" in Yemen, where it is "very active," CIA Director John Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. "There is an active effort underway to continue to dismantle and destroy that organisation." There are also "several hundred" fighters loyal to the Islamic State group in Yemen, Brennan said. AQAP has taken advantage of the country's civil conflict between Huthi rebels and Yemeni government forces to expand its influence in the country's south and southeast. US soldiers had been deployed in Yemen until March 2015, when the last troops left the country in the face of a Huthi rebel advance. However, a "very small number" of US soldiers recently returned to the southern port of Mukalla, retaken from AQAP in April, the Pentagon confirmed last month. 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . What: Teekay Offshore Partners (TOO) was up 20% at 11 a.m. EDT Friday after the offshore services company issued $200 million in equity securities. That capital infusion fueled a similar surge at its parent company, Teekay Corp. (TK 1.03%), which saw its stock up 15%. So what: Teekay Offshore Partners agreed to issue $100 million of 10.5% Series D Preferred Units to a group of investors via a private placement. Those investors will also receive 4.5 million warrants to buy common units 33% higher than Thursday's closing price. Further, the company agreed to issue $100 million of common units in a private placement at Thursday's closing price. Teekay Offshore Partners is raising this cash as part of its previously announced financing initiatives to shore up its balance sheet. With this cash infusion, the company now has the financing it needs to cover all of its medium-term liquidity needs and fully finance its $1.6 billion growth project pipeline. By wrapping up its financing initiatives on schedule, Teekay Offshore Partners eliminates the risk of a further reduction, or possible elimination, of its distribution. That risk was also weighing on Teekay Corp., because its cash flow is partially supported by distributions received from Teekay Offshore Partners. It already had to cut its dividend by 90% late last year in response to distribution cuts from Teekay Offshore Partners and another affiliated MLP. Instead of the risk of an additional dividend cut, Teekay Corp.'s dividend is poised to rise when the growth projects at its MLPs start coming online. Now what: After shoring up its balance sheet, Teekay Offshore Partners' focus will now shift to completing its growth projects on time and on budget. Those projects will be key to growing the company's distribution, with that growth then flowing upward to its parent company. Taxpayers need to take advantage of every tax deduction they can find in order to minimize what they pay to the Internal Revenue Service. What comes as a surprise to many taxpayers is that if they're unfortunate enough to have to pay taxes at the state level, those payments can actually serve as the basis for a deduction on their federal tax return. However, there are some complicated rules to follow in order to make sure you get every penny that's coming to you. Below, we'll look more closely at state taxes and how you can deduct them on your 1040. Which state taxes are deductible? Historically, state income taxes were the primary deductible item for those who had to pay tax to their state governments. Any money that you paid to the state for income tax was deductible, whether you did so through payroll withholding or by direct payments to the state revenue collector. One confusing element is that the year in which you're allowed to deduct tax payments is the year in which they're made. So if like many taxpayers, you end up paying your 2015 state income tax bill in April 2016, then you don't get to claim that deduction until you file your 2016 federal return early next year. That's the case even though the state taxes that you were paying were for the 2015 tax year. More recently, the tax laws were changed to allow you to claim a deduction for state sales taxes. You're not allowed to claim both income and sales taxes. However, you can pick whichever amount is larger for you. The benefit of the law change was to allow residents in states that didn't charge an income tax to get at least some benefit from the state tax deduction. Currently, those states include Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Moreover, because there are special tables that allow you to claim a safe-harbor deduction amount for sales tax without having to tack every purchase, the recordkeeping can be easier than you would expect. How can you deduct state taxes? You're allowed to claim the amount you pay during a given year as an itemized deduction on Schedule A. What that means is that if your total itemized deductions, including not only state taxes but also other items that you're allowed to itemize, exceed the standard deduction, then you get the benefit of those deductions in reducing your outstanding tax liability. If your tax payments are less than the standard deduction, however, then it's still smart to claim the higher standard deduction amount -- even though it means that you essentially don't get any credit for the tax break for state taxes. To get a deduction for state income tax paid, you have to have actually paid the amount claimed. For sales taxes, though, you can claim a certain amount that varies by state, income level, and number of exemptions claimed. This IRS calculator can also help you find the appropriate deduction amount for sales tax for your situation. Watch out for the AMT One thing to keep in mind is that even though you can deduct state income and sales tax payments on your federal return for purposes of calculating regular tax, different rules can apply to take away that deduction. In particular, the Alternative Minimum Tax doesn't offer a deduction for state and local taxes, and so you have to add back those amounts to your taxable income for AMT purposes. Therefore, if you're subject to the AMT, you'll essentially get no tax break from the money you pay in state taxes. Having to pay state taxes isn't anyone's favorite thing to do. However, getting to take a federal deduction for the state taxes you pay is at least a small silver lining for bearing a double tax burden. By knowing the rules governing deductions of state tax, you can make sure you'll save as much as you can from the money you pay in taxes everywhere. Two years ago, it seemed that the Canada's oil sands industry was just starting to hit its stride. In 2014, 2.3 million barrels of oil per day came from Alberta's oil sands on the back of $201 billion of investment between 1999 and 2013. And TransCanada's (TRP 1.61%) Keystone XL pipeline was political leverage in the U.S. and seemed likely to pass. Falling oil prices decimated the industry, however, and now a new carbon tax in Alberta could lead to a long and slow decline for the industry. Canada takes a stand on climate change There's sweeping reform taking place in the Canadian energy industry, and as the country that supplies the U.S. with more oil than anyone else, it could have a trickle-down effect on U.S. consumers and companies. Canada's federal government is working on a national action plan on climate change, but has a lot of factors to consider as it develops that plan. So, provinces are taking action on their own. Alberta, which is the equivalent of Texas in terms of oil production, recently passed a carbon tax that will impact businesses and consumers who burn fossil fuels. It will also affect oil producers, which use a lot of energy in their production processes. Even more notable is that businesses won't be able to produce, process, refine, flare, or vent oil or natural gas without registering for the carbon tax. While this doesn't kill the oil sands business where it stands, it makes it even harder for a troubled business to recover by adding even more incremental costs. Investment in future production also isn't likely unless oil prices climb over $100 per barrel again. Elsewhere in Canada, Ontario is joining a cap-and-trade plan with Quebec and California that is expected to raise $1.9 billion that will then be turned to energy efficiency, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. Oil may be big business in Canada today, but the current political climate indicates that there's little interest in keeping it that way. From a production standpoint, the most affected in Canada may be Suncor (SU 1.78%) and Encana Corporation (OVV 4.42%), which are two of the largest producers in that country. Both have made big bets on oil sands that aren't paying off, with oil prices and regulation where they are. On the pipeline side, TransCanada and Enbridge (ENB 1.74%), which own pipelines both within Canada and traveling into the U.S. If Canada's oil production drops because of carbon taxes or cap and trade, it could mean a major slowdown for all four companies, which have combined to report nearly $5 billion in losses over the past year. Going beyond oil and gas Incentive programs across Canada may also push consumers to adopt EVs or natural gas trucks more rapidly in Canada. EV buyers get up to $14,000 in rebates depending on the vehicle they purchase and a carbon tax could help push truck owners to lower intensity fuels like natural gas. Given the country's commitment to reducing carbon emissions, the moves it's making now may cause an industry shift there's no coming back from. And that could have an impact up and down the oil supply chain. Death by a thousand cuts There's been enough invested by oil companies to make it virtually impossible to cut off production immediately. But the Canadian oil boom is likely to suffer from decreased profitability, as compared to what once was possible regardless how high oil prices were, as regulations, taxes, and other costs eat into profits. A once-promising oil boom in Canada is becoming an asset the oil industry can't quite put in its rearview mirror. The country, however, is looking ahead and wants to be an industry leader in EVs and renewable energy. Investors should take notice. Image source: Getty Images. The first quarter was tough for most retailers as Amazon.com continued to grab share of consumers' wallets. Not every brick-and-mortar retailer suffered from poor sales performance, however, as TJX beat analysts estimates last quarter with $7.5 billion in sales, compared with the $7.3 billion the Street was looking for. TJX's off-price counterpart, Ross Stores , didn't fare as well, missing analysts' estimates, but sales still climbed more than 5%. Those are growth numbers Amazon's direct competitors, such as Wal-Mart or Target , would love to have. Wal-Mart and Target saw sales growth of 0.9% and -5.4%, respectively. TJX and Ross are succeeding where other retailers are failing, and it doesn't seem online retailers like Amazon could ever have an impact on the off-price retailers. What about Amazon's efforts in apparel? One of the biggest growth stories in Amazon's retail operations is the growth of apparel sales. Cowen & Co. released a note last month stating its belief that Amazon will become "the No. 1 U.S. apparel retailer by 2017." Amazon apparel purchasing was up 19% year over year in the first quarter, while Wal-Mart and Target saw purchases fall 1% and 5%, respectively. Earlier this year, Amazon started launching its own fashion brands, with products ranging from men's shoes to women's bags to children's clothing. It sells at least 1,800 products under its house fashion brands. But Amazon's growth in apparel hasn't come from undercutting the competition as it has with other lower-margin categories. In fact, many fashion brands refused to do business with Amazon for the longest time because of their perception of Amazon as downscale. To get around that impression, Amazon is promising to sell items at full price -- the same prices you'll find in department stores. That means shoppers looking for a bargain will still have to search through the racks at stores like T.J. Maxx or Ross. Not just a bargain -- a shopping experience Not only do Ross and TJX have pricing working in their favor, but they also offer an experience that Amazon can't duplicate. Each of their locations has a unique product selection, and shoppers go through racks of clothing to find the two or three items they may actually want to purchase. These kind of unique finds are what separate the "Maxxinistas" from the rest of us. TJX stores include T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and Sierra Trading Post. While Amazon is reportedly considering opening brick-and-mortar storefronts, it's not going to compete with Ross and TJX. The storefronts are designed as bookstores and to showcase Amazon's devices. Developing storefronts to sell clothing would cut drastically into Amazon's margins on the business. As such, the experience of shopping in a store like Marshall's will remain unparalleled by Amazon or any other online retailer. Is either one worth buying right now? With Amazon trading near its all-time high, investors interested in retail may be looking at Ross Stores and TJX to see if there's an opportunity in the strong cash flow industry. Ross Stores is currently priced around 20 times forward earnings, while TJX is at 22 times earnings. Additionally, Ross is trading near a five-year-low price-to-free cash flow ratio, at 20.8, and TJX is trading at 26.7 times cash flow. Ross also has strong potential for earnings growth going forward by improving its margins and optimizing its inventories. It's also a domestic-only play, insulating it from foreign currency fluctuations. As such, analysts expect it to grow earnings faster than TJX over the next five years -- 11.3% per year versus 9.9% per year. Both retailers' valuations are awfully lofty compared with the rest of the industry. Target and Wal-Mart, for example, have P/E ratios of 13.2 and 16.6, respectively. They each trade around 13 times free cash flow as well. But that's the price to pay for a company with strong growth in sales and earnings compared with the competition. Ross is certainly a more conservative investment, and it's priced that way. For investors who expect a turnaround in the international markets, which will allow for big margin expansion for T.J. Maxx, that company's stock may look enticing despite its higher price. The article 2 Retailers Fending Off Amazon.com originally appeared on Fool.com. Adam Levy owns shares of Amazon.com. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com. 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: Pixabay. Most of us would love to retire early, but it can be hard to think of how to pull that off. After all, an early retirement means even more years in which we will have to support ourselves with our savings and whatever income streams we have. Still, it's not an impossible dream -- if you think it through carefully and come up with a smart plan. The following three ways to retire early can help you get there. Image source: Pixabay : If early retirement is your goal, then you should put all of your effort into saving as much as you can as early as you can. The big benefit to doing so will put the power of compounding returns on your side, which is the closest thing we have in this world to financial magic. To illustrate the power of this amazing concept, let's assume that a new investor starts with $0 in savings and is able to invest $5,000 per year. This investor doesn't do anything fancy and earns a solid 9% annualized rate of return. That's a hair below the historic long-term rate of return of the S&P 500. Depending on when they began socking away that annual $5,000, here's a look at what this investor's net worth would be at age 55, which represents retiring a full 10 years early: Age Net Worth at Age 55 20 $1,175,623 25 $742,876 30 $461,619 35 $278,822 40 $160,016 45 $82,801 50 $32,616 As you can see, the earlier you start, the larger your nest egg will become, and that's not just because of the extra contributions. In fact, there's only a $25,000 contribution difference between each of these starting ages ($5,000 times five years), but you can see what amassive difference in net worth that translates to down the road. Another great point to keep in mind is that the investor who started at age 20 can expect their net worth to rise by more than $105,000 in when they turn 56, assuming they continue to generate that 9% return. That's more than 21 times the investor's annual contribution amount, all thanks to the power of compounding. Of course, you may be a few years past age 20 when you're reading this. Up your annual savings amount and you can still accumulate a lot. The takeaway here is clear: If you want to retire early, you've got to get started investing early. Image source: Getty Images. Selena Maranjian: One smart strategy to help you retire early is shrinking your spending. Spending less can help you save more and can enable your retirement accounts to grow bigger sooner. Better still, if you continue spending less in retirement, the money you've saved will last longer. How might you spend less, then? Here are a bunch of ideas. Consider downsizing into a smaller home, which should cost you less in taxes, utilities, maintenance, and more. You might even move to a less expensive region. The median home value in New Jersey, for example, was recently about $320,000, but it was only $130,000 in Nebraska. Set up a budget and stick to it. Studies have shown that paying for many things with cash can help you spend less, too. Can your household get by with just one car? That will save on insurance, repairs, and fuel. Use coupons you clip from newspapers and mailings and ones you find online. Saving just $25 per week amounts to $1,300 per year. Get rid of your cable TV subscription or downsize your channel package, as you can probably find plenty to watch via streaming services. Do an energy audit of your home. Energy-efficient appliances, windows, and/or insulation can pay for themselves and save you money. Use less heat in winter and less air conditioning in summer. Drop your gym membership and exercise with weights at home and other inexpensive means. Downsize the gifts you give, perhaps making some yourself. Brown-bag many lunches and brew your own coffee at home. Cancel subscriptions you don't use. You might even make it all a little fun by competing with other household members to see who can cut their spending more. Image source: Pixabay. :Following Selena's advice is crucial. Such a goal is only attainable if you spend less than you earn and wisely design a life that fits well within your means. But I'd like to offer a different take: One way to retire early is simply to redefine what "early retirement" means to you. For too many, the image of sitting at home, watching TV in your pajamas until noon comes to mind. While that may occasionally be an enjoyable activity, you're likely to be bored stiff if that's your routine. Instead, achieving financial independence or even quasi-financial independence is a much better goal than early retirement. This means that you still have the time -- and desire --to pursue your interests, but you're beholden to no boss or coworkers. You have absolute autonomy over your time. I know a number of people who have even short-circuited this route. After working hard for 10 years out of college, saving up and investing as much as they can, they call it quits. These folks don't have enough to never need more money again, but they have enough to cut their working hours in half, perhaps by freelancing or getting a part-time job.They devote the extra time to raising kids or pursuing a bold new idea that has always captivated them. For many, that's as good as an early retirement. The article 3 Ways to Retire Early originally appeared on Fool.com. 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. Apple is planning to buy enough renewable energy to power all of its operations worldwide, including retail stores, on clean energy. Image source: Apple. Apple , the personal computing company, now has a new subsidiary, Apple Energy LLC, the wholesale electricity company. It's an unusual move for an electricity customer to become an electricity competitor, but it may become the norm for big companies in the U.S. and shows just how much Apple thinks about its energy consumption. As corporate America looks to push a greener image, have more energy control and flexibility, and save on costs, they're looking for options beyond just buying electricity from the grid. Apple is one of the first to take it as far as creating its own energy business, but is this a side business or a sign of bigger things to come? Apple is now in the business of owning renewable energy power plants, like this one. Image source: SunPower. Apple is pushing into uncharted territory We've known for a while that Apple has been both building renewable energy power plants on its property as well as buying energy from third-party plants through power purchase agreements. First Solar and SunPower , two of the largest solar developers in the world, have both worked with Apple on building out its renewable infrastructure in the past few years. Plus, the company also owns fuel cell energy generation. This generation is primarily intended to be used to directly or indirectly power Apple's facilities, but owning an energy company could allow Apple to sell excess electricity to the grid. That could mean Apple will build even more than it needs to power its facilities, making it over 100% powered by green energy. In fact, the new company's regulatory filings are intended to allow Apple the express ability to sell electricity to the electricity market -- or it could mean bigger energy plans at Apple. Just what are Apple's energy plans? Apple could also have plans beyond just generating and selling its own renewable energy, which would make sense because it probably doesn't want to become a utility. Reuters recently reported that Apple had shown interest in charging station technology for electric vehicles, something the company is rumored to be working on. Could it intend to use Apple Energy to be the power company for an electric vehicle charging fleet of some kind? It has also talked about HomeKit, which is intended to make energy usage smarter. This could be expanded to controlling energy storage systems to maximize energy savings or sell energy to the grid when prices are at their highest. Data will be a key to any integrating homes and businesses with energy storage, smart devices, demand response, and other new technology. Could Apple Energy play some role in that future? It's also possible that Apple just wants to give itself flexibility in maximizing the benefit of its renewable energy assets. And that alone should have utilities scared. Who is this bad for? Even if Apple simply intends to use Apple Energy to reduce its reliance on the grid and generate more of its own energy, it is bad news for utilities. We've seen MGM Resorts say it will pay nearly $90 million to leave NV Energy in Nevada to buy its own power from third parties. Instead of buying from a third party, Apple may just be creating its own independent power producer subsidiary. If this becomes a trend, wholesale power companies like Dynegy , Calpine , and NRG Energy are going to be some of the hardest hit if large corporate customers generate more of their own electricity. They rely on demand from utilities to generate revenue, and if utilities see demand go down, wholesale producers, which don't have regulated returns, will see the brunt of the lost revenue. Is Apple an outlier or a sign of things to come? Apple Energy is an interesting move by the tech giant, but we still don't know whether it's a sign that big corporate customers will start creating their own power subsidiaries or if the company has other plans in energy markets. Keep an eye on this because if Apple is going to enter the power business, it could be a disruptive force like we've never seen before. The article Apple Energy: Is This Apple's Next Billion Dollar Business? originally appeared on Fool.com. Travis Hoium owns shares of Apple, First Solar, and SunPower. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of NRG Energy, Inc. and has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. 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. To "be out there among the stars ... That's the future that's exciting. You need things like that to be glad to wake up in the morning. Lifecan't just be about solving problems, they have to be inspiring andmake you glad to be alive."-- Elon Musk Elon Musk teaches presidents about rocket science -- and he can teach you, too. Image source: NASA. Don't look now, but Elon Musk is making waves in the tech world, again. Coming from the guy who runs the show at Tesla Motors and SpaceX, and chairs the board at SolarCity , this probably shouldn't be surprising. But some of the predictions that Musk made at the high-tech "Code Conference" in Rancho Palos Verdes earlier this month surely will surprise you.The following are just a few of them. 2018: Mars or bust The year 2018 could be a very important one for Elon Musk -- and in a couple of ways. Three months ago, Musk predicted that Tesla would be churning out 500,000 electric cars annually by 2020. Last month, the Tesla CEO moved up the timeline on that 500,000-unit target to 2018. But that's not all Musk wants to do in 2018. As he explained to the audience at the Code Conference, 2018 will be the year that SpaceX lands its first rocket ship on Mars -- specifically, a Dragon 2 rocket ship, recently dubbed the "Red Dragon." Red Dragon will be SpaceX's first mission to Mars, but it won't be the last. Musk went on to explain how the respective solar orbits of the Earth and Mars bring the two planets into relative close proximity once every 26 months. Thus, subsequent unmanned missions to Mars might depart from Earth roughly every two years. 2025: Footprints on Mars What will all these spaceships do once they arrive on Mars? Why are they going to Mars in the first place -- other than the obvious reason...because it's there? Well, they'll be carrying supplies... for a planned manned Mars mission that will depart Earth in 2024, and arrive on Mars in 2025. Food, water, fuel, medical supplies, equipment, and -- I'd be willing to bet on this -- fresh potatoes--all of these things need to be ready and waiting on Mars when the first astronauts step out of Red Dragon and onto the Red Planet. And between 2018 and 2025, Musk should have time to shoot off at least two or three supply missions to Mars, and possibly more. (The once-in-26 months window permits launching a spaceship to Mars, but doesn't limit SpaceX to launching just one mission per 26-month cycle.) Musk also promised to provide more details on his exact plans for the manned Mars mission when he presents at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, in September. Meanwhile, back at the ranch SpaceX fans got a rare dose of disappointment this week when a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the two commercial communications satellites -- the Eutelsat 117 West B and ABS-2A -- successfully delivered both satellites to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). (This is as opposed to Low Earth Orbit, or LEO -- GTO is the more distant objective, in excess of 22,000 miles above Earth's surface.) Then it crashed into SpaceX's drone barge upon attempting a re-landing. The Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD) of SpaceX's Falcon broke a string of what would have been four-straight-successful landings at sea, and SpaceX's fifth-successful landing, period. (Prior to figuring out sea landings, SpaceX had successfully landed one Falcon at its spaceport.) But it hasn't thrown SpaceX off stride. At the Code Conference, Elon Musk announced a new target date for attempting to relaunch one of his landed rockets. "We plan to refly one of the landed rocket boosters hopefully in about two or three months, something like that," mused Musk. The precise date of the attempt seems still in flux, but it looks like SpaceX will be attempting a rocket reuse sometime in August or September. How much does a Falcon cost? Several milleniums -- er, millions Perhaps now is a good time to re-examine the question of just why SpaceX is trying to land rockets vertically for later reuse, at all. There are really two reasons for this. Let's tackle the obvious one first: Cost. As Elon Musk explains, "The boost stage [of a Falcon 9 rocket] is about 70% of the cost of the rocket ... it's sort of on the order of $30 to $35 million dollars." The boost stage on a Boeing or Lockheed Martin rocket, by the way, cost a whole lot more than $35 million, but this just sharpens the point on Musk's next statement:"Imagine it's a pile of cash that was falling through the atmosphere, and it was going to burn up, and smash into tiny pieces, would you try to save it? Probably yes." Faced with the same situation of money literally falling from the sky, Boeing and Lockheed Martin continue to allow their Atlas V and Delta IV rocket boosters to burn up in the atmosphere -- contributing to the stratospheric $225 million average cost of launches by the Boeing/Lockheed United Launch Alliance joint venture. SpaceX is going a different route: "We want to get [the booster] back. That way we don't have to make another one." There are no landing strips on Mars What's the other reason for trying to make SpaceX rockets reusable -- and in particular, for recovering them by landing them on their own jets, rather than building a space-shuttle lookalike, and landing it on a runway?Musk explains simply: "The plane thing is not a good idea in my view [because] if you're in space, wings are not very useful because there's no air. And if you want to go somewhere other than Earth, there's also no runways." And because SpaceX is going to space, and SpaceX is going to Mars, well ... Q.E.D. The article Elon Musk Tells You His Plan for Mars 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. 298 out of more than 75,000 rated members.The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends SolarCity and Tesla Motors. 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: Intuitive Surgical Investors in robotic surgery pioneer Intuitive Surgical have been on a wildly successful ride. The company's da Vinci system has managed to gainmainstreamadoption from the surgical community, and so far the company hasn't had to face any seriouscompetition. That fact has turned Intuitive Surgical into afinancial powerhouse, and analysts believe that the company will produce more than$2.6 billion in revenue this year. Better yet, with some industry experts calling for the robotic surgery market to reach$20 billion in annual sales by 2021, the company's future is looking bright. Of course, a market opportunity that large has naturally attracted competition.One of the more interesting companies that is attempting to dislodge Intuitive Surgical for its top-dog position isTransEnterix , a robotic surgery upstart. TransEnterix had developed its own surgical system called the SurgiBot, which promised an upfront cost that was less than half of that of the da Vinci system. TransEnterix submitted its SurgiBot system to the FDA in the middle of last year, putting it on pace for a go/no go decision in early 2016.Investors were feeling good about TransEnterix's chances of market success and bid up shares in anticipation of regulatory approval. Unfortunately, investors' hopes were dashed in April after news broke that FDA had rejected the company's 510(k) submission, stating that the system did not meet the criteria for "substantial equivalence" to an already legally approved medical device. Understandably, shares tanked when the news broke. TRXC data by YCharts In the wake of the bummer news, TransEnterix's management team has decided to put development of its SurgiBot system on hold and will instead put all of the the company's resources behind its other surgical system, called the ALF-X. This strategy shift came as a shock to some investors, and many now doubt the company's chances of success. After all, the ALF-X systemhas already been on the market for several years in Europe and has failed to gain market adoption. Image source: TransEnterix Competition is still out there With the odds looking good that TransEnterix will not be much of a competitive threat, the markets have bid up shares of Intuitive Surgical to new highs on the belief that it will continue to have the robotic surgery market largely to itself. While I wholly agree with that assessment -- and have invested my capital accordingly -- that doesn't mean Intuitive Surgical's investors have nothing to worry about. One potential potential threat that is brewing on the horizon is a company called Verb Surgical. This relatively new robotic surgery company was formed as a partnership between the tech giantAlphabet and the healthcare king Johnson & Johnson . The thought was that by combining Alphabet's high-tech capabilities with J&J's medical device background, this new company could do amazing things to transform the face of robotic surgery. Image source: Verb Surgical Understandably, the company hasn't been very forthcoming with what it is working on just yet, but what we do know already should pique the interest of Intuitive Surgical's shareholders. First, with the combined financial backing of Alphabet and Johnson & Johnson, Verb Surgical will potentially have access to breathtaking amount of capital. That stands as a stark difference to upstarts like TransEnterix, who have a near constant need to tap the equity markets for fresh capital to keep its doors open. Next, we know that this company will likely have no trouble attracting top talent. After all, Alphabet holds a legendary status for treating its employees well, which might make recruiting industry veterans to jump ship and join Verb Surgical an easy sell. It also doesn't hurt that Verb Surgical has decided to set up shop in Mountain View, California, which is just a stone's throw away from Intuitive Surgical's Sunnyvale, California headquarters. It's worth pointing out that Verb Surgical has already done a great job at attracting top talent. The company's current CEO isScott Huennekens, a 20-year industry veteran who previously headed up Volcano Corporation, a medical device company that was acquired in February 2015 by Royal Philips for $1.2 billion. Finally, while patients and physicians around the world might not yet know the name Verb Surgical, they do already know and trust the names Google and Johnson & Johnson. No reason to panic yet Although Verb Surgical looks like it could turn into a major competitor down the road, I don't think Intuitive Surgical's investors need to panic just yet. After all, developing a robotic system from scratch will likely take years, and even if everything goes perfectly it will still take time to get regulators to sign off and get insurers on board. That gives Intuitive Surgical plenty of time to continue to up its game to make its da Vinci system an even more integral part of the operating room. This is still Intuitive Surgical's market to lose, and I wouldn't have made the company into one of my biggest personal holdings if I had serious doubts about its future -- but I'll certainly be keeping my eye on Verb, and I suggest you do the same. The article Forget TransEnterix Inc: This is The Company That Intuitive Surgical Investors Should Fear Most originally appeared on Fool.com. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brian Feroldi owns shares of Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Intuitive Surgical.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle@Longtermmind-setor connect with him on LinkedIn to see more articles like this.The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Intuitive Surgical, and Johnson & Johnson. 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: Flickr user seniorliving.org. Many Americans are falling short of saving for retirement, and as a result, too many are worrying about their financial security later in life. Since preparing for your golden years can reduce the chance you'll come up short when you retire, you may be planning to contribute money to a traditional or Roth IRA this year. If so, then you should know that the Internal Revenue Service allows most Americans to contribute up to $5,500 to an IRA in 2016 or up to$6,500 if you're over age 50. Following rules While contributing to an IRA is a great way to set aside money for retirement, there are different rules that may limit your ability to make a traditional or Roth IRA contribution this year.If your income is above specific limits and you participate in a retirement plan at work, for example, you may not be able to deduct your contribution to a traditional IRA in 2016.As a refresher, traditional IRAs are funded with pre-tax dollars that can lower your tax bill now. However, money that's eventually withdrawn from a traditional IRA in retirement is taxed at your then-current tax rate. Most people invest in a traditional IRA because of that tax-deferral benefit. However, if you're single and covered at work by a retirement plan, such as a 401(k), your ability to deduct a traditional IRA contribution begins phasing out once your income eclipses $61,000 in 2016. If you're married and covered by a workplace plan, your tax deduction begins phasing out once your combined income exceeds $98,000 in 2016.If you're married and you aren't covered by a plan at work but your spouse is covered by a workplace plan, the deductibility of contributions begins to phase out when your income exceeds $184,000 in 2016. The rules that apply to Roth IRA contributions aren't the same as those for traditional IRAs.Contributions to a Roth IRA are made with after-tax dollars. However, withdrawals, including earnings, are tax-free once you're 59 1/2 years old, as long as the Roth IRA has been in existence for at least five years. To contribute the full amount to a Roth IRA in 2016, however, you'll need to earn less than $117,000 if you're single or less than $184,000 if you're married. If you earn more than that, you can't contribute to a Roth IRA. However, you may be able to make a non-tax deductible contribution to a traditional IRA that can be converted later to a Roth IRA. This strategy is a bit complicated, so consult with your accountant to see if this option is right for you. Image source: Getty Images. Making a difference IRAs are a fantastic way to supercharge your retirement savings, especially if you can also max out a workplace plan. If you participate in a 401(k) or 403(b) plan at work and you qualify to contribute to an IRA, you can set aside up to $18,000 in your workplace plan ($24,000 if over age 50), plus up to $5,500 ($6,500 if over age 50) in an IRA. Conceivably, that means that a person who is under age 50 could save a combined $23,500 in 2016. That's a lot of money and contributing that amount every year can result in a millionaire-making portfolio. For example, if you invest $23,500 per yearin an investment returning a hypothetical average 6% annually, you'd end up with a nest egg worth nearly $1.3 million in 25 years. Another thing You can contribute to a traditional IRA up until age 70 1/2. At that point, the IRS makes you start taking withdrawals from a traditional IRA. You may contribute to a Roth IRA at any age, but you can contribute only up to the amount you earn from working to both a traditional or Roth IRA. So, if you work part-time and you only earn $3,500 from that work, then $3,500 is the maximum you can contribute to either a traditional or Roth IRA in 2016. The article If I Want to Save for Retirement, How Much Can I Contribute to an IRA in 2016? originally appeared on Fool.com. 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. Today, it is more expensive than ever to train for a career as an airline pilot. At the same time, major airlines are about to be hit with a flood of pilot retirements as pilots reach the federally mandated retirement age of 65. To make matters worse, starting pay at regional airlines -- where most new pilots break into the industry -- remains quite low. Over the past few years, this has resulted in a growing pilot shortage. The pilot shortage has already claimed several victims, most notably Republic Airways -- the second-largest regional airline in the U.S. -- which was forced into bankruptcy earlier this year. Regional airlines have had trouble recruiting enough pilots recently. Image source: The Motley Fool. Last week, American Airlines returned to a tried-and-true strategy to scrounge up more pilots for its regional carriers: big signing bonuses. Delta Air Lines and United Continental are taking a different approach, though. They are trying to reduce regional flying as much as possible. Bigger bonuses than ever In the past few years, as regional airlines have had more trouble recruiting new pilots, most have turned to signing bonuses to meet their hiring quotas. For example, in early 2015, nearly every regional airline was offering a signing bonus of at least $7,500, with many offering $10,000-$12,000. American Airlines is now upping the ante at its three wholly owned regional airlines: Envoy, Piedmont Airlines, and PSA Airlines. Last Monday, all three announced enhanced pilot signing bonuses. They will now pay $15,000 to new hires. PSA and Piedmont are also offering $5,000 referral bonuses to current pilots who recruit new pilots for the company. Envoy, PSA, and Piedmont also emphasize that they offer a direct pathway to becoming a pilot at American Airlines -- where pay rates are much higher. They have also rolled out retention bonuses of up to $20,000 to give current first officers an added incentive to stick around. American Airlines has raised its signing bonuses for regional airline pilots. Image source: Republic Airways. American's regional affiliates are spending freely on bonuses because they have to recruit pilots to support planned growth in addition to replacing those who leave (or move up to the mainline carrier). American Airlines currently plans to increase its regional fleet by 26 airplanes this year, including third-party regional airlines it contracts with. It grew its regional fleet at a similar rate last year, with its wholly owned regional carriers supplying the growth. Delta and United go in a different direction Delta Air Lines and United Continental have adopted a radically different strategy to address the growing pilot shortage. They are simply reducing the size of their regional fleets on a permanent basis. Delta was quick to recognize the looming pilot crisis a few years ago. It started adding smaller 110-seat aircraft to its mainline fleet in 2013 while retiring most of the 50-seat jets in its regional fleet. Delta is continuing down this path, having ordered 75 CS100 jets in late April. These jets, which will also hold about 110 seats, will allow Delta to continue retiring 50-seat jets over the next few years. Meanwhile, United Continental has also been snapping up small mainline jets this year. It's part of a new plan for the company to shrink its 50-seat regional jet fleet to fewer than 100 planes by the end of 2019, down from more than 250 at the beginning of this year. Of course, Delta Air Lines and United Continental will have to increase their mainline hiring to staff these new jets in addition to replacing retiring pilots. However, since they offer much better pay than regional airlines (and also compared to most low-cost carriers), they will have no trouble filling their open pilot positions for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, a small mainline jet requires two pilots, just like a 50-seat regional jet. The move toward fewer departures on larger planes reduces the industry's pilot hiring needs, making the pilot shortage a little less severe. Delta and United are reducing their risk The approach taken by Delta and United seems more prudent than the route American Airlines is taking. By proactively reducing their regional fleets, they will be better able to handle any worsening of the pilot shortage. There are certainly advantages to American Airlines' approach. With a big regional fleet, it can offer frequent flights to its hubs, even in relatively small cities. However, if the regional airline pilot pipeline dries up in the next few years, American could be forced to change its fleet plan in a big hurry. The article The U.S. Pilot Shortage Continues to Rear Its Ugly Head originally appeared on Fool.com. Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of United Continental Holdings and is long January 2017 $40 calls on Delta Air Lines and long January 2017 $30 calls on American Airlines Group. 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. The man charged with murdering British lawmaker Jo Cox gave his name as "death to traitors, freedom for Britain" when he appeared in court on Saturday accused of a killing that could be a defining moment in a vote on European Union membership. The murder of Cox, a 41-year-old mother of two young children, has shocked Britain, elicited condolences from leaders around the world and raised questions about the tone of campaigning before the EU referendum which takes place next Thursday. Cox, an ardent supporter of EU membership, was shot and stabbed in the street in her electoral district in northern England on Thursday. Wearing a grey sweat shirt and trousers and flanked by two security guards, 52-year-old Thomas Mair was asked his name by a clerk at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain," Mair said. When asked again what his name was, Mair calmly repeated: "My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain." "Baring in mind the name he has just given, he ought to be seen by a psychiatrist," Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot told the court. Mair, balding with a grey goatee beard, made no further comment in the 15-minute hearing, his first appearance in public since police arrested him in the town of Birstall, Yorkshire, where Cox was killed. His brief comment in court furthered suggestions that the attack was politically-motivated as it echoed the message put forward by those supporting a so-called Brexit that leaving the EU would be a vote for freedom. The case is also being by handled by the counter-terrorism unit of Britain's Crown Prosecution Service. Prosecutor David Cawthorne told the court that those who witnessed the attack said Cox had been repeatedly stabbed and then shot three times as she lay on the ground. Her attacker was heard saying "Britain first, Keep Britain independent, Britain always comes first," Cawthorne said. When he was arrested by police he told them "I'm a political activist," the prosecutor told the court. Material relating to far right ideology was found in a search of his home, Cawthorne said. Mair is charged with murder, causing grievous bodily harm, and possession of a firearm and a knife. He was remanded in custody and will appear at London's Old Bailey court on Monday. The killing has shocked the nation. Both sides have temporarily suspended campaigning ahead of Thursday's vote, which has far reaching implications for both the EU and Britain. A British exit from the EU would rock the bloc - already shaken by differences over migration and the future of the euro zone - by ripping away its second-largest economy, one of its top two military powers and by far its richest financial center. Pro-Europeans, including former prime ministers Tony Blair and John Major, have warned that an exit could also trigger the break-up of the United Kingdom by prompting another Scottish independence vote if England pulled Scotland out of the EU. "VILE ACT" Prime Minister David Cameron joined Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Friday to lay flowers in Birstall. "It is a vile act that has killed her," Corbyn said. Cameron has agreed to recall parliament on Monday to allow lawmakers to pay tributes to the popular Member of Parliament (MP), who was only elected in 2015. The murder has sparked debate in Britain, which has strict gun controls, about the safety of lawmakers, the heightened tempo of political confrontation and any impact on the EU vote. Both sides in the referendum contest have put on hold their national campaigns until at least Sunday. Polls have suggested the vote hangs in the balance, but in the last week a series of surveys have indicated that the campaign to leave had been taking the lead. A telephone survey by BMG for Scotland's The Herald newspaper on Saturday showed the "In" camp on 53 percent and "Out" on 47 percent, although a separate online poll by BMG showed Out leading by 10 points, with 55 percent support compared to In's 45 percent. Both polls were carried out before the killing of Cox. Those wanting to stay in the EU can count on the support of many of Britain's biggest businesses, most economists and foreign leaders such as U.S. President Barack Obama, who spoke to Cox's husband on Friday to offer condolences. The International Monetary Fund, which has previously warned that Britain and the world economy could be hit by a so-called Brexit, said on Saturday an exit could leave Britain's economy more than 5 percent smaller by 2019. However, the "Out" campaign's message that EU membership is responsible for a loss of political control as well as uncontrolled immigration appears to have struck a chord. Members of the 'Out' campaign say Britain would prosper if it broke free from what they say is a doomed German-dominated bloc that punches way below its weight beside rivals such as Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both sides have accused each other of making up facts to support their case, and debates had become more heated and personal in the days before Cox's death, with London Mayor Sadiq Khan telling Sky News politics had become "poisonous." "The referendum was always about more than Europe; it was always about what kind of Britain we are and what we aspire to be," former Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in Saturday's Guardian newspaper. "But some have attempted to hijack a decision on the future of Britain in Europe and turn it into a vote on immigration, and then on immigrants and those who support immigrants." LAWMAKERS FEARS Cox had arrived in Birstall for an advice session with constituents in a public library. Bernard Carter-Kenny, a 77-year-old who had taken his wife to the library, intervened to try to protect Cox after she was attacked and is in hospital after being stabbed in the stomach. Armed police patrol Westminster, where lawmakers do much of their work in parliament, but there is often no security in their home electoral districts, or constituencies. The last British lawmaker to have been killed was Ian Gow, who died after an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded under his car at his home in 1990. The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that women MPs had repeatedly raised concerns about their security with Cameron's office, with one writing to say if it was not improved there would be a "tragic fatality." Police have said they had reiterated advice and guidance to MPs, some of whom have canceled surgeries after the killing of Cox, a former charity worker whose job took her to countries such as Afghanistan and Darfur. In Birstall, hundreds of bouquets of flowers were laid in the town center with locals still stunned by what had happened. "Over the last few weeks the debate about Europe has not been what it should be," local vicar Paul Knight told Reuters. "We all recognize the xaggerations, hyperbole, and anger. And unless that changes, and we've only got a few days for that to change, then it's very sad. "I hope people reflecting on this will realize democracy actually means speaking, and not violence and not anger." (Additional reporting by Paul Sandle; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Richard Balmforth) Call it a miracle or call it magic, Criss Angel is celebrating some joyous news for his 2-year-old son. The famed magician revealed on Thursday that his little boy, Johnny Sarantakos, is in remission, eight months after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. "Johnny is technically in remission, thank God," the 48-year-old Las Vegas illusionist, who was born Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos, said in an interview with Us Weekly. "I believe he will be healed." WATCH: Criss Angel Posts Emotional Photos of Cancer-Stricken Son While Angel's young son has fought back against the illness, he's reportedly still undergoing chemotherapy, blood transfusions and spinal taps. Johnny is receiving medical care in Australia where he lives with his mom, Shaunyl Benson. "What doctors found is you have to continue treatment to kill all the cells, as there is no guarantee," Angel explained. When the "Mindfreak" star found out about his son's diagnosis in October 2015, he cancelled a number of his Las Vegas shows to fly to Australia to be with his little boy. Angel has frequently shared a number of emotional and heart-wrenching photos of himself and his son over the last few months. Since his son's diagnosis, Angel has begun championing cancer research organizations, and is currently promoting a benefit show, Heal Every Life Possible, at the Luxor casino on Sept. 12. The event aims to raise money for pediatric cancer research and treatment. WATCH: Criss Angel Cancels Las Vegas Shows to Visit Cancer-Stricken Son in Australia The Department of Homeland Security has proposed banning "religiously charged" words like "jihad" within the department in the hopes of preventing people being attracted to violent extremist groups like the Islamic State. A June 2016 report produced by the Countering Violent Extremism Subcommittee states the best way to prevent an "us vs. them" mentality is to "reject religiously charged terminology and problematic positioning by using plain-meaning American English." Department members are asked to use the term "American Muslim" rather than "Muslim American" and "Muslim communities" rather than "Muslim world" to encourage feelings of inclusivity. In addition, DHS is recommending that terms like "jihad," which translates to holy war, and "sharia law," which refers to Islamic law, should be abandoned in favor of less religiously charged language. The recommendations are part of the Department of Homeland Security's $100 million "attempt to protect our nation's young people from extremists who prey upon the millennial generation," according to the report. Read more on WashingtonExaminer.com Mercedes Schlapp told viewers Friday on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that President Obama's policy toward Syria is an "embarrassment." Schlapp, a Washington Times columnist, noted that 51 foreign service officers recently aired their concerns about the lack of progress in Syria and called for robust U.S. military airstrikes and quick removal of President Bashar Assad. "President Obama's strategy is clearly one of hesitation towards Syria. We know that it has been a humanitarian failure," Schlapp said. "The mere fact that you're seeing this widespread number of State Department officials basically saying 'Look, we don't agree. We need tougher military actions, we know that diplomatic accords are not working that Russia, that Syria, that Iran are calling the shots I mean this is an embarrassment for the Obama administration." The diplomats used the "dissent channel" established by the State Department in the Vietnam era to criticize Obama. We've seen over two hundred thousand Syrians killed over 7.6 million Syrians have been displaced. This is a tragedy. "Assad is going to be ruling and be in power longer than President Obama. President Obama will leave and Assad will still be the dictator of Syria," Schlapp said. The proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the Orlando terrorist attack may well be an 800-pound gorilla. Politicians and lawmakers of all stripes are apoplectic in their efforts to assign blame for the massacre. Its ISIS. Its firearms. Its radical Islam. Its lone-wolves. Its homophobia. Its homophobia in Islam. Its self-loathing. Its Latino racism. Its gun laws. Its mental health. Its the House of Representatives barring anti-LGBT amendments on spending bills. Its the Republicans! Its the Democrats! Its President Obama! Its Donald Trump! See, Trump is right about the Muslim ban!! No, you dummy. Mateen was born in Queens, just like Trump!! Those are the 800-pound gorillas. And that leads us to a gorilla in Cincinnati. Specifically a dead, 440-pound, Western Lowland gorilla named Harambe. Cincinnati zookeepers made a harrowing decision to shoot and kill Harambe a few weeks ago after a 3-year-old child bolted over a rail, under wires and negotiated a moat to make it into the gorillas enclosure. Harambe then dragged the toddler by his arm through the water before zoo officials ordered sharpshooters to kill Harambe. Debate raged over the incident. The parents should keep better track of their kid. The zoo should have better fencing. The child was in danger, so killing Harambe was the only option. The child wasnt in danger so they should have left Harambe alone. Shooting the gorilla was the only thing they could do. The parents should be charged. Why do we have zoos anyway? Zoos are terrible places. The parents are awful for taking their kids to a rotten joint like a zoo that hems in wild animals. Everyone and everything is at fault depending on your own, personalized 800-pound gorilla. These are the parallels between the Orlando nightclub slaughter and the decision to kill Harambe. Everyone runs to their respective corners to assign motive and cast aspersions. Its like Pandora, iTunes or even an old-fashioned jukebox in a diner. On those systems, you fire them up and they pump out the music you want. And every time theres a mass shooting or domestic terrorist attack -- ala Orlando, San Bernardino or Fort Hood -- you can pretty much expect the political jukebox to cough up a predestined set of bromides. Wedge a quarter in the jukebox, watch the mechanical arm retrieve a disc and, voila, the selection of your choice spills out over a tiny speaker, across your stack of blueberry pancakes. People predictably withdraw to their respective ideological corners after each incident. This divide usually comports with a particular orthodoxy that either affirms an individuals beliefs in party, issues or actors. People then simultaneously excoriate the other side for perceived failings. They argue those flaws are the factors responsible for the mayhem. And like on Pandora or the jukebox, people hear the exact tune they want. It didnt take long for everyone to run this prefab drill in the hours immediately following Orlando. Republicans immediately cast the spree in under the rubric of terrorism which it was. The GOP then raised the ante, framing the murders in the ultimate conservative argot of the day: radical Islamic terrorism. Of course, if President Obama and Democrats dont utter that phrase verbatim, then surely theyre not serious about combatting terrorists Democrats went to the jukebox, too. Democrats generally dont poll as high as Republicans on national security. But voters concerned about firearms, LGBT rights and immigration typically reward Democrats with high marks. So the fact that it was gunsand an LGBT cluband Latino night at an LGBT club This narrative writes itself for Democrats. Democrats pushed for stricter firearm legislation for decades. Then, a debate over transgender restrooms recently erupted into a national political conflagration. And then an effort arose in Congress to bar LGBT discrimination in federal contracting. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., is openly gay. The congressman authored a LGBT protection amendment that he tried to latch to multiple annual appropriations bills. In May, Republicans scrambled to find just enough votes to defeat Maloneys plan -- and salvage a measure funding the Department of Veterans Affairs. Republicans viewed Maloneys amendment as a poison pill. Adoption of Maloneys amendment would have transformed the entire VA bill into something Republicans couldnt support. The GOP didnt want to fail at funding programs for veterans. So, Republican leaders unearthed just enough opposition to defeat Maloneys plan. The House then approved the entire bill, sans the Maloney amendment. Maloneys amendment returned on another spending bill for energy and water programs a few weeks ago. This time, the House adopted Maloneys amendment. But approval of the Maloney amendment sufficiently soiled the bill for lawmakers. The House defeated the entire energy and water measure. After that, House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and other GOP leaders began locking down bills to bar the House from considering certain amendments like Maloneys. Maloney cited Orlando when he made his case for the House Rules Committee to permit a debate on his amendment as a part of a Pentagon funding bill. Speaker Ryan rigged the vote. Rigged the bill. He then changed the rules to rig the process to protect discrimination even in the aftermath of Orlando, Maloney claimed. They should be ashamed. Congressional Democrats also knew what would happen as soon as lawmakers trotted back to Washington after the attack. They suspected the House would conduct a moment of silence to commemorate the attack. Some Democrats walked out. Assistant House Minority Leader Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., hectored Ryan at the end of the 16-second pause for not debating gun bills. Ryan ruled Clyburn out of order as Democrats chanted Shame! Shame! and No leadership. Meanwhile, the House Homeland Security Committee quickly began crafting legislation to fight terrorism. The House and Senate requested special briefings by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and FBI Director James Comey to loop in all lawmakers about what went down in Orlando. But whether this is about radicalized Islam or terrorism or homophobia or just gun, Democrats appear to have successfully leveraged congressional debate into a discussion about firearms. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is responsible for that after conducting his 14 hour and 50 minute talk-a-thon about guns Wednesday and Thursday. Murphys effort helped Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, secure an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to conduct a series of procedural votes late Monday on guns: two amendments from Republicans and two from Democrats. Each amendment needs 60 votes to skip to a final vote, which needs only a simple majority for passage. One of the amendments is a plan by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to bar prospective terrorists already listed on a no-fly list from acquiring weapons. Democrats are more than happy to put vulnerable Republican senators facing reelection on the record on firearms -- again. They hope voters will eye how Sens. Mark Kirk, Illinois; Rob Portman, Ohio; Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire; Roy Blunt, Missouri; Ron Johnson, Wisconsin; Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania, and Richard Burr, North Carolina, vote Monday. But after the deadly San Bernardino terror attack late last year, Feinsteins plan mustered only 45 yeas in a similar roll call vote. Still, Democrats want to document those votes and potentially deploy the results against those endangered GOP incumbents in November. Its likely that Republicans will also try to engineer votes in the coming days on anti-terrorism provisions. No lawmaker of either party wants to be seen as doing nothing after Orlando. Sixty votes is almost always the magic number to advance items in the Senate. In the spring of 2013, nearly every gun amendment to respond to the Sand Hook attack failed. Thats because Reid and McConnell forged a pact requiring 60 votes for adoption. Democrats didnt want the GOPs pro gun amendments passing any more than Republicans were willing to accept the Democrats con gun amendments. By forcing Senate votes, Democrats converted guns into the 800-pound gorilla of the Orlando shooting. But other 800-pound gorillas remain over terrorism, homophobia, Islam, ISIL . Its like the zoo tragedy in Cincinnati. Everyone sprints to the reasons they think things went wrong. And the same is true with Orlando. Officials in an Alabama County refuse to lower flags to half-staff to show solidarity with other states as the nation grieves over the Orlando mass shooting. Baldwin County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey told reporters Thursday that hes following flag code by not lowering the flag, according to Alabama Today. I am of the opinion, by reading the flag code of the United States, that while my heart certainly goes out to the victims and their familiesit doesnt meet the test of the reason for the flag to be lowered to half-staff, Dorsey said. Dorsey defied a federal order from President Barack Obama and a corollary from Gov. Robert Bentley that all state and federal flags were to be lowered until noon Thursday. He contends that the discretion over flag-lowering lies with him and decided against it. Alabama Today noted that Dorsey also refused to lower the flags after the November Paris terror attacks and the December San Bernardino terror attack. Lowering the flags to half-staff after (a) mass shooting or terrorist event is not a valid circumstance or memorial as specified in the U.S. flag code, Dorsey explained on his Facebook page Monday. I realize that the President and Governor may make the order, but I believe and interpret their order inconsistent with the adopted flag code. Dorsey also compared lowering the flags half-staff to the state lowering its head down, according to Alabama Today. He wanted Americans to fight back against the forces of evil instead. Click for more from Alabama Today. Donald Trump on Saturday hit back at Republicans trying to undermine his presidential campaign with continued talk about eleventh-hour challengers, delegate hopping and other tactics, saying hell fund my own campaign. If the Republican Party acts like they dont want to help, Ill fund my own campaign, Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas. Right now, Im raising a lot of money for the GOP. I like doing it. But we have to have help. Life is like a two-way street. Otherwise, Ill keep doing what Im doing, funding my own campaign. Thats the easy way. Hopefully we can continue to go the way were going." Trump, the partys presumptive presidential nominee, also downplayed the most recent controversy involving reports of convention delegates trying to switch allegiance. He said there was maybe a little delegate revolt, following a Washington Post story that stated the delegates are attempting to change party rules so that their nominating votes can go to another candidate, despite Trump winning those delegates in state primaries and caucuses. Since Trump became the nominee, some Republicans have apparently tried privately to recruit a last-minute challenger, while others, particularly incumbents, still refuse to endorse Trump, especially after his remarks about a Mexican judge that were widely perceived as racist. Trump on Saturday also said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus stated the delegates cannot change their support and sound incredulous that anybody would back one of the 17 major candidates he beat in the primary. I beat them by a lot, said Trump, arguing some in the primary failed to win any delegates. I set a record, almost 14 million votes over nine months, 37 states. In an apparent attempt to reassure supporters, amid some recent, sinking poll numbers, that he can still beat presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump said, folks, we know what were doing. Were going to save your Social Security, said the first-time candidate and billionaire businessman. Were going to save your Second Amendment (while) Hillary Clinton wants to take your firearms. Still, Trump, who largely funded his primary win, will likely have problems funding his own general election campaign, despite his wealth. Clinton and her Democratic allies have already invested at least $41 million in commercials in crucial states such as Ohio, Florida and Nevada over the next six weeks, a series of summer broadsides against Trump. Those messages will be echoed by hundreds of Clinton workers in those same states and amplified by President Barack Obama and other top Democrats. Trump has made few preparations for contending with that sort of well-oiled political machine. His campaign has no advertising plans and is just now hiring employees in important states. Clinton's large June and July ad buy comes as a reward for her near-constant fundraising. In May, she raised $27 million in primary election money that must be used before she accepts her party's nomination at the convention in late July. Trump is playing catch up. He did not begin raising money in earnest until May 25, having largely financed his primary bid through personal loans to his campaign. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Republican convention delegates and operatives are creating a long-shot movement to change party rules so the convention can choose someone other than Donald Trump to run for president. According to the Associated Press, more congressional Republicans are not endorsing Trump and are planning to skip the convention in Cleveland next month altogether. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., one of Trumps top House backers, says his support among lawmakers has stalled. "We're acting to save the Republican Party from imminent disaster," said Steve Lonegan, who chaired Sen. Ted Cruz's New Jersey campaign and is helping organize an effort to let delegates chosen to back one candidate vote instead for another. Lonegan says Cruz is not involved in the effort. The Washington Post reported that Republicans believe Trump is letting the presidential race get away from him already with his attacks on a federal judge, his renewed calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. and his support for national gun law reform. This literally is an Anybody but Trump movement, Kendal Unruh, a Republican delegate from Colorado who is leading the effort, told the Post. Nobody has any idea who is going to step in and be the nominee, but were not worried about that. Were just doing that job to make sure that hes not the face of our party. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who's unenthusiastically backed Trump, said in an interview recorded for NBC's Sunday show "Meet the Press" that GOP lawmakers should follow "their conscience" when considering endorsing Trump. The last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something thats contrary to their conscience, Ryan says in his interview with the news program Sunday, per The Post. Others not supporting him or attending the convention include House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., who for the first time in his 30-year congressional career is not backing the party nominee. Ryan, who has said he doesn't want to be an alternative should Trump falter, didn't know Unruh like him used the word "conscience," said Ryan spokeswoman Ashlee Strong. Unruh's group, which Lonegan is helping, is using social media and emails and held a conference call Thursday night to organize efforts to find support. To prevail, Unruh needs a majority of the 112 members of the convention rules committee, which has two delegates from each state and territory. Then, a majority of the full convention's 2,472 delegates would have to approve. There's a Plan B. If Unruh can win over one-fourth support from the rules committee just 29 delegates the full convention must vote on her proposal. So far she's got around 10 supporters though some prefer delaying the rule's impact until the 2020 convention, she said. Party officials looking to smooth Trump's convention path are already counting noses. Randy Evans, Georgia's RNC committeeman, says his informal tally suggests it will be a "pretty tall order" to prevent the full convention from voting on unbinding delegates. But he said he expects Trump forces to win a convention floor showdown "pretty comfortably." "They can make everything look tumultuous," Cindy Costa, South Carolina's RNC committeewoman, said of those attempting to let delegates vote freely. But it would be "a big mistake" and would lose, she said. Trump has already dismissed any plots that seek to overtake his impending nomination in July in a statement released Friday. I won almost 14 million votes, which is by far more votes than any candidate in the history of the Republican primaries, he said. I have tremendous support and get the biggest crowds by far and any such move would not only be totally illegal but also a rebuke of the millions of people who feel so strongly about what I am saying. People that I defeated soundly in the primaries will do anything to get a second shot but there is no mechanism for it to happen. Previous attempts to boot Trump from the nomination or change the rules to stop him havent panned out, but the new Hail Mary approach vows to get a contested convention. Many say, like him or not, Trump won and efforts to dump him would be crushed and would devastate the GOP. According to The Associated Press, Trump has 1,542 delegates, including 1,447 required by party rules to back his nomination, well above the 1,237 needed for victory. One catch: Delegates "bound" to one candidate can vote freely in convention rules fights. Delegates could sour on Trump and approve procedures opening the door to an alternative. "It's a fantasy, it won't happen," said Morton Blackwell, a Republican National Committee member from Virginia who initially backed Cruz. "We have a responsibility to respect our democracy, and that means we accept the outcome of the vote," said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., who supported the presidential bid of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from The Washington Post. President Obama on Saturday broke from his family vacation in Yosemite National Park to urge Americans to act on climate change, which he argued is destroying the countrys precious natural resources. Make no mistake, climate change is no longer a threat, its a reality, the president said in a roughly 10-minute speech, ahead of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the National Parks system. Obama said Yosemite rangers told him that signs of climate change, or global warming, are already occurring across the roughly 761,000-acre park in California. Yosemites largest glacier, (once) almost a mile long, is almost gone, said Obama, standing behind the majestic Yosemite falls. Global warming has in large part been blamed on human activity and on coal and other fossil fuel-burning plants. The president has been criticized for vowing, since essentially the start of his presidency, to make developing alternative or green energy a priority, while his administration has proposed changes that have the potential to shutter coal-firing plants and prevent new ones from opening. He also appeared to take a jab Saturday at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump who has threatened to dissolve the Paris climate change agreement. This shouldn't lead to careless suggestions about scrapping an international treaty we spent years putting together, Obama said. The president attempted to spread to the responsibility to act on all Americans, saying thats especially true for our leaders in Washington and that our generation must make an effort. Over the last 100 years, there has been plenty to celebrate, Obama said. Over the next 100 years, protecting (open) spaces is even more important. President Obama on Saturday renewed his call to ban so-called assault weapons, in the aftermath of the Florida nightclub shooting and other recent terror attacks on U.S. soil. Being tough on terrorism -- particularly the sorts of homegrown terrorism that weve seen now in Orlando and San Bernardino -- means making it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on assault weapons that are capable of killing dozens of innocents as quickly as possible, Obama said in his weekly radio address. Thats something Ill continue to talk about in the weeks ahead. The president stayed silent on the assault-weapon issue in public remarks immediately after the attack early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., in which 49 people were killed and dozens more were wounded. However, he returned to the ban issued Tuesday in a fiery speech in which he also defended his decision not to use the term radical Islam when referring to Islamic terrorists. The Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, a self-radicalized Muslim who pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State terror group, used a handgun and a Sig Sauer MCX assault rifle in the massacre. Congress in 1994 passed a ban on semi-automatic weapons like the one Mateen used inside Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. However, the ban expired in 2004. An effort in Congress led by Senate Democrats and pushed by Obama after the 2012 mass shooting inside a Newtown, Conn., elementary school to reinstate the ban ended in bitter defeat. "Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad," Obama said earlier this year when announcing his own efforts, through executive action, to tighten gun control. Obamas renewed push comes at the same time Senate Democrats are trying again for tougher gun-control laws. On Thursday, they forced a vote on four measures. None addresses the issue of semi-automatic weapons and are expected to fail, considering Democrats in the GOP-controlled chamber would need votes from Republican senators and the political might of the National Rifle Association. The vote is expected Monday. Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has also joined the fight to ban semi-automatic weapons, saying last week: Weapons of war have no place on our streets." The NRA lobby is already gearing up for the fight over Second Amendment rights, releasing a 5-minute-long video this weekend featuring a Navy SEAL veteran named Dom Raso. Let me say something to every political hack pretending to know an AR-15 from a double-barrel shotgun, in the wake of the Orlando attack, Raso says. For the vast major of people I work with, there is nothing better to defend their homes against realistic threats than with an AR-15 semi-automatic. Donald Trump has been endorsed by the NRA, but the presumptive GOP presidential nominee told Fox News on Wednesday that he wants to meet with the group to discuss barring people on the terrorism watch list from buying guns. About 71 percent of Americans, including eight out of 10 Democrats and nearly six out of 10 Republicans, favor at least moderate regulations and restrictions on guns, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Monday to Thursday. That was up from 60 percent in late 2013 and late 2014. Two of the four Senate proposals are from Democrats and would allow the government to prevent terrorist suspects from buying guns and expand background checks to online and gun-show purchases. The other two are from Republicans and would require court approval for the government to ban an individual from trying to buy a gun and would require law enforcement agencies to be notified if somebody investigated for terrorism in the past five years tries to buy a gun. This story is based in part on wire service reports. The Orlando terror massacre has members of the LGBT community around the nation coming out for Donald Trump and the Second Amendment. Some among the reliable Democratic constituency were not persuaded by President Obamas post-attack call for new gun control measures and renewed warning against painting Islam in a negative light. Trumps counter message that Americans including those in the LGBT community - must protect themselves against the hatred of radical Muslims struck a chord with Stephen Zieman. I knew I had to fully support Trump because he called out the threat for what it was -- radical Islamic terrorism, the 23-year-old from Schaumburg, Ill., told FoxNews.com. He stood up for the LGBT community and called himself a friend. It's something we all needed and he was there Hillary was not. She was making excuses for the religion and calling for gun control, which is not what I needed to hear. Zieman took to Twitter and announced that he was now voting for Trump. He was greeted by fellow supporters who welcomed him. I never believed in Hillary I wasn't always a Trump supporter After yesterday, I'm all in for @realDonaldTrump! #GaysForTrump Stephen Zieman (@StephenZieman) June 13, 2016 Zieman was not the only LGBT person impressed by Trumps response to the tragedy and his intensified calls for the country to be tougher on extremism. In Orlando, political activist and Trump supporter Randy Ross said he has been deluged with private messages on Facebook and his cell phone showing support for Trump. In the last three days, I would say there were no less than 50 requests to be added to our volunteer listing, but moreover, its been a gradual progression over the last few months, he said, noting the influx was mostly gay men. Ross came out as gay in 2002 in his 30s, but only switched his party affiliation to GOP a few years ago. As an outspoken Republican, he said people have both welcomed his beliefs as well as questioned them. When he visited the site of the shooting during a talk this week by outspoken gay Breitbart journalist Milo Yiannapolous, someone asked him, Are you scared to be here? Im an openly gay man, he said. That in and of itself, as a Republican, to openly gay is not necessarily easy for a lot of people to understand. Im not a one-voter issue. Ive never been scared, not once, to be a gay man thats openly supporting Donald Trump, but I could tell that was one of their fears. [Trump] has never come out and attacked the LGBT community, he continued. If you want your freedom to come together and to be protected, if you want all those things, hes the right person to do that because I dont believe thats what were seeing on the Hillary Clinton side. On Twitter, Trump told his followers that he will fight for the LGBT community: The support extends from Trump the candidate to his pro-Second Amendment message, renewing an old argument about whether the answer to gun crimes is fewer firearms in general, or more of them in the hands of law-abiding citizens who can respond to an attack. Gay, pro-Second Amendment group the Pink Pistols saw its membership more than double to 3,500 in the days following the attack. Instead of calling for new gun control measures, Pink Pistols First Speaker Gwendolyn Patton repeated the gun rights mantra that more guns, not fewer, could have saved lives. She said groups going out for drinks should consider a designated carrier to pack heat and stay sober. Its sad that we must consider such things, but when there are persons out there who mean us harm, we must find ways to protect ourselves within the law. Patton said. Gun stores have reported anecdotal evidence of a surge in gay people buyig firearms. Mike Smith, a firearms instructor in Colorado Springs, told Fox 31 he has witnessed the phenomenon first hand. I think right now because of what happened, people are looking for answers, he told the station. You walk into a gun shop and you expect to see people, frankly, who look like me. I think we forget were a country of all people, not just people who fit that predetermined mold. In California during the hours immediately following the Orlando attack, the LGBT community was shaken yet again by news that an armed man was arrested, possibly on his way to attack revelers at the Los Angeles Pride event. The suspect is now believed to be gay himself, and his motives remain unclear. But the incident coming so quickly on the heels of Orlando left the California LGBT community rattled. I went out Saturday night and when we saw the news in the morning, were just like, Gosh, that could have been us, said Nestor Moto, vice president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Orange County. On Sunday, someone tried to do that. It really hit us. Moto, 21, originally backed Chris Christie for the Republican presidential nomination. When the New Jersey governor dropped out in February, he turned his attention to Trump, especially when he spoke out against the North Carolina bathroom bill that would not allow transgender people to use the bathroom of their gender identity. He also noted past interviews with LGBT magazine The Advocate where he was in favor of gay rights. Then, when Trump said the Orlando attack was the result of Islamic terrorism, Moto became even more excited about his campaign. I was very, very pleased with the fact that he finally said that Islamic terrorism is anti-gay, anti-women, anti-Jewish because we need to diagnose the problem in order to fix it and hes the first one that has actively said that in a public forum like that, he said. Its very refreshing to hear someone who isnt afraid to say it like it is. Online, LGBT people are experiencing another coming out in sharing their support for Trump -- the hashtags #GaysForTrump and #ComeOut4Trump are accompanied by selfies and declarations of jumping on the Trump Train. Every single Donald Trump supporter, and they come from all political backgrounds, have been loving, supportive and encouraging. They said they will defend me, they will support me and they will stand with me against oppression and terror, said Zieman of his experience switching his support. Ross knows many if not most in the LGBT community will vote Democrat, but said Trumps message is getting through. You are starting to see more and more gay people become comfortable with the idea that Trump might be a candidate that they need to pursue, Ross said. Another Oakland, Calif. police chief stepped down Friday, after just two days on the job amid an ongoing sex scandal that has rocked the department. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said at a news conference that Acting Police Chief Paul Figueroa would revert back to police captain and resign as acting police chief and assistant. Figueroa is the third chief to be replaced in the last nine days amid a sex scandal that Schaaf said involved disgusting allegations that a number of officers had sex with a teenage prostitute. Schaaf said at a news conference that her job is to run a police department, not a frat house. She appointed Figueroa Wednesday after abruptly removing the interim police chief, Ben Fairow, after learning unspecified information that led her to lose confidence in his ability to run the beleaguered department. Fairow, previously spent 21 years as an officer in Oakland, was appointed after Chief Sean Whent resigned last Thursday after news of the scandal broke. An 18-year-old woman has alleged in multiple news media interviews that two dozen current and former officers in five cities had sex with her while she worked as a prostitute. Encounters with three of the officers took place when she was a minor, the woman has said. Before his sudden resignation last week, former chief Whent revealed that an Oakland officer's September suicide had led the department's internal affairs division to open an investigation into whether any current officers committed sexual misconduct with a minor. Officer Brendan O'Brien killed himself a little more than a year after police say his wife, Irma Huerta-Lopez, also took her life. Whent did not specify how O'Brien's suicide led to the sexual misconduct probe. Two officers with the historically troubled Oakland department have resigned, and three others remain on paid leave in the sex misconduct case. City Administrator Sabrina Landreth was put in charge of the department, according to KTVU. The commanding staff will now have to report to Landreth. The mayor also revealed Friday that she plans to root out this toxic macho culture within, but not exclusive to the Oakland Police Department. According to KTVU, Schaaf was referring to a separate investigation involving African-American police officers who sent, inappropriate racist text messages. She said they werent acceptable from anyone wearing the badge. Schaaf insisted that the new texting investigation was separate from the sex scandal and that the investigation should be completed within a week or two. She said the texting incident wasnt as widespread as the sex scandal. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from KTVU. The Florida State Attorneys Office announced Friday that an assistant state attorney was suspended for violating the offices social media policy. Angela Starke, the public information officer for the State Attorneys Office, Ninth Judicial Circuit, said Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis was disciplined for a Facebook message following the Orlando massacre that left 49 dead and dozens wounded Sunday. According to WESH-TV, Lewis wrote a scathing Facebook post decrying Orlando right after the shooting. "Downtown Orlando has no bottom. The entire city should be leveled. It is void of a single redeeming quality. It is a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs. It is void of culture. If you live down there you do it at your own risk and at your own peril. "If you go down there after dark there is seriously something wrong with you. Disney does everything in its power to shield visitors of Disney from its northern blight. That doesn't change reality. Disney may be the happiest place on earth but Orlando is a national embarrassment. If this is an act of domestic terrorist it is so important that we don't publish the religion, name, or motive of the terrorist as not to offend anyone." Officials with the State Attorneys Office said that Lewis violated the SAO9 social media policy and failure to comply with the rule would result in discipline and possible termination. The station noted that Lewis had previously been reprimanded for making a crack hoes comment on Facebook in 2014. Click for more from WESH. The suspect charged with murder in connection with a vacant building fire in Los Angeles was in the United States illegally and had a string of arrests to his name -- but the feds never deported him, officials said Friday. Homeless man, 21, charged with murder for Westlake fire that killed 5 https://t.co/kbl9akY3Hg pic.twitter.com/VTsSmVVa9o ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) June 15, 2016 Johnny Sanchez, a 21-year-old citizen of Honduras, was initially arrested in 2012 for crossing the southeastern California border illegally, the Los Angeles Times reported. Authorities said they released him because he had no criminal history or previous immigration violations at the time. He was arrested again in January on suspicion of domestic violence and twice in the ensuing months on suspicion of drug possession, officials said. After he crossed the border, authorities reportedly placed him under supervision and ordered Sanchez to report to them regularly -- but he stopped doing so in 2014, the Times adds. Immigration and Customs Enforcement never started the process of deporting him, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said, adding that the reason why was unclear. She told the newspaper it's ICE policy to focus on individuals who pose a public safety threat. The fire on Monday killed five homeless people. Four of the badly burned bodies weren't found until Tuesday afternoon, when search dogs located them under a heap of debris on the second floor. Sanchez was in some kind of fight with the others and lit the fire with the intent to kill, Los Angeles Police Capt. Billy Hayes said. The suspect was charged Wednesday with five capital murder counts and was ordered held without bail. The charges against Sanchez, who's also homeless, make him eligible for the death penalty if he's convicted, if prosecutors choose to pursue it. It took nearly 150 firefighters more than two hours to extinguish the fire in the green, two-story building that once was home to an acupuncture clinic. It is surrounded by strip malls and an apartment building in the Westlake District about a mile west of downtown LA. The structure appeared to be singed and some of its windows were blown out. It did not appear seriously damaged from the outside, but the inside was badly burned and most of the roof was gone. There had been complaints about the building recently, Terrazas said, and authorities had contacted the owner -- who has sought a demolition permit for the building -- about keeping people out. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Corey Clagett was a 21-year-old U.S. Army private in the 101st Airborne Division on a mission deep inside Al Qaeda-controlled territory in Iraq when, he says, he followed an order that would change his life forever. It was May 9, 2006, and Clagetts squad had been dropped on to a tiny lake island 200 miles north of Baghdad. They were told it was a terrorist training camp, and members would later testify the rules of engagement were to kill all military-aged males in the area. When they caught three men hiding in a house, the squads leader ordered Clagett and three others to let them go and shoot them as they fled. I was just a private. I looked up to the higher officers. We thought they were following the rules, Clagett, who was released earlier this year after serving 10 years at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., told FoxNews.com. I followed their orders and thought it was the right call, but it wasnt the case. Shooting unarmed men in the back as they fled violated the most basic rules of war, and following orders is no defense if the orders were unlawful. Clagett pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. It was hell. The minutes seemed like days and the hours felt like months. Corey Clagett Yet supporters of Clagett and others in the Leavenworth 10, the name given to a fluctuating group of men imprisoned at Leavenworth for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan say the men were scapegoats for their superiors, sacrificed to appease the governments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their cases have garnered online petitions and brought together odd coalitions of military veterans and young legal students who believe justice is not always served when young service members fates are sealed in military courtrooms far removed from the heat of battle. Among the more well-known cases is that of Army First Lt. Clint Lorance, who is serving a 20-year sentence for ordering his men to shoot two suspected Taliban scouts in July 2012 in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan. Lorance had just taken command of the platoon after the prior leader and several others were killed days before by fighters using information provided by scouts. Another is U.S. Army Master Sgt. John Hatley -- a highly decorated, 20-year vet who served in Operation Desert Storm and did another three tours during the Iraq War -- now serving a life sentence at Leavenworth. His conviction stems from an April 2007 incident in Iraq in which he and his unit captured four enemies following a firefight. He was ordered to let them go, and maintains he did, but military prosecutors say Hatley and his men killed the suspects. No bodies were ever found. In Clagetts case, the staff sergeant he claims ordered him to shoot the Iraqis had his own criminal charges dismissed on an appeal. Raymond Girouard was eventually given back pay and an honorable discharge. Clagett, who grew up in Moncks Corner, S.C., and enlisted right out of high school, was paroled on March 31 after a grueling stint that included years of solitary confinement for mounting infractions such as receiving too much mail and having contraband items in his cell. It was hell, he told FoxNews.com. The minutes seemed like days and the hours felt like months. His case and subsequent treatment drew the attention of the University of Chicago Law Schools Combat Clemency Project, which is petitioning the Army for a full pardon of his conviction. "Corey committed a crime for which he has expressed remorse and been punished severely -- much more severely than anyone else involved in the incident, said Eamonn Hart, a law student who worked on Clagetts petition. That includes his direct superior, who ordered Corey, an impressionable young private first class, to do what he did. The legal group stressed that a pardon would not condone the shooting, but could help Clagett rebuild his life. A pardon isn't a statement that what Corey did was right, but rather, an exercise of mercy, merited by the fact that he has been punished so much more harshly than anyone else involved," Hart said. For now, Clagett has found work with United American Patriots, a North Carolina nonprofit that helps service members who face injustice. The group helped Clagett win an early release from an 18-year sentence after learning the details of his case. I got to know him well, the more I spoke with him, said United American Patriots founder Herbert Donahue, 72, a retired major who served in the U.S. Marines in Vietnam. The more I realized that this was not the type of person to be rotting away in jail. Clagett is working in Kernersville, N.C., as a United American Patriots community and veterans liaison. This job means everything to me, Clagett says. The only job opportunities were for $6 an hour and living back at home. Its a sense of purpose Clagett hasnt felt since he served in Iraq, where he insists he had a positive impact. I feel theres more to do, Clagett told FoxNews.com, adding that he wishes he could re-enlist. I was doing good. I remember one incident where we saw this family living on the side of the road in a tent. They had nothing. They were starving. We gave them all our food and all of our water. To see the happiness on their faces, it changed me. Orlando shooter Omar Mateen traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2012 as part of an annual pilgrimage led by an Islamic center in New York, joining a group of roughly 80 people that included 12 Muslim officers from the New York Police Department. The group that organized the trip, the Islamic Center at New York University, was stunned after learning from The Wall Street Journal of its connection with Mateen, and said it was notifying law-enforcement officials immediately about his presence on the trip. It will assist with the investigation, a university spokesman said. Groups from institutions such as Columbia and Yale universities, as well as about 40 people from an NYPD contingent, participated in the trip, the university said in a statement Friday. NYPD officials said they were looking into how it was involved in the trip. Law-enforcement officials are looking into Mateens movementsincluding the tripas they attempt to learn what led him to shoot 49 people and injured 53 others at Pulse, a gay nightclub, in the early hours of Sunday morning. Mateen, 29 years old, was killed by police in the massacre. Authorities want to know more about what Mateen, believed to be a homegrown terrorist, did during his two trips in successive years to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, a religious pilgrimage taken by millions of devout Muslims to Mecca and Medina, two of the holiest sites in Islam. Click here for more from The Wall Street Jounral. Omar Mateen, the Orlando nightclub attacker, grew up in a home frought with violence, with his mother accused of beating her husband during their many fights, according to reports published Saturday shedding new light on what may have helped spark the massacre. Police had arrested Mateen's mother, Shahla, on charges of domestic violence in 2002, police records show. Speaking to the Daily Beast, a former Walgreens coworker, Becky Diefendorf, described Shahla as "paranoid." Officers said they arrested Shahla after she and her husband had a heated argument that ended with her pulling his hair and pinching him so hard that it left a mark. According to the police report, her husband claimed she'd beat him before. The husband, Seddique Mateen, reportedly never pressed charges. Omar Mateen was 16 at the time. After the massacre, the killer's ex-wife said he himself abused her. Both parents came to the U.S. from Afghanistan. Omar Mateen was born in New York before the family moved to Florida. Seddique, who announced a run for president of Afghanistan last year, has released a series of odd videos on YouTube. In some, he praises the Taliban and decries Pakistan. Diefendorf said Shahla often alluded to her family's turmoil. "She would just come at me and say, 'I have to go, family problem,' and leave." Omar Mateen had three sisters and no brothers. People who knew him said he often seemed conflicted about his Muslim faith. "I do remember the teachers at the school wanting to get him help desperately, as he was just such an angry kid," former elementary school classmate William Winkler told The Washington Post. He said Mateen bullied girls -- and his father had little respect for the school's female teachers. School records from Martin County, Florida show Mateen attended three schools there, including time at an alternative school. The records show at least some of the suspensions were for fighting that involved injuries. Other suspensions were for unspecified rules violations. Mateen attended high school and part of middle school in Martin County. He attended elementary and early middle school in neighboring St. Lucie County, where teachers regularly found him disruptive and struggling academically because of a lack of focus. Records show Mateen withdrew from Martin County High School in 2003 and eventually graduated from Stuart Adult Community High School with a standard diploma. The Pulse Nightclub attack last weekend killed at least 49 people and wounded more than 50 others, investigators said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, to death for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. Morsi, the case's top defendant, and two of his aides were also sentenced to 25 years in prison. Morsi and his secretary, Amin el-Sirafy, received an additional 15-year sentence for a lesser crime. El-Sirafy's daughter, Karima, was also sentenced to 15 years in prison. Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013 and has already been sentenced to death in another case. That death sentence and another two -- life and 20 years in prison -- are under appeal. All of Saturday's verdicts can be appealed. The two Al-Jazeera employees -- identified by the judge as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal -- were sentenced in absentia along with Asmaa al-Khateib, who worked for Rasd, a media network widely suspected of links to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was banned and declared a terrorist group after Morsi's ouster. The three other defendants sentenced to death Saturday are documentary producer Ahmed Afify, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohammed Keilany and academic Ahmed Ismail. Egypt's relations with Qatar have been fraught with tension since the ouster of Morsi, who enjoyed the support of the tiny but wealthy Gulf state. Cairo also maintains that Al-Jazeera's news coverage of Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East is biased in favor of militant Islamic groups. Last year, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi pardoned two imprisoned journalists from the Al-Jazeera English news network. Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-born Canadian, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were arrested in December 2013. They were sentenced last year to three years in prison for airing what a court described as "false news" and coverage biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood. The prosecution of the two, along with Australian Peter Greste -- deported in February last year -- drew strong international condemnations. Their long-running trial was entangled from the start with the wider political enmity between Egypt and Qatar following Morsi's ouster. 9 5,2% 1 2022 5,2% 699 553 . 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It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. Many of us will have heard about the enormous expanse of wonderful farmland in the former Eastern bloc. A land of opportunity and potential. Well, at last I have seen it for myself. Four of us, all friends from college days, went to visit another friend who has been farming in Ukraine in various guises for the past 23 years. He and his colleagues are tenant farmers and work land that is now again owned by those who used to own it prior to the Soviet era. He farms a mind-blowing 231,000ha and has more than 80,000 landlords growing wheat, maize, soya and sunflowers. See also: Read more from our Arable Farmer Focus writers It was a fascinating insight. To actually see that beautiful, naturally fertile land at first hand was memorable. We were close to the Russian border and to see the watchtowers in the distance is a bit disconcerting. However, the farmers only concern seem to be the particularly wet spring that was delaying drilling. However, the wheat looked particularly well, having had only half the nitrogen we use. There also seemed to be little sign of disease pressure. I wouldnt be surprised if the ageing Soviet grain stores complete with a fading but still clearly visible hammer and sickle painted on the massive concrete silos will be full to bursting this year. There are new facilities like this being built or upgraded all over the place. The waterway that runs through Kiev on its way to the Black Sea is being deepened so that larger grain vessels can pass through. We can assume it will be only a matter of years before the long-expected potential of Ukraine is finally fulfilled. The four of us enjoyed our few days in Ukraine, although some of the memories are very hazy. Our hosts provided us with a sumptuous lunch, but of course tradition dictates that several toasts to farming, women and so on meant the only sight-seeing done on the long, arduous seven-hour journey back to Kiev was the back of our eyelids. Neil Thomson farms 607ha in partnership with his father and brother from Caverton Mill, Kelso, on the Scottish Borders, growing combinable crops and brassicas. Some of the mainly medium loam is let for potatoes, and the farm also has cattle and sheep. The government must address the barriers which prevent farmers and landowners from creating more woodland, according to the CLA. The organisation spoke out after new figures (PDF) showed the Forestry Commission has missed its trees-in-the-ground target in England by 86%. Data published by the commission showed that 700ha of woodland was planted in England last year way short of the target of 5,000ha. See also: Could your farms woodlands generate a new income stream? In Scotland, 4,600 was planted, 40% less than last years 7,600ha and far short of the 10,000ha target. And in Northern Ireland planting reached just 100ha in comparison to 200ha last year. We are disappointed but unsurprised at the low figures for tree planting since the inception of the Countryside Stewardship scheme for woodland creation Ross Murray, CLA The figures also showed just 100ha of new woodland was planted in Wales last year. The Woodland Trust said it was alarmed by the continued low level of new tree plantings. Poor planting rates, plus woodland losses and weak protection of ancient woods mean deforestation is highly likely in England, with some areas of woodland felled or destroyed and not replanted, it added. Green scheme ineffective CLA president Ross Murray said the figures showed agri-environment schemes, which aim to boost woodlands were not working. He added: We are disappointed but unsurprised at the low figures for tree planting since the inception of the Countryside Stewardship scheme for woodland creation. We have consistently told the Forestry Commission that the scheme was ineffective for farmers and landowners, even to those who want to create woodland. These recent figures prove that to be the case with only 13% of new woodland areas created in England and just 3% across Wales. Although most of the new planting took place on private land, he said many land managers were discouraged from creating woodland due to overregulation of the forestry sector, concerns over environmental impact assessments and the effect on land values. Mr Murray added that the CLA had raised its concerns with ministers and was keen to continue working with Defra to find solutions. Flood prevention He said: Trees are so vital to helping improve water quality and delivering natural flood defences among many other benefits. The government must address the many barriers to woodland creation if it is to achieve its planting targets. A Defra spokesman said: Woodland cover in England is at its highest level since the 14th century and we are committed to growing it even further. The Countryside Stewardship scheme is an important opportunity to help expand our nations woodlands, which is why the Forestry Commission is supporting landowners to make applications through a series of workshops and online support. The government has pledged to plant 11m trees by 2020. Story Highlights 73% of Americans are confident in the military, higher than any other institution Confidence in the military has remained high over the past decade and a half By contrast, Americans have become less confident in many other institutions PRINCETON, N.J. -- While Americans' faith in many U.S. institutions has fallen from the levels of previous decades, the public's confidence in the military has remained consistently high. The average confidence level across all 14 institutions tested in 2004 was 43%, compared with 32% this year. In contrast, the 73% confidence rating that Americans give the military today is essentially unchanged from the 75% rating they gave it 12 years ago. The military reached its highest level of confidence -- 85% -- in March 1991, just after the first Persian Gulf War. This rating remains the highest Gallup has yet recorded for any institution. There was another sharp uptick in Americans' confidence in the military after the 9/11 attacks. Confidence has fluctuated some in the years since 2001, but has generally remained high, dropping below 70% only once. From 1975 through early 2001, confidence in the military averaged 63%. Since 9/11, it has averaged 75%. The last time when Americans' confidence in the military was not No. 1 on Gallup's confidence in institutions list was in 1997, when "small business" eclipsed it. Since 1998, however, the military has been No. 1 each year. Confidence in the military is currently five points higher than the second-ranking institution, small business (68%), and 17 points higher than the police (56%). Small business and the police are the only other two institutions with majority confidence in this year's survey. Confidence in Military Somewhat Lower Among Liberals, Young People The high confidence ratings in the military reflect generally strong ratings across all segments of the population, although Republicans' 82% confidence level is significantly higher than Democrats' 65%. Seventy-eight percent of conservatives and moderates have confidence in the military, contrasted with 59% among liberals. The 60% confidence rating among young Americans (aged 18 to 29) is lower than that of those aged 50 to 64 (82%) and those 65 and older (79%). Confidence in the Military, by Groups Great deal/Quite a lot of confidence % National Adults 73 Men 74 Women 71 18-29 60 30-49 71 50-64 82 65+ 79 Republicans/leaners 82 Democrats/leaners 65 Conservatives 78 Moderates 78 Liberals 59 Gallup, June 1-5, 2016 Implications Americans continue to place more faith in their military than in any other societal institution, and despite some fluctuations over time, this high level of confidence has not abated. The military maintains this high level of respect even as the public's confidence in many other of society's institutions has declined compared with levels measured a decade ago and further back. Americans' robust confidence in the military, which clearly rose after 9/11, has stayed high even as a majority of Americans came to believe that the most significant U.S. military action of the past two decades -- the invasion of Iraq -- was a mistake. Although Gallup did not ask about confidence in the military at the time of the Vietnam War, which likewise a majority of the public came to see as a mistake, a reading in 1981 showed confidence in the military had dropped to 50%. This was a time when Vietnam and its associated controversies were perhaps still relatively fresh on Americans' minds, and also a year after the aborted attempt to use the military to rescue American hostages in Iran. The 1980 presidential campaign in which Ronald Reagan consistently called for an increase in military spending would also have been fresh on Americans' minds in 1981. Today is clearly a different era, and unlike the Vietnam era, members of the military are often applauded, given privileges and perks, and commonly greeted by the encomium, "Thank you for your service." It may be in particular that 9/11 and the specter of terrorism have been major factors in sustaining Americans' continuing high levels of faith in the men and women who don uniforms to protect and defend their country. Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted June 1-5, 2016, with a random sample of 1,027 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works. CSULB alum wins gold at the 38th Long Beach Marathon which was his first My friend and colleague, Rabbi Darby Leigh, created a very compelling video showing how he recites in American Sign Language one of our traditions central prayers, the Shema. The prayer, only six words in length, calls upon us to recognize the oneness of the Divine. Its first word, Shema in Hebrew, means listen. Rabbi Darby begins his explanation by asking: What does it mean for me, as a deaf person, to be instructed to listen? And so, he explains, he decided to represent the word Shema not as listen, but rather with the sign for pay attention. That interpretation resonated with me profoundly. It reminded me that when the Torah speaks of listening (or seeing for that matter) it is not truly speaking about the external sense. It is referring to listening on a deeper level. It is asking us to apprehend, to be aware. This practice of awareness takes continual effort, and therefore is an instruction we are given throughout the Torah. To pay attention, in my understanding, is at the heart of Jewish practice. This is how I understand the verse from Proverbs, In all your ways, know God. Know in the Hebrew is in this sense an intimate knowing, not an intellectual one. The verse is guiding us to experience Divinity that is, Life to its fullest expression, resonance, and meaning in everything we do, and in everyone we encounter. In order to do that, we need to attune our senses the external and internal senses we possess toward being aware of each moment we are given. We need to be intimate with this life we are living. Joseph Goldstein writes about intuitive rather than conceptual insights derived from meditation. Intuitive in this sense he writes, means clearly, directly seeing and experiencing how things really are. This is how I understand the imperative of the Shema: as a call to experience our lives clearly. Amidst lifes disparate parts, we are instructed to listen for the ways in which all things are connected, and all life is interwoven. In the Jewish community, we recently celebrated the festival of Shavuot. It is our early summer harvest festival, and also the day on which we tell of and celebrate the revelation of the Torah. It is a time of year in which we are asked to listen in this deeper way. The Torah tells of how the People of Israel stood at the base of Mount Sinai and collectively received the words of the Teaching. A midrash, the rabbis more expansive telling of tradition, describes how each individual at Sinai heard the revelation in the unique voice that he or she needed to hear. For some it was a demanding call to wake up, for others it was gentle and comforting. Another source tells of how no words were actually uttered at Sinai only the single, virtually silent letter, Alef. For me, these teachings have always been a challenge and an invitation to listen as fully as I can. For if revelation is nearly silent, then we need to attune our senses acutely so that we are able to discern what it is we need to perceive. And in fact, the revelation of wisdom, for the most part, is that subtle. How do we acquire wisdom in our lives except through paying attention? We will continue to grow older, but we will only grow wiser if we pay close attention to what we experience. May we each be blessed with the capability to listen in this deeper way, to each individual and to each aspect of life we encounter. A childrens librarian for 36 years, Curtis Kiefer didnt pick up books himself during his childhood years. I was not a reader as a child, Kiefer said, although I never remember not being able to read and we certainly had books around the house that we read. But I was not a library goer, not a library user. It was not until I was in college that I myself became a reader. Reading evolved into a passion and became Kiefers lifes work, including 20 years with the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. In honor of his significant contributions, Oregon Literary Arts this year presented Kiefer with the Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award. (I was) very flattered its a statewide award and to be honored by other writers and people involved in literacy and reading, it was a nice, nice honor, said Kiefer, 64, who left his position as youth services manager at the Corvallis library in 2014 and retired to Philomath. Following college, Kiefer took a job teaching school for two years in the Bahamas. There were no school libraries and that was just a shock, he said. I tried to help set one up in the high school I was teaching in and we did get something going, and thats when I decided Id go to library school. During the April 11 awards program, he was called a visionary, which included the implementation of programs for children as young as 6 months while helping parents learn to support their childrens language and cognitive development. Watching that a-ha moment when kids connect words on the printed page with a story and the fact that they can do it themselves ... that's a wonderful feeling, Kiefer responded when asked why he found such enthusiasm with encouraging young readers. And younger kids, preschool kids, are just little sponges, theyre soaking up everything you say. Role model Ashley Folgate, extensions librarian at the Philomath Community Library, sees Kiefer as a role model. Hes a master storyteller and he still occasionally comes in and does storytime for us, Folgate said. Hes incredible to watch, even as a grownup doing storytelling, he does a fantastic job with it. Folgate started her tenure at the library in 2011 and Kiefers approach rubbed off on her. He helped me shape how I do my storytimes, she said when asked about Kiefers influence. Just having good conversations with him weve talked and debated all kinds of things from using technology in storytime to using iPads in storytime. He was always willing to have those really deep conversations about serving children. Kiefer remains active in the local scene with his work on the librarys foundation board. I miss the interaction with the kids and one volunteer thing I still do is volunteer for bedtime storytime and helping supervise at various childrens events, like the Chintimini Chamber Music we do two programs at the library and Ill work with them on that," he said. "Corvallis-OSU Piano International does programs at the library and I help out with that. Besides his contributions on infant storytime, Kiefer also instituted programs for the developmentally disabled and led the inclusion of library services into assistance programs for families in crisis. He also worked to assure that the LGBTQ community was fully integrated into library services and LGBTQ youth had a safe place at the library. With the multitude of distractions in the technology age, one might think it would be a challenge to attract young readers to physically pick up a book. But Kiefer doesnt see it that way at all. No, I think its the second golden age of childrens literature really from picture books through older fiction, Kiefer said. Certainly there was great stuff before Harry Potter, but Harry Potter made reading very cool. Second-graders are trying to read Harry Potter and that just set things in motion. Just watching how circulation grew over the years with childrens materials, it was very exciting. Todays technology has had an impact, primarily with nonfiction materials. Youd have the schools make an assignment on Mars, so every book on Mars or the solar system would go out and thered be nothing, Kiefer said about past years. Now kids just go online and they can go online at the library. We have all sorts of electronic information they can get. So thats made a change as far as nonfiction materials are used. Among Kiefers other accomplishments during his noteworthy career was to help establish the Oregon Library Associations Vision 2010 project. The effort embraced a strategy that still remains: Nurture the joy of reading by providing every child with quality library services from both public and school libraries. Seven new positions in administration : More police for Bonn BONN More police will be added to Bonns law enforcement personnel. The Interior Ministry of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) informed Social Democratic Party (SPD) politicians Renate Hendricks and Bernhard Felix von Grunberg of the decision. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Seven more positions will be added in administration, to free up police from administrative work say the two politicians. This gives more time for police to be on the streets. It is also expected that more possibilities will be opened up for use of on call police forces. Police Chief Ursula Brohl-Sowa agreed to increase the frequency of patrols in Tannenbusch and Bad Godesberg. We have acted with success over the years to increase police presence and lower the average age of law enforcement officers by bringing in younger officers to fill the positions say Hendricks and von Grunberg. The decision from the Interior Ministry will be a boost to the Bonn police force. Microsoft acquires messaging start-up founded by Indian News oi -GizBot Bureau Technology giant Microsoft has acquired a messaging-app developer founded by an Indian as the US-based software firm aims to strengthen its position in the emerging era of combining the power of human language with advanced machine intelligence. Microsoft acquired California-based Wand Labs, a start-up which builds messaging technology for apps, founded in 2013 by IIT-Delhi alumnus Vishal Sharma who was previously the vice president, products at Google. 10 Shocking Mistakes That Will Reduce Your DSLR's Battery Life The terms of the acquisition were not made public. "This acquisition accelerates our vision and strategy for 'Conversation as a Platform' which (India-born CEO of Microsoft) Satya Nadella introduced at our Build 2016 conference," Corporate Vice President, Information Platform Group at Microsoft David Ku said in a statement yesterday. During the Build conference in March, Nadella told thousands of developers that he envisages a technological future where computer software can learn the human language and have natural conversations with people. Nadella had said that Microsoft wants to take the power of human language and apply it more pervasively to all of the computing interface and interactions. Ku said Wand Labs' technology and talent would strengthen Microsoft's position in the "emerging era of conversational intelligence where we bring together the power of human language with advanced machine intelligence, connecting people to knowledge, information, services and other people in more relevant and natural ways". The acquisition builds on and extends the power of the Microsoft's search engine Bing, its cloud computing platform Azure, Office 365 and Windows platforms to empower developers everywhere. Ku said Wand's expertise around services mapping, third- party developer integration and conversational interfaces makes it a "great fit" to join the Bing engineering and platform team. Describing Sharma as an "experienced leader and entrepreneur" in the field of search and knowledge, Ku said the Wand team will make significant contributions to Microsoft's innovation of Bing intelligence. Sharma said it is an "exciting time" to be working in the area of semantics and conversation, an area that Nadella has highlighted as core to the future. 7 Easy Ways of Bypassing Parental Filters That You Probably Didn't Know "Making experiences for customers more seamless by harnessing human language is a powerful vision and one that motivates me and my team," Sharma said, adding that Wand's experience with semantics and messaging are a "natural fit" for the work already underway at Microsoft, especially in the area of intelligent agents and cognitive services. Source PTI Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications A new Moto Z smartphone spotted online: 7 Features and Specs [Rumored] News oi -Harshita Earlier this month, Lenovo announced a new series under the Moto brand, which is known owned by Lenovo. The company unveiled two new Moto smartphones - the Moto Z and Moto Z Force - at Tech World event in San Francisco. Seems like, it is now prepping to add another model in the Moto Z series. An unannounced Moto Z smartphone variant has been listed on benchmarking site GeekBench, suggesting that the company has more devices under the Moto Z umbrella. Although Lenovo was expected to announce another smartphone called the Moto X Play, we are not sure if this mystery smartphone is the rumored Play version. SEE ALSO: Feel your PC getting slow? Inspect these 5 components to speed it up The sighting of the new Moto phone carrying a model number XT1635-01 on GeekBench reveals its specifications as well. Here are the specs that the announced smartphone is expected to feature: A Qualcomm chipset with 3GB RAM on board: As per the listing, the upcoming Moto Z smartphone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 (msm8953) processor clocked at 2.02GHz. It is paired with 3GB of RAM. SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy Note 6/ Note 7: Top 10 Specs, Features [Rumor Round-Up] Marshmallow flavored: As far as the software is concerned, the mystery smartphone was spotted running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS. Z Mods to come along! One of the key highlights of the Moto Z smartphones is mods, which can be snapped on the back of the phone for adding new functionality. We expect that the unannounced Moto Z smartphone would also come with mods. SEE ALSO: 21 shocking and amazing facts you should know about YouTube A 1080p display: Though the listing doesn't mention the screen size of this yet to be launched Moto Z smartphone, if it turns out to be none other than the alleged Moto Z Play, then it may also feature a 5.5-inch display of FHD quality giving 1080p resolution. A camera centric smartphone for photography lovers! In the camera department, again, if we consider this mystery smartphone to be the Moto Z Play, then expect a 16MP rear camera and 5MP front-facing camera on-board. A big battery phone! Previous rumors also suggested the Moto Z Play would be powered by a 3,000mAh battery! Though, we can't confirm it until it gets launched. Possible launch soon! While the Moto Z with mods will launch in India by October, we expect to get to know more about this rumored device in nearing weeks. We might get more details closer to September, when the Moto Z smartphone will go on sale in some countries. Best Mobiles in India Rights Group Calls on Obama to Investigate CIA Interrogation Program by VOA News June 17, 2016 Human Rights Watch is calling on President Barack Obama to take action before he leaves office to hold accountable former U.S. officials for potential abuses committed as part of the Central Intelligence Agency's interrogation program. The U.S.-based rights group argued that newly declassified CIA documents give new evidence about alleged criminal misconduct. "Failure to take concrete action to address these crimes will leave a stain" on Obama's legacy, Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. The group urged the president to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the CIA's detention and interrogation program and to issue a formal U.S. apology to the victims of torture. Earlier this week, the CIA released a group of 50 internal documents, totaling hundreds of pages, in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents show mixed opinions about the CIA's detention and interrogation program; some agency officials were convinced it provided "unique and invaluable intelligence," while others expressed deep reservations. Many of the files are heavily redacted, with full pages and identifying information such as sender, recipients and dates blocked out. Then-President George W. Bush authorized the CIA detention and interrogation program six days after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in order to capture and question al-Qaida militants and extract information that could prevent another attack. After taking office in 2009, Obama ordered an inquiry into whether the CIA's program involved criminal conduct. The inquiry was closed in 2012 with then-Attorney General Eric Holder saying that not enough evidence existed for criminal prosecution. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Number of Child Soldiers in Somalia May Top 5,000, UN Reports by Mohamed Olad June 16, 2016 A top official with the U.N. Children's Fund says there could be 5,000 child soldiers in Somalia as al-Shabab continues its recruiting campaigns. In an interview with VOA Somali, Susannah Price, UNICEF chief of communication, said the recruitment and use of young children as soldiers was documented, and at surprisingly high numbers. "This is a very, very disturbing situation," Price said. "Indeed, there could be up to 5,000 child soldiers. We know that al-Shabab has a recruiting campaign for children sometimes involving persuasion. They may be giving money or food sometimes. The children in the [displaced persons] camps are an easy target." In the past, an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 children sometimes as young as 9 were enlisted in the Somali armed forces, according to UNICEF. This came as the African continent on Thursday commemorated the Day of the African Child under the theme "Conflict and Crisis in Africa: Protecting All Children's Rights." Somalia signed the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), making Somalia the 195th state to ratify the convention. The ratification means that Somali children now have legally binding rights with the CRC, providing the framework for the government to promote and protect those rights. Price called on Somali leaders to prioritize the protection of children's rights and the creation of a safer environment for Somali children. "It is very important to focus on peace building and to call on all leaders to look at the children, to protect the rights of children and allow them to get the rights every other child in the world is entitled to," she said. The Day of the African Child focuses the spotlight on children's rights in an effort to remind the continent's governments that the issue needs continued attention. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Officials Provide Details of Latest Counter-ISIL Strikes in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 17, 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 yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Operation Inherent Resolve - Targeted Operations Against ISIL Terrorists Strikes in Syria Bomber, attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in Syria: -- Near Manbij, 10 strikes struck nine separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL vehicles and an ISIL mortar system. -- Near Mara, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL fighting positions. Strikes in Iraq Bomber, attack, ground-attac, and fighter aircraft conducted 10 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government: -- Near Baghdadi, a strike destroyed an ISIL bunker and an ISIL supply cache. -- Near Bashir, two strikes destroyed two ISIL beddown locations, three ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL weapons cache and three ISIL command-and-control nodes. -- Near Fallujah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL heavy machine guns, 10 ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL recoilless rifle and denied ISIL access to terrain. -- Near Mosul, a strike destroyed an ISIL assembly area and an ISIL vehicle. -- Near Qayyarah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle and three ISIL fighting positions and suppressed two separate ISIL tactical units. -- Near Sinjar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit. -- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL assembly area and an ISIL fighting position and damaged a separate ISIL fighting position. 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, the region, 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, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Centcom Officials Announce Counterterrorism Strikes in Yemen From a U.S. Central Command News Release TAMPA, Fla., June 17, 2016 The U.S. military conducted three counterterrorism strikes June 8-12 against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in central Yemen, killing six al-Qaida operatives and injuring one, U.S. Central Command officials announced today. A strike June 8 in Badya governorate resulted in the deaths of two al-Qaida operatives along with the destruction of their vehicle loaded with weapons, officials said. Another strike conducted June 10 in Marib governorate killed two al-Qaida operatives. A June 12 strike in Shabwah governorate killed two more al-Qaida operatives, injured another, and destroyed the vehicle they were traveling in. Significant Regional Threat Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula remains a significant threat to the region, the United States and beyond, Centcom officials said in a statement announcing the strikes. Al-Qaida's presence has a destabilizing effect on Yemen, they said, and the organization is using the unrest in Yemen to provide a haven from which to plan future attacks against U.S. allies, as well as against the United States and its interests. "The U.S. will not relent in its mission to degrade, disrupt and destroy al-Qaida and its remnants," the statement said. "We remain committed to defeating [al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula] and denying it safe haven regardless of its location. U.S. strikes in Yemen continue to diminish the organization's presence in the region, officials added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-222-16 June 17, 2016 DOD Releases Report on Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan Today the Department of Defense provided to Congress a report on "Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan" covering events during the period from December 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016. The report was submitted in accordance with requirements in Section 1225 of the Fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act as amended by Section 1530 of the Fiscal 2016 NDAA. A resilient insurgency persists in Afghanistan and continues to pursue high levels of violence, yet the Afghan government remains in control of all major population centers and key lines of communication and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) continue to deny the Taliban strategic ground throughout the country. The ANDSF increased their capabilities and demonstrated improvement in several areas throughout the reporting period. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/802389/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 6th ESB puts engineering skills to test at exercise Red Dagger US Marine Corps News By Sgt. Ian Leones | June 17, 2016 Marines with Company C, 6th Engineer Support Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Peoria, Illinois, participated in exercise Red Dagger at various training locations across the northeast United States, June 3-17, 2016. The Marines were joined by commandos from the 131 Commando Squadron Royal Engineers, British Army, to complete the third consecutive iteration of this bilateral training exercise. Last June, the Marines of 6th ESB traveled to Dartmoor, England, to conduct training that is normally outside of their comfort zone, such as mountain climbing and rappelling. "We were there in 2015 and ran several training events across the southern portion of the country," said Capt. Aaron R. Scroggins, the company commander, Company C, 6th ESB. "The year prior to that, we were in Quantico, Virginia, working on improvements of the base." This year's training began at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where the troops conducted rifle, pistol and demolition ranges. "We based all of these ranges on how the Marine Corps trains," said Scroggins. "When we went to the pistol range, we used the Marine Corps pistol qualification as the basis for the training. We based our rifle training around Table Two and built on it from there. For demolitions, since both of our units share that capability, we based it off our schoolhouse training." For the British commandos, familiarization with the Marines' weapon systems and techniques proved to be valuable knowledge. "I really like to work with foreign weapons and equipment to work out the pros and cons of it," said Staff Sgt. Andy Higgins, troop staff sergeant with 131 CSRE. "I think it broadens my horizons within the military to use equipment like the M16." The Marines and commandos then moved to Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, to conduct engineering operations, which included various construction and renovation projects. "We have been able to work on several constructions projects, which include construction of a parking lot by our motor transport support Marines, and various building improvements and renovations around Fort Indiantown Gap by our combat engineers," said Scroggins. Having integrated the Marines and British commandos into three platoons for the duration of the training, the troops completed a final field exercise, a simulated engineering mission in support of a regimental combat team. "For our final field exercise, we are mentoring and evaluating our platoon commanders because the platoons are integrated with Marines and the British commandos." said Scroggins. "Right now we have two Marine lieutenants serving as platoon commanders and a British commando lieutenant serving as the third. We've mixed it up by giving each platoon commander a platoon sergeant from the other unit. By doing that and keeping a good mix all around, we've been able to get that integration, the best practices from each unit and really nail down how to work together effectively." Even though the troops do not share the same procedures, they are able to build off of each other's knowledge and gain respect for each other's strengths. "They have a very different way of doing things, but it often leads to the same end result," said Lance Cpl. Matthew J. Wolfe, a team leader with Company C, 6th ESB. "The biggest thing I've learned from them is an attitude. Those guys stay positive no matter what. I've never heard them complain once. It's very humbling and eye opening." The eye opening exchange of ideas drives this exercise and builds a lasting relationship with a partner nation. "Overall, Red Dagger has been an outstanding event in just building personal relationships and being able to use that to build better Marines," said Scroggins. "Every time that these Marines come away from something like this, it creates massive changes on how they view the world. They get to see how other nations do things, then turn around and ask how they can improve and what other things they can do to become more effective." With plans to keep the exercise going well into the future, the Marines of Company C will continue to keep their skill sets relevant and be ready to respond when the nation calls. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO Secretary General and Libyan Foreign Minister discuss how NATO can support Libya NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 17 Jun. 2016 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met Mohamed Taha Siala, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Libya on Friday (17 June 2016). They discussed the political and security situation in Libya. The Secretary General said he was encouraged by the progress made by the Government of National Accord led by Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj and conveyed NATO's support for the political dialogue process led by the United Nations. During their meeting, they also addressed NATO's possible assistance to Libya in the defence and security field, which would be part of the international efforts to help the country address existing security challenges. In line with the decisions adopted by NATO Heads of State and Government at the 2014 Wales Summit, NATO stands ready to assist Libya in the field of defence and security institution building, if requested by the Government of National Accord and in complementarity with the United Nations and the European Union. The meeting of the Secretary General and Minister Taha Siala is part of the ongoing discussions on how NATO can help Libya develop its defence and security institutions. It follows a recent conversation of Mr. Stoltenberg and Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj and contacts between NATO and Libyan officials. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Secretary of the Navy Visits USS Mason for Biofuel RAS Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160617-03 Release Date: 6/17/2016 10:09:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Janweb B. Lagazo, USS Mason (DDG 87) Public Affairs MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) -- Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, along with Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy Joseph M. Bryan and Chief of the Italian Navy Adm. Guiseppe De Giorgi, visited guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87) to observe the ship's role in the Great Green Fleet (GGF) initiative, June 16. During Mabus' visit, Mason, along with elements of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (Ike CSG) and the Italian Navy's Flotta Verde conducted a replenishment-at-sea (RAS) with an alternative fuel blend between Mason and the Italian navy's oiler ITS Etna (A5326). This marks the first time a U.S. Navy warship received biofuels from a partner nation's naval oiler. "There's really one goal -- sustainability," said Mabus, "There are also strategic goals to it. The main reason for doing this is to make us better warfighters and to make us a better Navy. It's to keep the vulnerability away because fuel can be used as a weapon. It's about having options before you get your fuel and what type of fuel you get. It gives us flexibility and it makes us better at what we do." In 2009, Mabus announced energy goals to reduce the Department of the Navy's consumption of energy and reliance on foreign oil sources while ambitiously increasing the use of alternative energy sources. "The RAS is definitely an important event for our country," said Cmdr. Christopher J. Gilbertson, commanding officer of Mason. "To be the first ship to receive biofuels from a counterpart nation, and realize the agreement made two years ago so quickly is significant. Enabling our nation's independence from foreign oil and providing a means for our ships to go farther and stay on station longer in support of our missions is critical." GGF is a DoN energy conservation initiative that utilizes energy efficient systems and fuels during operational missions to highlight the Navy's commitment to alternative energy as a key factor to combat capability and energy security. Mason recently demonstrated its commitment to energy efficiency by scoring above ship-class average in several key areas of energy efficiency. Mabus commented the benefits outweigh any cost associated with the initiative. "A $2.26 per gallon cost for biofuel is a competitive price," said Mabus. "The engines won't notice and it will be as if we were using traditional fuels." Mabus continued to say the side effects include "a smaller carbon footprint" that continue to make us "better stewards of the environment." "Ike CSG is focused on energy conservation, whether it be minimizing how many engines are online at a time, using newly installed LED lighting throughout the ship, or using the biofuels provided by the Italian navy," said Gilbertson. "It's great to have that opportunity to be a representative of an initiative that's going to be around for a long time." Mabus watched the RAS unfold successfully in the pilot house and adjoining bridge wings along with de Giorgi. "We routinely operate with other navies," said Gilbertson. "It shows our support for their aims, it shows our support for increasing their regional security, and it shows our support for the global good. Working with allies provides greater access to maritime domain, provides greater security in the world's oceans, and allows commerce to flow more freely." "It's what we do," said Mabus. "Presence. We're where we need to be and when we need to be there. We're growing our fleet and we're doing it pretty dramatically -- 308 ships by 2021. We're going to have that presence. We're not changing the status quo. Not since World War II have we had a dominant Navy keep the sea lanes open for everybody, not just for us, but for every nation on this earth. That's what the United States Navy uniquely gives America." Mason plans to make a port visit to Italy and hold a reception for several key delegates and representatives to further emphasize the United States' partnership with Italy and its commitment to energy conservation technologies. "We are absolutely honored to have Secretary Mabus aboard," said Gilbertson. "It speaks volumes about Mason and her crew because they have a great reputation. Secretary Mabus enjoyed his visit and will remember it for a long time. The crew has worked hard for this, spirits are up, and we are looking forward to making our first visit of the deployment in Italy." Mason, aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)(Ike), guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), and guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto (CG 56) comprised the Ike CSG elements of the Great Green Fleet. The Italian Navy's Flotta Verde consisted of ITS Etna, Italian stealth frigate ITS Cigala (P490), ITS Stromboli AOR, landing platform docks ITS San Giorgio (L9892) and ITS San Marco (L9893), guided-missile destroyers ITS Andrea Doria (D553) and ITS Duilio (D554), and Bergammini-class frigates ITS Bersagliere (F584) and ITS Carlo Margottini (F592). Along with Mason, Ike CSG consists of Ike, squadrons of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 26 staff, guided-missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56) and USS Monterey (CG 61), and guided-missile destroyers USS Stout (DDG 55), USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) and USS Nitze (DDG 94). NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Boko Haram militants fatally shoot 18 women in Nigeria Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:0PM The Takfiri Boko Haram militants have shot and killed at least 18 women when they stormed a funeral in a village in Nigeria's troubled northeastern state of Adamawa. Witnesses and local government officials said the attack was carried out at about 5:00 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Thursday in the village of Kuda near the Sambisa forest, where Boko Haram militants hide in far-flung camps to avoid the Nigerian military. "They stormed our village on motorbikes and immediately opened fire on the people observing the wake," a witness, requesting anonymity, said. The witness said at least 10 injured people were rushed to a health facility in the nearby town of Gulak. Resident Moses Kwagh said people waited until three hours after the assault, and then recovered the bodies of 18 women, noting that some women from the village are still missing. "When we said that Boko Haram is still in this place, some people sat in Abuja and claimed that there were no more Boko Haram [militants]. See what has happened now," Kwagh said. Lawmaker Adamu Kamale, who represents the region in the house of representatives, said, "There was pandemonium during which many people scampered for their lives." Emmanuel Tsamdu, another legislator, said, "I am yet to get the details on how it happened and the real number of people killed. I have sent hunters to go to the area and get me the details because people are afraid to go to the village." The Takfiri terrorist group has killed and kidnapped a large number of civilians, including several women, over the past years. On June 14, Boko Haram militants killed four people and kidnapped four women after rampaging through Kutuva village in the beleaguered northeastern state of Borno. On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 girls from their secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok in Borno. Fifty-seven of the girls managed to escape afterwards, but the fate of the remaining others is still largely unknown. An estimated 20,000 people have been killed and more than two million others made homeless since the beginning of the bloody Boko Haram militancy in Nigeria in 2009. Last year, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh terrorists. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Azerbaijan to kick off major military drills near disputed Karabakh Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:1PM Azerbaijan will launch military drills near Nagorno-Karabakh two months after fighting erupted with Armenian forces over the disputed Caucasus region, the country's defense ministry says. The "operational-tactical exercise will be held from 19 to 24 of June with all the arms and services," the Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday. The statement noted that the military exercises will take place in "military ranges located in the (Karabakh) frontal zone, and in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, as well as the Azerbaijan sector of Caspian Sea set up." About "25,000 servicemen, more than 300 tanks and armored combat vehicles, more than 100 rocket artillery launchers, up to 40 military aircraft and more than 30 air defense systems, ships of naval forces and special forces units," will take part in the drills, according to the ministry. In early April, Azerbaijani and Armenian troops used artillery, tanks, and other armaments against each other on a scale not seen since a separatist war concluded in 1994. According to reports, nearly 75 servicemen from both sides along with a number of civilians were killed in the latest skirmishes between the hostile neighbors. A Russian-mediated truce went into effect later that month, but sporadic clashes have since continued. The Karabakh region, which is located in the Azerbaijan Republic but is populated by Armenians, has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian militia and the Armenian troops since a three-year war which claimed over 30,000 lives and ended in 1994. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UAE has not ended Yemen attacks: Emirati foreign minister Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 10:42AM A senior Emirati official has withdrawn his earlier comments that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had ended its combat operations in Yemen, saying his country is still "at war." Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash, who had been quoted on Wednesday as saying that "war is over" for Emirati soldiers in Yemen, said on Friday that his comment had been taken "out of context." "We are at war. I am appalled that my statement was taken out of context and misinterpreted for (an) external agenda that seeks to undermine the region," Gargash said, state-run WAM news agency reported. The UAE, which has been fighting as part of a Saudi war on Yemen, has suffered heavy casualties against Houthi fighters and allied military units. On Monday, an Emirati military helicopter crashed near the al-Buraiqeh coast of the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, killing its two pilots. Two Emirati pilots died in March when their Mirage fighter jet crashed due to a technical fault while conducting military operations in the same district. Last September, the UAE confirmed that at least 52 of its soldiers were killed when Houthi fighters fired a barrage of missiles at foreign troopers in Ma'rib Province. At least 70 soldiers were also injured in the missile attack. There have already been reports of disagreements between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over operations in Yemen and that Jordanian forces would replace the Emiratis in the country. Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression in March 2015 in a bid to bring former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crush a Houthi movement in Yemen. More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured since the onset of the aggression. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US 'Dramatically' Increasing Naval Fleet Size, Maritime Presence Sputnik News 18:40 17.06.2016(updated 18:54 17.06.2016) The US Navy is growing its fleet, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US Navy is substantially growing its fleet and working with military partners to strengthen its global presence, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said during a visit to the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in the Mediterranean Sea. During Mabus' visit to the carrier group on Thursday, the US guided-missile destroyer Mason conducted a refueling exercise with the Italian Navy's Flotta Verde. "We're where we need to be and when we need to be there. We're growing our fleet and we're doing it pretty dramatically 308 ships by 2021," Mabus stated. "We're going to have that presence." Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Navy for Energy Joseph Bryan explained that operating with other nations' navies demonstrates US support for regional security and provides "greater access to the maritime domain" for the United States and its allies. The guided-missile destroyer Mason is scheduled to make a port visit to Italy, where officers will meet with Italian delegates to emphasize the US-Italian partnership, according to the Navy. The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group entered the Mediterranean on June 13 in support of US national security interests in Europe. The strike group has been conducting biofuel exercises with the Italian Navy as part of the US Great Green Fleet initiative, which seeks to utilize energy more effectively. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Efforts to Advance Civilian Security in Central America's Northern Triangle Special Briefing William R. Brownfield Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Washington, DC June 17, 2016 MR KIRBY: Good afternoon, everybody, and happy Friday to you. I'm going to welcome here to the podium William Brownfield, who I think you know is our Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, in that role since 2011. He oversees a bureau responsible for leading programs that combat illicit drugs and organized crime and support law enforcement and the rule of law. As you know, yesterday the Assistant Secretary appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations where he addressed the threat of transnational criminal organizations. Today, however, he's going to focus more specifically on INL support in Central America. So I'm going to bring him up here. He'll have a few comments at the top and then we'll get to some Q&A. As we've done before, I'm going to stand off to the side here and I'll moderate the Q&A, and then when that's complete we'll get right into the regular daily briefing for the day. So with that, Assistant Secretary Brownfield. ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: Thank you, jefe because this is, after all, a Central America briefing. Ladies and gentlemen, I am Bill Brownfield. I am the Assistant Secretary for drugs and law enforcement. I oppose the first, I support the second. My real function today, as you can all imagine, is somehow to keep you entertained for a couple of minutes while you are stuck in this windowless room while conceivably the finest afternoon that Washington will see this entire summer is occurring outside without our participation. We are at about the six-month mark from when the United States Congress approved the appropriation of an unprecedented roughly $750 million to support United States Government efforts in Central America. So it is not a bad time for us to take a look at what is happening there right now. That amount which comes to me is about a third of that 750 million, for security and law enforcement. That is one part of what the United States Government writ large is trying to do with its three-part strategy in Central America: prosperity, which speaks for itself economic development, trade; governance, which is to make the institutions of government work in a way that delivers value for the people of Central America; and security, by which we mean managing, reducing, and ideally eliminating violence and violent crime which produces some of the push factor driving tens of thousands of citizens of Central America to seek residence in other countries, including the United States of America. Our piece of this program is what we call the three-part I'm into threes today three-part strategy: bottom up, by which we are trying to support programs at community level that have an impact on people who live in the communities, walk on the streets, and work in those countries; top down, by which we mean reform of institutions, training, and creating better performing law enforcement, prosecutorial skills, courts, and corrections; and finally, support for operations those units, those organizations that are in fact providing on a day-by-day basis the actual enforcement of the laws, management, control, and protection of the borders, control of sea ports and airports throughout Central America We've had some cool results in the course of the last 12 months. We are working in an unprecedented way with USAID on what we call the place-based strategy not a new strategy; it was first developed in a city called Los Angeles in the southern part of California, and cities like Juarez, Mexico, and Medellin, Colombia have pursued it as well successfully by which we identify precisely certain zones in cities or even in rural areas and then provide a specifically targeted developmental and security approach to that zone. We have made some pretty cool progress in terms of efforts to control gangs, both law enforcement efforts and efforts to provide alternatives to the particularly vulnerable youth in poor neighborhoods that are otherwise very susceptible to gang recruitment. You have seen in at least one country Guatemala how an anticorruption effort can truly succeed. The organization is called CICIG. We have been supporting it now for seven years. And for those of you who missed this story, at the end of last year with CICIG's investigations, virtually the entire previous Government of Guatemala was removed due to allegations not yet prosecuted, but allegations of corruption. And finally, there are an impossible to name in their entirety number of special law enforcement units and task forces that provide enforcement on issues such as major crimes, or special victims, or border-related issues, or counternarcotics, or gang units. In other words, we have not been sitting on our own hands over the last six months since the congressional appropriation, or the last seven years since the CARSI effort started here in the United States of America. Where we have engaged with the place-based strategy, homicides are down. The entire Government of Guatemala has been replaced. In Honduras, big chunks of the Honduran national police have been purged because of allegations of corruption. There are more than 50 locations in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador where there are now model police precincts which will become the core for a place-based strategy. And more than 60,000 Guatemalan, Honduran, and Salvadoran youth have gone through what we call the Gang Resistance Education and Training program, or GREAT, to give them some protection from recruitment by the gangs. That, ladies and gentlemen, is my summary of where we are. And now I invite you to go on the attack. (Laughter.) MR KIRBY: I just can't top that. (Laughter.) Pam. QUESTION: In your Hill testimony yesterday, you mentioned a need for a shift from focusing so much on cocaine to more on heroin. Can you elaborate on that and how that fits into that? In particular, is this a shift in which the U.S. needs to change the way that it relates to countries that have been major producers of some of these illicit drugs? ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNING: Sure. And in fact, the shift is logical in its it makes eminently good sense on the part of the United States of America. Over the last 10 years, cocaine consumption in the United States of America has dropped by more than 50 percent. Over the last five years, the consumption of heroin has increased by more than 200 percent. QED, if we are trying to have programs and policies that respond to our realities, our problems, and our crises, we had better shift from a cocaine focus to a heroin focus. And we are. It's this is more complicated, however, than simply saying we will address these issues in a different way in the United States of America, because the sources of the product are very different. Cocaine is found for the most part only in three Andean nations in South America Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. At least to date it has not been produced in commercial quantities anywhere else in the world. Heroin, despite the fact that more than 80 percent, we believe, is produced in Afghanistan, the overwhelming majority of heroin consumed in the United States is grown and produced in Mexico. This is a different problem set for us. Cocaine very much had Central America as part of the issue because work with me on this in order to get from South America to North America, you must go through, over, or around Central America. They are there for part of that problem set. A drug that is produced in the neighboring country of Mexico obviously has no logical basis for working its way through Central America. That was what I was attempting to describe, perhaps unsuccessfully, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. Not that drugs are particularly different they are but that the nature of the problem has changed, and therefore the structure, the infrastructure, the strategy, the approach, the techniques, the technology that we're going to bring to bear to this issue in an international context are going to be very different. But before I stop, I do get to say I also said yesterday I'm pretty optimistic about this. Our dialogue with Mexico is very good. We are, in fact, talking about the right things. The Mexican Government is in fact moving in the right direction, and I believe our challenge is to ensure that we've got good coordination as we both try to do what we know we must do in the U.S. side to manage the demand as well as the treatment and rehabilitation issue, and on the Mexican side to address the supply the cultivation and production of heroin, as well as its shipment and transportation to the border and across the border. That was my pitch yesterday. MR KIRBY: Arshad. QUESTION: Just wanted to pick up on the demand side matter, although I realize it isn't, I think, directly under your purview. Can you give us a sense of how demand for illegal narcotics has evolved in the United States over the last few years, and what effect, if any, the legalization of cannabis in so many jurisdictions is or is not having on the demand for other narcotics? ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: Yeah. You've got a bit of the demand answer from what I was just saying. Part of the shift, the transition in the United States of America and each country is different, but here in the United States of America, the story of the last 10 years, probably, and certainly the last five years is that the demand for cocaine has dropped dramatically. The demand for heroin has increased dramatically. Coming with the heroin, and perhaps the biggest element in the problem, is a chemical, a drug, a what's the word a psychoactive drug that is added to the heroin by the traffickers. It is called fentanyl. It is overwhelmingly produced in China, and much of it enters the United States most of it via Mexico, where it is mixed and combined with the heroin. And ladies and gentlemen, it's the fentanyl that's killing us by the tens of thousands every year, not so much the heroin. The fact that the heroin user thinks he or she is just taking heroin and discovers that instead it's fentanyl, a product that is like 30 to 50 times more potent, more powerful, and more dangerous than is the heroin that's the challenge that we are dealing with right now in terms of demand. You asked a similar question to what the United States senator, one of the two from the state of Colorado, asked me yesterday, and that is the impact of selective legalization of cannabis, or marijuana, in terms of our international engagement. And may I preface my remarks by saying I have no right, no authority, and therefore no opinion on what the citizens of any individual state of the United States choose to vote for in the exercise of their constitutional rights as they determine which laws they will adopt within the jurisdiction of those states. I take no position on the decisions of the people of Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, or Alaska in terms of marijuana legalization. I do say, as I said yesterday, it complicates my mission. Every time I go down to Mexico and engage in conversations with authorities of the Mexican Government in terms of cooperation on this issue, I hear about legalization and, in a sense, how can we ask for cooperation on this issue when states in the union are legalizing marijuana and cannabis in the United States of America. Now, I would like to think I'm not an idiot. I've been in this business for 37 years. I have an answer to that question, and it's not a bad answer. But at the end of the day, it does complicate, at least, this discussion, this dialogue. QUESTION: My question was actually slightly different, which was how is the selective legalization of cannabis to your knowledge affecting demand for other drugs within the United States. Is there a substitute effect, people are going with what's legal and therefore not going for things that are illegal and therefore potentially expose them to penalties? I mean, is there any causal effect in terms of demand? Maybe it's not been around long enough to study; I don't know. ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: It may be that, but it definitely is an area where I'm I'm normally willing to opine on almost any issue on the planet. That is purely a domestic question. It's a good one for DEA; it's a good one for the Department of Health and Human Services. I'm a brave man, but I think I'll stay out of that one from this particular podium. MR KIRBY: Dave. QUESTION: Do you know whether the shift from cocaine to heroin was consumer-driven they just prefer heroin to cocaine or was it successful interdiction of cocaine or a marketing initiative by heroin producers? ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: Actually, a little bit of all three, but particularly number three. And since there is clearly a foreign component to this otherwise domestic question, I will answer this one. Here is Bill Brownfield's theory, which I think is shared by a tremendous number of people in the drug control and drug abuse community: As we worked our way through the 1980s and the 1990s, the American medical profession, to their credit, responding to the needs, the requests, the demands of their patients on matters related to pain and pain management, asked for and received from the legitimate, absolutely non-black market pharmaceutical industry, pain medication, opium-based for the most part opioids to address pain of patients. For about 15 to 20 years, this medication was widely prescribed because patients were asking for it, not as some criminal conspiracy to create a dependency for opioid-based pain medication. As we moved into the 21st century, we then had a large segment of our society this is a U.S.-specific response that had developed a dependency, if not an addiction, to opioid-based pain medication. As that dependency and addiction spread more broadly into communities, those who produce and market heroin spotted an opportunity to develop a market. And what did they do? Despite the fact that they are a criminal enterprise, they did what any good lawful enterprise would do: identify the market and offer their product substantially cheaper than the alternative. If you were to say, which was a good guess, that in order to get a black market opioid-based pill, you might pay 40 bucks on the black market, they could offer the same amount of buzz through heroin for $10. What then happens? Those that have this addiction or dependency turn to heroin because it's much cheaper and to a certain extent easier to obtain. And Bob's your uncle, 15 years later we've got ourselves a genuine, authentic, unquestioned heroin crisis in the United States something that we have not seen, by the way, ladies and gentlemen, since the late 1940s and the early 1950s the immediate aftermath of the Second World War when huge amounts of morphine hit the U.S. black market at the conclusion of the Second World War when it was no longer needed for combat purposes. That's how long it's been since we have had to deal with this sort of crisis. And to a very considerable extent, that's how far behind the power curve we are in terms of how to deal with it. And I know you're going to throw me out of here in just a second. I will say one group that actually was slightly ahead in this regard, if you will permit me to say so, it's called INL. It's a bureau in the Department of State. Why? Because during the last 50 years when the rest of the world we did not really have a heroin issue; other chunks of the world did. And we have developed curriculum in terms of demand reduction, treatment, education which we were applying in places in Latin America, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, which in fact we've now had to flip back from overseas and apply it here in the United States of America. What goes around comes around. I am now done. You may eject me if you wish. MR KIRBY: I think we're going to let you take one more -- ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: Oh, wow. This will -- MR KIRBY: -- and then we're going to kick you out. ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: He's going to kill me on this one. QUESTION: Thanks. You talked about anticorruption programs and results largely in terms of officials and law enforcement officers that have been removed. I was wondering what kind of steps are being put in place to ensure that incoming replacements aren't equally corrupt or aren't succumbing to the same issue. ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: By the way, when I say "government officials in Guatemala," you all do realize that I'm talking about the previous president of the Republic of Guatemala and his vice president both of whom have been formally accused, I believe, as of formally charged as of this week and much of the cabinet. This was not a kind of a pro forma sort of thing. Now, you ask a valid question, but you've got two different categories. In terms of law enforcement and, if you will, the professional members of any government, whether it's prosecutors, investigators, community police, corrections officials, border guards, and border personnel whoever it may be there are ways, and we support them, by which you can vet the incoming personnel, by which you can have institutions within the organization. In police, at least in the United States, they are normally called internal affairs divisions. In other countries they might be called the inspector general. But they are those who have the responsibility of policing the police and ensuring that those within the institution meet certain basic standards. There is as well a and we provide this in the way of capacity building and training also the need to have prosecutors who in fact are both willing to and trained to prosecute these particular cases. The second thing that we can do and you would be surprised at how necessary this is and we have been quite successful in the effort is ensuring that there is statutory law in every country that makes it very clear that these are criminal offenses. There are a number of countries still in the world where there's these are gray areas in terms of how a police officer or a corrections officer enhances his salary through non-traditional sources of income. Actually, they can be quite traditional sources of income depending upon where you are. And I would suggest that the answer to your question is yes, there are mechanisms. There are systems that can, when properly applied and supported, ensure or at least reduce the likelihood of continued corruption in the institution or the government. You mentioned a second blob of people, and that is kind of government or elected government officials. Now, that's trickier. As you well know, most countries in the world have a constitution and they elect their government through the constitutional process. And you kind of say, if they choose to elect a criminal, the people are going to elect a criminal. If they choose to elect somebody that they have reason to believe is corrupt, they are going to elect that human being. What we would try to do is ensure that there are bodies, institutions in place in the government to, one, investigate; two, provide some degree of transparency in the event that they discover certain activities that are happening that would, by most people's standards, fall into the category of corruption; and then third, that the constitution itself permits some mechanism for adjudicating and, if they should so decide, removing from office those who have engaged in corrupt activity, corrupt behavior. That in many ways is far trickier, far more complicated, than purging corrupt officials in a police force. Fortunately, there are far fewer senior elected officials in any government than there are members of a police force. MR KIRBY: Thanks very much, sir. ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: I'm backing away now, over to you. Good luck to you. Thank you. MR KIRBY: Thank you so you so much. I appreciate it. ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: Good luck to you. MR KIRBY: I'm going to need it. QUESTION: Thank you sir. ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: Don't be easy on him. (Laughter.) MR KIRBY: They never are. I can't possibly (laughter) -- QUESTION: Why don't you and he switch jobs? (Laughter.) MR KIRBY: Thank you for that, Arshad. (Laughter.) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Central African Republic: UN mission strongly condemns escalation of violence in country's west 17 June 2016 The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) has expressed deep concern at the deteriorating security situation in Ngaoundaye, Ouham Pende Prefecture, in the west of the country following attacks and retaliation between groups backed by Christian militias and herders supported by Muslim fighters, since 10 June. Houses have been burnt and properties looted in the fighting. The violence has caused significant displacement of the civilian population to the parish of Ngaoundaye, as well as to neighbouring Cameroon. Issuing a statement, the Mission called on the armed groups and affiliated movements to put the interests of civilians above any other consideration. It also reiterated its readiness to find a solution to the crisis, related to the issue of seasonal migration, in collaboration with the Central African Republic (CAR) Government and the actors involved. The Mission has reaffirmed its determination to provide stability and security in the country and protect the freedom of movement of the communities. In the wake of the violence, the security apparatus has been strengthened in the region and peacekeepers have been placed between the belligerents. The Mission also noted that it is ready to provide all necessary support to conduct investigations to identify the instigators of the unrest who must be held accountable for their acts and be brought to justice. More than three years of civil war and sectarian violence have displaced thousands of people in the CAR amid continuing clashes between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian. The UN recently reported an upsurge in violence, in particular last September and October, committed by armed elements. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Seeks Closer Military Ties With Indonesia by Shannon Van Sant June 17, 2016 China's plan to build military ties with Indonesia is not likely to bring any rapid changes to the two country's relationship, regional experts say. Over the long run, they say, Beijing may be seeking to build support for its claims over much of the South China Sea. Chinese state news media have recently quoted China's Defense Minister Chang Wanquan, as saying that he hopes China and Indonesia will "deepen pragmatic exchanges and cooperation" on bilateral and multilateral issues. But the move comes as tensions with neighboring nations over the disputed South China Sea continue to rise. Carl Thayer, a professor emeritus at Australia's National Defense Academy, says there have been two aspects of low-level cooperation between the two nations. "There have been arm sales by China to Indonesia, radars and anti-ship missiles, and exchanges by ship forces annually, and exercises, mainly anti-terrorism drills, " Thayer said, "but involving not only the army but Indonesian special forces, and defense ministers have exchanged visits from time to time. The more recent focus from 2014 has been the cooperation of defense industries." The pledges of cooperation also may be an attempt to step down rising frustration in Jakarta over Chinese fishing trawlers sailing into Indonesian waters. The most recent incident was in March, when Indonesia attempted to detain a Chinese ship it said was fishing illegally near its coast. Neutral role While tensions have risen between Indonesia and China, Jakarta has so far played a neutral role in disputes between China and other countries over the South China Sea. China claims nearly the entire waterway, which is rich in natural resources and valuable fishing grounds. Indonesia has also pushed for implementation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, cautions that any deepening military ties between China and Indonesia will be largely symbolic, and dwarfed by both countries' significant defense ties with other nations. "All of the major ASEAN countries have made similar commitments, to strengthen their ties to China. It doesn't always lead to concrete outcomes. Thailand has a very close defense relationship with China; Indonesia does not," Storey said. Indonesia already has strong military ties with the United States, and this week Indonesian media reported that talks have progressed with Russia for the purchase of advanced Russian defense equipment and the joint production of ammunition and arms. Currently Indonesia has just over 60 coastal patrol boats and two submarines. Economic clout Rahul Bajoria, an Indonesia economist with Barclays in Singapore, said despite rising tensions and a military build up in the region, China's economic clout will remain the most important factor in China Indonesia ties. "There's been a general consensus with the ASEAN countries to focus more on economics when it comes to China, and I think, that is exactly what the Indonesians are doing as well," he said. Cheng Xiaohe, a professor of international relations at China's Renmin University, says its in China's interest to build stronger military and economic ties with Indonesia. "I think it's very natural for China to increase its relationship with Indonesia. In the past years the two ties between the two countries have been the weakest link, so given the ongoing tensions in the South China Sea, if China can make ventures to increase ties it will send strong signals to Indonesia as well as the other states in the region," Cheng said. Last year China and Indonesia signed agreements for Chinese-built infrastructure projects, and Indonesia's president called on the two sides to raise bilateral trade to $150 billion by 2020. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Latest Ethiopia-Eritrea Clash is Culmination of Long-festering Tensions by Salem Solomon June 17, 2016 Despite a lull after hostilities earlier this week, tensions remain high across the militarized border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Eritrea claimed Thursday it had killed more than 200 Ethiopian troops and wounded more than 300. A Ministry of Information statement did not say how many Eritrean troops were killed or wounded. There has been no independent confirmation of the figures released by Eritrea in a government statement Thursday. In an interview with VOA's Horn of Africa Service, Ethiopia's Communications Minister Getachew Reda suggested the figures are inaccurate but stopped short of denying them. He also said Ethiopia has no interest in disclosing its assessment of damages during the battle. 'Active hostilities' Reda added that "active hostilities ... launched by the regime in Asmara" were stopped, and Ethiopia was prepared to repel what it views as Eritrean hostilities. "What we do next will ultimately depend on what the regime in Asmara decides to do next," Reda said. Awet Weldemichael, a professor of history at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, said despite the fact that these clashes were dismissed by some as "skirmishes" similar to others that have periodically flared up, they were quite serious. "These involved heavy bombardment using medium- and long-range artillery weapons and it went on both sides," Weldemichael said. "These were not mobile units or militia using their handguns or light weapons. So that makes it different in scale which means that there are damages endured by either or both sides." He also said the Eritrean ministry statement issued Thursday that cited casualties must be viewed cautiously and skeptically since there is no independent media on the ground to corroborate it. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby issued a statement Tuesday stating that the U.S. is concerned about military action and called on both governments to "exercise restraint and engage in political dialogue," referencing the 2000 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held a pre-scheduled meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and discussed the conflict, stressing that both parties need to continue the "application of restraint and a peaceful resolution through political means." Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), similarly stated that Ethiopia and Eritrea need to refrain from statements and actions "likely to aggravate the situation and further endanger regional stability." Time for solutions International observers said the June 12 clash between Eritrean and Ethiopian forces is just the latest of a long series of violent incidents that have erupted between the two nations over the past five years. Among those closely following the events is Cedric Barnes, the Nairobi-based Horn of Africa project director for the International Crisis Group. Since 2011, there have been eight confrontations along the militarized border, Barnes said. Some have directly involved the national militaries of the two countries, while others involve rebel groups supported by one side or the other. "Once it seems that this action has died down and various forces withdrawn maybe to their original positions it [reoccurs] nevertheless and shows how tense the border is, how vulnerable it is to flare ups," Barnes said. He said that reliable information about the latest incident is difficult to come by with many of the accounts coming from people who are not on the ground. Tensions have heightened recently with Ethiopia threatening to take proportional military action if it saw a threat. "It is very difficult to say that what particularly precipitated this incident apart from the fact that the very presence and unresolved nature of that border means that the tensions can spill over very quickly," Barnes said. He said that over the past several years Eritrea has become more confident in its international standing and better funded due to its participation in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates use of Eritrea's port of Assab and its engagement with the European Union. "Eritrea was really on the back foot, but now it feels a little bit more secure and Ethiopia is more concerned about the capacity of Eritrea to cause it trouble," he said. However, Weldemichael, of Queen's University, said the responsibility is now squarely on the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The international community has lost years' worth of opportunities to push both in the right direction, he said. "Whatever the reality on the ground, this is tragic. It's going to be another tragedy of epic proportions for these two countries to go back to conflict however low intensity," Weldemichael said. "It's high time that the international community gears up to address the root causes of this problem and compel the two countries to abide by international law and normalize relations," he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 2.7 Million Displaced in Niger Need Urgent Aid by Jennifer Lazuta June 17, 2016 Ahead of World Refugee Day on Monday, U.N. agencies say rapid assistance is needed for the more than 2.7 million people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin over the past three years. The United Nations has called it the fastest growing displacement crisis in Africa. Security continues to deteriorate in southeast Niger following a fresh spate of attacks by Boko Haram this month. Tens of thousands of people have flooded the city of Diffa after militants attacked the border town of Bosso. Diffa was already hosting 240,000 displaced people, many of them from Nigeria. Belkacem Machane, the deputy country director for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Niger just returned from a visit to the worst affected areas. "We went through the main road called 'Route Nationale Numero 1,' which is the main road going to Bosso and we saw so many people moving around the road," said Machane. "About 40,000. Mainly women and kids. Their situation was really bad. They are lacking water, food, shelter. And this was shocking." WFP distributed 15-day emergency food rations to more than 1,400 newly displaced people. More food aid is on its way. The WFP says it hopes to be able to feed 250,000 people in Diffa. But the area was chronically food insecure even before the conflict and the influx of refugees. Agricultural production there was below average last year. Insecurity has closed some markets. Across the border in northeast Nigeria, an estimated 16 million people also need food aid. But U.N. officials say delivering aid is difficult. Insecurity is an issue and a number of people have had to flee multiple times. "We work together with the police and with the military to reorient them to those localities where they can [safely] stay," said Liz Ahua, UNHCR's regional representative. "And this is not easily done because quite obviously, if you are talking of Lake Chad Basin, the governments are very stretched in terms of their capacity to look after the protection of these people," she added. Ahua said things such as health centers are very few in the region. "And we are hard-pressed to provide support to the internally displaced and the refugees. ... There are people who are not receiving the help they need." U.N. agencies are requesting more than $500 million to deliver assistance to some five million people in the region. So far, that appeal is just 20 percent funded. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Transnational Threats Need Transnational Solutions, Dunford Says at U.N. By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, June 18, 2016 Transnational threats require transnational solutions, and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force is a key component of preserving stability, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at the U.N. in New York yesterday. Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford told the U.N. Meeting on Peacekeeping that the current security environment is the most complex and volatile since World War II. "The challenges we face range from conventional conflict to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, from violent extremism to transregional crime, and the character of war has changed," he said. Commonality But there is a commonality, the chairman said: the threats today are increasingly transnational and transregional. "The current fight against violent extremism is an example," he said. "We estimate that over 45,000 foreign fighters from 120 different countries have come to Iraq and Syria. No nation today can turn away and consider violent extremism somebody else's problem. We have many examples of how the fight can follow us home from fragile states in the form of terrorist acts and the mass migration of those seeking to escape violence." In addition, he said, these threats are increasingly multidomain meaning the threats involve simultaneous action on sea, on land, in the air, in space, and in cyberspace. "And we also see nonstate actors involved in conflict that are able to leverage information, cyber capabilities and sophisticated weapons," he added. The sheer scope also increased, Dunford said. Last year, nearly 60 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes by conflict, and the Commission for Refugees estimates that violence will displace more than 40,000 people a day, he noted. All this begs for multinational cooperation in responding to conflict, the chairman said. "No longer can conflict be considered something that is 'over there,'" he said. "While the international community must develop a wide range of capabilities to respond to today's challenges, we already have a relevant and potentially very effective tool in the form of the U.N. peacekeeping." Blue Helmets The chairman told the audience he believes the blue helmets worn by U.N. peacekeepers will play a larger role in alleviating the suffering caused by these conflicts, noting that16 different peacekeeping operations are going on around the world, involving more than 121,000 troops, police and civilians. U.N. peacekeepers have been on the job since 1948, and 3,741 have died in these operations. About 120 countries contribute to the organization. President Barack Obama agrees, Dunford said, and made that point in September when he said, "We know that peace operations are not the solution to every problem, but they do remain one of the world's most important tools to address armed conflict." Obama built on that point and has directed the U.S. military to increase its support of U.N. peacekeeping operations, the chairman said. "Just as the character of war has changed, the nature of U.N. peacekeeping missions has changed," the general added. "Today, two-thirds of all blue-helmeted peacekeepers are serving in active conflict areas," he said, "a trend that in my estimation is likely to continue well into the future." In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in South Sudan and in Lebanon, peacekeepers are overseeing refugee relief and ceasefire compliance and are providing security for daily life to return to normal, Dunford said. "As day turns to dusk in Mali," he added, "peacekeepers wearing blue helmets are providing people with the security they need to return to their communities while preventing the return of violent extremists." Though the United Nations can be proud of what the peacekeepers have accomplished, "we will get no credit tomorrow for what we did yesterday," Dunford said. Robust Capabilities and Capacities Future, U.N. peacekeepers must be capable of defending themselves, protecting civilians and carrying out their mandate in the context of very dynamic security environments, the chairman said. "In short," he added, "to meet what I believe will be a growing demand for more complex peace operations, we're going to need to adapt. Meeting the growing demand for a wide range of peacekeeping operations requires a robust set of capabilities and capacities." Those capabilities and capacities include strong civilian and military leadership teams; staff capacity to design missions with clear objectives, end states and measures of effectiveness; effective command and control; well-trained forces at the brigade, battalion and company levels; and appropriate enabling capabilities such as intelligence, air and ground mobility, logistics, counter-improvised explosive device capability, engineering and medical capability. The foundation of any mission is quality, disciplined people with the right skills, Dunford said. "I'd like to highlight there's a growing need for women to serve as peacekeepers," he said. "During my deployments to Iraq and later as the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, I learned firsthand that women are an important part of an effective response to today's challenges. Women not only add to the capability of our own forces, they have a unique ability to connect with local populations in areas of instability." Addressing Problems The peacekeeping operation is not without flaws, Dunford said, and he urged the organization to address them. "I think it's clear to all of us that the U.N.'s record in this area has been mixed and there's a lot of reasons for that mixed record, but chief among them is the hard reality that U.N. peacekeeping missions deal with some of the most challenging and protracted issues on the planet," he said. "But while many of the challenges are due to the nature of the conflicts, there's other challenges that should concern us all. Problems of ill-disciplined units conducting criminal acts, including sexual assault, problems with corruption, and shortfalls in equipment cannot be blamed on the environment." Addressing those challenges is within the U.N.'s control, the chairman said. "We have to do that, because they threaten our collective legitimacy and our effectiveness," he added. "To much of the world's population, a soldier or policeman wearing a blue helmet and a U.N. patch represents their last best hope for safety and security, and we must work to ensure that image and hope isn't diminished." The U.S. military will help nations involved in U.N. peacekeeping, Dunford said, as U.S. service members help nations develop military capabilities and bring about reform. "This is a personal priority for me, the United States' Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the entire U.S. joint force," he said. "The priority we place on U.N. peacekeeping operations is consistent with our view that these operations make an indispensable contribution to international security." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-226-16 June 18, 2016 Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook on U.S.-Russia Video Conference The Department of Defense today held a video conference co-chaired by Acting Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Elissa Slotkin and Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, director, J-5, Strategic Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff, with Russian Ministry of Defense counterparts. The video conference was held to discuss airstrikes conducted by Russian forces on June 16 on the At-Tanf border garrison, striking Syrian opposition forces conducting counter-ISIL operations in the area. This extraordinary session was convened under the auspices of the Safety of Flight Memorandum of Understanding, an arrangement between the counter-ISIL coalition and Russian Federation to maintain safety in the air space over Syria. Department officials expressed strong concerns about the attack on the coalition-supported counter-ISIL forces at the At-Tanf garrison, which included forces that are participants in the cessation of hostilities in Syria, and emphasized that those concerns would be addressed through ongoing diplomatic discussions on the cessation of hostilities. Regarding safety, department officials conveyed that Russia's continued strikes at At-Tanf, even after U.S. attempts to inform Russian forces through proper channels of on-going coalition air support to the counter-ISIL forces, created safety concerns for U.S. and coalition forces. Department officials requested Russian responses to address those concerns. The two sides reiterated the need to adhere to measures to enhance operational safety and avoid accidents and misunderstandings in the air space over Syria. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/803046/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Refutes Intrusion into Japan's Territorial Waters People's Daily Online (CRI Online) 09:40, June 18, 2016 The Chinese government is brushing aside Japanese suggestions that a Chinese naval vessel broke international law by entering into Japanese territorial waters. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying says the Japanese government has no right to issue a complaint about the recent move by the Chinese navy, saying the Chinese ship had every right to do what it did. "According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and relevant regulations, the Tokara Strait is territorial waters that used for international navigation. And the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that any ship has no need to get permission from relevant countries when it exerts the right of transit passage in territorial waters and straits used for international navigation." A Chinese naval vessel recently sailed through the Tokara Strait, which is located where the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. The Japanese side has complained the Chinese side didn't inform Japanese authorities before making the move. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rights group slams Al Khalifah over crackdown on dissent Iran Press TV Sat Jun 18, 2016 9:43AM A Bahraini human rights group has censured the ruling Al Khalifah regime over its heavy-handed crackdown on freedom of religion in the kingdom, saying Manama is increasingly targeting Shia Muslim clerics and religious figures. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), in a statement released on Friday, expressed grave concern over the alarming repression of human rights advocates and prosecution of a large number of clergymen in the country. The BCHR pointed to the rise in the summons and interrogations of clerics, saying the measures are part of an intimidation campaign aimed at stifling the religious freedom of Shia preachers and their right to free speech. It also called on the Al Khalifah regime to comply with the international human rights regulations, and allow UN rights experts to visit Bahrain. On June 16, Shia Muslim clerics in Bahrain stopped holding congregational prayers in the country in protest at the repressive policies of Al Khalifah regime. The clerics, in a statement titled "Those Barred from Praying" released on Thursday, condemned the Bahraini regime's efforts to restrict Shia Muslims' freedom of religion and belief, describing the situation in the country as "deplorable." The statement said that the Al Khalifah regime's systematic suppression of Bahraini Shia Muslims has reached its highest level ever. Members of the kingdom's largest religious community feel insecure, facing threats of arrest and prosecution if they seek to observe their religious rituals, primarily congregational prayers and Friday prayers, it added. Last Tuesday, Bahrain suspended all the activities of the country's main Shia opposition movement, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society. Al-Wefaq's Secretary General Sheikh Ali Salman has been in prison since December 2014 on charges of attempting to overthrow the regime and collaborating with foreign powers, which he has strongly denied. On May 30, Bahrain's Supreme Court of Appeal increased Salman's prison sentence to nine years from the original four. Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on an almost daily basis in Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifah family to relinquish power. In March that year, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protests. Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested in the Bahraini crackdown on the anti-regime activists. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Egypt's Morsi sentenced to life in prison in espionage trial Iran Press TV Sat Jun 18, 2016 1:44PM An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted president Mohamed Morsi, along with two other defendants, to life in prison on the charge of spying for Qatar. On Saturday, the Cairo Criminal Court also sentenced Morsi to another 15 years in prison for a different charge in the same case. Additionally, the court upheld the May 7 death penalty for six other co-defendants accused alongside Morsi. All of the defendants can appeal the verdicts to the Egyptian Court of Cassation, the country's highest civil court. Prosecutors accuse Morsi and 10 co-defendants of leaking "classified documents" to Qatar. The documents allegedly contained secrets on "national security," and were purportedly traded with Qatari intelligence for a million dollars. Morsi has already been sentenced in three separate trials to death, a life term and 20 years in prison. In May 2015, Morsi and 105 others were sentenced to death for a mass prison break in 2011 during the country's popular uprising that led to the overthrow of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak. Morsi has already appealed the 20-year prison term handed down to him in April last year on charges of involvement in the arrests and torture of protesters during his one-year rule, which came to an end by a military coup led by the former army chief and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in July 2013. Since the 2013 ouster of Morsi, the military-backed government in Cairo has launched a heavy-handed crackdown on his supporters and the country's disbanded opposition group Muslim Brotherhood. The clampdown has led to the deaths of more than 1,400 people and the arrests of 22,000 others. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UAE Withdrawal From Yemeni Conflict Comes as a Big Surprise for Houthis Sputnik News 17:37 18.06.2016(updated 17:38 18.06.2016) The recent announcement of the United Arab Emirates to withdraw from the anti-Houthi military operations in Yemen came as a big surprise to the Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, one of the conflicting sides in the conflict, a member of Ansar Allah's delegation to peace talks in Kuwait told Sputnik Arabic. "First of all, we were very surprised by the news, especially that the United Arab Emirates declared it unanimously," Nasser Mahfouz, a representative of the Shiite Houthis movement Ansar Allah told Sputnik during the peace talks on the situation in Yemen which are currently taking place in Kuwait. "The conflicts between the UAE and the coalition which have begun to surface, and the country's Mirage fighter jets which crashed in the city of Aden might have contributed to the decision," Mahfouz added. He also said that UAE have made the decision to pull out after they completely destroyed the Yemeni port city. However they have not left the country so far, he added, and have even captured a station in the region of Hadhramaut. The negotiator also complained that the UAE has not made any positive proposals while in Kuwait, and has only complicated the negotiation process by giving orders to their mercenaries to throw the Aden residents out of the city. However, Mahfouz noted that after the announced decision the sides to the peace negotiations started touching upon very important issues and he hopes that a decision may be reached in the coming days. With regards to Saudi Arabia, which leads the anti-Houthi operation in Yemen, Mahfouz noted that Riyadh has "only the money they can afford to bribe everyone with, including the international community. They even bought the 2216 resolution (Resolution of the UN Security Council on Yemen) for money. Riyadh is spreading terrorism throughout the world. Those who are fighting in Syria are mercenaries of Saudi Arabia," he said. Since 2014, Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Shiite Houthi rebels, supported by army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The civil war escalated when a Houthi revolt sparked in the capital Sanaa in September 2015 and President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia, where he formed a government and requested Saudi-Arab support to regain power as an elected president. On March 26, 2015, within the scope of the Saudi-led coalition, Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against the Houthis and the Yemeni army. The United Arab Emirates, as part of the Saudi-led coalition, has been carrying out airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen at President Hadi's request. The United Nations-brokered peace talks in Kuwait between the Houthis and their allies and Hadi's government have remained at a standstill for nearly a month now, due to the intransigence of both sides and their unwillingness to make substantial compromises to reach a political settlement to end the brutal war. On Wednesday, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said that the United Arab Emirates is withdrawing from the anti-Houthi military operation in Yemen. "Our standpoint today is clear: war is over for our troops; we're monitoring political arrangements, empowering Yemenis in liberated areas," the crown prince said on Twitter. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Transcript Secretary of Defense Ash Carter June 17, 2016 Remarks by Secretary Carter at Hack the Pentagon Ceremony SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER: Good afternoon. It's great to be here this afternoon with a few of the dedicated people who defend our networks every day, as well as some of the technologists and hackers who have contributed to our defense mission by taking part in Hack the Pentagon, the first bug bounty of its kind in the Department of Defense [sic: in the federal government]. Hack the Pentagon is a direct result of one of the first initiatives I announced as part of the Force of the Future. When I created the Defense Digital Service, or DDS, I charged Chris Lynch -- right here -- with bringing in talent from America's most innovative sectors for a tour of duty to help us solve some of our most complex problems. They've helped us drill tunnels through the walls that too often separate the Pentagon from America's wonderful and innovative technology base, one of our nation's greatest sources of strength. The team of technologists at DDS has helped address some really important problems, like improving data sharing between the DOD and V.A. to make sure our veterans get access to their benefits. Over the past several months, DDS has worked closely with Defense Media Activity and several other dedicated components within the Pentagon to achieve another important milestone, our first successful bug bounty. Now, bug bounties are a widespread practice in the outside world, and the concept is relatively simple: a company offers incentives to outside researchers, what most of us would call white-hat hackers, to test the security of its networks and applications, and report what they find, so the company can fix the vulnerabilities. It's a challenge for the white-hat hackers -- which they like -- and it's a whole lot better for the company than learning the hard way, after the fact. And that is, that a black-hat hacker or a nation-state has exploited vulnerabilities to steal data or destroy data, or accomplish some other nefarious purpose. While companies like Microsoft, and Google and Facebook have used this approach to crowdsource security for several years, no federal agency had ever offered a bug bounty. So we asked the question, why couldn't we use this tool to complement our -- the terrific work of our own, in-house cybersecurity experts? And we face a competitive world, one that requires us at the Pentagon to think, as I always like to say, outside of our five-sided box, and constantly challenge ourselves to do things differently. Through this pilot, we found a cost-effective way to supplement and support what our dedicated people do every day to defend our systems and networks, and we've done it securely, and we've done it effectively and cost effectively, in this case. All told, more than 1,400 eligible hackers were invited to participate in Hack the Pentagon, and more than 250 of them found and submitted at least one vulnerability report. As these reports arrived, we worked to remediate them in real time with support from a contractor, HackerOne. Of all the submissions we received, 138 of them were determined to be legitimate, unique and eligible for a bounty. To -- by -- and otherwise, would have been trouble, said differently. That's why they're eligible for a reward. Today, a little more than a month after the pilot finished, we've remediated each and every one of these vulnerabilities found. In total now, this pilot cost $150,000. It's not a small sum, but if we had gone through the normal process of hiring an outside firm to do a security audit and vulnerability assessment, which is what we usually do, it would have cost us more than $1 million. Also, by allowing outside researchers to find holes and vulnerabilities on several sites and subdomains, we freed up our own cyber specialists to spend more time fixing them than finding them.The pilot showed us one way to streamline what we do to defend our networks and correct vulnerabilities more quickly. My focus on making our operations more efficient and cost-effective at DOD is one of the reasons why we're aggressive -- investing so aggressively innovation. From innovation to people, to innovative practices, to innovative technologies and through Hack the Pentagon, we've combined all three of those elements and to considerable success. Beyond the security fixes we've made, we've built stronger bridges to innovative citizens who want to make a difference to our defense mission. Individuals from across 44 states joined the bug bounty and submitted reports, and I'm pleased that two of our bug bounty participants have joined us today;Craig Arendt right here -- this guy -- and David Dworkin , that guy right there. There's two of our bounty men. Craig is a prolific security researcher who helped us identify a number of vulnerabilities and David is a high school student who lives right here in the Washington area. For them and many others, this was about more than a reward or a bounty, it was about an opportunity to contribute to making our country safer. Wherever I go around the innovative hubs of this country, I find that people in the most innovative parts of our economy and society and there because they want to do things that truly matter -- and they know that national security really matters. They want to spend their energies on issues of consequence and we have plenty of them. There's also a sense of responsibility they have that comes with their knowledge and technical expertise. That's a lesson that was imparted to me, in my own career, by many of my older scientists and a lesson that many technologists and innovators appreciate today. But while many of our nation's innovators are motivated by this spirit, they too often lack avenues to channel it. For instance, when it comes to the security of DOD networks and systems, there's no reporting mechanism, no standing reporting mechanism or pathway for them to tell us where we might be vulnerable, and sometimes there are legal hurdles to that. This bug bounty provides one such pathway, but as another way to build on Hack the Pentagon's success, we're doing something else. First, creating a central point of contact a standing point of contact for researchers and technologists to safely and securely submit information about DOD security gaps that they come upon. And second, we're working to expand bug bounty programs to other parts of the department so that the security benefits DMA has worked to achieve through this pilot can be replicated in other parts of our enterprise. I'm directing all DOD components to review where bug bounties can be used by them as a valuable tool in their own security tool kit. And third, we're going to include incentives in our acquisition guidance and policies so that contractors who work on DOD systems can also take advantage of innovative approaches to cybersecurity testing. For example, in some circumstances, we will encourage contractors to make their technologies available for independent security reviews such as bug bounties before they deliver them to us. This will help them make their code more secure from the start, and before it's installed on our system. So, by offering U.S. researchers an avenue, albeit with important safeguards, for reporting vulnerabilities and gaps, we've done more with this pilot than make our networks more secure for the short term. We've built relationships of trust for the long term. We've provided a road map for other government departments and agencies to crowd-source their own security. When it comes to information and technology, the defense establishment usually relies on closed systems. But the more friendly eyes we have on some of our systems and websites, the more gaps we can find, the more vulnerabilities we can fix, and the greater security we can provide to our warfighters. We know that state-sponsored actors and black-hat hackers want to challenge and exploit our networks. We know that. What we didn't fully appreciate before this pilot was how many white-hat hackers there are who want to make a difference, who want to help keep our people and our nation safer. I want to take a moment now to personally thank -- congratulate the two individuals who participated in the bug bounty, thank all the folks from the department who created Hack the Pentagon, and then I'll take a few questions from you all before I get a chance to take David and Craig back once again and chat a little bit more in my office. So with that, where are we here? (CROSSTALK) SEC. CARTER: Okay. Look at this guy. Look at this guy. Did you own a suit like that in high school? (Laughter.) (APPLAUSE) It's not a suit, but it's still pretty sharp looking. And Chris never wears a suit. (CROSSTALK) STAFF: All right. The secretary's got time for two questions -- (inaudible) -- wrap up. (CROSSTALK) STAFF: Mr. Secretary -- (inaudible). STAFF: Tara's got the first question. SEC. CARTER: Okay. Tara? Q: Mr. Secretary, on Hack the Pentagon, would you please tell us what kind of vulnerabilities you found and what kind of risks they posed to the Pentagon? And then on Fallujah, could you confirm for us that ISF has entered and retaken Fallujah? And give us a little bit of a detail on what sort of role U.S. advisers had in supporting this operation? SEC. CARTER: Sure. And I can actually give you a better answer to the second part than the first part. You've got the right people here. I'll let Chris answer the first part a little bit later, Tara. But it's a wide range of vulnerabilities, and he can sort of spell them out. But the good thing about this is they're reported to us. These are ones we weren't aware of. And now we have the opportunity to fix them. And again, it's a lot better than either hiring somebody to do that for you, or finding out the hard way. But I'll let Chris talk about the variety of bugs. With respect to Fallujah, ISF forces have entered the city. They are in control of a portion of the city. I think it's too early to say all of the city. They have done that under the command of Prime Minister Abadi, and with the support of the United States, including -- and to -- in response to your question, all kinds of support. But advice and assistance, and air support, and all the other enablers that were -- we provide for the Iraqi Security Forces, or at least the ones that they requested in this particular case. So, this is an important objective, and it's important that it was accomplished by the Iraqi Security Forces under the command of Prime Minister Abadi, because that's an important principle for us, for Iraq to be -- put itself back together as a whole in the long run. But they -- it will -- their -- I can't tell you that the entire city is under the control of the ISF. This -- there's still some fighting to be done, I'm sure. But there is a -- a portion of the city, and I think that that has been reported by the Iraqi government who are commanding the operation. STAFF: Mr. -- (inaudible). Q: (off-mic) STAFF: Go ahead. Q: Mr. Secretary, tell us what you know about this Russian attack on a U.S.-backed group of opposition fighters in Southern Syria. And do you think it was deliberate? And what do you plan to do about it? SEC. CARTER: We have. I -- we -- I can tell you what we -- I know on the basis of the reports that we've received so far. This was an attack on forces, first of all, that were fighting ISIL. And obviously, that's the first thing that's problematic about this Russian conduct, because if you go back, remember, the Russians initially said that they were coming in to fight ISIL. And that's not what they did. Now, this -- they mostly supported Assad and fueled the civil war. But here's a case where they actually attacked forces that were -- were fighting ISIL. And if that's the -- their -- it was their intention, that's the opposite of what they said they were going to do. If not, then it's -- says something about the quality of the information upon which they make airstrikes. And the other thing is that the channel that we have to communicate with them in instances like this wasn't professionally used. So, we're trying to (inaudible) clarify the facts and use that channel with the Russians to understand what went on there. But that's what we know at this time. (CROSSTALK) Q: Mr. Secretary, yesterday, the CIA director testified that despite some 13,000 coalition airstrikes over the past two years against ISIS, denying them territory and constraining their finances, ISIS has become more connected as a global organization. Its terror capacity remains undiminished. (Inaudible) -- 13,000 airstrikes, the very feature -- excuse me, 13,000 airstrikes hadn't diminished the very feature that -- of the group that most Americans find concerning, its terrorism capability shouldn't the coalition strategy be seen as fundamentally failing? SEC. CARTER: Well, the -- the strategy has three parts to it, of which the campaign in Iraq and Syria, which is showing results is necessary but not sufficient. It is essential that we destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria, but that's not going to constitute the end of ISIL and the terrorist threat it poses to the United States. That's absolutely right. There are other places around the world to which ISIL has spread and then we have to protect our own homeland as well, which is mostly a law enforcement and intelligence matter, but we try to support where we can. So one has to do all of those things, that's absolutely right, in order to protect us from ISIL, and those are the -- the -- the part of the campaign plan that we outlined some year ago or so. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/802660/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release Release No: NR-228-16 June 17, 2016 Defense Secretary Ash Carter Releases Hack the Pentagon Results Today, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter released the final results from the Hack the Pentagon cybersecurity initiative, the first bug bounty in the history of the federal government. At an event in the Pentagon, the Secretary also personally thanked two hackers who participated in the competition, Craig Arendt and David Dworken. Arendt, a computer security researcher, helped DoD identify a number of vulnerabilities. Dworken, an 18-year-old, recent high school graduate from the Washington, D.C., area, also submitted several vulnerabilities during the competition. The Hack the Pentagon pilot launched on April 18, and ran until May 12. The core purpose of the pilot was to bolster the Department's digital defenses. The U.S. government is constantly under attack by hackers, and DoD is no exception. "We know that state-sponsored actors and black-hat hackers want to challenge and exploit our networks," said Secretary Carter. "What we didn't fully appreciate before this pilot was how many white-hat hackers there are who want to make a difference - hackers who want to help keep our people and nation safer." The challenge was conducted against five public-facing websites, including defense.gov. None of the Department's critical networks were part of the competition. The bug bounty challenge was hosted by HackerOne, a Silicon Valley-based firm that offers vulnerability disclosure and bug bounty as a service. More than 1,400 eligible hackers completed the registration and were invited to participate in Hack the Pentagon and more than 250 submitted at least one vulnerability report. Of all the submissions DoD received, 138 were determined to be legitimate, unique and eligible for a bounty. Defense Media Activity quickly worked to remediate each of these vulnerabilities. The entire cost of the Hack the Pentagon pilot was $150,000, with about half going to the hackers themselves. Hiring an outside contractor to conduct a similar security test could have cost more than $1 million. According to the high school hacker, David Dworken, the competition was a unique opportunity to help the Department of Defense. "It was a great experience," said Dworken who has participated in similar competitions. "I just started doing more and more of these bug bounty programs and found it rewarding. Both the monetary part of it and doing something that is good and beneficial to protect data online in general." The pilot marks the first in a series of programs designed to test and find vulnerabilities in the department's applications, websites and networks. Starting this month, DoD is embarking on three follow-on initiatives. First, will be the development of a vulnerability disclosure process and policy for DoD so anyone with information about vulnerabilities in DoD systems, networks, applications, or websites can submit it to the department without fear of prosecution. Next will be the expansion of bug bounty programs to other DoD Components, in particular the Services, by developing a sustainable DoD-wide contract vehicle. Lastly, incentives will be included in our acquisition policies and guidance so that contractors practice greater transparency, and open their own systems for testing - especially DoD source code. While the pilot program was successful, it doesn't end here, according to Chris Lynch, director of Defense Digital Service (DDS). The DDS team is credited with the initial idea of the Hack the Pentagon initiative and, ultimately, bringing it to fruition. "What we want to figure out is how we can use this in a way that is able to be used on nearly any level of classification, or any type of activity," said Lynch. "We're not there yet. We're going to start to work through and look at other layers as well. We recognize that this is a really valuable tool. It's a huge change for the Department of Defense in terms of how we recognize the ability for people to come in and help us secure systems themselves. There are lots of things we can apply it to." http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/802929/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin Calls U.S. Missile Shield 'Great Danger,' Vows Russian Response June 18, 2016 by RFE/RL Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe a "great danger" and vowed that Moscow will respond by enhancing its own missile strike capability. While NATO insists the shield is a defensive system aimed in part at thwarting possible Iranian missile strikes, Putin said it can be easily turned into an offensive system that could be used against Russia. "Those tubes, those silos where missiles are put are used for Tomahawks. These Tomahawks can be put there in just a few hours, and then these will be not missile interceptors," Putin told international news leaders in St. Petersburg on June 17. "You have only to change the software, and that's it. This work is absolutely invisible. The Romanians won't know what's happening there," he said. "Nobody will know, either Romanians or Poles. I know how it's done." "In my view, this is really dangerous," he said, adding that "we know approximately which year the Americans will get a new missile that will have a range of not 500 kilometers but 1,000 kilometers, and from that moment they will start threatening our nuclear potential." Putin added that "we will have to respond" to the threats, although "I know in advance that we will again be accused of aggressive behavior" when Russia responds. "We will perfect our missile strike capability," to ensure that "strategic balance" is maintained in Europe, he said. "We will have to ensure not only our own security. It is vital for us to ensure strategic balance in the world." Putin added that he worries that the growing military confrontation between Russia and the United States "is dragging the world into a new dimension." "People feel no danger, and that is alarming for me. Can we see that we are dragging the world into an utterly new dimension?" Putin said he didn't know how to "bring this home" to leaders from other countries. With reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and TASS Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/putin- calls-us-missile-shield-eastern-europe-great- danger-vows-russian-response/27806039.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 Expert: No more than 100 Xian Y-20s will be deployed to troops People's Daily Online (People's Daily Online) 13:56, June 17, 2016 Recently, news that the first batch of China's Xian Y-20 large military transport aircraft has been deployed to troops appeared on Weibo and in online military forums. However, the news hasn't been confirmed by the PLA. People's Daily Online interviewed military expert Xu Yongling on this issue and according to him, no more than 100 Y-20s will be deployed to troops in the future and in the next five to ten years, China may develop its third generation military transport aircrafts. According to Xu, if the Y-20 has been used to equip the troops, then it only takes three and a half years from the maiden flight to actual use. The A-400M transport aircraft of the Europe took six years for this process. Since the maiden flight, the Y-20 hasn't experienced any major technological difficulties; in addition that this transport plane doesn't need so many experiments as the fighters, so it is believable that the Y-20 will be deployed to troops in the near future. Some media previously reported that the PLA needs over 300 Y-20s to better meet the strategic need of the air force. Xu disagreed, "I think the total number of Y-20s used to equip the troops will not exceed 100." This prediction is based on the transport needs of the PLA as well as the international strategic environment. Moreover, the cost is also a practical factor being taken into consideration. "It is unlikely that we will invest so much in the second generation military transport aircraft. In the next five to ten years, China may develop more advanced third generation military transport aircraft, the loading capacity and delivery distance of which will be greatly improved from the second generation," Xu said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Up and Away: India's Trainer Aircraft Makes Its First Flight Sputnik News 15:10 17.06.2016(updated 19:14 17.06.2016) India has produced a trainer aircraft, the Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40; the plane took off for its first official flight in Bangalore on Friday. The two-seater aircraft, which was designed and developed by the state-owned manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), completed the flight at the company's airport. India's Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar attended the base to witness the HTT-40 flight, which lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. He expressed his admiration for the HAL technician team. After the flight, Parrikar got into the cockpit of the trainer jet to get a closer look at it. Officials said the detailed design phase of the HTT-40, which HAL completed using its own funding, was launched in August 2013 and finished in May 2015. The first prototype of the trainer jet was rolled out on February 2, 2016; it completed its first test flight on May 31. The Indian Air Force expects to receive 70 HTT-40 trainer aircrafts. The cost of the HTT-40 project stands at around 54 million dollars. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India Inducts Three Women Fighter Pilots for First Time by Anjana Pasricha June 18, 2016 The Indian Air Force has inducted three female fighter pilots marking the first time one of the world's largest militaries has opened the door to women in combat roles. Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi were commissioned in the fighter stream of the air force on Saturday at a parade in Hyderabad. It's a huge step forward for the 1.2 million strong Indian armed forces that has trailed countries like the United States, Britain, Israel and neighboring Pakistan in allowing women into the cockpit of fighter jets. The Indian air force could blaze the trail for the army and navy. In February, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee announced in parliament that women will be allowed in all fighter streams of the armed forces. Asked about the challenges she is likely to encounter as a woman fighter pilot, Mohana Singh shrugged, "Nothing different from my male counterparts, as much as they face." Women pilots make up about 100 of the air force's 1,500 pilots, but have so far served only in helicopter and transport units. The three women fighter pilots will be trained for a year on Hawk advanced trainer jets before they get to fly supersonic warplanes by next year. The Indian air force has called their induction a "progressive step in keeping with the aspirations of Indian women and in line with contemporary trends in armed forces of developed nations." But it also says the induction has been made on an "experimental basis," which it will study for five years. Observers take that as an indication that although a step forward has been taken, gender parity will only creep in slowly in the armed forces. For the Indian forces, women's vulnerability if captured and the challenge of frontline deployments have been major sticking points. Former air vice marshal Manmohan Bahadur with the Center for Air Power Studies in New Delhi told VOA the armed forced are taking a cautious approach. "So the point is: Is putting women in combat in harm's way that has to be accepted by society. For India it has happened now, in other countries it has happened earlier," he says. Part of the nudge to change attitudes towards women came from courts, which have ruled in favor of better working conditions for female officers and called on the armed forces not to block their progress. Until 2010, they were only offered temporary commissions of up to five to 10 years. Women constitute a mere 2.5 percent of armed personnel, most of them administrators, intelligence officers, doctors and nurses. Bahadur says the change in attitude to women in combat will happen slowly. "It is a natural tendency to shield the women. That may happen in the initial stages, but after some time, it will become a day in and day out affair and then it does not matter. So it is a gradual process that should be allowed to take place." The induction of the three women received huge coverage in the Indian media with newspaper headlines like "Women Fighter Pilots Break Cloud Ceiling," and "No Sky Too High." Meanwhile, the female fighter pilots are excited about their pioneering role. "The only thing I would like to say is dream big and work for it. If you really wish to do something, all the ways will automatically open for you," says newly commissioned fighter pilot, Avani Chaturvedi. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran armed forces will not allow any aggression: Commander IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Orumieh, West Azarbaijan Prov., June 17, IRNA -- The Iranian armed forces will not allow any acts of aggression against the Islamic Republic, says General Heshmatollah Malekian Commander of the Army Ground Force's Northwestern Base. The armed forces are ready to make any sacrifice in defending the country borders and the Islamic establishment under the guidelines of the Commander in Chief of Iranian Armed Forces Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, General Malekian said in a local ceremony on Friday. The commander praised the strong presence of Iranian officials on the international scene, adding that the border province of West Azarbaijan has a high degree of security. The ground forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) earlier on Thursday break up two terrorist cells in northwestern Iran, killing 12 terrorists. The IRGC public relations department in a statement on Thursday, said that the two terrorist anti-revolutionary groups had entered the border region of Oshnavieh on Wednesday to cause instability in the country. 9191**2044 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address P5+1 must fulfill JCPOA obligations: Iranian official Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:16PM A senior Iranian diplomat says the P5+1 group of countries must completely fulfill all its obligations, particularly in the banking sector, under the nuclear agreement it reached with Iran last July. In a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter in Bern on Friday, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht-e Ravanchi said the Islamic Republic has complied with its obligations under the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia plus Germany started implementing the JCPOA on January 16. Under the deal, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the Security Council and the US would be lifted. Iran has, in return, put some limitations on its nuclear activities. However, many large European banks still refrain from engaging in transactions with Iran for fear of US penalties. Takht-e Ravanchi also said political dialog between Tehran and Bern would prepare the ground for further expansion of cooperation, particularly in the economic sector. The Swiss foreign minister, for his part, welcomed the growing trend of his country's relations with Iran and said Bern is keen to make use of various opportunities created by bilateral ties and to cooperate on regional developments. Takht-e Ravanchi is in Switzerland to hold political talks with the country's senior officials few months after Tehran and Bern agreed on a road map for improving relations in different fields. The roadmap was agreed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Swiss counterpart Johann Schneider-Ammann in Tehran on February 27. "The aim is to relaunch various dialogs between Switzerland and Iran," Switzerland's department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research said in a statement. During Schneider-Ammann's visit to Tehran, the two countries signed agreements in the fields of economy, banking cooperation, politics and culture. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bombing, clashes leave 12 police dead in northern Iraq Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:45PM At least a dozen Iraqi police officers, including a commander, were killed in a bomb attack as well as clashes with the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in the northern province of Salahuddin, a source said Friday. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bomb went off in the town of Amirli, located about 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, the previous night. Seven policemen, including the Turkmen captain, died. Four other police officers were killed in separate attacks on security checkpoints in the same area. Additionally, Shelal Abdul, the mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, said a police chief was killed and five policemen were injured when Daesh terrorists carried out a surprise attack on security forces in the city north of Baghdad. Battle for Fallujah On Friday, Iraqi army forces raised the national flag over the main government compound in Fallujah, symbolizing the recapture of the beleaguered western city from Daesh. The force met limited resistance from the terrorists, who were fleeing the city. Fallujah is located about 69 kilometers (43 miles) west of the capital. "The counter-terrorism service and the rapid response forces have retaken the government compound in the center of Fallujah," said Commander of Fallujah Liberation Operation Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, adding that "Iraqi forces have now liberated 70 percent of the city." Federal Police Forces Commander Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat confirmed the army's advance in Fallujah, which marks a significant step in the nearly four-week-old offensive to retake the city, which has been a stronghold of Daesh. "The liberation of the government compound, which is the main landmark in the city, symbolizes the restoration of the state's authority in Fallujah," he said. The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence committed by Daesh since the summer of 2014. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi troops retake govt. compound in center of Fallujah Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 8:58AM Iraqi forces have retaken the main government compound in the center of Fallujah from Daesh militants, symbolizing government control of the city. A military statement said the federal police raised the Iraqi flag above the municipal building on Friday and were continuing to pursue Takfiri militants, who continued to hold other areas. The army's advances in the city, an hour's drive west of Baghdad, mark a significant step in the nearly four-week-old offensive to retake the Takfiri bastion. "The liberation of the government compound, which is the main landmark in the city, symbolizes the restoration of the state's authority" in Fallujah, Iraq's federal police chief Raed Shaker Jawdat told the AFP news agency. The government lost control of Fallujah in 2014, months before Daesh took second city Mosul and swept across large parts of the country. Daesh militants still control a significant portion of the city, where the conflict has forced the evacuation of most residents and many streets and houses remain mined with explosives. Residents of the city center had been trapped in dire conditions for days and used as human shields by Daesh but recent advances have allowed large numbers to escape. There were an estimated 50,000 people in the city when the operation was launched but it is unclear how many remain now. Security officials said many Daesh members had managed to slip out of the city by blending in with fleeing civilians in recent days. Those left behind to fight government advances are believed to be hiding in buildings. A military commander said Iraqi forces are now clearing roadside bombs near the government complex, which includes the municipality offices, the police station and other government buildings. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi PM Announces Liberation of Most Part of Fallujah From Daesh Sputnik News 21:13 17.06.2016(updated 21:34 17.06.2016) On Friday Iraqi security forces have managed to regain control over most part of the city of Fallujah. CAIRO (Sputnik) Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi on Friday announced that the Iraqi security forces have managed to regain control over most part of the city of Fallujah, held by the Daesh terorrist group for over two years. "We promised to liberate Fallujah, and we did it. The security forces control almost the entire city except for small hotspots, which will be eliminated in the coming hours," Abadi said in a televised speech to the nation. Daesh terror group is banned in many countries, including Russia. "ISF forces under the command of [Iraqi] Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi have entered the city," Carter stated. "They are in control of a portion of the city: It is too early to say all of the city. This is an important objective", US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told reporters on Friday. Fallujah, located some 42 miles west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, is one of the largest cities in the Anbar province. The Islamic State terror group, outlawed in many countries including Russia, has been in control of the city since 2014. Carter noted that it is an important principle for the United States the liberation of Fallujah to be achieved by the ISF. "There is still some fighting to be done," Carter added. The Iraqi military operation to liberate Fallujah will be finished in two to three days when the militants still concentrated in the north of the city are cleared, Iraqi Brigadier General Abdelwahab Saadi said earlier on Friday, according to a media report. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi Special Forces Retake Fallujah Government Building by Sharon Behn June 17, 2016 After weeks of fierce fighting, Iraqi security forces on Friday broke through Islamic State defenses to reach the center of Fallujah, a city just west of Baghdad controlled by IS for more than two years. Coalition airstrikes continued to pound IS targets, hitting two tactical units and destroying six heavy machine guns, as Iraqi Special Forces took over what had been an IS command center. Spokesman for the coalition Army Col. Chris Garver confirmed Iraqi forces had seized a government building in the center of the city. Thousands flee As IS lost control of the area and the southeast quadrant of the city, some 18,000 people began pouring out, trying to escape the fighting, some walking 15 kilometers to get to safety. "There are reports that IS is trying to shoot those who are leaving in the legs, trying to intimidate them," UNHCR's Bruno Geddo told VOA. Geddo said once the families reached safety, they were being collected by the Iraqi army or relatives. "Many are exhausted, and some collapse on the way," he said. Ambulances were said to be driving back and forth to collect the wounded and exhausted and taking them to nearby hospitals. The families of IS fighters are thought to be among those fleeing. "It is believed that among the latest flood of refugees from the city are the wives and children of IS fighters," Geddo said. The huge numbers of refugees threatened to overwhelm the capacity of the government and aid agencies. More than 50,000 people have fled the fighting in the past three weeks. It is unclear how many families are still trapped in the city. Norwegian Refugee Council's Iraq director Nasr Muflahi welcomed the news that thousands of civilians had made it to safety, but said he was concerned by the dramatically rapid increase in humanitarian need. "Aid services in the camp were already overstretched, and this development will push us all to the limit," he said in a statement. Geddo said a number of new camps were being set up as quickly as possible to provide shelter and basic relief items to the newly-arrived. IS withdraws Those who made it to safety told NRC that IS started to withdraw from certain areas of the city early Thursday morning. "Neighbors saw them evacuate their checkpoints, driving their vehicles loaded with food and fuel," said one 69-year old Fallujah resident, whose name was not released. IS militants reportedly pulled back into the city's western neighborhoods, but left behind heavily booby-trapped buildings and streets, networks of underground tunnels, and their snipers. The Iraqi security forces successful advances against the IS militants have been marred by reports that IS men and boys who had managed to escape were taken in for security screening, tortured, and in some cases, executed by Shi'ite militia. Many humanitarian leaders in Iraq had strongly advocated that the Shi'ite militia remain at the back of the battle lines and not be involved in the security screening process in order avoid any sectarian abuses. Fallujah has long been a Sunni stronghold, and IS militants are predominantly Sunni. Carla Babb contributed to this report from the Pentagon NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kurdish Forces Clash with Iran Troops on Iraqi Border by Sirwan Kajjo, Mehdi Jedinia June 17, 2016 Kurdish rebels on Friday clashed with Iran's Revolutionary Guards for a second consecutive day in a border area between Iraq and Iran, Kurdish officials and Iranian state media said. The fighting took place in a number of Kurdish-dominated towns, leaving at least six Iranian soldiers dead. The number of causalities on the Kurdish side has not been confirmed yet. One of the dead among Iranian forces was Samad Boostani, a deputy commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards in the city of Shno, a Kurdish official told VOA. Kurds in Iran have long desired more autonomy from Tehran's firm grip, and they have found assistance in the Kurdish forces in Iraq. Deadly confrontations between the two sides have been rare. But earlier this year, Kurdish rebels announced a military campaign against Iranian forces. Kurdish fighters, affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), say their goal from this campaign is to force Iran to make political concessions. "We are not proponents of military option, but the Iranian regime is forcing us to go in that way," Rostam Jahangiri, the military head of KDPI, told VOA from his base in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The majority of Iranian Kurdish fighters have been stationed in northern Iraq for years, but recently some of them have managed to cross the border into Iran. Ethnic Kurds make up roughly 9 percent of Iran's total population, living primarily in the western and northwestern provinces of the country. Iranian officials say that they're fighting "terrorists" who intend to destabilize the country. The Iranian army "let them infiltrate a mile into Iranian territories to trap them and then killed scores of them," said a journalist of Sepah News, a state-run Iranian news agency. He spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity. The reporter said that seven Iranian soldiers were killed in the clashes and 11 Kurdish rebels were reported dead. Kurdish officials have not confirmed their causalities. Iran has been heavily involved in Syria's civil war since 2011, backing forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with Revolutionary Guards troops. Emboldened by Kurdish advances in Syria and Iraq, Iranian Kurdish groups say it is time for them to push Tehran to acknowledge their ethnic rights. "Our goal is start to a popular movement that is a combination of political activism and military campaign," said Jahangiri of the KDPI. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian forces kill 6 militants in restive Dagestan Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:31PM At least six militants have been killed when Russian law enforcement forces carried out separate counter terrorism operations in the troubled North Caucasus republic of Dagestan. A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two police officers were killed and another four injured on Friday when a militant opened fire on security personnel in a forest in the Tabasaran district. The assailant was killed in the ensuing clashes. Reinforcement forces have been dispatched to the area to secure it. The source added that two more officers of special operations units were killed during other offensives in Dagestan. Six servicemen also suffered injuries in the latest skirmishes, and are currently receiving treatment in hospital. Violence first broke out in Chechnya in 1994, when 250,000 people were forced to flee to neighboring territories because of a war between Chechen separatists and the Russian army. After a short-lived period of relative peace from 1996 to 1999, war resumed following attacks blamed on Chechen militant groups. In April 2015, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said a North Caucasus militant group, known as the "Imarat Kavkaz," had allied itself with the Daesh Takfiri terrorist outfit. Earlier this year, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced that Daesh terror cells led by Chechen recruiter Akhmed Chetayev were planning terrorist attacks in Russia and Europe, noting that former Iraqi army officers from the deposed Ba'ath regime are taking part in training terrorists to attack Russia. "Russian special services have intelligence that certain Daesh groups are preparing terrorist attacks in Russia and European nations," Andrey Przhezdomsky, the committee's spokesman warned. "In particular, a battalion formed mainly from recruits from North Caucasus headed by Akhmed Chetayev, nicknamed One-Handed," Przhezdomsky noted. He went on to say Russian border guards and special services are doing their best to stem the flow of terrorists to and from Syria through Turkey. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia May Move Military Units Anywhere on Own Territory Sputnik News 12:02 17.06.2016(updated 12:23 17.06.2016) Russia has the full right to deploy military units within its own borders, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia has the right to deploy military units wherever it wants within its own borders and this does not pose a threat to neighboring countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday. "We don't accept these allegations, as you know, we don't agree with them. As for us deploying or military units one place or the other, it is the sovereign right of Russia to freely move our forces on the entire territory of our country. These movements are in no way threatening our neighbors," Peskov told reporters. Several days before, President Putin ordered a snap inspection of the combat readiness of the Russian armed forces, which is set to last until June 22. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US House okays sales of more banned bombs to Saudi Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 7:7AM The United States House of Representatives has approved the sales of more cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia despite an international ban on the controversial munitions. The House voted Thursday against a measure that would have banned the sales of such bombs to Saudi Arabia. Yet, US lawmakers killed the bill out of fear that it "stigmatized" the weapon of war. "The Department of Defense strongly opposes this amendment," said House member Rodney Frelinghuysen, chairman of the House Committee on Defense Appropriations, during floor debate. "They advise us that it would stigmatize cluster munitions, which are legitimate weapons with clear military utility." Cluster bombs are large shell casings that contain hundreds or thousands of bomblets. Some of the miniature bombs, which spread over large areas of land to cause more fatality, fail to explode on impact, thus leaving the explosives unnoticed for even years; only to be picked or poked by unsuspecting civilians much later when the innocent bear the brunt. Cluster bombs were banned by an international treaty signed by 119 countries, not including the United States. Speaking in support of the bill, Representative Hank Johnson said Saudi Arabia has deliberately targeted civilians with these bombs in Yemen where the Riyadh regime has been waging a war since late March last year without a United Nations mandate in a bid to undermine Yemen's Ansarullah movement and restore power to former fugitive president, Abd Rubbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh. "Earlier this year, the Saudi-led coalition dropped cluster bombs in Yemen's capital of Sana'a, specifically targeting known civilian neighborhoods," said the lawmaker. "One of the buildings hit was the al-Noor Center for Care and Rehabilitation for the Blind, which also has a school for blind children. The destruction of the school and the injuries sustained by the children was unbearably gruesome." The Saudis and their allies have also used US-produced weapons to destroy markets,factories, and hospitals in Yemen. The House vote came a day after one of the Saudi war's key architects, Mohammed Bin Salman, the Saudi deputy crown prince and defense minister, met with US lawmakers during his current visit to America. Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the US for selling cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia, urging Riyadh to stop using such banned arms that leave behind unexploded sub-munitions and endanger civilians. The Saudi war on Yemen has killed more than 9,000 people, among them over 2,230 children. More than 16,000 others have also been injured since the onset of the military raids. According to the UN, airstrikes account for 60 percent of the civilians killed so far. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Militants use poisonous weapons against Syria soldiers' Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 7:48AM Syria's official news agency says foreign-backed militants have used "poisonous" weapons to attack government soldiers in a suburb of the country's capital. "Terrorist organizations yesterday attacked a Syrian Army position in Eastern Ghouta, in the Damascus countryside, using poisonous substances," the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported. The materials "had effects on the nervous system which harmed a number of the troops by suffocation and respiratory problems," it added. Television footage, meanwhile, showed troops struggling to breathe, with one soldier saying those affected had experienced "a feeling of almost paralysis and an increase in saliva in the mouth." Another soldier, interviewed in hospital, said a "smoke bomb" landed and then he started to feel the symptoms. Damascus surrendered its stockpiles of chemical weapons to a joint mission led by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) following an attack in Ghouta two years ago. UN investigators established that sarin gas was used in Eastern Ghouta in the 2013 attack which allegedly killed 1,429 people, including at least 426 children. The chemical attack came amid a red line set by the US to attack the Syrian government if it used chemical weapons in fighting foreign-backed militants. The US government then came under pressure to mount airstrikes on Syria but Washington reportedly found no hard evidence of a government involvement to make a case for an offensive. According to reports, the rockets used in the assault were handmade and contained sarin. Last December, Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi, a cousin of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, alleged that the chemical weapons used in Ghouta were stolen from Libya and later smuggled into Syria via Turkey. The United Nations has confirmed that both mustard and chlorine gas have been used possibly by Daesh and other militants in attacks during the war in Syria and Iraq. 'Playing game' with Nusra Front On Thursday, Russia's foreign minister said he believes the US may hope to use al-Qaeda's branch in Syria to unseat Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. Sergei Lavrov said in St. Petersburg that the reluctance of US-backed opposition groups to distance themselves from the Nusra Front has been a major reason behind continuing fighting. The US could be "playing some kind of game here, and they may want to keep al-Nusra in some form and use it to topple the regime," Lavrov said. Lavrov added that he raised the issue in a recent phone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry who denied any such plans. "But why then the Americans with all their potential can't force the units they have been working with to leave the territories controlled by bandits and terrorists," Lavrov said. Russia at some point issued an ultimatum for opposition units to leave Nusra-controlled areas or face airstrikes, but later agreed to give more time for them to pull out. Spared the Russian strikes, Nusra has used the moment to replenish its supplies and receive reinforcements, Lavrov said. A senior US defense official said Thursday that Russian aircraft conducted a series of airstrikes in Syria against US-backed forces. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Official accuses Russia of attacking US-backed militants in Syria Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 5:25AM An American official has expressed grave concern over allegation of Russia's bombing of US-backed militants in Syria. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on Thursday that Russia bombed US-backed militants in southern Syria earlier in the day, raising "serious concern" over the incidence. "Today, Russian aircraft conducted a series of airstrikes near al-Tanf against Syrian counter-ISIL forces that included individuals who have received US support," said the senior defense official. "Russia's latest actions raise serious concern about Russian intentions. We will seek an explanation from Russia on why it took this action and assurances this will not happen again." "Russian aircraft have not been active in this area of southern Syria for some time, and there were no Syrian regime or Russian ground forces in the vicinity," the official said. The US military launched a $500 million program in early 2015 to train entire units of what it described as "moderate" militants in the Arab country. But the program drew heavy fire last fall after admitting the efforts had floundered, with numbers of trainees falling massively short of the planned 5,000. One group even handed over ammunition and other gear to a local al-Qaeda affiliate, known as the al-Nusra Front. Since then, the Pentagon has worked with militants from different groups, instead of an entire unit. This is while the CIA has also been involved in training militants in Syria. Since September 2014, the US and some of its allies have been carrying out airstrikes against purported positions of Daesh (ISIL) militants inside Syria. The Takfiri militants, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, control large areas of Iraq and Syria. The Syrian government has charged that the airstrikes had targeted the country's infrastructure in many instances and done little to stop the advances of terrorists. Syria's years-long foreign-sponsored militancy has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since early 2011 and left behind vast trails of destruction in a country where millions of people have been displaced. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US officials call for attack on Damascus Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 3:41AM US State Department officials have called for strikes against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Dozens of State Department officials signed an internal document that calls for targeted military strikes against the Damascus government, according to the Wall Street Journal. The "dissent channel cable" was signed by 51 officials involved with advising on Syria policy in various capacities. "Failure to stem Assad's flagrant abuses will only bolster the ideological appeal of groups such as Daesh, even as they endure tactical setbacks on the battlefield," the cable reads. The report said the cable repeatedly calls for "targeted military strikes" against the Syrian government. It said the officials were critical of the US policy in the Syrian war. The State Department has acknowledged the existence of the cable as confidential diplomatic communication, but did not comment on its contents. The internal cable may be an attempt to shape the foreign policy outlook of the next US administration, an unnamed official familiar with the document said. The United States and its allies formed a coalition that has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh terrorists inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The coalition has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh. Daesh terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control. Syria has been grappling with a deadly conflict it blames on certain foreign states for nearly five years. More than 470,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced in the Arab country, according to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research. The militancy has also taken a heavy toll on the country's infrastructure. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Blames Russia For Syrian Air Strikes; Moscow Countercharges June 17, 2016 by RFE/RL The United States has accused Russia of carrying out air strikes in southern Syria against rebels, including forces backed by the United States, that are battling the Islamic State group. U.S. officials told Reuters and AFP on June 16 that they were "seriously concerned" about the bombings near Al-Tanf and Washington will raise the matter with Moscow. But Russia countercharged that the United States may have a secret plan to rely in part on terrorist factions in Syria to try to unseat the Russia-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Speaking at an economic forum in St. Petersburg on June 16, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that such a plan could explain the U.S. failure to persuade rebel forces it backs in Syria to distance themselves from Al-Qaeda's Al-Nusra Front, as Russia has requested, so Moscow can continue to bomb Nusra. The United States could be "playing some kind of game here, and they may want to keep Nusra in some form and use it to topple the regime," Lavrov said, contending that the difficulty of separating the UN-blacklisted terrorist group from other rebel factions is a major reason that the war in Syria continues despite long-standing efforts to forge peace. Lavrov said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry denied any such secret plan to unseat Assad in a recent phone conversation. "But why then the Americans with all their potential can't force the units they have been working with to leave the territories controlled by bandits and terrorists," he asked. For their part, the U.S. officials strongly criticized the Russian air strikes near Al-Tanf on June 16, though they did not specify what if any damage and casualties resulted from the bombings. The U.S. officials noted that no Russian or Syrian ground forces were in the area at the time, so that ruled out an argument of self-defense to explain Russia's bombing. "Russia's latest actions raise serious concern about Russian intentions," one official said. "We will seek an explanation from Russia on why it took this action and assurances this will not happen again." Washington has accused Moscow of acting to prop up Assad rather than fighting IS and Nusra Front, as it claims to be doing. Communication between the U.S. and Russian militaries in Syria has been sparse, limited to contacts aimed at avoiding an accidental clash as they carry out rival bombing campaigns. U.S. Diplomats Slam Obama Policy Meanwhile, a dissident group of more than 50 U.S. State Department officials criticized President Barack Obama's policy of staying out the war in Syria and said the United States should start bombing Assad's government forces in an effort to drive them to the peace table. In a "dissident channel cable" leaked to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the mid-level diplomats who are involved in Syria policy urged "targeted U.S. military strikes" to put pressure on the Syrian regime. "The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war, is evident and unquestionable," the Times quoted the internal document as saying. "The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic, and terrorism-related challenges." Their criticism came as Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan told Congress on June 16 that Russia's entry into the war backing Syrian forces since September has strengthened Assad's position both in the war and in the stalled peace talks. While faced with internal dissent on June 16, the White House also was severely criticized publicly for its policies in Syria and Iraq by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election. McCain initially charged that Obama was "directly responsible" for IS-inspired attacks on Americans like the one in Orlando this week, but later said he misspoke and meant Obama's Middle East policies were to blame. "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 Obama's failures, utter failures," McCain said. "So the responsibility for it lies with President Barack Obama and his failed policies." With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and Interfax Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/us-blames-russia-syrian-air- strikes-moscow-countercharges/27804152.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 Dozens Of U.S. Diplomats Urge Air Strikes Against Syrian Forces June 17, 2016 More than 50 U.S. State Department officials have signed an internal memo that criticizes U.S. policy in Syria and calls for air strikes against Syrian government forces. The memo was reportedly signed by 51 mid- and high-level State Department officers involved in formulating U.S. policy in Syria, The Wall Street Journal reports. The "dissent channel cable" calls for "targeted military strikes" against Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad amid the breakdown of a cease-fire agreed to earlier this year. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said from Copenhagen on June 17 that the memo was an "important statement" but he had not seen it. He said he would discuss the issue when he returned to Washington. Air strikes against Syrian forces or Assad government targets would be a major change in the Obama administration's policy of not directly intervening in the Syrian civil war. More than 270,000 people have been killed and millions of others forced to flee their homes since the civil war began in 2011. While the signing of dissent cables is not uncommon, the number of signatures on the document is considered unusually large. "That is an astonishingly high number," said Robert Ford, who resigned in 2014 as U.S. ambassador to Syria over policy disagreements. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in an e-mail that "we are reviewing the [dissent channel] cable now...and I am not going to comment on the contents." Kirby said the "dissent channel" is an official forum that allows State Department employees to express alternative views. Based on reporting by Reuters and The New York Times Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/us-diplomats- urge-syria-strikes/27804294.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 Syrian Opposition Inclusion to Gov't to Ensure Political System Stability Sputnik News 17:34 17.06.2016(updated 17:48 17.06.2016) A proposal, supported by Russia and the United States, to include representatives of the Syrian opposition into the government structures will guaranty stability of the political system and boost anti-terror efforts, Tarek Ahmad, a member of the Hmeymim opposition group, told Sputnik Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the US proposal to consider a possibility of incorporating representatives of the opposition into the Syrian government is "absolutely reasonable." "We are now in the dialogue process between the opposition and the government as we agreed and want to make a coalition with the government, to make a wider government that will include the Syrian opposition forces and the Syrian current government that should represent all Syrian people. This will ensure safety for the Syrian political structure and can accelerate the current war against terrorism. It is a very good idea," Ahmad said. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting a number of opposition factions and extremist groups. A Syrian government delegation, as well as three opposition groups the Riyadh-formed High Negotiations Committee, the Moscow-Cairo and the Hmeymim groups have been taking part in the UN-mediated Geneva talks on Syrian reconciliation. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin Says First Priority in Syria is to Keep the Country Unified Sputnik News 17:12 17.06.2016(updated 17:30 17.06.2016) It is of major importance is to prevent Syrian coup d`etat, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) The most important thing in Syria is to prevent the country from falling apart, as the risk of such outcome will remain high if the situation continues to develop in the same vein, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. "It is necessary to act carefully, step by step, gradually gaining trust of all conflicting sides. If it happens and I think it will happen sooner or later, and the earlier the better then it will be necessary to go further, to talk about further elections and complete settlement. The most important thing is to avoid the country's breakup. And if the situation continues to develop as it does today, the collapse is inevitable, and this is the worst case scenario," Putin said at the 2016 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to president Assad fighting a number of opposition factions and extremist groups. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Diplomats Used Memo to Compel Russia to Work With Them on Assad Sputnik News 14:15 17.06.2016(updated 14:35 17.06.2016) An internal memo on Syria advocating for military strikes against President Bashar Assad's forces, signed by dozens of US diplomats, is a way to force Moscow to cooperate with the US leadership regarding the future of Assad as the Syrian leader, a source in the Syrian opposition told Sputnik Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The internal memo signed by some 50 US diplomats, a draft of which was obtained by The New York Times from a US State Department official on Thursday, calls for "a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons," against Assad forces. "All these statements are games that we have already seen in the past. This is the way to put pressure on the Russians. They are saying: 'Look, we have the opposition that demands actions against Assad and calls on the government to change the current political position toward the Syrian regime, so you [the Russians] need to work with us [the current US administration] and we need to move fast'," the source said. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to president Assad fighting a number of opposition factions and extremist groups. On February 27, a US-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria. Terrorist groups such as Daesh, as well as Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front), both outlawed in Russia and a range of other states, are not part of the deal. Russia recognizes Assad as the legitimate authority in Syria, stressing that the Syrian people should be free to choose their leadership without outside intervention. The United States and some of its allies have been supporting the so-called moderate Syrian opposition since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, urging Assad to resign. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Bombs US-Backed Rebels in Syria by VOA News June 17, 2016 Russian aircraft have dropped bombs on rebels battling Islamic State in southern Syria, including those supported by the United States, a senior U.S. official said. The official, who asked not to be identified, said Russian jets had not been active in the location near al-Tanf, along the Syrian border with Iraq and Jordan, for some time, which raised "serious concerns" about the intentions of the Russians. "We will seek an explanation from Russia on why it took this action and assurances this will not happen again," the official said Thursday. In the past, the U.S. has been critical of the Russian presence in Syria, and has repeatedly refused to work with Russian forces in the country, which the U.S. accused of working with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to consolidate his power. The bombing Thursday is likely to test already strained relations between the U.S. and Russia, and came just a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia and Syria to respect a cease-fire treaty signed between the three nations earlier this year. "Russia needs to understand that our patience is not infinite. In fact it is very limited with whether or not [Bashar] al-Assad is going to be held accountable," Kerry said Wednesday following a meeting with Iranian officials. The U.S. military has been operating a training program in Syria since early 2015 to fully train units of moderate Syrian rebels to fight against IS. The program experienced limited success, and the U.S. Defense Department has now switched its strategy to work with a limited number of rebels instead of entire units. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Internal US Memo Critical of Syria Policy Draws 50-plus Signatures by Pamela Dockins, Joshua Fatzick June 17, 2016 The former U.S. ambassador to Syria says it is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for more than 50 State Department diplomats to sign an internal diplomatic cable critical of U.S. administration policy. Robert Ford commented to VOA on Friday after a draft document for the department's "Dissent Channel" emerged, in which 51 officials called for the use of targeted airstrikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of an effort to pressure it into pursuing political talks. "In my experience dating back to 1985 in the Department of State," Ford said, "I have never heard of a Dissent Channel message that had 10 signatures, much less one that had 50." He said the high number of signatures was an indication that the officials responsible for implementing policy measures on the ground in Syria, pushing for a negotiated political solution and dealing with the refugee crisis, did not believe they could meet objectives under the current policy. "They are warning that the way that it is going now, it is never going to succeed and there needs to be, therefore, a change," said Ford, who is now a Middle East Institute analyst. Dramatic changes unlikely But he added that President Barack Obama was unlikely to make dramatic changes to his Syria policy so late in his administration. Atlantic Council analyst Fred Hof said the high number of signatures was an indication of deep dissatisfaction with the U.S. status quo for Syria. "Fifty-one loyal and effective officials have risked their careers to protest a policy that is profoundly wrong and fully counterproductive," Hof said. Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said Obama "sets Syria policy" and if he wasn't persuaded by criticisms voiced by former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and other senior officials, "I don't think what 51 diplomats say will do the trick." Within the administration, disagreement over Syria policy is nearly as old as the five-year-old conflict itself. While some senior State Department officials have long favored more aggressive action against the Assad government, the White House has resisted those calls out of fear of pushing the U.S. into another war. Instead, it has focused on a military campaign against the Islamic State group. Previous experience The White House's opposition to armed intervention in the Syrian conflict stems from U.S. experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, said Steven Hydemann, the Janet Wright Ketcham chair of Middle Eastern studies at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. "It sees Syria through the lens of those earlier experiences," Hydemann said of the Obama administration. State Department spokesman John Kirby also acknowledged that it was unusual for a Dissent Channel message to have so many signatories. "It tells us clearly that Syria matters to a lot of the people who work here at the State Department," Kirby said. "It says to me that we need to keep on working just as hard as we can for better outcomes." A draft of the cable, initially revealed to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, asks the Obama administration to employ a "judicious use of stand-off and air weapons" to directly engage the Syrian army in a bid to hasten an end to the civil war. "The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war, is evident and unquestionable,'' it reads. "The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges.'' Stepped-up engagement The call for the stepped-up U.S. military engagement against the Syrian regime contrasts sharply with the administration's current policy, which has focused largely on aiding rebels in a bid to oust Islamic State and supporting diplomatic efforts for a political transition in the country. However, it comes at a time when the U.S. and its allies have seen an erosion of a February cessation of hostilities, setbacks in efforts to hold political talks between the government and rebels, and roadblocks in delivering food and medicine to Syrians in besieged communities. "No one is content with the status quo," said Kirby in a Friday briefing. He added that as the administration looked at other options, "none of those other options are better than the one that we are pursing." With U.N.-sponsored talks aimed at ending the conflict broken down and a cease-fire signed in February repeatedly violated, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has taken a tougher stance toward Syria and Russia. 'Patience is not infinite' Earlier this week, Kerry warned Syria and Russia to respect a cease-fire agreement that the three nations signed this year. "Russia needs to understand that our patience is not infinite. In fact, it is very limited with whether or not al-Assad is going to be held accountable," Kerry said Wednesday following a meeting with Iranian officials. Kerry's tone appeared to have toughened in recent days, but the question that remained was "will there be anything more meaningful than that," Hydemann said. The memo was signed by mostly midlevel employees at the department. After it is distributed to high-level officials, Kirby said, the employees will receive a reply, but that reply will not be made public. Earlier Friday, Kerry told reporters in Copenhagen that he would discuss the memo when he returned to Washington. "I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but I agree with the process. It's a great process," he said, referring to the Dissent Channel. White House deputy press secretary Jennifer Friedman said she had not read the memo, but "the administration welcomes a strong deliberation on the foreign policy challenges that face our nation." Impact on campaign Even if the memo does not sway the Obama administration into taking greater military action in Syria, it may have an impact on the 2016 presidential campaign. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump could use it as ammunition to criticize the administration's Syria policy, while Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is likely to use it in support of her call for a more vigorous approach toward the Syrian conflict. Clinton has called for the creation of a no-fly zone over rebel-held areas in Syria and a more forceful delivery of humanitarian assistance, among other measures. "I think it matters a great deal in the upcoming electoral debate," Brookings' O'Hanlon said. "By critiquing the administration's Syria policy, they've invigorated the debate and added a neutral voice to the debate." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Defense Minister Orders Hmeimim Base to Increase Aid to Syrians Sputnik News 19:25 18.06.2016(updated 19:43 18.06.2016) Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman said that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered the Hmeymim airbase command to increase assistance to the Syrian population, especially in the settlements blocked by terrorists. HMEYMIM (Sputnik) Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered the Hmeymim airbase command to increase assistance to the Syrian population, especially in the settlements blocked by terrorists, Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Saturday. "Army Gen. Sergei Shoigu has ordered the Russian airbase command to increase overall support and assistance to the local population, especially in those Syrian settlements, blocked by terrorists," Konashenkov told reporters. According to the ministry's spokesman, Shoigu has also instructed the Russian center for the Syrian conflicting sides' reconciliation to enhance talks with heads of local administrations and commanders of armed groups in order to call on them to join the reconciliation process and ceasefire regime. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address SDF Liberate Daesh-Controlled District Near Manbij City Sputnik News 18:30 18.06.2016(updated 19:00 18.06.2016) Syrian Democratic Forces have liberated Manbij city in the Aleppo province from Daesh terrorists, a military source told Sputnik. DAMASCUS (Sputnik) The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have managed to liberate from Daesh terrorists a district at the western entrance to the Manbij city in the Aleppo province, a military source told Sputnik. In late May, the SDF troops announced an offensive against the Daesh terrorist group, which is outlawed in Russia and the United States. One of the goals of the operation supported by the US-led coalition is to liberate the city of Manbij. On June 10, the SDF command announced that IS-held Manbij had been completely surrounded. "The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have managed to take control over the el-Khatib district at the western entrance to Manbij in the Aleppo province," the source said. According to the source, the forces invaded the district backed by the US-led coalition air forces and engaged in battle with terrorists. Both sides have suffered losses, the source added. Manbij, located between the Islamic State's de facto capital of Raqqa and the Syrian-Turkish border, is a strategically important area for the group. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan, U.S. to hold defense review talks soon: sources ROC Central News Agency 2016/06/17 11:56:35 Washington, June 16 (CNA) Defense officials from Taiwan and the United States will meet soon for the first time since President Tsai Ing-wen () took office in May, to discuss exchanges between their armed forces and joint training programs, sources said Thursday. Deputy Defense Minister Li Hsi-ming () will lead the Taiwanese delegation to the annual defense review meeting in Washington on a date that has not yet been disclosed, the sources told CNA on condition of anonymity. The two countries are expected to discuss Taiwan's efforts to buy new trainer jets from the U.S., joint training programs, and exchanges between their armed forces. They will also talk about the defense policy of Taiwan's new government, which took office on May 20. York Chen (), deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council, who crafted the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) defense blue paper, will also attend the meeting, the sources said. Chen will be able to give the U.S. side a clear picture of the DPP government's defense policy and overall strategy, according to the sources. The meeting is likely to be held sometime before Tsai leaves June 24 on a nine-day trip to Panama and Paraguay, which will include transit stops in the U.S., the sources said. The bilateral defense review talks have been held annually since 2003. (By Rita Cheng and Kay Liu) Enditem/pc NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia's Putin slams West over backing 'coup d'etat' in Ukraine Iran Press TV Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:3PM Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly criticized the West's support for 'a coup d'etat' in Ukraine in 2014, blaming it for the bloodshed that plagued the country. "Why support a coup d'etat in Ukraine? ... It is likely that the opposition, which is currently in power, would have come to power by democratic means," Putin said at a question and answer session during the the St Petersburg International Economic Forum 2016 (SPIEF 2016) on Friday. The Russian president blamed the way Ukraine's pro-Russian president was toppled for the bloodshed and ensuing violence. Putin further said the 'coup' had scared the Russian-speaking people in the Crimean Peninsula and southeastern Ukraine. Russia-West ties have been strained since Crimea joined Russia in a referendum in March 2014. Crimean people voted to join Russia after rejecting the Western-backed government that took over power in Kiev in February 2014. The United States and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine. Moscow, however, rejects having a hand in the crisis gripping the Eastern European state. Ukraine's eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April 2014 to crush pro-Moscow protests there. The crisis has left more than 9,000 people dead and over 20,000 others injured, according to the United Nations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address To the editor: Does Danville call itself the City of Churches because it has a lot of buildings or are there any Christians who live here? I have not seen the merited outrage and condemnation of the killings in Orlando as I have seen with other murders. Are people so caught up in themselves, that they are glad or indifferent when seeing humans murdered, simply because the victims did not live consistent with their particular religious beliefs? Many of the same people who have been indifferent to the slaughtering of human beings in Orlando still say Amen to Bishop Eddie Longs sermons as well as shout to Pastor Donnie McClurkins music. Neither of these men of God are true to themselves, and both have ruined the lives of many young men. Gays have been a part of this world since day one. I am so glad God blessed me with family and friends, most of whom have been understanding and supportive of me all my life. I also am thankful God gave me the gift of discernment to know the ones who just tolerate me. Trust me, I know. To the families and friends of those who were murdered or wounded in Orlando, I extend my heartfelt condolences. From the Oklahoma bombings, to the Charleston shooting, to the 9/11 attack, to the Virginia Tech massacre, can we just agree humans killing other humans is wrong? I know being gay was not a choice, but can we save our religious debate for another day? I believe in the Bible, but I do not believe it was written as a biology textbook. Even the first chapter of Genesis is written as though the world is flat. I still believe in the God of Genesis, but I do not believe the world is flat. I believe the world is round, that we are all connected to each other with more similarities than differences, and if we are willing to reach out and touch somebodys hand (whether brown, white, red, Latino, gay, straight, Christian or Muslim) we can truly make it a better place. TOMMY BENNETT Danville 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." SHARE Microsoft OKs cannabis tracking firm By Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY NETWORK SAN FRANCISCO As watershed industry moments go, this one could be defining. Microsoft is welcoming marijuana compliance company Kind Financial onto its Azure Government cloud platform, marking a legitimizing first for the controversial cannabis business while positioning the technology giant at the vanguard of a potentially lucrative new industry. Los Angeles-based KIND, which provides seed-to-sale tracking solutions, had been a commercial client of Microsoft's Azure cloud since its 2014 debut. But after nearly nine months of talks with Microsoft officials, Kind CEO David Dinenberg got the word Thursday that his company would be promoted to Azure Government, a separate cloud platform whose security and compliance protocols are geared toward entities that interact with federal agencies. "Thanks to Microsoft's huge reach, it'll be easier for us to target every state with our compliance solutions," Dinenberg said. "It's a win-win for both of us as more states look to legalize medical marijuana." Kimberly Nelson, executive director of Microsoft's state and local government solutions division, said in a statement that "Kind agreed that Azure Government is the only cloud platform designed to meet government standards for the closely regulated cannabis compliance programs, and we look forward to working together to help our government customers launch successful regulatory programs." For Microsoft, welcoming a cannabis-focused data management company onto its specialized cloud points to the dynamic thinking coming out of the office of CEO Satya Nadella, who is two years into his plan to pivot away from a crumbling software licensing model and toward a cloud- and mobile-first business. Last week, Microsoft made a $26-billion bet on professional networking site LinkedIn, whose purchase is aimed at bolstering its mission to make its suite of Office products a must for enterprise customers. In 2015, marijuana sales hit $5.7 billion, but are expected to jump to $22 billion by 2020, according to industry analytics firm New Frontier." associated press file People wait to buy the new Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices outside an Apple store in Hong Kong. Apple is embroiled in a Chinese patent dispute that threatens to block future sales of the iPhone 6 in Beijing. SHARE Ruling on patent issue to be appealed By Helen Zhao, Los Angeles Times (TNS) Beijing's patent regulator has ordered Apple to stop selling its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the city because their design too closely resembles that of a Chinese phone. Apple is appealing the ruling, which marks the latest challenge to the tech company in its second-largest market. The two iPhone models violated design patents held by Chinese device maker Shenzhen Baili because of similarities in external design with the company's 100C phone, the Beijing Intellectual Property Office wrote in a statement on its website. Apple said in a statement it will continue to sell those iPhone models in Beijing as it appeals the decision. Because the ruling applies only to the sales within the city of Beijing, analysts doubt the ruling will affect Apple's bottom line. "We do not think the case will have any negative impact on Apple's revenue and margin in China," Amit Daryanani and Shawn Yuan, of RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a research report. Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray said the spat illustrates the ongoing "friction between Apple and the Chinese government." "Even if they do get banned, they'll come out with new phones and they'll be selling those phones, Munster said. "It's a little bit of a carnival going on between Apple and China." Apple shares were down 1.65 percent, to $95.91 as of midday Friday. Angelo Zino, equity analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the market's reaction shows investors aren't greatly concerned about the patent issue itself. "Does it impact anything on the fundamentals today? No. Could it alarm investors of other issues that could potentially happen in the future?" he asked. "I think that's why maybe you see the stock trading where it is." Apple had to shut down its iBooks and iTunes Movies services in China in April because of violations of foreign publishing regulations. In May, Apple lost the right to maintain exclusivity of the "iPhone" name, as a Beijing court ruled that an accessories maker could use it on a line of luxury leather goods. While Apple jousts with the Chinese government, Chinese consumers have delighted in the company's products. Sales in Greater China including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan amounted to 25 percent of Apple's revenue in the second fiscal quarter. SHARE McRaven By Federico Martinez, Federico.Martinez@gosanangelo.com / @Federico_SAST Despite significant increases in student enrollment and popular new programs, the University of Texas has several areas in which it needs to improve one of the most alarming being the lack of diversity at the university's 14 campuses, Chancellor Bill McRaven said Friday. McRaven's blunt assessment of the university's strengths and weaknesses drew two long standing ovations from his audience about 170 people, gathered for an alumni event in San Angelo . "We still have a diversity problem," said McRaven, the event's keynote speaker. "At some of our campuses 80 percent of our students are Hispanic, but 80 percent of our faculty and administrators are Caucasian. "Kids coming up want to see someone they can relate to, that they recognize, who shares similar experiences. This isn't about quotas or affirmative action; it's about opportunity." The San Angelo Texas Exes Annual Scholarship Luncheon, held in The Cactus Hotel Ballroom, is a fundraiser to help provide scholarships to attend UT. Five recent high school graduates from the San Angelo area who have been awarded scholarships were recognized. Since taking over the university's helm 18 months ago, McRaven said he has been busy working with other administrators, staff and regents to improve the school's operations. One recent directive McRaven initiated dictates that anytime a top administrative position becomes vacant, women and ethnic minority candidates must be represented in final interviews. McRaven said hiring decisions often can be affected by dismissing people whose names and cultural and ethnic backgrounds are different from those reviewing job applications and interviewing candidates. It's still too early to see if the new approach succeeds in improving diversity, school officials said. A 1977 graduate of UT's Austin campus, McRaven said he is happy for the opportunity to oversee one of the largest university systems in the country. Although UT needs to improve in several areas, it also has plenty to boast about. "I couldn't be prouder where our school is," McRaven said. "It's all about people, treating people. "We need to continue reaching out to all of our campuses and keep asking ourselves, 'How do we produce better services?' " Since his arrival, McRaven has created several new posts, including a deputy chancellor who handles many of the day-to-day business decisions. School administrators have been charged with reducing bureaucracy, which makes it easier for current and prospective students to navigate the university. Several measures have been taken to improve communication among administrators and access to the chancellor's office. Administrators also have developed a long-term strategic plan that includes working with K-12 school districts to make sure students are college ready. "The pre-K through 12 system in Texas needs a lot of work," McRaven said. "Studies have shown that if a student isn't able to read well by the third grade their chance for success decreases." Alumni organization leaders thanked former students for their generosity in recent years. Alumni donations have allowed the organization to increase the amount of scholarship awards from $1.8 million in 2011 to $3.8 million in 2016. McRaven is a former Navy SEAL commander and a retired four-star admiral. Prior to becoming chancellor, he was the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command responsible for conducting counterterrorism operations worldwide. He is credited with organizing and overseeing the execution of the special ops raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. He graduated from UT with a journalism degree. Vasquez SHARE By Rashda Khan, rashda.khan@gosanangelo.com/@Rashda_SAST Police Chief Tim Vasquez and the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, the largest law enforcement union in the state, have a long and interesting history. The most recent upset between the two stems from a CLEAT survey, which the organization said was completed by 123 out of 150 sworn San Angelo police officers, conducted this spring and released in the midst of early voting for the May 7 municipal election. The four-way race resulted in no single candidate achieving a majority, so Vasquez and Lt. Frank Carter are now in a runoff contest to see who voters will elect. The election will be July 2, and early voting starts Monday. While Vasquez did get to voice his opinions for a Standard-Times article on the survey, he addressed the survey results in greater detail in a letter to residents, released on his website, timvasquez.com. The letter can be read here as well. "I think it did have an impact on the initial election the timing and everything else. After seeing that impact, I wanted to clarify and address some things that at that time I wasn't able to do," Vasquez said. "I think it's good our citizens care about and are concerned for our officers, but I also wanted to clarify a few things so they had another perspective." In the letter he takes issue with how the questions were phrased and wonders about the aim of the survey. A different survey conducted by CLEAT for the Abilene Police Department was put together with input from both the local chapter and the PD management, but Vasquez said he "wasn't given that luxury." Nor were the survey results presented to him or discussed before they were released to the public, and he wasn't asked to participate in the survey. "It all depends on what they are trying to accomplish," Vasquez said. Before Vasquez became chief of SAPD he was first elected in 2004 he served as the president of the San Angelo Coalition of Police, the local CLEAT affiliate. In 2004, before being elected chief, he was recognized as the officer of the year by the state CLEAT. "When I came in as chief and started doing what I was supposed to do and handled personnel issues, that's when I fell out of grace," Vasquez said, adding that he and CLEAT officials also butted heads over attempts to get the Legislature to update a civil service law that dictated the number of assistant chiefs allowed. "I wanted the update because police departments and management styles had changed so much, but they wanted to handle it through collective bargaining," Vasquez said. "He (the CLEAT president) said it was a union thing, union should vote on it and union should benefit. For me, it was a management issue and not a labor issue." Vasquez, who is seeking a fourth term in office, has never been endorsed by CLEAT. Earlier this year, a CLEAT spokesman said via email: "It is important to note that we don't necessarily endorse in every election every cycle. Each endorsement we do make is unique to the particular race and unique to the particular issues in play when any endorsement is made." When asked why he'd joined CLEAT as an officer, Vasquez paused. "You know, I can't remember why," he said. "I think everyone was going toward CLEAT back then because it was a new association." His opponent in this election, Frank Carter, joined CLEAT this spring and joined another local union, San Angelo Police Officers Association. "I was thinking long term," Carter said. "If I became chief of police I would have to work with both these organizations so it seemed like a good idea to get to know them." CLEAT ended up endorsing Carter, and its Political Action Committee contributed $250 to his campaign. "To me, the true value of all that is that a law enforcement body has confidence in me to be chief," Carter said, adding: "My endorsement has nothing to do with the survey. I was not in any way involved with the survey." Carter, who says he hasn't completely read the CLEAT survey results and has not read Vasquez's rebuttal, isn't surprised by the survey results. "I know where the officers stand without even looking at the survey," Carter said, pointing out the survey wasn't just CLEAT, but involved both of the local associations. Melinda Smith, public affairs coordinator for CLEAT, confirmed the survey was a collaborative effort between the organizations. As for why the chief wasn't involved at any step of the survey process, Smith emailed: "Union membership in the United States of America is autonomous. Members do not have to answer to their supervisors. It's the freedom of association clause. Local unions can work with whomever they wish and exclude whomever they wish. It was both unions' decisions." She also shared why the survey was performed: "The aim of the survey was to give rank and file members of the unions an opportunity to express their opinion about their job, working conditions and morale." And in ending she added, "Workers have the right to unionize, even in San Angelo." Getty Images As with many of Donald Trump's proposals, the details have been sketchy at best. Immigration specialists say that most, but not all, of the elements would be impossible to apply. SHARE But what if it were to be implemented? By Noah Bierman, Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS) WASHINGTON Donald Trumps expansion of his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. to include people from countries with a history of terrorism has been panned in both parties. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called it overly simplistic. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said its neither in American interests nor reflective of our principles. Yet after the Orlando massacre heightened fears of terrorism, Trump renewed and expanded his call for such a ban, and polls have shown a high level of support, particularly among Republican primary voters. But as with many of Trumps proposals, the details have been sketchy at best. Immigration specialists say that most, but not all, of the elements would be impossible to apply, and that diplomatic repercussions could be severe on those provisions that could be enacted. Question: What did Trump propose? Answer: After the San Bernardino attack, Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what is going on. Then, this week, after a gunman killed dozens at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Trump claimed vindication. He also seemed to expand the parameters of his proposal to include 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. Q: What did Trump mean? A: Trumps spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, did not respond to a request to explain the statement. On its face, the indefinite ban could include a broad group of countries, including the U.S., where Orlando gunman Omar Mateen was born. It could also include Russia, controversial allies such as Saudi Arabia, and closer allies such as France. Trump probably did not intend to include close allies and was more likely to trying to insulate himself from criticism that he was targeting people purely based on religion, said David Martin, a former top official in the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama administration. But its conceivable you could have a country like Belgium on the list, given the countrys emergence as a breeding ground for terrorist plots, he said. Q: Is it legal? A: Probably, though such a ban has not been tested in court. The Constitution has strong protections against religious discrimination. But the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 grants the president broad authority to suspend entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States (who) would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. That power has been used, Martin pointed out, but usually to restrict access to smaller groups of bad actors, such as Moammar Gadhafi and his family before the U.S. intervention in Libya, or certain Russians involved in fighting in Ukraine. Barring entire religions and nationalities would almost certainly invite a court challenge and Supreme Court justices could raise questions about the use of such sweeping power, particularly by religious test. Q: How would the government bar entire nationalities? A: For most countries, the U.S. could simply stop issuing visas and depend on airlines to help with enforcement. The U.S. does not require visas for people holding passports from 38 countries. But even people from so-called visa waiver countries are required to apply for a visa if they hold dual nationality in Iraq, Iran, Syria or Sudan. Immigration inspectors have authority to accept or reject anyone from entering the country, whether traveling on a visa or not. And the U.S. could remove countries from the waiver list, or add other barriers. But there is always the possibility of fraud, such as fake passports, given the large numbers of people involved in the bans. And unanswered questions remain about what to do with citizens of those countries who are already here as legal residents or on work visas. People that are trying to get in from those countries for evil reasons, they would be the hardest ones to keep track of, said Julie Myers Wood, who led Immigration and Customs Enforcement under George W. Bush. Q: Could the government ban an entire religion? A: This is much tougher. Few, if any, passports list a religion. The U.S. does not track the religions of people already here. Immigration officials could ask, but terrorists and other evildoers would be the least likely to answer such a question truthfully. The proposal would spark a cottage industry of fake baptismal certificates, Wood predicted. She said the government could use its leverage with other countries to get help, especially those that track religion. In this horrible, make-believe world where you can force people to pay for walls, perhaps you can persuade them to cooperate, Wood said. Q: How would other countries respond? A: Not well. Muzaffar Chishti, New York director of the Migration Policy Institute, mentioned the diplomatic ramifications of rejecting a member of a royal family as an example of the potential to harm U.S. business and diplomatic interests when applying a blanket ban on everyone from king to the pauper and the most innocent to the most extremist. Countries would probably retaliate, restricting or banning access for American citizens and rescinding other forms of cooperation. The move would also put large portions of trade at risk, especially for businesspeople who are used to traveling freely in countries that grant visa waivers to U.S. citizens. It would be a major foreign policy development, Martin said. Its not just a matter of a few people not being allowed to get on an airplane. Q: Would it stop terrorism? A: There is little evidence it would. In addition to the risk of fraud, many terrorists, from Mateen in Orlando back to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh or the leftist radicals of the 1970s, were born in the United States. Colorado is the most recent state to pen an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) allowing law enforcement to use the company's cloud services.The deal, announced Friday, June 17, will allow the states law enforcement agencies to leverage the cloud technology. Public safety agencies have traditionally been a roadblock to wide cloud procurements due to their stringent security requirements.The arrangement complies with the requirements, regulations and laws outlined in the FBIs Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy , which the agency said in 2012 all cloud products sold to public safety agencies must follow.Colorado joins the California Department of Justice and the state of Minnesota, which both recently signed their own CJIS service agreements with AWS.We recognize that when law enforcement agencies place data in the cloud, they put an absolute priority on secure access to information, wherever and whenever it is needed. To meet these needs, the AWS Cloud infrastructure has been architected to be the most secure, reliable and flexible cloud computing environment in the world, Teresa Carlson, vice president of AWS Worldwide Public Sector, said in a statement.Because of the increasing amount of data being produced in the law enforcement arena through the use of technologies like body-worn cameras and digital evidence management tools, cloud services can present a more cost-effective way of managing data. Government Technology recently reported that more agencies are moving toward cloud solutions for the added benefits, past the storage of data. Tools like data analytics and the ability to share across the considerable silos of the older systems have piqued the interest of agencies worldwide.According to the company, more than 2,000 government agencies are using AWS. Nico Rosberg and Mercedes and now edging close to agreeing a new contract for 2017 and beyond. That is the claim of the German newspaper Kolner Express, revealing that family friend Gerhard Berger's efforts to negotiate on the 30-year-old's behalf are paying off. One suggestion is that Mercedes may have sped up efforts to close the deal as Rosberg's big points lead over Lewis Hamilton is eroded, indicating the German may be struggling to cope with the title chase and the contract talks. "No, first of all he had a brilliant adviser who is pretty experienced in negotiating good contacts, and that was very clever because he took himself out of it," team boss Toto Wolff said in Baku. Kolner Express claims a two-year deal with a significant salary increase - from EUR 18 million a year to EUR 25m - is in the offing, with Wolff quoted as saying: "We are on the right track." The newspaper even quoted Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda as confidently predicting: "Nico will drive for us next year." (GMM) Sauber could be about to hit rock bottom in F1, as Felipe Nasr was dead last after Friday practice in Baku. The Swiss team is struggling financially in 2016, and as most teams are now deep into their car development programmes, Sauber is trying merely to survive. "I'm using the engine from Australia -- the first version of the (Ferrari) power unit that has already exceeded its mileage. It's costing us a lot of speed on the straight," said the Brazilian. "In the first and third sector, we lost at least half a second to our opponents," Nasr explained to Globo, referring to Renault and Manor. He said Sauber is looking better in the twisty sector 2, so is expecting to be more competitive for the rest of the weekend with the race-spec engine fitted. But Nasr, 23, is not particularly hiding the fact that he is on the market for a move for 2017, and could be an attractive prospect for a midfield team given his millions in backing courtesy of Banco do Brasil. "It's too early to talk about it as I have a contract until the end of the year and I have to fulfil it," he said. "As I am in Sauber now, my first choice is to continue here." Nasr said he will know more about the future after Silverstone, where Sauber will finally introduce an aerodynamic upgrade. "It may be that these changes - front and rear wing, diffuser - put us in a slightly better condition," he explained. "But I do not want to create expectations, as we saw what happened last year," Nasr added, referring to a package introduced in 2015 that did not work. Told by Globo correspondent that Sauber might not even be on the 2017 grid, Nasr answered: "I did not say that Sauber is my only option. "My manager (Steve Robertson) is looking after this side while I do my work," he insisted. (GMM) Sebastien Buemi would make an ideal new race driver for the works Renault team. That is the view of Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, just as the Swiss newspaper Blick claims that Swiss Buemi has been re-signed by Red Bull as a test driver. Buemi, now 27, raced over 50 times for Toro Rosso but is now a Red Bull simulator driver and this weekend is tackling Le Mans for Toyota. But Horner thinks Buemi would be an ideal race driver for Renault, the works team of Red Bull's engine supplier. "We are now offering Buemi to Renault," Horner told Blick. "He would be the ideal man for the team of our engine partner. He's fast, hard-working, has excellent technical understanding and experience -- you can call him at 3 in the morning and he would still come to the factory," he added. (GMM) The emission standards set out in these proposed regulations will also align with those of the United States. Canada and the US are also working together on approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from locomotives under the Canada-US Regulatory Cooperation Council. The Government of Canada has published proposed Locomotive Emissions Regulations in the Canada Gazette, Part I . This marks Canadas first regulation of air pollutant emissions from locomotives. The proposed regulations will criteria air contaminants (CACs), from locomotives operated by railway companies under federal jurisdiction through increasingly stringent emission standards and reduced idling. CACs include NO x ; particulate matter (PM); hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO); and sulfur oxides (SO x ). Background. The transportation sector in Canada generated 56.0% of all NO x emissions and 9.2% of all PM emissions in the country in 2013. Of these amounts, rail transportation was responsible for 11.1% of NO x and 4.6% of PM emissions. The rail industry has been working with the Government of Canada through a series of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) to reduce emissions since 1995. These voluntary agreements have resulted in railway companies adopting commercially viable and feasible technologies and adjusting operations to reduce emissions. According to the 2013 Locomotive Emissions Monitoring Program report, the Railway Association of Canada reported that NO x emissions intensity from total railway operations decreased by 56.1% from 1990, while railway freight traffic increased by 69.6% over the same time period. In October 2006, the Government of Canada issued a Notice of intent to develop and implement regulations and other measures to reduce air emissions to regulate air emissions, including those from the rail sector. As a bridge to the regulations, the government and industry signed additional MOUs. The United States started regulating CAC emissions from locomotives in 2000. These regulations were updated in 2008. The US regulations set emission standards for NO x , PM, HC, CO and standards for smoke opacity which become increasingly stringent over time. Current Tier 4 regulations apply to locomotives manufactured in 2015 or later. The proposed regulations. The proposed regulations would be aligned with the existing US regulations. The US regulations set emission standards that vary according to the type of locomotive and its year of original manufacture. The proposed Regulations would incorporate the U.S. emission standards and associated testing procedures by reference. Based on the type of locomotive and the year of original manufacture, new locomotives would be required to meet the increasingly stringent tier level standards for NO x , PM, HC and CO emissions, as well as smoke opacity. These standards would be incorporated by reference to the US regulations. Locomotives would be required to meet the applicable tier level standards for their entire useful life and, in certain cases, for their entire service life. The useful life is the period during which the locomotive is designed to properly function in terms of reliability and fuel consumption without being remanufactured, and during which a locomotive is required to comply with all applicable emission standards. The minimum useful life of a locomotive is 10 years. Service life is the total life of a locomotive and ends when the locomotive is permanently removed from service. The typical service life of a locomotive is 40 years. Line-haul locomotive emission standards Year of manufacture Tier Standards (g/bhp-h) NO x PM HC CO 19731992 0 8.0 0.22 1.00 5.0 19932004 1 7.4 0.22 0.55 2.2 20052011 2 5.5 0.10 0.30 1.5 20122014 3 5.5 0.10 0.30 1.5 2015 or later 4 1.3 0.03 0.14 1.5 Switch locomotive emission standards Year of manufacture Tier Standards (g/bhp-h) NO x PM HC CO 19732001 0 11.8 0.26 2.10 8.0 20022004 1 11.0 0.26 1.20 2.5 20052010 2 8.1 0.13 0.60 2.4 20112014 3 5.0 0.10 0.60 2.4 2015 or later 4 1.3 0.03 0.14 2.4 The cost-benefit analysis estimates that the proposed regulations will cost approximately $162.3 million over 10 years, assuming a 7% discount rate and including costs to the railway companies and to the federal government. x It is expected that the proposed regulations would result in a reduction of locomotive emissions of approximately 79.6 kilotonnes and 1.4 kilotonnes of NOand PM emissions, respectively (or a reduction of 9.3% and 8.0% of NOx and PM, respectively), over a 10-year analysis period. The total quantifiable benefits are monetized at approximately $244.9 million over 10 years, assuming a 7% discount rate. This does not include a valuation of the health benefits due to limitations on the availability of the geographic density of these emissions. The net benefits are estimated at approximately $82.7 million over the first 10 years of implementation of the proposed Regulations. Overall, benefits exceed costs by a ratio of approximately 1.5:1, according to the government analysis. Stakeholders and the public will have until 15 September 2016 to provide feedback. After considering all comments received, Transport Canada will finalize the regulations and publish them in the Canada Gazette, Part II. The Macedonia Family Resource Center will host a Community Day in the Park to educate city residents about homebuyer assistance programs and homebuyer rehabilitation programs from 2 to 6 p.m. today at 409 Wise Ave. in High Point. Sponsored by High Point Bank Mortgage Services, the day includes free food and drinks, jobs skills information and more. Representatives from NC Works and the City of High Point (Community Development, Library and Human Relations) will attend. For more than 10 years, the center has served the Macedonia neighborhood and the High Point community with programs for children, adults and families. For information, call Dell McCormick at (336) 883-0300. These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Sony has already kicked off the year way back in February at MWC when it revealed its new lineup of Xperia Devices with the X moniker, completely replacing the Xperia Z series. Sony announced 4 new Xperia X devices just last month. The Xperia X, Xperia X Performance, Xperia XA Ultra, and the Xperia XA falls at entry level of the Xperia lineup for the year. Sony has already released pricing and availability for the US. (The Xperia XA wont be available in the US until July 17) A tipster confirms an earlier speculation regarding the Xperia XAs availability in India. The original rumor was that the Sony Xperia XA was coming to India in the third week of June. Seeing as it is now the third week in June and we still havent seen the phone. It could just be that the phone comes out three weeks into June, which would be 21 days, hence we arrive to the alleged release date of June 22. The Xperia XA has a 5-inch 720p screen, MediaTek Helio P10 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage expandable via microSD card, 13MP rear camera, 8MP front camera, dual SIM support and a 2300mAh battery with Qnovo Power Management. The Xperia XA will be available for INR 20,990 with an alleged release date of June 22. Thanks for the tip August! Haiti - Politic : Crisis, the Judicial Power writes to Senate In a letter addressed to Senator Ronald Lareche President a.i. of the Senate, Me Jules Cantave, the President of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ) has invited him to a meeting as soon as possible between representatives of the three Powers constituted of the State, in the the perspective of finding a settlement to the crisis resulting from the expiry of the term of 120 days, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, of the President a.i. Jocelerme Privert. CSPJ letter : "Honourable Senator Ronald Lareche President a.i. Senate of the Republic of Haiti Legislative Palace Mr. President a.i. The Judicial Power represented by the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ) presents its compliments and hastens to invite you to meet as soon as possible in on behalf of the higher interests of the nation, between representatives of the three (3) Powers constituted of the State, including the Judicial Power co-depositary of the National Sovereignty in order to achieve a successful outcome to the crisis resulting from the expiry of 120 days, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, of the Provisional President of the Republic, Mr. Jocelerme Privert. The Judicial Power under Articles 59, 59.1 and 60 of the Constitution, along with the Executive and the Legislature can not remain indifferent to this crisis that threatens the republican values and threat National Sovereignty. Also, Mr. President have, the Judicial Power intend to play its role at the highest levelin order to engage in discussions, as soon as the two other Powers also co-custodians of the said Sovereignty. These discussions should lead inevitably to this happy outcome we all want to the benefit of the common homeland whose we are the worthy Representatives. Confident that you understand the merits of its approach the Judicial Power renew to you, Mr. President a.i., the expression of its patriotic greetings. Me Jules Cantave President of the Superior Council of the Judiciary(CSPJ)" HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : Extension of mandate for Privert unconstitutional according to Evans Paul In a note, the new political opposition coalition "Democratic Entente" (ED) group composed in particular of the KID, the PHTK, of National Consortium of Political Parties Haitians, of "Repon Peyizan", of the "Platfom Viktwa", of National Bloc Centre Right, MONHA coordinated by former Prime Minister Evans Paul applauded all sectors of the country, who recognized that the mandate of former President a.i. Jocelerme Privert had ended 14 June 2016. Based on Article 149.1 of the Constitution which refers to the case of a Provisional President and which states that "The President is deemed to have completed a presidential term" Evans Paul, says Jocelerme Privert "can not obtain extension or can not be President of the country, in any form before 5 years" iting Article 134.3 of the Constitution that stipulates "The President of the Republic can not benefit from term extension. It may serve another term, after an interval of five (5) years [...]" Furthermore he states that "in accordance with Article 149 of the Constitution, since June 14, 2016 at midnight it is the Council of Ministers, chaired by the Prime Minister that have the responsibility of the executive". Recall that Article 149 states that "In case of vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic or by resignation, removal or in case of permanent physical or mental incapacity duly established, the Council of Ministers, chaired by the Prime Minister, exercises Executive authority until the election of another President." Finally, Evans Paul informs that "[...] all the maneuvers of Mr. Privert, to stay in power without title, nor quality, will put it 'outlaw', in rebellion with democratic principles. and Article 158, 217 and 218 of Section VII of the Criminal Code [Usurpation of titles or functions], which provides penalties for those who give themselves false titles. The Democratic Entente, asks three branches of government: Executive, Legislative and Judiciary to meet quickly to adopt in collaboration with the main forces of the Nation a transition formula to put the country on the rails of the Constitution as soon as possible [...]" HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : Crisis, FUSION calls for national dialogue In a note, the Fusion party of Social Democrats (FUSION) said it was "concerned about the serious consequences of the political crisis [...] and by our inability as a people to agree to build the consensus needed to get us out and establish a normal democracy that works," in addition, FUSION is "convinced that the illegal and unconstitutional Agreement of February 5, 2016 was doomed to failure and could in no way be the solution to our political problems and that its signatories as well as those who supported it, knew from the beginning that there would have been no president elected on May 14 or June 14, 2016 [...]" Considered that without constitutional solution, the authorities have missed every opportunity to seek consensus with the forces of the country to find together a sustainable exit from the political crisis, FUSION "solemnly appeal to all organized sectors of national life to invite them to : Transform this political crisis into an opportunity to lay the foundations of a strong democracy and make it the starting point for the construction of a new Haiti ; Participate in good faith in an inclusive national dialogue in order to conclude as soon as possible a political agreement for a sustainable exit from the political and institutional crisis, by lying around the negotiating table, all the sectors involved: political parties, organized groups of civil society ; Quickly initiate political dialogue which will allow choose a provisional president in the spirit of the 1987 constitution among the judges of the Court of Cassation Court ; Working together at the establishment of a transitional government whose term of office must be based on the agenda that will be retained to enable the country to begin from new bases. The government's main task will be the organization of general elections and sovereign within a reasonable time ; Working together at the establishment of a transitional government whose term of office must be based on the agenda that will be retained to enable the country to begin from new bases. The government's main task will be the organization of general elections and sovereign within a reasonable time ; Elaborate by common consent a roadmap for the transitional government and set up a citizen mechanism to ensure compliance with its provisions; Modernizing the electoral process by the introduction of electronic voting ; Institutionalize citizen participation as a means to reduce the cost of organizing elections ; FUSION will work with other political actors to meet all sectors without inclusive to initiate without delay the discussions to take appropriate decisions [...]" HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping politics... Elections Financing, the US think Kenneth Merten, the Special Coordinator for Haiti to the US State Department, said about the financing of elections, after his country had already spent $ 33 million for Haitian elections "It is our responsibility to do our choices on how the money of American taxpayers is spent on the election in Haiti." The Head of State would enjoy a de facto power, limited... According to Senator Jean Renel S"natus, a member of the G4, new political group "Parliamentary Alliance for Institutional Strengthening and Stability" (APRIS) of centrist tend https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17692-haiti-flash-creation-of-a-3rd-political-bloc-in-the-senate.html , now "the Head of State enjoys a de facto power, totally limited." While his colleague Senator Onondieu Louis, member of the minority opposition (former G8 in Senate) "The National Palace is without a tenant, Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles is alone to the controls and holds all the constitutional responsibilities, such as the organization of elections," adding that only the head of government is empowered to convene the Parliament in National Assembly. Senator Nenel Cassy denies Thursday, Sen. Nenel Cassy (Nippes), Majority Leader in the Senate, denied rumors that suggested that it is the interim President that prevents the holding of the National Assembly... Privert must hand over his Presidential sash Senator Andrys Riche wants Jocelerme Privert hand over to Parliament the presidential sash and that arrangements be made for the resolution of the crisis and holding of elections. Statements by Himmler Rebu The former colonel Himmler Rebu believes that the silence of Parliament on the mandate of President Privert will not significantly affect the functioning of the state, adding that the President could not abandon its responsibilities without a verdict of the National Assembly. The Senate consults In the Senate consultations began with civil society, including the churches, in the perspective of the holding of the National Assembly next Tuesday, called to decide the fate of the "de facto" President Jocelerme Privert since the end of his term of 120 days, on 14 June. Quorum or not ? Senators and deputies are convened i National Assembly Tuesday, June 21 to decide on the mandate of Jocelerme Privert can only be hoped that there will be a quorum for the holding of the National Assembly https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17768-haiti-flash-convocation-of-the-national-assembly.html 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 A former Labour and Sinn Fein Dublin city councillor has admitted making 40 hoax telephone calls of "drunken gibberish". Killian Forde (46) made all the phone calls in the middle of the night, between 12.30am and 6am. A garda sergeant previously alleged the phone calls were mostly "drunken gibberish" but Forde also allegedly told a victim that "you'll be got". Mr Forde was a councillor with Sinn Fein from 2004 to 2010, before switching to Labour. He resigned his seat on Dublin City Council in 2011 after he took up a job assisting immigrants and refugees. Back in April, Forde told a court he was unemployed and looking for work. Judge Bridget Reilly said that what Forde had done was "effectively harassment" of an individual. The judge ordered a probation report and adjourned sentencing to September, saying her concern was that it might happen again. The defendant, with addresses at Carndonagh Park in Donaghmede and Sutton Park in Sutton, admitted to making 40 hoax telephone calls to another individual. Nuisance The calls were placed over a six-hour period to a house at Homelawn Drive in Tallaght on October 7, 2014. Garda Stephen Neylon said he started an investigation after the victim complained about receiving a number of nuisance phone calls. Gda Neylon said the male victim received 40 calls and voicemail messages from a mobile phone number which was registered to the defendant. Gda Neylon said the phone calls were all made by the defendant between 12.30am and 6am on the night in question. The court previously heard that the voice messages and phone calls were of a threatening and intimidating nature, and were along the lines of "you'll be got". Sergeant Michael Ahern had also alleged a lot of the messages were "drunken gibberish". Defence lawyer George Burns said he believed a probation report would assist the court prior to sentencing. Mr Burns said the defendant was willing to co-operate with the probation services. The lawyer said Forde accepted the court had concerns about his risk of re-offending. Judge Reilly also said Forde should consider a sum of compensation for the victim. Fine Gael has asked the Oireachtas to carry out a review of security of TDs and senators and their staff following the murder of British MP Jo Cox, the Herald has learned. Newly-elected party chairman Martin Heydon asked the Clerk of the Dail yesterday to re-examine security arrangements. The Kildare South TD said he has been contacted by fellow deputies and members of the public who have been left shocked and saddened by the Labour MP's brutal. Mr Heydon said TDs' and senators' staff feel particularly vulnerable, and the issue of security should be examined. "My heart goes out to the family of Jo Cox. They must be wondering that if she hadn't come through the election, would she still be alive today?" he said. "It shows the sense of vulnerability around public representatives and their staff, who are simply trying to do their job." Sympathy Mr Heydon confirmed that he had contacted Clerk of the Dail Peter Finnegan yesterday and requested the review. "It's timely and appropriate," he said. Meanwhile, journalist Veronica Guerin's widower has expressed sympathy for Ms Cox's husband, Brendan, and the couple's two children. Speaking on RTE Radio One's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Graham Turley described Mr Cox as being in the same position in which he found himself 20 years ago. "She was a woman just doing her normal day's work as Veronica was and she was taken down," he said. "Brendan now has a huge, huge mountain to climb with two kids. I had one." He was referring to his son, Cathal Turley, who was only six-years-old when Ms Guerin was shot dead as she sat in her car on the Naas Road. Irish fans having the craic in Bordeaux Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile The Green Army are now officially the star supporters of Euro 2016. French politicians and media have heaped praise on the fans' enthusiasm and impeccable behaviour. There has been no trouble involving Irish supporters over the first eight days of the tournament. Now French mayors have said they would like Ireland to qualify for the last 16 and secure a play-off game in their city. The attitude of the 100,00- strong Green Army stands in marked contrast to the behaviour of some Russian, English, French and German fans. Two cities, Lille and Marseille, have witnessed violent clashes between supporters. In contrast, both Paris and Bordeaux have seen Irish fans singing, drinking and dancing with their Swedish and Belgian counterparts. Traders in Montmartre, where Irish fans based themselves in Paris, admitted they were heartbroken at the loss of the trouble-free Irish trade. The Mayor of Bordeaux Alain Juppe has now joined with the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo in speaking about the feel-good factor involving Irish fans. Mr Juppe, one of France's longest-serving mayors, noted that the atmosphere between Belgian and Irish fans had been "very positive". "It is what we desire," he said. Ms Hidalgo praised Irish and Swedish fans for the remarkable rapport they struck up in Paris. Newspapers including Le Figaro, L'Equipe and Sud-Ouest have been hugely complimentary about the atmosphere that Irish fans bring to match venues. BuzzFeedFrance hailed Irish fans for clearly being the best of Euro 2016. Amazed French media outlets have compared the carnage caused in Marseilles by Russian and English fans with Irish supporters in Paris - one group helped one motorist change a flat tyre on their car. In Bordeaux fans sang as they helped clean up a street after a party. Glowing In Bordeaux, Irish fans even acted as peace-makers, helping diffuse tensions between English and Welsh fans. A group of Irish fans intervened and helped calm a confrontation, eventually taking the Welsh fans for drinks. Ireland's Ambassador to France, Geraldine Byrne-Nason, said the glowing tributes were entirely warranted. "It is what we have come to expect from Irish fans, we are not really surprised," she said. The eight-strong garda team in France, led by Supt Gerry Delmar, said there have been no incidents. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has signalled plans by the Government to extend voting rights to Irish emigrants. Mr Kenny said he has asked new Diaspora Minister Joe McHugh to prioritise allowing Irish people living abroad to vote in presidential elections. "This is an issue that has been around for a very long time, but there have been quite sophisticated advances made in terms of voting from abroad and we need to set out a terms of reference as to the conditions that would apply to who should be eligible to vote," the Taoiseach said. Contributions "One of the priorities I have asked the minister to look at and hopefully to be able to implement is the situation as far as emigrant voting is concerned in presidential elections. "That will be a priority for the Minister for the Diaspora." Speaking at the Irish Heritage Centre in Manchester, the Fine Gael leader said he will seek contributions from Irish groups overseas. "We will work towards assisting emigrant communities and situations abroad from Ireland in England, in America, in Australia and other areas," he told an audience of around 100 people. "That means that we want to work in a closer way with the emigrant communities in Manchester, Birmingham, London, Liverpool, Scotland and so on." The issue of extending voting rights is due to be debated in the Dail and Seanad in the coming weeks. Under the current system, citizens still hold on to their vote for 18 months after they leave the country, as long as they intend to return to live in Ireland within that time frame. During an address to the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night, Mr Kenny spoke about the 100,000 young people who came home to vote in the Marriage Equality Referendum. However, groups such as the Irish Citizens Abroad Campaign have said Ireland is out of step with other countries in terms of disenfranchising people when they move overseas. The European Commission has echoed that claim. The last words of Jo Cox were "No, my pain is too much", the father of the MP's assistant has said. Ghulam Maniyar said his daughter, Fazila Aswat, had tried to help the politician as she lay dying in her arms. Ms Cox, a 41-year-old mother-of-two, was shot three times and repeatedly stabbed by a man screaming "Britain first". Police arrested a 52-year-old former psychiatric patient named locally as Tommy Mair. As she lay bleeding to death, he repeatedly kicked her before walking away, having stabbed a 77-year-old man who tried to intervene. Shock Ms Aswat had urged Ms Cox to get up, but the pain was too much, according to the former Labour councillor. "She said her injury was so bad and she was in her arms. There was lots of blood," he told ITV News. "She said, 'Jo, get up', but she said, 'No, my pain is too much, Fazila'. And I think those were the last words Jo spoke." Mr Maniyar said his daughter had tried to stop the attack and is "in shock". "She tried to help her, she tried to hit the attacker with her handbag, but he tried to go at her," he said. "People came, so he followed them and he came back again and shot her again twice. "My daughter, she's in shock because she's been with Jo for one year and working very closely with her. It will take time to fully recover from the shock. "She knew that Jo was very badly injured. That's why she's not speaking about everything she's seen. She lost one of her best people." Mair, who was arrested in connection with the murder, is reported to have bought a book off the internet about making a homemade gun, it has been claimed. According to records obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, he is alleged to have bought a "munitions handbook" that included detailed instructions on how to build a pipe pistol in 1999. The manual was being sold at the time by the National Alliance, a white supremacist organisation founded by William Pierce in 1970 and aimed at creating an all-white homeland. Based in West Virginia, the organisation reached its peak in the 1990s but fell away in the years after Pierce's death in 2002, though it has been "reconstituted". Mair was arrested on suspicion of murdering Ms Cox, who died outside a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, where she was due to hold a constituency surgery. Witnesses had reported seeing the attacker reload the gun between each shot. One said the gun was either antique or home-made. The first murder of a British MP for more than a quarter-of-a-century prompted widespread revulsion and led to the suspension of campaigning for Britain's EU referendum. Police will investigate whether Ms Cox, a Cambridge graduate and former adviser to Gordon Brown's wife Sarah, was targeted because of her support for the Remain campaign. The MP for Batley and Spen since only last year, she had spoken out against the "racism and fascism" of Britain First, an anti-Islam right-wing group. Message Meanwhile, there was a minute's silence and vigil at Dublin's Custom House last night as dozens gathered to express solidarity with the family and friends of slain Ms Cox. "Today we send a message that love must overcome hate," said organiser and human rights activist Dan O'Neill,. Former TD for Dublin Central Joe Costello said he believed that the MP's tragic death had shades of the murder of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin. "A line has been crossed this isn't something that should have ever happened," he added. Dublin's northside could soon be in line for an inter- national Purple Flag, thanks to vast improvements in the area, it has been claimed. Hopes are high that the coveted accolade for safety, well- being and variety will be awarded next year in recognition of many notable changes for the better. With the Creative Quarter and Dame District on the southside already flying purple flags, DublinTown chief Richard Guiney believes the northside is now in a position to apply for the distinction. DublinTown works to improve the capital's business districts. "In 2013, DublinTown applied for a Purple Flag for the Creat- ive Quarter and Dame District on the southside of the city," said Mr Guiney. "At that time we did not feel the city's northside was ready to make such an application. "DublinTown, working with An Garda Siochana, Dublin City Council and Failte Ireland, is confident the application that will be made this year for the northside will be successful." An initial application has already been made for a Purple Flag, and the working group includes representatives of local businesses. "We are confident that the purple flag process, when it is in place, will encourage more people to come into the north inner city after 5pm and will bring the perception of safety in line with reality - that the entire city is indeed safe," said Mr Guiney. A recent survey conducted by DublinTown found that only 24pc of people feel the northside is safe at night compared with 50pc for the south inner city. During the day, the percentages were 74 and 91 respectively. Mr Guiney defended the rep-ort, saying the safety of people on the northside is continuously improving at all hours. "I noted the significant improvement brought about by the diligent work of An Garda Siochana supported by the business community and Dublin City Council," he said. Stigmas North inner city councillor Gary Gannon has also insisted that the percentage of people who feel safe in the north inner city was "quite high". "We're breaking down those stigmas. I think more than 70pc of that survey said they felt safe," he said. "The controversy is that people have said they feel safer on the southside, but given what's taken place over the past few months that's only to be expected." The survey come in for criticism from Independent councillor Mannix Flynn for separating both sides of the Liffey. When the newly elected bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa visited his future residence, one of the first things he checked out was the garage. Father David Konderla didnt need extra room for a boat or an off-road vehicle or some other tie to the Heart of Texas ranch country that has long been his home. He needed room for his woodworking power tools. The priest has crafted four crosiers the gracefully hooked shepherds staff that symbolizes a bishops pastoral work with his flock for bishops in Texas and New Mexico. He recently finished one for himself, preparing for the June 29 rites in Oklahoma in which he will be raised to the episcopate. Im sure I dont know everything there is to know about Oklahoma, but its a place that has a lot in common with Texas when it comes to how people see life, said Konderla. Hes the second of 12 children, and the oldest son, in a Polish-Irish-German family in Bryan, Texas. The future bishop worked as a machinist for seven years after finishing high school, before entering seminary. When people outside the Sun Belt think about Catholics in Texas, they think about the states vibrant and growing Latino culture. Thats appropriate, he said, but its also important to remember the legacy of European immigrants in Central Texas from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany, Italy and elsewhere. Now those two historic streams of Catholic life are blending with Catholics from Africa, Asia, South America and around the world, as well as converts to the faith. Bible Belt states like Texas and Oklahoma are changing, but much remains familiar, said Konderla. Today, there are nearly a million more Catholics in Texas than Southern Baptists. However, only 4 percent of Tulsa is Catholic. I expect to be working with many people who are really Catholics, but they just dont know it yet, he said. Were talking about a part of America in which theres a lot of life and growth in Protestantism itself, as well as among Catholics. There are plenty of people here who are committed to the basics of the faith, but there are also lots of people in churches that have left behind some of the authoritative teachings of historic Christianity. ... Some of the foundations are shifting down here. It was not a surprise, for many insiders, when Konderla was selected as a bishop. He is, after all, the fourth priest from the thriving Diocese of Austin that the Vatican has raised to the episcopate since 2010. Also, Pope Francis has selected several former campus ministers as bishops. Thus, its significant that Tulsas new bishop is the second leader of the giant St. Marys Catholic Center across from Texas A&M University to be moved into the hierarchy, after Bishop Michael Sis of San Angelo, Texas. Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo has called this particular congregation in Bryan a vocations factory, since it has regularly produced a dozen or so seminarians or members of religious orders a year. Even more startling, considering wider American Catholic trends, is the fact that the parish offers Confession 10 times a week, as well as by appointment. The campus ministry has 50 full- and part-time staff members, and standing-room-only flocks in weekday Masses are not a surprise. When Konderla carved and shaped his own crosier, he included wood from the water oak trees removed when the parish built a larger facility dedicated to student ministry. His episcopal ring crafted by his youngest brother includes gold from the wedding ring of his mother, Ann, who died in 2012. Whatever Sun Belt Catholics do in the future, he said, will have to be true to the churchs teachings in the past. You have to have a foundation you can build on, said Konderla. If everything is up for grabs, how do you live your life? There are things that are true, even if they are hard truths. ... When some people hear those words hard truths they think about truths that are hard and unyielding and constantly putting other things down. That isnt what people are looking for. They are looking for truths that are hard in the sense that they are firm and can hold weight. They are truths you can build on. The best Penn State personality? Check out what the punter did now ... 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/ Kareena Kapoor Khan, who will next be seen in Shashanka Ghoshs directorial Veere Di Wedding, has recently opened up about her absence from Udta Punjab promotions. Earlier, it was reported that Kareena has kept herself away from the film promotions because of her former boyfriend Shahid Kapoor. Read: Censorship laws need to be re-assessed, says Kareena Kapoor Khan But now, in an interview, the 35-year-old star quashed the claims, citing health issues and London trip as the reasons, reports Bollywood.Life.com. Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Alia Bhatt during the trailer launch of their film Udta Punjab in Mumbai. (PTI) The Ki & Ka actor explained that she missed the first promotion because of her London trip and the second time she was unwell, of which the producers were aware. Read: Udta Punjab review- Want to sing a duet? This isnt the place Adding on to this, she asked the fans and people not to misinterpret her support for the film just because she is not on the social media. Udta Punjab, which was released yesterday, has received thumbs up from the members of the film fraternity like Preity Zinta, Mahesh Bhatt, Arshad Warsi and Dia Mirza. Follow @htshowbiz for more Soha Ali Khan, who is married to actor Kunal Kemmu, says that loving an actor is not an easy task as it comes with certain advantages and disadvantages. Soha got engaged to Kunal in July 2014 in Paris and they got married in Mumbai in January 2015. Earlier this year, the couple shot down divorce rumours, with Soha giving out a message that the bond between the duo is solid. Solid (and I don't just mean the colour scheme ) A photo posted by Soha (@sakpataudi) on May 2, 2016 at 2:03am PDT She also shared that her mother and veteran actress Sharmila Tagore questioned her decision to get married to an actor saying that it will complicate her life. Read: Kunal Kemmu denies separation rumours from Soha Ali Khan Well, my mother said Why are you marrying an actor, its going to complicate your life... I happen to fall in love with an actor and it comes with certain advantages and disadvantages, Soha said in a statement. I hold a candle for you photo courtesy @khemster2 A photo posted by Soha (@sakpataudi) on Jan 16, 2016 at 12:26am PST She went on to explain by saying that The advantages of course are they are very sympathetic to the fact that you travel a lot, that you work late nights and that you have to pretend to fall in love regularly with people on screen. The disadvantages are that they do the same thing, which can be frustrating. Soha, whose last big screen appearance was in Ghayal Once Again, which featured actor Sunny Deol, also shares that romancing on camera has a role to play in it. Let's get ready to be #GhayalOnceAgain - #GhayalOnceAgainTrailer17Dec coming soooon! A photo posted by Soha (@sakpataudi) on Dec 10, 2015 at 9:44pm PST She said: And of course the romance part which Im quite like okay with, but still its always strange. I think to think about, you know yourself, but you dont feel like that when you are romancing someone on screen, you know how clinical it is, how unromantic it is. Ek baar jo Maine commitment de di toh phir mae PRESS ki Bhi nahi sunnta! https://t.co/c90QT60IkN kunal kemmu (@kunalkemmu) April 16, 2016 Soha opened up about her marriage, parents and career on the second episode of the fourth season of The Tara Sharma show, hosted by actress Tara Sharma. @sakpataudi thanks so much for being so super on our show #TaraSharmaShow on @StarWorldIndia frm Jun 12 #sohaalikhan thx for styling @sanjanabatra Me in @birdwalk by @amprapalisingh thx @vipulbhagat Super fun and hectic shoot 9 guests today Still going on Have a super evening all A photo posted by Tara Sharma Saluja (@tarasharmasaluja) on May 18, 2016 at 6:53am PDT The episode will telecast on Sunday at Star World and Star World HD. Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Nimrat Kaur loves to explore the outdoors and when she is not acting, she just cannot stay indoors. Nimrat always tries to do something exciting and adventurous, when she is not working. Talking over the phone from Vancouver, Canada, the 34-year-old admits that she cannot sit still. Im terribly restless. When I am not shooting, I have to go out and do something. I cant stay inside, she says. Read: Social media is an exhausting medium, says Nimrat Kaur Nimrat, who is currently shooting for the second season of M Night Shyamalans Wayward Pines, which airs on Star World , also revealed that when is not shooting for the series, she gets busy exploring the country. I have been hiking in and around Vancouver. Its such a beautiful place! I love the country and its been a really fun trip so far. Everyday ,Id just get out and try to explore a new place and meet new people, she says. See: Nimrat Kaurs wet, wild US holiday is giving us wanderlust Apart from hiking, the actor was also part of a road trip to the United States. Here in Vancouver, I also took a six day road trip from Vancouver to California and it was a 3000 kilometre trip via Oregon, she says. Ever since I have been here, I have become a local. I have made so many friends and now ,it feels like a home away from home. I feel like I belong here, she adds. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Thane Police added on Saturday former Bollywood actress Mamata Kulkarnis name to an FIR a Rs 2000 crore drugs smuggling case. Police seized the ephedrine drugs on April 12 from Avon Life science limited company. Kulkarni was one of the directors of the firm and owns shares worth ?11 lakh, police said. Police have already issued a red corner notice for Vicky Goswami, Kulkarnis husband. The couple are currently in Kenya. Read: It cant get any better: Sunny Leone to play Mamta Kulkarni? Read: Mamta Kulkarni, husband under probe for involvement in narcotics racket We have added Mamtas name to the FIR and are in process of issuing a red corner notice. We came to know that the meeting that took place in January and April about smuggling the drugs was attended by Mamta and Vicky, said Thane commissioner of police Parambir Singh. Read: Mamta Kulkarni: These 10 songs wont let you forget her, ever Read: Five things to know about Mamta Kulkarnis husband Vicky Goswami Colombian and Moroccan drug dealers were involved in the case and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration shared pictures of Abdulla, an international dealer from Kenya, he added. Indias Anti-Narcotics Cell is investigating the case. A total of seven suspects are wanted and ten people have been arrested the case. Follow @htshowbiz for more. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has termed RBI governor Raghuram Rajans decision not to seek a second term as sad, saying India is losing one of the most skillful economic thinkers in the world. We are losing one of the most skillful financial economic thinkers in the world. It is sad for the country and it is sad for the government of the country too. RBI is not a completely autonomous institution, Sen told a private TV channel on Saturday. Sen added, It is true that some members of the ruling party, I understand, I have not seen that but somebody told me, have been sniping at Raghuram Rajan. That certainly is unfortunate. Noting that he is not a great admirer of the Narendra Modi government, the economist said the administration may have to decide what it wants in its policy. Earlier on Saturday, Rajan had said he will be returning to academia after completion of his term as RBI governor on September 4. ... on due reflection, and after consultation with the government, I want to share with you that I will be returning to academia when my term as Governor ends on September 4, 2016, Rajan said in a message to RBI staff. Every communal massacre in India is marked by the stain of impunity. Impunity means the assurance that those who plan and execute the slaughter and rape of innocents, and the loot and arson of their homes and businesses will ultimately escape all punishment. As a result of these persisting failures of legal justice, there is little closure possible for survivors of mass hate crimes. The large majority of victims are people from religious minorities Sikhs who survived the 1984 massacre, Christians who were battered by the carnage in Kandhamal in 2006, and Muslims slaughtered in a multitude of communal massacres beginning with Jabalpur in 1961. Their wounds cannot heal because those who organised and accomplished their suffering walk free. This dishonourable reality of our secular democracy is not a chance outcome. It is built into the communal and anti-minority institutional bias of the criminal justice system that plays out through the police, prosecution and courts. Read: Gulberg massacre verdict: 11 awarded life, 12 others to be jailed for 7 years Indias long history of impunity for communal crimes was broken, but only partly, in the Gujarat massacre of 2002. After the slaughter and gang-rape of more than a thousand people the criminal justice system acted the same as in the past. More than half the criminal cases registered after the carnage were closed even without trial in the first year after the carnage. But an extraordinary alliance arose for defending secular democracy, not just of tireless human rights defenders, but also the National Human Rights Commission with the moral leadership of Justice JS Verma, judges of conscience like Ruma Paul and Arijit Pasayat, courageous police officers like Rahul Sharma, and scores of survivors who fought for justice at all odds like Zakia Jafri and Bilkis Bano. Read: A gripping but difficult read on Gujarat riots and their aftermath As a result of this alliance, the closure without trial of 2,000 cases was annulled; some cases were reversed with strong strictures by the Supreme Court admonishing the courts to exercise conscience rather than acting merely as a tape-recorder; a Special Investigation Team (SIT) bringing in officers from outside the state was constituted; and some cases were moved to courts outside Gujarat. Yet the recent ruling of the special SIT court in the massacre of 64 people in the Gulberg Society in the heart of Ahemdabad on February 28, 2002, illustrates the limits of the possibilities of full justice in the context of persisting institutional bias. If the version the court accepts is correct, then this was a spontaneous massacre by 11 men who were part of a larger crowd that was incensed by the burning of Hindus in a train compartment in Godhra a day earlier. They were further provoked by the firing on them by former MP Ehsan Jafri, who was later burned alive by members of the crowd. There was no conspiracy at any level in planning or enabling the massacre, and the mobs were not led or provoked either by BJP leaders or by the police. There were 20 police persons at the spot, but they lacked the means to control or disperse the mob provoked by Jafris shooting at them. The convicts displayed good conduct during the 14 years of trial, and deserved a second chance to reform and rehabilitate. Read: In pictures: Gulberg society post-2002 Gujarat riots The version of the survivors, and many citizen investigations is different from Judge PB Desais conclusions. The massacres of the scale that transpired in Gulberg Society and elsewhere required mobilisation, arming and planning of a scale that was impossible without a larger conspiracy. The crowds everywhere were led by leaders of the BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal. The crowds were angered by the way the burning of Hindus on the train was reported, and their bodies were paraded. The small numbers of poorly-equipped policepersons on the spot was not a matter of chance. Ehsan Jafri called senior police officials and, reportedly even the chief minister, but no police reinforcements were sent. These two versions conform closely to two competing understandings of why communal violence recurs in India. One version is that although religious minorities constitute the large majority of persons killed, raped or looted in hate violence, it is they who provoke the violence by acts such as the burning of Hindus on the train, the killing of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, desecrating temples, sexual designs on Hindu girls, killing cows, religious conversions, and firing on attacking mobs. This leads to spontaneous violence, and the police administration does all it can to control the riots, but is unable to do so because of the scale of righteous anger of the provoked Hindu mobs. Another version is that there are no communal riots, only systematically planned communal massacres. And that State can control, including by calling in the army expeditiously, communal violence of any scale in not more than 24 hours. Foot soldiers are not blameless, but their share of guilt for these hate crimes is far less than that of communal organisations that organise these massacres, and political leaders, police and civil officers who abet it mostly by deliberate inaction. The men convicted by Judge Desai are only such foot soldiers, who indeed deserve another chance. However, the real criminals who organised the massacre must be punished severely, but the court absolves them completely. No wonder that Ehsan Jafris widow, Zakia Jafri, is dismayed by the court ruling and declares, My husband was a good and kind man. I will never give up my fight for justice, for him and thousands like him. Harsh Mander is convenor, Aman Biradari The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON I get six newspapers at home in Bangalore. This past Tuesday, the 14th of June, all six had front-page stories on the judgment, the previous day, of the Bombay High Court on the film Udta Punjab. The Central Board of Film Certification had recommended as many as 89 cuts in the film. The Bombay High Court cleared the film with just one cut, noting in its judgment that none can dictate to the film maker on how he should make a film and use words; there is no need to censor films. The judgment was received with relief, and celebration. For the cuts recommended by the Censor Board were clearly motivated by a political agenda, namely, to save the ruling Akali Dal-BJP regime in Punjab from getting further bad publicity for its unwillingness to tackle the drug menace in the state. As a writer for whom freedom of expression is a precondition for the practice of his profession, I was happy to join in the celebration. But my joy was tempered by a story in the inside pages of one newspaper, which informed me that while the makers of Udta Punjab had now got relief from the courts, a Gujarati director was told by the Censor Board to make more than a hundred cuts in his film. The film, called Salagto Sawaal Anamat, dealt with the debate on reservation in Gujarat, sparked by the Patidar agitation led by Hardik Patel. The Censor Board had, among other things, demanded that the director remove the words Patel, Patidar, and BR Ambedkar from the film. Read: Udta Punjab 2.0: Censor board trouble for Gujarati films on Patel stir The contrast was instructive. It pointed to a fundamental asymmetry in how threats to freedom of expression are enacted, and how they can be challenged, in our country. For, had Udta Punjab not been produced by one Bollywood celebrity, and not featured well-known stars, it is unlikely that its (entirely just) cause would have been taken up so vigorously by the national media. Once Anurag Kashyap and Mahesh Bhatt (among others) had spoken out, the TV channels smelt a good story and ran with it. Their decision was vindicated when the Censor Board chief accused Kashyap of taking money from the Aam Aadmi Party, adding that he, Pahlaj Nihalani, was proud to call himself a chamcha of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The debate now escalated, and, with every minute, the Censor Board found itself with more ink on its face. I know that High Court judges are supposed to judge cases purely on the basis of submissions presented to them, but it is extremely unlikely that those who heard the petitioners in court had not read the newspapers or watched the shows that had made the petitioners case so well. Thanks to Udta Punjab I now know, courtesy an enterprising reporter in Ahmedabad, of the travails of a Gujarati film-director and his film. The cuts the Censor Board demanded in this case were very likely also motivated by partisan politics. But is this likely to be the top story on news channels tonight (or any other night)? I doubt it. Read: Will controversy help Udta Punjab at box office? The Hindi film industry has an aura denied to its Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati and Odia counterparts. Our so-called national media is thus more prone to interesting itself in Hindi films, and ingratiating itself with its star actors and producers. In a perhaps less obvious fashion, English-language writers have an advantage over those who write in Indian languages. They have a greater freedom of expression, and greater immunity from physical attack. It strikes me that the three eminent writers murdered in recent years Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalaburgi had two things in common. One, noticed by everyone, was that all were fiercely opposed to bigotry and fundamentalism. The second, less commented upon, was that none of them wrote in English. Legal scholars have pointed to the burden of outdated laws which restrict freedom of expression in India. But an equal or greater threat may be posed by our professedly democratic and proudly nationalist politicians. No politician, of any party, has ever acted strongly in favour of freedom of expression. To the contrary, they have often been complicit in threatening it. In the years that Narendra Modi was chief minister of Gujarat, the film Fanaa was informally banned, books on Gandhi and Jinnah formally banned, and several art shows vandalised, the Gujarat police looking on. There may be other ways in which Mr Modi has transformed himself in moving to Delhi, but acquiring a new commitment to artistic freedom is unlikely to be one of them. Read: Flying start to Udta Punjab in Badal backyard Bathinda The record of the Congress (which banned Salman Rushdies Satanic Verses and allowed MF Hussain to die in exile), and of the communists (who banned Taslima Nasrins books and had her sent away from West Bengal) is equally disgraceful. And the regional parties are, if anything, even worse. Apart from not stopping (indeed, sometimes encouraging) the harassment of artists, writers, and film-makers, chief ministers across India, and of all parties, inhibit press freedom by withdrawing government advertisements from newspapers which run stories critical of their policies. And they sometimes also initiate tax probes and police cases, offering these newspapers the alternatives of financial ruin or humiliating submission. The record of the Indian nation-state in the matter of artistic and intellectual freedom is undistinguished. The judgment of the Bombay High Court must therefore be welcomed; but cautiously, not exuberantly, in the knowledge that many more, and perhaps even more arduous, battles lie ahead. Ramachandra Guhas most recent book is Gandhi Before India Twitter: @Ram_Guha The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON (Times of India, June 16, 2016: Amarinder to hold Coffee with Captain: In an attempt to reach out to farmers in Punjab ahead of next years polls, the Congress will organise Coffee with Captain, an outreach programme for the farming community The strategy has been formulated by campaign strategist Prashant Kishor and his team.) Did you think that the Congress shooting itself in the foot over the Kamal Nath fiasco and the Rajya Sabha cross-voting mess would scuttle its chances in the Punjab polls? Dont be too sure, because the party has an ace up its sleeve its Coffee with Captain programme. Recall that Mr Kishors Chai pe Charcha gambit had propelled Narendra Modi to prime ministership. And his Laddoos with Lalu and neighbourhood smoking sessions labelled Nicotine with Nitish were responsible for the Nitish-and-Lalu wins in Bihar. Read: With organisational revamp, Congress plans revival in Punjab, UP However, there are dissenting voices. I would prefer Conversations with Congress rather than focus on Captain Amarinder Singh, said an anti-Amarinder voter. Someone said Singing with Singh sounded better. Analysts point out the Congress campaign on Cocktails with Kamal has now been discarded after Kamal Nath quit. But another guy said it hasnt been discarded, theyre just waiting for someone with a name starting with K. Others worry Punjabs drug addicts may feel left out. For them, coffee may not be strong enough. We could call meetings with them, Cocaine with Congress, said a chap from the high command. Read: Kamal Nath controversy caught Congress unawares Besides, the opposition is not sitting idle. Finishing touches are being put to the Booze with Badal and Boogie with Badal campaigns. Since the chai pe charcha stunt, expectations have gone up, said a BJP guy, adding they were now planning a chillum plus chai pe charcha. The Aam Aadmi party has also upped its game, with a programme around Bhawant Mann, its MP from Punjab. Insiders say it is likely to be called Bhang with Bhagwant. For more active voters, there will be Kabaddi with Kejriwal. Communications specialists say the choice of a name for these meetings could make all the difference between winning and losing. While the chai pe charcha clicked in 2014, we also had a Jive with Jaitley plan that didnt work. And the Congress lost in Assam because its slogan of Ganja with Gogoi failed miserably. Dont forget the BJP lost Delhi because its Beedi with Bedi strategy was fatally flawed, said a communicator. Nomenclature for meetings is already being sharpened for the UP polls. Rumours abound that chief minister hopeful Varun Gandhi wants a Vodka with Varun programme. Suggestions for star campaigners like Smriti Irani include Smack with Smriti, Snacks with Smriti and the rather lame Idlis with Irani. A Hokum with Hukum scheme is being planned for BJP MP Hukum Singh, as is Shake a leg with Sakshi Maharaj. Mayawati has a two-pronged meeting nomenclature Milk with Maya for the masses and Mojitos with Maya for the classes. Munching with Mulayam is unlikely to be a hit. But everybody is hoping for Prattle with Priyanka. I would love to continue this conversation, but this Marijuana with Manas programme is making me sleepy. manas.c@livemint.com Manas Chakravarty is Consulting Editor, Mint The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The term office of profit, whose definition has become a matter of dispute between the Central and the Delhi governments, is not new. It goes back at least to mid-18th century Europe, where the expression in use was office of profit under the crown. And the literal meaning of the expression, which stressed profit and crown, was its only meaning. The British Constitution, being an unwritten one, had nowhere defined it. And since the King (or the Queen) is the head of the Church of England, one cannot be sure if the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury also is an office of profit, because he comes under the Crown. In India, MLAs and MPs cannot hold any office of profit under the Central or state governments except ministerial positions and some that have been kept outside the office of profit category though the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act. And this legislative part can provide Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal a handle in defence of his argument that by appointing 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries he did not violate the law. Read: MP: Father of AAP MLA facing office of profit charge mends tyres for living In 2006, when the office of profit controversy erupted, it was evident to all that our Constitution had not given a wholesome definition to the phrase. An air of uncertainty prevailed then. Industrialist Anil Ambani resigned as Rajya Sabha MP because he was a member of the UP Development Council. Why he did so is not clear to me because this council, by all accounts, was not a permanent body. Nevertheless he chose to do so in the highest traditions of democracy. However, Somnath Chatterjee, then Speaker of the Lok Sabha, did not resign even though he was chairman of the Sriniketan Santiniketan Development Authority. In his view the chairmanship of the authority was not an office of profit (in that case, why was it later put on the exempted list?). But one question, which is highly relevant now, was not answered. How was it that Mr Chatterjee was chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and a Lok Sabha member simultaneously for many years starting from the 1980s? Was the chairmanship of the WBIDC not an office of profit, either? There are many other weighty instances Mr Kejriwal can count on. Subrata Mukherjee, who became mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 2000, did not give up his MLAship in the West Bengal legislative assembly. He contested the assembly election again in 2001 and won. For five years, for 2000 to 2005, he was mayor as well as an MLA. Read: Office of profit bill: Kejriwal accuses Modi of vendetta, BJP hits back So this is a matter that rests on a whole lot of assumptions. Is one to assume that apart from the offices that have been insulated through legislation, any office that the exchequer has funded is an office of profit? For example, the office of the member, Planning Commission, found no mention in the early exempt list of the 1950s. But since then many ministers, who were MPs as well, have become members of the Planning Commission and earned salaries and emoluments on account of that. What does one make of it? Or is it just to be assumed that an office of profit is one that is held by a public servant only? In that sense could the office of parliamentary secretary, which is a political appointment, an office of profit? When a problem has not been thought through, it is all dark. Grey areas emerge only when one starts thinking of them, which is what is happening now. Something that belonged to halcyon days of the 1950s has bemused me for a long time. Vishnu Sahay, ICS, was cabinet secretary from July 1, 1958, to November 10, 1960, governor of Assam from November 12, 1960, to January 12, 1961, and back as cabinet secretary on March 9, 1961. Did he officiate as Assam governor while being in the ICS? Can a governor be at the same time a government servant? The Constitution, I thought, prohibited that. The question was referred to an enormously reputed superannuated IAS person. His reply was: Panditji (Jawaharlal Nehru) was alive at the time. I guess he must have blessed an arrangement whereby Vishnu Sahay went on temporary duty to Assam Surely this was not an answer to my question. Many other questions, on which bitter battles are being fought now, are waiting for a reply. So let the battles be fought, and let the end-result be a sense of propriety. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi University is known for its vibrant history. Many of the institutions in this university have been around since the pre- Independence era. However most are unaware of the fact that buildings of these institutions have a deep connection to the Indian Freedom Struggle. From the Viceregal Lodge, where Bhagat Singh was confined, to the hostel of Ramjas college which gave shelter to Chandra Shekhar Azad, the link between the Freedom struggle and Delhi University is fascinating and intriguing. Take a look. Ramjas College The students of Ramjas hostel sheltered Chandra Shekhar Azad, who was evading the British government. (Ajay Aggarwal/ HT Photo) The college was founded by Rai Kedar Nath, an educationist and philanthropist, in the year 1917 in Daryaganj. Its a little known fact that during World War II, the college ceded its campus at Anand Parbat to the Allied forces. It was around the same time that a group of Ramjas students were arrested and jailed for their involvement in the freedom struggle. A plaque with their names inscribed on it has been put up near the college auditorium gate in memory of the brave students. The students of Ramjas hostel also sheltered Chandra Shekhar Azad, who was evading the British government. Thanks to the hostellers,, Azad was kept in hiding and was disguised as a Sikh student from Pakistan, for months. Amrit Kaur Basra, coordinator of DU History Project - a project on the history of the varsity, shares, Azad had a close linkage with Ramjas College. He lived there in hiding and since he was a master strategist, he had no problems planning escape routes. The college relocated to its current location in 1950 where it was inaugurated by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India on January 17, 1951. St Stephens College Lala Hardayal, the first revolutionary, and Sir Chhotu Ram, who became the leader of Unionist Party of Punjab, belonged to St Stephens College. (Sonu Mehta/HT Photo) The college was founded on 1 February 1881. Along with Ramjas College and Hindu College, it was one of the first three colleges to be affiliated to Delhi University. St Stephens College along with Ramjas College played a very important role during nationalist movements such as the Non-cooperation movement and the civil disobedience movement. Lala Hardayal, the first revolutionary, and Sir Chhotu Ram, who became the leader of Unionist Party of Punjab, belonged to St Stephens College. People who studied in these colleges were nationalists, Basra adds. Not just the students of the college, but even members of the staff were active participants of the freedom movement. According to the official website of St. Stephens College, Charles Freer Andrews, an English teacher in the college, was known for his work as a conciliator and fighter against social injustice and political exploitation. Andrews was close friends with Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. It is said that Andrews went to South Africa in 1914 to persuade Gandhi to come to India and lead the freedom movement. C B Young, an English professor and editor of the college magazine, had written a column condemning the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Hindu College Hindu College is the only college in Delhi to have a Students Parliament since 1935. (Sonu Mehta/ HT Photo) Hindu College was founded in 1899, by Late Shri Krishan Dassji Gurwale with the motive of providing non-elitist, non-sectarian and nationalist education to the youth. Originally, the institution was housed in a humble building in Kinari Bazar, Chandni Chowk and was affiliated to Punjab University as there was no Delhi University at that time. The college was a centre for political debate during the freedom struggle and the students were actively involved in the Quit India Movement. Several students and teachers of the college even went to prison following their participation in the movement. 1920 onwards, Hindu College was at the fore of nationalist movement. In fact, when the college was established, Madan Mohan Malaviya himself had done the puja. Yeh college rashtriya chetna ka prateek hai, shares Amrit Kaur Basra, coordinator of DU History Project - a project on the history of the varsity. Hindu College is the only college in Delhi to have a Students Parliament since 1935. It provided a platform to many national leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Moti Lal Nehru, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Annie Besant, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and Subhash Chandra Bose for motivating the youth. When one talks of the making of a nation, one talks of nationalist movement and that nationalism was experienced through the students of DU, adds Basra. Viceregal Lodge Bhagat Singh was confined in a dungeon like room under the Viceregal Lodge after he was arrested for the Central Assembly bombings. (Arijit Sen/ HT Photo) The building which now houses the Vice Chancellors office, was at one point better known as the Viceregal Lodge. It served as a residence for five Viceroys and also hosted several conferences which were crucial to Indias attainment of independence. After the Central Assembly Bombings, Bhagat Singh was confined in a dungeon-like, windowless room under the Viceregal Lodge The trials for his case were held in this very building. Initially the building started out as a circuit house in 1860. It became the place it is today, after the imperialists came to reside. The irony about the house is that it represents the private lives of the Imperialists , and at the same time has strong connections with the Nationalist movement. It is also said that the Gandhi-Iwrin pact came into existence in the Lodge, says Basra. The building boasts of not only heroic tales but also of romantic moments. Lord Mountbatten was one of the viceroys who lived there. As per University old timers, it was in the Registrars office room that he proposed marriage to his future wife Edwina Ashley. She adds, The lodge represents the corridors of our history. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a bid to relieve students of undue stress, a human resource development ministry panel has apparently proposed a new exam system for the class X boards and a national-level common test for admissions to college after class XII, among other things. The panel, which was formulated to draw up a new education policy, the report for which was submitted to the HRD ministry but is yet to be made public, also suggested an on-demand exam , the Times of India reported. Noting that public board exams were useful but nevertheless seemed to be causing anxiety among students, the idea behind the on-demand exam is to offer flexibility, the news agency further stated. If implemented, students will be able to take the exam when they feel ready for it. As for the new exam system, the proposal gives students two options a lesser challenging and higher challenging exam. Depending on the subjects and course of study one would want to follow, the student can decide between the two. This way, a student looking to opt for a vocational or humanities course may take a simpler test in unrelated subjects such as sciences or mathematics. Read | When the system fails to help our students The panel has also suggested a national common test after class XII irrespective of the examination board, along the lines of SAT in US, given the multiple entrance exams students sit through to get admissions to colleges. This, the committee hoped, will further help reduce stress. The Union ministry, which received the panels report on May 27, will take a call on the recommendations. If implemented, it will revive the Central Board of Secondary Education class X board exam which was replaced by a continuous comprehensive evaluation and summative assessment II. Calling for a futuristic curriculum in schools, the panel recommended cutting down on curriculum load and focusing more on self learning. It however upheld the validity of the National Curriculum Framework 2005. The panel also said the curriculum had to address national needs including social cohesion, religious amity and national integration. As far as languages were concerned, it still backed the three-language formula, but stressed learning Hindi, English and Sanskrit. In line with the governments view, it noted that Sanskrit required special emphasis. A new education policy was one of the BJPs promises during its election campaigns leading up to the 2014 general assembly elections. Just two months after giving birth to her second child with boyfriend Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes made her first public appearance at a Los Angeles event. Mendes, 42, looked stunning in a floral, capped-sleeve dress, posing for photos with beauty bloggers at the London West Hollywood Beverly Hills-event, reported People magazine. Read: Top secret birth: Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling welcome second daughter Mendes gave birth to daughter Amada Lee on April 29, naming her after her grandmother. Amanda joins big sister Esmeralda, who turns two in September. Just two Cubanas from Miami having a chat... A photo posted by Rosy (@socialrosy) on Jun 16, 2016 at 2:07pm PDT Actor-director Gosling met Mendes on set while filming, The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), in which they played a couple with a baby. Gosling, a frequent candidate on the worlds sexiest men list, is known for his roles in Drive and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Amber Heard, who is currently locked in a bitter divorce battle with her estranged husband Johnny Depp, has reportedly lost too much weight. Read: Johnny Depp divorce: New images of a beaten, bruised Amber Heard emerge The actor was supposed to fly to London this week for costume fittings for her upcoming film Justice League, in which she is playing Aquamans love interest Mera. But the trip was allegedly cancelled because producers believed she has lost too much weight. She is said to have lost around 9 kgs due to stress, reports tmz.com. Read: Amber Heard the call to join Jason Momoa in Aquaman and Justice League Heard filed for divorce from the Pirates of the Caribbean star last month amid claims of domestic abuse. With an age gap of 22 years, the couple got engaged in January 2014. Follow @htshowbiz for more The intermediate toppers scam of Bihar has cascaded beyond the international border to cast a shadow on the neighbouring Himalayan republic of Nepal. The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal on Friday arrested 15 doctors, nine of them from Birgunj, bordering Raxaul in East Champaran, on the charge of pursuing MBBS course using forged intermediate examination certificates procured from Bihar. The arrested doctors, including three from Biratnagar and two from Chitwan, both in Nepal, were working in various hospitals as well as doing private practice after obtaining MBBS degrees from colleges in Nepal and China. After the Bihar intermediate scam surfaced, the Nepal government initiated an inquiry into matriculation and Class 12 certificates issued from Bihar to people of border towns in India and Nepal. We found many certificates to be fake, a Nepal government official said. Those arrested included Dr Saroj Singh, Dr Kush Raj Giri, Dr Panna Lal Patel (all posted at state owned-Birgunj Narayani hospital), Dr Rahullah of National Medical College and Hospital, Birgunj, and leading private practitioners Dr Arun Kumar and Dr Binod Shan. Protesting against the arrests, hundreds of medical professionals thronged the office of Birgunj superintendent of police and shouted slogans against the local administration, demanding the immediate release of the doctors. The CIB move has also not gone down well with the Nepal Medical Association (NMA). NMA president Dr Anjani Kumar Jha said the CIB was treating doctors like terrorists. This is not acceptable, he said. On Saturday, all employees and doctors posted at health centres and hospitals in Birgunj abstained from duty and took to the streets against what they called humiliation of doctors in Nepal. As many as 20 Jat protesters were detained by Barwala police in Hisar district after the agitators started a dharna at Surewala Chowk on Saturday. Jat protesters assembled near the Chowk on Hisar-Barwala and Chandigarh road at about 10am and started shouting slogans against the Haryana government, under the banner of All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS). AIJASS leader Ajeet Litani claimed, We were sitting peacefully at the chowk, when heavy police force reached here. Police, along with district administration officials asked us to lift the dharna. When we were peacefully holding our protest without disturbing traffic, why should we lift it?" Litani added. Later, police took 20 people to Barwala police station after detaining them and released them at 5pm. Talking to HT, AIJASS leader Rambhagat Malik said, Jat protesters have been demanding reservation in central as well as state government jobs and release of those innocent youths who were arrested during the February stir. Our demands are compensation and jobs for the next of kin of those who lost their lives during the protest and cancellation of sedition charges against AIJASS national president Yashpal Malik. It is wrong to arrest peacefully protesting youths," Malik added. Superintendent of police (SP) Ashwin Shenvi said, The protesters were detained because there was no permission from the administration to hold dharna. Agitators were later released. Police will not allow anyone to breach law and order situation in the district. Meanwhile, the ongoing protest entered its 14th day at Mayyar village stadium in Hisar district on Saturday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 22-year-old college teacher sustained severe burn injuries on her back and legs after two motorcycle-borne assailants allegedly threw acid on her in Bhopal on Saturday, underscoring the easy availability of the corrosive liquid despite court restrictions on its sale. The State Women Commission sought a report from police on the incident which came six months after another woman faced a similar acid attack in Madhya Pradeshs capital city. Police said the incident took place in the morning when Shailja Namdeo was on her way to work at the polytechnic college. The two assailants one with the face covered and another clad in a burqa stopped her to ask for directions in the posh Arera Colony. The victim, however, managed to turn her face the other way when she saw the burqa-clad attacker take out a bottle. The acid hit her hands, back and legs, police said, adding that she received minute injuries on her forehead. The woman managed to run back to the private hostel where she stays. The hostel-owner rushed her to the Narmada Hospital where her condition is stated to be stable. The women told police in a statement that she suspected someone of following her for the past three days but had not paid any attention to the possible stalking. Habibganj police official CM Dwivedi said a bottle suspected to have been left behind by the assailants has been from the spot. He, however, said the bottle did not contain normal acid which is banned but distilled water used in batteries. We are checking CCTV footages and call details to nab the accused, he added. Home minister Babulal Gaur, member of parliament Alok Sanjar, MLA Surendra Nath Singh and MP Youth Congress president Kunal Chaudhary visited the victim at the hospital. MP Youth Congress staged demonstrations overt the attack and also burnt an effigy of the home minister. Police are trying to downplay the case by calling it acid of a battery. It was surely an acid, which is being sold in the market openly without any check, Chaudhary said. He said the government failed to stop open sale of acid despite promising action after the previous incident in the Ashoka Garden area. Acid attack was made a separate category of crime in 2013 amid growing incidents of revenge on women who had spurned sexual advances or rejected marriage proposals. The courts have promised free medical treatment and the government has moved to stop the free sale of acid but such attacks continue unabated, a fact brought out by women who boldly spoke out against the practice in an award-winning series Stop Acid Attacks by HT in 2013. The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday censured the management of Delhi Public School, Srinagar, for the alleged ban on wearing traditional Islamic dress abaya, saying this is not France. The school administration had allegedly asked a teacher to either stop wearing the abaya a loose, full-length outer garment which covers the whole body except the face, hands and feet or leave the job. She reportedly got angry and left, prompting protests by students on Friday. The issue was raised in the state assembly during the zero hour session by Independent MLA Engineer Abdul Rashid. He said the ban by a Delhi-based educational trust in a Muslim state was condemnable. Education minister Naeem Akhtar responded on behalf of the government saying they will raise the issue with the school authorities. It is a private school and we will get into the (sic) truth of the issue, Akhtar said. We live in a country with (sic) multi-cultural and multi-religious setup. We have a secular fabric. No force on any such issue will be accepted; we are not France where the government or some institute decides what dress people should wear, he said. He said people have all the freedom to follow their culture and can dress according to their choice. France has banned veils worn by Muslim women at public places. DPS teachers said they are allowed to wear the hijab but are asked to refrain from wearing Abaya inside the school. The administration has refused to comment. In spite of allegations that Anurag Kashyaps Udta Punjab paints the state in a bad light, the film received a positive response from moviegoers in many parts of the region. Youngsters descended on movie halls in droves across Bathinda, the stronghold of the ruling Badals, besides other cities such as Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Though Bathinda cinema halls witnessed low occupancy in the first show starting at 9.30 am, they ran housefull in the subsequent screenings. The first show witnessed just 40% occupancy, but the subsequent ones more than made up for it, said Sandeep Bansal, duty officer at Big Cinemas. Though the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal objected to Udta Punjab, CM Parkash Singh Badal and his son deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal said they wouldnt judge the movie without watching it first. Read | Udta Punjab: These Bollywood celebs are giving the film rave reviews While some viewers found Udta Punjab close to reality, others took exception to the use of explicit language in the movie. However, there seemed to be a general consensus that it was a must watch. SAD general secretary (Jalandhar unit) Makhan Singh said though the movie depicted the drug scenario in an apt fashion, Punjab should not have been specifically targeted. However, nowhere in the movie do they pointedly target any particular leader or party. I will be happy if the film wins an Oscar, he said. Read | Udta Punjab takes political cinema up north from the deep south Meanwhile, Hindutva groups held protests outside Omaxe Mall in Patiala on Friday. Harish Singla, who led the protest, said: The film depicts Punjab in a wrong way. It seems to say that the entire state is in the grip of drugs. Mohali also witnessed demonstrations. The film, however, did not seem to have performed as well outside Punjab. The opening was average. The film may collect around Rs 8 to 9 crore on its first day, which is far below our expectations, said Rajesh Thadani, a Mumbai film distributor. After a brief break, diaspora engagements will be back with a bang in Prime Minister Narendra Modis foreign trip from next month. In his first visit to the continent as PM, Modi will visit Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya from July 6 to 10. The diaspora gatherings are being planned in both South Africa and Kenya. Modi will address the diaspora in Johannesburg on July 8 and Kenyan capital Nairobi on July 10. These are important events aimed at reconnecting with the diaspora in Africa to their motherland, Vijay Chauthaiwale, who heads BJPs foreign affairs department said. The two events are expected to be attended by over 10,000 people. Connecting with the diaspora in Africa is something unique and that rarely happens with the importance it deserves, Chauthaiwale said. The major part of the Indian community came to South Africa from 1860 onwards to serve as field hands and mill operatives in the sugar and other agricultural plantations of Natal, which was then a British colony. The second wave of Indians came after 1880. They were called passenger Indians as they paid their fares as passengers on board a steamship bound for South Africa. The South African Indian origin community constitutes about 3% of South Africas total population. South Africans of Indian origin are well-represented in the government, business, media, legal and other professions. The year 2014 marked 100 years of Gandhis final departure to India from South Africa; he reached India on 9th Jan 1915. The trade links between India and East Africa go back several centuries. But most of the recent migration from India to Kenya and the region took place in the 19th and early 20th centuries via Lamu, Zanzibar and Mombasa. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said he was disappointed and profoundly saddened by RBI governor Raghuram Rajans decision against a second term, but he was not surprised by the development. I am disappointed and profoundly saddened by the decision of Dr Raghuram Rajan to leave the RBI on completion of his term on September 4,2016, but I hasten to add that I am not surprised at all, he said in his reaction. The former finance minister said the government had invited this development through a craftily-planned campaign of insinuations, baseless allegations and puerile attacks on a distinguished academic and economist. As I had said sometime ago, this government did not deserve Dr Rajan. Nevertheless, India is the loser, he added. Raghuram Rajan said on Saturday he will return to academia when his current tenure expires on September 4, virtually ruling out a second term. He was appointed RBI governor by the UPA government in 2013 when Chidambaram was finance minister. In a shocking instance, a dog took away the body of a stillborn from the state-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao (MY) Hospital on Saturday morning. The baby was delivered by a 19-year-old teenager from Dhar. The pregnant mother was admitted to the burns unit in the hospital on Thursday after suffering 83% burns in an accident. Sonography tests diagnosed that the baby had died and the fetus was removed to prevent further danger to the mother. She delivered the stillborn late on Friday night. Hospital authorities allegedly did not send the body to the mortuary immediately, but left the fetus in a tray in the surgery unit, when the dog stole away the corpse. I was waiting by my daughters side when I saw a dog entering and picking the foetus from the tray. By the time I could alert anybody, it started running, said an attendant accompanying the patient. Hospital authorities remained mum on the matter, but nurses on duty in the burns department confirmed what happened. We had kept the foetus in the tray as the family members were not much interested in the body since their daughter was also critical. They later on informed us and we then caught hold of the dog and put the body back, said a nurse on the condition of anonymity. Deputy superintendent of the hospital, Dr JK Verma, said the fetus was sent for postmortem to confirm what happened. It is very difficult to state what had happened as there is no eye witness except for the family members. We have sent the body for the postmortem and have also informed the police as it is a medico legal case. Once the report arrives we will be in a better position to talk about it, he said. Read | HC notice to govt over child deaths at Indores MY Hospital Only last month, the hospital was caught in a maelstrom when two infants died from being given nitrous oxide instead of oxygen after a surgery. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON One of the most courageous things in life is to identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you want to go - this aptly applies to the three women commissioned as Indias first women fighter pilots on Saturday. Avani Chatuvedi, who dreamt of flying like a bird since childhood, Mohana Singh, who wanted to carry on the family legacy of flying, and Bhawana Kantha, who began to fancy a lifelong career as a pilot since amateur flying in college, got their wings today as flying officers after completing 150 hours of flying. A total of 130 cadets were commissioned as flying officers on Saturday on successful completion of their training (HT Photo) The first three women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force, from left, Mohana Singh, Avani Chaturvedi and Bhawana Kanth pose for photographs after the graduation parade at the Indian Air Force academy in Dundigal (HT Photo) A total of 130 cadets were commissioned as flying officers on Saturday on successful completion of their training (HT Photo) IAF fighter pilot Avani Chatuvedi from Madhya Pradesh thanked her instructors for being extremely supportive during their training and said that it gave her confidence. Before going solo in the aircraft, we have been trained a lot with the instructor. We have been cleared by the examiners. So, we feel confident, Avani told the media. We feel good definitely because flying solo in an air craft gives you a special feeling, she added. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar who was present at the ceremony, called for gender parity in armed forces. (HT Photo) Defence minister Manohar Parrikar with women fighter pilots Avani Chaturvedi, Bhavana Kanth and Mohana Singh. (HT Photo) Mohana from Rajasthan considers herself to be lucky for being the first women to be inducted into the fighter squadron. We are feeling quite fortunate for being the first ones. Anybody could have got the opportunity. But we got it and we are happy about it, she added. Mohanas mother said she is very proud of her daughter and wished her all the luck in her future endeavors. The women, who broke the barriers to etch their names in the history of the IAF, will get to fly fighter jets next year after completion of stage-III training at Bidar in Karnataka. (HT Photo) History was scripted today as the first three women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) proudly brandished their stripes and wings at the Combined Graduation Parade at the Air Force Academy in Dundigul on the outskirts of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. After getting their wings today as flying officers, they will train for six months on the Advanced Jet Fighter - the British-built Hawk - they will be assigned fighters and their squadrons. India reacted with fury on Saturday at the brazenness with which proclaimed offender Vijay Mallya joined a book launch event at the London School of Economics attended by Indian high commissioner Navtej Sarna, who walked out mid-way. India is likely to take up strongly with the David Cameron government Mallyas apparent attempt to embarrass its representatives in London. The LSE event on Thursday evening was to launch Suhel Seths book on 21 Indian CEOs titled Mantras for Success. Why should the Indian high commissioner have to leave such an event? It should be Mallya doing so. He has taken to embarrassing India with his brazenness, which calls into question Britains action or inaction to respond to Indias requests to bring him to justice, a senior representative said. She added: It also calls into question the nationalism of Indian circles who invite a proclaimed offender to events. High commission officials are doing their job representing India, but is it only their duty to do so? About @TheVijayMallya at my book launch. It was an open @SAsiaLSE & advertised on Twitter. No specific invitations. Anyone could attend. SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) June 18, 2016 Post the book launch there was a reception hosted by @HCI_London to which neither was @TheVijayMallya invited nor did he attend! Simple. SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) June 18, 2016 Read: Last chance for Vijay Mallya to appear before authorities, says ED There were indications India will soon take up Mallya-related issues strongly with the Cameron government. Britain previously advised India to consider initiating extradition proceedings against him instead of seeking deportation. Mallya created a flutter at the book launch when he walked in with his daughter and sat through most of the session. The event was organised by the 100 Foot Journey Club, a joint initiative of the LSE South Asia Centre and the Indian high commission. Sarna, who was on the dais with universities minister Jo Johnson, Seth and LSE academic Mukulika Banerjee, did not stay for a panel discussion and left LSEs Old Theatre venue in Aldwych after becoming aware of Mallyas presence. Mallya exchanged pleasantries with Seth and some members of the audience before leaving. .Read: Court declares Vijay Mallya proclaimed offender on ED plea Indian high commission sources told Hindustan Times that Mallya was definitely not invited by the mission. He was also not invited to a reception held after the book launch at the nearby India House, they said. An external affairs ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi that there were two clear segments during Thursdays event - the book launch by British minister Jo Johnson and the discussion at LSE, and later a reception at the high commission for select guests. The list of invitations for the LSE event was determined by LSE. They have written to the high commissioner that Mallya was not on their list. They have also said that the event was advertised widely through social media and attendees were not required to register in advance, the spokesperson said. When the High Commissioner spotted Mallya in the audience he left the stage and venue immediately after making his comments and without waiting for the interactive session. Mallya was certainly not an invitee to the reception at the high commission and was not present. After arriving in London on March 2 in the wake of allegations of financial irregularities involving thousands of crores of rupees, Mallya was not seen at India-related public events until recently. The book launch was the latest event at which he was publicly seen. The southwest monsoon that set over Kerala on June 8 is gathering force with rains expected to become progressively heavier until next Wednesday, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday. There were heavy rains in Kerala on Friday night on account of the southwest monsoon which arrived a week late in the state. Strong winds also uprooted trees and damaged property here in the state capital. While it got strengthened in Kerala, the monsoon further advanced into remaining parts of Rayalaseema and Bay of Bengal, most parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim and some parts of Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar, said an IMD statement. It said conditions are favourable for further advancement of the southwest monsoon, over the next two to three days, into the remaining parts of central Arabian Sea, entire Konkan, Goa, some parts of central Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and East Madhya Pradesh, remaining parts of North interior Karnataka, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal, entire Telangana and some more parts of Jharkhand and Bihar. Strong winds here on late Friday evening uprooted more than 50 trees and caused damage to vehicles and other property. A 122-metre tall transmitter tower of the All India Radio (AIR) also got damaged in the strong winds causing suspension of radio services. More than 40 relief camps have been opened, mostly in Alappuzha, Kollam and Pathanamthitta district, in anticipation of the inclement weather and the damage it might cause. The family of communist lawyer Govind Pansare, who was shot dead last February, suspect the involvement of Dr Virendrasingh Tawade, who was recently arrested by the CBI for the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. Pansares daughter Smita told Hindustan Times she was going to approach the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the agencys verification of witness accounts alleging Dr Tawades possible role in the Pansare case. There are certain witnesses who have come forward and told me that it was Virendra Tawade who traded angry words with my father at a seminar held at Kolhapurs Shivaji University weeks before his murder in 2015, Smita said. Read | Man held for Dabholkar murder also kept a watch on Pansare If the claims are correct, what was Tawade doing in Kolhapur? The verbal duel apparently broke out since my father had made certain critical references to Nathuram Godse and freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar according to witnesses accounts, she said. While my father was talking, a man interrupted and asked him to stop presenting wrong facts on Veer Savarkar. There were others there however who protested and the man who interrupted had left. An ENT specialist, Dr Tawade was arrested in Panvel, Maharashtra on June 10 for his suspected key role in the conspiracy behind Dabholkars murder in Pune in August 2013. Read | CBI arrests Sanatan activist in Dabholkar murder case According to Smita, after Tawade was arrested, those who claimed to have allegedly seen him at the seminar approached her. We will tell the CBI to verify these witness accounts to find out if it was indeed Tawade who interrupted my father. If it was him, it could mean my father was being shadowed, she said. Before he was targeted, father had received a letter in Marathi, asking him if he wanted to meet Dabholkars fate, Smita claimed. But, father tore the letter. According to Pansare familys lawyer, Abhay Nevagi, they requested Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to hand over the murder probe to CBI from the state police. The CBI identified a case suspect, Sarang Akolkar, who was named in the National Investigation Agency (NIA)s chargesheet in the 2009 Madgaon blast, as one of the two alleged shooters who targeted Dabholkar, a source told HT. Akolkar also has an Interpol Red Corner Notice pending against him since January 2012. The identification is on the basis of the finding that one of the two sketches on the two gunmen prepared with the help of witnesses matched with Akolkar, the source said. The CBI also zeroed in on an email exchanged allegedly between Tawade and Akolkar in which the former told the latter about the need to raise money and weapons to set up an army of 15,000 trained volunteers. Tawade is a member of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), an affiliate of the Sanatan Sanstha. Tawade, the HJS and the Sanatan Sanstha have denied CBIs allegations against them. After Tawades arrest on June 10, a Sanatan Sanstha press release said, The CBI has now taken steps to incriminate Sanatan by arresting Dr Tawade late last night. Dr Tawade is innocent, and he visits the Sanatan Ashram in Panvel to perform his Spiritual Practice. Read | Tawades arrest an international conspiracy; BJPs actions anti-Hindu: Sanatan The agency maintains that forensic opinion is that a single 7.65 mm firearm was used to target Dabholkar as well as Pansare. It is also suspected that a black motorcycle was used by the hitmen in both the cases. Both activists were killed in an almost identical fashion by bike-borne assailants. Though the countrys top investigation agency is probing only the 2013 murder of Dabholkar, the subsequent killing of Pansare and Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi in Karnataka last August came under CBIs s scanner because of the similarities in the three crimes. Spent shells of a 7.65 mm calibre firearm, recovered from the sites where both Pansares and Dabholkar were killed, are being sent to United Kingdoms Scotland Yard for a conclusive ballistic the opinion on whether a single firearm was used in the cases. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan decision to forego a second term, saying the PM has no need for such experts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows everything. He has no need for experts like Raghuram Rajan, Gandhi tweeted. The Congress leader also hailed contributions of Rajan and said people like him add to the countrys glory. Thank you Dr. Rajan for steering the economy in difficult times. People like you make India great, he added. Ending months of suspense, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Rajan formally told his colleagues on Saturday that he is not keen on a second term at the helm of the countrys central bank and will return to academia when his tenure ends in September. The countrys largest communist party said on Saturday it saw no need to cap a proposed Goods and Services Tax, isolating the opposition Congress further on a contentious clause and brightening the governments chances of winning parliamentary approval for the measure. Political differences have held up the GST, with the Congress refusing to back it unless the government agreed to cap the tax rate at 18% and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states. But the Communist Party of India (CPI-M), which also opposes several other reforms measures, said it was not insisting on a cap on the tax rate in the 122nd Constitution (Amendment) Bill, which parliament needs to ratify for the tax to take effect. The government says no cap should be put because exigencies might arise in future to revise the rates, which will require parliamentary approval every time. We are not echoing what the Congress is saying. We will be happy even if the government gives an assurance on the floor of the House to keep the tax rate low, CPI(M)s politburo member and Lok Sabha leader Mhd Salim told Hindustan Times. Earlier this week, finance Minister Arun Jaitley had signalled that support had broadened among states for what is seen by investors as Indias biggest tax reform in decades. The CPI-Ms views could now force the Congress, the original author of the GST bill, to soften its stand. Read | All states virtually support GST, only Tamil Nadu has reservations: Jaitley The GST-linked bill has been approved by the lower house of parliament, Lok Sabha, but the numbers in the upper house, Rajya Sabha, are stacked against the government. Support from communists can help change that. Fears of disruption in the House If leftists support the bill, the Congress may no more be in a position to stall the constitution amendment bill that requires two-third members of the House present and voting in favour. This comes to 164 MPs in a 245-member house. But government managers fear the Congress might disrupt the House proceedings to stall the landmark legislation. The Congress and the parties from Tamil Nadu, AIADMK and DMK, which oppose the bill, account for 74 members in the Rajya Sabha. The CPI-M may still propose some amendments when the GST bill comes for passage. Salim said, We were the first to support the bill even when the Congress and the BJP-ruled states were opposed to it. Our finance minister headed the first empowered committee of the finance ministers to resolve disputes on the GST. Read | Mamata backs BJP on GST, calls it pro-people No intention of isolating Congress The government has indicated that two other demands of the Congress -- doing away with a 1% entry tax and setting up a dispute redress mechanism with more powers to the states could be considered. Jairam Ramesh, a key Congress strategist on GST, said: We are not opposed to the GST. But NDAs bill is pro-industries. We want a pro-consumer GST. We will do what we have to do. Let them (the Centre) do what they want to. In a television interview telecast on Saturday, Jaitley said the government had no intention of isolating the Congress on GST and denied there was any trade-off between the Centre and the regional parties. The Goods and Sales Tax bill is not a BJP bill. It was mooted by the Congress. The GST will help the country, Jaitley said. There is no political trade-off. The understanding is if any state loses revenue the first five years the Centre will make it up. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Six central universities will start new or revamped yoga departments from the upcoming academic year and the number would be raised to 20 within a year. HRD minister Smriti Irani declared this at a National Seminar on Yoga where she also called upon heads of technological institutions to help in providing empirical evidence on the benefits of yoga. A decision has been taken that from the year 2016-17, new or revamped yoga departments would be opened, she said, adding that in a years time this number would be raised to twenty. Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand, Visva Bharati in Shantiniketan, Central University of Kerala, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Amarkantak, Manipur University in Imphal and the Central University of Rajasthan would begin these departments from the next session. The action is in line with recommendations of a panel headed by headed by HR Nagendra, also regarded as Prime Minister Narendra Modis yoga guru, that had suggested various kind of courses ranging from certificate courses to Bachelors, Masters and PhDs for yogic sciences. Nagendra was also present at the seminar. In her speech, Irani said that modern science depends on empirical evidence and asked heads of technological institutions to provide research to back the claims related to the benefits of yoga. Today I call upon all those professors researchers and academicians who can help us quantify empirical evidence with regard to the benefits of yoga and yogic sciences, Irani said adding that this would provide a boost to this area. She referred to a paper brought out at IIT Kharagpur on the resonance of the word Om through yogic science and its scientific value. In her speech, the minister also said that the University Grants Commission (UGC) is considering including NET exam for yogic sciences to address the issue of finding teachers for this subject. At the event, secretary, higher education in the human resource development ministry VS Oberoi said that three-day yoga festivals will be held in several institutes and Universities across the country on the occassion of International Day of Yoga. Rani Bhat, a resident of south Kashmirs Haal area in Pulwama district, is unsure of the year she was born. I am old, is her simple answer, when asked her age. Look at my hands, she adds and points to her wrinkled skin. But there is no doubt in her mind about when and how her neighbours left Kashmir. There were 10-12 Pandit families (a term used to describe Kashmiri Hindus) living here. Now we are the only ones left, she says.Some of the houses remain as silent reminders of a forgotten tragedy. Windows broken, walls crumbling, rooms overgrown with weeds, they still manage to stun with odd bits and pieces of intricately carved woodwork or the in-lay work on ceilings. As insurgency made its first appearance in Kashmir in the late 1980s, it found a soft target in the valleys minority community the Kashmiri Hindus.The years have added a film of dispute over the exact nature of events that resulted in the exodus, under threat, of most of the Pandits from the Kashmir valley. But the one indisputable fact is that the Pandits did leave, travelling to Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere, living in refugee camps, sharing rooms, and crowding into small rented accommodation, as they waited for the violence to end. Twenty-six years on, the wait continues for most of them. When Mehbooba Mufti, the states first woman chief minister, announced last month that the state government had identified three locations to build colonies to resettle Kashmiri Pandits in the valley, she was just talking of one more step in a process that began in 2008 . Faced by protests from separatists and others who do not want separate colonies for the Pandits and believe they should return to their original homes, the government later clarified these would be transit colonies. Watch | Kashmiri Pandits have dreamt of returning to their homeland for more than twenty five years . But what does rehabilitation mean to them? Past Imperfect I was 10 years old at the time. I remember my mother woke me in the middle of the night. She was weeping, says Sanjay Peshin, whose family left their Srinagar home in 1990, and who now works in Patna. She asked me to put on my slippers and told me we will have to leave. We spent the night in the coal room. My father locked me and my mother there and stood guard at the door. In the morning, around six, my father came in and told us we were to leave. Hindus who have left Kashmir, have over the years repeatedly talked of rapes and murders of those from the community in the late 80s-early 90s, culminating in the night of January 19, 1990, when extremists and separatists reportedly raised slogans against the kafirs and presented the Pandits with three options to leave the valley, to convert to Islam or to prepare to die. Stones were pelted at houses of Pandits, shattering windows. The next day the Pandits started leaving in earnest. Home was not safe anymore. They asked the Pandit men to go and leave behind their women, recalls a Pandit woman, who left in 1990 but came back to Kashmir in 2010. Amit Raina, a Delhi resident whose family also left the valley in 1990, remembers how one of his cousins drove 16 young women from Srinagar to Jammu in an Ambassador car. A section of the majority community, however, have a different story to narrate. Slogans were raised, but it asked the enemies of Kashmir to leave. We didnt mean the Pandits. They were a part of us. As for the murders, the militants were targeting almost all government officials because they believed them to be government informants. The Pandits happened to be better educated and so held most of the top government jobs, says a 45-year-old Kashmiri Muslim, who works as a professional driver. The issue of rehabilitating Pandits in the Kashmir valley was given a push in 2008, with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announcing a rehabilitation package that included government jobs and accommodation. In 2010, a batch of Pandits were taken back to the valley under this scheme. In 2014, the Modi government earmarked 500 crore for the project . In 2015, controversy erupted over the state governments supposed plans to build townships for Pandits. The then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had clarified afterwards that Pandits would be settled in their original places. The PDP government in J&K, formed with the support of the BJP, has also adopted the resettlement of Pandits as part of its common minimum programme, resulting in the announcement by the Mehbooba government last month. The Pandit Package In 2008, PM Manmohan Singh announced a package for rehabilitating Pandits which included assistance of Rs 2 to Rs 7.5 lakh per family to rebuild or buy houses, transit accommodation in the interim period and government jobs. In the Union budget of 2014-15, the Modi government at the Centre earmarked Rs 500 crore for the rehabilitation of Pandits. State government proposed that monetary assistance for rebuilding houses be increased to Rs 20 lakh, for which the centre indicated its willingness In 2015 controversy erupted over the governments supposed plans to build composite townships for Pandits. The CM clarified that Pandits would have to settle in their original places. Last month the CM announced that the govt has identified sites for setting up colonies for rehabilitating Pandits. The govt later clarified that these would be transit colonies Pilgrims Progress Devotees perform Ashtami puja at the Kheer Bhawani temple in Kashmir (Waseem Andrabi/HT Photo) In this backdrop, Pandits from across the country gathered at the temple of Kheer Bhawani in the states Ganderbal district last week, for the annual Ashtami celebration. Like every temple in the state, this too, has CRPF and police personnel deployed at the entrance and on the grounds. If we didnt have protection, the temple would definitely be attacked. Even with security personnel, things go missing from the temple premises, says 65-year-old Roshan Lal Bhan, general secretary of the J&K Dharmarth Trust, which manages the temple. As per a report compiled by the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), out of 900 temples and shrines in the valley in 1990, only 600 survive today. Since the mass exodus of Pandits, festivals like Kheer Bhawani, observed under tight security, are perhaps the only time when one sees so many of them in Kashmir. It is also perhaps the only time when Pandits in Kashmir display their faith with such abandon. Since moving to Kashmir, I come to the Kheer Bhawani temple once a month, but I remove my tika before stepping out of the temple. I dont want anyone to mark me as a Pandit, says 30-year-old Nikhil Kaul who moved back to Kashmir last year, after getting a bank job in the state. You never know who is tracking you. The fear is because of uncertainty, not because we face open confrontation. The Kheer Bhawani festival this year drew many more Pandits, approximately 50,000 as against the average of 30-40000 visitors every year, says Bhan. But pilgrims are reluctant to equate the increase in numbers with the increased conversation surrounding rehabilitation. It is because Kheer Bhawani this year coincides with a special Kumbh-like occasion for Pandits, says Amit Raina. In the last 26 years, however, there has been no Pandit gathering where the subject of rehabilitation has not cropped up. Banners around the shrine of Mata Ragyna, the presiding goddess of Kheer Bhawani, seek her help in bringing Pandits back to the valley. Read: Older Pandits yearn for past, gen-next finds no future Perhaps the cruellest impact of the exile from Kashmir on the Pandits, however, has been the rift it has created within the community, by making rehabilitation mean different things to different people. A Community Divided When Lovely Bakshi returned to Kashmir in 2010 with a job as a teacher under the PMs rehabilitation package announced in 2008, she was setting foot in the valley for the first time in 20 years. It didnt feel like home. All the people I had known as a child were gone. I came to Kashmir because of the security of having a government job, but life is tough here. I am here alone, while my husband and children are in Delhi, she says. A section of the Pandits, mostly those settled in Delhi, feel the issue for the Pandits is not jobs. It was not an economic migration. Kashmiri Pandits did not leave for money. Many of us earn much more today than we would have earned here, says Raina. But for most of those who accepted the PMs package, it was the safety of a government job that made them return. Lovely is not the only one who left behind a family in Jammu, Delhi or elsewhere in India to accept a job in Kashmir. The question of jobs is also a big one for the handful of Pandits who never left the valley. Whenever there is talk of rehabilitating Pandits, people think of those who migrated. But what about those who never left the valley? We have had to face very troubled times here. The Pandit community as a whole needs to be resettled, says Sanjay Tickoo, president of the KPSS. The KPSS recently filed and won a case in the High Court to ensure that benefits being given to the migrants should also be extended to Pandits who never left the valley. Because of the years of conflict, few private industries have invested here. Government jobs are difficult to get because we are a minority community, but have no minority certificate, says 28-year-old Megha Pandita. Pandits agree that the varying expectations from rehabilitation have created a distance between them. While those who never left the valley feel they had been unfairly left out, those who migrated point out that the others didnt lose their homes. They suffered yes, but because they stayed back, they also got the sympathies of the majority, says a migrant from Jammu who returned to Kashmir in 2010. Women at a transit camp for Pandits in Barmulla, Kashmir (Waseem Andrabi/HT Photo) Meanwhile, at transit camps in Baramulla, Haal and other places in Kashmir, the handful of Pandits who returned, live under the watchful eyes of security forces. We do feel caged in, but it is true that we cant roam about freely, says Rakesh Pandita, a resident of the Baramulla camp. Despite security, there have been incidences of stone pelting at the Haal camp. Most fail to equate the Kashmir they left with the one they have returned to. You cant compare the situation today with the one pre-1990. Islamisation has increased. We have no freedom here to express our views, says Rakesh Pandita. Women talk of people trying to force them to follow the majoritys more conservative practices. At markets and public transports, people tell us to cover our heads. They criticise us for wearing short-sleeved kurtas, says Raman Pandita, a resident of the Baramulla transit camp. Education is another issue. Most schools have Islamic prayers. The national anthem is not sung. My children have learnt to read the Quran, but they dont study about their own religion and culture. I didnt want to shift. I regret coming, says Archana Pandita who shifted to the Haal camp with her husband and children in 2010. There are infrastructural problems too. There are 105 employees living in 60 quarters. Two families are made to share a two-room quarter. There is no privacy for anyone, says 40-year-old Ajay Kumar Tiku who lives at the Haal camp. A Home Of Ones Own Most of the migrants want a separate township for Pandits. In the last 26 years, there has been no conviction of any of those who committed crimes against Kashmiri Pandits. The sense of justice, the sense of security is what is missing. Security can come only when we live together, says Amit Raina. Agrees Ashish Zutshi, another migrant based in Delhi, The majority community doesnt want us to return. That is why they are opposed to a special township for Pandits. And the government is afraid to go against them. Some people are telling us to go back to our original places. But where are those places now? We had to sell those houses or else they were burnt down. Other houses have come up there. The money being offered to buy new houses isnt enough to buy such properties. In a small temple complex in Baramulla, a handful of Pandits have been living in small one-room quarters since returning to the valley in 1996. Mostly businessmen, many of them left their families in Jammu when they came back here. One of them, 74-year-old Hardey Nath Ganjoo insists that he has many friends among the Muslims, but is reluctant to live among them in the same locality. A woman says on the condition of anonymity, They will not be comfortable living with us either. When we returned to Kashmir in 1996, no one was willing to rent us rooms. Finally, we built these rooms in the temple complex, she says. Read:Homecoming for Pandits after painful exodus The perception of the Modi government as being sympathetic to Hindus has also made the majority community suspicious of Pandits. People say things like oh, now you have your government at the centre, agrees Tickoo, though, having never left Kashmir, he is not in favour of separate townships. If there is one thing on which almost all Pandits are united, it is their scepticism of any political party or governments intentions in resettling the Pandits in Kashmir. The attempt made by the Modi government is not the first. What is happening today is what was proposed by the Manmohan Singh government. I had filed an RTI with the Ministry of Home Affairs in January 2016. I asked them what are their plans. They are copying the same Manmohan Singh formula, of jobs, employment. But in all these years there has been little dialogue with the Pandits about what they want, says Raina. A woman in Baramulla, whose son and grandchildren are settled in the National Capital Region answers the question that has been on many peoples minds. Even if rehabilitation happens now, the government is 26 years too late. The next generation has built a life outside Kashmir, she says. But what those fighting for rehabilitation want is a choice to return, for those who want it. A person from Bihar or Bengal, even if he is working in Delhi, will have family back home. He will visit them. He can return anytime he wants to. Why should Pandits not have that option? questions Zutshi. Without that, Pandits feel their very culture to be in danger. The generation after us will not know our customs or language. We need to return to protect that, says Raina. Meanwhile, in the old deserted Pandit locality of Haal, Rani has little to say on the issue. They visit sometimes, the ones who left, she says of her old neighbours, But people here are nice. They have never troubled us, she says, referring to her Muslim neighbours. It is only as the HT team starts to leave that she voices the longing to be near her own community: I dont like it alone here. My grandchildren want to move out. I want to get out of Kashmir Eighteen-year-old Sakshi Tickoo has just completed school. And she cant wait to get out of Kashmir. I want to study engineering and want to apply outside Kashmir. But my mother is not ready to let me go, she says. Sakshis family never left Kashmir, not even at the height of turmoil in the early 1990s, when most Pandits left the valley. Her father, Sanjay Tickoo, is the president of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (a representative body of Pandits in the valley). Yet Sakshi says she doesnt feel safe in Kashmir. I dont like it here. I feel insecure. Sakshi, with her father Sanjay Tickoo, at their house in Srinagar (Waseem Andrabi/HT Photo) There are frequent incidents of unrest. We cant go to school. Education gets very badly impacted in all this, she says. As a young girl living in Kashmir, her expectations from the states first woman chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, echo the aspirations of anyone from her generation. I hope she does something to improve the quality of education in our state. I also wish she would do something to promote job opportunities for Kashmiri Pandits. There are no jobs here. The opportunities are even fewer for Kashmiri Pandits. Even if I complete my graduation from Kashmir, I will have to go out to work. I dont think I will find a job here, she says. Talking about the recent political developments in the state, Sakshi says, I dont think the BJP-PDP alliance has helped Pandits in any way yet. There have been talks about rehabilitating migrant Pandits, but I dont think it will help the community in any way. Problems will escalate. If the few who are here have no facilities, how does it make sense to bring more Pandits? There is more freedom, better education outside. I dont think those who are my age and are outside want to return, she says. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Even as the Shamli district administration denied allegations of Hindu exodus from Kairana town, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has begun identifying other localities from where Hindus allegedly have been driven out in recent years. VHP officials claim to have already found similar cases of exodus and are preparing a list by comparing the present voter list with those of the past. This is being undertaken all over the state after instructions received from the central leadership of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said Sunil Parashar, UP vice-president, VHP. We are moving ahead in a planned manner and would release the lists after submitting it to central leadership, he added, admitting that the move was taken after the Kairana controversy came to light. The controversy erupted after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Hukum Singh claimed that more than 250 Hindu families in western Uttar Pradeshs Kairana town were forced to migrate under the threat of intimidation and violence. There are about a dozen localities in Agra from where about 1,000 Hindu families have shifted and they are now residing in other localities, Parashar said. Thus, it is wrong to allege that Hindus are moving for business purpose only. In fact, this movement is because of harassment by the other community. Parashar said the list would not include names of people who relocated in search of jobs, and questioned why similar exodus wasnt seen among Muslims. We would conduct these surveys initially for one week and might continue it further as directed by the central leadership. Such surveys are to be conducted state-wide by local units of VHP, said Parashar. A list of 150 Hindu families that migrated from Billochpura area will be released first, he added. Similar, surveys are to be conducted in Moti Kunj, Jatpura, Khatipada and Singi Gali localities. The Hindu nationalist group took up the surveys after VHP leader Arun Mahour was shot dead in the citys Mantola area on February 25. Some Right-wing activists alleged that Mahours shop was set on fire by Muslims, after which he shifted to Awas Vikas Colony from his parental house in the locality. The ruling Samajwadi Party, however, condemned the VHPs move. SP city unit president, Raisuddin Qureshi, said surveys were aimed at disturbing peace and tranquillity in Agra, the city of sulah-kul (universal peace and harmony) where all religions survive. This organisation aims to divide and rule but will not succeed in their designs in Uttar Pradesh, where people have understood their motives. UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has talked about development and parties like BJP are not able to find any answer to it, thus resorting to such divisive tactics, said Qureshi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A bamboo bicycle, plants that can water themselves, a content-streaming device that needs no internet connection these are some of the passion projects being worked upon at Indias growing number of makerspaces. Members range in age from 4 to 70. Some design for a living, others are in advertising or architecture, accountancy or hospitality. As people drop by at these spaces after work, tinker into the wee hours or even launch second careers, communities of makers are forming in cities big and small. Here, hobbyists are encouraged to tinker with 3D printers, laser cutters and power tools, take an idea and give it shape, brainstorm, collaborate, fail and restart as they seek to create something new. India has always been known for jugaad innovation on a shoestring budget. But we are also typically scared of failure. A makerspace allows for the weird and encourages experimentation, says Makers Asylum founder Vaibhav Chhabra. We have techies working on carpentry projects at our spaces, ad execs experimenting with leather. From Nuts and Boltz in New Delhi to Makers Loft in Kolkata, maker movement in India picking up steam for innovators of all age groups. (Akram Haq, Saumya Khandelwal, Ashok Nath Dey/ HT Photo) Over four years, about 26 makerspaces have come up across India including JMoon Makerspace and Nuts and Boltz in Delhi, Curiosity Gym and RiiDL in Mumbai, Makers Asylum with branches in both cities, Banaao in Gurgaon, Makers Loft in Kolkata, similar spaces in Meerut, Chennai, Dharamshala and Ahmedabad and six such spaces in Bengaluru. Some of these spaces are free, like FabLab CEPT. Others charge membership fees ranging from Rs 220 for a day to Rs 3,000 per month. These spaces add a new dimension to innovation. Anyone can walk in with an idea and potentially walk out with a prototype or product, says Pavan Kumar of Workbench. From providing brainstorming support and training to actual tools and mentorship to even incubation, the whole ecosystem is at their disposal. And the aspiring makers are streaming in. Online group Makespace and Open Source Creativity (BMOSC) has 18,340 members who meet offline every month. Workbench Projects has 8,000 members, Mumbais Makers Asylum sees 500 visitors a month. A key element is the sense of community and the embrace of failure as a necessary stage. The self-watering system for plants, for instance, was created by 10 people from BMOSC as part of a project on the Internet of Things. It uses sensors connected to a mini-computer to turn valves on and off based on temperature and humidity. And the bamboo bicycle is one of those passion-fuelled works in progress, at Makers Loft. Eleven of us got together and created a prototype thats failed, says traditional Naga wood worker Nzanthung Kikon, 26, so now were working on another one. Read: The Make magazine to browse what makers from all over the world are up to A Disneyland in Bengaluru Co-founders Anupama Gowda and Pavan Kumar laser cut designs on a sheet of wood at their makerspace, Workbench Projects. The space tucked under Bengalurus Halsuru Metro Station offers a cafe and a residency programme for makers. (Akram Haq/ HT Photo) A Disneyland for makers. Thats what duo Pavan Kumar and Anupama Gowda envisioned when they set up Workbench Projects in Bengaluru. We were working on Number Nagar, a math activity centre two years ago, which meant converting a 500-sq-ft room into a space for games and interactive installations. We faced a lot of challenges in finding the right people to work with especially when it came to execution, says Kumar, an electrical engineer. After we finished the project, we came across the concept of makerspaces online and decided to set one up. The space recently collaborated with the Red Cross to host a Make-a-thon focused on assistive devices for the differently abled, and has members working on waste management initiatives to turn plastic waste into 3D printer filaments. We are very clear that we want innovations that make a difference to the society at large, says Gowda, an art historian. Architect Abdul Thameem, 34, for instance, is tinkering with a prototype for a tidal wave energy harvester called Aqua Horse. They have everything I need laser cutter, 3D printer, welder. And people to bounce ideas off and help out. Anupama has put me in touch with a great Intellectual Property Rights lawyer and I have already filed a patent and got the Pondicherry University interested in the idea , says Thameem. Watch: Architect Abdul Thameem talks about what drives him to innovate Another avid maker is Nihar Thakkar, 12, who is being homeschooled by his parents engineer Rajesh, 46, and homemaker Anupama, 44 with innovation a big part of his curriculum. Nihar has spent days here, creating, among other things, a solar charger. We want Nihar to learn through making and this is a great place to share ideas and be encouraged to try something new, says his mother. (Left to right) Ad executive Craig Dmello and architect Anabelle Viegas of THE Workshop often collaborate with online makerspace group, Bangalore Make Space and Open Source Creativitys Kavita Arora to organise events, workshops and masterclasses together. Above Kavita is seen with a new stool she designed and made on her own. (Akram Haq/ HT Photo) Elsewhere in Bengaluru, at the Think Happy Everyday (THE) Workshop, 30 youngsters from the local St Gregorios parish worked together to build an installation for Christmas. We built a PVC pipe organ Christmas tree, complete with sensors, which lit up when you played, says co-founder Craig Dmello . From electronics to carpentry and metalwork to music, the youth and older members of the church community pooled knowledge, skills and material to build it. On the move in Mumbai Makers Asylum in Mumbai has been one of the iconic makerspaces that helped set up other makerspaces in India. Mitch Altman, international experts on makerspace spoke to members of the space a week ago. (Satish Bate/ HT) Hundreds traipse in here every month to explore robotics, drones, laser etching, 3D printing and woodworking. Makers Asylum was set up in Mumbai in 2013 and in Delhi last year and runs on donations, memberships and corporate sponsorships. Their Mumbai base is a 7,000-sq-ft space dominated by an art installation made from reclaimed leather. Its photographer Khyati Dodhias way of thanking the outfit for helping her discover this medium via their laser cutting machine. I first walked in out of curiosity about a drone-making workshop, 18 months ago, she says. I soon graduated to the woodworking and then the laser-cutting machines. As an artist I work on my own. Here I found people I could bounce ideas off and have discussions with. The result, for Dodhia, has been Black Canvas, a leather products label under which she now offers journals, satchels and even earrings. Restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani visited Makers Asylum in Mumbai to co-create a bespoke memento with two parametric architects, Seeja Sudhakaran and Khushbu Davda, for Prince William and Kate Middleton Also at Makers Asylum is a laser harp created by computer engineer Rituparna Makar, 27. And it is here that restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani created a one-of-a-kind memento for the visiting Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, two months ago a laser cut installation showing a combination of Britains imperial lion and the Make in India lion logo. For the next step, Makers Asylum plans to hit the streets with MakerAuto, a mobile makerspace on the wheels. Superheroes in the making in New Delhi In order to create unique outfits from a variety of materials like foam, plastic and acrylic, professional cosplayers prefer makerspaces and the equipment they have on offer. Akanksha Sachan (in pic) is a regular at Delhis JMoon Makerspace and created the outfit she is wearing there. (Akanksha Sachens Facebook) When fashion designer Akanksha Sachan shifted from Kolkata to Delhi six months ago, JMoon became the perfect playground for her obsession with cosplay. Ive been able to access high-tech materials like thermoplastics that you heat to shape, and this helped me create some awesome Erza Scarlet Lightning Armour, says the 23-year-old who now conducts workshops here to help cosplay beginners. The space was launched in 2014 by Jasmeet Singh, 27, a computer engineer with a love for robotics. When I started my online store, Roborium, that sells DIY robot kits, I found that most interns lacked practical experience. So I decided to set up a space where people could tinker with electronics. Today, 55-year-old businessmen exploring 3D printers and 7-year-olds build robots here. Nuts and Boltz, meanwhile, was set up by Varun Heta, 27, after he saw college students consulting shopkeepers on their projects while shopping for electronic parts at Chandni Chowk. I consulted Makers Asylum in Mumbai to get the idea right, he says. Two years on, when someone lands up at North Delhis Netaji Subhash Place, the office complex where Nuts and Boltz is located, gift shop and mobile shop owners recommend the makerspace to people, who want to tinker with technology. Watch: How Delhis makerspaces are tinkering with technology to make drones, robots and more Were building micro-satellites at the makerspace, including one that will give real-time geospatial data to the user, says Raghav Sharma, 26, a regular visitor and an entrepreneur. I love the fact that I can walk in here and ask any number of questions, adds Pranav Kalra, a Class 11 student who is working on a pollution sensing device. This is direct and instantaneous, unlike online videos where you see new stuff but cant figure out how it works. Childs play in Kolkata Makers Loft in Kolkata is a favourite among kids and encourages them to make robots, organic dyes, 3D printed toys, furniture and even create their own video games (Ashok Nath Dey/HT Photo) When marketing executive Meghna Bhutoria returned to Kolkata from the US last year, she was surprised to find that there were still no makerspaces in her city. We still dont have much of a DIY culture. Even engineers and architects who can make excellent designs on computers freeze when they are asked to make something with their hands, she says. So I set up Makers Loft in November, to give Kolkatans a chance to do something that matters. What she hadnt anticipated was the flood of young ones. Makers as little as five are dabbling in robotics, playing with organic dyes, creating 3D designs. Padmanaabh Kajaria, 11, has become a regular over the past four months. I have already learnt how to build a robot, he says. My goal is to make one out of metal scrap, to keep our cities clean. Vishal Agarwal, 11, has designed his own maze game here. I really want to learn how to make an action game like Clash of the Clans, he says. Furniture designer Bram Rouws, 30, came for the laser cutter and now conducts carpentry workshops at the Loft. Ive had 12-year-olds, middle-aged professionals and a homemaker in my sessions, he says. Did you know you could use the laser cutter to create art that looks very like the Warli folk form? Haven to experiment in Ahmedabad FabLab CEPT is one of the oldest makerspaces in India and is one of the few to offer free access to all its machine. (Mayur Bhatt/ HT Photo) This makerspace is using hemp to create bricks, paper, and textiles. I took an online course in industrial uses of hemp from Oregon State University and decided to explore the multiple uses here and soon 20 other makers were pitching in, says businessman Mihir Patel, 27. US-based angel investor and philanthropist Asha Jadeja Motwani set up FabLab in memory of her husband, the late Stanford professor Rajeev, three years ago, at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University or CEPT. Now, over 100 people walk into the free maker space every month. Some of the project that have been worked upon here are smart bins that let the civic authorities know when the bins are full, saving up on unnecessary gas emission and trash-identifying drones. The maker movement is growing at a rapid pace, says FabLab coordinator and architect Vipul Arora. Tinkering will only get bigger and more democratic. Countering the allegations of graft and wrongdoing levelled against his ministers, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis defended his cabinet colleagues, including senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse who was forced to step down earlier this month. Speaking at the opening session of the partys state executive meeting in Pune on Saturday, Fadnavis said the allegations against several ministers, including women and child development minister Pankaja Munde, education minister Vinod Tawde, water resources minister Girish Mahajan, and even partys state president Raosaheb Danve were a false propaganda by the opposition. Just as we are taking the development agenda forward, there is an attempt to target our ministers. How can Congress-NCP accuse us of land deals when they have been slammed by the CAG report for grabbing land? said the CM. This is a conspiracy... It is like Goebbels [Nazi propaganda minister] propaganda in absence of any evidence. Read more: Naidu calls for brothers BJP and Sena to settle differencess Ousted Khadse still part of the plan as party leaders rally behind him Fadnavis gave a clean chit to all his ministers, who have been facing various allegations, and insisted that even Khadse will come out unscathed after the agnipariksha (trial by fire). The chief minister showcased a united front as he recounted the governments achievements and policy decisions, giving credit to the ministers concerned. Fadnavis defense of his cabinet colleagues comes ahead of the 26 zilla parishad and 10 municipal corporation, including BMC, elections that will take place in Maharashtra between October 2016 and March 2017. The outcome of these polls, touted as mini-Assembly elections in the state, will be seen as a referendum on the Fadnavis government and could have an impact on its remaining two years in power. On Saturday, the message to the party leaders and workers was clear. As the BJP readies itself for the poll challenge, the focus has to be on opponents instead of battling allegations within the party and being defensive. Indicating an aggressive stance against the Opposition, Fadnavis asked party workers to step out in greater forces against Congress-NCP. We cant let them hide behind their burkhas. Unmask their corruption rackets, collect documents and file cases against them, said the chief minister. However, Fadnavis and the BJPs state president Raosaheb Danve made no mention of the trickier issue of the unease within the saffron alliance. But Union minister Venkaiah Naidu, who inaugurated the session, hinted at a ceasefire with the warring ally. Shiv Sena is BJPs oldest ally. There are differences even within the family; its best to sort them out together. These differences shouldnt be discussed outside. We have work to do together in the future, said Naidu. While this indicates a climb down, it remains to be seen whether the allies can forge an amiable working relationship. More clarity could emerge after Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray addresses his party workers on Sunday, when the party turns 50, and when the BJP passes its political resolution on Sunday. Sources said the party will attempt to work out an alliance with the Sena wherever possible to avoid the latter coming together with Congress and NCP. The focus is to pick as many ZPs and civic bodies as possible, to make our position stronger ahead of 2019, said a BJP minister, on condition of anonymity. At the grass-roots level, however, BJP has already started work on contesting the BMC polls solo, assessing situation to contest all 227 seats. Union ministers Prakash Javdekar and Piyush Goyal along with a majority of the state cabinet ministers education minister Vinod Tawde, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, co-operation minister Chandrakant Patil, Bapat and even Khadse were present at the executive meeting on Saturday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Thane police on Saturday added former Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni to the list of suspects in the Rs2,000-crore ephedrine haul case. Following the arrest of two peddlers, the police had seized 18,000kg of the drug from a factory owned by Avon Lifesciences in Solapur on April 16. The police are now in the process of having a red corner notice (international arrest warrant) issued against Kulkarni. Read More:Five things to know about Mamta Kulkarnis husband Vicky Goswami A Thane police officer, who did not wish to be named, said, The arrested accused have revealed that Mamta Kulkarni is one of the directors of Avon Lifesciences and that she owns shares in it worth Rs 11 lakh. Vicky Goswani had bailed out the company after it suffered losses, and Mamta was made a director on his insistence. Thane police commissioner Parambir Singh said, We are in the process of getting a red corner notice against Mamta. There is already one out for Vicky Goswami. We came to know about meetings held in January and April, attended by Mamta and Vicky, at which drug smuggling was discussed. He added, Colombian and Moroccan drug dealers are also involved in the racket. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has shared pictures of Dr Abdulla, an international drug dealer from Kenya, who played a major role in the racket and is an important partner of Vicky Goswami. Bharat Shelkhe, additonal commissioner of police, Thane crime branch, said, We have also learnt that Dr Abdulla was about to set up a company in Mombasa in Kenya where drugs from Solapur would be processed before being sold on the international market. Information about the meetings came from the statements of two people one an accused and the other a police witness. The accused has been identified as Jay Mukhi, a resident of Mumbai, whose identity had been kept secret up to now so as not to hamper the investigation. According to the two statements, which were recorded before a magistrate to give them more weight, a meeting in Tanzania on January 1, 2016 was attended by Mamta, Vicky, Dr Abdulla and Manoj Jain, director of Avon Lifesciences, Jay Mukhi and a few others. A second meeting, at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in April, was also attended by Goswami, Manoj Jain, Jay Mukhi, Dr Abdulla and others. At these meetings, they allegedly discussed how to transport the drugs and deal with the authorities. Soon after the January meeting, a consignment comprising 100 kg of ephedrine was sent from Avon Lifesciences in Solpaur to Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai. From there it was sent to Kenya on a cargo plane. The Thane anti-narcotics cell is examining the route to find out about others involved in transporting the drug. According to the police, after the drug was sent to Tanzania and Kenya, Vicky sent crores of rupees to Manoj Jain. Thane police chief Singh added, They also discussed the profit margin on ephedrine in the international market and who would get what. It was decided that 33% would go to Vicky Goswami and Dr Abdulla, 33% to Manoj Jain and Punit Shringi, and 33% to Kishoresingh Rathod and Jay Mukhi. They also decided to sell the drug at Rs 50,000 a kg. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Majeed Memon, an eminent lawyer and member of parliament from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said on Friday that Sanatan Sanstha, a right-wing Hindu organisation, should be banned over allegations of terrorism and assassination against some of its members. Sanatan Santha became well-known when its name cropped up in connection with the 2009 Madgaon blast case and the murders of rationalists Narendra Dabhoklar and Govind Pansare in 2013 and 2015, respectively. On June 20, the CBI arrested Dr Virendra Tawade, a longtime member, for the murder of Dabholkar. Read more: Dabholkar murder: Sanatan claims witness has been planted Dabholkar murder: CBI zeroes in on 6 suspects Memon said, If any organisation is found to be indulging in acts of terror or conspiring to commit serious crime, the authorities should minutely examine its activities, aims, objectives and history to assess whether it can continue to exist. The NCP is considering approaching the state government to seek a ban on the organisation on the lines of the one imposed on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Memon added that if an organisation is found to be hazardous to the interests of society or if it tends to create fear or hatred among people, it needs to be banned, following an assessment, without prejudice or political influence. If SIMI can be banned, why cant Sanatan Sanstha? We, as a party, are considering approaching the state government to ask for a ban soon, added Memon. However, experts said banning any organisation is difficult. PS Pasricha, former director general of police, Maharashtra, said that compiling all the information about a particular organisation and submitting it in court to seek a ban is a difficult and tedious task. He said, According to my knowledge, the said organisation (Sanatan Sanstha) has several addresses, names, bank accounts and command centres. Taking a call on whether to ban it or not is the states prerogative. However, all this information will first have to be compiled for the court to rule in the states favour. The previous Congress-led government in Maharashtra had proposed a ban on Sanatan Sanstha and its sister organisations in 2011 for their alleged involvement in terrorism. The proposal, sent to the ministry of home affairs, called for Sanatan Sanstha be declared unlawful and banned. It also asked that it be listed as a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967. The central government, however, rejected the proposal, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove the organisations involvement in terrorist activities. The state government is likely to table a stringent anti-Maoist bill in the upcoming monsoon session to rein in the ultras in four districts: Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Gondia and Chandrapur. The proposed law envisages sweeping powers for district authorities, including the right to arrest Maoist suspects for the first three days without seeking permission from the state government and later for 21 days with the permission of the additional chief secretary of the home department, an official said. It aims to empower the superintendent of police and district collectors to arrest people involved in Maoist activities, including the distribution of the literature. The ambit and provisions of the proposed law are likely to be similar to that of Chhattisgarh. Oddly, the decision to table the bill comes on the heels of claims by the home department that there has been a steady decline in Maoist activities owing to development work and security strategies in the so-called red-corridor districts. The home department expects the new law will be more effective. The law will have the provisions similar to that of Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling (COFEPOSA) and Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act (MPDA), which empowers government officials at the district level to arrest people involved in anti-national activities, said the official. KP Bakshi, additional chief secretary, home department, said that the government was likely to table the bill in the monsoon session after the state cabinets nod. He also added that the government would soon announce a 5% reservation in government jobs to the families, affected by Maoist activities. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ahead of International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21, AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik Yesso released a Yog Geet (yoga song) on Saturday. It has been shortlisted from approximately one thousand entries. The song will be played at all government functions in the run up to Yoga Day and at the mega event in Chandigarh, according to a senior official of the AYUSH Ministry. The three-minute-and-15-second song has been written and produced by Deeraj Saraswat, Gandhar T D Jadhav and Gatha Jadhav have lent their voice to the song and Sumanto Ray is the composer. Read: Punjab declares half-day off on International Yoga Day As part of celebration of Second International Day of Yoga a national-level competition for selection of a Yog Geet was organised by the Ministry of AYUSH. Around one thousand entries were received by the Ministry and the song was finalised from 19 short-listed songs. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Board of Airport Authority of India (AAI) has approved the setting up of a civil airport at Adampur. This was stated by Punjab BJP chief and minister of state for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla after meeting Union minister for civil aviation P Ashok Gajapathi Raju in a press release. Sampla added that the ministry would now formally write to the state government to fulfil the requirements which it has already assured. Sampla, later on, met deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal and apprised him of the development. Sukhbir assured Sampla of fulfilling all the requirements as soon as they receive the official communication from the civil aviation ministry. An Airport Authority of India (AAI) team, which visited the airbase to study the feasibility in August last year, had given a positive feedback to the Union civil aviation ministry to start the commercial operations. The Punjab and Haryana high court has asked the special investigation team (SIT) constituted to review investigations into the Jagdish Bhola drug racket to complete its work by July 31. The review was to be completed by December 31, 2015. On October 10 last year, the high court appointed a supervisory panel comprising three officers of the inspector general of police rank, including Ishwar Singh, G Nageshwar Rao and V Neerja, to review the probe. The investigations focussed on alleged kingpin Jagdish Bhola and his associates. The SIT is permitted to do the needful on or before July 31. The cases where the SIT is said to have completed its exercise may also be re-looked, if need be, such as the case of Tarsem Singh, the accused who is said to have not been examined so far, the high court bench of justice Surya Kant and justice PB Bajanthri said giving the SIT more time after it filed an application in this regard. In October 2015, the SIT was asked to complete the work by December 31 and was given the liberty to file supplementary reports before lower courts, wherever it found necessary. The SIT was asked to review the investigations as the high court had found lack of commitment by some police officials in some cases and loopholes and gaps into the probe. In separate petition involving the same case, the SIT is yet to submit a report sought by high court on May 12, wherein it was told to list out efforts made by the investigating officers to identify the role of one of the accused Satpreet Singh Satta and the efforts made to nab him. The court had observed that there appeared to be a concerted effort to protect and then allow Satta to go scot free. It was also asked to clarify whether the investigating agency had found any incriminating material against NRI Parminder Singh Pindi and if so, whether he was named as an accused in any of the cases. The SIT was asked to list out efforts to take Pindi into custodial interrogation with the same zeal the investigating agency had exhibited while arresting others accused, including Jagjit Singh Chahal, Sukhraj Singh Kang, Maninder Singh Aulakh, etc. The report was to be submitted in the court by May 30. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A day after the arrest of high-profile conman Rahul Kumar, son of former Dinanagar BJP MLA Roop Rani, who had impersonated as superintendent of police (SP) deputed in the Punjab vigilance department, investigations have revealed that he had duped more than 60 government officers in the state. Talking to HT, senior superintendent of police (SSP), vigilance (Amritsar), Patil K Baliram said that during the preliminary investigations, they had also found that the accused had extorted more than Rs 30 lakh from these officers. The exact figure could be much more. Right now, we can disclose only about the transactions revealed by the accused so far, he added. Among those tricked by him included officers of the rank of superintendent engineer, district food and supply controller, chief medical officer, executive engineer, district health officer and officials of cooperative societies and Punjab Roadways depots from across the state. The SSP said that about one month ago, Amritsar divisional forest officer SK Sagar lodged a complaint with him that some vigilance officer from his department called him and asked for money to fix a corruption case. Subsequently, I laid a trap and after a joint operation by the vigilance department and the Batala police, we arrested him from Dharamshala, he said. Rahul, grandson of former Punjab minister Vaid GianChand, did his graduation in 1998 and subsequently appeared for PCS (executive) examination which he flunked. That was the time when he decided to step into the world of crime, the SSP said. Accuseds modus operandi Meanwhile, Batala city police SHO Narinder Singh told HT that the accused used a novel modus operandi. He would call up officers and tell them that they were trapped in vigilance net and then asked them to tell him what to do. Frightened over the spectre of a vigilance case, the officers were left with no option except to tell the accused to file the case. The accused would then ring them (officers) up after a day or two claiming that their case had been filed and they had nothing to worry about. At the same time he would ask them to deposit money, running into thousands of rupees, into his bank account as he had to pay the hospital bills of some of his relatives who were sick, the SHO revealed. A case had been registered against the accused at the city police station, Batala, on May 10 under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint filed by Karanjit Singh Kler, an officer of the Tarn Taran depot of Punjab Roadways. Even after the Punjab government notified over 100-acre land for acquisition in 2015 to carve out the Jalandhar-Chintpurni four-lane road on the outskirts of the city, the politically well-connected land sharks bought the notified land at throwaway rates and received the hefty land acquisition compensation, it has emerged. When the land acquisition process was set into motion, a fear psychosis that the government will pay very less compensation was created among those whose land was to be acquired. Taking advantage of such a situation, property dealers began buying the notified land at rates as low as Rs 35,000 per marla. On the contrary, the compensation that the government paid was as high as Rs 6.5 lakh per marla in some places. The result The land sharks earned huge profits by receiving land acquisition compensation that was much higher than what they paid to original land owners. As the land acquisition process is still under way, more than 120 sale purchase deeds pertaining to the notified land in Piplanwala and Dangalakalan villages (in outskirts of Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur highway) have taken place during the past six months, according to official documents and Hoshiarpur-based RTI activist Rajiv Vashisht. The farmers were unaware about the exact land compensation rates. Influential people spread the word that the government will acquire land at cheap rates. Anticipating loss, the farmers sold land, says Vashisht, founder chairman of RTI Awareness Forum Punjab. The scrutiny of documents indicates that the sudden change in the land ownerships did not raise the hackles of authorities, including Hoshiarpur SDM Anand Sagar Sharma -- competent authority to allot compensation. In some parts of the notified land, the compensation was up to Rs 10 lakh per marla. Modus operandi For example, 442 marla land was acquired in Khwaspur revenue circle of village Piplanwala. One property dealer, along with ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillor Harpinder Singh Gill, who is close to a senior BJP leader, bought notified agricultural land. The duo started purchasing the notified land on June 23, 2015, a day before the first notification to acquire the land was issued. They purchased land on an average of Rs 52,000 per marla in the names of members of their families, according to official documents. Ten days after the duo in question purchased the land, it was acquired on April 30, 2016, and the SDM paid Rs 7 lakh per marla compensation, including Rs 3.25 lakh per marla as solatium through ICICI Bank, Sutheri Road, Hoshiapur. In another case, as per documents, the agricultural land bought recently by Gill and his family was shown as residential colony to hike the compensation. Adjoining to this residential colony where nothing exists, except a brick boundary wall, agricultural land in Dagana Kalan village was acquired at a rate of Rs 12,500 per marla. This has been the modus operandi in other area as well. A senior Akali Dal leader of Hoshiaprur, Satwinder Pal Singh Datt, purchased notified big plots in the name of his son and wife and pocketed huge compensation. Datt, when contacted, however, denied these charges and said he has not done anything illegal. Hoshiarpur market committee chairman Avtar Singh Johal also purchased plots in the name of his son and wife. As per revenue records, all these purchases were made between February 9, 2016 and April 29, 2016 on an average of Rs 70,000 per marla. A day after these purchases were made, the SDM made all payments to these leaders on April 30 and the compensation was to the tune of Rs 6.5 lakh per marla. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Civil Hospital has sent a proposal for the launch of Diplomate of National Board (DNB) course at the hospital. The approval of the course will be followed by its first session in January 2017. Diplomate of National Board is a post-graduate in post-doctoral medical education, under the ministry of health and family welfare, in various disciplines of modern medicine as mentioned by the Medical Council of India. An inspection team visited the hospital on Friday for the same purpose, where National Board of examiner, Dr. Sunita Lamba inspected gynae OPD, PP unit, nursery unit, mother child ward, and many other sections of the mother and child hospital. Once the application is approved, it will make the civil hospital the first in the state to undertake this course in the government sector. As explained by the programme head, Dr Pardeep Sharma, oral and maxilla-facial surgeon, The implementation of the course will be a big achievement for the hospital. The three-year course is challenging to pass. Senior medical officer (SMO) Sukhjeevan Kakkar said, The approval will be followed by an All India Test where two students will be selected for the course twice a year in January and August. Within three years, the hospital will have a team of twelve doctors in it. Apart from regular classes and training, the doctor-students will also be paid a monthly salary of `40,000 and free accomodation. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between retired professors for teaching. However, owing to a staff crunch of doctors as well as nurses, the civil hospital has tied up with Christian Medical College and Hospital, in association with Dr BK Gill, retired professor and head gynaecologist, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Dr Jatinder Kaur, assisstant professor, Christian Medical College and Dr Mohini Sood, retired professor and head, CMC, who will be part of the course faculty. Dr Pardeep Sharma further added, The course requires professors and teaching, owing to which we have tied up with CMCH. The meeting was also attended by civil surgeon Dr Renu Chattwal, district family welfare officer Dr SP Singh and Dr Sucharita Kalia, DMCH. Controversial Bollywood flick Udta Punjab released in theatres amidst heavy police presence on Friday. Cops were spotted at all the malls in the city after around 50 Shiv Sena members were detained for protesting against the release of the movie. This step was taken to avoid any untoward situation, but screenings of all shows went on peacefully. At around 11 in the morning, a group of nearly 50 members of Shiv Sena Punjab led by chairman Rajeev Tandon reached Govardhan Mall near Jagraon Bridge and started raising slogans against the movie and its director stating that it makes a mockery of Punjabis by claiming that 70% of the state population was addicted to drugs. Tandon said people should not watch the movie as it did not portray the actual situation in the state and is an exaggeration. When protesters refused to budge, assistant commissioner of police (north) Ramneesh Chaudhary detained them, but they were later released. Yet another protest happened at Pavilion Mall near Fountain Chowk by Hindu Morcha Punjab in which at least 30 members raised slogans in front of the mall. Movie-goers faced a little inconvenience as they were not allowed to enter the mall from the main entrance. The protest here continued for at least an hour. Varun Mehta, president of the association, said the film was a conspiracy to defame the youth of Punjab by claiming that 70% of them were addicts. We are against drugs in Punjab, but misleading those who are not residents of the state is objectionable. There is definitely a problem of drugs but that has to be fought together and not by creating a hype, said Mehta. Later, protesters submitted a memorandum to additional deputy commissioner of police 1, Joginder Singh and lifted the agitation. On a late evening during a visit to Orlando, Florida a couple of years back, I had stopped by a nightclub to use the washroom. The sheer energy and colour of the place was inviting, but the music too loud and the lights too dim for my nerves. On the way out I noticed that it was called Pulse. The second time I heard of it was last Sunday when the place was all over the news for the cold-blooded massacre of 49 party revellers in it, by a gun-trotting savage. I usually avoid writing about tragic incidents, in India or abroad, because its kind of unsettling to keep replaying gory details when the intent of people who read this column is to seek calmness. Also, because one needs to leave the post-facto commentary and learnings to experts who understand the subject better. But today, for a change, I do wish to talk about it. Because this is how my conversation with an elderly neighbour went yesterday, and it left me stressed. * She: Did you hear about the killing in the US nightclub? How terrible, no? * Me: Absolutely. Its shocking. I had even been to this bar when I visited the US. * She: Haww. How come you went there? Normal people can also go? * Me: I had stopped over briefly. What do you mean by normal people? * She (sheepishly): No, just wondering. Anyway, koi kaisa bhi ho, they dont deserve to die. My instinct was to sit her down and tell her that its heartbreaking to see condolences being doled out as a favour, but my pained expression did that anyway. And to be fair, it didnt seem like she was being malicious. And thats what bothers even more. Be it an editorial among the thousands that got written by intellectuals in fancy global publications, or the opinion of an ignorant person on the streets, how could the focus of this tragedy be misplaced to be on the sexual orientation of the victims rather than the obnoxiously easy availability of assault weapons in one of the worlds most progressive countries? Read: Just stop, you Facebook nuisance! The initial brouhaha about the assassin having homophobia (what the hell does this term even convey fear of gays?) fell flat under the speculation that he himself frequented gay bars. Then the debate started on his possible dilemma due to his religious beliefs and his orientation. The circus was made worse by his father who declared that it was up to God, and not us humans to punish gays. Please, for the sake of sanity, people! Debate what needs to be debated, and that is how to make it difficult, if not impossible for a person to lay his or her hands on machinery thats designed to kill. As for the abhorrence towards homosexuals, frankly I dont know if its worth trying to break our heads debating with those who are hell bent on denouncing it. They have the right to follow their belief system, just as those who support gays do, for theirs. I just want to ask the following questions to everyone reading this, and I genuinely would respect every varying view, as long as it is objective and not put forth in venomous words, for the sake of strongly making a point. Question 1: When a person decides to kill those who do not even know him or provoked his actions in any way, is there ever a justification that could be put forward for the act be it on religious, moral, sexual, cultural or any grounds whatsoever? Question 2: Would you rather focus your energies on preventing mindless, unprovoked violence or trying to debate on what the victims would have done to deserve it? Read: Dont be a nag parents, just take a deep breath Question 3: So you think its immoral, unnatural, downright wrong to have relations with a person of the same sex? Fair enough. Point taken. Maybe you are right. Maybe not. What is definitely not right is to impose your view, either way, on anyone who thinks differently. And its most certainly not done if you try and impose it in an aggressive, violent manner. Thats not called being gay or straight. Its called being uncivilised. Question 4: Would you rather aim for a society where no one is ever inclined or able to abuse another person sexually or one that prides itself on stopping consensual, happy adults from being with each other in the name of belief systems? If I have one lifetime to dedicate towards a cause, Id much rather it be abolishing rape from the world, than knocking on peoples bedrooms to see if they are sleeping with a man or a woman. Question 5: While we all aim to teach values to our kids, basis our respective, and respected, religions, wouldnt it also be a good idea to teach them the importance of the golden phrase To each his own? Trust me, it saves a lot of tension when you decide to not argue with someone who doesnt share your view. The happy acceptance of a differing view point, with the happy sustenance of your own, might actually be the biggest key to calmness. Sonal Kalra is bracing for a lot of gaalis from those who dont agree with her. It might make her smile though, if an opposite view point is also put forth in a happy, civilised way. She likes to smile. Like any normal person. Mail her at sonal.kalra@hindustantimes.com or facebook.com/sonal.kalra. Follow on Twitter @sonalkalra SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Sudha Menon is the author of Legacy: Letters from Eminent Parents to their Daughters. Here, she writes to her late father, C Radhakrishnan, former vice-president of the All India Railwaymens Federation, who passed away in February. It has been nearly four months since that afternoon when you opened your eyes and looked at us one last time before leaving for your onward journey, Achcha, and the world has ceased to be the place it used to be, without your comforting presence. They say that you lived a full life. He lived to the ripe old age of 83, they comfort me, but there is not a breath I take when I dont miss you so much that I wish I could just float up to the sky and meet you there, no doubt watching the circus in the mortal world with glee. They say we all have to die one day and that the cycle of life and death is preordained but that is still no consolation for the fact that I cant call and hear your familiar voice at the other end, asking after my health. It was the family joke that you were the fittest among us, the one with the six-pack, while we struggled to suck in our sagging stomachs in your presence. Watch: Fathers and Sons - Karan Johar talks about his dad at IIFA, Singapore I miss the generosity of your welcoming smile when I go home now, dear Achcha, and the television playing on full volume so that everybody else in the house had to shout to be heard above the din. It is a lonely journey without you, Achcha. I miss calling you when I have something new and exciting to share. Or to talk about your favourite PG Wodehouse book that I re-read for the 50th time. I remember how your voice lit up when I called to tell you about a cheesecake that my daughter, your eldest granddaughter, baked. She misses you too, Achcha, because you were her admirer number one; the taster-in-chief of everything she baked. They say time takes away the sharp edge of pain and that memories fade with time. How is it then, Achcha, that I can still feel the warmth of your hand in mine, as you waited to get well in hospital? A few days ago one of your favourite Mukesh songs played on the radio and the tears came unbidden from the memory of you in that hospital bed, your fingers tapping out the tune. From the thought that we could not sing together, as we did when I was little. I feel like I didnt say enough, dear Achcha, about just how much it meant to me to grow up surrounded by your love. I was the mousy, scrawny, average child nobody noticed but you insisted I was your smartest, loveliest daughter, showing me off proudly so that I came to believe I had a place in the universe. Your faith in me gave me the wings I might never have discovered on my own. Watch: Deepika reads a letter from her father at the Filmfare Awards I want to tell you that every day I strive to be the parent you were to us. You let us fall, get hurt and learn from our mistakes but we knew you would always be there to pick us up when the going got too tough to handle. A few months before you passed away, you said: Give your children an education that will set them on their way and step aside so they can embark on their own journey, unfettered. I want to tell you what I should have said a zillion times while you were still here, Achcha. I love you. I say it now every night as I lie awake, thinking of the countless lost opportunities. Your last birthday, when I could have come home to celebrate but didnt because I thought, foolishly, that I would make it next time. Or that trip to Hrishikesh I promised I would go on with you and Amma but never did. You wanted to swim in the Ganga. It was not in your nature to harbour regret, anger, sadness. I remember the day the doctor came to your room and I was stern, asking him why he was unable to get a grip on your condition. You turned to him and apologized on my behalf. Never hurt anybody by questioning their professional dignity, you said to me later. Read: Being Narayana Murthys son - Rohan Murthy on his dad I remember you saying to the scores of your fellow workers who arrived at the hospital: Dont worry, I will be fine in a few days and then we will have to make up for the lost time. There is so much work to be done for the workers of this world. I remember your zest for life, your commitment to your causes. I still see your familiar figure sitting erect on the drawing room sofa, reading the days newspaper; or talking to the innumerable roses that you grew on your window sill. The roses dont bloom like they used to, Achcha. Nobody talks to them anymore... Have a story about your own dad -- or someone who was like a father to you? Share your memories and messages in the comments section, or tweet with the hashtags #htTweets #FathersDay European football governing body Uefa said on Saturday it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the football federations of Croatia and Turkey for crowd trouble during their Euro 2016 matches on Friday. Both federations could face sanctions for fans from their countries throwing objects and setting off fireworks, a statement read. Croatia faces additional charges over alleged racist behaviour, while Turkey faces charges over supporters invading the pitch. Read | Turkey coach slams fan booing of Arda Turan during match against Spain The incidents occurred on Friday during the Spain vs Turkey and Czech Republic vs Croatia matches. The hearing will take place on Monday. The Croatia game in St Etienne was held up for several minutes after its fans threw flares on to the pitch and began fighting among themselves. Eight flares and other objects landed on the pitch near to riot police, who had been deployed in front of the section housing Croatia fans. Croatia players gesture towards the fans who appeared to have thrown flares on to the pitch. (REUTERS) The trouble broke out in the dying minutes of a game that Croatia were leading 2-1. The final score was 2-2. Read | Czechs score late penalty to snatch draw with Croatia amid flare trouble Croatia, sanctioned three times during the qualifying competition, is already facing a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday after fans threw flares and ran on to the pitch during the teams opening match at the finals against Turkey in Paris. Euro 2016 has been marred by violence, especially in Marseille last weekend when Russian fans clashed with English supporters before, during and after the Russia vs England game. Earlier this week, French riot police sprayed tear gas and charged England fans in Lille before the England vs Wales match. France has enlisted more than 90,000 police, soldiers and private security agents nationwide to ensure safety in the face of intelligence agency warnings of potential militant Islamist attacks and the threat of hooliganism. Read: Sports terrorists bring new chaos to Euro 2016 as crowd violence continues Republicans leery of their presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, are not giving up. An attempt, called the most organised yet, is underway to stop him at the party convention in July. The plan is to unbind delegates through a change of rules and let them follow their conscience and vote for who they preferred, and not for candidates who won their respective states. The Washington Post, which first reported this move, called it the most organised effort so far to stop Trump and said it was led by dozens of delegates who will attend the convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Unlike previous attempts, such as the Never Trump movement by pundits and media figures, delegates can change party rules and do things needed to stop Trump. The new push follows escalating concerns about Trump over his racist comments about a judge, anti-Muslim remarks and his support for gun reforms that go against the party. This literally is an Anybody but Trump movement, a delegate told the Post. Another one said he wakes up every day struggling to accept that hes going to be our candidate. Many leading Republicans, including some governors, are not supporting Trump. And a senior George W Bush administration Republican has said he, in fact, is voting for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Speaker Paul Ryan, a reluctant Trump backer who will chair the convention, said in a TV interview on Friday he would like delegates to follow their conscience. And thats exactly what the new push is based on. The Post said delegates involved in this attempt plan to pass a conscience clause to unbind delegates from their candidates, and vote for who they want - anyone but Trump. The plan is serious enough to cause concern. Trump sought to dismiss it, saying in a statement it is an attempt by those I defeated soundly in the primaries to take a second shot. Some of the delegates are former supporters of senator Ted Cruz, but they insisted they are not taking cues from anyone and they are not seeking support for anyone. Calling the move silly, the Republican National Committee said, There is no organised effort, strategy or leader of this so-called movement. It is nothing more than a media creation. It was 1920. A young yogi with flowing hair landed on Americas shores, as a delegate to the International Congress of Liberals in Boston. A century ago, India was very much the land of mystical hocus-pocus and half-naked fakirs for Americans. But the yogi, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, would go on to change that perception to a large extent. We know him better as Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) and are familiar with his seminal spiritual work, Autobiography of a Yogi. A contemporary of Swami Vivekananda, he told America: Everything else can wait but your search for God... He spent over 30 years in America, spreading the science of Kriya Yoga and its tradition of meditation. Paramahansa Yogananda shares a meal with Mahatma Gandhi. (Image courtesy Yogoda Satsanga Society of India) The story of this remarkable man is now the subject of a Hollywood film, Awake: The Life of Yogananda. Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmakers, Paola di Florio and Lisa Leeman, the docu-feature was released on Friday in India, ahead of International Yoga Day on June 21. Read: Who was Paramahansa Yogananda? Filmed over three years with the participation of 30 countries, it has been described as an unconventional biography. Awake examines the world of yoga, modern and ancient, in the East and the West. It features interviews with Beatle George Harrison, the late Ravi Shankar, holistic health pioneer Deepak Chopra and many others who were inspired by Paramahansa. Indeed, Yogananda has often been called the Father of Yoga in the West, and the First Superstar Guru. He counted several prominent personalities as his followers, like botanist Luther Burbank, Kodak camera inventor George Eastman and actor Dick Haymes. In India, Mahatma Gandhi requested him to initiate him and some of his followers into Kriya Yoga. His teachings and his work, both have withstood the test of time. Through his spiritual institutions Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) and Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS), Yoganandas work continues to grow. The society has more than 500 centres around the world and disciples spread over six continents. Read: Notable quotes by Paramahansa Yogananda In fact, according to the Walter Isaacson biography, when Steve Jobs died in 2011, he had only one book on his iPad: Autobiography of a Yogi. The book was also given to the people attending Jobss funeral. For Jobs or for the man on the street, Yoganandas teachings are the medium that helps them realise that elusive something else. As Yogananda put the essence of his teachings: Man remains engaged in an unceasing quest for that something else he hopes will bring him complete and unending happiness. For those individual souls who have sought and found God, the search is over: He is that something Else. In an interview to IANS, di Florio said of the films release, It feels like Paramahansajis teachings of Indias ancient wisdom have come full circle... India holds a very special place in my heart. The opening of Awake in India marks a seminal moment. Awake: The Life of Yogananda has been directed by Oscar-nominated filmmakers Paola di Florio and Lisa Leeman, and was released in India on Friday. Actor Anupam Kher, who has lent his voice to the film, described the experience as cathartic in earlier interviews. He said the film was especially important as it gave him a chance to understand the theory of the guru. The New York Times said it was not surprising to see interviews with Ravi Shankar, Deepak Chopra and George Harrison (who died in 2001). Its a bit more so to hear contemporary scientists marvel at Yoganandas understanding of neuroplasticity decades before Western science considered it. The film is the story of one man and his purpose to free mankind of ego and suffering, to make East meet West and offer both a lasting happiness. Who knows, maybe self-realisation can be found in a cinema hall? ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Iraqi forces renewed their offensive against the Islamic State group around second city Mosul on Saturday after driving the jihadists out of most of Fallujah, the defence minister said. Mosul is the last major urban centre in Iraq still under IS control after Iraqi forces raised the national flag over government headquarters in the heart of Fallujah on Friday. Iraqi commanders announced the launch of an offensive to retake Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province in March but under domestic political pressure the government diverted its forces to Fallujah, just west of Baghdad, last month. We started at 5 am (0200 GMT) the second phase of the liberation of Nineveh, defence minister Khaled al-Obeidi told AFP. The target of the operation is to take Qayyarah and make it a launchpad for Mosul, Obeidi said. Qayyarah, which has an airfield, lies across the river Tigris from the main base for pro-government forces in the Kurdish-controlled area of Makhmur. It is some 60 km south of Mosul. The offensive, which has been repeatedly pushed by Washington, has support from US-led forces, notably in the shape of a US Marine artillery post outside Makhmur. On Friday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi promised that the liberation of Mosul was very near as he declared victory in the four-week offensive to retake Fallujah. Abadi said only small pockets of IS resistance remained to be cleared from the jihadists emblematic bastion. But IS still firmly controls northern neighbourhoods of Fallujah where it is believed to be holding thousands of civilians as human shields. Read | Iraq forces retake Fallujah government HQ: Commanders If there is one form of Indian posturing that China supports even at multilateral forums, and allows its citizens to adopt freely, it is Yoga. On Saturday, many cities across China began week-long programmes to mark the second International Day of Yoga, which falls on June 21. Local governments joined hands with the Indian embassy and consulates across China to organise Yoga classes, with teachers flown in from India and thousands of Chinese expected to take part in sessions over the next few days. In November 2014, China had happily supported Indias bid at the United Nations to mark June 21 as the world Yoga day, possibly without muttering the name of a snug South Asian ally. (HT photo) On Saturday morning, more than 600 Chinese practitioners took part in a Yoga session in Beijings biggest park. Five Indian teachers guided them. Senior Indian diplomat Bala Bhaskar read out excerpts from Prime Minister Narendra Modis speech on the second International Day of Yoga: Yoga is much more than a physical exercise it enables us to access a new dimension of the self, even while providing a holistic approach to preventive healthcare and well-being. In eastern China, the Indian consulate in Shanghai helped organise Yoga sessions in nine cities, beginning with Wenzhou on Saturday. Shanghai will hold a session on June 21 that is expected to attract a large number of Chinese followers. Yoga has steadily become popular in China over the years. Ironically, some Chinese teachers learnt Yoga in the US and to many here, the origins of the practice was in the US. That impression is changing. Several hundred Chinese yoga enthusiasts participated in a mass yoga session on Saturday morning to mark International Yoga Day, which falls on June 21. (HT Photo) The first dedicated Yoga institution, the China-India Yoga College, was opened in southwestern Chinas Yunnan Minzu (Nationalities) University at Kunming last November. Yoga has been gaining a foothold in China in recent years and many of the country's 50,000 fitness centers now offer classes in Yoga, the state media reported in May. Yoga was first introduced into China by Hong Kong practitioner Wai Lana in the 1980s. Her workout programs, which aired daily on China's Central Television, were the starting point for many Chinese yogis, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Its popularity is spreading, with some users on Chinas Twittter-like Weibo uploading photos of themselves in various Yoga asanas or positions. The Chinese government wants to publish a teaching manual and issue Yoga instructor qualification criteria. The government wants to see more standardisation as Yoga develops in China, with the field already seeing fake Yoga organisations, unqualified instructors and injuries caused by excessive practice, a state media report said. Thomas Mair, charged with the murder of popular Labour MP Jo Cox, was remanded to custody by the Westminster magistrates court on Saturday after giving his name in court as Death to traitors, freedom for Britain. Read: Jo Cox: A shining example of what an MP can be Campaigning for the June 23 referendum on Britains future in the European Union remained suspended for the weekend in view of Coxs murder on Thursday, but is expected to resume with a more respectful tone on Sunday. Emma Arbuthnot, deputy chief magistrate, ordered that Mair be remanded in custody at Belmarsh prison until his next appearance at the Old Bailey on Monday. She suggested a psychiatric report be prepared: Bearing in mind the name he has just given, he ought to be seen by a psychiatrist. Read: 10 things to know about British MP Jo Cox who died in stabbing, shooting Nick Wallen of West Yorkshire Police said Mair was charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon. Mair, 52, refused to give his name in court, and did not respond when asked to confirm his address and date of birth. A 77-year-old man, who was injured when he tried to help Cox during the attack, was reported to be in a stable condition in hospital. Vigils have been held across Britain and Prime Minister David Cameron and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn visited Coxs Batley and Spen constituency to pay tributes. Parliament has been recalled on Monday to allow MPs to pay tributes to Cox, a first-time MP elected in the May 2015 election. The murder, the first of a British MP since 1990, sent shockwaves around the world. The 41-year-old mother of two was shot and stabbed in the street in a daylight attack in her constituency in northern England as she was heading for a meeting with local residents. Both sides in the deeply divisive campaign ahead of the referendum on EU membership cancelled events amid calls for a less acrimonious political debate. Cox, a former aid worker, was an advocate for refugee rights and immigration and wanted Britain to remain in the EU. US President Barack Obama on Friday phoned Coxs husband Brendan to offer condolences. The president noted that the world is a better place because of her selfless service to others, and that there can be no justification for this heinous crime, the White House said in a statement. Flowers on the river - Eyewitness Hichem Ben Abdallah, 56, told AFP on Friday that he heard two shots and saw Cox on the ground. Her face was full of blood, said Ben Abdallah, who campaigned alongside the Labour politician before she was elected to parliament for the first time last year. She stood for peace and transparency, fighting corruption, wanted justice for all. I think her flame will carry on, he said. I hope we learn lessons from this. A fund created in Coxs memory by her friends and family has raised more than 250,000 ($359,000) so far for charities close to her heart. The money will support the Royal Voluntary Service which helps combat loneliness in her constituency; the Hope Not Hate anti-extremism group and the White Helmets volunteer search and rescue workers in Syria. At a vigil in Londons Parliament Square on Friday evening, hundreds of people gathered to lay flowers and pay their respects, holding a minutes silence. Cox lived with her husband Brendan and their two children, aged three and five, on a houseboat moored on the River Thames in London, close to the citys iconic Tower Bridge. Mourners laid flowers on the roof of the converted barge along with pictures of the slain MP. (With inputs from agencies) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, to death for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Morsi, the cases top defendant, and two of his aides were sentenced to 25 years in prison. Morsi and his secretary, Amin el-Sirafy, each received an additional 15-year sentence for a lesser crime. El-Sirafys daughter, Karima, was also sentenced to 15 years in prison. Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013 and has already been sentenced to death in another case. That death sentence and another two life and 20 years in prison are under appeal. His Muslim Brotherhood group was banned and declared a terrorist organization after his ouster. All of Saturdays verdicts can be appealed. The two Al-Jazeera employees identified by the judge as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal were sentenced to death in absentia along with Asmaa al-Khateib, who worked for Rasd, a media network widely suspected of links to Morsis Muslim Brotherhood. There was no immediate comment from Al-Jazeera on Saturdays verdicts, but a news story on the Al-Jazeera English website identified Hilal as a former director of news at Al-Jazeeras Arabic channel and said Alaa Omar Mohammed was an Al-Jazeera employee until last year. The three other defendants sentenced to death Saturday are documentary producer Ahmed Afify, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohammed Keilany and academic Ahmed Ismail. Judge Mohammed Shirin Fahmy recommended the death sentence for the six last month. Under standard procedure in cases of capital punishment, his recommendation went to the office of Egypts Grand Mufti, the nations top Muslim theological authority, for endorsement. Fahmy quoted the Muftis office as saying the six had sought to harm the country when they passed to a foreign nation details of the armys deployment as well as reports prepared by intelligence agencies. They are more dangerous than spies, because spies are usually foreigners, but these are, regrettably, Egyptians who betrayed the trust. No ideology can ever justify the betrayal of ones country, the judge added. Egypts relations with Qatar have been fraught with tension since the ouster of Morsi, who enjoyed the support of the tiny but wealthy Gulf state. Cairo also maintains that Al-Jazeeras news coverage of Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East is biased in favor of militant Islamic groups. Last year, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi pardoned two imprisoned journalists from the Al-Jazeera English news network. Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-born Canadian, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were arrested in December 2013. They had been sentenced to three years in prison for airing what a court described as false news and coverage biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood. The prosecution of the two, along with Australian Peter Greste another Al-Jazeera English reporter who was deported in February last year drew strong international condemnation. Their long-running trial was entangled from the start with the wider political enmity between Egypt and Qatar following Morsis ouster. A mans throat was slit by relatives of his wife who disapproved of their marriage in the latest honour killing to hit Pakistan, police said Saturday. Hundreds of women are murdered by relatives in conservative Muslim Pakistan each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour, but it is rare for victim to be a man. The murder happened at a marketplace in the Punjab city of Burewala on Friday, when Muhammad Irshad, 43, was attacked by his father-in-law and two brothers in-law, police said. The assailants were armed with knives and hatchets and after inflicting several wounds on Irshads body they slit his throat, district police chief Ghazi Salahuddin told AFP. Irshad had married Mussarat Bibi, the daughter of a rich local agricultural family, about an year ago and fled as he feared his in-laws would kill him, but he had returned to see his parents, the police chief said. A manhunt had been launched to find Irshads in-laws, who remained at large, he added. Last week 16 year-old Zeenat Bibi was killed in Lahore by her mother for marrying a man of her own choice in a case that sparked condemnation throughout the country. It was swiftly followed by another killing, of a couple in Lahore who married without their familys consent. On Thursday relatives slit the throat of a young mother who was pregnant with her second child after she married against their will in the village of Buttaranwali, some 75 kilometres (46 miles) north of Punjab provincial capital Lahore. On Sunday a young girl was killed by her brother for insisting on marrying the man of her choice in the city of Sialkot, also in Punjab. A film on honour killings in Pakistan won an Oscar for best documentary short in February. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to eradicate the evil amid publicity for the film, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, but as yet no fresh legislation has been tabled. Peace returned to Bumburet Valley of northern Pakistan on Saturday after a girl from the minority Kalash community, who was at the centre of a row over forced conversions, said she had embraced Islam of her own free will. Reena was at the centre of a storm in the Chitral region earlier this week as Muslims and members of the animist Kalash community clashed over what was seen by many as the girls forced conversion by religious groups. However, Reena appeared in a district office and said in a statement before a magistrate that she had converted to Islam on her own. She also told a news conference she had converted after reading books on Islam and after consulting her family members, many of whom were Muslims. Earlier this week, Reena's parents had invited her to their home but this resulted in fighting between local residents as some Muslims feared she was being pressured into taking back her decision to convert. The clash between the two groups became very intense and police intervened with rubber bullets and tear gas. Members of the Kalash community said they were attacked by hundreds of Muslims and it was the police who helped save their lives. Local journalist Mukhamuddin said the issue of conversion of members of the Kalash community was a sensitive one in the area as hundreds of Kalash had embraced Islam in the past few years. "In most instances, the Kalash youth are offered economic incentives to convert," said Mukhamuddin. Isphandyar Bhandara, who has represented the community in parliament, said many members of the Kalash community are in dire financial straits because of failed business ventures. "These are simple people who have been taken advantage of by local traders, with the result that they are now heavily in debt," said Bhandara. The issue of forced conversions of members of Pakistan's religious minorities is a sensitive one. Earlier this year, a bill passed by parliament formalised the marriages of members of the Hindu community, which earlier did not have legal sanction. But the Pakistan Hindu Council says the issue of forced conversions remains neglected despite repeated demands that this be addressed as well. It is estimated that more than a hundred Hindu women are kidnapped in Pakistan every year and forcibly converted to Islam before being married off. The IMF has warned Brexit could deal the British economy a negative and substantial blow as Vladimir Putin suggested David Cameron was trying to blackmail Europe with the EU referendum. Meanwhile The Times newspaper came out Saturday in favour of Britain staying in the European Union, five days ahead of the vote on whether the UK should stay in the bloc or leave. Read: Britains identity crisis: Its stuck between nostalgia and an uncertain future The pound rallied as investors leaned towards a Remain outcome from Thursdays closely-contested referendum. Campaigning remains suspended Saturday as a mark of respect for murdered lawmaker Jo Cox. Cox, who was backing the Remain campaign, was slain in her northern English constituency on Thursday. Murder suspect Thomas Mair has been charged and was to appear in a London court on Saturday. With less than a week until the referendum, the International Monetary Fund warned that a so-called Brexit would harm the British economy while contagion effects could hit markets worldwide. In the worst-case scenario, the UK economy would sink into recession next year and overall economic output would be 5.6 percent lower than otherwise forecast by 2019, with unemployment rising back above six percent, it said Friday. While there is much uncertainty about the precise economic effects of an exit from the EU, they are likely negative and substantial, the Washington-based global crisis lender revealed in its annual British economic check-up. An exit would precipitate a protracted period of heightened uncertainty that could weigh on confidence and investment and increase financial market volatility. In addition, contagion effects could result in spillovers to regional and global markets, although the primary impact would be felt domestically. While in a limited impact scenario the IMF said the economy would only lose 1.4 percent from the current outlook by 2019, the report gave one of the starkest pictures yet of the impact of Brexit. Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested British Prime Minister David Cameron had called the referendum to blackmail and scare Europe. Why has he set up this referendum? To blackmail Europe? Or to scare it? What is the purpose if he himself is against Britain leaving the EU, Putin said Friday during a meeting with representatives of news agencies, including AFP. Some experts say a Brexit will be to the detriment of Europe. But others say that the EU will be more stable, Putin said, pointing to the example of British fishermen. They explain how hard it is to live with the restrictions on fishing. But there are advantages in other sectors. A 30-year-old Indian-American Democratic social worker is running for the US House of Representatives from New Jersey which is known to be a strong Republican bastion. Peter Jacob, a staunch supporter of senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, was elected unopposed in the Democratic primary on June 7. He is seeking to unseat incumbent Leonard Lance of the Republican party who has represented congressional district 7 of New Jersey since 2009. This is the same congressional district from where Upendra Chivukula, the first Indian-American to be elected to the New Jersey state assembly, tried his luck in 2012 and lost to Lance by more than 50,000 votes. Another Indian-Americans Thomas Abraham ran as an independent in 2008 and got less than one per cent of the votes. The 7th congressional district of New Jersey is said to be a strong Republican bastion. The party has retained this seat for the last 100 years, except for six years between 1975-1981. However, Jacobs, hopes to turn the tide this election cycle given that his rival incumbent Lance is supporting Donald Trump. In a congressional district having a sizeable population of foreign born, extreme views are unlikely to sail through, he noted. It is ironic to me that Leonard Lance has endorsed Donald Trump, because Trump has preached out against the type of politician that Leonard Lance is, Jacob told local Daily Record. When they arrived in 1986, they had three things with them. Just 20 dollar in their pockets, hearts full of hope and six-months-old me in their arms, he said. Today his parents own and operate a thriving business. I wouldnt say Im a long shot. I think 2016 is a very different year, he told the media outlet. During his undergraduate and graduate years, Peter was a student activist and leader. He worked with the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), the YWCA and the International Institute. Through these and other community organisations, he helped fight the ongoing scourges of child abuse, human trafficking, and disastrous Iraq War. British police said on Saturday they had charged a 52-year-old man in the slaying of lawmaker Jo Cox, and said the suspect appeared to have acted alone. Cox, a supporter of Britain staying in the European Union (EU), was shot and stabbed on Thursday by a man who witnesses said shouted Britain first, in her own electoral district near Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire in northern England. Her murder has left Britain in shock and campaigning for next weeks referendum on whether to remain in the EU has been suspended as a mark of respect. West Yorkshire police said on its website that Thomas Mair had been charged with the murder of the 41-year-old mother of two and was due to appear at Westminster Magistrates court later on Saturday. Police, working with the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, were pursuing inquiries into media reports of the suspect being linked to right wing extremism and the suspects link to mental health services, West Yorkshire Police detective superintendent Nick Wallen said in a statement. Based on information available at this time, this appears to be an isolated, but targeted attack upon Jo - there is also no indication at this stage that anyone else was involved in the attack. However we will be investigating how the suspect came to be in possession of an unlawfully held firearm, Wallen said. Mair had been charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon, police said. Police have said counter-terrorism officers are also involved in the investigation into the attack, which occurred as Cox arrived for a meeting with constituents. The murder has sparked debate in Britain, which has strict gun controls, about the safety of lawmakers, the heightened tempo of political confrontation and whether the slaying would affect the outcome of the referendum. Wallen said police were working with the Palace of Westminster and the Home Office to review security arrangements for members of parliament. The killing prompted a suspension of campaigning for the June 23 EU referendum, the tone of which has become ugly and included bitter personal recriminations as well as furious debate of issues such as immigration and the economy. Prime Minister David Cameron has agreed to recall parliament on Monday in tribute to Cox, who was considered an outstanding member of the new intake of Labour parliamentarians. She had been a prominent aid worker. Both sides have put their national EU campaigns on hold until at least Sunday. Read | Jo Cox: A shining example of what an MP can be It was a tense and rather peculiar gathering that took place on July 23, 1924, at 10 Lime Street, an elegant four-story brick house in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. In a narrow room on the top floor, five distinguished men had come together to try to communicate with the dead. Their hostessand guide to the spirit realmwas vivacious, 36-year-old Mina Crandon, who had in recent months become well-known to the public under a stage name of sorts: Margery the Medium. Margery greeted her visitors in a flimsy dressing gown, bedroom slippers, and silk stockings. This attire, which left little to the imagination, was intended to rule out the possibility of concealment or trickery. It may have had other effects on her male visitors. Margerys girlish figure, fashionably bobbed light-brown hair, and sparkling blue eyes combined to make her, in the words of one bedazzled admirer, too attractive for her own good. During the previous year, Margery had conducted dozens of similar gatherings, or seances, for some hundreds of impressionable friends and acquaintances. Seated around a wooden table in the pitch-black room, Margery and her fellowsitters experienced a wide range of unearthly happenings. Mysterious bumps and raps rang out. Strange flashes of light pierced the darkness. Sometimes a wind-up Victrola would stop and start of its own accord, or disembodied voices would call from the shadows. Once a live pigeon appeared in the room, seemingly conjured from thin air. Even the table itself became an active participant in the proceedings, rearing up on two legs or rising toward the ceiling. At one especially lively sitting, it pursued a visitor from the room and knocked him off his feet. Each of these remarkable events was thought to offer proof of the validity of spiritualism, the belief that it is possible for the dead to communicate with the living through an earthly conduit known as a medium. I consider the psychic question to be infinitely the most important thing in the world, declared Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the worlds most visible proponent of spiritualism. All modern inventions and discoveries will sink into insignificance beside those psychic facts which will force themselves within a few years upon the universal human mind. Conan Doyle was not alone in this view. Spiritualism had been on the wane for decades, but in the wake of World War I, as death touched tens of thousands of households on both sides of the Atlantic, the movement underwent a rebirth. Friends and relatives of fallen soldiers flocked to seances, desperate to receive some word or sign of life beyond the veil. Many of the mediums who set up shop during this period were obvious frauds, callously playing upon the hopes of the bereaved. Others, like Mina Crandon, were not so easily dismissed. Her astonishing versatility and personal charm soon propelled her to international fame, and sparked an enduring controversy. To a large extent, that controversy began at Margerys July 23 seance. Up to this point, the medium had displayed her talents almost exclusively to sympathetic audiences, who readily saw evidence of their departed loved ones in the strange manifestations at Lime Street. On that particular night, however, the sitters were of a more critical frame of mind, none more so than the man seated to Margerys leftHarry Houdini. Houdini, who had achieved world fame through his skills as a magician and his abilities as an escape artist, had been creating a new role for himself as thescourge of spirit mediums. I am willing to be convinced, he wrote earlier that year; my mind is open, but the proof must be such as to leave no vestige of doubt that what is claimed to be done is accomplished only through or by supernatural power. Houdinis public crusade had its roots in a private grief. The death of his beloved mother in 1913 had been a shock from which I do not think recovery is possible. In the intervening years he had attended hundreds of seances, but his longing to contact his mother soon turned to rage at the obvious deceptions he encountered. It galled him to see the public bilked by unscrupulous mediums whose talents, he thought, were no more supernatural than those of honest magicians. He soon vowed to devote the remainder of his life to exposing fraudulent mediums. Even in this, the magician could not entirely restrain his flair for the dramatic. Often he attended seances wearing a false beard and mustache or some other camouflage, the better to observe without being detected. When he had gathered enough evidence to make an exposure, he would leap up, tear off his disguise, and shout, I am Houdini! And you are a fraud! Houdini needed no disguise when he called upon Margery; the medium relished the chance to convert such a notorious skeptic. Some observers saw this encounter as an acid testnot just of Margerys mediumship, but of spiritualism itself. But if Houdini truly maintained an open mind on the subject, as he often claimed, there was little evidence of it that night as the small seance room came alive with otherworldly activity. A spirit bell rang. A voice called to him in the darkness. A megaphone crashed to the floor at his feet. If these manifestations impressed him, he gave little sign. When the lights came back on, Houdini thanked his hostess and took his leave. On the drive back to his hotel, the magician gave voice to his true feelings. Ive got her, he declared. All fraud. Mina Crandon seemed an unlikely medium. Where the celebrated Helena Blavatsky, founder of the movement known as Theosophy, had been solid and serious, Mina Crandon resembled nothing so much as a light-hearted flapper. Even Houdini conceded that she was an exceedingly attractive woman, and one psychic researcher cautioned his colleagues to avoid falling in love with the medium. The daughter of a Canadian farmer, Mina had moved to Boston as a teenager to play piano, cornet, and cello in various local dance bands and orchestras. After working as a secretary, an actress, and an ambulance driver, Mina divorced her first husband and married Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon, a former instructor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School, in 1918. She was barely 30. Dr. Crandon was at least a dozen years older. It was Dr. Crandon who introduced his wife to the paranormal. In the spring of 1923 he had become intrigued by an account of table tipping, a rudimentary form of mediumship not unlike a Ouija board. Crandon ordered a table constructed to the exact dimensions specified in the book he had been reading. Toward the end of May, Crandon and his wife invited four of their friends to join them in an attempt to recreate the table-tipping experiment. Following Crandons terse instructions, the sitters took their places at the table, joined hands, and waited for some sign of a spirit presence. Nothing happened. Mina began to feel silly. They were all so solemn about it that I couldnt help laughing, she recalled. They reproved me severely, and my husband informed me gravely that This is a serious matter. Then, abruptly, the table began to moveonly slightly at first, but then more violently, tilting up on two legs before crashing loudly to the floor. Crandon demanded to know which of his guests possessed the mediumistic talent necessary to cause this manifestation. One by one, the physician instructed his friends to remove their hands from the seance table. The table stopped its rocking only when the last of the sitters lifted her hands. Dr. Crandon had his answer. The medium was his own wife. At first, the very idea of being a medium seemed a great lark to Mina. All through the summer of 1923 the Crandons conducted one seance after another. In each case, Mina appeared to exhibit some strange new power. Indeed, it seemed that Dr. Crandon had only to read of some new psychic manifestation before Mina could duplicate it. Within a month of the first seance, Dr. Crandon announced a plan to place his wife under hypnosis, in the hope of making contact with a psychic control who would serve as her guide to the spirit world. At first Mina resisted this suggestion, claiming that she didnt want to miss any of the fun while under hypnosis. Eventually, however, she gave in to her husbands wishes, and before long an unfamiliar male voice made itself known to the Crandon circle. I said I could put this through, it announced. The voice, it was thought, belonged to Walter Stinson, Minas older brother, who had been crushed to death in a railroad accident a dozen years earlier. From this point forward, Walters spirit was a regular presence in the seance room at Lime Street. Walter proved to have a forceful personality. He had a quick and ready wit and was much given to rough language. Many visitors to the Crandons seance room became convinced of the truth of what they heard simply because they could not imagine that such coarse and irreverent language would issue from the lips of the demure doctors wife. Hell is now completely up to date, Walter once quipped to a roomful of clergymen. We burn oil! Several observers noted that Walters voice did not appear to come from Mina at all. The sound seemed to originate in a different part of the room, and would continue unabated even while Mina snored her way through a hypnotic trance, or held her mouth full of water. The effect proved so remarkable that one skeptic, searching for some plausible explanation, wondered aloud if perhaps the lady could speak through her ears. Believing his wife to be a remarkable psychic instrument, Dr. Crandon took her abroad to build up a consensus of favorable opinion from European experts. One of these was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who declared her to be a very powerful medium and that the validity of her gifts was beyond all question. J. Malcolm Bird, an associate editor of Scientific American magazine, shared Conan Doyles opinion and wrote a series of articles extolling Mrs. Crandons gifts. It was Bird who gave her the name Margery, in an effort to protect the Crandons privacy. Under this name, her renown steadily grew. By bringing Mrs. Crandon to the attention of Scientific American, Conan Doyle had inadvertently placed her at the center of a growing controversy. In December 1922 the magazine had launched an investigation into the paranormal, with a cash prize of $2,500 to the first person who produces a psychic photograph under its test conditions and $2,500 to the first person who produces a visible psychic manifestation of other character . . . to the full satisfaction of these judges. A special investigating committee would examine all mediums who applied for the prize, with Bird acting as its secretary. Conan Doyle regretted that Bird, a Margery supporter, would have no investigative role, as the author harbored reservations about the rest of the committee, which included several skeptics. When Houdini was asked to lend his talents, Conan Doyle expressed outrage at the capital error of placing an enemy of spiritualism on such a body. The Commission is, in my opinion, a farce, he wrote. The Crandons, for their part, seemed to welcome the opportunity to test Margerys mettle against the notorious Houdini. Though Scientific Americans money meant little to the wealthy couple, the opportunity to win the approval of such a prestigious bodyat Houdinis expenseproved too great a temptation to resist. Dr. Crandon wrote to Conan Doyle of his willingness to crucify any investigators who doubted his wife. Even the discarnate voice of Walter, speaking from the spirit plane, appeared to relish the challenge. As it happened, Houdini was not notified when the Scientific American committee began its investigations, and he didnt learn until three months later that the proceedings were under way at all. By this time, rumor had it that the committee was on the point of declaring Margery genuine and awarding her the prize. Bird, in particular, seemed eager to give the magazines endorsement and allowed word of the favorable findings to find its way to the press. Boston Medium Baffles Experts, announced one headline. Houdini the Magician Stumped, declared another. Houdini, who had not even been present at the investigation, much less stumped, was not pleased. He told Scientific American that he would forfeit $1,000 of his own money if he failed to expose Margery as a fraud. Traveling to Boston, he reviewed the findings of his peers. To his way of thinking, the investigation had been mishandled from the start. Most of the committee members had availed themselves of the Crandons generous hospitality during the proceedingsstaying in their home, eating their food, and enjoying their company. This, Houdini believed, had badly compromised their objectivity. Later it was revealed that accepting room and board had been the least of the transgressions. One investigator had actually borrowed money from Dr. Crandon, while another hoped to win his backing for a research foundation. Worse yet, the distinguished panel was not unaware of Mrs. Crandons attractions. At least one committee member drew comfort in his old age from the recollection of amorous encounters with the celebrated medium. After the July 23 seance, Houdini left the Crandon home much impressed by the famous Margerythough not by any supernatural powers, he hastened to assure his colleagues. At his hotel later that evening, the magician explained how and why his conclusions differed from theirs. One feat that had baffled the other sitters was the ringing of aspirit bell box, a small wooden clapper-box that sounded an electric bell when pressed from the top. Although Margerys hands were held by the sitters on either side of her and her feet were in contact with theirs, the bell box rang repeatedly throughout the seancea phenomenon she attributed to Walter. Usually the bell box sat on the floor between Margerys legs, but Houdini had insisted that it be placed on the floor at his own feet. Despite this precaution, the bell rang as merrily as ever. Houdini had a ready answer: I had rolled my right trouser leg up above my knee, he later wrote. All that day I had worn a silk rubber bandage around that leg just below the knee. By night the part of the leg below the bandage had become swollen and painfully tender, thus giving me a much keener sense of feeling and making it easier to notice the slightest sliding of Mrs. Crandons ankle or flexing of her muscles.I could distinctly feel her ankle slowly and spasmodically sliding as it pressed against mine while she gained space to raise her foot off the floor and touch the top of the box. In short, Margerys agile foot, not a spirit visitor, had been responsible for the ringing bell. Another of the evenings mysteries had involved a megaphone thataccording to the disembodied voice of Walterhad been levitated in the darkness above the sitters heads. Have Houdini tell me where to throw it, the voice had commanded. Toward me, answered Houdini, whereupon the megaphone instantly crashed to the ground in front of him. Here, too, Houdini had an explanation. Earlier in the proceedings, he said, when one of Margerys hands momentarily came free, she had snatched up the megaphone and placed it on her head, like a dunce cap. In the total darkness of the seance room, no one would have seen her do this. Later, with both of her hands again under control, the medium had made the megaphone sail through the air simply by snapping her head forward. This, Houdini acknowledged, is the slickest ruse I have ever seen. To assure proper control at future seances, Houdini designed a special fraud-preventer cabinet, a slant-topped crate with openings for the mediums head and arms. Once inside, Margerys movementsand the opportunities for deceptionwould be severely limited. Reluctantly, Margery agreed to conduct a seance from within the cabinet, but not before Dr. Crandon and Houdini exchanged such harsh words that Walter himself felt compelled to call for a truce. The first seance with the cabinet was not a success. Acting on a tip from Walter, Dr. Crandon discovered a small pencil eraser wedged into the bell box to prevent it from ringing. Outraged, the physician accused Houdini of attempting to sabotage the proceedingsa charge the magician repeatedly denied. Another attempt proved even more dismal. A collapsible carpenters rulerwhich might have been used to manipulate the bell box and other apparatus from within the cabinetwas discovered at Margerys feet. Margerys defenders saw this as a craven attempt by Houdini to discredit her. Houdini, you God damned bastard, get the hell out of here and never come back! exclaimed the voice of Walter at the seance. In Houdinis view, the folding ruler had been planted to impugn his testimony, and he resented that anyone would take Walters word over his. By the time Scientific American finally declined to grant the prize to Margery, in large part due to Houdinis exposures, the combustible magician had quarreled, sometimes violently, with every member of the committee. Bird, whom Houdini suspected of active collusion with the Crandons, had resigned as secretary. In his final verdict of the Margery phenomenon, Houdini wrote, My decision is, that everything which took place at the seances which I attended was a deliberate and conscious fraud. From the great beyond, Walter weighed in with a prediction: Houdini, he said, would be dead within a year. Houdini managed to thwart the prophecy, but only just. He died on October 31, 1926, of complications following a blow to the stomach. In an interview with the press, Margery offered a few words of conciliation, praising Houdinis virile personality and great determination. Despite Houdinis exposures, Margery emerged from the debacle essentially unscathed. In the seance room, she went on to better things. By the end of 1924 she had begun to produce teleplasmic manifestations similar to those of Eusapia Palladino, a famed Italian medium. Sitters were now treated to the sight of ectoplasmsaid to be the substance of spirit emanationsissuing from Margerys nose, mouth, ears, and other body openings. The emanations, once extruded from the mediums body, sometimes formed themselves into the shape of crude hands. These ectoplasmic limbs, the medium claimed, were responsible for the ringing of the bell box and other phenomena. Eric J. Dingwall, an officer of Britains Society for Psychical Research, was one of the first to investigate Margerys latest wonder. Having evidently won the confidence of Walter, Dingwall was permitted to view the teleplasmic emanations by the light of a red lamp, which Dr. Crandon flashed on and off to reveal brief glimpses of the phenomenon. Too much light, Crandon explained, would have an inhibiting effect on the ectoplasm. The materialized hands are connected by an umbilical cord to the medium, Dingwall wrote to a friend, they seize upon objects and displace them. Later, when Dingwall was permitted to clasp one of the teleplasmic hands, he described it as feeling like a piece of cold raw beef or possibly a piece of soft wet rubber. Mid-way through his investigations, however, Dingwall began to entertain doubts. Dr. Crandons lamp never allowed him to see the ectoplasm actually extrude from Margerys body; he had only seen it after the fact. Odder still, photographs revealed that many of the emanations appeared to be hanging from slender, almost invisible threads. Others who examined the photographs noted that the ectoplasm looked suspiciously like animal lung tissue, a substance Dr. Crandon might have obtained through his work at Boston hospitals. Dingwalls final report on the matter was inconclusive. Margery remained characteristically unconcerned. In an earlier age, she noted, she would have been executed as a witch. Now she found herself the subject of learned investigations. That represents some progress, doesnt it? she asked. Sitters continued to file into the seance room at Lime Street. One investigation after another raised the possibility of fraud, but none seemed able to make the allegations stick. Even J.B. Rhine, later to become one of the driving forces of paranormal research, was intrigued by Margery, but he came away unimpressed by what he had seen. As ever, Conan Doyle defended the medium. When Rhine published an unflattering account of his experience with Margery, Conan Doyle bought space in several Boston newspapers to run a reply. The black-bordered message read simply: J. B. Rhine is an ass. By 1928, Margery had added yet another effect to her repertoire, one that promised to excite even more speculation. In recent seances, Walter had hinted that it might be possible for him to leave behind a fingerprint. On a visit to her dentist, Dr. Frederick Caldwell, Margery asked if the hot wax used to take dental impressions might also be used to obtain Walters fingerprint. Caldwell demonstrated how well the wax preserved his thumbprint and gave Margery his sample print and all the necessary materials to make new ones. That very night, Walter left a thumbprint in the wax. When a so-called fingerprint expert used by the Crandons said the print matched one taken from an old razor that once belonged to Walter Stinson, Margery appeared to have confounded the skeptics. Yet when psychic researcher E.E. Dudley set out to compare Walters wax print with those of people in the Crandon circle, he made a surprising discovery: Walters thumbprint was identical in every way to that of Margerys dentist, Dr. Caldwell. Someone had apparently used the sample thumbprint Dr. Caldwell had made for Margery to create a metal die-stamp suitable for making impressions in wax. The ax had finally fallen. Even many devoted adherents backed away from their earlier endorsements. Malcolm Bird, once her staunchest defender, admitted that at times he had been guilty of elaborations and half-truths. The scientific community let it be known that Margerys seances no longer held any interest. The mediums decline was rapid and tragic. With the death of Dr. Crandon in 1939, Mina grew melancholy and depressed and turned to alcohol for consolation. She began to look older than her years; one visitor described her as an overdressed, dumpy little woman. She seemed to have difficulty controlling her emotions. During one seance the medium grew so distraught that she climbed to the roof of the Lime Street house and threatened to throw herself off. Mina Crandon died at the age of 54 in 1941. In the end she had been worn down not so much by the assaults of adversaries like Houdini, but by the entreaties of her supporters, who continually demanded new and better miracles from her. As Eileen Garrett, a fellow medium, observed, Margerys best friends were her worst enemies. This article was written by Daniel Stashower and originally appeared in the August 1999 issue of American History magazine. For more great articles, subscribe to American History magazine today! Rezidor Announces Two New Hotels in Dammam, Saudi Arabia Rezidor announced two new hotels in Dammam: the mid-scale Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Residence Dammam Industrial City will feature 300 units and open in 2016. The upper-upscale Radisson Blu Hotel Dammam Al Faisaliyah with 260 keys is scheduled to welcome the first guests in 2018. Rezidor already operates a Park Inn by Radisson in Dammam, so increases its local portfolio to 3 hotels with 650 rooms and serviced apartments. "Dammam is the capital and centre of the Eastern province and a strategically important location for us. Our growing portfolio in this key city further strengthens our network in Saudi Arabia the Kingdom is a focus country for our group. The recent vision for the country lays further confidence for our commitment to accelrate our expansion in the country ", said Wolfgang M. Neumann, President & CEO of Rezidor. "We are delighted to be present in Dammam with our two core brands Park Inn by Radisson and Radisson Blu. Cluster developments allow us to use operational and commercial syngergies and to unlock value for our guests, business partners and owners. We look forward to contributing to the socio-economic journey of Saudi Arabia", added Elie Younes, Executive Vice President & Chief Development Office of Rezidor. The Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Residence Dammam Industrial City is under construction and located in a business hub with 340 factories and 75,000 employees. The hotel comprises 196 rooms and 104 serviced apartments, an all-day-dining restaurant and a speciality restaurant, meeting & event facilities with a surface of almost 950 square meters, a gym, spa, pool, and children's play area. The Radisson Blu Hotel Dammam Al Faisaliyah will be built at the intersection of King Fahd Road and Dharan Jubail Express Way, two major arteries in town. It will be part of the upcoming 5D Business Park, a 6,500 square meter landmass. The property will have 200 guest rooms and 60 serviced apartments, 2 restaurants, conference facilities of almost 650 square meters, a business class lounge, a gym, and a kids daycare centre. Dammam is located on the Arabian gulf and has a population of 1 million inhabitants. It houses the Emirate of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and also many ministries and governmental departments. In addition to its bureaucratic activity, Dammam also boasts a considerable manufacturing industry some of the world's most important centres for production and refining of petroleum are located near Dammam. pipeline blast Utility goes on trial SAN FRANCISCO - Pacific Gas & Electric Co. ignored pipeline safety regulations to cut costs and tried to cover up its illegal practices by misleading federal officials investigating a deadly explosion of one of its natural gas pipelines in the San Francisco Bay Area, a prosecutor said Friday as a criminal trial against the utility giant got underway. PG&E knew exactly what to do to comply with regulations but didn't do it, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hallie Hoffman said in her opening statement. "Instead, it chose a cheaper method that did not ensure the safety of pipelines running through high-consequence areas," Hoffman said. PG&E attorney Steven Bauer said the company's employees did what they could in the face of ambiguous regulations they struggled to understand. A PG&E natural gas pipeline exploded in the city of San Bruno six years ago, sending a giant plume of fire into the air. The blast killed eight people and destroyed 38 houses. PG&E has pleaded not guilty to one count of obstruction and multiple charges that it violated pipeline safety regulations. auto industry Less down time this summer for Ford SUV plants DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford is knocking a week off the traditional two-week summer shutdown at three SUV plants to handle increased demand. The company says it will use the extra week of production to make another 22,000 SUVs at factories in Louisville, Ky.; Oakville, Ontario; and Chicago. The factories make the Ford Escape, Edge, Flex and Explorer sport utility vehicles and Lincoln counterparts. Sales of the four Ford SUVs are up 8.5 percent through May to just over 305,000. safety Steering issue on Toyota SUVs investigated DETROIT - U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that the wheels on some older Toyota SUVs can unexpectedly pull to the right. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has received 135 complaints about the problem in Toyota Sequoia models from the 2001 and 2002 model years. About half the complaints were blamed on a faulty sensor in the electronic stability control system. About 60 percent complained of pulling at highway speeds, with many reporting a jerk to the steering wheel. The safety agency says it will check how often the problem occurs and what the consequences are. A recall is possible but none has been issued yet. Toyota says it's cooperating with the investigation and that owners who experience any problems should contact their dealers. real estate Constructionof homes in U.S. edges down Construction of homes nudged down slightly in May, with builders pulling back in the Northeast and Midwest. Housing starts ticked down 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million units, the Commerce Department said Friday. The government's residential construction report can be volatile on a monthly basis, which might explain the slight decrease. Home construction has improved much of this year, with single-family houses accounting for much of the gains, unlike recent years when developers focused more on apartments. flooring Inquiry closes on Lumber Liquidators Federal regulators have closed an investigation of Lumber Liquidators after the company agreed not to resume sales of Chinese-made laminate flooring. The company stopped selling the flooring last year, a couple of months after a news report on "60 Minutes" said it contained high levels of the carcinogen formaldehyde. The U.S. Consumer Production Safety Commission said Lumber Liquidators tested the air quality in 17,000 households and none had formaldehyde above guidelines. Customers who installed the flooring should not rip it out, the agency said. Instead, they can call the company to have their air tested. From wire reports Texas and Houston had the worst job growth in May in at a least a quarter-century as the energy bust spread across the economy to undermine hiring in sectors from construction to professional services to hotels and restaurants. Texas created just 200 jobs in May after adding nearly 12,000 in April, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday. In the Houston metropolitan area, employment was unchanged from April; over the past year, Greater Houston has gained just over 5,000 jobs, compared to more than 65,000 jobs during the same period last year and nearly 100,000 in 2014. It was the worst May performance for both the state and the region since at least 1990, when the state and federal governments began collecting employment data in the current format. It's likely the downward momentum will continue, said Parker Harvey, regional economist at Gulf Coast Workforce Solutions, a publicly funded economic development organization. "I would be very, very surprised if we were able to bounce back off it," Harvey said. Houston's unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent last month, up nearly a half-percentage point from a year earlier, the Workforce Commission reported. Unemployment was 4.2 percent in Texas last month and 4.5 percent nationally, not adjusted for seasonal variations. The state and region are caught up in the worst energy bust in 30 years, following a collapse in oil prices that forced companies to take drilling rigs out of operation and lay off workers by the thousands. Crude prices plunged from more than $100 a barrel two years ago to a low of about $26 in February. Crude closed at $47.98 a barrel in New York on Friday. Slump continues Mining and logging, a sector dominated here by the oil and gas companies, continued to bleed jobs in May, shedding another 2,800 across the state and nearly 46,000 over the past year. Since the end of 2014, Texas has lost one in five mining and logging jobs. The goods producing sector, which includes mining and logging, construction, and manufacturing, has shed jobs for 16 consecutive months. Construction lost 3,400 jobs last month. Manufacturers, which depend heavily on the energy industry, slashed 2,200 jobs last month, bringing their job losses to 37,000 since May 2015. It's been a terrible year and a half for Don Lower, chief executive of the Houston offshore drilling fabrication company Duron Systems. He says he's had to lay off three-quarters of a staff that only a few years ago was 200 strong - some of them who'd been at the company for more than a decade. "They have mortgages. They have kids. They have car payments, and it's tough times," Lower says. "It's heartbreaking." The impact of the job losses is being felt throughout the state and local economies. Texans' wages are dropping, dragged down by the loss of well-paid oil and gas positions. Weekly earnings in Texas, which surged past the national average in 2012, fell below it again in May. Brakes on auto sales Consumer sectors are feeling the squeeze, too. In the Houston area, auto sales in May fell by more than 30 percent from a year earlier. Across the state, leisure and hospitality, which includes hotels and restaurants, shed 3,000 jobs in May, the third consecutive month of job losses in the sector. "It sends a signal to the business community that the economy is weaker than we thought," said Patrick Jankowski, an economist and senior vice president at the Greater Houston Partnership, an economic development group. "You pull purchasing power out of the region, which has an impact on retail and restaurants." Jankowski noted some positive signs in the data - the number of hours that manufacturing workers put in per week has ticked up, for example. Texas added 13 more operating rigs over the last week, which may boost oil and gas jobs soon. The rate of job loss in the oil and gas sector has slowed considerably this year compared to 2015, indicating that the crash in oil and gas may be bottoming out. Still, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas delivered a bleak outlook for Houston. "With Houston's core energy-related industries still hemorrhaging jobs, construction activity beginning to decline and layoffs suppressing demand for goods and services," wrote economist Jesse Thompson, "Houston's economy will likely weaken further this year." A sales tax decision by the Texas Supreme Court on certain oil field equipment could save the state more than $4 billion in tax refunds as early as next year. The state's highest court ruled Friday that a Midland-based energy company's oil production equipment did not qualify for a sales tax exemption that pertains to manufacturing and processing. While the Southern Royalties company sought less than $500,000 in tax refunds, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said a ruling in the energy company's favor would have set a precedent costing the state many billions of dollars in tax revenues and created a big hole in the state budget. Instead, the all-Republican Supreme Court said Southwest's equipment is taxed appropriately. The case focused on whether the tubing, piping and other kinds of equipment used in oil and gas production are exempted from sales taxes. Southwest Royalties is a subsidiary of Midland-based Clayton Williams Energy. The company's chairman and CEO, Clayton Williams Jr., was the unsuccessful Republican nominee in the Texas governor's race in 1990. He lost to the state's last Democratic governor, Ann Richards. The court arguments centered on how oil and gas production applied to a tax exemption for goods and services used in the "actual manufacturing, processing, or fabrication of tangible personal property." Clayton Williams attorneys contended the oil and gas products are turned into personal property through the extraction processes. The state countered that the company did not transform the fossil fuels, comparing the process to collecting raw materials. The Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions that also went against Clayton Williams. "Southwest did not prove that the equipment for which it sought a tax exemption was used in 'actual manufacturing, processing or fabricating' of hydrocarbons (according to the tax code)," Justice Phil Johnson wrote in an opinion released Friday. In a prepared statement Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the ruling showed the comptroller is properly executing the law and treating taxpayers fairly. "Bottom line: We saved the state, and taxpayers across the state, over $4 billion," Paxton said. The Supreme Court ruling, however, is nuanced and likely will lead to other energy companies trying to qualify for the same tax exemption, said Zach Jones, a tax attorney at the Gardere Wynne Sewell law firm in Dallas. The ruling is certainly not an outright rejection of all oil and gas tax exemption claims, Jones said. Other energy companies may attempt to prove that different oil field equipment qualifies through future litigation, he said. The court did not agree with the comptroller's "blanket disqualification," Jones said. Going forward, companies could focus on proving that their equipment processes crude by changing crude from a raw material into a marketable product, he said. "Oil and gas companies are entitled to the exemption if they can prove there is processing occurring," Jones said. Still, the Texas Oil & Gas Association president, Todd Staples, called the ruling a disappointment, but said an "ongoing discussion" on the topic will continue. "It is undeniable that oil and natural gas exploration and production today is more and more a manufacturing process," Staples said in a prepared statement. "For a healthy oil and natural gas industry, our operators, who compete globally, need equitable tax treatment." The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Justice Department's pursuit of Angelo Mozilo, one of Wall Street's most recognizable names tied to the subprime mortgage crisis, is ending with a whimper. After earlier dropping a criminal investigation of Mozilo, federal prosecutors recently decided against filing a civil fraud case against him, said two people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Prosecutors in Los Angeles, in coordination with those at the Justice Department in Washington, spent more than two years reviewing the merits of pursuing a civil fraud case against Mozilo, the co-founder of Countrywide Financial, which was one of the largest originators of subprime mortgages in the run-up to the financial crisis. Mozilo, 77, and several other former Countrywide executives recently received letters from federal prosecutors notifying them that they had officially ended an investigation into the sale of billions of dollars of mortgages to homebuyers with questionable credit histories, the sources said. The decision by federal prosecutors not to go forward with a civil fraud case under the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act is not surprising, given how long the review process had taken. Not enough done? The possibility of the Justice Department filing a so-called FIRREA lawsuit against Mozilo first came to light when Bank of America reached a $16.65 billion settlement of its own FIRREA case in August 2014. The inquiry by the Justice Department of Mozilo was seen by some legal critics as a way for prosecutors to address complaints that little had been done to hold individuals to account for the financial crisis. Bank of America acquired Countrywide and assumed its liabilities in 2008, as the financial crisis erupted. But lawyers for Mozilo argued a civil fraud case would be duplicative of the efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Mozilo and two other former Countrywide executives in 2009. On the eve of the trial in 2010, Mozilo and the other defendants reached a settlement that required the mortgage financier to pay $67.5 million in fines and restitution. Over the past few years, federal prosecutors used the threat of a FIRREA civil fraud lawsuit to extract tens of billions of dollars in settlements from other big banks. The law proved to a be a useful tool for prosecutors because of its 10-year statute of limitations for bringing a case - much longer than the standard three- or five-year statute of limitations for most civil fraud lawsuits. Verdict overturned But in May, prosecutors suffered a blow when an appellate court in Manhattan overturned a jury's verdict that had found Rebecca Mairone, a former Countrywide executive, liable under FIRREA. The panel said although Countrywide may have sold flawed mortgages to two government-sponsored mortgage finance firms, there was insufficient evidence that the firm and Mairone had engaged in any deliberate deception. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Mickey Rosmarin, who influenced the style of Houston's social set as the owner of Tootsies, died Friday of a heart attack. He was 63. For more than 40 years, he was a fixture on Houston's fashion scene. He dressed the city's trendsetters. Rosmarin hosted many social and charity events at the store, which relocated in 2011 from its Highland Village digs to a ultra-modern fashion palace in West Ave. For many fashionable women, it's the place to buy ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags and jewelry. "From a fashion perspective, he instinctually knew what was right for me - for any of us. And he was brutally honest about what worked and didn't," said Gracie Cavnar, founder of Recipe for Success. Many of the nonprofit's fundraisers and fashion shows have been hosted at Tootsies. "Our mutual love of fashion was such a small part of our friendship. He filled my heart, always smiling, the most fun, my favorite dinner partner. I have hole in my heart." Susie Rosmarin, his sister and a Houston artist, said he had not been ill. "He seemed fine. He loved life. He was full of energy." She added that their father had a heart attack at age 54. Rosmarin attended Bellaire High School and the University of St. Thomas. He first sold T-shirts at Allen's Landing. When he opened his first store, Honest Threads, on lower Westheimer in 1973, he sold recycled jeans, vintage Hawaiian shirts and funky, offbeat designs. "Mickey had a vision to open a T-shirt shop downtown when we were in high school," said Jeff Cohen, Houston Chronicle executive editor, opinions and editorials, who grew up with Rosmarin in Meyerland. "You knew then that he spoke the language of fashion. As he went through life, he was determined that everyone in Houston would also speak it fluently." As Houston grew up, so did Rosmarin's taste. In 1975, he launched the successful Tootsies concept in the Galleria area. Rosmarin was the first in Houston to carry such cutting-edge designers as Jean Paul Gaultier, Andrew Gn and Kenzo. When the new store opened, manager Shelley Taylor Ludwick said it reflected Rosmarin's personal style, as well as his eye for design. "The store sparkles with a new and vintage sensibility that is very Mickey Rosmarin," she said. The spacious store features designer collections including Valentino, Givenchy, Celine, Rick Owens and Nina Ricci. Amenities include 21 dressing rooms, free valet and a catering kitchen for private events. It has marble floors and art on the walls; there's even a vintage sofa from the original Sakowitz store of the 1970s. "I've always wanted a department store since I was a little boy," Rosmarin said when his West Ave store opened. "I love legacy and history, and I don't think everything should be brand new." Rosmarin is survived by his brother, Kenny Rosmarin; sisters Susie Rosmarin and Judy Pliner; daughter Aurey Harper; and step-siblings Adrian and Diana Shapiro and Stephanie and Bob Hageman. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate George Parnham still talks to Andrea Yates at least once a week over the phone. He considers her like a daughter and tries to visit her at the state mental hospital in Kerrville every couple months. The Houston attorney represented Yates following her arrest for drowning her five children in a bathtub in her Clear Lake home on June 20, 2001. "When I call my kids on the weekends, I will call Andrea," Parnham said recently. "It's impacted our lives personally and professionally." Fifteen years after the children's killings spurred a national conversation about postpartum depression and psychosis, Houston mental health advocates still feel there needs to be more awareness. "The Yates case was kind of good and bad," said Dr. Sherry Duson, a licensed marriage/family therapist and counselor who runs a support group at a local hospital. "It was good in that it really highlighted the need. It was bad in that it was so horrendous, that people worried, 'If I have postpartum depression, am I going to end up like her?' That's so far from the truth. That's not the way these illnesses work." Yates drowned her five children - ranging in ages from 7-year-old Noah to 6-month-old Mary - after her then-husband, Rusty Yates, left for work. Houstonians were transfixed by the 2002 trial. Yates pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but was convicted nonetheless of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 2005, the conviction was reversed due to false testimony given by a California psychiatrist. In 2006, she again went to trial, and again pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Jurors this time believed her plea; she was found not guilty and sent to a mental hospital in North Texas, and then to Kerrville, where she's been since 2007. "I had no earthly idea before I got this case what was meant by postpartum," said Parnham, who's been practicing law for more than 45 years. Outreach efforts One to twoout of 10 women suffer from postpartum depression symptoms after giving birth each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, about 600,000 women are diagnosed with postpartum depression every year. Rusty Yates eventually divorced Andrea and has now remarried. He has one son and two stepsons, he told Oprah Winfrey in 2015 on an episode of "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" Rusty Yates said divorcing Yates was the hardest decision of his life. In 2002, George Parnham and his wife, Mary, created the Yates Children Memorial Fund to help raise awareness in the Houston community about postpartum depression. Since its inception, the fund has handed out more than 600,000 brochures on postpartum illnesses in the community. The fund also holds training for medical professionals, community health workers and others interested in learning more about postpartum illnesses. The fund has trained more than 3,000 professionals working in the Houston community. Mary Parnhamsaid Yates keeps up with the activities of the fund named for her children. "She's very enthralled with what YCMF does. She's thrilled to know that good things are being done for the legacy of her children, and that makes her very happy," Mary Parnham said. It's still a difficult problem, however, and some women still are hesitant to come forward with their symptoms. "It becomes apparent every day that there's so much more that needs to be done. You will still pick up the newspaper and read about a tragedy. We know there are women still out there suffering in silence," Mary Parnham said. Getting help One of those mothers was Fay Peterson,a lawyer and Houston mom. In the summer of 2005, after the birth of her first child, she remembers not feeling like herself. She couldn't sleep and felt anxious. She'd had a C-section, and during a follow-up visit with her doctor about two weeks later, her husband told the doctor that he thought his wife was acting a little bit differently. She didn't feel comfortable bringing it up herself. "When it's your first baby, you have no idea if what you're feeling is in the range of normal or not," said Peterson, now 44. Peterson is grateful that her doctor recognized symptoms of postpartum depression. She was prescribed anti-anxiety medication and antidepressants. She also started attending the support group run by Duson. Peterson started feeling like herself again by the end of the year. When the news broke about the Yates' children, Duson said she knew awareness needed to be raised about postpartum illnesses. She began doing advocacy work for postpartum depression, serving on the board of the Yates Children Memorial Fund. She also continued to hold support group classes for new mothers. And she realized there were no resources for mothers in the Houston area if they wanted to learn more about the mental illness. Duson had her own private practice, but in 2014 she opened the Center for Postpartum Family Health, the only such center in Houston. The center is small, but Duson has seen at least a few hundred female patients. The center offers a free support group on Wednesdays at noon. Women can also pay $30 to $125 per session to receive individual therapy with Duson or other licensed therapists. "It's the most common complication of pregnancy," Duson said. "There's a huge amount of women in Houston that we know are struggling with depression or anxiety." Kathy Goodwin, a mom and social worker, did not think she would suffer from postpartum depression. She describes herself as a sociable, talkative and relatively happy person. Shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Goodwin said, that changed. "It really felt like it was a hormonal kind of crying," she recalled. "I talked to a lot of other people, and they were like, 'It's normal, you get the baby blues,' " Goodwin said. Eight days after giving birth to her daughter in 2010, friends brought over homemade soup. She didn't want to eat. She went to her bedroom and didn't come out. "I couldn't function. It was very severe. I didn't want to be alive. I didn't want to be a mom," Goodwin said. She immediately sought help. She saw a psychiatrist who evaluated her and then diagnosed her with postpartum depression. She was given anti-anxiety and antidepressant medication and began attending individual counseling with Duson. Goodwin slowly began feeling like herself again after two months of treatment. 'Bring about change' The Parnhams recognize how far the community has come in recognizing postpartum depression as a mental illness, but they still feel change needs to continue. Duson hopes that a law will be put into place requiring doctors to screen women for postpartum depression. "Tragedy begets change," said Mary Parnham, who now considers Andrea Yates a friend. "That's always been unfortunately the case. I hope that it is also true here - that these five children did not live their lives in vain and that the community has come so far since then, that in their names we can bring about change." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Houstonians awoke to flooding on Tax Day, unsure if they should attempt to drive to work. They didn't know the storm's severity, nor if roads were submerged. Victor Cintron said his company, DimDrop, could have helped. DimDrop, he said, would have allowed government officials to send mobile alerts directly to Houstonians who downloaded an app on their smartphones. It also could have sent specific alerts to users who were driving toward flooded roads, telling them to turn around. "This will actually provide data, or information, that people can use to make much better decisions," Cintron said. DimDrop is among the companies local experts named to this year's list of tech startups to watch. The list was compiled as part of the Chronicle 100 look at the region's top companies. The Chronicle 100 will appear as a special section inside the Sunday newspaper. Founded in 2013, DimDrop provides a platform that government agencies, universities and businesses can use to create and track mobile communications. This can improve their operational efficiency and deliver time-critical information using location-based technology. Its largest local customer is Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services. About 10,000 people have downloaded its app to search nearby restaurants and check for health inspection violations. They can also report issues, such as bugs or hair in their food. This app will one day expand to include health and wellness, animal services, preparedness and response, and mosquito concerns. "Houston is still one of the very best places to be a startup," said Walter Ulrich, president and CEO of the Houston Technology Center. "We have a vigorous and robust ecosystem to support startups." But energy startups, he said, have found it more difficult to attract larger energy companies as investors or customers amid the oil price slump. "They may have to hunker down and survive longer with less investment," Ulrich said. A-76 Technologies, which creates an anti-corrosion coating and lubricant to prevent rust, decided to diversify its business as low oil prices hindered the company's growth. A-76 Technologies originally designed the product to prevent rust on newly manufactured equipment, but it recently expanded into household products. CEO Lauren Thompson Miller said the idea came from industrial workers who were taking the product home and using it in ways she wouldn't have expected before seeing their results. Customers have successfully used it on trucks, boats and stainless steel appliances. A-76 has silenced squeaky gates, and it can be used as a gun lubricant. "Getting into the household side let us see some of the applications in other industries, too," she said. Ulrich said there is an upside to low oil prices. Layoffs have made it easier for startups to find experienced employees at a lower cost. Energy executives forced to retire early are starting companies or volunteering to help other startups. When oil prices stabilize at a reasonable level, Ulrich expects tech companies that have been efficient with their capital will see a surge in demand. "When the demand comes, there will be much less competition for their products and technologies, and they'll do very, very well," Ulrich said. "There's not just a light at the end of this tunnel. There is the sun at the end of the tunnel." The health care sector, he said, has remained strong. Johnson & Johnson Innovation's incubator JLABS @ TMC opened in March at the Texas Medical Center. More than 20 businesses have joined. JLABS can house about 50 companies, depending on their size, and provides tenants with laboratory equipment and business services, such as internet or shipping and receiving. It also provides educational sessions on topics including funding and the regulatory environment. Lesley Stolz, head of JLABS California who helped create the agreement for JLABS @ TMC, said Houston has potential to be a globally competitive life sciences cluster. It has a large population of patients, there is money flowing into life sciences technology and the Texas Medical Center is nurturing the area's research. "We just thought it was the next place that really exciting work was going to be done," she said of Houston. Next door at the Texas Medical Center's business accelerator, TMCx, Aprenda Systems has developed a cloud-based software that allows health care providers to update information, such as changes in office hours or plan coverage. This will then update databases used by hospitals and health insurance companies, eliminating the need for providers to be frequently contacted by organizations trying to verify their information. Aprenda Systems CEO Alexander Izaguirre said inaccurate databases can cause headaches for patients. Patients often go to a doctor listed as an in-network provider and later learn the physician no longer accepts their insurance. Izaguirre chose to locate the business in Houston because the Texas Medical Center has shown a serious commitment to supporting entrepreneurs, he said. "They've invested a lot of resources to make the TMC an entrepreneur and investor friendly world," he said. See the Chronicle's annual report on the top public and private companies. SAN ANTONIODavid Varon's mind is made up. Varon, a 25-year-old network technician from Houston, is a diehard Bernie Sanders supporter - and there's nothing, he says, that will get him to vote for Hillary Clinton in November. "I'm one of these people it's Bernie or bust," said Varon, who is hoping to be selected as a Sanders delegate for the Democratic National Convention. "If Hillary is the nominee, I'm not voting. I don't trust her." Varon's comments reflect a deep divide among Democrats this election cycle in the Lone Star State and beyond. Thousands of fired-up Sanders supporters arrived at the state Democratic convention in San Antonio this week ready to keep fighting for their candidate, even with Clinton having won enough delegates to lock down the party's nomination. On Friday, Sanders supporters scurried around the Alamodome jockeying for thousands of signatures to get the state Democratic Party to support resolutions on climate change, breaking up big banks, reducing money in politics and decreasing the influence of super delegates. They need signatures from more than half of the projected 6,000 to 10,000 delegates in attendance to automatically pass a resolution backed by the state party. That looked unlikely, as Clinton supporters would also have to sign on in large numbers. Some Sanders supporters at the convention say they are not willing to commit to Clinton until her campaign embraces some of Sanders' populist positions. The political reality has kicked in for others, however. Gabrien Gregory, a 19-year-old Sanders backer from San Antonio, said he's reluctantly ready to convert to Team Clinton to make sure Democrats stay in control of the White House. "I am fully supportive of Bernie but at some point we have to recognize the reality," said Gregory. "As a Democrat, I believe Trump is a very real threat. Democrats don't have time to argue." The strange, unique and often unpredictable presidential campaign of Donald Trump swept through Houston on Friday for the most conventional of reasons - to rally the troops and beg for money. A year after launching his long-shot presidential bid, the presumptive Republican nominee came to a state that had soundly rejected him in its March primary for a three-day blitz that he hopes will net millions for the campaign treasury and build relations with an arch-conservative electorate that had preferred rival Ted Cruz, the state's junior U.S. senator, and given rise to a tea party movement that has been reluctant to trust the real estate mogul. Trump's address to an enthusiastic throng in The Woodlands repeated his nationalistic vows to "make America first," come out on top of all trade deals, force friendly countries to pay more for defense, keep out immigrants in the country illegally, and put "smart people" in charge of government. He repeated his promise to build a wall along the southern border, noting, as he has said often before, that the Great Wall of China had been completed without the help of modern construction equipment. "We have leaders that are not smart - they're rather stupid, actually," Trump told a crowd of several thousand boisterous supporters in the ballroom at the Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in The Woodlands. "We are like a country that is being led by the dumb people. That's not going to happen anymore. It's America first, America first." Repeatedly tossing red-meat rhetoric to the vehemently red-state crowd, Trump insisted he is a conservative and touched on long-familiar subjects, including the importance of protecting gun ownership as never before. "Nobody will protect your Second Amendment like Donald John Trump," he said. "Nobody! Nobody! We're going to preserve it and we're going to cherish it and that's what we have to do." 'We don't win anymore' Referring to the recent shooting at a gay Orlando night club, in which 49 patrons were killed by a man armed with a handgun and the civilian version of an assault rifle, Trump urged the audience to imagine a different scenario if someone there had had a pistol strapped too his ankle. It would have been great, he said, if someone had fired a shot "right smack between the eyes of this maniac." As the crowd roared, he went on: "You know, that would have been a beautiful, beautiful sight, folks." Trump even stressed that he, not likely Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, would be the better candidate to press the interests of the LGBT community. He pointed to a sign in the crowd that said "Gays for Trump." "Who is better for gays? Who is better for women?" he said. Noticeably pleased by the long line of supporters still out front as he reached the hotel, Trump never veered from the theme of his candidacy, that he alone is the candidate strong enough and smart enough to ensure American security, bring back jobs that have gone overseas, and restore the country's position in the world. No hecklers were heard in his hourlong, improvised speech. "Folks, we don't win anymore. We don't win with anything. We're going to start winning again. We're going to start winning so much you are going to get sick of it," he said. Few conflicts Before the raucous rally, Trump attended a brief private reception for wealthy donors in River Oaks. That meeting lasted about an hour, then his motorcade headed toward The Woodlands where several thousand supporters awaited, many having waited under a scorching sun for hours before clearing security. Occasional shouting between a small cluster of protesters and the line snaking toward a security checkpoint at times reached a crescendo. But no significant incidents were reported. A protester and supporter were taken away after a scuffle, and one man who had a gun reportedly was arrested in a nearby parking garage. The hearty legion of diehard Trump supporters and a smaller number of protesters began to assemble as early as 1 p.m. in The Woodlands, their political enthusiasm tested by the soul-sapping heat. At times, the line to enter the rally was about half a mile. At least one woman was carted away by medical personnel on a stretcher. Kazeem Abiodun of Conroe, an Army veteran and Nigerian immigrant, and his wife sneaked into the front of the queue by virtue of their 3-month-old daughter in a buggy, needing to get out of the heat. Abiodun said he wanted to hear Trump speak without being filtered through the media. As someone who immigrated legally, he said he likes Trump's immigration stance because the nation is too accessible to terrorists, especially on the southern border. But Abiodun supports Clinton as the more experienced candidate, and finds himself repelled by what he called Trump's racially divisive rhetoric. "You can't keep talking to every American like we are the problem," he said. Lynet Witty of New Caney, who immigrated from Mexico 20 years ago, is voting for the first time, having just earned her citizenship. Her mother brought her to the U.S. legally, she said, and she believes others should do the same. She takes Trump's abrasive language in stride. "He's just one of those people that can get riled up," she said. Economic issues For some of those showing up to voice their support for Trump, social issues took a back seat to fiscal policy. Bernard Navarro, originally from Cuba, said Fidel Castro's government shut down his father's hotel. He sees American governance on its way out of control. "I believe America is on a steady downhill spiral, especially with Barack Obama," he said. "I think the only salvation we have is with Donald Trump ... I hope America wakes up." Trump arrived in at Bush Intercontinental Airport at about 3 p.m. Friday, with the first order of business a private reception at the River Oaks home of noted trial lawyer Anthony Buzbee. The small event lasted a little more than an hour and was no different from scores of similar charitable and political money-raising gatherings that take place regularly in one of the city's most affluent neighborhoods. Accompanied by former Gov. Rick Perry, Trump met with about 300 people and took questions after a brief address. One of those in attendance, JoAnn Petersen, said the billionaire businessman discussed economic matters, especially the growing deficit but did not drop any bombshells or mention who might be on the short list of running mates. Protesters were kept at a distance. Those meeting with Trump arrived on the property via a back way and only saw them by peeking through the windows. A handful of Trump supporters, outnumbered about 10-1, also were pushed away from the front of the home. The two sides took little notice of each other and there was no conflict beyond the philosophical. While Trump's appearance in Houston produced no incidents between supporters and protesters, the passions of both remained predictably high. Outside Buzbee's River Oaks mansion, Trump fan Randy Locke, 55, showed up early to stake out a spot in the shade and carried a sign that read "MOGUL M.A.G.A," which he said was short for "make America great again." "It's kind of an acronym most Democrats wouldn't be able to figure out," Locke said. Among the reasons Locke favors Trump is his view on immigration. Locke said he went back to college after being laid off from his trucking job, obtained a degree in finance from the University of Houston, yet still has been unable to find work. He blames immigrants. "We're all being replaced," he said. "Even the immigrants who got here 15 years ago, many of them are unemployed and can't find jobs because we're just flooding the country." Across River Oaks Boulevard, not far from where Locke stood, Maryanne Delgado, a 69-year-old retired school teacher, joined more than 100 Trump opponents in the blazing afternoon heat and offered a predictably different view of the real estate mogul. "He's dividing the country," Delgado said "He's a bigot; he's a liar. I could go on about every horrible thing he says." Missing the fun The same schism was apparent up in The Woodlands, where Lynette Bryant wore a white TRUMP T-shirt and acknowledged she was not the typical supporter. For one thing, she's an African-American woman. And she ran for governor of Arkansas in 2014 as a Democrat, polling 15 percent of the votes in the primary after complaining she had not been treated fairly by state party leadership. Bryant echoed that complaint with her assessment of Clinton's race against Bernie Sanders. She said the race was rigged for Clinton from the beginning. "How is that the people's voice?" Bryant said. "(The Clintons) thought they could just walk into the White House," she said. "What has (she) ever done except take our money that's a form of slavery, indentured servitude." On Friday, she served as the head volunteer for the rally in The Woodlands. She smiles as she engaged supporters and opponents waiting to enter the venue. "Who's going to be our next president?!" she shouted, riling up the crowd. "Trump!" they responded. "Make sure to stay hydrated, we don't want you passing out," she said. "You'll miss all the fun." Alas, no fun, or even satisfaction, was had by Mahir Sayeed, a 17-year-old senior at The Woodlands High School, who had planned to bring local Muslims to the event to shake hands with Trump supporters in an expression of good will. Sayeed said he hoped that attendees would contrast the candidate's harsh rhetoric on Islam with the nice Muslims they met outside. But Friday morning, elders in The Woodlands Muslim community called and asked him to call it off. They said that some recent protests had grown violent, noting the presence of rifles among some of Trump's supporters at a Dallas rally. They warned Sayeed that he could be harmed - whatever his intent. Most of the people who planned to go with him dropped out, he said. Bridget Balch, Susan Carroll, Andrew Kragie, Dylan Baddour, Mark Collette, Samantha Ketterer, Monica Rhor, Dane Schiller and Will Axford contributed to this report. On the Chronicle editorial page the other day, we got after Mayor Sylvester Turner for not being more open with the press and public about the process of choosing a new police chief. Coincidentally, I was reading John Boessenecker's new biography of Frank Hamer - "in my opinion, the greatest American lawman of the 20th century," the author says - and discovered an even more curious relationship between a Houston mayor and the cops, this one more than a century ago. I also discovered that, in addition to his adventures on the border and in the backwoods, as well as killing Bonnie and Clyde, the legendary Texas Ranger had ties to Houston that were extensive and controversial. Hamer's Houston connection began in 1910, nearly a decade after the epochal event at Spindletop that not only ushered in the modern petroleum industry but also transformed Houston into a refinery and shipping boom town. The city's population had doubled since the turn of the century, to 80,000, and crime boomed apace. During the first four months of 1910, Houston experienced 13 murders. A family of five was butchered. The assistant police chief was murdered. Mayor Horace Baldwin Rice, nephew of Rice Institute benefactor William Marsh Rice, publicly expressed his disdain for the city's police force and fired the chief and 13 officers. He then hired two Texas Rangers who would report directly to him. One of them, Henry L. Ransom, "would prove to be," in Boessenecker's words, "by far the most controversial Texas Ranger of the 20th century. Trouble followed Ransom like horseflies on a cow pony." Rice also hired a former Ranger, a young man who, most recently, had worked as the city marshal of nearby Navasota and who was credited with cleaning up a violent, race-riven town. The young man was Hamer, 27 when he got to the big city. Sources at the time said Rice hired him to act as a restraining influence on Ransom, a man "cold-blooded as a rattlesnake. One of the most dangerous men I ever knew." Those are Hamer's words, but as it turned out, Hamer himself needed restraining in Houston. Intimidating reporters The trouble started when a story in the muckraking Houston Press in the spring of 1913 implied that the mayor's special officers, including Hamer, were thwarting local police when they tried to raid gambling joints. Although Hamer wasn't named, he was enraged by the story. Encountering two Press reporters who happened to be brothers coming out of the Stratford Hotel on Fannin Street, he hammered one to the pavement with his fists, beat him senseless with his six-gun and then chased the other down Caroline Street, firing two shots in the vicinity of the fleeing reporter. Hamer said later, as did several witnesses, that he fired into the air and that if he had meant to hit the pesky wordslinger he would have. He resigned the next day. "His biggest defect was his temper," Boessenecker told me by phone from San Francisco, where he practices law, "but the moral courage he displayed in saving 15 African Americans from lynch mobs, or in opposing the Klan, outweighed all the bad-tempered things he did." Boessenecker is the author of eight books about crime in the Old West. A former cop himself, he's a lifelong admirer of Hamer. My admiration is a bit more tempered, but there's no denying the man's courage. He faced down the KKK and lynch mobs on numerous occasions. One lynching was in Houston, less than a week before the 1928 Democratic National Convention, the first national convention held by either party in the South since the Civil War. A black man was accused of killing a Houston police detective in an exchange of gunfire. The suspect, also wounded, was taken to Jefferson Davis Hospital, where, at 2 in the morning, eight armed, unmasked white men dragged him outside to two waiting cars and drove off into the darkness. Later in the day, police found his bludgeoned corpse hanging from a bridge on Post Oak Road eight miles outside of town. Never backed down Hamer and his men focused their investigation on the local police. The seven men eventually arrested turned out to be friends of the dead detective, but they weren't policemen. One turned state's evidence, and the other six were indicted for murder. The two who were tried were both acquitted by an all-white jury. "A disgusted Frank Hamer fully understood that the struggle to end lynching in Texas was far from over," Boessenecker writes. Like a real-life Atticus Finch, Hamer occasionally was able to quell an armed and dangerous mob, although, unlike the Gregory Peck character, he usually had a Thompson submachine gun cradled in the crook of his arm. His courage, his intimidating physical presence and his reputation - plus that tommy gun - weren't always sufficient, though. In Sherman, in 1930, he faced a crazed mob numbering in the thousands, including women and children. He peppered the feet of the ringleaders with buckshot, but the mob kept coming and burned down the courthouse, roasting a black prisoner trapped inside. Trying to rescue the man but unable to find a key to his cell, Hamer and three fellow Rangers barely escaped the burning building. Hamer's quest for Bonnie and Clyde was his most famous exploit, although he wasn't a Texas Ranger at the time of the bloody ambush on a gravel road in northern Louisiana. After Ma Ferguson took office as governor in January 1933, she fired the entire 44-man Ranger force, including Hamer, and replaced them with political cronies. Hamer was unemployed until Feb. 1, 1934, when Lee Simmons, superintendent of the Texas Prison System, visited him at his Austin home and proposed that he track down the most notorious Texas outlaws since Sam Bass. Less than three months later the vicious, young desperadoes were dead inside their shot-up car. Assist to Hollywood Although Bonnie and Clyde made Hamer famous, he had to scramble to find a job. In 1948, he was chief of security for the grand opening of Glenn McCarthy's Shamrock Hotel and personally escorted Dorothy Lamour, Ward Bond, Stan Laurel and dozens of other Hollywood celebrities to Houston. Shortly before his death from a heatstroke in 1955, he was protecting nonunion workers on an oil pipeline in Beaumont. Had it not been for a certain movie starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway - a movie that prompted Hamer's widow to hire Houston attorney Joe Jamail and successfully sue for defamation - his name might have faded from history. That would be unfortunate, Boessenecker maintains. "Frank Hamer played an important role in American history," he writes. "He was part of the forces that dragged Texas - kicking and screaming - into the 20th century." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Superintendents of 45 school districts in the Houston region told Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath this week he should not issue academic ratings of campuses this year because the state's standardized test results cannot be trusted. In a joint letter to Morath, the superintendents listed concerns with the increasingly unpopular tests, including that test results for some students are missing; that different scores are showing up for the same student on different lists; and that students' scores are being attributed to the wrong school, or district, in some cases. A spokeswoman for Morath said Friday that he stills plans to issue school ratings this summer. He did grant some relief last week, waiving the grade-level promotion requirements tied to the tests for fifth- and eighth-graders. He also apologized for the problems, which he blamed on the state's new exam administrator, Educational Testing Service. Frustration over high-stakes testing has been mounting in recent years, even in this state, where the school accountability movement launched more than two decades ago. The latest problems with the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness are expected to fuel continued debate over the role of standardized testing as the state Legislature prepares to reconvene in January. "Allow us to use the assessment results to inform our work with students, but do not subject schools and districts to a rating or label based on unreliable information," the Houston-area superintendents wrote in their June 13 letter to Morath. The ratings, set for release in early August, tell the public whether each school and district met or failed the state's academic standards. Those that repeatedly fail face state takeover or closure. Test responses lost The Houston educators first wrote Morath in April to express concerns, noting, for example, that districts were told on exam day to have students leave one question blank on the freshman English test because there was no correct answer. Students taking exams online also appeared to lose their responses, though it's unclear how much was saved. The Texas Association of School Administrators, which represents superintendents across the state, sent the commissioner a similar letter in May. State Sen. Larry Taylor, the Republican from Friendswood who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said in an interview Friday he is hopeful the testing company can fix any reporting problems so school ratings can be issued, even if late. Going forward, Taylor said, he is optimistic about forthcoming recommendations from a committee created by the Legislature last year to study testing and accountability. He said he expects the committee to call for more meaningful testing and timely reporting of the results so teachers can use them. Personally, he said, he would like the state to move toward using national exams, such as the SAT or ACT. Texas' testing requirements still exceed federal law. The Every Student Succeeds Act, passed in 2015, calls for annual testing in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. Testing in science also is required once each in elementary, middle and high school. However, the new law, which replaces No Child Left Behind, gives states more flexibility in setting their own accountability standards. Wanda Bamberg, superintendent of the Aldine Independent School District, said the problems with the state testing system this year were unprecedented in her four-decade career, given the high stakes. Parents of students who failed the exams also are confused, she said, and some have asked about pulling their children out of summer school because the commissioner waived the grade-level promotion requirement. "We want them to go ahead and come (to summer school)," Bamberg said. "We want to work with them more." A spokesman for Educational Testing Service could not be reached for comment Friday. The company also administers the GRE test for graduate school admissions. Chance 'to hide failure' Courtney Boswell, executive director of Texas Institute for Education Reform, an Austin-based advocacy group, said she worries the pushback against testing will overshadow the importance of holding schools accountable for the performance of all students. "It's not a surprise to me that the superintendents don't want the accountability ratings," said Boswell, a former math teacher in Dallas. "This is just a great opportunity for them to hide failure and punch more holes into the accountability system." H.D. Chambers, superintendent of Alief ISD, countered: "We have been labeled and rated for the last 25 years. We have come to the realization that our communities, the state of Texas, deserve to know how our schools and our districts are doing. However, I do not want to be held accountable based on unreliable data." On the lookout for scams linked to flooding over the last two months, Houston police have arrested a Chicago man who allegedly posed as a federal emergency management agent to bilk at least three victims out of thousands of dollars. Derron L. Skinner, 25, was charged this week with one count of forgery. Houston Police Department Lt. Chris Lohse said Friday that Skinner was targeting people in the Near Northside area adjacent to downtown while wearing Federal Emergency Management Agency attire. Skinner is accused of collecting $3,000 to $5,000 from the scam, police said. "We identified a number of cases whereby a suspect who was posing as a FEMA representative was essentially soliciting business and approaching flood victims letting them know that he could expedite and make their claims more lucrative," said Lohse, who works in HPD's financial crimes unit. Skinner allegedly provided flood victims with fraudulent FEMA checks that they would deposit into their personal bank accounts. He would then tell them that he needed cash back to secure inspections and other fee-based services to complete their claims faster. The three incidents HPD identified included about 20 checks provided to individuals who had extensive damage to their vehicles. "These checks were counterfeit from compromised personal and commercial accounts across the country," Lohse said. "Once those checks were deposited, they withdrew their own personal monies and, of course, they were out the cash and bank fees." HPD officials believe that more people may have been scammed because Skinner's services were being advertised in the community by word of mouth. FEMA spokeswoman Robin Smith Saturday said FEMA agents do canvass stricken neighborhoods to register claimants, but they never demand cash for their services. Should a purported agent ask for payment, she said, the homeowner should take down the individual's contact information and notify police. "A check will never be hand-delivered by a FEMA representative," added Lohse. "FEMA disaster assistance funds are electronically deposited into a bank account and/or a check is mailed to an address." Skinner, who had no local address listed in Harris County District Clerk records, also was charged on Thursday with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. He made a $5,000 bail on the forgery charge earlier this week and was released a second time from the Harris County Jail on $50,000 bail following the gun arrest. He is scheduled for court appearances on Monday related to both charges. Hundreds of homeowners along upper White Oak Bayou who sued the Harris County Flood Control District after repeated floods lost their long court battle at the Texas Supreme Court on Friday. In a 5-4 split, the justices ruled the plaintiffs could not rely on county inaction to claim that the government had essentially "taken" their property for use as detention ponds. Not only did the county spend millions intending to improve flood control, Justice Don Willett wrote, but the homeowners failed to link their 1998, 2001 and 2002 flood damages to actions the county did take; namely, approving building permits upstream, allegedly without adequate stormwater mitigation. Ruling for the homeowners would impair governments' ability to operate, Willett added, because agencies could face claims when a storm knocked down a city electric pole and burned down a home, or when a city's failure to buy enough ladder trucks led to a highrise fire. "The theory would appear to cover many scenarios where the government has no designs on a particular plaintiff's property," he wrote, "but only knows that somewhere, someday, its routine governmental operations will likely cause damage to some as yet unidentified private property." The outcome reversed another 5-4 decision from the court a year ago, when the justices had ruled the case had sufficient merit for the homeowners to call for a jury trial. 15 governments or governmental associations filed briefs asking the court to reconsider that ruling, however, leading to Friday's opinion. Veteran environmental lawyer Jim Blackburn, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he was "beyond disappointed" at the ruling. "The Supreme Court has changed Texas case law. It's a slap in the face of homeowners, and I think it's an attack on property rights, frankly," Blackburn said. "This is about developers and government being in collusion and, frankly, the Supreme Court ratifying it." First Assistant Harris County Attorney Robert Soard backed the decision. "A different ruling would have meant that years and years after projects begin, the persons who have designed the project, decided to move the project forward, and the government would be at risk for millions and millions of dollars in potential damages arising from the course of nature, in effect. What the Supreme Court said was that the government cannot be the ultimate insurer for all bad things that happen to people." Blackburn agreed the case could have increased governments' liability, but said Willett's hypothetical scenarios are undermined by the unique facts of the case, which he said was not the normal situation where a government tries to reduce flooding but is overwhelmed by a storm. "Harris County allowed developers to build and pay into a fund to build a detention pond system on White Oak Bayou that they never built, and in this case they knew full well the consequences of doing that," Blackburn said. "What they were unwilling to do was raise taxes to pay for it." Dissenting opinions Four justices echoed Blackburn in their dissent, writing that the case should have proceeded because "the homeowners presented evidence the government entities knew unmitigated development would lead to flooding, approved development without appropriately mitigating it and caused flooding as a result." The case had its roots in the late 1970s when, after completing flood control projects for lower White Oak Bayou, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a similar effort for upper White Oak Bayou, saying urbanization would worsen flooding absent mitigation efforts. Harris County agreed and, when federal funding repeatedly failed, assumed responsibility for the project, commissioning studies the plaintiffs said proved county officials knew the project needed to be done. Seeking solutions Sheila Wyborny, a plaintiff who accepted a buyout after the repeated floods, lamented what she called the county's stonewalling, and said she hopes she and her neighbors' nearly two-decade effort will lay the groundwork for future homeowners to win a similar case. "Yes, we live in a coastal plain. Yes, we can expect some flooding," she said. "However, what I'd call indiscriminate building practices, where building permits are just tossed out willy-nilly, that's increasing the opportunities for flooding. You concrete over and pave over everything, and the water has no place else to go but into people's homes and businesses. It can't continue like this." "If we never see a dime from a suit, there is a moral accountability," Wyborny continued. "That's my personal feeling on it." The court's ruling could affect a similar lawsuit Houston citizens filed last month, alleging the city and one of its economic development agencies approved commercial development in the Memorial City area without requiring adequate stormwater mitigation, resulting in increased flooding in residential neighborhoods. The Residents Against Flooding group seeks not damages but for a court to force the city to complete residential drainage projects and halt large commercial developments unless they are found to not increase the risk of floods. "The remedy they're pursuing may be much more in line with what this Supreme Court was concerned about," said Blackburn, who also is involved in the Memorial City case. "They are not seeking dollar damages in that lawsuit, and I think that may be a key distinguishing factor. That would certainly be at least one message from this Supreme Court decision, is 'Don't go after dollar compensation, go after remedies.'" WASHINGTON - Inside an opulent palace in Riyadh late one evening in February 2004, two U.S. investigators interrogated a man they believed might hold answers to one of the lingering mysteries of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: What role, if any, did officials in Saudi Arabia's government play in the plot? The man under questioning, Fahad al Thumairy, had been a Saudi consular official based in Los Angeles and the imam of a mosque visited by two of the hijackers. The investigators, staff members of the national 9/11 commission who had waited all day at the U.S. Embassy before being summoned to the late-night interview, believed that tying him to the plot could be a step toward proving Saudi government complicity in the attacks. They were unsuccessful. In two interviews lasting four hours, al Thumairy, a father of two then in his early 30s, denied any ties to the hijackers or their known associates. Presented with phone records that seemed to contradict his answers, he gave no ground, saying the records were wrong or people were trying to smear him. The investigators wrote a report to their bosses saying they believed al Thumairy was probably lying, though no government investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks has found conclusive evidence that al Thumairy - or any other Saudi official - assisted in the plot. But nearly 15 years after the attacks on New York and Washington, the question of a Saudi connection has arisen again amid new calls for the release of a long-classified section of a 2002 congressional inquiry into the attacks that discusses a possible Saudi role in the terrorist plot - the so-called 28 pages, the secrecy of which has made them almost mythical. Time eases suspicions U.S. officials who have read the 28 pages say that, of all the investigative leads in that section of the report, the questions about al Thumairy and the two hijackers remain the most intriguing. If there was any Saudi government role whatsoever, some believe, it most likely would have gone through al Thumairy. The fact that years of investigation found no hard proof of official Saudi involvement has led some, notably the Saudi government, to argue that it is now the stuff of wild conjecture and conspiracy theory. The material in the 28 pages has been thoroughly investigated, the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said during a news conference here Friday, and "those investigations have revealed that these allegations are not correct." "There is no there there," he said. CIA Director John O. Brennan said during a recent interview with the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television network that while he supported the release of the 28 pages, "people shouldn't take them as evidence of Saudi complicity in the attacks." U.S. investigations into 9/11, he said, concluded that the attacks were the work of "al-Qaida, of bin Laden" and "others of that ilk." But to some, all the circumstantial evidence provides a glimpse of a truth that has yet to be unearthed. "It's one of those cases where there are an awful lot of very troubling coincidences," said Richard L. Lambert, who oversaw the investigation into the hijackers' contacts as the assistant agent in charge of the FBI's San Diego office in the year after the attacks. At the FBI, the Sept. 11 plot officially remains an open case. While there is broad agreement on how it unfolded, there are aspects of the investigation that remain unresolved. And the mystery begins with the arrival at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 15, 2000, of two Saudi men who more than a year and a half later would be among the hijackers who crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. Apart from their proven devotion to the jihadi cause, the men - Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar - seemed unlikely choices for a pair of terrorists who would have to survive, and plot for months, in the United States. Neither spoke English or had experience navigating American life. By some accounts, however, they worshipped at the King Fahad Mosque in the Culver City area, where al Thumairy was an imam, and they might have stayed in a nearby apartment rented by the mosque. An FBI document from 2012, cited last year by an independent review panel, concluded that al Thumairy "immediately assigned an individual to take care of al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar during their time in the Los Angeles area." The review broadly upheld the conclusions of the 9/11 commission on Saudi involvement, and the FBI has not been able to fill other gaps in the timeline of those initial two weeks in January 2000. Significant meeting When the two hijackers reappeared in early February, they were eating at a restaurant, Mediterranean Gourmet, near the mosque. There, they encountered Omar al-Bayoumi, a fellow Saudi who was on the Saudi government payroll through the country's civil aviation authority, possibly with an assignment to keep an eye out for Saudi dissidents in California. Bayoumi later told the FBI that the meeting was happenstance - that he overheard al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar, noticed their Gulf accents and struck up a conversation. But the bureau believed Bayoumi had met with al Thumairy at the mosque just before he met the hijackers in the restaurant, and investigators wondered whether Thumairy had arranged that meeting. At the time, al Thumairy was part of a network of representatives of the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, which finances mosque-building, trains clerics and proselytizes the conservative and intolerant strain of Islam known as Wahhabism. His job at the consulate and the nearby mosque, he said, was to answer religious questions. But investigators wrote that al Thumairy appeared to be "deceptive" when questioned about his contacts, notably with Bayoumi. He denied knowing Bayoumi, despite telephone records that showed 21 calls between them over two years. Whether out of charitable instincts or at someone's direction, Bayoumi, then 42, helped the two future hijackers settle in San Diego, in the apartment building where he himself lived. He co-signed the lease and paid the security deposit and first month's rent, though they reimbursed him. A person of interest Lambert, the former FBI official in San Diego, said he was skeptical that the assistance was given by chance. With the 9/11 plot riding on the hijackers' ability to manage daily life, he said, al-Qaida leaders would most likely have made arrangements to get them help. "I have to believe something was planned for the care and nurturing of these guys after they arrived," he said. "They weren't too sophisticated, and they didn't speak English. They needed help getting settled and making preparations." In a statement in April, Thomas H. Kean and Lee Hamilton, the 9/11 commission's co-chairmen, insisted that they took all questions about a possible Saudi role in the plot seriously, following up on the leads in the 28 pages. They said that while the commission had "not found evidence" that al Thumairy assisted the hijackers, he was "still a person of interest" in the case. The commission's final report said that "we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded" al-Qaida. Today, some commission staff members point out that the wording did not rule out the possibility that lower-ranking Saudi officials had assisted the hijackers. Al Thumairy's visa was quietly revoked in 2003 because U.S. officials believed he was a "radical imam," documents show. When he tried to return to Los Angeles from a trip home, he was detained for two days and sent back to Saudi Arabia. But he told his interrogators that night in 2004 that he would never have knowingly assisted terrorists. WASHINGTON - Donald Trump's standing with the American public has worsened significantly over the last month, according to a new survey that finds 70 percent of Americans viewing him negatively, including 56 percent who feel "strongly unfavorable." Hillary Clinton also has more negative impressions among the public than positive ones, the new Washington Post/ABC News poll found, but her problems pale in comparison with Trump's, the survey indicates. Among all American adults surveyed, 55 percent had a negative view of Clinton, and 43 percent viewed her positively. Only 29 percent of adults had a positive view of Trump. Among registered voters, the results were almost the same for both. Trump stood at 69 percent negative and 31 percent positive among registered voters, Clinton at 56 percent-43 percent. The poll was conducted Wednesday through Sunday - after Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, but with most of the interviews conducted before the terrorist attack in Orlando, Fla., in which 49 people were killed. The polling came after a week in which Trump received extensive criticism, including from Republican leaders, for his attacks on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Through most of the campaign year so far, about six in 10 Americans have held a negative view of Trump. His image worsened this spring, then improved somewhat after he clinched the Republican presidential nomination. Clinton's image worsened notably last spring when she moved from being seen as the former secretary of state to being a presidential candidate. Her standing slipped a little further this spring as the competition for the Democratic nomination heated up between her and Sen. Bernie Sanders. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO - Julian and Joaquin Castro on Friday took aim at Donald Trump, denounced Republican statewide leaders and raised a battle cry for Democrats to retake the Texas political field in a star turn at their party's state convention. Call it just another day for the San Antonio brothers - Housing Secretary Julian and U.S. Rep. Joaquin - who carry the hopes of Texas Democrats whose last statewide election victory is a memory more than two decades old. But while they are more than ready to accuse Republicans of having misused their power since sweeping statewide elections, neither was prepared to say he'll lead the way for change soon with a run for statewide office. "For the first time in a long time in my life, I don't know exactly what I'm going to be doing a year from now," said Julian Castro, the former San Antonio mayor who is U.S. secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Obama, in an interview with the Express-News before addressing the convention. "And so I'm looking forward to serving out the remainder of this administration and then taking a look at what the options are going forward." The secretary has been mentioned as a possible Hillary Clinton running mate or a cabinet member if she wins. Castro said he hasn't been vetted for the vice president's slot and declined to say whether he'd accept it. Asked about a run for state office, he said that "right now I have zero plans to run for anything," including governor as early as 2018. "I can't say that I would never do that, but it's extremely unlikely," he said, adding that "it's going to take a lot of work" to make Texas competitive for Democrats. Congressman Castro, state convention chair, downplayed the mystique that keeps the twins at the top of Democrats' dreams of a Texas comeback. "I've never spent too much time thinking about it," he said. "It's not really anything that weighs me down. I'm just doing my work day to day, in Congress, and also trying to make the state competitive again by supporting Democrats across Texas." Asked about his plans for 2018, when Republican powerhouses Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz are up for re-election, the congressman didn't tip his hand. "I'd like to see how 2016 turns out first," said Joaquin Castro, whose current post allows him a powerful platform for weighing in on state issues. "We believe it's going to be a great year for Democrats, but any other decision is premature at this point." The brothers, who have a national profile, led Democratic criticism as presumptive Republican nominee Trump visited San Antonio for a fundraiser in the midst of the convention. Clinton's campaign released a statement from Julian Castro decrying the intemperate billionaire's "hateful rhetoric" regarding groups including Latinos; Joaquin Castro joined a news conference with other Democrats to denounce him. The brothers continued criticism of Trump while jointly fielding questions from reporters, predicting the Clinton-Trump battle will help Democrats in the election. Julian Castro is a featured speaker at the convention. Though Julian Castro's name is just one among a number of those mentioned as possible vice-presidential choices, the thought of him joining the national ticket stirs Texas Democrats. The prospect of a statewide run by one or both Castros, meanwhile, fires up Democratic speculation over timing and strategy. Democrats are eager for a charismatic candidate - or two - who could inspire their base, particularly the growing number of eligible Hispanic voters they see as key in this red state. But they don't want to waste the Castros' potential on a losing bid that could tarnish their shine, mindful of former state Sen. Wendy Davis' lopsided loss to Abbott in the 2014 race for governor. The Castros have a history of choosing their spots, from Joaquin's run for the Texas House and then Congress to Julian's move from the mayor's office to the HUD post. A statewide race against a well-funded Republican incumbent would be a bigger fight than either has taken on. "When they sense an opportunity is there, I think that they'll be ready to go," said Democratic strategist Colin Strother, who consulted on Joaquin Castro's first campaign for the state Legislature and advised Julian in his 2005 mayoral race, which he lost before coming back to win it four years later. Until then, he said, they'll "bide their time and pick their spots." The Castros bring a striking story that began with being raised by a single mother who is a longtime community activist. Both graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School before entering public service and assuming high-profile roles including a well-received speech by Julian Castro at the 2012 national convention. "They're very impressive," said Gail Kutin of Pearland, a delegate who is retired after 30 years in the chemical industry. "They exude confidence, and they're very positive whereas Trump is just negative, negative, negative." WASHINGTON - Donald Trump, who has refused to issue campaign press credentials to reporters whose coverage he dislikes, said in an interview published Wednesday morning that he would not continue the practice as president. At the White House, "it's a different thing," Trump told CNN's Brian Stelter. He added that he had banned reporters who he thought had treated him unfairly, but skirted a question about when a "bad" story about his actions would be justified. Trump has been revoking reporters' media credentials for at least a year, but the so-called blacklist has expanded as the general election nears to include prestigious news outlets and received renewed attention Monday when he announced he would no longer issue credentials to the Washington Post. The practice has attracted widespread criticism. Legal scholars and media experts say Trump's punishment of select reporters, combined with his statements about the media, display a dangerous misunderstanding of the role of a free press in a democracy. Trump has also said he would loosen libel laws to make it easier to sue media organizations. "All I want is to be treated fairly," Trump told Stelter "By the way, if I have a bad story, that's OK, if it's true. If I deserve it. You know, I'll deserve bad stories on occasion. Hopefully not too often." But when Stelter asked when Trump had deserved such coverage, Trump demurred. "I don't know, I won't even get into it," he said. Reporters who run afoul of the Trump campaign can attend events like rallies as members of the public, but without the access and privileges that come with media credentials. They are not allowed at press conferences. Trump's animosity toward the media plays well among his followers. The audience at the Tuesday night rally loudly cheered when he talked about his ban of the "dishonest" Post, which was prompted by a headline on its website. "When I'm representing the United States, I wouldn't do that." Trump told Stelter. "But I would let people know if somebody's untruthful." He said he had denied access to campaign reporters because he rents private properties for events. "I have an option" to deny access, he told Stelter. Media outlets that have been denied Trump credentials include the Des Moines Register, the Huffington Post, Politico, Buzzfeed, the Daily Beast and the Spanish-language TV network Univision. His feud with Univision started when it canceled the broadcast of Trump's Miss USA pageant. Electricity rates have risen higher in competitive markets throughout Texas than they have in some markets where the electric utility remains regulated. That's close to direct language from an editorial printed on this page 11 years ago. Since then, the problems of a deregulated electricity market haven't gone away. Each year seems to bring more evidence that Texans living in deregulated service areas pay higher rates than residents who get their electricity from a public utility in San Antonio or Austin, for example. The Texas Coalition for Affordable Power last week released a report showing how folks living in deregulated markets - such as Houston - pay about 15 percent more on their electricity bills. To put it bluntly: You're being duped. And according to Public Utility Commissioner Ken Anderson, it is your fault. Anderson said that people pay too much because they don't shop around for better deals. Competitive markets are supposed to lead to lower prices as private companies try to entice consumers to buy their products. The problem here stems from the fact that buying electricity over the state's Power to Choose website is convoluted, time-consuming and requires a slog through fine print fit for a lawyer on retainer. Promotional rates, mandatory minimum prices and complex terminology work to conceal what Texas families are actually going to pay for electricity. For example, the Chronicle reported last year that 70 percent of power plans available in the Houston area penalize customers who don't use a certain amount of power each month. Texans can't see what the real price is, and the people in charge admit as much. How does the PUC expect people to shop for a better deal when there isn't an honest pricetag? Texas deregulated electricity markets back in 2002, and that move has only forced folks to dedicate more of their hard-earned paychecks for a basic necessity of modern life. It is time to help Texas families. It is time to re-regulate electricity. Julie Jacobson/STF All of Houston, and the nation, mourns the death of 49 people, and the injuries of another 53, in Orlando this past weekend. We in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community carry a particular pain, and a fear, because we know that those lives could have been any of ours. We know that those beautiful souls were killed dancing in one of the few places where they felt safe to be themselves - Latin Night, at an LGBT club. And we know that they were targeted by the shooter for their sexuality and gender identity. The homophobia that caused him to feel such hatred when he saw two men kissing was taught to him by a culture, ours, that does not yet respect LGBT people. Our community has always known we are in danger. Our history is full of the attacks: In 1973, the gay club Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans was firebombed, killing 32. Mathew Shepherd's much publicized death in 1998 shocked the nation. Paul Broussard's fatal beating in 1991 outside a Houston nightclub brought the issue home, and the 2014 deaths of lesbian couple Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson on the Bolivar Peninsula, in which Cosby's father has been indicted, remind us that the violence is not just in our historic past. Ten transgender people were murdered in the first five months of this year, and the FBI reports more than 1,000 hate crimes a year committed against LGBT Americans. And this threat has always disproportionately affected LGBT people of color. YouTube A failed perennial candidate who once ran for mayor in Calgary lit up Twitter on Friday when he tweeted about the current state of Alberta provincial politics. Larry Heather, a former candidate for both the federal Christian Heritage Party and the Alberta Social Credit Party, said the provincial NDP was contributing to the breakup of Alberta. Advertisement NDP sex Marxists are dissolving the basis for social cohesion of Alberta, leading to breakup of Province #yyccc#ableg#yeg#yyc#wrp Larry Heather (@CalgarySenate) June 17, 2016 When asked to clarify, he gave a confusing answer. @DrJayDrNo The Marxist seek to dissolve the class system and family control - the attack against Gender certainty is part of this. Larry Heather (@CalgarySenate) June 17, 2016 Twitter had a field day, with the hashtag #sexmarxists trending that afternoon. Girl, I'll let you fully overtake my instrument of production. #sexmarxist#sexmarxists Jason Markusoff (@markusoff) June 17, 2016 .@Andrew__Bretz From each according to their ability to each according to their need (in bed). #sexmarxists Andrea Hasenbank (@ProletarianArts) June 17, 2016 Advertisement Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.... We'll save those for (wink) later. #sexmarxistshttps://t.co/paOOBa9BLy Jason Markusoff (@markusoff) June 17, 2016 From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs...if you know what I mean. #SexMarxistspic.twitter.com/e9glIzeEiy Jarrah Hodge (@jarrahpenguin) June 17, 2016 In the past, Heather's tweets have crossed the line from ridiculous to downright problematic. Last month, one of them prompted a response from Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. If Mayor Nenshi once again nags us that Council rests on Treaty Seven land, we will buy him a oneway ticket back to Africa #yyccc#yyc Larry Heather (@CalgarySenate) May 30, 2016 Advertisement Your casual racism can be fun, but you really need to stop before people actually notice. https://t.co/0xFysr9Sc0 Naheed Nenshi (@nenshi) May 30, 2016 Heather is known for his right-wing views and anti-abortion activism. In 1985, he threw ketchup on Dr. Henry Morgentaler during a visit to Calgary. He is also a member of the Creation Science Association of Alberta. During the 2013 Calgary mayoral election, he said Calgarians would be tempting God's wrath if they re-elected Nenshi, who is Muslim. Heather received a total of 1,857 votes in that election, according to his Twitter bio and Wikipedia page. Writer Josiah Hughes wrote about Heather for VICE, questioning whether he's an absurd art project. Also on HuffPost Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi: In Quotes See Gallery Walmart could bring its own electronic payment system Walmart Pay to Canada next year, strengthening its position in a fight with Visa over credit card fees, the Globe and Mail is reporting. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper says Walmarts own payment system could be in place in Canada as soon as 2017. Advertisement Users can upload their payment information to a Walmart app, and pay by phone at store checkouts, with no need for any sort of payment card. Walmart Canada announced last week it will stop accepting Visa credit cards at its locations in Canada this summer, beginning with three stores in Thunder Bay, Ont., where the cards will be refused as of July 18. Its part of a years-long struggle between the credit card issuer and the retailer over the fees Visa charges to stores, a struggle that has seen the two companies stare each other down in U.S. courts several times in recent years. Walmart has accused Visa of using its influence over the market to extract excessive fees for purchases. Advertisement The main effect of high [credit card fees] is that they drive up the prices paid by consumers." Diane Brisebois, Retail Council of Canada Canadian retailers are largely lining up behind Walmart in the dispute. Many are pushing for the passage of Bill C-236, a private members bill tabled by Liberal MP Linda Lapointe that would give the federal government the power to cap credit card fees. The main effect of high [credit card fees] is that they drive up the prices paid by consumers. This has been recognized worldwide and in studies by Canadas Competition Bureau, Retail Council of Canada President Diane Brisebois wrote in a column. In total, they cost Canadian consumers over $5 billion annually. She notes credit card fees have been capped in many other countries, including the U.K., where fees amount to 0.3 per cent of the purchase price, compared to 1.5 per cent typically in Canada. But many experts say the days of Visa and MasterCard dominating electronic payments are coming to an end anyway, thanks to the fintech revolution. Retailers, like Walmart, are setting up their own payment systems in order to save on fees and to keep consumer data to themselves. Advertisement The fact that Walmart would be able to stop accepting Visa, historically one of the largest operators of credit cards, speaks mountains about the alleged market power of credit-card companies, wrote Mathieu Bedard, an economist at the Montreal Economic Institute. It is simply not that big. Also on HuffPost When you hear the word conference, you may automatically think of the word boring. This changes when technology is put in-front of the word conference. Technology is engaging, exciting, and innovative. There is something for everyone whether it is including technology into your business, inventing a new product or simply seeing how the world of technology is evolving. These summer conferences are sure to strike your interest and teach you a few new things. Red Hat Summit The Red Hat Summit conference takes place in San Francisco from June 28th through July 1st. Attendees are able to customize their experience by selecting which activities, labs and demonstrations to partake in. In 2016, the focus will be on cloud computing, systems management technologies and virtualization, to name a few highlighted topics. Attendees of the Red Hat Summit will also have ample opportunities to network and make connections with industry leaders. More than 200 break-out sessions and hands-on lab experiments will be available for guests. More than 90 technology experts will be on-hand to chat with, learn from, and participate in experiments with. Advertisement ASME Conference Sustainable energy is trending around the world. The ASME Conference series this summer is focusing on technological advances in energy conservation and the creation of sustainable energy. Attendees will learn about how technology plays a key role in providing energy in an efficient manner and maintaining power grids. ANCC National Magnet Conference The term magnet does not immediately resonate with magnet usage, but magnets are used in many technology items. Neodymium magnets were discovered in 1982 and were created to cut down the cost of permanent magnets. The strongest neodymium magnet is the N52, which has a pull force of almost 9-pounds. The N52 is on a one-quarter inch block. When the block size is doubled, the N52 magnet has a pull force of more than 32-pounds. The ANCC National Magnet Conference will offer more than 150 concurrents. Attendees will be able to test new magnet technologies and products. Students can earn nursing education hours for partaking in the conference while networking, learn about advances in magnet technology for medical use, and listen to inspirational presentations from peers. TCEA Technology Jamboree Children are fascinated with science and technology. The Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) is hosting an event specifically for teachers and educators to include technology in their classrooms called the TCEA 2016 Tots and Technology Summer Conference that will be held in Galveston, Texas beginning on June 12th. The conference closes at 5p.m. on June 14th. Educators will be given information on how to talk about technology so that children can understand the concepts and how to include technology in the classroom to make learning more interesting. Advertisement Another similiar education-driven technology conference this summer is the Premier Education Technology Conference hosted by ISTE. More than 1,000 sessions are scheduled. The event is said to include more than 500 companies and more than 16,000 top educators. Many children learn visually. Teachers will be able to try new items to help their children learn in the classroom. Every child learns differently and some learn better through hands-on approaches. This conference is one that educational workers should not miss. Mobile Beat - Silicon Valley Some may not think that marketing, media and technology really mix. The fact of the matter is, marketing, media and technology go hand-in-hand. You need technology to create compelling marketing campaigns. The media is driven by technology. Multiple summer media and marketing summits are scheduled, like Mobile Beat in Silicon Valley, where mobile technology and marketing will be topics of discussion. The use of bots for media purposes will be a focal point of the summit to improve brand interactions with consumers, and improving technology within mobile apps for a better overall customer experience. Closing Thoughts Take the time to view the available tech conferences around the world in the summer of 2016. Technology continues to evolve, progress, and develop. The world revolves around the connectivity provided by technology and industry leaders are working to improve speeds, devices and overall performance to make those devices and programs more convenient. Learning new methods of producing products, teaching children and creating sustainable energy are all trending topics and are all topics that hold value in the tech industry. Innovators of technology can display what their latest developments are to get the world excited about the next big tech gadget. A year later, we remember. On June 17, 2015, a young white supremacist walked into a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. He stayed for an hour of bible study with 12 church members, then opened fire on them with a concealed handgun, killing nine. Just two days later, the victims' families started offering words of forgiveness to the murderer at his bond hearing -- one year later, photographer Jonathan Hanson visits the town of Charleston to see how the families and survivors are progressing through their journeys of forgiveness, grief, and resilience. In his photo essay, to accompany an article written by Bob Smietana for Christianity Today, Jonathan wanted to explore questions of forgiveness. What does forgiveness mean and how is it shaped by their faith/identity? What are the lasting impressions and how did the shooting affect the current state of race relations in a city decorated with racist symbols? Jonathan was found by the photo editor for the piece through his coverage of the Black Lives Matter activists surrounding protests in Baltimore. The photo editor, Alecia Sharp, remembered these photographs of Jonathan's and reached out to him this year, asking if he could do this shoot in a similar style to his street portraits in Baltimore. Again, his task was to take portraits of the people that somehow honored their pain and humanity, while showing their strength and voice. Jonathan made two trips out to Charleston with writer Bob Smietana so that they could get time with the survivors, family members, and community members. During the first trip, Jonathan and Bob only worked on meeting people and gaining trust. Jonathan explains that because people in the town were so media-weary, they needed to take time to do this. They worked through the community to find voices that may not have already been publicly heard. Most of the stories out there touch on what happened the night of the shooting, so after we gathered the facts, we spent time talking through how we could tell the story beyond the headlines. On the second trip, Jonathan photographed, using a Hasselblad film camera. He says this camera is a great ice-breaker because people haven't usually seen a camera like this and are curious about it. Throughout this whole project, he was able to talk to the people who the photo series was about and really learn from them. Advertisement Jonathan says that one of the most powerful lessons he got came from Nadine Collier, daughter of one of the women killed, and the first person to offer forgiveness to the shooter. After I photographed her we were talking and she said to me, "Forgiveness is power." She further explained that forgiveness allows you to take power back and not let others control you. It's something I'm trying to implement in my life. The complete photo series can be viewed on jhansonphoto.com. Wonderful Machine is a production company with a network of over 700 photographers around the world, and we love to share their stories. Check out more cool projects on the Wonderful Machine Blog! Image: Map of the Former Soviet Union It hasn't been a good year for Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The country's petroleum-based economy continues to suffer from the low price of oil. Radical Islamists made international headlines by attacking a gun store and a National Guard facility in the western city of Aktobe early this month, killing 20 people. Kazakh authorities killed 18 radicals and arrested several during and after the attacks. But the worst news for Nazarbayev was nationwide protests since May against the government's plan to increase from 10 to 25 years the length of time that foreigners can lease public land for agriculture. That provision was part of a government land-privatization reform package aimed at increasing the amount of land under cultivation in Kazakhstan, the world's ninth-largest country. Advertisement Many Kazakhs rose up against the government in the mistaken belief that the new package allows the country to sell -- rather than lease -- land to Chinese farmers. Kazakh officials contend that the Nazarbayev administration's political opponents spread the Chinese land-sale rumors to try to foment a popular uprising that would lead to a coup. They are probably right. Political opponents elsewhere in the former Soviet Union have also seized on bread-and-butter issues to stoke popular unrest. The best examples are uprisings over electric-rate increases in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. In many ways, using bread-and-butter issues to stoke unrest is smarter than asking the public to rise up for political reasons. Advertisement For one thing, most people in the former Soviet Union hold the cynical view that a change of government will simply replace one set of crooks with another, and do nothing for society. That means a lot of the public can't get excited about political appeals to them. But they can get fired up about bread-and-butter issues that could affect their futures. In the case of Kazakhstan, the bread-and-butter appeal is the contention that millions of Chinese farmers could flood into the country and refuse to leave, jeopardizing Kazakhs' livelihoods and making the country a virtual Chinese colony. In the case of the electric-rate increases in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, the bread-and-butter appeal was the contention that there would be less money in people's pockets for food, rent and other necessities. The Kyrgyzstan rate increase actually led to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's ouster in 2010. Much of the public was unhappy with Bakiyev for other reasons, particularly the belief that he used fraud to steal his re-election in 2009. But Bakiyev's decision to double electric rates was what ultimately proving his undoing by provoking the uprising that led to his fleeing the country. Advertisement Learning from the Kyrgyzstan situation, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan took steps to co-opt street demonstrations against a 17 percent rate increase that the country's Russian-owned main utility planned for August of 2015. Sargsyan announced that for an unspecified period the government would cover the difference between the old and new rates so that consumers wouldn't have to. Armenia is one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union, so the rate increase would have taken a big bite out of people's incomes. You can be sure that opposition forces in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia smacked their lips over the public anger that the rate increases generated. That anger presented them with an opportunity: If they could figure out how to channel it, they might be able to foment a general uprising that would usher them into office. Russia was so concerned that the rate-increase protests in Armenia could lead to an uprising against its ally Sargsyan that it warned the Armenian public against trying to pull off a color revolution in the country. Advertisement Opposition forces across the former Soviet Union learned from the Kyrgyzstan and Armenian rate-increase uprisings that seizing on bread-and-butter issues may be a better way to precipitate regime change than using political appeals. Kazakhstan officials became convinced that the opposition was using the land issue to try to spark a popular political uprising in the same way that the Kyrgyzstan and Armenian oppositions had seized on the electric-rate-increase issue. To warn the opposition that it was treading on dangerous ground, Kazakh officials went public with their belief that those spreading the Chinese-land-sale rumors had the ulterior motive of trying to seize the bread-and-butter issue to precipitate a general political uprising. For the time being, both Armenia and Kazakhstan have checkmated the opposition's use of bread-and-butter issues to try to foment a general uprising. Having learned that bread-and-butter issues can be effective change agents, you can be sure that opposition movements are looking for the next one to seize on -- and that governments are brainstorming counter-measures. Advertisement NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 06: Guests play a piano during The 2016 Sing For Hope Pianos launch event on June 6, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Sing for Hope Pianos ) Since 2010, has placed a total of in the parks and public spaces of NYC for anyone and everyone to play. Doing this, the two questions we field most are: what happens when it rains? don't people destroy the pianos? The answer to the first question is that we have Piano Buddies--heroic volunteers in each community who keep their eyes on the weather forecast and cover the pianos with tarps when it rains. And the answer to the second question is that, of the 336 artist-designed pianos we've placed in NYC parks and public spaces over the past 5 years, a total of 3--i.e. fewer than 1%--have been vandalized. Advertisement Sadly, one of those three instances of vandalism occurred earlier this week at Owl's Head Park in Brooklyn. The morning after the incident, our team met with the Park Manager and Parks Conservancy, and together we decided to return the piano to our SFH Pianos Art Studio at 28 Liberty in Lower Manhattan to see if our lead piano technician could repair it (the damage took the form a pried-off front panel and broken internal hammers, but the artwork had been left intact). The prognosis was good, replacement parts were secured, and three days later, the piano was as good as new and ready to be relaunched in a new location. The Sing for Hope Piano created by Volunteer Artist Rob Baird and entitled "Numbers," pictured last week with young friends in Brooklyn's Owl's Head Park several hours before the vandalism occurred. This year, our small but mighty band at Sing for Hope is especially mindful of the imperative to keep our pianos in good working order long-term because the instruments' time on the streets is only the beginning of the story. Assuming we are able to meet our $25,000 fundraising goal by the end of this month, Sing for Hope's new partnership with the NYC Department of Education will allow us to transport all 50 instruments, post-parks residency, to permanent homes in under-resourced public schools, where they will benefit an estimated 15,000 students. For the past month, we've been fielding applications from schools who want the pianos, and the testimonials leave no doubt as to whether the arts are desperately needed, and sorely missing, in many of our schools. So, with its bruises healed, this one vandalized instrument, now happily repaired, will join its 49 piano siblings and become part of a school community. For hundreds of students, the piano--created by Volunteer Artist Rob Baird and entitled "Numbers"--will, in Rob's words, channel "how the arts, math, and sciences are intertwined as fundamental building blocks of the human experience. It will encourage all of us to embrace the infinite possibilities created when we explore these realms together as a community." Advertisement In many ways, Sing for Hope is simply a working theory: the arts create possibility, possibility creates hope, and our city needs hope. Create direct inroads for artists to share their talents in communities, and see the blossoming that follows. In bringing creative opportunities to underserved communities, Sing for Hope has been referred to a resource re-allocator, but it's actually more like a resource magnifier. There is a palpable magnification of creativity on both sides of the equation, for volunteering artists as well as for partnering communities. Bottom line: sharing art in community is about placing a bet on the best of what makes us human, on our capacity for creativity and empathy. And when you bet on what is best in people, they step up. Four "SFHPianos Photo of the Day" selections chosen this week from social media shares by New Yorkers and visitors across the 5 boroughs. There is much discussion in nonprofit-land these days about how we measure impact. To that end, how do we leverage the success metric of SFH Pianos placed in "at-risk" neighborhoods? Put another way, how does one measure hope? Over 99% (99.2518%, to be precise) of these beautiful artist-designed pianos emerge not only un-vandalized, but having uplifted spirits on a broad scale. At a time when our public discourse is divisive and a leading candidate spews vitriol that would have been unimaginable even a year ago, the possibility of coming together with strangers in harmony is compelling. A simple public piano is able to catalyze positive change on levels both communal and individual. Communally, it affirms our common humanity and honors our shared public space; individually, it allows disparate folks to really be seen and heard, and to connect in new and authentic ways (this one golden-voiced Brooklyn mailman is just one of countless examples shared over the past ten days). The Sing for Hope Pianos are a distillation of the artistic process at its most essential--little seeds of truth and beauty that we hurl out into the world in the hope that they'll land on hospitable terrain, take root, flower, bear fruit. It can feel risky, but we know it's vital to our shared survival. Advertisement Vandalism happens. It is an urban reality. Part of the miracle of the Sing for Hope Pianos is how rarely our instruments fall victim to it. Less than one percent is a risk we are willing to take. We continue to place our bet on harmony, and we are right over 99% of the time. And for that reason, we play on. *********************************** Learn more about Sing for Hope and find the SFH Piano nearest you at www.singforhope.org. The 2016 Sing for Hope Pianos "KEY CHANGE: Pianos for the Kids of NYC" program is made possible by our partnership with the NYC Department of Education and the generosity of donors like you. Before we begin, we should mention that this week's talking points section consists of a few extended excerpts from President Obama's recent speech on fighting the Islamic State. What he had to say was important, and it counters several insidious talking points that have been used against him in the past, so we felt it was worth taking over this week's talking points. Just to warn everyone up front. Because these excerpts are longish, we're going to once again have to punt on announcing the winners of our "what playground taunt should we call Donald Trump?" contest once again. Our apologies, and we swear we'll get to it next week (granted, that's what we said last week, but this time we really mean it). We're also going to have to review the week's news in lighting fashion for an intro, because this column's already approaching Brobdingnagian lengths. Well, maybe not, but it sure is fun to run "Brobdingnagian" through the old spell-checker, and we have to find our amusements where we will in this job. Ahem. Enough meandering, let's just get on with it, shall we? Advertisement Of course, the tragic news from Orlando dominated the week's media, as once again someone with easy access to military-style weaponry takes dozens of lives. According to Donald Trump and John McCain, this is all Barack Obama's fault (of course). Personally, we think if you want to go back and point fingers, you'd have to include George W. Bush's inability to get an agreement with the Iraqi government to keep American troops there (Obama was merely following Bush's signed agreement, something McCain and all other Republicans seem to always conveniently forget), and we would even trace the real blame back to L. Paul Bremer's infamous first order of his stewardship of Iraq, which disbanded the Iraqi army and led directly to all the Sunni insurgencies since. Put plainly, if de-Ba'athifying the army had never happened, then the Islamic State would never have happened. Which John McCain (at the very least) should well know. Newt Gingrich had another one of his patented horribly bad ideas, but we already explained why earlier in the week, so we'll just note it and move on. Thankfully, nobody else has picked up on the idea of resurrecting HUAAC. The C.I.A. released some chilling documents detailing the torture it performed on prisoners (which included such phrases as "hung by the arms from the ceiling for almost a month" as well as one prisoner's statement: "Doctors told me that I nearly died four times"). To its credit, the Washington Post ran an article about the new documents using a headline which included the clear and unequivocal phrase "C.I.A. Torture." Advertisement Speaking of the Post, Donald Trump has now banned them from covering his rallies. In normal times, this would be shocking, but it's pretty much par for the Trump course, these days. Some Republicans are still dreaming about dethroning Trump at their convention. Aren't they adorable, when they're asleep and dreaming such lovely dreams? Awww.... Speaking of adorable, Little Marco Rubio has now apparently decided that he does want to stay in the Senate, after all. Since he was so vocal about how he'd never do such a thing (tweet from last month: "I have only said like 10000 times I will be a private citizen in January"), it won't be very hard for Democrats to put together a few ads to remind voters of Rubio's disdain for his current job. A fanatic in Britain killed a member of Parliament while shouting an extreme right-wing slogan, and now it seems he was inspired by American neo-Nazi groups. This immediately brought a promise from Republicans to root out such domestic support of international terrorism... oh, wait, that didn't actually happen, did it? And finally, a nice comparison of two states, and the results of their experiments -- on the left and right -- as to how budgeting and tax policy really works in the real world (as opposed to "in conservative economists' fantasies"). In California, taxes were raised on millionaires. In Kansas, taxes were raised on the poor and slashed for the wealthy. How'd all that work out? Advertisement California's economy grew by 4.1 percent in 2015, according to new numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, tying it with Oregon for the fastest state growth of the year. That was up from 3.1 percent growth for the Golden State in 2014, which was near the top of the national pack. The Kansas economy, on the other hand, grew 0.2 percent in 2015. That's down from 1.2 percent in 2014, and below neighboring states such as Nebraska (2.1 percent) and Missouri (1.2 percent). Kansas ended the year with two consecutive quarters of negative growth -- a shrinking economy. By a common definition of the term, the state entered 2016 in recession. The article also points out Kansas is on the brink of a big credit downgrade "indicating there is a chance the state cannot pay its bills." Proof positive that trickle-down does not work (and indeed has never worked), and that raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy does not kill the economy one tiny little bit. OK, that's enough of a wrap-up, let's move right along to the awards portion of our show. We have two winners for this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award, both for impressive feats of political theater. The first goes to Representative Gwen Moore from Wisconsin. Because of Republican attempts to force welfare recipients to undergo drug testing (to prove their worthiness), Moore successfully flipped this debate on its head with her own proposal: welfare drug testing for rich people. From the story: Moore's bill would require a drug test for any tax filer who claims itemized deductions worth more than $150,000. So a wealthy guy who wants to write off massive amounts of mortgage interest would have to prove he's not on drugs. If taxpayers with more than $150,000 in deductions didn't want to submit to a drug test, they could just use the standard deduction instead -- meaning they'd pay a whole bunch more in taxes. This would only affect families which had roughly three times the average American family's income in deductions alone, so it wouldn't affect many folks out there. And if the sacred principle is that government helping people out financially requires drug testing, then why not? Moore explained further what led her to make the proposal: Moore told The Guardian her most direct inspiration for the proposal, which is unlikely to become law, came from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who unveiled his poverty policy agenda last week at a drug and alcohol treatment center in southeast Washington. "When he stood in front of a drug treatment center and rolled out his anti-poverty initiative, pushing this narrative that poor people are drug addicts, that was the last straw," Moore said. We've always been a big believer that the way to point out Republican hypocrisy is in the most scathingly ironic method possible, because that's really the only way to get anyone talking about the inherent contradictions in conservative ideology. If drug testing is going to be required for government benefits, why wouldn't we test those who are receiving the highest dollar amounts of such benefits? Brilliant! While our first MIDOTW salutes a bill that is likely never going to become law, we also have to salute a senator who pushed as hard as he could to move towards actually passing meaningful legislation. Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut led the ninth-longest filibuster in American history this week, to force the Republican-led Senate to allow votes on two gun control bills from Democrats. Newtown is in Connecticut, making this a very personal subject for Murphy. Murphy lasted until two in the morning, or almost 15 straight hours. In the end, he won -- he got Mitch McConnell to agree to bring up the Democratic bills, possibly as early as Monday. That is pretty downright impressive, seeing as how filibusters rarely actually achieve their goals. Advertisement Now, this doesn't mean that either bill is going to pass. The first would ban people on the official watchlist of suspected terrorists from buying guns. Given the existence of such watchlists, it seems a reasonable thing to do -- why should someone who is not allowed on a plane be allowed to buy a semi-automatic weapon? We have our doubts about the constitutionality of such lists in the first place (discussed earlier in the week) ourselves, but if we're going to have such a list it certainly isn't all that big a step to refusing them permission to buy weaponry. The second would require background checks for all gun purchases, even those taking place online or at gun shows. This concept is overwhelmingly supported by the American public, but the National Rifle Association has so far been successful at blocking the idea. As I said, even though Murphy secured a vote for these two measures, neither is likely to pass, making his filibuster an act of political theater. But again, we love a good bit of political theater, especially when it is even partially effective in moving the public debate at large. Republicans have a crafty way to avoid paying a political price on the first measure -- they've got their own proposal which seems to ban suspected terrorists from buying guns, but it is in fact so weak that nobody would likely ever be denied as a result (current stats show that people on these watchlists are already successful at buying guns nine times out of ten, it bears mentioning). This way, Republicans can counter Democratic political ads about "voting to allow suspected terrorists to buy guns," by saying in response: "I voted for the Republican version, which protected innocent Americans' Second Amendment rights." As we said, crafty. But perhaps the tide is very slowly turning. During and immediately after the filibuster, there was actually some talk across the aisle of creating a bipartisan bill on the watchlist problem. These talks quickly broke down, and did not result in any meaningful compromise. But they took place -- which is more than has happened in the past. So maybe there's hope, although likely not before an intervening election. Advertisement Gun control may not be as toxic politically as it was in the past for Democrats, with every passing massacre Americans are forced to witness. This week -- whether legislatively successful or not -- Senator Chris Murphy moved that debate forward in a big way. By (literally) standing his ground for 15 hours, he at least forced a Senate vote on two gun control measures that never would have seen the light of day otherwise. That is incredibly impressive, which is why he also is a winner this week of the coveted MIDOTW award. [Congratulate Representative Gwen Moore on her House contact page, and Senator Chris Murphy on his Senate contact page, to let them know you appreciate their efforts.] Sadly, we have to hand this week's Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week to Senator Bernie Sanders. On Tuesday, the final primary (Washington D.C.) of the 2016 season happened. Bernie lost it, by an overwhelming margin. He met that day with Hillary Clinton, which was reminiscent of her face-to-face meeting with Barack Obama a few days after the final 2008 primary. But Clinton emerged from that meeting eight years ago and started working on her concession speech, which she gave four days after the primary season closed. This was her famous "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" speech, in case anyone's forgotten. Bernie, on the other hand, met with Clinton for 90 minutes and then gave an online speech of his own two days later. He hit all the high points of his agenda during this speech, but fell short in one big respect: Advertisement Bernie Sanders profusely thanked his supporters. He said he looked forward to working with Hillary Clinton to advance key issues. And he urged like-minded followers to run for state and local offices so they can continue the "political revolution" he began. In short, during his 23-minute speech live-streamed across the country, Sanders sounded very much like a candidate prepared to drop out of the Democratic presidential race. But the senator from Vermont pulled up short Thursday night, neither conceding the party's nomination nor endorsing Clinton in the general election. "The major political task that together we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly," Sanders said of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. "And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time." But "defeating Trump cannot be our only goal," Sanders cautioned, speaking from his home town of Burlington, Vt. We find this disappointing. Bernie is trying to walk a tightrope here, between not being called a "sellout" by his supporters, and not looking like a spoiler to everyone else. He's stopped talking about winning over the superdelegates and wresting the nomination from Clinton at the convention. He knows this isn't going to happen. He is trying to exert as much influence as he can over the party platform and the future of the party as a whole, and we do understand that. But the choice has now become a binary one. Either vote for Clinton in November, or run the risk Donald Trump will actually be president. Those are the only two choices left. Voting third party or writing in Bernie's name may make some of his followers feel better, but depending on how close that voter's state is, it could run the risk of President Trump. There's no other way to see it now. This year, especially, we have seen some awfully artful language from Republicans on the subject of the precise definition of the word "endorsement." They've had to dance over these metaphoric hot coals already. So there are examples for Bernie to follow to offer even a half-hearted endorsement of Clinton: "I cannot let Donald Trump become president and thus even though I do not fully endorse her agenda I will be voting for Secretary Clinton in November." Advertisement That's all Bernie needed to say in his video speech. But, for once, Bernie is the one resorting to lawyerly hair-splitting language: "I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time." What the heck is that supposed to mean? Bernie's role -- whether he likes it or not -- in the process of the Democratic nomination is now to fight for inclusion of his ideas in the platform, but also to support the only viable candidate who can defeat Trump in the fall. Bernie already got an extra week. It was crystal clear after the California and New Jersey primaries that Hillary Clinton had won the Democratic nomination by every measure. D.C. voted a week later, which gave Bernie some time to adjust to this reality. Then he met one-on-one with Clinton for a long discussion. The fact that he still can't bring himself to offer even a half-hearted endorsement of Clinton now, though, is disappointing. The choice for Bernie now is: work to get Hillary Clinton elected, or run the risk of President Trump. So far, he has not made up his mind, which -- even though we agreed with almost everything Bernie had to say in his video speech -- is disappointing. So much as it pains us to say it, Bernie was our MDDOTW award-winner this week. [Contact Senator Bernie Sanders on his Senate contact page, to let him know what you think of his actions.] Volume 396 (6/17/16) We started today intending to point out one important thing Obama said this week, but when we read the full transcript, we decided to just do away with the talking points altogether to focus on a few excerpts from the speech. If this disappoints you and you still crave some anti-Trump talking points, you could always check out what his fellow Republicans have been saying -- just in the past week, mind you -- about Trump's reaction to the Orlando shooting. Some of them are as snarky as anything we could dream up, so that should satisfy anyone looking for our usual fare here. President Obama actually gave two short speeches this week which merited attention. The first is the one we're focusing on, where he addressed the press corps right after a previously-scheduled meeting on the Islamic State situation. But later in the week, Obama spoke again after meeting with the victims' families down in Florida, where he further expressed his frustration at the lack of political will on gun control and the fact that he has had to be "mourner-in-chief" far too many times. This speech was also well worth reading, but we're concentrating on the earlier one instead. Advertisement Obama began by accurately portraying the state of the fight against the Islamic State (which he calls "ISIL") -- something usually missing in media reports on the fighting. The past year has truly been a turning point in the fight, at least against the "Caliphate" they've proclaimed for themselves on the ground in Iraq and Syria. In Iraq, the Islamic State has lost roughly half the ground it used to hold, and has lost all its battles. Anbar province is almost completely clear of the Islamic State, as Iraqi forces have retaken city after city. The only area left to clear is a border crossing and a few surrounding towns. That's a major accomplishment, seeing as how a little over a year ago the Islamic State was essentially on the doorstep of Baghdad and held almost the entire province. Mosul -- the biggest battle of the war, most likely -- remains to be cleared in the north, but Iraq has so far seen steady progress without a single reversal of fortune. Syria hasn't been as much of a success story, but even there some incremental progress is being made by the various groups fighting the Islamic State (while also fighting each other, which certainly doesn't help). Here is Obama's overview of all the recent progress, from the official transcript: 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. All of these points are almost never brought up during the coverage of the presidential race (or in any other context) in the mainstream media. The fight is slow, but the good guys have been winning for a while now. You'd think that would be news. Obama then spoke of how the Islamic State's finances have also been targeted, and made a plea for obstructionist Republicans to put America's national security over their petty partisanship in the Senate: 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. Hint to Democrats looking for attack ads against sitting Republican senators: here's a dandy issue for an ad! Political inactivity has consequences, for us all. Obama seems almost eager to get into the fray of the campaign himself these days, and his approval rating just keeps going up, so we're looking forward to hearing more of this sort of thing in the weeks ahead. But the real reason we decided to highlight this speech so heavily was when Obama started talking about a favorite bugaboo of Republicans everywhere, most recently regurgitated by Donald Trump: the "magic phrase" Obama refuses to use. Last year I wrote about this bizarre GOP concept: Advertisement There's an ongoing debate about the phrase "Islamic terrorism" (or "radical Islam" or similar phrasings), where conservatives insist that if politicians (specifically President Obama) would merely use the correct phrase to describe things, it will somehow bestow magical benefits. "Did you hear President Obama today?" the jihadists would incredulously say to each other, "He actually used the term 'radical Islamists' to describe us! We must have won the battle of ideas, so there's just no point in fighting on anymore. Here's my AK-47, I'm going back to my home village to grow olives." Although ridiculous, this is precisely what some Republicans seem to believe. Finally, this week, Obama addressed this argument head-on and destroyed it once and for all. He absolutely knocked it out of the park. We thought it was a shame that when Obama's remarks were reported on television news, they were always cut to a single short soundbite or two. Because Obama eloquently buried this ridiculousness forever, and he deserves credit for the breathtaking way he did so. So here is what Obama had to say, in full, to finish this week's talking points section. 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 [the tribal areas of Pakistan], 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 their 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. Chris Weigant blogs at: Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant Full archives of FTP columns: FridayTalkingPoints.com Black Lives Matter protesters shout during Black Friday in Seattle, Washington November 27, 2015. REUTERS/David Ryder As we reflect on Juneteenth, many of us will think of the ongoing black freedom struggle. We will analyze the role of black men as leaders throughout history and in the present day, in the home and in movements for justice and black liberation. We will discuss how these men of different backgrounds and the like came together to advance the causes of our community. However, we should also take the time to think critically about how black women are and are not included in this revolutionary blackness. The intersectional struggle of black women has been explored by many writers, such as Angela Davis, Paula Giddings, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Melissa Harris-Perry. They address the issues that black women face when aiding in the struggle for justice and equality for the race, while navigating a society that simultaneously oppresses women. Not only have black women dealt with white, heteronormative, patriarchal systems in America, but intracommunity prejudice as well. Advertisement The question is often raised: "Does race or gender come first?" Put simply, race and gender cannot be separated for black women. Black women do not have the privilege of living their lives as solely black or solely women at any given point in time. They endure both struggles at once. Today, these struggles take on familiar and new forms: colorism, sexism and homophobia. Colorism One may first think that blackness is physically inclusive with the resurgence of afros and other forms of natural hair, as well as the praise for the beauty of Lupita Nyong'o. Not only are African-Americans a physically diverse population, but the Africans from which we descended were as well. However, several studies and documentaries have been produced to address the issue of the black aesthetic for women. Good Hair, Dark Girls, and Light Girls all sparked discussions over the pervasiveness of these biases. Recently, a thread of tweets was made praising lighter or racially ambiguous women and degrading darker-skinned women on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of women on a spectrum of skin tones. Tweets declared that those with light skin were on the end of the scale to have higher GPAs, be happily married and have fewer sexual partners, while those with dark skin were attributed the opposite. Those tweeting and laughing at these comments defended them as jokes, while they were opposed by black women of all shades as senseless self-hatred. One's racial identity (and perceived racial identity) has always been linked to their experience in America. The issue of colorism has pervaded the black community for centuries, becoming sharply defined during slavery. While historically light skin has been associated with privilege, opportunity and European standards of beauty; dark skin has been with inferiority, poverty and ugliness. Advertisement It is up to the black community as a whole to reclaim the full beauty of black women, of all colors, hair types and sizes. It can no longer be a passive effort to affirm the diversity of black beauty. Further, we must end the notion that a woman must be perceived as beautiful to have value as a human being. Sexism We have examples throughout history of black women being at the forefront of movements for black liberation: Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Constance Baker Motley, JoAnn Robinson, Ella Baker, Diane Nash, Gwendolyn Brooks, Angela Davis, Kathleen Cleaver, Elaine Brown. Yet for all the work these women did, they still found themselves relegated to positions without power in organizations such as the NAACP, SCLC, and Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. The phrase "Black Lives Matter" was coined by three black women, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors, who then formed the national organization so many know today. While activists have worked tirelessly to recognize the lives lost to police violence, the hashtag "Say Her Name" had to be created due to the lack of support for black women who had been killed vs. black men. This has led many to discuss whether or not black women's lives matter less. Black women have always been the vital other half of the movement for black liberation, but their experience has been marred by gender inequality. Due to the intersectionality of race and gender, women have often been left to continue the fight for the right to vote, equal pay, reproductive rights, and sexual assault and domestic violence awareness alone. At times, it seems forgotten by many that black women are often on the front lines of these protests, and some of these same women are fighting for men who haven't fought and wouldn't fight for them. It is important to understand how we benefit from women being empowered, and how we gain justice for all by dismantling the social systems and cultural ills that plague them. Advertisement Homophobia There are great talents and heroes throughout history who have been members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex community. Oftentimes, this population is erased from history and demonized in the present, constantly fighting for their humanity to be affirmed. The arts have been particularly welcoming of the LGBTQI+ community, as we have seen with Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker, Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, and Samira Wiley. While the legal right to marriage was granted across the United States in 2015, we have also seen more media attention towards the alarming rate of black trans women being murdered, as covered in Time, The Root, Vibe, and The Guardian. Melissa Harris-Perry previously hosted a special about the issue on her talk show. While trans women are meant to be included under the principle of Black Lives Matter, there have been separate protests to proclaim that "Black Trans Lives Matter" as well. With the violence that black LGBTQI women face, especially in the midst of the Orlando Shooting and transgender restrooms debate, it is clear that these women need our protection. It is time for the black community to have open and honest conversations about how homophobia further divides us and weakens our cause. These women are still our sisters. The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman. - Malcolm X, "Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?" (1962) We need the black community to fight for black women. We need you to support our dignity, empowerment, and liberation. We need to stand hand in hand, and fight side by side. It is the only way to truly unite and uplift our community, and it can only be done if black women are fully included. UNITED STATES - JUNE 15: Protesters supporting Sen. Chris Murphy's filibuster on gun laws march onto the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday night, June 15, 2016. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) We are in the middle of our recurring national nightmare. We would like to wake up and make it go away, but we can't. Incomprehensible carnage from the barrel of a gun. Impassioned demands for action to be taken by those we elect to protect us. Political intimidation by the gun lobby. The defeat of common sense gun restrictions in Congress. The certainty that we will live this nightmare again and again. Unless we change the politics of guns. Given the apparent inevitability that Congress will fail to take meaningful action in the wake of the most deadly mass shooting in American history, it may be difficult to rise above the despair. But there are signs that gun control is gaining in political viability. The Democratic Party finally has stopped running from the gun issue. It was not long ago that leading Democratic strategists like James Carville and Paul Begala advised Party leaders that the gun issue is not worth the political risk. It was during the first Obama Administration that Congressional Democrats, when they were in charge, resisted efforts to move gun legislation in a futile effort to protect the "Blue Dogs" in districts perceived to be hostile to gun restrictions. For the Democrats, it all changed after Newtown. The slaughter of six-year-olds quickly made political risk a secondary consideration. Advertisement For the first time since the Clinton Presidency, the Democratic Party seems to be "all in" for stronger gun laws. President Obama's eloquence on the gun issue has been unparalleled. There is no doubt that Hillary Clinton's passion on the issue is genuine, reflecting the commitment of her husband during his Presidency when his support helped to pass both the Brady Bill and the assault weapons ban. It should not be forgotten that President Clinton ensured that Jim and Sarah Brady would appear in prime time at the Democratic Convention in 1996. Perhaps nothing illustrates the post-Newtown change in Democratic Party attitudes toward gun control more powerfully than the constant beating Bernie Sanders has taken from Hillary Clinton over his votes against the Brady Bill and in favor of special legal protection for the gun industry. Sanders has been constantly on the defensive on the gun issue. It sends a message to other Democratic candidates and office-holders: regardless of how progressive you are on other issues, if you pander to the NRA, you will suffer political pain. It is the mirror image of the long-time political reality for Republican candidates: you can be conservative on every other issue, but if you cross the NRA, you will pay a price. Whether the Republican reality begins to weaken may depend on the political fortunes of Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is running for reelection this year and was a devoted NRA disciple until after Newtown, when he co-sponsored a universal background check bill with Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), himself a previously ardent gun rights supporter. That two previously NRA A-rated Senators sponsored a meaningful gun control measure is another indication that the gun issue is not the political third rail for as many politicians as it used to be. Advertisement For all those hopeful signs, though, the U.S. Senate is poised to defeat, yet again, legislation to bar people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns, as well as universal background checks. It's clear that the politics of guns still must change if the NRA is to be stripped of its veto power over gun legislation. What must happen? At the core of the problem is the so-called "intensity gap," that is, the perception by the political class that opponents of gun laws feel more intensely about the issue, and are motivated to engage in various forms of activism and political activity more frequently, than supporters of gun laws. Surveys show that gun control opponents are far more likely than gun control supporters to give money, contact a public official, express an opinion on a social networking site, or sign a petition than gun control supporters. A 2014 Yale University survey showed that among voters who thought gun laws should be less strict, 71 percent said they would never vote for a political candidate who did not share their position on gun control, compared with just 34 percent of those who support stricter gun laws. This gap is ameliorated to some degree by the fact that far more Americans favor making our gun laws more strict than favor weakening them, but nevertheless the perception remains strong that pro-gun partisans will "vote" the issue, whereas gun control partisans will not. President Obama recognized the problem in expressing his frustration that Congress would not act during his Administration to strengthen gun laws. In January of this year, he declared his intention to become a "single-issue" voter on guns, writing in the New York Times that he would no longer support candidates who do not support "common-sense gun reform." He challenged other gun law supporters to do the same. Unless this "intensity gap" can be narrowed, the politics of guns is likely to remain a stalemate. There are reasons for hope. After Newtown, there was an explosion of gun control activism, with existing organizations energized and new organizations forming. From my perspective outside the gun control movement, it appears that, three years after Newtown, the level of activism remains at levels far higher than before Newtown. It is a new and firmer foundation to build on. Too many politicians, particularly in swing suburban areas, believe that the gun issue carries political risk only if they vote against the NRA. A growing army of passionate, committed gun control voters can convince them otherwise. Advertisement If there was a noticeable change in this Spring Summer 2017 showing at menswear fair Pitti Uomo, it was a welcomed return to easy silhouettes. This meant jackets with a slim fit but cut fuller, trousers that featured a waistband that lay higher on the waist and some subtle pleats. It is in the midst of this new look that Swedish shirt brand Eton caught my eye. I mean, when we dress we can only be as comfortable as we feel and the closest thing to our body is what sets the tone for all other apparel to come. Then, once that has been achieved, for me it's always time for some socially conscious thinking, to accompany the trendsetting styles. It's my own motto, the "3 Cs of Fashion": Conscious, classy and comfy. Eton is the perfect combination of all that, and more. While in Florence, I felt their wonderful vibe everywhere. Inside the main building of the Fortezza da Basso, they welcomed me into their lively booth with open arms and took the time to explain both the mission of their latest campaign and their inspirations. Then, later that same evening, I attended their Swedish Midsummer's event on the rooftop of the Westin Excelsior, overlooking all of Florence, which came complete with flower crowns for the ladies and a fragrant cocktail featuring freshly squeezed apple juice with mint leaves and strawberry slices. It's not hard to see why they've quickly become one of my favorite brands, and I'm not even their target demographic. Or am I? Advertisement You see, Eton this season -- after their relaunch in 2016 with a campaign bearing the tagline "be a new gentleman" -- is about teaching men how to be their best selves, in and out of their shirts. During a fascinating conversation with Brand Director Johan Falk, he elaborated, "we are obviously very proud of coming from Sweden -- and we're very proud of the men's ideal that we have in Sweden." Then Falk continued, saying "Sweden is in the forefront when it comes to gender equality. There is still a lot more to do but compared to most other countries, we're able to share in the responsibilities for family, women are empowered at work. So what we did with the relaunch is we told a story about our values and put it in the context of a Swedish man, the ideal Swedish man." Explaining that as shirtmakers, the company has "more of an opportunity than most other companies," to help men examine what ideals and standards best serve their purpose in this world, Falk also went on to say that as "a menswear brand we have the opportunity to say, hey guys, maybe you should reevaluate your role, and look at the way you could take responsibilities in your family situation. It's product, yeah, but in the world today there are loads of problems and it's everyone's responsibility." Eton is available in 42 markets, with an even distribution between the Nordic states, the rest of Europe and the US. Which means that the look of the shirt has to vary from what a Swedish man would wear to feel at ease in his newfound role as a "Latte Papa" (a term used for stay-at-home dads) to what a man on his way to work on NYC's Wall Street would like, to what an Italian will button up to for a summer aperitif. Advertisement That's where Eton Creative Director Sebastian Dollinger comes in. Dollinger is part rockstar, part longtime Eton employee -- he admitted his first job at age 15 was in the Eton stockroom -- all rolled into a wonderfully creative package. "I found inspiration growing up in rural Sweden." Dollinger admitted, continuing, "when you go to school in Sweden there are posters everywhere of birds, frogs and things like that. And those posters from the 50s, are there to teach the kids what birds, nature we have in Sweden. I wanted to find peculiar things from my childhood to put into tailoring." He also searched into his family's past, most specifically went into his grandparents' summer house, and explained, "in Sweden, in the 50s and 60s, at the peak of social equality, everyone had a summer cottage, small, and all had a wardrobe." He continued, "Swedes don't boast, but what they did is they hid these wallpapers in the cupboards, so when you opened up your wooden wardrobe, you would find this kind of wallpaper." The result are these beautifully whimsical prints, what Dollinger perfectly describes as a "Swedish 'Liberty' waiting to unfold," that have ended up on button down shirts, on cotton scarves and even on a foulard that happened to find its way to me, and I now wear with gusto and pride, knowing the history of the design. Other inspirations for the designer included his own friends, whom Dollinger admitted "are not shirt people, they don't like wearing shirts," and so he solved that problem by creating a button down that wears like a t-shirt, comfortable, easy and in a light cotton that feels like heaven on the skin. In simple colorations of black, white and denims, this wonder shirt is, in Dollinger's words, "lighter than a t-shirt, it fits better and it's more breathable, comfortable and there is no reason for my friends not to wear them." Last but not least, he showed me the Eton wildcard, their version of a Hawaiian print featuring strong women by artist Joakim Sundholm. Gone are the girlie images of 1950s prints, sexists and "dated" as he called them, replaced instead by what Dollinger wanted to name "the feminist print," then adding, tongue in cheek, "but that's a loaded statement." Ending our conversation with Dollinger's thoughts on the business of fashion and how perhaps, both buyers and brands have lost the joy needed in this fascinating world, which the customer still understands, and possesses. "I think there's a nervousness in the fashion business which doesn't allow people to be themselves, I don't think fashion is a happy place," he stated, then adding, "at the consumer level, they get it. It's a different take on it, the consumer has more playful eyes towards clothing if they're not too much into fashion. In the end of the day it's just what you wear, it doesn't really define you as a person. It's not even important. I love doing it because it's fun." Advertisement To bring it all home for me, he turned the tables and added, "you could write about anything in the world, you're a writer, a journalist and you choose this or it chose you, because you think people can make a difference." I did, and I do. Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Southside Ballroom in Dallas, Texas on June 16, 2016. / AFP / Laura Buckman (Photo credit should read LAURA BUCKMAN/AFP/Getty Images) Most polls at present show that Hillary Clinton will beat Trump in their presumed presidential face-off in the Fall. The problem with this is that polls measure what people tell pollsters and that's what ends up in their numbers and percentage crunching. In some cases, the numbers ultimately prove right and the presidential candidates that polls show will win do win. This may or may not be the case in trying to figure out where Trump really stands with millions of voters. He's banking that the polls are dead wrong. In a speech back in July in Phoenix he reached back more than four decades and snatched at a line and a concept that then GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon pulled out of his political hat in November, 1969. Nixon publicly called on those he dubbed "the silent majority" to bail him out on his plan to settle the Vietnam War. Advertisement Nixon had much more in mind than drumming up support for his war plan -- he had coined a new code word for millions of mostly white, conservative, blue collar and middle income voters, who were appalled by and mad as hell at the ghetto riots, campus demonstrations, rampant drug and "permissive" culture and disrespect for law. They were in Nixon's view so denigrated, mocked, marginalized and pushed to the side by the mainstream media, and ignored by Washington politicians and bureaucrats, that they would hit back, and hit back hard, in the one way they knew how. That was at the polls. That meant a vote for Nixon. The implication was that untold numbers of these closet Nixon backers might not show up in the polls as Nixon supporters precisely because they weren't part of a voter sample. Or, if they were, they wouldn't tip their hand about backing Nixon. A decade later, the hidden bias, masked feeling and the penchant of many white voters to shade, deceive or just plain lie to pollsters and interviewers when they told them that color didn't mean anything to them in an election, surfaced with a vengeance in the heated contest for California governor in 1982. Polls consistently showed L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley would beat his white GOP rival and become the first African-American governor. The polls were wrong and Bradley lost. Pollsters tried everything they could afterwards to weed out hidden bias in the polls with mixed results. In Trump's case, the issue isn't race in trying to decipher why many voters might not let on how they really feel about him. It's how he's been routinely caricatured, and that's as a clown, loud mouth, liar, conniver, racist and women/immigrant/Muslim-basher. These aren't exactly the qualities of person, let alone a presidential candidate, that would make someone proudly tell pollsters, or anyone else that they would stand in a line to vote for. Advertisement The primaries gave a clue about how this presidential election cycle is unlike few others in modern times. Even though polls showed Trump at the top ahead of his GOP rivals for months before the first primary, the experts were virtually unanimous that the polls couldn't really be believed, and that he would wither on the vine in the first round of the primaries. The polls for the most part were right about his popularity. But since then with his wave of shoot from the lip bluster and fights with Obama blaming him for the Orlando massacre, and his double and triple down in attacks on Muslims, the same polls are showing him slipping further behind Clinton. Can they really be believed? The brutal reality is that millions think that Muslims are terrorists, and that the country is under siege, that the Obama administration and Clinton would do a lousy job in protecting them and that they haven't done a darn thing about keeping jobs here. And, worse, they'd take away their guns. They are likely to seethe in quiet anger at the sight of demonstrators repeatedly disrupting Trump rallies and clashing in the streets with police. Many, when asked, might not express that anger and frustration. Worse, as Nixon played on and up, they aren't even asked how they feel about issues, or paid any attention to. Yet they more than showed in the primaries when they voted for Trump that they are there in massive numbers. People say there aren't enough less educated, blue-collar white men in the electorate to push Trump over the top. But that's misleading. Trump has actually gotten a lot of votes from middle class white people -- male and female, college educated, business and professional people. There's more still to the potential Trump vote total. Elections are almost always won by candidates with a solid and impassioned core of bloc voters. In Trump's case, white males, older voters, middle-income, college educated voters, vote consistently and faithfully. And most times they vote in a far greater percentage than Hispanics and blacks, and especially young voters. Nixon was definitely on to something in 1969 when he corralled his silent majority and bagged the White House. The jury is way out on whether Trump can do the same. But the danger is there. Advertisement -- By Emily Reid, Director of Education at Girls Who Code. The first time I visited New York City, I didn't see the Empire State building or the Statue of Liberty. On my first visit to Manhattan I went to the Ancient Egypt Exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When I was seven years old, I developed a deeply intense interest in Ancient Egyptian history. It was one of those voracious passions that a geeky kid just can't seem to help themselves from. I eventually amassed a collection of historical books, imitation amulets, and fake papyrus scrolls filled with "secret" messages written in hieroglyphs. I would dress up like Cleopatra to go to school, and while some kids played "house", I would play "Pharaoh's Court" (even if it was with my imaginary friends). My intense interest was not shared by my friends, but by one person made sure to buy the books, book the train ticket to the Met, and help me to cultivate my interests independently: my father. While my early foray into Ancient Egyptian history may seem far afield from future life as a computer scientist, I see many common threads. Sure, my obsession with writing secret messages in hieroglyphs may have been an early indicator of my interest in cryptography, and I did hack my GeoSafari (what's up, 90's kids) to create my own quizzes on the Ptolemic dynasty, but this story also made two things very clear to me: my father has always been supportive of my intellectual curiosity and my independence. Advertisement He was not a software engineer or a mathematician, but he exemplified and cultivated in me the qualities that would help me become one . That deep interest in 2nd grade was not one that was shared by my friends or one with information and resources easily accessible to me, but my father made sure that interests were validated and supported, regardless of the world's expectations. Intellectual curiosity and education were an essential part of my eventual decision to become a mathematician and computer scientist. While I experienced impostor syndrome in many of my math and computer science classes, I would eventually get to a core concept I was obsessed with learning more about, and my father would reflect that excitement back to me. In my freshman year, I was still undecided and stressed about deciding on my major. There were so many options at that time: math, philosophy, political science, religious studies. But when my father came to visit and took me out to lunch, I couldn't stop talking about Euler's identity. I had just learned about the beautiful mathematical equation, which so elegantly captured so many fundamental concepts. My mind was blown. My dad just looked back at me and said, "Em, I think you know what you want to major in." Advertisement Throughout my life, my father has always encouraged my intellectual pursuits, and education was the first priority. Homework and studying were taken very seriously in my household growing up. My father cares deeply about economic opportunity and fairness, and it was clear to me through his word and example that education was one of the keys to solving those problems. He would stay up late studying with me, bring me snacks when I was working all weekend on a project, and hug me when I stressed. While our areas of focus were different, I realized as I got older how similar my father and I were in how we approached our work. We both felt a deep responsibility to do good work and to do it right, and we both put a fair amount of pressure on ourselves and are always wanting to learn more. That kind of attitude and approach to education proved to be crucial in my studies in computer science. The subject is amazing, but was oftentimes challenging. That kind of grit and voracity for learning was something that I know was crucial to my success in CS. My father grew up on a farm in Western Massachusetts. His parents didn't have the opportunity to go to college. But they knew they had a smart son, and knew that college would be in his future. They likely expected him to become a doctor or a lawyer, but when he expressed an interest in pursuing a PhD in anthropology, they supported him. My father worked several jobs -- as a janitor, EMT, and others -- to financially support his chosen career. He didn't do what was expected of him on many levels. He was driven internally. Having this kind of role model was crucial for me in terms of combating the gender gap in computer science. No, my father had never had the experience of being the only woman in CS 101. He has never been a woman, and he has never programmed before. But he did have the experience of finding a path that hadn't been laid down for him beforehand. Not only was I able to see that as a model, he was supportive of me and encouraged me when I had those moments where I almost dropped out. At those times, he would remind me of the trailblazing women I did admire: Susan B. Anthony, Gloria Steinem, Grace Hopper. I remember once feeling feeling down that I was so busy with CS classes that I didn't have time to attend the feminist and women's studies group meetings at my university. He made me feel better by reminding me that I didn't have time for everything, and that I was already living many of the feminist issues we would discuss in those meetings. To all the fathers out there, thank you for encouraging your girls to pursue what they are passionate about, arming them with education, and giving them the confidence to continue on that path. You don't need to be a software engineer to encourage your daughter to study computer science; you just have to remind her that she's capable, and encourage her intellectual curiosity. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "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." While there have been countless debates, tests and judgments that have defined and re-defined how to interpret this amendment, the current prevailing interpretation and belief in America is that individual gun ownership is a constitutional right. As a result, America has seen a steady and consistent stream of deregulation around gun ownership, even as mass shootings appear to be on the rise. As progressives get increasingly concerned about the gun culture in America, as a tactic, they try to make their case by comparing gun ownership to other safety-related, common-sense laws: While certainly humorous while making a practical point, this tweet burn completely misses the larger point: people don't have a constitutional right to buy Sudafed. You simply cannot compare a constitutional right to anything else not on the fundamental rights playing field. Advertisement This lack of focus on the constitutional argument is where progressives have lost their way. They have been so focused on the practical utility of public policy that they end up losing the larger fights that define America. Constitutional interpretation lends itself to a more strategic (and philosophical) debate platform than arguing the facts and stats on how laws can and should protect people. Constitutional theory is the debate platform that conservatives have been playing on for decades while progressives get frustrated and lose ground. The remarkable irony is that the wording and intent within the Second Amendment is actually on progressive's side. In fact, the Second Amendment is a progressive's dream: the third word in the amendment is "regulated" for heaven's sake. No matter the interpretation of every other word and phrase after the first three words, the entire context of the amendment is that it will be a regulated right. Through this lens, the Second Amendment is barely even comparable to the First Amendment in terms of what rights it enables. There is simply no language in the First Amendment that regulates the right to free speech... and yet we still regulate speech despite the unassailable strength of the the First Amendment constitutional language The upshot? Even in today's hardcore gun rights environment and culture, the Constitution itself provides the guidance -- and mandate -- to not just regulate militia (i.e., groups of people) and arms, but to regulate them well. Advertisement How our culture defines "well" can and will certainly evolve over time, but we shouldn't let gun rights ideologues and arms industry special interests continue to convince the public that they're the only ones who have the Constitution on their side in this debate. Photo: AFP Peter Balazs is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and the former European Commissioner for Regional Policy. He currently holds a Jean Monnet ad Personam Chair at Central European University. After 1990, Balazs joined the Government and the diplomatic service of Hungary several times. He was a State Secretary for Industry and Trade (1992-1993) and a State Secretary for European Integration (2002-2003). He was nominated Ambassador of Hungary to Denmark (1994-1996), Germany (1997-2000) and to the EU in Brussels (2003-2004). In 2009-2010 he was Foreign Minister of Hungary. Balazs also acquired experience in various EU positions. He was the Government Representative of Hungary in the European Convention drafting the Constitutional Treaty which has become, after several modifications, the Lisbon Treaty. In 2004 he was nominated the first Hungarian Member of the European Commission responsible for regional policy. On the invitation of the European Commission he coordinates priority projects of the Trans-European Transport Network. Lan Anh Vu sat down with Balazs to hear more about his journey and what he thinks the top three priorities are for the EU in the next five years. Advertisement As told to Lan Anh Vu My Career in Politics, Diplomacy and Education I am originally an economist. I started working in the export company as a young person. One day, I was invited to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, which was in charge of international economic institutions, including the European communities. They offered me a place to go to the Ministry and to the Union with the EC. I was around 28 years old. I accepted the offer, although it was never my objective to work for the State Administration. I wanted to be an export salesman and travel all over the world. Later, I was in Brussels for Hungarian representation. When I returned, I was placed in the much larger field of international economy organizations as the head of department. Then came the second the big change; after the turn, the system in Hungary changed in 1992. I was again invited to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to be the State Secretary, so I made a big jump. In 1997, there was a vacancy in Germany, I was asked to go to Bonn at that time it was not yet Berlin to be an Ambassador. Then came the time when I shuttled between government jobs, diplomacy, EU jobs and finally the academic world, which is where I am now. Most things that happened in my life have been unexpected. There are two moments in my life when I wanted to do something. The first was to be an export salesman, in my very early years, in order to travel the world. The second was to work within the EU. These were two of my objectives; the rest just happened to me and was beyond my control. Challenges My challenge was to be the first Hungarian Member of the European Commission because everything else was somehow within the politics of my own country. At the time, I was playing on a much higher level in an organization with 25 countries. I had one of the top jobs, was a member of the European Commission, worked with an international team and handled problems at all the European levels. It was above the national level. Advertisement Lessons Learned I've learned that once you do something, you must be devoted to the job and you have to do your best to perform. Never be afraid of losing that job. I frequently got difficult jobs. I was the first person in Hungary to deal specifically with European Integration, so I had to establish a new desk at the Ministry in my younger years. When I was named the State Secretary for Industry and Trade, it was a big privatization time. Furthermore, most of my jobs presented new challenges. It's a great thing when you are invited to do something new. I was mostly called upon to navigate unknown things, and I like those kinds of job. My Perspective on Life You can compare life to a journey by train. When you sit by the window on a train, you can see new things and time passes. On a train, you have the time of arrival with life--you never know when the end of the station comes and where it is. It's a journey, and you must be open to changes in situations. You should be prepared for undefined, uncertain time frames; you never know when you may come to an end. For that reason, you should have some missions that you want to do, as well as ideas of what you want to achieve, within your lifetime. My Definition of Success Success is when other people recognize and thank you for solving their problems. I wouldn't define success as personal glory, rather as solving problems for other people. In this way, you can contribute something to the world. Top 3 Priorities for the EU My first point would be to produce fewer problems, because some problems are self-made problems. Nobody asked us to make the single currency--the Euro; we wanted to do it. Some problems are self-produced problems. We need to put these on our shortlist of questions so we can really solve them and achieve something. Second, we need to find better solutions to external problems, like the refugee crisis, because these are real challenges--not self-made problems. Advertisement Third, we need to be very flexible regarding changes. The EU is a very conservative organization. There are excellent jobs available, and once people get a good job in the Commission or Parliament, they want to maintain the situation. I think they should be very open to radical changes because if a system is not open for changes, it will collapse and disappear. Advice for Young People Knowing what is happening in the world is very important. There are many important devices, such as television and the Internet, where you can gather information, but you need time to understand what is happening and learn as much as possible. My best advice for young people is to learn languages and everything possible in order to follow what is happening and keep updating things. In addition, you should have personal plans and be flexible in order to change to those plans if necessary--not just stick to things. In other words, be open and flexible so you can adapt yourself to new situations. This interview has been condensed and edited. "Daring to Print." So headlines Eric Fottorino, Editor of Le 1, and former editor of French daily Le Monde, in his foreword to what has become a reference on trends in a newspaper business plagued with setbacks. But Fottorino is optimistic the industry will survive despite arguments that "mobile first" and "mobile only" are what make newspapers tick today, noting that it's a passionate challenge for paper as a medium for a modern, original free press that surprises readers with its creativity. It is up to paper to cultivate its uniqueness: long written texts, which means well-written ones, the chance to take readers on a journey through issues they were not aware of, that they did not suspect, when the Internet only responds to the queries made of it. That is why paper as a medium is a very human construct, containing reflection and based on the articulation of news and analysis, features and investigation that seek to make sense of the world when it appears to have none. At a time when algorithms driving data seem to take an evil pleasure in destroying our understanding of that which is real. Advertisement Innovation in News Media World Report (courtesy Innovation Media Consulting) Paper is, in the end, a synonym of pleasure. It has texture, smell, music; a sensuality that, for want of making it irreplaceable, hooks one forever, said Fottorino in "Innovation in News Media World Report 2016." The book, published by the London-based Innovation Media Consulting Group for the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), is a much-awaited guide to what's new in the industry. This year it goes a step further by expanding its range to news media, not just newspapers, with the aim of keeping the industry engine running at optimum speed, while providing a top quality product. Print innovation (courtesy Innovation Media Consulting) It was released this week at WAN-IFRA's annual convention in Cartagena, Colombia. To bridge the media divides in news organizations, Innovation Media Consulting president Juan Antonio Giner offers "Open-Space Transmedia Newsrooms: 20 Tips," suggesting do's and don'ts for making a real digital transition. Advertisement 1.It's better and cheaper to build a new facility than to re-fashion an old one. 2.Have only one boss of bosses. 3.Audio-visual journalism pools are key. 4.You need space from 10 to 14 square meters (107.6 to 150.7 square feet) per person. 5.Promote quite communication. 6."The cloud" will change (almost) everything. 7.Don't allow mental or physical walls: "Print vs digital" is not an option. 8.The end of assigned seating. 9.Some of your nest journalists must go on the breaking-news desk. 10.TV screens are out, digital walls are in. 11.Developers and journalists share the newsroom. 12.Don't skimp on big round tables. 13.Hot-desks should be in big demand. 14.Meeting rooms are for meetings: No mobiles, tablets or computers. 15.Don't be silly. 16.Rules for successful central desks. 17.This is growth and development, not cost cutting. 18.Management units must also share the open space. 19.Avoid endless mega airport facilities. 20.Organize the newsroom by content and audiences. Axel Springer's digital strategy (courtesy Innovation Media Consulting) A case study is German media giant Axel Springer that apparently sent three senior managers on a year-long trip to Silicon Valley to learn how to function in a digital environment where social media, bloggers and snappy portals like vice.com and Buzzfeed attract legions of young content consumers. Across the pond in Canada, we're told La Presse and The Toronto Star are leading an ambitious plan to reimagine the newspaper for the digital age. The former launched La Presse+, offering a complete multimedia newspaper created for tablets every morning. Advertisement The reinvention of the newspaper for tablets (courtesy Innovation Media Consulting) They had a very clear aim: to move readers and advertisers from the print edition to the new digital platform in as little time as possible. They wanted to transform their business but keep a daily paper--on a tablet instead of in print--as the focal point. The latter launched its Toronto Star Touch app that doesn't replace the print edition, but is a complementary product that improves the paper's current digital range and offers the company a platform for the future, according to its digital operations manager. On to branding, with The Financial Times (FT) scoring points reminding everyone that a key element in the equation is news and putting journalism at the center of their marketing. The Financial Times branding model (courtesy Innovation Media Consulting) The branding and marketing teams ask the paper's expert journalists to explain the intricacies of the story to them--including one about how the Chinese property market is linked to Bordeaux wine sales--before any creative work is done, so they can unearth the most surprising aspect of it before developing the visuals and copy. Facebook is the leader in "mobile attention," the report says, with Google and Apple following at a fast clip through news-related apps and platforms to increase mobile reading speed. Advertisement There's obviously no letup from the 24/7 news cycle. Screen shot of Apple News The distributed content revolution is the mobile revolution, a new paradigm that puts the user at the center of the Internet and turns usability and the quality of content into the aim of digital strategy. On the new Internet, digital strategy is social strategy. Byebye SEO, hello social media. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), the official constitutional body that advises the government on all matters related to religious affairs in Pakistan, recently criticized a bill that criminalizes violence against women as "un-Islamic." The Women's Protection Act, which honestly was not all that ground-breaking in its content, gave legal protection to women from domestic, psychological, and sexual violence. It also called for emergency helplines and more women's shelters to be set up. This radical idea had religious organizations seriously upset. Fazlur Rehman, the chief of one of Pakistan's largest religious parties, the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam, claimed that this law "makes a man insecure" and that it "is an attempt to make Pakistan a Western colony again." Advertisement Yes, because physically and mentally abusing another human being without fear of the law is what really defines our nationalism. The CII have decided to take matters into their own hands and write their own "women protection bill," which, by the way, was debated by an all-male panel since the only woman in the CII, Dr. Sameeha Raheel Qazi, decided to be absent (I'm sure whatever she was doing instead was more important than the rights of Pakistani women). These are just some of the ways in which the CII proposes to "protect" women in Pakistan: A husband should be allowed to "lightly beat" his wife in the horrific event that she defies his commands, which could include refusing to dress as per his wishes or not consenting to intercourse (unless she's on her menstrual cycle, in which case she's useless). Husbands are also advised to beat their wives if they refuse to shower after intercourse (gross), interact with strangers (gasp), or speak too loudly (so unladylike). Women should be banned from co-education after primary school, interacting with males (so much so that female hospital staff must not tend to male patients), or hanging out with "na mehram" (i.e., anyone who isn't your father, grandfather, brother, son, uncle, or nephew). Abortions that take place more than 120 days after conception should be classified as murder and women should be punished accordingly. Do you feel protected yet? Removing a woman's agency over her own body and reducing her to a mere tool is a central factor in Islamist propaganda that pushes misogynistic and sexist interpretations of the Qur'an over moderate and liberal ones. To illustrate, the practice of domestic violence is most often justified by the words found in Surah Al-Nisa (The Women), verse 4:34: "As to those women on whose part ye fear discord, admonish them first, then refuse to share their beds, and finally [adriboo] them; but when they comply with you, then seek not against them means of annoyance: For Allah is Most High, great above you all." The Arabic word "adriboo" has a variety of meanings such as "to beat" but also: "to forsake, to avoid, to leave." It therefore gives way to those who wish to contort and utilize the Islamic faith as a means to control and intimidate women. Advertisement This same instance of drastically different interpretations is found throughout the Qur'an, making it increasingly difficult for reformists to challenge extremist ideas. The conditioning of women is vital to the Islamist propaganda because it silences an entire section of society that could otherwise potentially create problems in a misogynistic utopia. This new proposal will seem ridiculous and unsubstantial to many, and is more than likely to be rubbished after an initial reading in the Punjab Assembly where it is set to be propositioned soon. Yet this bill is no joke. The fact that this is the state of the official constitutional body that advises the government on religious matters is extremely disturbing and requires serious scrutiny. How are these people, who hold the belief that it is acceptable to physically harm another human being for not wanting to sleep with them, elected to this position? What are their qualifications? What makes them worthy of making decisions on my behalf? And how much do they really understand the Islam they claim to represent? Advertisement The human rights of Pakistani women are not up for debate. Their bodies are not at your mercy, their minds are not yours to condition, and they certainly do not require the CII to tell them how to speak or when to shower. It is de rigueur among tolerant liberals who don't want to divide society further in our unsettling times to dismiss Samuel Huntington's thesis of a "clash of civilizations." But Huntington was right -- though perhaps in a way he didn't grasp. The clash between the personal freedom of liberal modernity and traditional communitarian or tribal values doesn't just, or even primarily, take place at the geopolitical level between the West and Islamic cultures, as Huntington saw it (He also a envisioned a clash with Hindu and Confucian-rooted Asian societies). It plays out within civilizations undergoing transition and in the very intimate interstices of the personal life of individuals. As globalization and the post-traumatic stress of military intervention bring immigrants to the West, and as Western mass culture spreads to all corners of the planet, the conflict between tradition and modernity seeps not only into each other's territory but into the formation of personal identity itself. Advertisement As the child of immigrants, Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter, embodied this struggle as he straddled what were seemingly two conflicting worlds. It appears that either his conservative Afghan family ethos fostered an obsession with homosexuality as a reprehensible sin, or perhaps he lashed out in hate against what he apparently perceived as the impurity of those in whom he saw himself. Though he pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, in the moments before his horrific act, he was, in a way, ISIS writ small. As we also saw in Paris, San Bernardino and Brussels, ISIS is not confined to the Middle East. It is not so much a state as a state of mind that dwells in upended souls all over caught between sharply contending value systems, trying to figure out who they are and where they belong. When this combustible instability is armed, we are all exposed to the consequences. In an interview I did with Huntington just after 9/11, he argued that, "the terrorist actions of Osama bin Laden have reinvigorated civilizational identity. Just as he sought to rally Muslims by declaring war on the West, he gave back to the West its sense of common identity in defending itself." Since then, it has often been said that there is a clash within Islam between moderates and conservatives. It is clear now that there is also a clash within the West itself, so evident in the phenomenon of Trumpian xenophobia, religious fundamentalism in the U.S. or in Israel and the steady rise of the anti-immigrant and anti-EU right in Europe. The diametrically opposed responses to the Orlando tragedy in the U.S. presidential campaign only further illustrate the woeful polarization that has seized America. In an exclusive interview this week with HuffPost's Sam Stein, Hillary Clinton blasts her opponent. "Part of the radical jihadist recruitment strategy is to convince would-be recruits, here at home and around the world, that there is a clash of civilizations," she argues. "So Donald Trump's demeaning and derogatory comments about Muslims and Islam is not only counterproductive, it is dangerous." Unlike Huntington expected, the West itself seems ever more sharply riven between two visions of its own identity, as if its inhabitants live on different planets instead of in the same societies. Today, the boundaries have been erased. All geopolitics now is local -- and personal. Advertisement The battle between visions of identity has also claimed a victim in the European referendum in Great Britain. Writing from London, Paul Waugh profiles the life of Jo Cox, the "passionate, compassionate" anti-Brexit, pro-immigration politician gunned down this week on the streets near her hometown. Former CIA analyst Graham Fuller weaves together the disparate strands from geopolitics to outsider psychology that converged in the Orlando massacre, which, he says, cannot be traced to one cause. Yet, he writes, "We must acknowledge the huge degree of U.S. responsibility in creating and prolonging many of these conditions [of conflict] abroad. The anguish ... is now spreading out across much of the globe and leaching back into our own American society. The U.S. cannot kill at leisure abroad and remain untouched at home." In fact, even though ISIS didn't plan the attack, it was, as World Reporter Nick Robins-Early notes, still quick to claim it and capitalize on it for propaganda purposes. WorldPost Middle East Correspondent Sophia Jones points out the paradox of seeing all Afghans as guilty by association with the Orlando shooter. "Many Afghans who served as interpreters and support staff for U.S. forces in Afghanistan from 2001-2014 are still trying to seek asylum in the United States, in fear of their lives," she reports from Istanbul. "The Taliban is known to murder those perceived as loyal to the United States." And indeed, this week the U.S. Senate failed to secure a continuing visa program for American-allied interpreters from Afghanistan. Patric Jean writes that you don't have to cross any borders to find homophobic beliefs: "Jews, Christians and Muslims all have propagandists of radical homophobic hatred in their ranks." He also contrasts the response to Orlando with the response to the attack on Charlie Hebdo in France: "It should also be noted that among the heads of state who declared themselves 'Je suis Charlie' last year, half are unable to offer the same gesture to Orlando because their laws or national customs prohibit the expression of homosexuality." Writing from Brazil, Lana Jones says "the overt homophobia of the Islamic State has a lot in common with the homophobia pervading Brazilian society. The religious fundamentalism of certain Muslim groups is no different from the fanaticism of some evangelicals." Advertisement The other great realm of rising geopolitical tension these days is in Asia. Writing from Beijing, Fu Ying, the powerful chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, asks, "which is the real state of China-U.S. relations. Cooperation or confrontation? Or, are they both real?" For her, "the relationship [between the U.S. and China] has come to a state where, if they work together, they are capable of making a difference in the world, but if they fight, they can bring disaster onto the world." Richard Javad Heydarian advises President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to recognize "the zeitgeist" and situate the Philippines in a "post-American, multipolar world" in which China looms large. Writing from Moscow, Vasily Kashin questions whether Russia's "pivot to China" is a real alternative to a partnership with Europe. Also writing on Russia, Anastasya Manuilova sees Russian President Vladimir Putin's condemnation of the Orlando nightclub attack -- despite his anti-gay legislation -- as a nod to his need to stay in the better graces of the West. Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden this week examine how China's new Silk Road initiative is taking shape in East Africa where major infrastructure and defense projects are being built with Chinese investment. Reporting from Beijing, Hong Soon-do sees China's official policy of limiting the workweek to 4.5 days in order to boost domestic consumption and leisure spending as a boon for tourism in nearby South Korea. In a fascinating, out-of-the-box rumination on the digital age, Abby Smith Rumsey worries that the information monopolists of our day -- Google and Facebook -- might end up fostering a monoculture not unlike the Christian rulers and Islamic caliphate that purged pagan texts from the Great Library of Alexandria in ancient times. Prominent writers, scientists and environmentalists led by Mexican poet Homero Aridjis appealed to U.S. President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to act to save the monarch butterfly that lives and migrates across North America. Finally, our Singularity series this week looks at how human organs grown in pigs through genetic implants can solve the organ donor shortage. Advertisement WHO WE ARE EDITORS: Nathan Gardels, Co-Founder and Executive Advisor to the Berggruen Institute, is the Editor-in-Chief of The WorldPost. Kathleen Miles is the Executive Editor of The WorldPost. Farah Mohamed is the Managing Editor of The WorldPost. Alex Gardels and Peter Mellgard are the Associate Editors of The WorldPost. Katie Nelson is the National Editor at the Huffington Post, overseeing The WorldPost and HuffPost's editorial coverage. Charlotte Alfred and Nick Robins-Early are World Reporters. Rowaida Abdelaziz is Social Media Editor. CORRESPONDENTS: Sophia Jones in Istanbul EDITORIAL BOARD: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Arianna Huffington, Eric Schmidt (Google Inc.), Pierre Omidyar (First Look Media) Juan Luis Cebrian (El Pais/PRISA), Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute/TIME-CNN), John Elkann (Corriere della Sera, La Stampa), Wadah Khanfar (Al Jazeera), Dileep Padgaonkar (Times of India) and Yoichi Funabashi (Asahi Shimbun). VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS: Dawn Nakagawa. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Moises Naim (former editor of Foreign Policy), Nayan Chanda (Yale/Global; Far Eastern Economic Review) and Katherine Keating (One-On-One). Sergio Munoz Bata and Parag Khanna are Contributing Editors-At-Large. The Asia Society and its ChinaFile, edited by Orville Schell, is our primary partner on Asia coverage. Eric X. Li and the Chunqiu Institute/Fudan University in Shanghai and Guancha.cn also provide first person voices from China. We also draw on the content of China Digital Times. Seung-yoon Lee is The WorldPost link in South Korea. Jared Cohen of Google Ideas provides regular commentary from young thinkers, leaders and activists around the globe. Bruce Mau provides regular columns from MassiveChangeNetwork.com on the "whole mind" way of thinking. Patrick Soon-Shiong is Contributing Editor for Health and Medicine. ADVISORY COUNCIL: Members of the Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council and Council for the Future of Europe serve as the Advisory Council -- as well as regular contributors -- to the site. These include, Jacques Attali, Shaukat Aziz, Gordon Brown, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Juan Luis Cebrian, Jack Dorsey, Mohamed El-Erian, Francis Fukuyama, Felipe Gonzalez, John Gray, Reid Hoffman, Fred Hu, Mo Ibrahim, Alexei Kudrin, Pascal Lamy, Kishore Mahbubani, Alain Minc, Dambisa Moyo, Laura Tyson, Elon Musk, Pierre Omidyar, Raghuram Rajan, Nouriel Roubini, Nicolas Sarkozy, Eric Schmidt, Gerhard Schroeder, Peter Schwartz, Amartya Sen, Jeff Skoll, Michael Spence, Joe Stiglitz, Larry Summers, Wu Jianmin, George Yeo, Fareed Zakaria, Ernesto Zedillo, Ahmed Zewail, and Zheng Bijian. From the Europe group, these include: Marek Belka, Tony Blair, Jacques Delors, Niall Ferguson, Anthony Giddens, Otmar Issing, Mario Monti, Robert Mundell, Peter Sutherland and Guy Verhofstadt. MISSION STATEMENT The WorldPost is a global media bridge that seeks to connect the world and connect the dots. Gathering together top editors and first person contributors from all corners of the planet, we aspire to be the one publication where the whole world meets. The horrific mass shooting in Orlando was the deadliest in our nation's history. In response, this week Democrats in both the House and the Senate said ENOUGH, and demanded action to stem the rising tide of gun violence in our country. On Monday, House Democrats refused to participate in the perfunctory moment of silence held after each mass shooting, pledging to remain silent no more. Then on Wednesday, Senate Democrats led by Chris Murphy of Connecticut, took the floor in a 15 hour filibuster to demand action on common sense legislation supported by 90% of the American people. We are proud to have joined in those efforts. Democrats in both chambers will no longer stand for business as usual in the face of these horrific gun crimes. Congress must honor the victims of this bloodshed not with merely thoughts and prayers, but with action. What happened in Orlando on Sunday was shocking, and our hearts are broken for the victims and their loved ones. And while the scale of these mass shootings captures the nation's attention, the carnage caused by guns on the streets of Chicago every day is no less tragic. More than 280 people have been killed in this great city since the first of the year. Thousands more are living under siege in neighborhoods where they fear sitting on their front porches or letting their kids out to play because of the threat of gun violence. No one in the United States of America should ever have to live this way. That's why we are pushing in Washington to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. There are simple steps Congress can and must take to end this gun violence nightmare: We must make universal background checks the law of the land, and close a shocking loophole in current law that allows known or suspected terrorists to buy guns and even explosives. In 2015 we were informed that forty percent of the crime guns confiscated in the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago were coming from gun shows in Indiana where guns can be purchased without background checks. And despite having been on the terrorist watch list in the past, the Orlando shooter was able to purchase an assault weapon and ammunition to stage his attack. Establishing universal background checks and closing this terrorist gun loophole will help keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, the mentally unstable and individuals with ties to terrorism. This should be done now as a matter of national security and public safety. This is a starting point. We know that much more must be done to keep guns out of dangerous hands, and that the appalling gun violence in Orlando and here in Chicago is the consequence of inaction. The pursuit of gun reform is personal for us. And we won't stop -- not until all Americans everywhere can live free from the threat of gun violence. Genomic research has proven to be a considerably valuable tool in global attempts to tackle disease. One crucial part of this research has been identifying diseases and health problems that are more likely to be influenced by genetic factors and assessing the risk of a particular disease in an individual. Eventually scientists will be in a position to develop new ways to treat, cure or even prevent the thousands of diseases that afflict humankind. And it will also allow them to assess the risk that exposure to toxic agents poses to individuals. But for the world's poorest people, the diseases that affect them have remained understudied. This is mainly due to most of these studies focusing on the genetic risk factors for disease in European populations. Advertisement For example, recent studies from Sweden's Uppsala University show men with blood cells that don't carry the Y chromosome - a sex chromosome normally only present in male cells - are at greater risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. They also have an increased risk of death from other causes, including many cancers. But will African men be affected in the same way? African populations have evolved significantly over time. Their genetic composition is more diverse than that of European and other populations so this may not be the case. Very little is known about the nature and extent of this diversity. With the high burden of disease in sub-Saharan Africa, medical research needs a significant boost on the continent to identify genetic risk factors for diseases and to tackle the spread of drug resistance and emerging infections. Genomic research has gained considerable momentum on the continent in the past decade. But challenges, such as a lack of high-quality clinical and epidemiological data across all countries, still hamper efforts. Advertisement A different genetic makeup Genetic research taking place in Africa has focused on the genomic and environmental risk factors for cardiometabolic disease in Africans. Cardiometabolic diseases are those associated with the heart and include strokes, heart attacks and diabetes. According to the statistics, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and chronic respiratory illness have all skyrocketed in sub-Saharan Africa in the past ten years. Globally, more than 16 million people die from non-communicable diseases. Of these, 80% are in low- and middle-income countries. Research teams are trying to understand the interplay between genetic factors, the changes in the way the gene expresses itself, or epigenetics, and environmental risk factors for obesity and related heart diseases. They are using existing longitudinal cohorts from four countries: Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Burkina Faso. And they have six study sites across these countries, which have undergone different population changes as a result of their individual burdens of disease. The goal of this initiative, the first of its kind in Africa, is to develop the capacity to carry out these kinds of studies in populations around the continent. This would help scientists better understand the genetic and genomic markers for disease. Advertisement One of the diseases that the study is attempting to understand is alcoholism. Global studies have shown that the amount of alcohol one drinks and whether this progresses to alcoholism has a genetic influence. Separate findings show that processes that are related to factors in the gene, but that do not change the sequence of the DNA, also play a role. These are known as epigenetic processes. And in European, North American and Asian populations, research has drawn a correlation between genetic variations for drugs and dependence. Alcohol consumption and problems related to alcohol vary widely around the world but the burden of disease and death remains significant in most countries. It is the world's third largest risk factor for disease and disability. It is also one of the four risk factors that lead to people developing non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. In middle-income countries, it is the greatest risk factor. But very little is known about the risk of alcohol consumption in sub-Saharan African populations. This is despite statistics from the World Health Organisation listing 17 countries on the continent as heavy drinking countries. Nigeria takes the lead. Advertisement The high toll of alcohol and drug over-consumption among African populations means that this must become a priority. Understanding the genetic and genomic markers of diseases such as alcoholism would lead to research interrogating whether drug use and abuse are genetically linked. And this could lead to an evidence-based approach to control drug use and abuse that fits the African context. It would help the continent improve its efforts to eliminate one of the four main risk factors for non-communicable disease. Challenges and solutions The amount of available genomic information has grown rapidly in the past decade, mainly due to the falling cost and increasing efficiency of DNA sequencing technologies. But DNA sequencing is still relatively expensive for large-scale studies. Africa lags behind other continents with such studies. This is mainly due to: a shortage of African scientists with genomic research expertise; lack of biomedical research infrastructure; limited computational expertise and resources; lack of adequate support for biomedical research by African governments; and the participation of many African scientists in collaborative research at no more than the level of sample collection. Although scientists on the continent are unable to match the scale of research produced on other continents, they are continuously attempting large-scale genome-sequencing studies focused on specific diseases. The H3Africa project, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust, supports several studies involving collaborative centres on the continent. In addition, ongoing genomic projects in Africa are both establishing infrastructure for genomic research and training local researchers, as well as generating genomic datasets. Many of these projects have made capacity building one of their core missions. This will in the long run build a critical mass of highly skilled individuals in the field shaping the future of genomic studies in Africa. Facebook/Hukum Singh KAIRANA, Uttar Pradesh -- "I've been an army man, I take left turns, right turns, but never a u-turn," Hukum Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) says while we are seated in the study at his sprawling farmhouse in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district. Singh is referring to his recent statements on an alleged Hindu exodus from his Lok Sabha constituency, Kairana. According to Singh, there has been a palaayan (forced migration) of Hindu families out of Kairana village, over the last few years, primarily because of criminal elements who happen to be Muslims. All the "victims" of crimewhich according to Singh include physical threats, ransom calls, extortion, physical harmhave been Hindu families, and all the criminals are Muslims, he alleges. Advertisement Some of them haven't even been able to sell their property, but have just abandoned their land and left, he argues. But no Muslim family has been forced to leave Kairana because of crime, according to Singh. "I can say this with certaintynot one Muslim family has done palaayan." Singh's claims, after they were taken up as a campaign issue by BJP president Amit Shah in poll-bound UP last week, sent political shockwaves through the state and rest of the nation. But as media reports and local administration punctured holes in the allegations, Singh dialled back his claims and said it was a law and order issue and not a communal issue. But when HuffPost India met with Singh, he seemed to be saying it's both. "I can say this with certaintynot one Muslim family has done palaayan." This has been the trend every time Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party has come to power, he says, as he gets ready to welcome a nine-member BJP "fact finding team" that is investigating the claims he has made in his constituency. "Crime was also happened during the BSP rule but not coercion and torture," he says. He claims this is behind the demographic change in favour of Muslims, who make up about 85 percent of Kairana's population today. Interestingly, about 15,000 Muslim refugees from Muzaffarnagar came to Kairana after the communal riots in 2013. Yet, he claims that this alleged Hindu exodus is not a "Hindu-Muslim issue", and says he never called it that in the first place. "Persons who are criminals are not representative of their community," Singh tells me. "It is by chance they are all Muslims here." Advertisement Wait, what? "It's a total breakdown of law and order here, which has caused the exodus," explains the 78-year-old politician. "I'm not giving a certificate to all Hindus everywhere but here all the criminals happen to be Muslims and they are harassing Hindu families." File photo of BJP MP Hukum Singh. The nuance that the former minister is trying to describe is lost on me, but when we ask a member of one of the peedit (troubled) families in Kairana village, he is clear about the grievance. "Of course it is a Hindu-Muslim issue. The Muslim families have made it impossible for us to stay in the village," 26-year-old Sachin Ror, a resident, tells me. By then, media reports had revealed the holes in Singh's claims and his own party members had contradicted his claims. Ror's was the first house the BJP fact-finding team visited on Wednesday to investigate Singh's claims of a Hindu exodus. Eight members of his family have left in the last few years for Roorkee in Uttarakhand, allegedly because of threats from Muslim neighbours. When I tell him that his district's political representative has claimed the alleged exodus has nothing to do with religion, he shakes his head in frustration. "That is a political issue. They are now saying it is not a Hindu-Muslim issue because they only care about their vote bank, and know there are more Muslim voters here." When I tell Singh that voters from his constituency who claim such an exodus has taken place say it has to do with the animosity of Muslims towards Hindus, he says that is just a matter of "perception". Advertisement "They perceive it as a Hindu-Muslim issue. But that is not my perception," he says. "I can't change people's perception." His explanation of why certain Hindu families have left Kairana is that they are "docile Hindus" whose "upbringing" makes them non-confrontational and "easy targets". And what about the Muslims, I ask him. Hindustan Times via Getty Images DADRI, INDIA - JUNE 6: (Editoras Note: This image is available in Low resolution only) Defying the prohibitory orders imposed by the district administration, residents of Bishada and neighbouring villages hold a protest meeting demanding that an FIR be registered against the victims family for alleged cow slaughter nearly nine months after the Dadri lynching on June 6, 2016 in Dadri, India. The demand was sparked after a forensic report stated that the meat found at the scene of the attack on Mohammad Akhlaq on the night of September 28 following rumours that his family stored and ate beef at their house was that of cow or its progeny. (Photo by Sunil Sharma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) BISADA, Uttar Pradesh --When it was suddenly and violently thrust into the national spotlight in September, last year, following the gruesome lynching of a Muslim ironsmith, Bisada village intensely disliked what was said about it. The villagers of Bisada spoke of Mohammad Akhlaq's murder as an aberration. Because the character of villages where Hindus and Muslims have lived together for generations are essentially secular, and it takes effort to turn people against each other, the villagers fought the communal taint, and blamed the incident on angry youth, personal enmity and other factors anything but communal hatred. Advertisement It was Hindus who gave the land for the mosque here; we never had violence here even in the days of the Partition; we celebrate our festivals togetherthese were things that the villagers said then, partly to reassure themselves. They also attempted active mending. Hindus came together to organize the wedding of two Muslim girls. They wanted to believe, and also wanted others to believe, that Bisada was not a communal place. Things have now changed dramatically in Bisada village, just over 50 kilometers from Delhi, in western Uttar Pradesh, where Akhlaq was murdered by a mob alleging that he had slaughtered a calf. There is communal hostility and unhesitant expression of it. Nobody is apologetic anymore. It is almost as if a slow metamorphosis had set in with the lynching, and over nine months, it is complete. Its now lurching towards a potentially violent flashpoint in less than 10 days. The arrest and continued incarceration of 18 Hindu men, the compensation paid to Akhlaqs family (a Hindu would never get such compensation) and a new report that said the meat sample sent for analysis (but not taken from Akhlaqs house) was that of cow or its progeny, have all served to vitiate the atmosphere, with help from politicians keen to foment trouble ahead of the all-important State Assembly polls in U.P. in early 2017. Now, the Hindus of the village, organized by the families of the accused and political outfits, are demanding that Akhlaqs family members be arrested before 26 June. If the Samajwadi Party-led state government fails to do that, they say, they will do whatever is needed to secure justice. As the day draws closer, Muslim families are living in fear and uncertainty. And under layers of politicized claims, hardly anyone seems to remember anymore that a man was lynched. Advertisement Even past goodwill gestures have become tainted by bitterness. The wedding of two Muslim sisters that the Hindu families came together to organize, is now dismissed by the Muslims as just "a big show for the media". A Muslim woman pray in her home at Bisada village on November 10, 2015 WORK AND FEAR IN BISADA VILLAGE On Tuesday, Rahimuddin, a carpenter, barely had time to talk since he had to finish work for two Hindu households. The same day, Sushma Sharma, a Hindu who lives in the next lane, came to ask his wife, who stitches clothes, for an extension on the payment of three items that she had given for stitching. "A rat has eaten up one piece, but she will have to pay for it. It isn't my fault that she left it here for so long," Rahimuddin's wife told me. Hindus outstrip Muslims in numbers, money and power in Bisada. But Muslims are Bisada's lifeline, performing critical tasks, from welding and woodwork to tailoring and fitting bangles during weddings. Missing from their everyday interactions are the niceties and easy banter, which, as one elderly Hindu man put it, "used to come as naturally as the sunlight". Now, one Muslim woman told me, some Hindus "look the other way when you cross them". Fifty-year-old Iqbal Khan talked about how Hindus and Muslims don't visit each other at home as often as they used to, and he expressed great concern about the anger he sees in the younger generation. "Those who are older still have a respect for the old times, but it is the young men who are angry and aggressive," he said. Advertisement It is the young men who are angry and aggressive. Even though Hindus say that their fight is against the U.P. government and Akhlaq's family members, Muslims fear that the tiniest spark or confrontation could have deadly consequences for them as well. But most of them are poor and they don't have anywhere else to move their large families. A Muslim woman, who requested that her name be withheld, said that her children have nightmares about violence erupting in the village. "They can't sleep at night. They are young, but they hear things, and they know there is danger," she said. Rahimuddin wants to get his three daughters out of the village in case there is trouble, but he has nowhere to send them as they have already spent many months at their maternal uncle's home. His eldest daughter even refuses to step out of the house to feed their goats. Like Rahimuddin, Khan also wants to get his female relatives out of the village. "Everyone has to die either today or tomorrow, but honour is everything," he said. Everyone has to die either today or tomorrow, but honour is everything. Not far from Rahimuddin's house lives an elderly Hindu woman, struck by paralysis and heartbroken over the arrest of her two sons for Akhlaq's murder. She believes that they are innocent. Except her neighbours, there is no one left to take care of her. Advertisement "You cry for the mother of Mohammad Akhlaq, but not for the mother of two Hindu boys," Rahul Rana, a 21-year-old resident of Bisada village, said to me. "But why would you have tears for a Hindu mother. You in the media are just as sold out as the police. You will always write in favour of Muslims and always against Hindus." Rana then said that "anything, absolutely anything is possible" if Akhlaq's family members were not arrested by 26 June. "The murder of a cow is the same as the murder of a man," he said. You cry for the mother of Mohammad Akhlaq, but not for the mother of two Hindu boys. BJP slogan on the wall of Bisada village ahead of the 2017 U.P. State Election. The grievance of the Hindus is that the police arrested the wrong 18 men from their village under pressure from the state government to appease Muslims. The Muslims say that they are holding out against pressure to make statements to get the accused men off the hook. This tense situation is routinely exacerbated by right-wing Hindu leaders who bat for cow protection, express support for the families of the arrested men, and call for the arrest of Akhlaq's family members. Advertisement Some of the most vocal leaders expressing such sentiments belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Over the past month, BJP campaign slogans for the 2017 state Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh have popped up all over the village. At the same time, there also appears to be an effort to downplay the partys links or involvement. Sanjay Rana, the father one accused and the uncle of another, had in a previous conversation with HuffPost India spoken effusively about the BJP and its leaders. He was also widely reported at the time to variously be a BJP leader, a party worker, and the partys main pointsman in the village. Now, he is somewhat distant. "Everyone here votes for different parties," he said tersely when asked about his political links. The murder of a cow is the same as the murder of a man. While politics has played its part in this deepening mess, the state administration is not entirely blameless either. There would be less grist for the divisive politicians mill, and for families of the accused to question, if the UP police had conducted a fair, competent and independent investigation. The UP police first said that the meat sample they had lifted from the crime scene was goat meat, and then after many months released a report of a forensic laboratory test conducted in Mathura, that said that the meat was cow's. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav questioned the authenticity of the laboratory report, which was part of an investigation carried out by his own government. Advertisement While the U.P. government made no effort to conceal the preliminary report according to which the meat found in Akhlaq's fridge was goat, it did not reveal the findings of the Mathura laboratory test for months, arguing that the results had no bearing on the case. The report was finally made public after pressure from the lawyers representing the arrested men. While its true that the finding has no bearing on the murder case, this lent political ammunition to the murder-accused who argue that the state government was trying to protect Akhlaqs family. Slaughter of a cow is an offence that carries imprisonment of up to seven years in Uttar Pradesh as well as a fine of Rs.10,000. On Tuesday, Om Veer Singh told this reporter that the system was biased against the Hindus, fighting back tears. He had just performed the last rites for his mother on Tuesday. His mothers condition had deteriorated after his son Sandeep, was arrested in the Akhlaq murder case. "She died with the name of her grandson on her lips," said Singh, tears streaming down his cheeks. "My son is innocent. He was suffering from malaria. He wasn't even in the mob that attacked Akhlaq. He was so sick that the police had to take him to the hospital even after he was arrested." Advertisement The 45-year-old spoke of how he had run from pillar to post trying to prove his son's innocence over the past nine months. "I waited in line to meet the CM for three days, but they turned me away," he said. She died with the name of her grandson on her lips. My son is innocent. Family of Mohammad Akhlaq mourns during his funeral at their village in Bisada on September 29, 2015. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SEE AKHLAQ'S MOTHER ARRESTED? Even though Hindus insist that their fight is against the biased UP government and Akhlaq's family, the fact that they also talk about "restraint" in the face of provocation is frightening for their Muslim neighbours because it suggests an impending flashpoint. That could be as early as 26 June, the deadline set by the Hindu families for the arrest of Akhlaq's elderly mother, his daughter and his son Danish, who was badly beaten and sustained severe head injuries on 28 September. The family maintains that they ate mutton that night. Advertisement "We worship cows, they live in our hearts. Killing and eating a cow is prohibited by law in U.P. So why have his family members not been arrested, why have they been rewarded with huge sums of money?" thundered Sanjay Rana, who is at the head of the campaign to arrest them. "Is there a separate law for Hindus in the country and a separate law for Muslims," said Rana, unleashing expletives against the U.P. government. Is there a separate law for Hindus in the country and a separate law for Muslims. Sitting in his courtyard, surrounded by court documents, Right to Information applications and newspaper clippings, Rana talked about how he was the first one to call the local police after the infamous announcement went out from the temple loudspeaker in Bisada that a calf had been slaughtered. Rana claims that he paid Rs15,000 for Danish's treatment when he was first rushed to the hospital. "This reply to my RTI application says that I made a call to the police at 10:28 pm, just minutes after the announcement. Now, would I have called the police if my son was in the crowd. You don't think a judge will see that?" he said. Rana is confident of getting justice in court, and meanwhile he plans to focus on getting Akhlaq's family members, who currently live in Delhi, arrested. Advertisement When this reporter asked him whether he really wants to see Akhlaq's elderly mother in jail, Rana said, "Your heart breaks for Akhlaq's elderly mother but not for Om Veer's elderly mother." Your heart breaks for Akhlaq's elderly mother but not for Om Veer's elderly mother. So what would happen if Akhlaq's family members were not arrested? He said that lakhs of Hindus would gather from the surrounding villages at a moment's notice, and "they would do everything required for them to get justice." Waving off my interjection that the state authorities would never allow such a huge gathering in such a volatile atmosphere, Rana said: "You haven't seen the true strength of a Mahapanchayat yet. Rana claimed that the protests will remain non-violent, but the younger Hindu men in Bisada village sang a different tune. "If we need to resort to violence to get our rights from this anti-Hindu government then it is because we have been left with no choice," said Rahul Rana, whose friends are among the arrested. Advertisement "The boys they have arrested have gone to school, college, had good degrees or were giving entrance exams to get good jobs. Does this government give a damn about their future? No, they only care about the Muslim family, who they are protecting even though they have broken the law," he said. Both Sanjay Rana and Rahul Rana (unrelated) dismissed the possibility that some Hindus in an angry mob of tens of thousands might target Muslims. Pointing across the street from where we were sitting, Rahul Rana said, "Do you see those three boys sitting over there. They are Muslims. They are sitting in front of a Hindu door and no one is telling them to leave." Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost India: Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JUNE 15: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressing a press conference on the issue of Parliamentary Secretary on June 15, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Delhi chief minister attacked the Narendra Modi-led government, asking the BJP and Congress why they were questioning the AAP government for appointing MLAs as parliamentary secretaries when they had made similar appointments in the past. President Pranab Mukherjee refused to sign a bill that allowed 21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs to hold a second paying position as parliamentary secretary. (Photo by Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) You can't help but have a sense of deja vu when you see how differently the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress are faring in opposition to the Narendra Modi government. The Congress is faltering as usual, and the Aam Aadmi Party is again looking as though it is the principal opposition to the ruling establishment. India's least powerful chief minister has always had a way of appearing much bigger than his shoes, larger than life. In 2015, Arvind Kejriwal focused on getting his act together as Delhi chief minister, overcoming his "bhagoda" (runaway) image. Advertisement In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Aam Aadmi Party tried to bit a lot more than it could chew. But 2016 has revealed the AAP's Small State strategy. As part of this strategy, it is focusing on small states such as Punjab, Goa and Himachal Pradesh. Organisationally, large states or those with complex politics are hard to enter. Having learnt from its 2014 mistake, the AAP is now working to replace the Congress one small state at a time. To expand its national footprint, Kejriwal and his team are gunning straight from prime minister Modi. The prime minister's fans on social media say Kejriwal is obsessed with Modi. The Kejriwal-Modi equation again makes the Congress irrelevant, relegated to its indecisiveness and ineptitude. Having learnt from its 2014 mistake, the AAP is now working to replace the Congress one small state at a time. The sole exception to the AAP's poor Lok Sabha performance was Punjab, where voters disenchanted with both available options lapped up the new party. Every state where there is a weak opposition or where standard anti-incumbency applies is potentially ripe for the Aam Aadmi Party. Advertisement The only problem is, you can't built a party organization across twenty states overnight. That takes time, and resources are always a problem for a small new party. Hence the small state strategy. Goa's population is about a tenth of Delhi. Himachal Pradesh, whose population is less than a third of Delhi's, is seeing the impact of the AAP's rise in Punjab. In Haryana, however, the complex Jat vs non-Jat equation makes it difficult for the AAP to find a toehold. The AAP may not be targeting UP or Bihar, in the latter of which it subtly lent support to Nitish Kumar to help combine forces against Modi at the level of the campaign discourse. The AAP's ability to become a thorn for BJP and Modi despite being such a minuscule party is a lesson for the Congress, and for everyone else. The AAP knows how to grab political attention and make itself appear as the main opposition party, even though it rules a state where the chief minister doesn't even command the police. Advertisement Party with a plan An assembly election in Punjab hasn't been as significant in recent memory as the one in 2017 will be. If the AAP trumps Congress, as seems very plausible, it will have set the tone for national politics in the long run. It will be established that Delhi was no exception, and that the AAP replacing Congress is a process set in autopilot mode. The domino effect across India will be felt widely. In the short term, this may be good news for Narendra Modi in 2019, as it will adversely affect the index of opposition unity. In the longer term, the Aam Aadmi Party may become unstoppable. The AAP acted as if it was the main national opposition when UPA-2 was in power, and it is doing the same now that the BJP is on power. Only Narendra Modi has the ability to surpass the AAP's dynamism in grabbing headlines and becoming a talking point across India. The Congress, falling like a pack of cards, has only itself to blame for ceding space. The AAP acted as if it was the main national opposition when UPA-2 was in power, and it is doing the same now that the BJP is on power. The Congress announces a man tainted with 1984 as its Punjab general secretary, the AAP announces its entry into Goa. The Congress wonders when Rahul Gandhi will get a family promotion, the AAP makes a noise in Gujarat, Modi's home turf, where Congress is the opposition unable to exploit the growing unpopularity of Anandiben Patel. The Congress's chief ministerial candidate in Punjab, Amarinder Singh, publicly fights with his own campaign strategist. The AAP goes ahead and take free credit for "Udta Punjab". Arvind Kejriwal makes news just for tweeting a cartoon against Modi, the Congress can't even decide if it wants Sheila Dikshit in Uttar Pradesh or Punjab. Advertisement Where are the political start-ups? The Aam Aadmi Party has the gumption to want to expand its footprint. The only other party with the ambition of national expansion is the BJP. The Congress is always trying hard to become more irrelevant, lose more votes, seats and states. Regional satraps are always busy retaining the votes they have. To use a business analogy, the Congress' decline provides immense opportunity, but there's only one entrepreneur who's doggedly raising the valuation of his start-up. It's a pity that in a country that loves politics, nobody else has a start-up idea in this sector. If this were the start-up ecosystem, there would by now have been a dozen copy-cats replicating the AAP. The AAP is a regional party, confined to a city-state, but one that puts to shame the anodyne pace of other regional parties. Mayawati sticks to Uttar Pradesh like a silent volcano, Nitish Kumar is dreaming ahead of himself to be prime minister, Akhilesh Yadav is always on a back-foot defending his party's crimes, nobody even remembers Naveen Patnaik is chief minister of Orissa, Mamata Banerjee and J Jayalalithaa are also happy with their fiefdoms. Regional satraps are always busy retaining the votes they have. Indrani Basu KAIRANA, Uttar Pradesh -- In Kairana, people are amazed at the things being said about their villageit's a portrayal they say they don't recognise. For nearly a week now, the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana has dominated Indian politics. The person who first made the allegationBJP MP Hukum Singh, has now dialled back the claim, saying it's a law and order issue rather than a communal one. BJP President Amit Shah, who sought to turn this into a campaign issue in poll-bound UP, now looks like a man who doesn't do his homework before speaking. Amidst this din, there is pervasive confusion in Kairana, the alleged communal hot spot. Advertisement File photo of BJP MP Hukum Singh. BJP MP Hukum Singh's attempts to pass off demographic changes in Kairanawhich has shifted in the past few years in favour of Muslims in the area, in part because of a large-scale migration on Muslim refugees from riot-hit Muzaffarnagar in 2014has been shown to be unsubstantiated. His allegation of a "complete breakdown of law and order" have been rebutted with only one case of extortion reported in Kairana this year, and only three people leaving the village due to criminal threats. Speculation is rife that the entire episode may have all been an attempt to help launch one of Singh's daughters in politics. However, all it has done is perhaps placed fear in people's minds. On Wednesday, Kairana is overrun by media. Teams of journalists wait around at the local police station. Some are interviewing bewildered residents. There is talk about a press conference by BJP leaders in the evening. There's a near stampede when the "fact-finding" team from BJP arrives, sent after its national president aired Hukum Singh's claims as fact at a rally in Allahabad on Sunday. Advertisement The BJP team arrives in Kairana on Wednesday. Their first stop is the house of one such Hindu family, whose members claim to have fled the village following extortion threats. After all the mediapersons are asked to empty the room where the "peedit" (victimised) family waits to tell their story, the BJP team too exits 5 minutes later. I am seated at the front, but I don't see a word being exchanged between the remaining Hindu family members and the BJP team. Most of the BJP leaders have spent more time giving interviews to television channels outside the house. Journalists mob members of the BJP team for interviews. Opposite this house, members of a Muslim family recline on a charpoy. Do they know why the politicians are here, I ask. Immediately, a crowd gathers. Village residentsboth from Hindu and Muslim familiesrubbish the claims made by BJP leaders. One Hindu man, Sonu, tells me how his wedding last year had 2,000 guests, many of them Muslim. "We have no problem here. We celebrate many festivals together, and greet each other whether it is Diwali or Eid," says the 28-year-old. "I was born in this village. I call him 'tau' (elderly uncle)," he says, pointing to his 62-year-old Muslim neighbour, Idris. "We've never had communal tension here, even in 1947," says Mehmood, 66, referring to the year of India's independence when there was a large-scale migration of Hindus and Muslims across the India-Pakistan border. Advertisement "People leave Kairana because they sell land here and buy it for better prices elsewhere," Iqbal, 65, a Kairana resident for the past four decades, claims. "There are no factories here." Villagers in Kairana say there has never been communal tension here. It's a familiar refrain everywhere I ask. A 48-year-old Muslim man, Mohammad Ayum, says that he isn't aware of what the television channels are playing, and can't understand why there are suddenly so many journalists and politicians in his village. He says some people have left for better opportunities in other states, and a sizeable population of daily labourers leaves for Panipat every day for work and return in the evening. At a barbershop, Dilshad cuts Shahbad's hair. The 20 year olds have just found out about the 'Hindu exodus'. "My brother left for Haryana three years ago for work and he's not Hindu," says Dilshad. "We didn't even know there were any such problems. This entire lane has so many Hindus and we've never had problems with each other." Advertisement Dilshad and Shahbad have just found out about the 'Hindu exodus' in their village. A local tailor, Ram Chander, describes how his family has lived in the village for generations. "Hindus and Muslims have always been friends here. We celebrate all festivals equally," he says. Nearby, his 19-year-old son Shiv Kumar exchanges grins with his 11-year-old Muslim neighbour, Sofiyaan. "We fly kites together," Sofiyaan says, by way of showing their camaraderie. "They are trying to make us fight," he says, referring to local politicians. Sofiyaan is eager to introduce all his Hindu neighbours, whose houses are separated from their Muslim acquaintance by narrow alleyways just about wide enough for one person to squeeze through. In one such alleyway, I encounter Hajra and Sandhya, both in their mid-fifties, exchanging the day's gossip. Hindu families say they have been peacefully living with Muslim neighbours for decades. When I ask them if they know of any Hindu-Muslim animosity in their village, the two start slapping each others' backs, asking if there is a problem. "We live here like the rest of the world," says Sandhya. "She's Muslim, but that doesn't change our friendship," she says, pointing to Hajra and grinning. Advertisement A few houses away, 85-year-old Kalavati sits on the steps leading up to her house, where her son also runs a primary school. Inside, the walls are decorated with pictures of the Hindu god Hanuman, and leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. "Both Hindu and Muslim children study here," she tells me. "They get on together like children do." Kalavati's son runs a school from their home attended by both Hindu and Muslim students. Back at the local police station, the thana in-charge MS Gill claims that he has begun receiving worried calls from relatives if the "situation is safe" in Kairana. "About 95 percent of the crimes reported in the area are what we call 'body offences'which involve fights within family members, quarrels, minor injury," he tells me. "The remaining five percent are property offences, where something gets stolen. We have had one extortion case since the beginning of the year." In this case, the accused include members of both the Hindu and Muslim community. All of them are behind bars now. Local police claim they have never received complaints of Hindu-Muslim strife in the village. Except for one case, no Muslim refugee has been involved in a crime in the area, police say. Around 1,100 Muslim families have left the village in the last decade for better job opportunities, they say, and approximately 7,000 residents travel to Panipat daily for work. When some businessmen were murdered in 2013, the entire market was shut down, and both Hindus and Muslims protested against the crime together, cops say. Steve Starr via Getty Images Women studying word processing, India The District Magistrate (DM) of Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh has raised quite a few eyebrows with his new order - he has banned employees at his office from wearing jeans or other such 'western' ensembles. DM N K S Chauhan, justifying his order, told The Indian Expresswere issued with the intention of maintaining decorum on the 'collectorate' premises. Advertisement The collectorate is not an aisa-waisa place where you come in jeans and a T-shirt. It has been instructed that employees shall wear only formal clothes, and not jeans, corduroy or T-shirts during office hours and to official functions, Chauhan was quoted saying. Refusing to propose any particular dress code, Chauhan said employees must be clad in "Hindustani" clothes. That apparently, makes them look like they are serious about their work. Chauhan, who has also banned smoking, consumption of gutkha and tobacco in the office premises, issued another order saying a penalty of Rs. 500 will be imposed on anyone flouting the said rules. The letter further states that wearing jeans and t-shirts to work is "a violation of the government employees' code of conduct" while using tobacco products is against the Swachh Bharat Mission. Advertisement On one hand where DM's ban on tobacco is being appreciated by many, several employees are protesting the imposition of the dress code at work. Earlier this month, Haryana government ordered school teachers in the state to not wear jeans to school or to the office of the education department. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also see on HuffPost: Vijay Mathur / Reuters Delhi's Chief Minister Sheila Dixit speaks during the 50th anniversary celebrations of the United States embassy chancery building, marking the support of U.S.-India bilateral cooperation, in New Delhi January 5, 2009. REUTERS/Vijay Mathur (INDIA) NEW DELHI -- Congress veteran Sheila Dikshit yesterday night said she was ready to play "any role" either in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh or Punjab and that time was running out for the party to finalise its strategy for the elections in the two crucial states. She said decision on party's election campaign and whether to project chief ministerial face for the polls should be taken at the earliest. Advertisement "Time is running out for Congress. Decisions regarding our strategy in both Punjab and Uttar Pradesh should be taken as soon as possible. Whatever decision is taken should be taken at the earliest," she told PTI. Dikshit's comments came a day after she met party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi amid speculation that she may be made the party's chief ministerial face for next year's assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh or may be given a major role in Punjab. "I am ready for any role that the party high command wants me to play. The polls in both Punjab and Uttar Pradesh will be crucial for us," 78-year-old Dikshit, who served as Delhi Chief Minister for three terms, said. Asked specifically whether she was ready to be Congress' chief ministerial face in UP, Dikshit did not give a direct reply but said she would follow the leadership's direction. Advertisement On which state among Punjab and UP she would prefer given a choice, she said "My choice will be high command's choice. "My plea to the high command is that key decisions should be taken quickly," said Dikshit. In her meeting with Sonia and Rahul, Dikshit is said to have been sounded by the Congress high command for a leading role in Uttar Pradesh, possibly as the chief ministerial candidate. Congress party's election strategist Prashant Kishor is said to be in favour of a Brahmin face in Uttar Pradesh elections and is believed to have suggested Dikshit's name. The community, a traditional vote bank of the Congress, shifted allegiance to BJP in the aftermath of the emergence of Mandir-Mandal politics. A large chunk of Brahmin votes had also gone to Mayawati's BSP in the past when she gave tickets to many candidates belonging to the community. The community's support determines the poll outcome in several seats in Central and Eastern UP. Dikshit is the daughter-in-law of prominent Congress leader from UP Uma Shankar Dikshit, who served as Union minister and governor for a long time. Advertisement There was also a buzz that Dikshit could be made Congress' in-charge of poll-bound Punjab as the party was looking for a leader having connection with the state in the wake of Kamal Nath quitting the post on Wednesday. Dikshit is originally from Punjab. Contact HuffPost India Also see on HuffPost: 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. Attorney General Maura Healey tours the Greylock Mill, most recently known as the Cariddi Mill, on Friday. The AG's office granted the project a brownfield covenant protecting it from liability. Mayor Richard Alcombright, before an image the New Year's party at the mill, said the project will benefit the area. Salvatore Perry said the landscaping plans, in this design image by TEND Landscape Inc., will include native species. The flume, seen in yellow, runs under the mill to the Hoosic River. The barrel-vaulted tunnel is hoped to connect to the proposed Mohawk Bike Path on the north side of Route 2. A view from the back of the massive mill. A stop in the proposed bar/lounge area with Betsy Harper of the Environmental Protection Division. The Weave Shed will host some Williamstown Theatre Festival events. The upper floors will be turned into condominiums. PreviousNext Attorney General Healey Tours Greylock Mill Project Developers Karla Rothstein and Salvatore Perry explain their plans to Attorney General Maura Healey, right. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Attorney General Maura Healey is already reserving rooms in the future Greylock Mill hotel. Healey was in the city on Friday for a presentation and tour of the estimated $15 million project that was accepted into the state's brownfields covenant program in February. Developers Salvatore Perry and Karla Rothstein, based in New York City, took her through the massive building and up to the roof for a glimpse of the panoramic view. "It's so exciting, the whole transformation ... it's really unbelievable," she said. "This is a particularly exciting project, and just having toured here, I'm so excited to see this develop and go forward." Healey said she had a personal affinity for the area and understood that sometimes it hasn't always gotten the support it needed. The attorney general's office oversees the covenant program, part of the Brownfields Act of 1998 that provides protection and incentives to clean up and develop polluted sites. "We've had a robust program for 20 years or so and this past year and a half has been incredibly active with about 10 covenants we've issued including this one," said Betsy Harper, deputy division chief of the AG's Environmental Protection Division, adding the mill project has been "really a treat to work with." The 240,000 square-foot former textile mill has housed a number of industries in its 140 years, including an aluminum anodizing company and a machine shop. The covenant with the state releases the for-profit Greylock Works LLC from current and future liability as it redevelops the property into a mixed-use space of condominiums, even spaces, a boutique hotel, local culinary booths, performance spaces, and retail shops. "The whole idea is to help blighted communities re-energize and a lot of them are in economically distressed areas," Harper said. "[The covenants] really help the community out with innovative ideas." The agreement also provides liability relief to Greylock Flume LLC, a non-profit, for the preservation of open space and for the creation of a park, pedestrian walkway, and bike path to Route 2 across from the mill building. That project received a $200,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant. "It's been 10 months since we closed but it's been two years since we encountered the property," said Rothstein. "It's been just an amazing array of existing institutions and organizations that we consider part of our community, from supporters to people who have just been willing to talk to us and help us understand where we are, and very much involved in the planning the future of what we imagine happening here." The couple has already restored much of the Weave Shed, the long, low section of the mill along Route 2. The open space with new windows and skylights can hold up to 1,000 people. A commercial kitchen area is being installed with plans for a demonstration kitchen and creamery under way. The expectation is an opening in July. Tricia Farley-Bouvier is being challenge by Michael Bloomberg for the 3rd Berkshire seat. Pamela Farron and Tricia Farley-Bouvier. State Rep. Ben Swan. State Rep. Gailanne Cariddi. The Youth Alive Step Dances started off the event. Mayor Linda Tyer with School Committee Chairwoman Katherine Yon. Rep. Gailanne Cariddi and Attorney General Maura Healey. BCC President Ellen Kennedy and Rep. Gailanne Cariddi. North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright. Brad Gordon, Jim Wilusz, and former Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto. PreviousNext Farley-Bouvier Kicks Off Re-Election Bid Attorney General Maura Healey boasted about the teamwork her office has had with Farley-Bouvier. PITTSFIELD, Mass. Being a state legislator means being part of a team for state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier. That was a message she delivered on Friday when she kicked off her re-election bid. In the audience were members of that team, from Mayor Linda Tyer to School Committee and City Council members to leaders in local housing, child care, and an array of other agencies. A crowd surpassing 100 gathered at the Itam Lodge on Friday night in support of the Pittsfield Democrat's re-election bid. "The first team that I am a part of is the local team, the home team. The job of a state rep is to work with the mayor, the City Council, the School Committee, the superintendent, with local officials on such things as housing Brad Gordon is here mental health, public health, early education. We work on these things together," Farley-Bouvier said. "We work together as a team to get things done." One accomplishment stems from her role in the Gateway Cities Caucus. She worked with other legislators to craft the bill creating the Transformative Development Initiative and to fund it. She also collaborated with the city's staff in the application. Pittsfield was not only one of the 10 cities invited into the program but also received the extra support of a fellow being assigned to the city. Now, Pittsfield has a development specialist focused solely on Tyler Street and the goal is to leverage public monies to generate private investment in the area. "That as a competitive process we were able to do because we work as part of a team," Farley-Bouvier said. State Rep. Ben Swan has worked on a number of pieces of legislation with Farley-Bouvier. On the progressive caucus she has taken the leadership role, he said, comes prepared and well versed in the subject, and has brought various legislators together to finely craft bills. "Since she came in four years ago she took off running," Swan said. "I don't know why someone would run against her. It doesn't make any sense. You already have the best legislator." Farley-Bouvier said by teaming up in the caucus she is building the infrastructure for pull in the State House. Not only will that help pass bills of those legislators but also show leadership they can be counted on. "Tricia has been a champion of all progressive causes," Attorney General Maura Healey said. Healey said a lot of Farley-Bouvier's work is "unheralded." But when it came to a recent transgender bill, Farley-Bouvier was working behind the scene to rally up the votes for the bill to pass, she said. "Once I got into office my team has gotten to work with her on many issues," Healey said, specifically citing a bill to force gas companies to repair the many leaks in lines throughout the state. "Tricia is somebody who gets things done." State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli said Farley-Bouvier helps with his legislation as well because Pittsfield is a piece of the Berkshires. North County state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi agrees. "We have different styles and interests but we make a hell of a team," Pignatelli said. The North Adams Rep. Cariddi the northern Berkshires also had Mayor Richard Alcombright and City Councilor Lisa Blackmer in attendance said she'll be putting in the work to help get Farley-Bouvier re-elected because the help means so much to her district as well. "I really want to see her back. It is crucial that we keep her voice," Cariddi said. One of the major issues facing the county is the opioid crisis and Farley-Bouvier sat on the committee for mental health and substance abuse. "I'm proud to say that we did pass comprehensive legislation this past session, getting a lot of things done. We are really working with doctors on the prescribing habits because we've got to change. Prescribing got us to this point. We are working with the Department of Public Health and we should see online very, very soon in Berkshire County two new facilities, one specifically for women especially pregnant women and they can return with their babies," Farley-Bouvier said. Further she worked on the committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities and there is more work to be done, specifically with the Department of Children and Families which Farley-Bouvier said is "completely overwhelmed." "We're hoping to work on foster family rights, sibling family rights. What are the rights do you have if you have a sibling who is also in care? Siblings are being torn apart. What can we do to bring support to those families?" Farley-Bouvier said. In the aftermath of the shooting in Orlando, Fla., Farley-Bouvier reiterated her belief in making it more difficult for military weapons to be sold in the state, which is legal right now. She said she will no longer sit silently while these tragic events continue to unfold in America. "We're not trying to change the Constitution folks. We are just trying to bring some common sense here to make our cities safer," Farley-Bouvier said. And overall, she reiterated her point in that being part of the local team and representing only 41,000 people, she wants to ensure she is accessible to everybody. "You have access to your state rep and you should. That's why I have an office on the first floor, right across from city hall and I have a full time legislative aide right here in the district office. I want state government to be accessible to you," Farley-Bouvier said. Farley-Bouvier is being challenged for the Democratic nomination by Michael Bloomberg. The winner will face off against City Councilor Christopher Connell, who is running as an independent. Statement by Lagarde at the Conclusion of her Visit to Austria Press Release No. 16/293 June 18, 2016 Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made the following statement today in Vienna: It is a great pleasure to be in Austria, my first visit as the Managing Director of the IMF. I had the privilege of meeting Chancellor Christian Kern, Finance Minister Hans Jorg Schelling, Minister of Families and Youth Sophie Karmasin, Oesterreichische Nationalbank Governor Ewald Nowotny, and their colleagues. "It was my pleasure to participate in a breakfast roundtable, hosted by Governor Nowotny and Minister Schelling, with business and finance leaders as well as supervisory and regulatory authorities. "I had the honor of participating in the Finance in Dialogue series. My remarks at Hofburg Palace focused on the key challenges facing Europe and the way forward to building a prosperous, dynamic, and democratic Europe. I also had a chance to visit the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI), which the IMF established with the Austrian authorities and several international organizations more than two decades ago. The JVI plays a critical role in the IMFs capacity building efforts in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia and I welcomed the chance to hear directly from current participants on how these courses will help them in their own countries. In my discussion with the authorities, I highlighted Austrias success in maintaining stability and prosperity. I welcomed the governments intentions to put in place reforms that boost the economy and employment, and to continue to play a constructive part in building a stronger Europe and coping with unprecedented refugee flows. I also expressed my appreciation for Austrias cooperation with the IMF, notably in support of capacity development. I would like to thank the authorities and the Austrian people for their gracious hospitality. Imperial Valley News Center New Commitments in Support of the Presidents Nation of Makers Initiative to Kick Off 2016 National Week of Making Washington, DC - In June 2014, President Obama launched the Nation of Makers initiative, an all-hands-on-deck effort to give many more students, entrepreneurs, and citizens access to a new class of technologiessuch as 3D printers, laser cutters, and desktop machine toolsto design, build, and manufacture just about anything, as well as increased access to mentors, spaces, and resources to support making. Today, the President is proclaiming a National Week of Making, and the Obama Administration is announcing important progress on the Nation of Makers initiative, including: 8 Federal agencies are announcing new grants, education initiatives, training, knowledge networks, and other supports to help create more makers and assist more entrepreneurs to take prototypes to scale with new ventures. More than 1,400 K-12 schools, representing almost 1 million students from all 50 states, are committing to dedicating a space for making, designating a champion for making, and having a public showcase of student projects. More than 100 additional commitments including the distribution of 1 million foldable microscopes to children around the world by Foldscope Instruments; the investment in 100 new makerspaces by Google as part of the Making Spaces program; and new steps to support making at 77 universities and colleges through Make Schools Alliance. Background America has always been a nation of tinkerers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. In recent years, the rise of the maker movement and growing community of self-identified makers have come to represent a huge opportunity for the United States. In the same way that the Internet and cloud computing have lowered the barriers to entry for digital startups, the democratization of the tools needed to design and prototype physical products can support entrepreneurship and a renaissance of American manufacturing. Tools such as 3D printers, desktop machine tools, and tools for digital design are becoming more powerful, less expensive, easier to use, and more widely available through shared spaces. These trends, when combined with crowdfunding and online communities of practice, are empowering tinkerers, entrepreneurs, and companies to transform an idea from a drawing on the back of a napkin to a working prototype faster than ever before. Public and private investments focused on increasing access to modern tools, shared facilities, and manufacturing-specific curricula will contribute to the right conditions for even more entrepreneurs to join a renaissance of American manufacturing and hardware innovation. At its core, making involves higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills as well as individual and collaborative project-based learning, all of which instill the employability and technical skills that are needed in tomorrows workplace. Additionally, the maker mindset actively fosters dispositions and skills which have inherent value, such as curiosity, collaborative problem-solving, and self-efficacy. By helping students experience hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning and real-world problem solving, making can spark deep interest and develop the necessary passion for students to excel in the 21st century. Details on National Week of Making Yesterday, President Obama proclaimed June 17-23 the National Week of Making. During the week, which marks the anniversary of the first-ever White House Maker Faire and the 2015 National Week of Making, hundreds of related events celebrating home-grown ingenuity will be taking place around the country in recreation centers, libraries, museums, schools, universities, and community spaces. The week will coincide with a National Maker Faire in Washington, D.C. June 18 - 19, organized by a broad range of national and local organizations on the University of the District of Columbia campus. The National Maker Faire will include participation from Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of the Navy (Navy), Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Endowment for the Arts, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In addition, a growing community of organizations are participating in and supporting National Week of Making, including: America Makes, together with the City of Dayton, OH and Sinclair Community College, is planning a Maker Mayors and Innovation Cities Convening with key leaders from over 15 cities to develop local and regional roadmaps for advancing 3D printing in the participating cities. Backyard Brains will host a "TechTrek" event in downtown Ann Arbor, MI, with 10 live hands-on neuroscience experiments for local students to develop low-fi versions of graduate-level research tools relating to the brain and neuroscience. Elizabeth Forward High School, in partnership with the Grable Foundation, will host 140 K-12 educators for the free 2016 Pittsburgh FAB Institute. The Exploratorium's Tinkering Studio will launch Tinkering Fundamentals: A Constructionist Approach to STEM Learning, a massive open online course (MOOC) free for anyone interested in making and tinkering. GE Appliances and FirstBuild will provide 20,000 career and technical education (CTE) students, advisors, and business participants access to an interactive makerspace experience that will demonstrate how different skills can come together in the workforce. NASA will print a Multipurpose Precision Maintenance Tool, the winning design from the first Future Engineers 3D printing challenge, on the International Space Station and host a live Q&A between the designer and the astronauts on the space station. LittleBits will host a free online summer camp during the National Week of Making with daily challenges, in-person events, and prizes for young inventors. Yale University will launch Making at Yale!a new workshop series serving the youth and community of New Haven, CT. New Steps Announced by the Administration Today Federal agencies are announcing an array of new steps to deepen their connections with the maker movement, help more makers take their ideas and prototypes to scale, and help more communities get involved. These include: The Department of Education (ED) and Alliance for Excellent Education are announcing the launch of Future Ready Librarians, an expansion of the Future Ready initiative aimed at raising awareness among district and school leaders about the valuable role librarians can play in supporting the Future Ready goals of their school and district. Among other critical roles, Future Ready Librarians design collaborative library spaces that enable open-ended exploration, tinkering, and making that empower students as creators, and will serve as digital learning coaches who work side by side with teachers. In addition, a network of nationally recognized librarians, with support from Follett, will provide input on the development of strategies aligned with the Future Ready Framework, and five Future Ready Summits will be held in regional locations throughout the country and will include librarian-designed and facilitated sessions for district leadership teams on designing collaborative learning spaces. The Navy-led Joint Advanced Manufacturing Region IPT (JAMR IPT) is launching a Maker Mentor Initiative. The effort, in conjunction with the Open Source Maker Labs and other JAMR IPT members, will create a national public registry where experienced manufacturers may volunteer to serve as technical subject matter experts and mentors for makers interested in manufacturing their prototypes. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Innovation is collaborating with 3D Veterans to train Veterans in using 3D printing techniques. The effort will launch with a pilot program in San Antonio, training 15 Veterans over 3 months with the tools and skills associated with additive manufacturing. These Veterans will also collaborate with clinicians at San Antonio VA Medical Center to co-design prototypes of 3D printed assistive technology devices for Veterans with disabilities. At the end of the curriculum, seed funding will be available to Veterans for additional prototyping and commercialization of these devices. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will help more makers navigate its regulatory process by the end of 2016. Starting with medical devices, FDA will release streamlined web resources with early-assistance content to enable makers and other potential first-time entrepreneurs to navigate the regulatory landscape and facilitate early and ongoing interaction between the FDA and industry, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Early and frequent interaction facilitates innovations that provide safe and effective care for patients and smoothing the pathway for these innovations to reach the medical market. NASA will expand the CubeSat Launch Initiative to reach all 50 states. NASA commits to expanding opportunities for schools to build and launch small satellites through the CubeSat Launch Initiativean opportunity for makers to build small satellites to demonstrate new innovative technologies and conduct scientific research in a space environmentuntil schools from all 50 states are successfully engaged. This builds on NASAs work with 32 states already engaged to launch small satellites, including new states New Jersey and Idaho selected in 2016. It also includes launches in 2015 of the first CubeSat from the state of Alaska, the first CubeSat built by a tribal college, Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, and the first CubeSat built by an elementary school, St. Thomas More Cathedral School of Arlington, Virginia. The National Science Foundation (NSF) will introduce a new Maker to Manufacturer category in their third annual Community College Innovation Challenge. Launching this fall, this category will focus on developing the hardware, software, collaborative systems, and educational tools necessary to democratize small-scale manufacturing for the maker community, building on advances that have already occurred in the cost and ease-of-use of tools to digital design and prototyping. NSFs Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program will introduce a new Maker to Manufacturer subtopic to its existing solicitation. NSF will seek proposals focused on innovative, high-risk technologies that hold the potential to enable small-, medium-, and large-volume manufacturing of cutting-edge, high-value added products leveraging the maker movement. NIST will help more makers to scale production. NIST is committing up to $2 million of existing funds for Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program Centers to develop consulting and hands-on technical services in direct support of makers interested in scaling prototypes through U.S. manufacturing services, including assistance in selection of manufacturing process, materials, and suppliers. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will take steps to support makers and maker educators. USPTO is committing to working regionally along with its Patent and Trademark Resource Centers (PTRCs) across the nation to provide workshops and support for Makers, work with the YMCA to create mobile maker spaces and provide Maker Ambassadors to support students in those spaces, and help educators more easily integrate making into classrooms through the USPTO National Teacher Institute. In addition to these commitments, Federal agencies are taking other actions. For example, agencies will form a new interagency working group on making under the National Science and Technology Council to catalog existing collaborations between Federal agencies and the maker community, as well as to identify promising practices or methods to build support for collaborative maker projects inside the Federal Government. Additional Commitments in Response to the Presidents Call to Action Today, more than 1,500 different organizations are announcing new commitments, demonstrating the strong response to the Presidents call to give every student, every entrepreneur, and every American the opportunity to tinker, design, and bring their ideas to life. Father, Daughter Among Naval War College Graduating Class Newport, Rhode Island - The Iannacone family of Florida has two reasons to celebrate at U.S. Naval War College's (NWC) graduation ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island, today. The reasons the family came to Newport for a week are that both father Al and daughter Monica, a Navy Reserve lieutenant, will receive their master's degrees at the event -- an accomplishment that may be a NWC first. The two spent the last three years going through the course offered by NWC's College of Distance Education. The first year, they took the Fleet Seminar Strategy and War course together, spending many nights around the dinner table going over the material. "This is a great week for all of us," said Al, director of Personnel Support Detachment, Naval Station Mayport, who spent 27 years in the Navy before retiring and starting a new career as a Navy civilian. Monica, who currently serves as U.S. 4th Fleet's deputy administrative officer and operational support officer, said while going through the course was hard work, it was made easier by having her father with her. "I learned a lot from him," she said. "I would read the material in the books, and talk about it in class. Then I would also discuss it with him. I think I got a lot more out of the classes than if I would have taken them by myself." Monica, who will be promoted to lieutenant commander next month, says this was an important course for her. "Joint Professional Military Education is something that I will always need," she said. "This education helps me significantly with my peers to be able to be a planner. Also, having the network of other officers I met through the college is very beneficial." For her dad, it was also natural that he would pursue this educational opportunity. "I [spent] 27 years in the Navy and [am] a lifelong learner, so this was great," he said. "And for the first year, we were able to work together." The father-daughter duo also attended the Current Strategy Forum (CSF) held at NWC during graduation week. CSF is an opportunity for the nation's public servants, scholars, and senior military officers to join the college faculty and students to discuss the future strategy of the U.S. military. "The Naval War College is an outstanding institution," Al reflected. "Being part of the Current Strategy Forum was special. We are thankful to be a part of it." Monica was also thankful for the support she got during the class. "The Naval War College support has been great over the course of this program," she said. "It made a huge difference." Reflecting on whether this degree will help her career, Monica said, "I hope so." Her father proudly beamed at his daughter and added, "It will." Un-suit-able? Washington, DC - For swimmers struggling to stay afloat, imagine this good news/bad news scenario. The good news: Someone throws a life preserver in your direction. The bad news: Its made of concrete. According to an FTC lawsuit, thats a rough analogy to the services that Damian Kutzner, Brookstone Law, Advantis Law, attorney Vito Torchia, Jr., and others offered to consumers caught in the undertow of foreclosure. The FTC alleges that the defendants including four attorneys falsely represented to struggling homeowners that they could avoid foreclosure and get monetary awards by becoming parties in cases against their lenders, also known as mass joinder lawsuits. As one targeted mailing advertised, You may become a joined named plaintiff in a significant lawsuit that will seek, among other things, to void your note(s). According to another letter, Brookstone Law is preparing to sue the trustee assigned to foreclose on your property for wrongful foreclosure and demand that they immediately cancel your auction date. Just what is a mass joinder suit? They join dozens, or even hundreds, of individual plaintiffs in a case against a particular lender. But lets be clear: These are not class action lawsuits. Each individual plaintiff must still go to trial separately to prove his or her allegations. When homeowners responded to the defendants pitch, sales representatives touted the results that participation in their mass joinder lawsuits would supposedly yield. According to the complaint, many consumers were told they would recover at least $75,000. But first, the defendants said they would have to perform a legal analysis and would need $895 or more upfront. Of course, consumers were almost always told they had a good case against their lender and thats when the defendants started charging them thousands of dollars in monthly fees to sign up for a mass joinder suit, money the FTC says wasnt deposited in client trust accounts as required by law. The defendants told homeowners theyd quickly file lawsuits that would result in monetary awards, lower mortgages, and voided notes to give you your home free and clear. But in some instances, the defendants never added consumers to lawsuits. In other cases, they didnt tell homeowners their cases had been dismissed and yet continued to charge them monthly fees. Thats not the only deceptive practice alleged in the complaint. The defendants touted their team of experienced litigation attorneys legal practitioners with the resources and know-how to successfully litigate these complicated cases. But according to the FTC, the defendants havent won a single mass joinder lawsuit on the merits. In fact, 11 of the 12 mass joinder cases filed by defendant Brookstone Law before 2016 have been dismissed. The twelfth case was initially dismissed for misjoinder, but was later reinstated despite what the California Court of Appeal termed desultory and scattered allegations. Whats more, a California State Bar court found that Vito Torchia, Jr. whose Bar license has since been indefinitely suspended violated his ethical duty to his clients because he lacked basic knowledge of mortgage lending law and bankruptcy law necessary to adequately and properly represent some 4,000 mortgage loan clients. The complaint alleges that the defendants engaged in a host of deceptive practices, in violation of the FTC Act. The FTC also says they violated the Mortgage Assistance Relief Service (MARS) Rule and Regulation O by charging illegal upfront fees, misrepresenting their services, and failing to make required disclosures. A federal judge in California has temporarily halted the operation and the FTC is seeking to stop the alleged illegal conduct permanently. Even at this initial stage, the case reminds marketers and attorneys working with them about the importance of MARS Rule compliance. Read Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule: A Compliance Guide for Business and Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule: A Compliance Guide for Lawyers for more information. Assistant Secretary Robinson Travel to the Republic of Korea, Burma, and California Washington, DC - Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations David Robinson will travel to Asia and California from June 18-28, including visits to Seoul, several locations in Burma, and San Francisco. From June 20-21, he will participate in the 6th Annual Meeting of the Global Network of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Focal Points Conference in Seoul, including remarks on the relationship between R2P and atrocities prevention and the Presidents recent Executive Order on preventing mass atrocities. He will continue on to Burma from June 22-25, traveling with Ambassador Marciel to Mon and Kayin States to meet with local government officials and civil society representatives and discuss local stability challenges and ways to reduce inter-ethnic tensions. In Rangoon, he will consult with civil society leaders seeking to address causes of intercommunal conflict. On the return trip to Washington, Assistant Secretary Robinson will stop in the San Francisco Bay Area for meetings on June 27, including discussing CSOs work in East Asia with the Asia Foundation. Watch: Snake Attacks Owner As She Tries To Release It From Cage 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 }} As EU D-Day approaches (is D-Day an appropriate tag?) I find myself seeking guidance. And yet all the traditional sources of advice and information seem to have been exhausted. So Ive turned to music. After all, when I was short of ideas for travel I was advised to get my kicks on Route 66; when relationships were difficult I was counselled that its a little bit me and a little bit you; and at parties Ive been told to stay on the scene like a sex machine. And, frankly, two out of three correct isnt bad. First stop, my iTunes library. In nearly 14,000 songs there are precisely three that have Europe in the title. The first is Roxy Musics Song for Europe, from the 1973 album Stranded, in which Bryan Ferry croons what seems a warning lament from an empty cafe in Paris I remember/ All those moments/ Lost in wonder/ That well never find again Theres no today for us/ Nothing to share but yesterday, but then goes on to intone in Latin the language of a European union that lasted more than a thousand years, so is the message to give the EU more than a few decades? Id ask Bryan, but I stood on his hand once and he hasnt spoken to me since. The second song offers little help. It is REMs wonderful Radio Free Europe but its lyrics are from Michael Stipes gibberish period. Instead of pushing palaces to fall/ Put that, put that, put that up your is the closest to sense in it. The gibberish theme is continued by the third song on my iTunes, European Blueboy by the Mamas and the Papas: And the tears that you cry are for you/ One for Napoleon after Waterloo. Must have been written during some California dreaming. Roxy Music performing from their album 'Stranded' in 1973 (Rex) Time to look further afield. There is at least one current referendum-inspired song by a major artist: I Love EU by Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals. Despite him memorably singing the minor hit The Man Dont Give a Fuck a song he described as against any organisation which you feel is terrorising you as an individual, he is now firmly in the Remain camp, largely due to, as he sees it, Europes culturally civilising influence on we barbarous Brits: You liberated me from pie and mash/ You cultured me with sophistication and panache and, When I met you, I'd never tasted pasta or baguettes/ I'd never heard the golden call of castanets. Whats the EU ever done for us? Spag bol, says Gruff. Another band offering succour to the EU cause would appear to be The Clash in Safe European Home. But once past the title you realise that the track, from Give 'Em Enough Rope, is actually about how anywhere in Europe feels safer than Jamaica, where Joe Strummer and Mick Jones had been sent on a writing sabbatical, and where every white face is an invitation to robbery. Dunno, Ive been down some dodgy back alleys in Italy. Promoting continental Europe rather better is Kraftwerks Trans Europe Express, presumably something we may need a visa to take advantage of soon. Most of the track (song, not rail) is a repetition of the title, but it does contain the tantalising possibility that if we go to Dusseldorf we could meet David Bowie and Iggy Pop, though Im sure this would have been hardly more likely in the mid-Seventies than it is now, so its vote-winning qualities are limited. Theres more mournful Euro-disco in Suedes Europe is Our Playground, from 1996, which features a striking juxtaposition of destinations: From Heathrow to Hounslow, from the Eastern Block to France/ Europe is our playground, London is our town... let's make a stand from Spain to Camber Sands. Comparing the Costas and Camber seems a vote-winner for the Remainers. Another celebrant of Europe, though in general and not the EU, is Johnny Marr in European Me" from 2013. Being in America I remember thinking that the entire country seems to be built largely on European heritage, so it's just me celebrating Europe, really, he told New Statesman. Now there is no turning back/ Once gone the traces impact/ War child there's no changing, the song goes. One wonders how his old Smiths writing partner, Morrissey, would feel about that Morrissey lamented in 2007: Although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx the more the British identity disappears. Mind you, he was living in Rome at the time, so what difference does it make? Curiously, there are two songs called European Son. The first, by the Velvet Underground, is the closing track on their debut and states, prophetically given it was 1967: You better say so long/ Hey hey, bye bye bye (it was in fact to a dying friend of Lou Reeds); while the second is by New Romantic retro-glammers Japan, and offers Here I am/ European son/ Sometimes the passenger, perhaps alluding to a lack of democratic accountability in a nascent continental superstate. Or to a bus trip. There are quite a few songs about the attractions of the European women whom male rockers will have more problems meeting post Brexit, so we have to feel for them and note their chansons damour. Johnny Borrells Pan-European Supermodel Song does exactly ce quil dit sur la boite, while The Divine Comedys paean to euro-cool When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe says Doris Day could never make me cheer up/ Quite the way those French girls always could, and The Stranglers European Female comes over all Adolf H. with the European female's here we'll be together for a thousand years. Well, with a break for the occasional Gitane. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up But lets not go out (or, er, stay in) on a note of superficiality. Killing Jokes European Super State from 2010 addresses the issues directly: From the Baltic to the Straits of Gibraltar/ A blue flag, gold star, sparks a brand new empire/ Ours to build, ours the choice, builds to a chorus of I'm in a European super state/ Every citizen required to debate. Indeed. Its Europe: The Final Countdown. Zut. I was hoping to get through this piece without mentioning that one. 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 }} A UK vote to leave the European Union would seriously hurt the British economy and possibly lead to a recession next year, the International Monetary Fund warned Friday. An IMF report estimated that were Britain to leave the EU, its economy could contract by as much as 0.8 per cent in 2017. In 2019, economic output could be up to 5.5 percent lower to what it would be if the country remains in the 28-member EU. While the Washington-based IMF cautioned that the decision was for the British voters to make, IMF experts believe that "the net economic effects of leaving the EU would likely be negative and substantial." An exit by Britain would likely lead to reduced trade and financial flows with other EU members, lower investment and consumer confidence and higher financial market volatility. All this could prompt major financial firms to relocate from London. "Such effects could over time erode London's status as Europe's preeminent financial center," the IMF said. If the UK leaves, it would no longer be obligated to make mandatory financial contributions to the EU. But those savings will likely be offset by losses triggered by a decline in trade and investment, the report said. The IMF also said that leaving the EU will trigger a lengthy, complicated and uncertain process of negotiating new trade terms with EU members and Britain's other trading partners, which in itself could decrease investor confidence and shake markets. On the other hand, were Britain to remain the EU, that would help dissipate uncertainty and could support a rebound in growth of some 1.9 percent this year, according to the Fund. Matthew Elliot, the chief executive of Vote Leave dismissed the IMF report as its "latest intervention in the referendum debate" and said it ignores the positive aspects of leaving the EU, such as job creation and saving government funds. "If we Vote Leave we can create 300,000 jobs by doing trade deals with fast growing economies across the globe," Elliot said in a statement. "We can stop sending the >350 million we pay Brussels every week. That is why it is safer to Vote Leave." AP 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 }} Radiohead have said their hearts go out to fans attacked during a listening party in Istanbul. The band held a streaming event with record stores across the globe to celebrate the release of their new album, A Moon Shaped Pool. But a violent attack broke out at an event at Velvet IndieGround Records on Friday evening, where fans had gathered to listen to the live audio stream. The event was streamed on Periscope, and so was caught on camera - with footage uploaded to YouTube. Radiohead said in a statement: Our hearts go out to those attacked tonight at Velvet IndieGround in Istanbul. We hope that someday we will be able to look back on such acts of violent intolerance as things of the ancient past. For now, we can only offer our fans in Istanbul our love and support. It has been reported in the local media that the attack came from a group of extremists who objected to event being held during the holy month of Ramadan. People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015. In the video, attackers are shown entering the shop, shouting close this place down There is a noise of bottles breaking, and someone screams: Please do not hit. It is unknown how many people were injured in the attack, or the severity of their injuries. One of the event hosts appeared to post about the encounter on the website Reddit, saying: I am the person that's speaking in that video. I am the owner of that Periscope account. They were determined to kill us. We were beaten by more than 20 men with pipes in their hands, beer bottles were broken on our heads. I don't even know how we made it out. I will share the details later guys, just hoping that no one will die. He later added: I love you all. Looks like everyone at our event is fine. For the first time in my life, I was scared of being killed. Can't even think right now, just a blank stare at the walls". Press Association. 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 man has been charged after a Labour MP received verbal abuse and a death threat this week. Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter, received an abusive voicemail on Wednesday, the day before Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered outside her constituency office in Birstall, West Yorkshire. Devon and Cornwall police said: An abusive phone call to MP Ben Bradshaw was recorded on his parliamentary office answering machine and heard on Wednesday. The office informed parliamentary police and Devon and Cornwall police. A 37-year-old male from Exeter has been charged under the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and bailed to appear before Exeter magistrates. Mr Bradshaw, a gay MP who served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport under Gordon Brown and is celebrated as one of Labours most influential LGBT politicians, told The Guardian abusive calls had been made to his office containing homophobic and racist remarks. He said: My constituency staff have borne the brunt of it. This led to the direct death threat made to me on Wednesday and I would like to congratulate the police for moving so swiftly. Mr Bradshaw added that he was stepping up his security, but would not allow security measures to prevent him from meeting constituents in public. We have also been advised to let local police know about our movements. But we live in a free democracy and we value and cherish our elected representatives being out and about in public in their constituency, he said. I just feel really numb with grief over what happened to Jo and desperately upset for Brendan and her family and loved ones. We all must live with a constant sense of vulnerability. Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS Since Ms Coxs death details have emerged about the safety risks many MPs endure on a daily basis, despite regular briefings they receive about their security. According to a study carried out by Home Office psychiatrists, published January 2016, 80 per cent of the 239 MPs surveyed have been victims of intrusive or aggressive behaviour, while 36 said they were scared to leave their homes following threats or physical attacks. Half of 120 MPs surveyed (120 individuals) said they had been targeted in their own homes and 41 per cent (101 individuals) said they had received threats to harm them. Following Ms Cox's death on Thursday MPs were told by the House of Commons authorities to call the police if they have any concerns about their security. The Commons' authorities said they were re-issuing security guidance to MPs - who are now in their constituencies after Parliament broke up for the EU referendum recess on Wednesday. Ms Cox was fatally shot and stabbed on Thursday. A local man named Tommy Mair has been charged with her 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 }} A man has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox. Mrs Cox, 41, was attacked in the street as she arrived at a constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, at lunchtime on Thursday. West Yorkshire Police said Thomas Mair, of Birstall, has been charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon. The 52-year-old will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court today. Yesterday Parliament was recalled, campaigning in the EU referendum was suspended and the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition stood side by side in grief, as Britain united to remember the life of the "extraordinary" Labour MP. Cameron, Corbyn in Cox tribute In a remarkable show of political unity, David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn travelled to Ms Coxs West Yorkshire constituency to pay tribute to the MP alongside her constituents, and to condemn a crime that the Labour leader called an assault on democracy itself. MPs, who had been on a special recess ahead of Thursdays EU vote, will return to Westminster on Monday to pay their respects. Referendum campaigning will be suspended for a second day today. Speaking in Birstall, the Prime Minister issued a call for the country to unite around the values of democracy, service and tolerance that Ms Cox represented. "Today our nation is rightly shocked and I think it is time to take a moment to stand back and think about some of the things that are so important about our country," Mr Cameron said. "The fact that we should treasure and value our democracy, where members of Parliament are in the public, accountable to the public, available to the public. And thats how Jo died, she died doing her job. "Politicians disagree with each other, we often disregard what politicians say and we disregard each other. But that is what it is about and that is what Jo showed it is all about. Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS Mr Corbyn called on the country to come together to face down hatred and intolerance in our society. It was an assault on democracy itself, an attack on the right of everyone to have their say in how our country is run, and for those that the people elect to be able to listen to and represent them without fear or favour, he said. Ours is a country where tolerance and respect for other people and different viewpoints have always been highly valued. We must not allow those who peddle hatred, terror and division to poison and degrade our national and political life. The Conservatives, Ukip and the Liberal Democrats all confirmed that they would not contest the by-election that must now be held in Ms Coxs Batley and Spen constituency. Tributes continued to pour in from around the world for the 41-year-old MP and former aid worker, who had won respect and admiration on both sides of the House of Commons since being elected little more than a year ago. Almost 250,000 has also been raised on a crowdfunding page set up in her name, which will see proceeds go to three of Ms Cox's favourite charities. Many MPs went ahead with constituency surgeries yesterday, as police chiefs said that parliamentarians would be given an opportunity to raise any new security concerns as a result of the attack. The National Police Chiefs Council said that local police forces would contact their local MPs with security advice. Officers will offer further guidance and advice where an MP requests it on a case by case basis depending on any specific threat or risk, a spokesperson said. PA contributed to this report 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 charged with murdering Jo Cox has given his name to magistrates as death to traitors, freedom for Britain. As he stood in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, 52-year-old Thomas Mair refused to give his correct name to the court and remained silent when asked his address and date of birth. Thomas Mair (centre) at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London (PA) (PA/Elizabeth Cook) Mrs Cox, 41, died after being shot and stabbed in the street outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, on Thursday. Mair, of Birstall, is charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon. After being taken to the court in a prison van, Mair was led from the basement cells for a short, preliminary court appearance, presided over by Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot. He appeared in the dock wearing a grey jumper, tracksuit bottoms and black shoes. Mair was not required to enter a plea, and his lawyer, Keith Allen, said there was no indication of what plea would be given. He also told the court an application was made for legal aid. Cameron, Corbyn in Cox tribute Ms Arbuthnot ordered that he be remanded in custody until his next appearance at the Old Bailey on Monday. He will be held at Belmarsh Prison, and Ms Arbuthnot suggested that a psychiatric report should be prepared, saying: "Bearing in mind the name he has just given, he ought to be seen by a psychiatrist." During the hearing, it emerged that, as he was arrested, Mair claimed to be a political activist. Prosecutor David Cawthorne from the counter-terrorism division of the Crown Prosecution Service gave the court an account of the events surrounding Mrs Coxs death. The court heard that at around 12.45pm, after Mrs Cox got out of her vehicle in Market Street, Birstall, a man approached and began attacking her with a knife. Bernard Kenny, 77, who was waiting in his car after dropping his wife off to visit the library, went to Mrs Cox's aid and tried to save her, but was himself stabbed and forced to retreat to a sandwich shop to seek cover. Mrs Cox was then repeatedly stabbed, shot three times as she lay on the ground, and then stabbed again as she fought for her life. As she was assaulted, the attacker is believed to have said: "Britain first, keep Britain independent" and "Britain always comes first, this is for Britain". Mrs Cox died at 1.48pm. Mair was arrested at 1.25pm in Risedale Avenue, about a mile from the scene, by two officers who saw a white man wearing a black blood-smeared baseball cap and carrying a black holdall. They tackled him to the ground, and as he was detained he was heard to say, "I'm a political activist." He told police he had a knife in his pocket. Searching his trouser pockets, officers instead found a plastic bag containing what appeared to be a large number of bullets. They also found a single-barrel firearm in the bag, as well as a magazine and a number of rounds. There was also a bloodstained mobile phone, a blood-stained dagger and a black wallet. A search of Mair's house found material relating to far right ideology and white supremacy groups, as well as newspaper articles relating to Mrs Cox. Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS After Mrs Cox's death, campaigning in the EU referendum was suspended. In a show of political unity, the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition travelled to Ms Coxs West Yorkshire constituency to pay tribute to the MP alongside her constituents. MPs, who had been on a special recess ahead of the EU vote, will return to the House of Commons on Monday to pay their respects. Referendum campaigning was suspended for a second day yesterday. 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 }} Hidden fees charged by airlines for services such as changing a name on a ticket or checking in at the airport rather than online are set to be clamped down on by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The watchdog will assess whether costs are presented to customers in an open and clear way in its review of every airline selling tickets in the UK. This is so people understand what they are actually paying for and avoid being stung by extra charges not made clear from the outset, said a CAA spokesperson. Budget airline Ryanair announced earlier this month it would reduce baggage fees for the majority of its customers the latest in a series of changes designed to stop unnecessarily p***ing people off, the airlines chief executive Michael OLeary said amid profit warnings in 2013. But transparency around additional fees when booking flights remains a common complaint made towards the Irish airline and other low-cost carriers such as Easyjet and Jet2.com. Earlier this month, northern Irish MP Jim Shannon raised the issue in parliament following claims European airlines made almost 13 billion last year through additional charges and the sale of extras including food and insurance, according to The Daily Telegraph. These are the 20 safest airlines in the world Changing the name on a flight ticket currently costs 110 with Ryanair and up to 50 with Easyjet or Thomas Cook. And choosing to check in for a Ryanair flight at the airport instead of through its website can set each passenger back 45 per flight a figure reduced from 70 last summer. The Government and the CAA continue to emphasise to the airlines the importance of compliance with ticket transparency obligations, transport minister Robert Goodwill told MPs this week. He said airlines should ensure terms and conditions including any administration fees and charges are clear to passengers when they choose between airlines. Last month, more than 5,000 disgruntled Ryanair passengers launched a landmark 400 million class action suit against the budget airline over alleged unfair hidden air ticket charges. The lawsuit was set up by online claims firm CaseHub, whose founder Michael Green said it will claim charges to check in at the airport, re-issue boarding passes and name-fee changes are unlawful. The strangest airplane patents Show all 4 1 /4 The strangest airplane patents The strangest airplane patents The saddle seat, proposed by Airbus Operations in 2013, in which the customer sits in a fold down seat more akin to a bike seat than a chair. Back and neck support free, of course. Airbus Operations The strangest airplane patents Proposed in 2014 by Zodiac Seats France, an aeroplane seat manufacturer, the Economy Class Cabin Hexagon makes passengers sit in alternating backward and forward facing seats in an attempt to maximise space and minimise the chance of avoiding eye contact. Zodiac Seats France The strangest airplane patents Filed for patent in 2013 by The Boeing Company, the Upright Sleep Support System is deployed from a backpack that sits on the chair and is designed to allow passengers the chance to lie face first onto it, with a massage table esque cut out for your face. The Boeing Company The strangest airplane patents Airbus Operations GmbH In May, The Independent revealed Easyjet would turn away passengers who arrived at security at Gatwick Airport less than 30 minutes before take-off in a crackdown on late arrivals. The airline sells missed flight cover ahead of travel for 7.50, which provides the option of a full refund or a seat on the next available flight for latecomers, but those who do not choose this option are charged 80 to switch to another flight. To enhance consumer protection in this area, the CAA will start work on unfair contract terms with the airlines this summer, in accordance with the CAA's Strategic Plan 2016-2021, said Mr Goodwill. The work will include a review of the airlines' terms and conditions with the aim of ensuring the rights and obligations of the consumers and businesses are fair and balanced and consumers are not being penalised by unfair contract terms. Ryanair said in a statement: All Ryanair charges and fees are clearly outlined on the Ryanair.com website and throughout the entire booking process. Customers are asked to ensure that the details they enter at the time of booking are correct before completing their booking and we offer a 24 hour grace period to correct minor booking errors. "A 110 name change fee is charged in order to discourage and prevent unauthorised online travel agents, such as eDreams and Opodo, from screenscraping Ryanairs cheapest fares and reselling them on to unwitting consumers at hugely inflated costs. 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 }} Both sides of the EU debate received a boost on Friday evening, as a senior soldier switched sides to Leave and The Times newspaper came out in favour of Remain. Field Marshal Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank said he had made a "mistake" earlier this year in signing an open letter with other senior military figures supporting the In campaign. Political rhetoric surrounding the campaign was quiet over the last day out of respect for slain MP Jo Cox, who was murdered before she attended a constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire. The suspension will continue throughout Saturday. Outside of the official campaigns, Lord Guthrie told The Telegraph he had changed his position from Remain to Leave because of concerns that moves to create a European army would be a "disaster", undermining the Nato alliance on which the defence of the West depends. "I think a European army could damage Nato. It is expensive. It's unnecessary duplication to have it. It would appeal to some Euro vanity thing," he told the newspaper. "There's a feeling that those backing the European army are doing it for political reasons rather than military ones. They want to be able to boast, 'Look! We've got a European army'. That is dangerous. "Foreign policy needs to be backed up by defence. It would be a signal disaster to have a European army as rivals to Nato. I am concerned that the Army which I was in for 45 years could become very damaged and therefore less useful to our country." 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 He continued: "When things get really serious, we need the Americans. That's where the power is. If the Americans had been around at the time of the Ukraine events, I doubt whether Putin would have dared be so bold." In contrast, respected newspaper The Times announced its support for the continued membership of Britain in the European Union. Why Remain is best for Britain, said a puff across the top of the newspaper. The move by the Rupert Murdoch owned paper will come as a surprise to some. The Sun, a popular tabloid newspaper also under Murdoch ownership, recently came out in favour of Leave. 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 }} Hundreds of mourners have attended vigils and across Britain to pay their respects to murdered MP Jo Cox. In London, Parliament Square was packed as two minutes' silence were held. Among the many people to lay flowers in the square was former Labour leader Ed Miliband. Also in attendance were the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, Commons Speaker John Bercow, former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman and Ukip leader Nigel Farage. Later on Friday evening, US President Barack Obama spoke to Cox's husband and offered his condolences on behalf of the American people.. Jo Cox: Tributes to the Labour MP "The President noted that the world is a better place because of her selfless service to others, and that there can be no justification for this heinous crime, which robbed a family, a community, and a nation of a dedicated wife, mother, and public servant," the White House said in a statement. Speaking to those gathered, Mr Miliband said: "We remember her as a fighter for justice in everything that she did. We remember her as somebody who showed no fear in the face of danger, and we remember her too as somebody of the greatest warmth, the greatest generosity and the greatest compassion." He added: "Let us pledge to honour her memory every day by building a world where there is more love and less hate." Fellow parliamentarian, Wes Streeting, MP for for Ilford North, gave a speech which was praised on social media. In comments reported by The Guardian, he said: The solidarity we have seen in the last days has been overwhelming and, in time of overwhelming grief, it can be hard to find anything positive to hold on to. Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS What we can all do is to pledge ourselves to build the world that Jo was fighting for; a world of humanity, decency, compassion, solidarity, human rights, social justice, of simple kindness. In Wales, around 300 people, including local MP Stephen Kinnock, gathered in Castle Square, Aberavon, Wales to remember Mrs Cox. Vigils have also been held in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Addressing the crowd in George Square, Glasgow, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale paid tribute to someone she said was "the very definition of a moral crusade, wrapped up in humour and love". Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish national Party, said the murder had hit all of us as politicians very hard, the BBC reported. She continued: I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say we are determined, and inspired by Jo Cox, to rededicate ourselves to the notion of politics and public service as a force for good." A vigil is due to be held in Belfast at midday on Sunday outside the City Hall, the Labour Party in Northern Ireland said. 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 }} A fundraising page set up following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox has raised tens of thousands of pounds within hours of being launched. At the time of writing, more than 200,000 had been donated by members of the public. The donations will be directed towards three charities chosen by Jos family which she supported or admired. They are the Royal Voluntary Service, a charity working to combat loneliness in her constituency, Hope Not Hate, which fight extremism and community divisions in Britain and The White Helmets, a volunteer and rescue workers group based in Syria. The GoFundMe page says: In celebration and memory of Jo Cox, we are raising funds to support charities closest to her heart, chosen by her family. Let us come together and give what we can to help create that world. One donator wrote on the page, Any cause of Jos must be a good cause, please support it if you can. Another wrote: We wont forget you Jo and the best way we can do that is to keep up the fight. Recommended Read more Thomas Mair charged with murder of Jo Cox The West Yorkshire MP was shot and stabbed yesterday outside a library where she was holding a constituency surgery. A 52-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident. She was the mother of two young children. Her husband Brendan said: Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS Politicians from across the political divide have paid tribute to her. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: Jo was universally liked at Westminster, not just by her Labour colleagues, but across Parliament. In the coming days, there will be questions to answer about how and why she died. But for now all our thoughts are with Jos husband Brendan and their two young children. They will grow up without their mum, but can be immensely proud of what she did, what she achieved and what she stood for. Prime Minister David Cameron offered his condolences to her family, describing her as a committed and caring MP. 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 }} David Cameron may have called a referendum on the EU "to blackmail Europe", according to Vladimir Putin. The Russian president also questioned Mr Camerons decision to call the vote, as it has caused a great problem. However, Mr Putin refrained from voicing his opinion on the matter and said the decision is "the business of the people of the UK". Recommended Read more How Brexit supporters are handing European power to the Kremlin The comments are the leaders first in public regarding the referendum. Politicians and geopolitical observers have speculated that the controversial world leader would welcome the prospect of Britain leaving the EU, as it would greatly weaken the political bloc which currently serves as a check on Russian power. However, speaking in St Petersburg, Mr Putin said: "I don't think this is very proper to engage Russia in all the problems, even if we are not involved in it, to make Russia a scarecrow. Civilised people do not do things this way. "As for the Prime Minister of the UK, there is a great problem with Brexit, why did he initiate this vote in the first place? Why did he do that? So he wanted to blackmail Europe or to scare someone, what was the goal if he was against? 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 "I want to say it is none of our business, it is the business of the people of the UK. I have my own opinion on this matter, I cannot talk about the result yet - no one knows about the result yet, I think it is 50-50 with a certain margin of error." According to journalists present, the Russian president appeared well informed on the domestic arguments raging in Britain about membership, singling out controversial EU fishing laws as a particularly contentious issue for some Britons. But he kept his opinion on the outcome of the plebiscite to himself and said: "Who can predict it? No one can predict it. I have my own opinion on this matter - whether it is good or bad - but I will refrain from giving the forecast. I think it would be improper on my part to do that. "Whatever I say will be interpreted to the benefit of either side, that's the business of the EU and the people of the UK. Nigel Farage and Sir Bob Geldof clash over Brexit flotilla "Different experts have different estimates about whether Brexit will benefit Great Britain or not, some say it will be to the detriment and some say the EU will be more stable and stronger. Several EU member states border Russia, but are wary about the countrys intentions, particularly since the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 following the countrys revolution. In addition, Russia invaded its neighbour Georgia in 2008, following a dispute over the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Press Association contributed to this report. 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 }} Campaigning in Britains European Union referendum will gradually resume on Sunday after both sides paused their activities in the wake of the killing of MP Jo Cox. Scores of rallies and battle bus activities scheduled by Vote Leave and Stronger In going into the home stretch before the vote were shelved following the incident on Thursday. But with the weekend drawing to a close and tributes mounting for Ms Cox, campaigners on both sides will once again take to the streets and airwaves to make their arguments. Recommended Read more Petition to cancel EU referendum surges in wake of Jo Cox killing On Sunday, David Cameron plans to appear on a BBC Question Time special to make the case for Remain as planned, while Vote Leave will also go ahead with a rally in the capital. Polls show mixed results for the two campaigns in the final stretch with surveys by YouGov, ORB, and Ipsos MORI released last week showing small but persistent leads for Leave. A BMG telephone poll for the Herald newspaper released on Saturday however gave Remain a narrow lead though it showed a tightening towards Leave from previous surveys by the firm. That survey was conducted largely before the news about Ms Coxs death broke, however, and does not reflect changes in the campaign since that incident. Its release was delayed due to the coverage of her killing. It is not yet clear whether Ms Coxs killing will have impacted the polls or affected the referendums final result. Going into the next week Sadiq Khan and Boris Johnson will face off in a referendum debate at the Wembley arena on Tuesday, while Jeremy Corbyn will appeal to younger voters on a Q&A hosted by Sky News on Monday. MPs will briefly return to Westminster from recess on Monday in order to pay tribute to the slain MPs life and work in the House of Commons. There have been suggestions that MPs might eschew their usual oppositional seating pattern in the chamber and instead mix together in different parties as a show of unity. Conservative MP Jason McCartney, who represents a constituency close to Ms Cox's, has written to the Speaker asking for the usual seating arrangements to be set aside. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, who also endorses the plan, said: Symbolism matters. This is a great idea. I hope we can do this on Monday to show we all stand united against hate. John Bercow, who is in charge of seating arrangements, is said to be currently considering the request. The return of campaigning poses a particular dilemma for the Leave campaign, which has focused on the issue of immigration with laser-like intensity in recent months. On the day of Ms Coxs killing Ukip leader Nigel Farage launched a new poster featuring refugees which many on social media compared to Nazi propaganda. Ukip denied the comparison. Though the aggressive anti-immigration approach appears to have been bearing fruit for Leave in the polls, it remains to be seen whether the public mood has shifted in light of Ms Coxs killing and revelations about her alleged killer. 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 MP was a vocal campaigner and supporter of refugees, immigration, and multiculturalism. Thomas Mair, who has been charged with her murder, refused to give his name in court and instead stated as Death to traitors, freedom for Britain, when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court. Ms Coxs attacker was said by eyewitnesses to have shouted Britain first, keep Britain independent, and Britain always comes first, this is for Britain, according to court filings. As police officers arrested Mair, he was heard to say Im a political activist, according to police. A search of Mair's house found material relating to far right ideology and white supremacy groups, as well as newspaper articles relating to Mrs Cox. The European Union referendum will take place on 23 June. The deadline to register to vote has already passed. The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we were running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision. What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum? Does the UK need to take more control of its sovereignty? Could the UK media swing the EU referendum one way or another? Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws? Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union? Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK? Will leaving the EU lead to the break-up of the UK? What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit? Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe? Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws? Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS? What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU? Will Brexit help or damage the environment? Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK? What will Brexit mean for British expats in Europe? 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 }} A petition to cancel next weeks European Union referendum has surged in support in the days following the killing of MP Jo Cox. As of lunchtime on Saturday over 20,000 people have signed the statement on the Parliament website in the last few days calling for the vote to be called off at the last minute. The call comes amid consternation at the tone of the referendum campaign and the temporary suspension of activities by both sides in light of the MPs death. Thomas Mair, the man charged with her murder, gave his name as Death to traitors, freedom for Britain when he appeared in court on Saturday morning. As the petition has over double the 10,000 required signatures for it to reach its first hurdle, the Government will be obliged to issue an official response to it in due course. At the current rate of increase the campaign looks set to hit 100,000 signatures before polling day on Thursday a bar which would normally trigger a debate in parliament. However, the petition will almost certainly fall on deaf ears as MPs have broken for recess so they can campaign in the referendum and will be unable to hold a debate. Though Parliament is being recalled next week in order to give MPs the opportunity to pay tribute to Ms Cox, it is highly unlikely that the petitions committee will consider the petition in time for the EU referendum. The petitioners argue that Britain is a parliamentary democracy and that parliament, rather than a national plebiscite, should determine whether Britain stays in the EU. Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS According to the BBC 444 MPs of (almost) all parties have declared their support for Britain staying a member of the European Union on the basis of the reform package negotiated by the Prime Minister, the petitioners say. Constituting more than 68 per cent of the votes in the House of Commons, this represents a rate and overwhelming cross-party Parliamentary majority. If it is the settle will of such a large majority in the House of Commons, Parliament should now rise to the occasion and asset the very sovereignty Brexit campaigners claim it has lost. There were last minute changes to plans this month when the deadline to register to vote in the referendum was extended by a further 48 hours. Around half a million people flooded onto the Government website to sign up to register to vote most of them young. Thomas Mair appears in court The call to cancel the referendum comes with the Leave campaign leading in the polls published before Ms Coxs killing. A string of surveys from Ipsos MORI, YouGov ORB showed Britain on the verge of Brexit. The European Union referendum is set to take place on 23 June. The deadline to register to vote has already 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 }} MPs of all parties are planning to break tradition in the House of Commons by sitting on opposing benches in a symbolic tribute to Jo Cox. Politicians have been recalled from recess ahead of the EU referendum for a special session to pay tribute to the Labour MPs life and legacy on Monday. Jason McCartney, the Tory MP for Colne Valley, has written a letter to Speaker John Bercow requesting permission for members of the Conservative Party, Labour, Scottish National Party, Liberal Democrats and all parties to mix. Corbyn and Cameron Pay Emotional Tributes to Slain Labour MP Jo Cox He told The Independent he had been inspired by his friendship and work with Ms Cox, who was the MP for nearby Batley and Spen constituency. There were four of us in the area and we worked really closely together on local issues, he recalled. We would travel down on the train together on a Monday and come back on the Thursday, we saw each other all the time. I know how much Jo was always willing to work with any party to achieve success in something she was campaigning for. Thats what Jo was all about working with anybody and everybody to help other people. (AFP (AFP) Mr McCartney, who recently worked with Ms Cox on the issue of humanitarian aid drops in Syria, said he was struck by the feeling of unity among MPs at a memorial service in Birstall on Friday. We were all united not as members of the Conservative Party or the Labour Party on opposing sides, but as one Parliamentary family, and I thought that was a wonderful tribute to Jo, he said. It would be so nice to show Britain and the world that although there are different positions and robust debate there isnt hatred thereI hope we can really capitalise on this sense of togetherness. He and other MPs are planning to wear the white rose of Yorkshire as a tribute to Ms Cox in Parliament on Monday, when David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn will lead commemorations. I think it will be a wonderful symbol if behind them people could see MPs of all parties sitting together, Mr McCartney said. He has not yet received a response to his request from Mr Bercows office but said he was hopeful that MPs would be allowed to break tradition after receiving support across the spectrum. Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, was among those offering his backing, alongside the MPs Diana Johnson, Craig Tracey, Steward McDonald and John Nicolson. Ms Coxs sister described the MP as perfect as she visited floral tributes left in Birstall with her family on Saturday. She will live on through Brendan, through us and through her truly wonderful children who will always know what an utterly amazing woman their mother was, she added. "She was a human being. She was perfect." A fundraising page set up in the late MP's name has already raised more than 450,000 for three of her favourite charities. Mrs Cox, 41, died after being shot and stabbed in the street outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, on Thursday. Thomas Mair, 52, has appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London charged with murdering Mrs Cox, grievous bodily harm against a pensioner who tried to help her, possession of a firearm with intent and possession of a knife. He did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody until his next appearance at the Old Bailey on Monday. 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 }} Mainstream politicians are legitimising extremist anti-immigrant views by aping far-right rhetoric, the bereaved husband of killed MP Jo Cox has said. Ms Cox was stabbed and shot to death outside her constituency surgery in West Yorkshire on Thursday by a man eyewitnesses said shouted Britain first. Investigations suggest that the man arrested by police over her death, Thomas Mair, appears to have had links to white supremacist and far-right groups. Brendan Cox wrote a paper on the subject of anti-immigration sentiment a few weeks before his wifes death and has circulated it after her killing. He argued that mainstream politicians had reinforced the frame of right-wing populists on immigration and had been fanning the flames of resentment. Petrified by the rise of the populists they try to neuter them by taking their ground and aping their rhetoric, he said. Far from closing down the debates, these steps legitimise their views, reinforce their frames and pull the debate further to the extremes (Sarkozy and the continuing rise of Front National is a case in point). Tommy Mair, 52, has been charged with Ms Cox's murder (SWNS) He added: They obsess over numbers (to most people 10,000 sounds as scary as 100,000), when they should focus on reinforcing frames of fairness and order. The UK government policy is a masterclass in how to get the crisis wrong; set an unrealistic target, miss it, report on it quarterly and in doing so show a complete lack of control heightening concern and fanning the flames of resentment. Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS David Cameron was criticised last year for describing refugees coming from Syria to Europe as a swarm, using rhetoric critics said was dehumanising. Labour too attracted ire at the last general election for putting the campaign slogan controls on immigration on a mug. Ukip's leader Nigel Farage has gone further and spoken on television of immigrants and refugees as carriers of infectious diseases like HIV. The campaign to leave the European Union has also focused with laser-like intensity on immigration and immigrants in recent weeks. On the day of Ms Coxs killing Ukip leader Nigel Farage unveiled a poster featuring refugees that was likened by many onf social media to Nazi propaganda. After Ms Coxs killing Mr Cox said: [Jo] would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn't have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous. 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 }} Boko Haram militants opened fire at a funeral in northeast Nigeria, killing 18 mourners including many women and children, officials and witnesses said Friday. The attack occurred late Thursday night in the Madagali area of Adamawa state near the Sambisa forest, which has long been a stronghold for the Nigeria-based Islamic extremist group. "They stormed our village on motorbikes and immediately opened fire on the people observing the wake," said a witness who insisted on anonymity, citing security concerns. Recommended Read more Second Chibok girl rescued two years after Boko Haram kidnap The witness said at least 10 injured people were rushed to a health facility in the nearby town of Gulak. Police spokesman Othman Abubakar confirmed early reports that 18 people were killed and warned the toll could rise. Lawmaker Adamu Kamale, who represents the region in the House of Representatives, said most of the dead were women and children. Nigeria finds schoolgirl abducted by Boko Haram "There was pandemonium during which many people scampered for their lives," Kamale said. Boko Haram pledged support for the Islamic State group last year. The group's nearly seven-year-old insurgency has killed some 20,000 people, forced more than 2 million from their homes and spread into neighboring countries. Recent attacks in southeastern Niger killed more than 20 soldiers and displaced tens of thousands, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation in the region. AP 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 }} Two Al Jazeera journalists are among six people sentenced to death by an Egyptian court for allegedly passing state secrets to Qatar. Mohamed Morsi, the deposed Egyptian President, was sentenced to life in prison following what Amnesty International condemned as fundamentally unfair trials. He was acquitted of supplying Qatar with classified documents but found guilty of leading an unlawful organisation, his lawyer told the AFP news agency. Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud said the former leader was also convicted of having stolen secret documents concerning state security and handed another 15-year jail term at the Cairo Criminal Court. Egypt among the worst in press freedom: report Judges issued their final ruling in the case on Saturday but the advice of Egypts Grand Mufti must still be sought before they are confirmed. Prosecutors originally claimed that Morsi and his head of office, Ahmed Abdel-Ati, passed files to secretary Amin El-Serafy, who then passed them to his daughter, Karima, who gave them to agent, Ahram reported. They were all given life sentences of 25 years and additional 14-year terms. The remaining defendants, including journalists and activists, were charged with colluding to pass classified documents to Al Jazeera, which is based in Doha, and a Qatari spy. The former director of news at Al Jazeeras Arabic channel, Ibrahim Helal, was sentenced to death alongside former correspondent Alaa Sablan after being accused of leaking national security documents to Qatar. Neither defendant is in Egypt and they were tried in absentia. Asmaa Alkhatib, a journalist with the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Rassd News Network, were also sentenced to death in absentia. Deposed President Mohamed Morsi greets at a court hearing (REUTERS) (Reuters) Three other men handed the death penalty are in Egyptian custody - Ahmed Afifi, Mohamed Kilani, and EgyptAir flight attendant and academic Ahmed Ismail. Egypt's relations with Qatar have been tense since the overthrow of Morsi, who was supported by the wealthy Gulf state. Several Al Jazeera journalists have been detained in recent years, including Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed, who were jailed for spreading false news but later pardoned, while Australian Peter Greste was deported in that case. The current Egyptian administration, under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, claims the networks coverage of Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East is biased in favour of militant Islamic groups. Al Jazeera says it has been consistently and deliberately targeted by the Egyptian authorities since it started coverage of Arab Spring protests in 2011 and was forced to close its offices in the country. Al Jazeera continues to reject any accusations that it has in any way compromised its journalistic integrity, an article said. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reprieve are among international organisations who have condemned the trials, while the Committee to Protect Journalists lists Egypt as one of the most dangerous places for reporters to work. In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-1.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-9.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-8.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-5.jpg Reuters In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-4.jpg Reuters In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-3.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-7.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-6.jpg Reuters In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-10.jpg Reuters In pictures: Egypt celebrates after President Morsi is ousted egypt-celebrates-2.jpg Getty Images In its annual report, Amnesty International said the criminal justice system was serving as an instrument of state repression and political persecution. The group said Morsis trials were fundamentally unfair as they relied on evidence gathered while he was subject to enforced disappearance by the army during the months after being removed from power. As leader of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi became Egypts first democratically elected president following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. But he was ousted by the military amid protests in July 2013 and has since been sentenced in four major trials. He was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a mass prison break during the Arab Spring, 20 years imprisonment over the detention and torture of protesters and life over supposed collusion with foreign militant groups including Hamas and Hezbollah. All sentences are currently being appealed and he remains in custody. 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 Florida state official has been suspended after he wrote a negative rant on Facebook about Orlando and its residents just hours after 49 people were killed in a gay nightclub. Assistant state attorney Kenneth Lewis said: Downtown Orlando has no bottom. The entire city should be leveled. The Pulse nightclub, targeted by a lone gunman who pledged allegiance to Isis last Saturday evening, is situated in downtown Orlando. Recommended Read more Westboro Baptist Church expected to protest Orlando victim funerals It is a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs. It is void of culture, Mr Lewis said in the social media post, which has since been deleted. If you live down there you do it at your own risk and at your own peril. If you go down there after dark there is seriously something wrong with you, added Mr Lewis. The Ninth Judicial Circuit's office, where Mr Lewis worked, suspended him as he violated their social media policy, spokeswoman Angela Starke told NBC affiliated news channel WESH. (Facebook (Facebook) In the second post, he wrote, All Orlando nightclubs should be permanently closed. With our without random gunmen they are zoos,; utter cesspools of debauchery," as reported by the Orlando Sentinel. Mr Lewis could not be immediately reached for comment. The social media policy at the attorney's office was put in place in 2014 after Mr Lewis made other controversial comments on Facebook that year. Happy Mother's Day to all the crack hoes out there. It's never too late to turn it around, tie your tubes, clean up your life and make difference to someone out there that deserves a better mother, he wrote in 2014. 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 remark followed a post with a picture of supreme court justice Sonia Sotomayer with a caption that read: Reason enough why no country should ever engage in the practice of Affirmative Action again. This could be the result. Where would she be if she didn't hit the quota lottery? Here's a hint: 'Would you like to supersize that sir? The prosecutor was temporarily reassigned and made to attend sensitivity training after the incident. He apologized for both posts, according to the Associated Press, claiming he thought they would only be available to his Facebook friends. This week two active duty marines faced disciplinary action after they posted a picture on Facebook of one of them posing with a gun alongside the caption: Coming to a gay bar near you! 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 biological parents of a 14-year-old girl that they gifted to an alleged sex offender have been charged, according to police. The Pennsylvania parents, 43-year-old Daniel Stoltzfus and 42-year-old Savilla Stoltzfus, handed over their 14-year-old Amish daughter to Lee Kaplan, a much older man who had helped them out financially. The girl, now 18, became pregnant by Mr Kaplan almost immediately, and again when she was 17. Recommended Read more 12 girls found in home of man charged with sexual assault Mr Kaplan, 51, was arrested after authorities discovered he had been keeping another 11 girls aged between six months and 18 years, two of which he had fathered with the 18-year-old, at his house in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. All the girls are thought to be Amish but the court records do not explain where they came from, as reported by the BBC. According to Philly.com, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said Mr and Mrs Stoltzfus are parents to all of the children, minus the two youngest who are their grandchildren. He said authorities are still investigating whether Mr Kaplan abused the other girls. They did not show outward signs of trauma, he said. The Stoltzfuses think he's a wonderful man, Mr Heckler said, adding that the girls also said positive things about him and that they have been brainwashed. The children were discovered on Thursday after a complaint was filed by the Children Youth Services. It came following a concerned call by neighbour Jen Betz, a mother of two who had noticed the girls in Mr Kaplans house did not play outside in the summer and the house had high weeds and boarded-up windows. Mr Kaplan has been charged with 10 counts of various sexual offenses, including statutory rape. Mr Stoltzfus has been charged with conspiracy to commit statutory sexual assault, and he and his wife have been charged with endangering the welfare of children. All three are being held on $1 million bail. According to court documents, Mr Kaplan helped to save the couples farm from being repossessed more than four years ago. They admitted to giving away their daughter and said they thought it would be legal, based on information they read on the internet. The couple and Mr Kaplan will face a preliminary hearing on 2 August. All of the children involved, who reportedly did not attend school, are now together in state care. 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 }} Democrats have won the right to hold a vote on two measures of gun control following one of the worst mass shootings in US history. After a 15-hour filibuster this week in protest at Republicans' refusal to implement more gun controls, it has been announced that senators will cast their votes on Monday. Chris Murphy, the democratic senator of Connecticut, told his twitter followers that the ridiculous rule of the senate mandates that 60 votes are needed to pass any of the amendments. Were going to fight like heck all through the weekend to find these votes, he said. 40 senators took part in the filibuster this week, which ended in the early hours of Thursday morning. During those 15 hours of the filibuster, 48 people were shot, said Mr Murphy. The movement to secure more gun controls has come one week after 29-year-old Omar Mateen entered a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring 53, using an AR-15 semi-automatic gun. He only had to re-load his gun once to shoot more than 100 people. None of the four amendments to be voted on include banning assault weapons, however. California senator Dianne Feinsteins proposal on the democrat side would bar anyone on terrorist watch lists from buying a gun, an action which the government has no authority to enforce. Realistically, this is a small step. People who are felons, are fugitives, are addicts, [those who have] misdemeanor and domestic violence convictions - there are 10 categories for which you can not buy a weapon. No one is saying anything about those, she said. Being a terrorist is not included in those 10 categories. The Republican bill equivalent from Texas senator John Cornyn is to block people on the no-fly list from buying guns for 72 hours to give the government a chance to prove through the court system that the person is indeed a terrorist threat, as reported by ABC News. Both of these bills were floated in December and neither gained enough votes to pass. Mr Muphy's state was witness to one of the worst mass shootings in US history when a gunman burst into Sandy Hook elementary school in December 2012, shooting 20 children and six adult staff. He has proposed background checks on people who buy weapons at gun shows. Senator Ted Cruzs amendment, also to be voted on, would redefine adjudicated mentally incompetent to prevent doctors from infringing on Second Amendment rights. Critics of his proposal say it could lead to people with mental illnesses immediately purchasing a gun after they are discharged from psychiatric facilities, or it could mean veterans with mental illnesses purchasing a weapon. 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 }} Three man-eating lions have received a life sentence after they were identified as having consumed humans. The male and two females will be kept in captivity for the rest of their lives, having been deemed too dangerous to be released. A total of 17 lions were rounded up after a 14-year-old boy was dragged away while sleeping outside his house in the Gir National Forest in Gujarat state, India. Recommended Read more Lion charges directly at little boy before smashing into glass wall The boy was the third person killed since April in the area, prompting protests by villagers who demanded authorities hunt down the man-eaters. Gujarat's chief conservator, AP Singh, said wildlife officials identified the three lions by analysing the lions' faeces and paw prints. Human remains were found in the faeces of the three lions. The behaviour of the animals was also observed cats which have targeted humans often act more aggressively towards people. It is believed the male had attacked and killed the humans, while the females had eaten the leftovers. 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 The male lion has been moved to an enclosure at the nearby Junagadh zoo, while the two females will be held in cages at a rescue centre, a zoo official said. After having found no evidence the other 14 lions had eaten humans, they were released back into the wild by investigators. Gir sanctuary, one of the world's last refuges for wild Asiatic lions, has become overcrowded beyond its 270 lion capacity. While some of India's remaining 500 or so wild lions have migrated to surrounding wildlife parks in search of territory, other prides have settled near riverbeds or farmlands on the sanctuary's borders, leading to conflict with nearby villagers. In 2013, the Supreme Court ordered Gujarat to relocate some lions to other states to prevent the population from being hit all at once by a natural disaster or disease. But Gujarat has resisted moving any of the lions, saying it does not trust other Indian states to protect the big cats. Associated Press contributed to this report. 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 }} For weeks, and urgently for several days, Brussels has been thinking the unthinkable. For six decades, the European Union has expanded from six nations to 9, 10, 12, 27 and now 28. No country has ever pulled out before. Or, almost no country. Greenland opted out of its membership as a Danish colony in the 1980s, but hardly anyone noticed. Recommended Read more Petition to cancel EU referendum surges in wake of Jo Cox killing The departure of Britain the third-largest economy in Europe, the fifth-largest in the world would be a devastating blow to an already stumbling European project. If Britons vote to leave, the first reaction of Brussels and EU governments will be that of any jilted partner: How do we protect ourselves? Senior European politicians and officials have been holding confidential talks for several weeks on a so-called Plan B for Brexit. The central focus of the discussion has not been how to smooth Britain's departure, or how to make Brexit a success it has been how to make Brexit so painful for Britain that other countries are not tempted to follow. All you need to know about the EU referendum There will first be a co-ordinated EU reaction for public consumption along the lines of au revoir, sorry to see you go but we can carry on perfectly well without you. This will take the form of statements and maybe even new projects to suggest the EU will survive, or even thrive, without Britain. Less publicly, there will be a determination to prove that abandoning the EU will have serious consequences. One senior French politician told The Independent: The British like presenting retreats as victories. It is not in the interest of the other 27 to make this into another Dunkirk. It should be more like Napoleons retreat from Moscow. A leading European politician who is part of the Plan B talks told the Financial Times: Making Brexit a success will be the end of the EU. It cannot happen. But what exactly that means is uncertain. The EU, whatever the Brexiteers may say, is not a monolith. It will inevitably be divided, with some countries and voices wishing to protect their trade relations with the UK by advocating an amicable separation and a friendly divorce. However, the two most influential politicians in the EU Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande are minded to make Britain suffer. They see this as an act not of revenge but of self-preservation. France and Germany are working on draft guidelines on how they think the 27 other nations should react. Brussels officials say this could include moves to, in effect, freeze Britain out of the EU side of post-Brexit negotiations. David Cameron will join the leaders of the other 27 countries for a summit in Brussels on 28 June, five days after the referendum. If Leave wins, he is likely to trigger Article 50 of the EU treaty, which provides for countries to negotiate their departure. Hardliners in Brussels, Berlin and Paris suggest Mr Cameron should then be asked to leave the room. Alternatively, the 27 will call a second summit of their own to which Britain will not be invited. The EU treaty provides for a two-year period of negotiation before a member state leaves. A problem arises. Would Britain still be welcome to take part in EU decision-making while it is waiting to depart? According to French sources, the Plan B discussions in Brussels and EU capitals have looked at the possibility that Britain would be, in effect, suspended from internal EU negotiations on all subjects, including Brexit. The UK would become rather like a candidate-member in reverse. It would not be allowed to take part in summits or councils of ministers which discussed the long and wearisome process of unwinding laws on everything from UK-EU trade to fisheries policy. One of the problems for the Plan B discussions is that we dont know what, or who, we will be dealing with post a Brexit vote, a French diplomat said. Will it still be David Cameron? Or will it be Boris Johnson? Will Britain want to remain in the single market without being in the EU, like Norway. Or will it want to leave completely? The Brexit camp leadership now speaks of pulling Britain out of the single market (largely the creation of Margaret Thatcher and a British EU commissioner, Lord Cockfield.) Any other approach, the Brexiteers have been obliged to admit, would still commit the UK to free movement of people, to EU regulation and to contributions to the EU budget. However, a Brexit vote next Thursday would leave that vital question open for the House of Commons to decide. Brussels officials say that negotiations on a partial Brexit in which Britain remained part of the single market might be easier and more amicable. They say, however, that they are working on the assumption that Britain will want to abandon all its legal and financial commitments to the EU. 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 Plan B talks have also looked at what an EU, shorn of one of its most powerful but awkward members, might look like. There is talk of the announcement of a new, integrated EU policy for defence and security especially security against terrorism. There are also voices pushing for the announcement of a Great Leap Forward in which a Britless EU would reaffirm its belief in further European integration and progress towards a single European economic government. Other voices protest this would be a disastrous misreading of the Eurosceptic mood of all EU peoples, not just Britons. Both Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch politician who is head of the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance ministers, and Hubert Vedrine, a former French foreign minister, have suggested the EU response should be more realistic and more practical. Mr Dijsselbloem said: The EU has moved ahead in leaps, but we havent always completed everything. That is our main task: to finish what we have started and show results to our citizens. Mr Vedrine suggested the EU should abandon its federalist commitment to an ever closer union and move towards more limited, practical joint policies on trade, free movement, open borders and the environment. That sounds suspiciously like the kind of EU that Britain might have found easier to live with. The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we were running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision. What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum? Does the UK need to take more control of its sovereignty? Could the UK media swing the EU referendum one way or another? Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws? Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union? Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK? Will leaving the EU lead to the break-up of the UK? What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit? Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe? Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws? Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS? What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU? Will Brexit help or damage the environment? Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK? What will Brexit mean for British expats in Europe? 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 German foreign minister has accused Nato of warmongering with exercises in Eastern Europe that could worsen tensions with Russia. Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that extensive military drill and deployment could worsen rather than improve regional security. "What we should not do now is inflame the situation with sabre-rattling and warmongering, he told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance's eastern border will bring security is mistaken. NATO allies launch annual war games exercise "We are well-advised not to create pretexts to renew an old confrontation. Nato is currently staging a simulated attack on Poland involving more than 30,000 troops and has announced the strengthening of defences in Ukraine, while sending battalions to two of Russias neighbours. Large-scale military drills, which take place every two years, are intended to test the alliances ability to respond to threats. About 12,000 Polish and 14,000 US troops are taking part in exercises code named Anaconda-16 that started earlier this month, as well as 1,000 from the UK and others from Nato states and five other nations. Polish paratroopers land near Torun, central Poland, on June 7, 2016, as part of the NATO Anaconda-16 military exercise. (AFP/Getty Images) The drills feature fighter jets, warships and thousands of tanks and armoured vehicles. Tensions between Nato and Russia remain high over the continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine, which was awarded increased funding and assistance this week. Recommended Read more NATO allies launch largest military exercise since end of Cold War Jens Stoltenberg, the alliances Secretary General, called on Russia to stop supporting the militants and withdraw its forces from Ukrainian territory two allegations that the Kremlin denies. Nato defence ministers also agreed to strengthen defence and deterrence on Tuesday by announcing the deployment of four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Russia has repeatedly said it considers Nato troops close to its borders to be a threat to its security. 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 For some reason, Nato infrastructure must constantly be expanded and moved closer to the Russian borders, Vladimir Putin told a forum in St Petersburg on Friday. If we continue following such logic, act to escalate and intensify efforts to scare each other, then one day we may come to a Cold War. We (Russia) have a completely different logic, it is aimed at cooperation and search for compromise. Mr Steinmeier urged the military alliance to turn to dialogue and partnership, as well as building the case for disarmament, as Nato and Russia face joint threats in the Middle East. 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 }} Leaving the EU would make Britain a "little" trading post as insignificant on the world stage as Guernsey, Frances economy minister has warned. In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Emmanuel Macron, said leaving the EU would make the UK a little country on the world scale. He said the EU should send a very firm message about the consequences of a British vote to leave the bloc. Leaving the EU would mean the 'Guernseyfication' of the UK, which would then be a little country on the world scale," Mr Macron said. "It would isolate itself and become a trading post and arbitration place at Europe's border. Mr Macron, who has been tipped by some to make a run to become France's next president, said: In the interests of the EU, we can't leave any margin of ambiguity or let too much time go by. You're either in or you're out. He added: If the UK wants a commercial access treaty to the European single market, the British must contribute to the European budget like the Norwegians and the Swiss do. "If London doesn't want that, then it must be a total exit." In further comments Mr Macron said that in the event of Brexit, Europe should act fast to avoid other countries starting a similar process. There must be no question of Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, deciding they want the same status, he said. In public, the tone was appropriately muted and restrained after the very tragic turn of events in the Brexit referendum. Privately, however, Enda did not hold back - warning his Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh counterparts of the perilous risks they were facing if Britain decides to go down the unlit road of leaving the European Union. "You really went for it in there," a startled Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster told him afterwards. But heads had nodded around the table, sources at the private meeting said. Apparently, most of the leaders present at the British-Irish Council summit in Glasgow at least acknowledged his concerns on how this could go. Read more: Taoiseach 'unashamedly' calls on Irish community in Britain to vote 'Remain' Not Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, however. Resolutely in the Leave camp, she later scoffed at the very real fears that the border might have to be reimposed. After the devastating events of the previous day, the politicians were in a sombre, reflective mood and in a difficult position - unable to speak freely and yet without even the heart to do so, the loss of MP Jo Cox weighing heavily on their minds. They held a minute's silence for her amid the privacy of their meeting, afterwards paying tribute to the Yorkshire public representative, who paid the ultimate price for her humanitarian passion and political beliefs. With both campaigns suspended - with word coming yesterday that the Leave campaign will not take up again until Monday - the political clock had stopped. This could well prove to be the turning point. At any rate, it has entirely changed the tone of the campaign - which had spiralled out of control in ugly, ill-tempered fashion with the flotilla stand-off on the Thames, with Bob Geldof giving the fingers to the Leave side - along with handing them the high moral ground. Read more: Brexit would start 'unknown journey' for UK, Enda Kenny warns That day, Jo Cox had, too, been out on the Thames - the last devastating photo showing her hair flying in the breeze along with her defiantly fluttering 'In' flag, her two tiny children and husband in tow. With the unveiling of Ukip's inflammatory posters showing a stream of desperate-eyed migrants flocking into Slovenia under the headline 'Breaking Point', the Leave side are now scrambling. Jo's husband Brendan tweeted a brief "Vile" in response to the poster. Commentators, already sickened by the extremist bent of the debate and horrified by the loss of such a shining political light are asking how British society had got to this point. With the referendum taking place next week, the pendulum is now swinging furiously once again amid crushing grief, when 24 hours ago, the result seemed a triumphant 'Leave'. Whatever happens now, there can be no place for triumph or euphoria. At the summit, David Mundell, Secretary of State for Scotland, pleaded for a "push back on the vilification of the political class" with some of those present saying they had been subject to abuse and threats. "Recently, abuse and name-calling of politicians is just a matter of course," said Mundell. "When people hear about Jo, they realise she's the exact opposite," he said, mentioning the huge personal sacrifices she had made with her young family in having to come to London "because she wanted to do better for her own community and the wider world". "That is not the stereotype of politicians that we hear too much about, I think," he said. But the politicians seemed to think it unworkable when they were asked if their security needed to be increased or that the public's access to them should be restricted. Martin McGuinness said he refuses to be forced to change his routine by people who had threatened him in a bid to scupper the peace process. Enda said access to politicians is a key component of the political system on these islands. Once again, he "unashamedly" called on the Irish community living in Britain to vote Remain, saying it was not his place to lecture but that he felt it important to address them on this issue. And in a veiled reminder to attendees of the Summit, he warned that in the event of a vote to Leave, there will be no one to speak for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland at European Council meetings, which will lead to a "massive change" in the situation. He was almost alone in the leaders in not coming out to give interviews afterwards, as he headed off to a British Irish business network event - still campaigning. Quietly but with no less urgency. Blackstone has completed a deal to take over the Blanchardstown Centre in one of the biggest property deals in the history of the state. The US private equity giant is believed to have paid Green Property at 950m for the centre. The deal is expected to close this summer pending relevant regulatory approvals. In a statement, Blackstone head of European Real Estate Anthony Myers said the deal was a "further investment by us in Dublin and underlines our commitment to Ireland and belief in the strength of its economy." The finalising of the sale comes five months after Green Property put the centre on the market with a price tag of 1bn. The US investment giant beat a number of competitors, including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Joe O'Reilly's Chartered Land which was backed by Morgan Stanley. Green Property, which is led by Stephen Vernon, has sold down a number of properties in recent months. But Mr Vernon has insisted that he is not calling the "top" of the current property cycle. Blackstone was named as preferred bidder for the shopping centre last month. Blackstone - the world's biggest property investor - has bought extensively in Ireland since the crash but has been selling down most of its interests. It has flipped a number of office blocks in central Dublin and has also in the process of selling the former Burlington Hotel in the city. It also controls the Elysian Tower in Cork city. The firm is widely expected to extend The Blanchardstown Centre eventually. There is capacity to build around 148,500 sq m (1.6 million sq ft) of additional space, made up of 93,000 sq m of retail, offices, leisure and 600-plus apartments, under a master development plan that governs the site. The centre has been the biggest retail centre in the country, since it opened in 1993 with more than 1.2 million sq ft of shopping space. It has an annual footfall of more than 16 million people and a rent roll of approximately 50m per year. The existing development and lands covers 85 acres with up to 6,000 surface car parking spaces. Green Property declined to comment on the sale. Green Property is a separate company to the listed property investor Green Reit. Blanchardstown is not the only Dublin shopping centre in the process of changing ownership. UK property firm Hammerson is in talks with Chartered Land to take control of the Dundrum Town Centre and other properties around Dublin. Hammerson and Allianz Real Estate paid about 1.6bn last year to buy the debt tied to Dundrum last year. The retail specialist has indicated previously that it expects to formally have taken over the shopping centre before the end of this summer. The potential for growth in the Irish economy is being underestimated, including by European institutions because they miss the positive impact of migration, according to research from the ESRI. Net migration will be flat in 2016 - meaning the number of people moving into the country cancels out the number leaving. However, the trend will turn positive next year for the first time since the financial crash, according to pre-Budget research presented by the ESRI yesterday. The positive migration swing could quickly be as big as 30,000 a year. The enlarged labour pool would support significantly higher growth rates, with implications for the so-called fiscal space, according to Kieran McQuinn, associate research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Forecasting the fiscal space, a term for the financial leeway available to governments in a budget year that can go to lower taxes or increase spending, is notoriously tricky. Conflicting views on the issue led to a major political row during the 2016 general election. But, the concept is important in preparing budgets within the confines of the pan-European rules introduced in the wake of the euro crisis. "Greater population means your fiscal space goes up, but at the same time, if the housing market ratchets up as a result there is a danger of (the economy) overheating," Kieran McQuinn said. Researchers at the ESRI reckon house building will hit 13,500 this year and 17,000 in 2017. That's well below the 25,000 a year needed to meet current demand. However, if construction gathers pace to meet demand, especially of labour intensive houses, the effect could quickly lead to overheating, Kieran McQuinn said. Rapid growth will force the Government to consider contractionary budgets, with lower spending, even in good times, to guard against overheating. A contractionary budget in a time of plenty is a "difficult sell" politically, he said. But without it the risk is a repeat of the mistakes of the boom. Mainstay chief executive Peter Crosby welcomed the new capital injection into the company Dublin-based Mainstay Medical has raised 30m through the placement of over 2.3 million new ordinary shares, the company has said. The medical device company said yesterday it will look to use the money to support European commercialisation and to conduct clinical trials for its flagship back pain product, ReActiv8. ReActiv8 is an implantable neurostimulation system that is used to treat disabling chronic back pain. Shares in the placing were offered at 13, which represents a significant discount on the firm's closing price on Thursday. Mainstay said the shares were to be issued to selected institutional investors in Europe and North America. The funding will be used for a clinical B-trial of the product to help gather data for a pre-market approval application for the US. Mainstay chief executive Peter Crosby welcomed the new capital injection into the company. "This fundraising will allow us to further progress towards our objectives of commercialisation of ReActiv8 in Europe and the United States, and help improve the lives of millions of people who suffer from chronic low back pain," Mr Crosby said yesterday. The cash raised from the sale of shares is in addition to the $10.4m cash pile the company had at the end of May. Family investment fund KCK has bought over 1.1 million shares as part of the offering and has acted as a cornerstone investor in the placing. Mainstay agreed that KCK will be able to nominate two additional non-executive directors to the company. CLOSE to 1,000 bank officials are now estimated to be working on tracker mortgage investigations, it emerged from a series of Dail questions. The Central Bank has told all the main banks to conduct a review of their tracker books after Permanent Tsb admitted it had taken good-value trackers off 1,400 customers who should not have lost them. The Central Bank is taking enforcement action against Permanent Tsb and Ulster Bank over their failure to put customers who fixed for a period back on their trackers. Fianna Fail finance spokesman has been told in the Dail that AIB has 350 staff working on its tracker probe, which also takes in EBS. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said 200 of these are full time, with the rest on contract. Another 170 staff are poring over mortgage contracts at Permanent Tsb. Mr McGrath said: "The other banks have devoted 'significant resources' indicating that upwards of 1,000 people could be working on this across the banks given that it has been an issue for Ulster, Bank of Ireland and KBC also have had issues with it." AIB is understood to have around 3,000 cases, with another 2,000 at Bank of Ireland. The Central Bank is due to provide an update on the tracker probe in July. Twitter's problems It has two big problems. First, its user base has stopped growing. While 300 million 'active' monthly users is a significant number, it's the same as a year before. In a world where millions are still connecting online for the first time, this is perceived as a cause for concern, indicating that Twitter is falling behind rivals. And it's not just Facebook, with 1.6 billion users, that Twitter is losing out to. Snapchat has reportedly overtaken Twitter in the number of daily users (150 million). Meanwhile, messaging services such as WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) and iMessage (from Apple) are starting to become major social networking services in their own right. Twitter's other big challenge is advertising and revenue growth. At present, over two-thirds of the world's online advertising revenue goes to just two companies: Google and Facebook. Twitter is left to scrap with other social media services such as Pinterest and LinkedIn, as well as the world's online media. While it has 130,000 advertisers in total, it is advancing at a slower rate than many rivals. Last year, Twitter grew its ad-based revenue from $1.4bn to $2.2bn, a 58pc increase. (In profit terms, it lost $521m last year, down from $578m the year before.) But Snapchat, which has only been around for four years, looks likely to power past Twitter in ad revenue soon, having just opened up its ad platform to third parties. This is because its video prowess and young addicted audience make for a much more natural advertising environment. Twitter's strengths If Twitter has some weighty challenges, it also has a few considerable strengths. It has become one of the world's most active and important news activity services, with all global media feeding, discussing and drawing from the system. In the US presidential election, for example, Twitter is the most important forum for candidate exchanges, reactions and soundbytes. Whatever candidates Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton says gets amplified to a far greater audience because of Twitter's central role in today's current affairs. As such, Twitter is close to being a utility for media in the same way as Facebook is a quasi-utility for social connections. Amid all the talk of doom and gloom, that could gives the social networking company sticking power. What it might do next Twitter knows that it needs to improve its prospects quickly. In recent months, it has moved to expand the range of ad products it sells through the service. This ranges from the frivolous to the technically complex. For example, it now lets advertisers target users according to what emoji (small keyboard pictures) they use within tweets. So-called 'carousel ads', where multiple tweets or pieces of video are incorporated into a single ad, are also being rolled out. More generally, Twitter wants to reach a higher number of non-Twitter account holders. According to its outgoing Ireland managing director, Stephen McIntyre, it is looking to find ways to advertise to the estimated 500 million non-Twitter subscribers that land on tweets (on Twitter.com) by clicking through from some external link. Facebook is already doing this, selling ads based on a cookie it attaches to your browser so that the ads you see as you surf the web relate to your visit to Facebook, however brief that visit might have been. Twitter is also starting to make bets on other companies. Just this week, it made a reported 60m investment in the Berlin-based music streaming service SoundCloud. It almost bought the Spotify rival two years ago so the fact it's back in for a piece of SoundCloud means that it's looking for ways to expand beyond advertising to its existing user base. Why Google might buy it Last Monday's 23bn capture of LinkedIn by Microsoft, together with an expected upsurge in tech-related mergers and acquisitions, has revived speculation that Twitter could be a takeover target. Indeed, its shares have risen over 10pc during the week for precisely that reason. In some respects, Twitter could be considered cheap: its market cap is now just over 10bn, having been close to 30bn two years ago. And it is now the largest independent social network outside of China. "The LinkedIn acquisition makes all the remaining players more valuable due to the scarcity of those that have achieved scale," said Lou Kerner, founder of the US-based Social Internet Fund venture capital firm. So who would a possible suitor be? The most obvious company would be Google, which has repeatedly tried and failed to build social networking products. Google also has over 60bn in cash which is more than enough to afford a company like Twitter. On the other hand, it may be harder to leverage Twitter as a commercially valuable asset. For example, it doesn't have the sort of professional data that made LinkedIn a lucrative pitch. And it doesn't have any significant growth prospects, either. "Twitter has scale but what it doesn't have is growth," said Kerner. "Acquirers are looking for products that can help drive their growth and don't need to be fixed." If ever there was proof anyone can learn to code, it is Tiernan Mangan, who at just five years old will be debuting his very first game at today's CoderDojo Coolest Projects Awards. "He was a sneaky one," said proud mum Iseult Mangan. "I teach our local dojo after school so I'd bring him along. I thought he was just sitting at the back playing on the iPad but the entire time he was listening and learning. "A few weeks ago, he walked up to me and said he had an idea for a game about bashing ninjas. "Next thing, he has two of the girls in the class wrapped around his finger helping him put it together." Meanwhile, two best friends who were worried about the health of the nation's rabbits used technology to help teach Ireland how to properly look after its furry little friends. Mia Green (11) and Anna Kernan (10) teamed up to create the 'How to Train Your Rabbit' - a website aimed at making people think twice about getting a pet rabbit by showing just how much work is involved. "I got the idea for the site after Gizmo, my bunny, had to stay in the house for winter," said Mia. "I wanted him to stop going to the toilet everywhere so I looked up online how to train him. "That's where I got the idea, because I couldn't find the info on one site." Coding partner Anna added: "We hope people use our website so they can look after their rabbits better." The duo are among hundreds of young whiz kids invited to the CoderDojo Coolest Projects Awards at the RDS today. Mia and Anna said they were really excited to show off the skills they learned at Docklands Dojo - a local computer programming club in Dublin that is part of a free global movement teaching children how to code and develop websites, apps, programmes, and games. Mia's mum Miriam O'Flynn introduced her children to CoderDojo late last year, and said they've taken to programming "like a duck to water". "I wish I had access to the stuff these guys get to use in class when I first started learning to code." The CoderDojo Coolest Projects Awards will be open from 9.30am-6pm. Entrance is free. The Wolf Of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio was the most pirated film in 2014 (Universal Pictures UK) Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio in 'The Wolf Of Wall Street'. A federal judge has ordered actor Leonardo DiCaprio to be deposed in a defamation lawsuit brought by a former Stratton Oakmont executive over his alleged depiction in the 2013 Martin Scorsese film "The Wolf of Wall Street." U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Locke in Central Islip, New York, on Thursday said DiCaprio must be made available for questioning, which was opposed by Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures Corp, DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions and other defendants. The plaintiff, Andrew Greene, sued in 2014 for more than $50 million, claiming that he was defamed in the film through the portrayal by actor P.J. Byrne of a morally and ethically challenged character named Nicky "Rugrat" Koskoff. Paramount has said Koskoff was a "composite character" inspired by multiple individuals, including Greene. DiCaprio, 41, played Jordan Belfort, a stock swindler who founded Stratton Oakmont and whose 2007 memoir was a basis for the film. Greene was a childhood friend of Belfort. In opposing a deposition, defense lawyers said DiCaprio did not write the screenplay, and that there was no claim he had any role in deciding whether alleged defamatory content should be included in or excluded from the film. Expand Close The Wolf Of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio was the most pirated film in 2014 (Universal Pictures UK) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Wolf Of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio was the most pirated film in 2014 (Universal Pictures UK) Greene's lawyers said they had already questioned Scorsese and screenwriter Terence Winter, and that both testified that they met regularly with DiCaprio to discuss the "Wolf" script. Louis Petrich, a lawyer for the defendants, declined to comment. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including DiCaprio as best actor, Scorsese as best director and Winter for the screenplay, but did not win any. Locke's order does not say when DiCaprio will be questioned. Expand Close Tipped to win: Leonardo DiCaprio Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tipped to win: Leonardo DiCaprio Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images The case is Greene v Paramount Pictures Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 14-01044. A young woman who allegedly went on a spending spree after money was mistakenly lodged in her bank account is facing trial. Margaret McDonnell (25) is alleged to have spent the money on jewellery, shoes and clothing as well as groceries and bed linen. She must answer more than 40 charges of theft relating to stealing in excess of 25,000 in cash belonging to Bank of Ireland. Ms McDonnell is facing trial by judge and jury in the circuit court after the DPP ruled the matters were too serious for the district court. Judge David McHugh adjourned the case for six weeks for the service of the book of evidence. The accused, of Rathvilly Park, Finglas, appeared before Blanchardstown District Court. The offences are alleged to have taken place over a two-week period in March 2013. It is alleged that Ms McDonnell spent more than 9,000 on jewellery and gifts in Tierney & Co Gift Shop. She is also alleged to have spent money on goods in New Look, Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Heatons, the Nike Store, Shoe Rack and the Bedlinen Warehouse. Ms McDonnell is also accused of withdrawing large sums of cash during a two-week period in March 2013, ranging from 100 at AIB in Santry to 5,000 at Bank of Ireland in Finglas. The court heard she is a lone parent with two children. Judge McHugh assigned defence solicitor Simon Fleming on free legal aid. Ms McDonnell has not yet indicated how she is pleading to the charges. The Garda said the survey showed strong trust in the force, particularly among local communities A garda investigation is underway following claims that a female assistant at a State-run care home had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male resident. Gardai are investigating an alleged offence that occurred during the month of May 2016," a garda spokesperson told Independent.ie. The matter is under investigation. The care home, which is located in Munster, is operated by the Child and Family Agency, Tusla. The worker, who is in her 30s, was suspended after another teenager at the care home told his parents about the relationship, the Irish Sun reports. It is believed that the two were involved for the past year, but authorities were only informed of the relationship in the last month. While it is the policy of Tusla to not comment on individual cases it can be confirmed that any allegation of abuse or neglect of a child is managed in line with Children First. While this is ongoing, if required, a child safety plan is put in place, a spokesperson for Tusla told Independent.ie. Where any such allegation relates to a staff member of Tusla or agency funded by Tusla, the allegation against the staff member is screened and investigated in line with the correct processes. Tusla requests that an individual centre is not named in order to protect the privacy of the young people living there and in order to allow due process in respect of any staff member against whom there is an allegation. Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has been warned that the gardai need more resources to prevent and respond to international terror threats. She was also told that the force would like to recruit 150 more members each year than the 600 that funds are currently provided for. Extra garda payroll costs will be a key issue in terms of funding this year due to the ongoing gang war in Dublin and the terror threat, a Justice Department briefing said. "Additional resources are needed by the gardai and the immigration authorities to enhance the capacity to prevent and to respond to threats from international terrorism," the document says. Later it warns of "the significantly increased threat from terrorism to Europe". The briefing delivered on May 6 references Islamic extremist attacks including the massacre at French satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo', the Paris atrocities last November and the March bombings in Brussels. It states that foreign fighters from Syria have been linked to recent attacks and that they "pose a heightened security threat to all EU member states". The Department's Security and Northern Ireland Division reported "a significant and sustained increase in business activity" relating to supporting international counter-terrorism efforts "which cannot be addressed within current capacities". The document also states that Garda authorities want to recruit 750 new members each year to achieve a 14,000-strong force more quickly, in part due to "the organised crime and terrorist threats". Currently, the Public Expenditure Department has sanctioned 600 new members per year. "Further engagement" with that department will be required to go beyond that number, Ms Fitzgerald is told. A Justice Department spokeswoman said that, since the briefing, the Tanaiste has announced additional Garda funding of 55m for the remainder of 2016. She said this is intended to support policing that targets gangland crime, burglaries and measures against terrorism. The funding comprises of 40m in new cash and 15m from savings made elsewhere in the justice sector. The spokeswoman said some of the funding is aimed at enhancing operational, strategic and intelligence capabilities in combating the threat from international terrorism but it "would not be appropriate to go into details". The spokeswoman said that how the budget allocation is spent is a matter for the Garda Commissioner who is in "ongoing contact" with Ms Fitzgerald in relation to security threats including terrorism. She said Ms Fitzgerald is continuing to work with European colleagues to tackle the "shared threat" of terrorism. The Department also pointed to a Government commitment to further accelerate recruitment of trainee gardai. The Government will stand firm against significant increases in bin collection charges. Warning waste companies that he wants what is best for householders under the proposed 'pay-by-weight' bin charges, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Simon Coveney said the Government would consider its options if the industry fails to heed his concerns. Meeting with private waste operators in Athlone this evening, amid growing public anger over the proposed increases in standing charges for bin collections, Mr Coveney said while he supported a pay-by-weight scheme in principle, he would do all he could to keep costs down for householders. The Minister has agreed to a tentative framework on this matter, said a spokesperson. During yesterdays meeting, he had a full and frank discussion with those representing the waste industry. His concern now is to achieve the best outcome possible for householders. Mr Coveney is to meet with waste companies again early next week, the spokesperson confirmed. Beginning July 1st, many homes across Ireland could face significant increases in their monthly bills as pay-by-weight charges for black and brown bins come into effect. Taken aback by widespread reports that many households could see their waste bills go up by almost 75 pc, its believed the Government is to consider either making changes to the proposed 'pay-by-weight' bin charges or postponing their introduction. Patients' lives are being put at risk because of a serious lack of intensive-care beds, a leading hospital consultant has warned. Dr Tom Ryan, the new president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, said the reduction in intensive-care beds in recent years contrasted sharply with the recommendations of a major HSE-commissioned report in 2009, which called for an immediate 45pc increase in their numbers and a doubling by 2020. "These recommendations have not been acted upon," warned Dr Ryan, who works as a consultant in intensive care and anaesthesia in St James's Hospital, Dublin. Doctors have frequently pointed out that the shortage leads to a cancellation of urgent surgery and impacts on some cancer patients, whose operations have to be postponed. A patient who may have to be placed on ventilation outside an intensive care unit is exposed to greater risks. The problem is exacerbated by a lack of staff which has led to a closure of beds. Figures obtained by Deputy Jack Chambers, Fianna Fail TD for Dublin West, show that around 25 beds are closed because of nursing shortages and recruitment difficulties. Dr Ryan, who trained at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, said the brain drain of health staff was having a major impact on hospitals . Doctors left to attempt to deliver safe care, he said, are "continuously aware of the mismatch between the available physical and human resources and the needs of their patients. "The urgency for investment cannot be overstated in view of the inexorable increase in demand for acute medical care." Meanwhile, a growing number of rural doctors are working for no income, the new chairman of the Dail's Health Committee says. Dr Michael Harty says young GPs are leaving the country in their droves and those too "glued" to their communities are working for free. Speaking on the 'Floating Voter' podcast on Independent.ie, the Clare TD said: "There are many GPs in this country who don't take an income from their practice. They actually don't make any money from it." Killer Dave Mahon was temporarily out of jail to undergo a hip replacement operation. Mahon, now known as prisoner 84976, was sentenced to seven years in prison for the manslaughter of his stepson Dean Fitzpatrick. He was brought from Mountjoy Prison for three days to Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital between Finglas and Blanchardstown for the surgery. Prison officers from the Irish Prison Service were also at the hospital to monitor him during his stay at the hospital. Mahon (44), who has often been photographed walking with a stick, previously underwent two hip replacement operations but one of them failed in recent months. In April, he tried to have his trial for the murder of Dean Fitzpatrick postponed until after his surgery took place. However, his application ultimately failed. The judge had said that he would need a sworn affidavit from Mahon's consultant surgeon regarding the 'urgency' of the operation before he could consider adjourning the trial. Speaking to the Herald at the time, Mahon said he had been given a short-notice appointment and wanted to avail of it. "The surgeon is one of the best in the country and there is an 18 to 24-month waiting list for him," he said, "but I was called early and I don't want to miss the chance to get it done. I'm in a lot of pain with it." Mahon, of Ongar Village in Clonsilla, went on trial for murdering 23-year-old Dean on May 26, 2013, at Northern Cross on Dublin's Malahide Road. He was acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter of Dean - who is the son of his partner Audrey Fitzpatrick . Dean Fitzpatrick's sister Amy went missing in Spain on New Year's Day 2008. Customers will have to explicitly state their desire to opt out of pay-by-weight bin charges, or risk being charged according to the new system. Photo: Collins Waste collectors are refusing to give details on how much households can expect to pay when pay-by-weight bin charges come into force in less than two weeks' time. Just seven of 60 waste operators contacted by the Irish Independent over the last two days have revealed their prices, with one in six saying the charges have yet to be finalised. The lack of information for households comes as Fianna Fail warned Housing Minister Simon Coveney that he must take action by early next week or they could force the issue. Barry Cowen, the party's spokesman on housing and local government, said he was willing to await the results of a meeting between Mr Coveney and waste operators in Athlone last night, but added: "If he can't deliver, then he has a problem. He has to come up with a new plan so that households are back to square one." Following last night's meeting, Mr Coveney's spokesperson said the minister supported a pay-by-weight scheme in principle, and would do all he could to keep costs down for householders. "The minister has agreed to a tentative framework on this matter," they added. "He had a full and frank discussion with those representing the waste industry." Mr Coveney is to meet with waste companies again early next week. The expectation is that the new regime will be suspended until companies drop their prices and the system becomes more transparent. Pay-by-weight charges are due to kick-in on July 1 in an effort to encourage households to recycle their rubbish and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Research from the Department of the Environment suggests that 87pc of households will enjoy lower charges when the new system comes in; however, there are allegations that some companies have hiked prices way beyond what was expected. One City Bin customer told the Irish Independent their bin charges would almost double from 170 a year to just over 300, based on the new system. However, a spokesman for the company said the customer would have to be a "huge" generator of waste to run up such fees, adding that the changeover to the new system required customers to change their habits. Some 17pc of City Bin's customers had not put their brown bins out in more than a year and customers could not expect their bills to drop "without effort", he said. The spokesman added that the minimum charges imposed by the Government - 11c for a kg from the black bin, and 6c for a kg from the brown - did not cover the costs of disposal. The Irish Independent sought details from 60 companies authorised to collect waste to discover how much households could expect to pay. Just seven outlined the charges to be imposed, with 10 saying they weren't finalised. No information was available from some of the biggest operators, including Panda, Barna in Galway, Oxigen and Greyhound. Some companies have offered options, depending on household size with smaller homes having a lower standing charge, but a higher cost per kilo to dispose of waste. Standing charges range from 104 to 198 per year, with rural areas typically more expensive. The cost of disposing of black bin waste ranges from 16c to 35c per kilo, while brown bin waste is 16c to 20c. Dermot Jewell, of the Consumer Association of Ireland, said: "The worst part of the problem is that industry left it so late to come out and declare their rates. They must have known there'd be a kick-back. "But they were hoping it was left too late and everybody would lie down and let the trucks drive over them." Students arrive back to Colaiste Eanna on the Ballyroan Road, Rathfarnham, after the mid-term break of October 1986. NPA/Independent collection Like a bee in amber, Philip Cairns is forever preserved in the public imagination in one of those school photographs that every child gets taken. His seems more revealing, however, his bright smile forever frozen, a studded denim jacket replacing the usual school jumper. This is the Philip Cairns that has come to haunt the public memory, turning up in the newspapers every few years, flattering to deceive as the mystery ultimately deepens and becomes more baffling than ever. Expand Close The lane where Philips bag was found, in 1986 and today, close to the Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnham / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The lane where Philips bag was found, in 1986 and today, close to the Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnham But it never goes away and every few years we wonder what happened in the hours after Philip came out of his house after lunch that Thursday, October 23, 1986, turned right and began walking towards Colaiste Eanna at the other end of the lengthy Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnam, Co Dublin - a destination he never reached. His was a disappearance that burned slowly into the public imagination but has hung like a little dark cloud for three decades. It was sunny and clear that day, with sharp frost expected after dark. There were probably a few Datsun or Fiat 127 cars parked in the driveways or an Opel Rekord, where now there are Hyundai jeeps, Skodas and the odd BMW. The sycamore, rowan and beech trees that now line the road in full bloom were mere saplings that day nearly 30 years ago, but otherwise little else has changed. There is a curious link in the disappearance of Philip Cairns (pictured) and the paedophile Eamon 'Captain' Cooke, the depraved founder of Radio Dublin, in that they both shared the newspaper reports during the last days of October that year. Yet tenuous as that is, it is the only thing that bound them together until now. Read more: Prime suspect DJ Eamon Cooke was a 'vile, evil, psychopathic individual... capable of killing' - victim speaks out On Tuesday, October 21, 1986, Eamon Cooke was convicted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of conspiring to assault John Paul O'Toole, of the South Circular Road in Dublin. Cooke had seen his girlfriend, the mother of one of his 11 children, walking around town with O'Toole, an employee whom he had sacked from his pirate radio station then based in No 3 Sarsfield Road, Inchicore. Cooke paid four thugs from Ballyfermot to teach the man he perceived as a love rival a lesson - which entailed throwing a milk bottle petrol bomb into O'Toole's flat. They were all convicted. The four accomplices were given suspended sentences some days later, while Cooke's sentence was deferred until November 3. Expand Close A Garda on duty at the laneway on Ballyroan Road, Rathfarnham from where 13 year old schoolboy Philip Cairns went missing on the afternoon of 23 October 1986. NPA/Independent collection / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A Garda on duty at the laneway on Ballyroan Road, Rathfarnham from where 13 year old schoolboy Philip Cairns went missing on the afternoon of 23 October 1986. NPA/Independent collection The troubles in Northern Ireland were simmering that autumn, but the newspapers at the end of October were dominated by Charlie Haughey's attempt to destabilise the government of Garret FitzGerald with a vote of no confidence and the threat by Fine Gael maverick TD Liam Skelly to vote against his own party. The day that Philip Cairns disappeared, Lieutenant General Michael J Costello, a veteran of the War of Independence, was buried with full military honours and a judge banned dancing in Blades public house in nearby Terenure. There was a different feel to the Ireland of 1986, with Chris de Burgh warbling 'Lady in Red' all that summer. Those trying to escape the stifling confines of the old guard who ran RTE had found their own solution. From kids tinkering with transmitters in their family garage to fully fledged illegal radio stations like Nova on the southside and Sunshine on the northside, pirate radio had responded and filled the demand. It attracted the colourful and the brash, like Chris Carey and Robbie Robinson and the ugly and the vindictive Eamon Cooke, scruffy, an ash-tilted cigarette hanging from his lips, bragging that he was there first and preying on young girls with little dreams. Dublin was alive with music; Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy, U2, Spandau Ballet, the Virgin Prunes, Def Leopard. You could see them all if you were looking. It was a world of vinyl and new records, like new cars, carried that fresh smell of anticipation. Phil Solomon, one of the backers of Radio Caroline, the pirate radio station that inspired them all, would walk down Grafton Street with briefcases full of cash and a lot of the smart local promoters wanted to get a taste of the same honey. For a time, I worked in ARD (Alternative Radio Dublin) up in Belvedere Place and saw the casual way it all worked. The first day I went in to do a news shift, I was left to my own devices until it neared the bulletin deadline, when I inquired curiously who the newsreader was. "You are" I was told. It all worked on a wing and a prayer and the exciting anticipation of a police raid in mid-programme. But was Philip Cairns linked to pirate radio - or to the notorious, thrice-married Eamon Cooke, who was at that time awaiting his sentence for conspiracy? Anything is possible, but on the surface, they seem worlds apart. Read more: 'Large number of people' come forward about potential leads in missing Philip Cairns case Although he disappeared on the Thursday, it was a Bank Holiday weekend and so there were no newspapers on the Monday in those days. On Tuesday, October 28, four days after he had gone missing, there was a strip on page 3 of the Irish Independent under the headline: 'No sign yet of missing student.' "He was a boy who came straight home from school, he was very quiet and we never had a problem with him," said his mother Alice, as his father Philip, a buyer with Nestle, stayed largely in the background. "I believe that with all the people who are praying for him he will be all right," she said in the report. It was an era when the churches were still full and people believed in prayer. Later in the week, she appeared to speak directly to her son. "We hope you will come home soon, don't be worried about anything, we just want you home" she said. But the discovery of his schoolbag on Thursday, October 30, 1986 in a laneway off Anne Devlin Road, threw a sinister shadow over the search. That's the way it has been on and off for 30 years now, with no trace of Philip Cairns ever found. When Eamon Cooke returned to the dock in early November 1986, he received a suspended sentence. It was 2007 before he finally got justice - sentenced to 10 years for a series of sexual assaults on young girls. He died on June 4, this year in St Francis Hospice, Raheny, Dublin while on temporary release from prison. He was buried quietly four days later and there is little to mark his passing but two wilting wreaths on a tidy grave in Glasnevin Cemetery and a surge of news stories. Philip Cairns, an innocent schoolboy, and Eamon Cooke, the convicted paedophile, are now inextricably linked by the events of that week towards the end of October, 1986. Can the boy's schoolbag yield up evidence of a connection or will it be just another false trail in a saga that seems to make no sense and have no ending? His father, also Philip Cairns, has since died, but for his mother, his four sisters and brother, knowing would, at least, be a blessing. Fine Gael has asked the Oireachtas to carry out a review into the security of TDs, senators and their staff in light of the horrific murder of British MP Jo Cox, the Irish Independent has learned. Newly-elected Fine Gael chairperson Martin Heydon yesterday asked the Clerk of the Dail to re-examine security arrangements. The Kildare South TD said he has been contacted by both TDs and members of the public who have been left shocked and saddened by the murder of the Labour MP. Speaking to the Irish Independent last night, Mr Heydon said the staff of TDs and senators feel particularly vulnerable and that the issue of security should be examined. "My heart goes out to the family of Jo Cox. They must be wondering that if she hadn't come through the election, would she still be alive today? It shows the sense of vulnerability around public representatives and their staff, who are simply trying to do their job," Mr Heydon said. The Fine Gael chairperson confirmed he contacted the clerk of the Dail Peter Finnegan yesterday and requested the review. "It's timely and appropriate," he said, adding that the level of vitriol directed towards TDs online has increased significantly recently. The news comes as Taoiseach Enda Kenny told an Irish audience event in Manchester that he would refrain from commenting on next week's EU referendum in light of the murder. "It's appropriate to pay tribute to the life and times of Jo Cox, who was murdered on the street in West Yorkshire, a mother of two young children going about her business as any councillor or MP or public representative would do and to be shot down and taken away from her family and children is an appalling crime," Mr Kenny said at an event at the city's Irish Heritage Centre. Mr Kenny did, however, signal plans by the Government to extend voting rights to Irish emigrants. The Fine Gael leader said he has asked the new Diaspora Minister Joe McHugh to prioritise allowing Irish people living abroad to vote in Presidential elections. "This is an issue that has been around for a very long time but there have been quite sophisticated advances made," Mr Kenny said. Suspending water charges will cost the State some 20m, the price of building around 80 local-authority houses. (stock photo) Suspending water charges will cost the State some 20m, the price of building around 80 local-authority houses. Fianna Fail's demand that charges be suspended pending an investigation into securing an appropriate long-term funding model to upgrade the network is "unlikely" to exceed 20m, new documents show. The Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2016, which was published yesterday, suspends the imposition of household charges for at least nine months. The suspension comes into force from July 1 until next March, but applies from April 1 last. This means that Irish Water domestic customers will only receive a bill for the first three months of 2016. Earlier this week, it emerged that the Government had sought expressions of interest for experts to join an Expert Commission to examine the long-term funding model for Irish Water. The commission must report to a special Dail committee within five months and the issue of funding the network will be put to a Dail vote. But the bill allows the Government to extend the period of suspension if the Expert Commission needs more time or if the Oireachtas committee has not finished its work. "The section (of the bill) also provides that the minister...shall extend the nine-month period of suspension by way of ministerial order for a further period if he or she is satisfied that an Oireachtas committee, established to examine the issue of funding of domestic water services, will not conclude its work by 31 March, 2017," it says. Under the bill, households which have refused to pay bills to date cannot be hit with additional late-payment penalties as is currently allowed under the charging regime. A penalty of 30 for a single-adult household, or 60 for a household of two or more adults, is meant to apply to bills that are 12 months overdue. As the first water bills were issued in April last year, it means that those penalties now fall due. Irish Water has previously said it would await the legislation to suspend the charges before deciding how to proceed. The Water Services (Amendment) Bill says that Irish Water cannot bill customers for services during the period of suspension and that the nine-month suspension period cannot be taken into account when calculating late-payment charges. The suspension of charges will result in Irish Water requiring additional funding from the Exchequer. The utility, which this week appointed new managing director Jerry Grant at a salary of 200,000, collected 144m in domestic charges last year, around 53pc of the total income due. Last year, customers were also entitled to a Water Conservation Grant, worth 100, to offset the cost of their bills. This cost 110m to administer and deliver and the explanatory notes to the bill say the absence of this will reduce the cost of suspending charges. "The suspension of domestic water charges... will result in customer revenue losses for Irish Water," the bill says. It adds: "Due to the suspension of the 2016 Water Conservation Grant, for which 110m was originally allocated, the net additional cost of suspending water charges for nine months is unlikely to exceed 20m in 2016." The Expert Commission is expected to be announced in the coming weeks and will include national and international experts with "professional expertise" in funding and financing of large-scale infrastructure investment and maintenance programmes, economic regulation, water-resources management and environmental law. Last Monday, at a ceremony in the Cipriani ballroom on Wall Street in New York, Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana in Modena was declared the best restaurant in the world. Bottura's schtick is that he deconstructs classic Italian dishes to create food that is both unexpected and fiercely contemporary. Amongst the plates that you might find on the menu (if you are ever fortunate enough to secure a reservation) are 'Memory of a mortadella sandwich', 'The crunchy part of the lasagna' and 'Five ages of Parmigiana Reggiano in different textures and temperatures'. Expand Close Loam, Galway. Photo: Andrew Downes / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Loam, Galway. Photo: Andrew Downes The World's 50 Best Restaurants list is controversial, in part because no one seems to know quite how the list is put together, or the criteria by which the restaurants are judged. The fact that there's no restaurant on the list where a woman is in sole charge doesn't help. (There's a side category of World's Best Female Chef, but let's not go there right now, other than to say that Dominique Crenn's two restaurants, Atelier Crenn and Petit Crenn in San Francisco, do not feature on the list, nor in the Top 100, despite Crenn having two Michelin stars.) The anonymous judges of the Academy - 972 in total - are made up of one-third each of chefs and restaurateurs, food writers, and 'well-travelled gourmets'. The world is divided into 27 regions, and there are 36 judges per region, 30pc of whom must be new each year. Each judge has seven votes, three of which must be applied to restaurants outside of their home region. The judge must have visited each restaurant for which he or she casts a vote within the past 18 months. According to the World's Best website, "what constitutes 'best' is left to the judgement of these trusted and well-travelled gourmets. There is no pre-determined check-list of criteriabut the voting process and results are subject to independent adjudication." Expand Close The Greenhouse, Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Greenhouse, Dublin Whatever one thinks of the list, there's no denying that a place in the top 50 or top 100 is good for business. The younger breed of gastro-tourist uses the World's 50 Best, rather than the stuffier Michelin Guide, as a checklist when travelling. But there have been no Irish restaurants on the list since Thornton's was ranked 25th in 2003. Ireland is linked with the UK as one geographical region, of which food writer Xanthe Clay is the chair, but the identity of the judges is not made public. "I am scrupulous about ensuring that the number of Irish votes is proportionate in terms of the region as a whole," she says. "And if it was up to me, there would be several Irish restaurants on the list. But there are almost a thousand judgesI think Irish food is superb and the quality of the cooking improving all the time. You've got stunning ingredients, a tradition of honest cookery that respects those ingredients, and exciting chefs. I'd better not name names as I'll get in trouble for leaving someone out!" Expand Close Forest Avenue / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Forest Avenue So, at a time when the restaurant scene in Ireland has never been more vibrant, why do none of our restaurants make the cut? "It's a good list," says JP McMahon, the Michelin-starred chef-patron of Aniar in Galway, "and a measure of what's going on in the world, but I think it would have more credibility if it were more transparent. To the best of my knowledge, Ireland is not on the judges' radar. They don't come here. I look at restaurants on the list, particularly in the second half, the restaurants ranked 51 to 100, and I look at Aniar and it's definitely at that level, so it's frustrating." What does McMahon think Ireland needs to do to ensure that its restaurants feature on the list in the future? "We have to keep on pushing our agenda out there. A lot of the votes come out of invitations to judges to visit countries and their restaurants. We need people to come here so that we can show them: this is who we are and this is what we do." John Mulcahy of Failte Ireland is confident that Irish restaurants will feature on the list within a few years. "It's all about getting on the radar and we've done that, between Mark Moriarty being the World's Best Young Chef of the Year last year, and JP's Food on the Edge symposium, which brought chefs and influencers from all around the world to Galway. Anecdotally, Spain spent 5m bringing people to eat in their restaurants and get on the list. We just don't have that kind of money, so we'll have to do it in other ways. But we won't get there by apeing the food from other countries; it has to be about Irish food, done our way." A Monaghan man will be one of the first to undergo revolutionary treatment for Multiple Sclerosis, which will alleviate his symptoms and vastly improve his quality of life if successful. Darren Bishop (28) from Castleblaney will travel to Russia in July, where he will undergo Autologous Haemotopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, a treatment which destroys the immune system before allowing it to rebuild. A Canadian trial of the treatment carried out in Ottawa Hospital saw 23 seriously ill MS sufferers experience a complete regression of the disease and a reversal in symptoms including vision loss, muscle weakness and balance loss. Secondary schoolteacher Darren is hopeful that the treatment, which is only carried out on leukaemia patients in Ireland, could vastly improve his quality of life. Im very confident that this will work and that it will change my life. Theyre never going to say its a cure for MS but its the best thing and it will allow me a better quality of life in the long-run, he said. Darren will travel to Moscow on July 18 for the $50,000 (44,000) treatment which he has funded himself, with support from his family. Read More The treatment basically reboots the immune system and is the same course of care that leukaemia patients undergo in Ireland. To put it shortly, your stem-cells are extracted and frozen. For four or five days you undergo chemotherapy, breaking down the immune system, before reintroducing the cells, and building a new immune system. I booked myself in for Russia in January 2014 but the waiting list is now as long as 2018. I will travel to Moscow on July 18 and check in on July 19. There will be four days of pretesting prior to the treatment. It will be a tough thirty days. The treatment and the months afterwards are quite hard on the body and, like being treated for cancer, the immune system is very susceptible to infections after chemotherapy. But Im hopeful that it will work, he said. The schoolteacher admitted his frustration that MS sufferers do not have access to the treatment in Ireland, despite the fact that it is administered to Irish cancer patients and could be implemented. When I brought up the possibility of applying for the treatment with my neurologist, I found myself at a block. She advised me against it and we soon parted ways. Another neurologist suggested the treatment was something we could do further down the line, which didnt make sense to me. Why would you let something get worse before you strive to fix it? I will have my aftercare in St. Vincents Hospital, where Ive been working with a wonderful haematologist. He is extremely interested in my case and the treatment. He thinks that its a disgrace that patients have to travel abroad for treatment that is already in effect here on cancer patients and could be life changing for MS sufferers, he said. Dr Harold Atkins, a stem cell transplant physician and scientist at The Ottawa Hospital, and associate professor at the University of Ottawa revealed that the medical breakthrough offers hope for those suffering from the disease. Our trial is the first to show the complete, long-term suppression of all inflammatory activity in people with MS," he said. A variation of this procedure has been used to treat leukaemia for decades, but its use for auto-immune diseases is relatively new. This is very exciting. However, it is important to note that this therapy can have serious side effects and risks, and would only be appropriate for a small proportion of people with very active MS. Premium What will it take to unite Ireland? Opinions are divided There are those for whom Northern Ireland is a geographical fragment of the UK holding true to empire on its western flanks, and those for whom partition is a century-old wrong that must be overturned. Somewhere in the middle are the persuadables people willing to accept either unity or union, so long as the justification is logical. One way or another, the unity conversation is in the air. Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain British Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament Square, London. Photo: Daniel Leal-Olivas How ironic is it that Labour MP Jo Cox, one of Britain's leading campaigners for a more compassionate response to the Syrian refugee crisis, should be killed, not in the midst of that conflict, but in the streets of her own home constituency, where she had just come from working on behalf of her constituents on the practical problems of their daily lives. She was not some starry-eyed idealist, but someone acutely aware of the difficulties faced by communities with large immigrant populations. The Brexit referendum has become a plebiscite on turning back refugees and immigrants that are coming for reasons largely removed from the EU, and, if anything, reasons more due to the aggressive Middle Eastern policies pursued by Tony Blair and successive British governments. Perhaps more than anyone, Jo Cox was the embodiment of resistance to the xenophobia now sweeping the United Kingdom. As a European, I am ashamed that she was killed for her beliefs. I hope the vast majority of British citizens feel the same. Frank Schnittger Blessington, Co Wicklow Politicians and public service The murder of Jo Cox was a brutal act of savagery. When you listen to the messages from all parties and friends, you realise how much of a special person she was. It should also make us realise, both here and in Britain, that the default phrase "all politicians are in it for themselves" does not refer to Jo Cox and the majority of politicians. Perhaps it's time to appreciate the time and energy they give on behalf of their communities. Damien Carroll Kingswood, Dublin 24 Powerful pro-life testimonies The testimonies of two women are relevant to the Ivan Yates article 'Enda and Micheal collude to ensure we do nothing to change absurd abortion law' (Irish Independent, June 16). The 'Celebrate the 8th' pro-life gathering in Dublin was addressed by Melissa Ohden from the US. In 1977, she was born alive after a failed abortion and left for dead. She said: "You have every reason to be proud of the 8th Amendment. Passing this provision in 1983 was a hugely positive step forward for authentic human rights. As an abortion survivor, I applaud your country for it." The second lady is Rebecca Kiessling, a family-law attorney from Michigan. She was conceived in rape and her mother made two attempts to abort her. Some years ago, she said: "The fact that I'm alive today has to do with choices that were made by our society at large, people who fought to ensure abortion was illegal in Michigan at the time, even in cases of rape, people who argued to protect my life and people who voted pro-life. I wasn't lucky. I was protected." Ivan Yates would rejoice that these two women are alive and thriving. But does his article say anything other than that their lives were arguably dispensable? Neil Bray Cappamore, Co Limerick All over bar the shouting I read that the National Hollerin' Contest, held annually in North Carolina, may be suspended due to decreasing participation (Irish Independent, June 16). However, organisers may run one last contest in 2018, so the event may still be in with a shout. Otherwise, would-be contestants may feel they have missed their calling. Tom Gilsenan Beaumont, Dublin 9 The best and worst of America The recent massacre of 49 people with another 50 or more injured in the US by a man said by some who knew him to be full of anger is in complete contrast to another American, who gave a life-affirming speech a few weeks ago to young people in New York on June 3. Michelle Obama is in her final year as US First Lady and her time in the role will end when her husband President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017 after two terms. Her speech was at graduation day at the City College of New York (CCNY). She congratulated students of over 100 nationalities speaking over 100 languages on their graduation from CCNY. She congratulated those who attended college in difficult circumstances and who moved forward through these difficulties to achieve their goals. She said they had experienced the tough side of life - but it would give them that muscle of resilience. She spoke of how her father was determined to pay the cheque when her college registration fees were due and how proud he was to make that payment. She said she lived in the White House, which had been built by slaves, but now how proud she was to see her two beautiful daughters waving goodbye as they went to school to their father, the President of the United States, and the son of a man from Kenya who went to America in the 1960s to receive an education. She urged the students to take the virtues of inclusion and diversity they learned at the college to make their lives better and to help others in going to college. It was in contrast to those, who, out of fear of a fast-changing society, want to build walls. She believes in bringing walls down and encouraging others to do the same. The massacre in Orlando, Florida, showed a terrible side of America, but there is the good side, as shown by Michelle Obama - the first African-American to be First Lady of the USA. Mary Sullivan Cork city A 'Brit' on the Brexit poll Technically, I am a Brit living in Europe. I have to say that the only people who are anti-Brexit seem to be those irrationally scared of somehow losing their nice lifestyle. The major fact is that the EU has a budget of around 145bn per year. Few people seem to understand that that huge amount of money has to be extorted from decent, hardworking taxpayers. We are not in some financial wonderland. If the EU controlling organisation was to disappear, every single person in Europe, except the bureaucrats employed there, could be better off. If the UK leaves, its people will be better off. We will be better off. All we need is competent politicians with some backbone. Richard Barton Tinahely, Co Wicklow Joe Biden and Donald Trump may both be coming our way shortly and at least one of them is guaranteed a red carpet REUTERS/Chris Aluka Berry Joe Biden and Donald Trump may both be coming our way shortly and at least one of them is guaranteed a red carpet. But what about the Ireland of 100,000 welcomes? Does it still exist or is Ireland 2016 too cool to be warm? Taoiseach Enda Kenny has promised the US Vice President a real 'cead mile failte', but is there still a welcome on the mat or have we left that threshold behind us in the mists of time along with the shillelaghs and 'The Quiet Man'? With another bumper tourist season already on the cards, it certainly seems like our little island still holds a special place in hearts and minds around the world. A recent survey of 46,000 of readers by the prestigious 'Conde Nast Traveller' magazine saw "grand scenery" and "friendly helpful locals" underlined repeatedly as the key crowd pleasers for tourists. Calling us a place where "there's always something to see and participate in", the magazine placed Kilkenny, Dublin and Cork in its top 20 most welcoming city destinations on the planet. The latter was described as "warm, like a beautiful gem" - a portrayal that added an extra few inches of pride to southern chests. Even the mixed weather, high prices and pot-holed roads are quickly forgotten in the gush of a unique cultural attitude built around that indefinable emotion known as 'the craic'. In a world marked by suspicion, and threat, honest-to-God friendliness is becoming a rare commodity - and is proving itself one of Ireland's golden attributes in these turbulent times. Who knew? But a study by the World Economic Forum ranked us amongst the warmest countries in our attitude to visitors. Measured on a scale of 1 to 7, where 7 was 'very welcome', we registered 6.6 - just behind leaders Iceland and New Zealand. A recent TripAdvisor entry by a Canadian visiting these shores for the first time put it best: "The 'craic' is a subtle thing, elusive and unplanned. It begins with a chat, before broadening into a likable inquisitiveness one would normally only allow from an old friend." Of course, all Irish craic is a first cousin of eccentricity - as demonstrated by a hitch-hiking German couple I met in Dingle a few years ago. "We were hitching from Killarney to Listowel when a brand new Mercedes pulled over," Rolf, from Hamburg, explained. "'You'll have to ride up front with myself,' the driver told us, 'the back seat is a bit crowded'." There in the rear lay three lambs and a pair of calves - all perfectly at ease amidst the leather seats and walnut trim. "And the most amazing thing was, none of the animals made a sound all the way to Listowel," added an incredulous Brigitta. That's the thing about lambs on the way to slaughter, they're famous for their silence, even if the rest of us aren't. When you throw in our castles and coastlines, there's a lot to like. But there are other attractions bringing plane-loads in every summer - like the men, for instance. Patti Stanger, presenter of the hit show 'Millionaire Matchmaker' on the Bravo channel, has no doubts about the scenery she's interested in during any visit to the Auld Sod. "Irish men win me over every time. They're rugged, tall, sexy and they take charge. You feel like a woman next to them," she says. Form an orderly queue, lads. For a real deal view of what's excellent about Eire, asking your own often yields the clearest results. In this regard, ex-pats are a safe bet, as they look back across the datelines from Sydney, San Fran and Shanghai. In Ryan Sheridan's evocative song 'Home', the overseas Irish pinpoint what they miss the most. Saoirse Ronan craves her mammy's Sunday roast, while MTV's Laura Whitmore yearns for a chicken fillet roll, and One Direction's Niall Horan has a predictable yen for an Irish fry. Actor Liam Cunningham misses "the banter", Robbie Keane craves a pint of Guinness, while Brendan O'Carroll misses "my Dublin". As the fabled Green Army descend on La Belle France this weekend, they will no doubt astound, intrigue and flabbergast everyone in their path. There may be less brogue, more banter, less pulling the forelock and more pulling the leg, but the record numbers of visitors seem to love it. As was overheard not far from Blarney recently: "Is that a welcome in your pocket or are you just glad to see them?" The current DUP leader, Arlene Foster, plunged in unthinkingly to announce her support for the Leave campaign Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire Anglo-Irish relationships are currently at a better state of equilibrium than I can remember them at practically any other stage in a long life of researching the outcome of the entanglement of British and Irish history. Naturally, I would like to see them not merely stay that way, but see the current harmonious situation, which owes so much to the Good Friday Agreement, being built on and improved. I therefore find it appalling that there seems to be no advertence on the part of what might be termed the Ukip mind-set, which advocates leaving the EU, of the risk to Anglo-Irish friendship posed by Brexit. Let's be clear about it. These people are proposing that customs posts should be rebuilt in nationalist areas in Northern Ireland. Omeath, Jonesborough and border areas from Crossmaglen to the Foyle are the sort of places where such structures will be erected if Britain leaves the EU. Are the Brexit people really serious about calling for fresh courses of IRA ballads like 'A Bonfire on the Border'? This is a wrong and a dangerous position. A key component of the Good Friday Agreement for republican doubters was the prospect of closer north-south links through the cross-border bodies. In fact, this prospect proved to be more apparent than real. The most meaningful cross-border body that we have seen in operation produced the malodorous Nama/Cerberus deal. And what most Irish people don't realise is that, bad as what occurred appears to be, it is far from the end of the story. Some of the ideologues of unionism apparently attempted to return to the bad old days of discrimination and gerrymandering by attempting to go behind the Good Friday Agreement and denature the MacBride principles, which prevent US companies from investing in areas where discrimination is practised. It is a long story, which would take us from the main argument against supporting the Leave campaign; suffice to say that only the vigilance of Irish-Americans in Florida prevented a breach occurring in MacBride. Peace, like liberty, requires eternal vigilance. The economic reasons for the six counties staying in the EU apply to that area as much as they do to the 26. Unionist politicians have proved demonstrably incompetent at replacing the smoke-stack industries with the sort of cutting-edge, job-creating technology which the IDA has brought to the South. It would be argued that some progress has been made by the Northern authorities but no one can deny the heavy dependency on agriculture that still exists in the six counties. Agriculture needs the EU in the North as much as the South - the current anxieties over bad advice on investment in milk production notwithstanding. But unionist politicians are ideologically averse to looking at the bigger investment picture outside of state investment. I spoke at the headquarters of the American Mutual Corporation, whose then CEO put his hand in his pocket to bring Gusty Spence and other loyalist leaders to America so that they could see for themselves that Irish-Americans were acting for peace, not the Pope. The loyalists were impressed with the sincerity of those they met and subsequently furthered the peace process. But a couple of weeks before my talk, David Trimble, the Unionist Party leader, talked at the same venue to warn his stunned audience that the peace process was a dangerous beast which could lead to job losses in the security industry. Similarly, at the outset of the referendum campaign, the current DUP leader, Arlene Foster (pictured), plunged in unthinkingly to announce her support for the Leave campaign. This is a dangerous and wrong course for any Northern Irish political leader. It is probable that had the present generation of republican leadership, which vigorously negotiated and defended the Good Friday Agreement, been older at the time of Sunningdale, the then young braves would have accepted that formula. So what was the war for, ask theoretician republicans within the movement. But they grudgingly accept the agreement in the manifest absence of any other credible alternative and accept the proposition that through increased trade and co-operation, the benefits in peace will ultimately move towards a united Ireland. Trying to sell this argument to a new generation of republicans in Crossmaglen and Cullyhanna becomes dangerously more difficult when the argument is countered by the sights and sounds of new border posts being erected. So far, dissident republicanism has made little or no headway because of the calibre of some of those involved and the taint of the drugs trade. But border posts would certainly provide a convincing debating argument for those who asked what was the war for, but nevertheless gave the peace process a chance. A sizeable segment of respectable republican opinion reluctantly settled for a half a loaf, rather than no bread, but they also settled for hands across the Border, not barriers. The Government should stop pussyfooting about canvassing British opinion. The recent Stakeknife revelations should remind us what could happen if the Good Friday Agreement goes pear-shaped. If Britain does leave the European Union, the worst-case scenario should be that any new border checkpoints should be built at places such as ports, where goods and people leave for England - not through the heartland of nationalist Ireland. A group of classic car enthusiasts from France has been enjoying a week-long touring holiday around Ireland. They've been travelling from east to west and back again, incorporating some tourism hotspots. The 140 car enthusiasts took in the Wicklow Mountains and the Sally Gap, as well as Powerscourt Waterfall. Supported by Tourism Ireland and Irish Ferries, the annual 'Celtic Classic Rally 2016' came to Ireland for the first time ever and was organised by the TTP (Tout Terrain Promotion) Association. It saw some 140 classic car enthusiasts and owners undertake the extensive driving tour around Ireland, covering more than 1,600km in 62 classic cars which included Triumphs, Mercedes, Jaguars and Porsches. Elmagh Killeen, Tourism Ireland's Manager for Southern Europe, said: 'We are delighted to welcome the Celtic Classic Rally 2016 to Ireland and we wish them a really successful and enjoyable tour, which will be a really great way for them to discover Ireland.' Tributes were paid at Gorey District Court last Wednesday to the late Judge Sean Magee of Greystones who sat on the bench for many years in the Gorey District. Judge Gerard Haughton informed those present that the retired Judge Magee had sadly passed away the previous day. 'He was an absolute pleasure to deal with, a gentleman,' the judge said. Judge Magee served as a solicitor in Bray before being appointed to the bench in 1979. He served in the Dublin Metropolitan District before he was appointed to the Gorey District. 'He served with distinction here,' said Judge Haughton. 'He was a gentleman on the bench, and a gentleman as a solicitor.' Judge Magee retired in 1992. 'He was the type of person on the bench that set standards we all try to emulate, that I have tried to emulate for 25 years,' said Judge Haughton, expressing his sympathies to his family and friends. Solicitor Patrick McNiece, based in Greystones and Bray, said that he knew Judge McGee initially as a solicitor, in the early stages of Mr McNiece's career and the later for Judge Magee, just before he was appointed to the bench. 'He was a gentleman, who always treated everybody fairly,' said Mr McNiece. Maureen Sheehan, legal secretary with the Maguire McNiece firm in their Bray office, said that Judge Magee was the first person she worked for when she was 16 years old. 'It was the best introduction anyone could have had to working. He was a lovely, kind man, who taught me so much he didn't have to. He was so sweet, he didn't know how to offend anyone,' said Mrs Sheehan. 'I didn't take any rubbish from any employers later on. He set the standard of how you should be treated. And he treated everyone the same. You don't see many like him anymore. If it was a sunny day, Sean would say "we'll close the office and go and sit in the sun, it doesn't shine very often."' Judge Sean Magee passed away last Tuesday, June 7, at the age of 94. He is survived by his wife Katherine, children John, Susan, Helen and Katie, son-in-law John, grandchildren Jonty and Penny, extended family, relatives and friends. His funeral took place last Saturday morning at the Holy Rosary Church before interment in Redford Cemetery. Seventh Heaven Hair is hosting a girls night out in aid of SOSAD on Friday July 1. It takes place in the Westcourt Hotel from 7pm. There's a Drinks Reception, Late Night DJ, Late Bar, Fashion Beauty Blogger, etc. Spot prizes including Elite Hair Extensions, GOSH Ireland make up, Inglot Cosmetics Dundalk make up lessons, and many more! Treatments available on the night, Make Up top ups by Beauty Academy, Hair Styling by Seventh Heaven Hair, and nail painting by the best nail techs in the town. 20 available from https://ticketstop.ie/view.php?id=837 It's Glitch Calipo Theatre Company in association with Droichead Arts Centre presents a new play by Martin Maguire and directed by Darren Thornton entitled 'Glitch'. For 15 years Mike Adams has been broadcasting his early evening talk show. He has dominated the radio landscape across the region. If you wanted to hear the heart-beat of the public, it beats loudest on The Mike Adams Show. Now 50, and in a landscape with more forums and voices to contend with, Mike is under pressure to re-adjust to the new standard - faster, quicker, bite-sized chunks of infotainment delivered across many platforms and with the ubiquitous shock value that informs. Then he chats to Jessie.... Glitch is a journey behind the clamour and distraction of modern society. It's about what happens when we turn off the noise. Featuring Martin Maguire & Grainne Rafferty, Production designer Kieran McNulty. Lighting design by Sarah Jane Shields. Sound design by Jack Cawley. It's on Wed, Thur, Friday, June 22, 23 and 24 at 8pm. Produced with the support of The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaion. Over 90 people attended the meeting around the 'Sharing of Ideas' held by the Augustinian Order in the Westcourt Hotel on Thursday last. Speaking to the Drogheda Independent, Fr. Colm O Mahony (pictured) said that they were delighted with the positive atmosphere at the meeting and with the turnout which included attendees from a mix of various ministries as well as people that are very active in the church. "A lot of people also travelled from areas outside Drogheda such as Navan, Bettystown and Clogherhead. " he added. Although it was noticed that there were few people under the age of 50 in attendance at the meeting, it has no reflection on the church or the laity's faith as they attract different people for other reasons such as masses for SOSAD and road traffic. They also hold masses in schools for graduations, state exams and other occasions. The meeting was held in order to discuss the rapidly changing circumstances of the Irish Augustinians and people were given the chance to voice their opinions and views on things such as what they liked about the church, what they would like to see in the future etc. Fr Colm also said that it was important for people to know that the church isn't closing and that this meeting was just in preparation for the next 5 or 10 years because now is the time to do something while all friars are still active, rather than wait until some have gone into retirement and the order is being stretched. The meeting was facilitated by Mr. Sean Ruth, assisted by Fr. Colm. With the room of the hotel set up in an arc shape, people sat in groups and voiced their opinions, with everyone who wanted to speak given the opportunity. The main ethos of the Augustinians is 'community first' and this was highlighted amongst the things people said they liked about the church, such as the availability of Friars, the hospitality and the sense of belonging and feeling welcome in the church at all times. The Laity said they also liked the way the Friars speak of the missions and they get a wider knowledge of what's going on in different countries around the world such as Kenya, Nigeria, Ecuador etc. A focus group was also set up and people put their names forward to be part the group which will assist the Friars in the structure of how best to move forward and maintain the positivity. Fr. Colm said that there is a lot of work to do as they have to filter through all the information given but they were hugely encouraged by the level of support and genuine affection expressed by people at the meeting. They would also like to thank everyone that was in attendance. A stunning picture of an illuminated Italian village with the swirling skyscape of the Milky Way has landed a local amateur photographer a number of prestigious awards in Ireland and Britain. Declan Keane from Knockbridge was last week named the Topflight Travel Photographer of the Year 2016 for his image called 'Stars Over Manarola'. In addition, the teacher at St Kevin's NS in Philipstown, also landed awards from the Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph for his picture. He stated 'Stars Over Manarola' was taken in Cinque Terre, Italy. I had seen pictures of Cinque Terre online before and I just had to photograph it. 'It is an amazing and truly unique place. Cinque Terre translates as 'Five Lands'. It is made up of five villages, Manarola, Vernazza, Monterosso al Mare, Corniglia and Riomaggiore. 'All the villages are built into the cliffs and until recently were only accessible by boat or by a train journey through tunnels cut into the cliffs'. He was holidays there at Easter 2014 and inspired by the pictures he's seen online, he was determined to get his shot. He said: 'I had the shot nearly imagined in my head. I went out one evening with my fiancee, Kate Henry, around the bay, across from the village. 'The sun was setting, the light was getting better and changing all the time and when I got home, I had a look at the pictures. Most of the pictures taken previously are in the sunlight, while the stars make it stand out'. He spent four hours at the bay trying to get the picture he wanted, and it has paid off. He was awarded the Topflight Travel Photographer of the Year, in association with Canon, after being whittled down from an initial 4,000 entries. He won a seven night luxury holiday to Sorrento and a Canon DSLR camera'. In addition, Declan, who lives in Stabannon, received a camera from the Telegraph and a cash prize from the Times. The three awards came in the space of 14 days. He hadn't entered competitions before now and is encouraged by the awards. Declan said: 'It's a hobby for me that I got into about six years ago. It's something that I took up when I was teaching and it's great to be able to combine the twin passions of travel with photography. I try to get abroad and see different places. The photographs are my way of remembering the trips'. Declan, who teaches senior infants and first class at St Kevin's NS, is getting married next month. He and Kate are planning a honeymoon to Croatia and picture-perfect Venice. Kate is very supportive of his photography. Declan's Topflight image, along with the 23 other finalists', are now on display in the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar until the end of June as well as in Dublin Airport, Terminal 1 mezzanine level. More of Declan's beautiful work can be seen at declankeanephotography.com and at facebook.com/declankeanephotography. The annual Dromin 60km cycle will aim to pass the milestone 100,000 mark when it takes place this Saturday, June 18. It has been running for eight years and has so far raised 97,000 for the Ardee Hospice Homecare. With up to 100 cyclists expected, this year's event will leave from the Village Saloon at 10am and take in a route around mid Louth, including Dunleer, Drumcar, Castlebellingham, Drumcar, Tallanstown and Stabannon. As usual, Brian Lynch in the Ferdia Arms will provide refreshments on the day for the hardy group. The entry fee is 20 on the day or sponsorship cards can be sourced from the Village Saloon. Tess Connolly, the 77-year-old 'veteran' of the event is again expected to take to her bike for the day. There will be a barbeque after the cycle around 6pm at the Saloon and with the Ireland game on at 2pm, some of the cyclists are likely to try for a record time! One of Drogheda's oldest urban communities is welcoming a new artwork in the form of a mural at the underpass entrance to their street. The Dale is reached through a covered walkway, which has been covered with tags and graffiti, and the commissioning of Louth street artist, Barry Finnegan, is a response to this problem. "I'm delighted we have reached this stage in the process", said Cllr. Paul Bell, Mayor of Drogheda. "This is a practical and imaginative response to an environment which had become defaced and unwelcoming. I'm aware of how a properly-researched and well-executed mural can reinvigorate a public space, and have seen in Rowan Heights how participation by the community in the design of a mural can lead to the mural having a longer life in its setting." At the instigation of Cllr. Bell, the Arts Service of Louth County Council was asked to commission the mural. Barry Finegan is a street artist who has worked with clients all around Ireland, and most recently created a commemorative mural in honour of the much-loved broadcaster Bill O'Herlihy. Using the name Omin, Barry was delighted to make work in his native Louth. "I was delighted to get a call from the Arts Service, and I've really enjoyed working on the project. Myself and Denis Darcy from the Arts Service delivered a letter to every house in The Dale, and then called back in an effort to get as many opinions and as much feedback as we could. It's really important to get buy-in from the community in which the artwork will be sited." Barry carried out his own research on the history and background of The Dale, and was very interested to hear what the residents had to say. "I learnt a lot from the residents, and I was especially struck by how many talked about the pride they had in the nature and wildlife that's literally on their doorstep. So the mural depicts some of the wildlife as well as the history of the area, and the work is then tied up in a very modern, urban style." Local resident, Aidan Black, is more than happy with the new addition to the community "It brings pride back to the Dale, and I'm absolutely delighted with it. It's a thing of beauty." County Arts Officer, Brian Harten, is also a fan of the mural, which has not been formally named, as yet. "Drogheda has a rich tradition of graffiti and mural artistry in the town, and this mural will complement the work of many artists down the years. There is a lot of planning and logistics involved in painting a mural in a public space, and Barry is experienced in Health & Safety Statements, Risk Assessments, and insurance requirements. Credit is also due to Martina Sheeran and the Engineering Section of Louth County Council who were responsible for traffic management and other issues which have to be addressed before embarking a on a project such as this. I hope this mural will provide a kickstart to a series of mural opportunities in Drogheda, providing employment and partnerships between local artists, the Council and the Tidy Towns." As Cllr. Paul Bell finishes up his term as Mayor, he is particularly pleased about the mural. "Drogheda is such a historic and beautiful town, and this mural only adds to the strong visual impact of the town. I'm delighted we could work together with all concerned to bring it about." Pictured at the Irish Beauty Blog Awards sponsored by Tan Organic, which took place in Lillies Bordello recently, Suzanne Jackson of So Su Me who won both the Best Lifestyle Blog award and Best Blog Design Award Suzanne Jackson from Skerries has won not one, but two precious gongs at this year's Irish Beauty Blog Awards for her 'So Sue Me' beauty advice blog. Ireland's leading bloggers and social media influencers gathered at Lillie's Bordello on Dublin's Grafton Street recently for the second annual Irish Beauty Blog Awards sponsored by Tan Organic. Top bloggers, including Suzanne Jackson, Joanne Larby, Cliona Kelly and Melanie Murphy, were out in force for the star-studded event, which was hosted by 2FM Breakfast Republic's Keith Walsh and celebrity stylist, Laura Mullet. Suzanne Jackson of So Sue Me walked away with both the Best Lifestyle Blog and Best Design Blog awards, while Pippa O'Connor of Pippa.ie won the category of Best Fashion Blog. Cliona Kelly of Peaches & Cream won Best Social Media Blog and Joanne Larby of The Make Up Fairy won Best Beauty Blog at the prestigious event. Building on the success of last year's awards, members of the public nominated bloggers in 12 categories, including a new category - Best Male Blog - and the winners were revealed in front of the packed celebrity filled audience. Award category sponsors included prestigious brands such as TanOrganic, Silk By TanOrganic, Skinlogic, Glenisk, CB12, Provoke Touch of Silver, Cailyn Ireland, CarePlus, O'Leary PR, Kinvara Skincare, Fatlashmink, Twiznight and B Perfect Cosmetics. Noelle O'Connor, CEO of Tan Organic, said: 'Following on from the success of last year's Irish Beauty Blog Awards, we are absolutely thrilled to be headline sponsors for a second year running. 'Being an organic Irish company, the Irish blogging community is so important to us, one we love to support in any way we can! 'Congratulations to all the winners and nominees, and I'd like to applaud them for all their hard work and dedication in ensuring their followers receive the latest fashion, beauty and lifestyle news.' For more information, visit www.beautyblogawards.com Outdoor theatre company, Chapterhouse is making its now traditional visit to these shores this summer with some stunning theatrical performances under the summer skies planned for Ardgillan Castle and Malahide Castle. It all kicks off with a production of Wuthering Heights at Ardgillan Castle on Friday, July 15 and continues with visits to Malahide Castle on July 29 for the Hound of the Baskervilles and again on August 5 for The Railway Children. This year marks Chapterhouse Theatre Company's 17th year of touring UK and Ireland, bringing to life some of literature's best loved classics in magical outdoor performances that are great fun for all the family. In the first of the Fingal shows, Chapterhouse Theatre Company is proud to present Emily Bronte's classic love story set on the beautiful, mysterious wilderness of the Yorkshire moors. This treasured story of enduring love and passion has thrilled and entranced for generations and is now brought alive on stage in an adaptation by award winning writer Laura Turner and presented at some of the most beautiful open-air venues like Ardgillan Castle. Can Catherine and Heathcliff's everlasting love bring happiness or will the very forces of nature and the moors tear them apart? Join Chapterhouse Theatre Company with family and friends for an unforgettable evening of theatre under the stars. Malahide audiences will enjoy Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles where something evil is afoot on the Devon Moors. When death stalks the Baskerville family, legend and superstition collide with the most heinous of crimes. On the moor nobody is safe, not even the bravest of men. Join Chapterhouse to meet the world's most famous of detectives, Sherlock Holmes himself, as he is called upon to solve the greatest mystery of all time - that of the Hound of the Baskervilles. Bring a picnic and your best detective skills for an unforgettable evening of mystery, suspense and theatre under the stars. Also in Malahide, Chapterhouse presented The Railway Children, the unforgettable and heart-warming story of adventure and family set in the heart of the Yorkshire countryside. The UK theatre company is now a firm favourite among Fingal audiences and these shows are not to be missed. Tickets are available from the venues and local libraries for all of these evens and you can find out more at www.chaptherhouse.org The council is still waiting permission from Irish Rail to open up a new access to Donabate Railway Station along an old road that could provide easier to the station for pedestrians, and particularly those with mobility issues. Cllr Paul Mulville (NP) asked for a detailed report on progress 'regarding the re-opening of the old road/ramp out the northbound station car-park up onto Turvey Avenue for the use of pedestrians, wheelchair users, and parents with buggies'. The council replied, saying: 'Approval to open an access from the Irish Rail property at this location, to link with the adjoining public footpath, has not yet been obtained' but said that a design is ready to go when that approval is forthcoming. A group of Transition Year and fifth year students from Rush had some first-hand experience of school life in Africa when they visited a community in Uganda earlier this year. Some 27 students from TY and fifth Year in St Joseph's Secondary School travelled to Uganda with five of their teachers and Aidlink, an Irish water based charity, to participate in an Immersion programme. This unique programme allowed the students from the developed world, an opportunity to be immersed in the every day life of their host community in Uganda. They got to experience what it is like to be a young person attending an African school. They got to live the culture, the customs, witness the problems and were awarded the opportunity to interact with local people in a very authentic and real way. They got to see the real Africa, as equals. Throughout the stay, the group visited multiple communities which included a local primary school in Kampala that has benefited from Aidlink support and saw the benefits and improvements that having access to clean water and sanitary conditions brings. They were invited into the house of a family who have received training in farming and saw how a little help in the right direction and how learning from one another, they became self-sufficient. Over the course of the ten days, it became apparent that water really is everything. On International Water Day, the students visited a second primary school, that didn't have access to clean water. Instead, young girls were sent multiple times a day to walk about 2km to collect water in yellow jerry cans and carry it back to the school. They had to walk through a forest - alone, unsupervised - to a stream and carry ten litres of water back to the school. The second part of the visit was spent in Archbishop Kiwanuka Secondary School. Some of the classes had almost one hundred students. However, the older year groups were much smaller as students were often withdrawn from school. It was really a unique opportunity to see how these teenagers live in contrast to their own lives in Ireland. Despite the difficulties people in Uganda face on a daily basis, the entire group from St Joseph's was overwhelmed, shocked and even upset at the sheer happiness of every single person they met. There was no complaining, no jealousy, no bitterness, no anger. Just happiness - everywhere. They were made to feel so welcome. It took a lot of work for this project to happen and the entire St Joseph's community would like to thank everyone who helped make it a possibility. Aidlink works with a number of charities on the ground over in Uganda. As a result of the very generous support received during the group's fundraising campaign, an additional 32,996 was raised and donated in cash to Aidlink, who will continue with their water improvement mission in Uganda. Over 355,000 passengers travelled through Dublin Airport this June Bank Holiday weekend. Passenger figures are up 10% on a like-for-like basis over the same long weekend last year according to Dublin Airport. Over 2,500 flights arrived and departed this June Bank Holiday, which was expected to be the busiest weekend of the year so far, according to Dublin Airport spokeswoman Siobhan O'Donnell. Speaking before the bank holiday weekend, Ms O'Donnell said: 'We're expecting one-third of a million passengers to use Dublin Airport over the four days between Friday, June 3 and Monday, June 6, which equates to almost 90,000 passengers per day. 'Friday will be the busiest day of the weekend with over 660 aircraft arriving and departing in a single day. Almost 7.8m passengers have used Dublin Airport in the first four months of the year, which is a 15% increase over last year. A Swords man who threw a chair at a stranger during a house party and then chased him off the premises with a kitchen knife has been given a three-year suspended sentence. The court heard Christopher Dunne (22) subsequently contacted his victim via Facebook to say he was 'very sorry' and couldn't recall the attack as he'd been taking tablets and alcohol. Dunne, of St Cronans Lawn, Swords, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Scott Chapman causing him harm at Upper Main Street, Rush, Co Dublin on January 24, 2013. He has ten previous convictions at district court level, including possession of knives and an imitation firearm. Judge Melanie Greally acknowledged that a report from the Probation Service indicated that the officer was particularly impressed with Dunne's level of insight and remorse. She accepted he was genuinely somebody who wishes to put his criminal days behind him and accepted he has made 'significant steps' to deal with his various issues. Judge Greally noted that Dunne had 1,000 in court to offer Mr Chapman as a token of his remorse before she suspended a three year sentence on condition that he engage with the Probation Service for 18 months and carry out 180 hours community service within 12 months. Garda Derek Dalton told Fiona Murphy BL, prosecuting, that Mr Chapman had been invited to a house party at which Dunne was also present. The two men had some conversation together and at one point Dunne went into the kitchen. Mr Chapman later told gardai that he heard a crashing noise and looked up to see Dunne throwing a wooden chair at him. The injured party didn't have time to block the impact and was struck on the face. Gda Dalton said Mr Chapman felt a sharp pain and blood gushing. Dunne demanded his victim's car keys and picked up a brown handled knife from the kitchen counter. He chased Mr Chapman, who ran out onto the main street and was assisted by another party goer. Three local schools will benefit from an injection of funds this summer to carry out emergency works. Deputy Alan Farrell TD (FG) confirmed that funding under the Emergency Works Scheme is on its way to St. Margaret's National School, Skerries Educate Together National School, and Holmpatrick National School, Skerries. Deputy Farrell said: 'I am pleased that St. Margaret's National School, Skerries ETNS, and Holmpatrick National School are to receive funding under the Emergency Works Scheme from the Department of Education and Skills. St. Margaret's National School is being provided with funding to carry out mechanical works, the grant to Skerries ETNS will focus on improvements to the external environment of the school, while Holmpatrick National School is receiving funding to carry out roof repairs.' The local TD added: 'The upkeep and maintenance of school buildings is of the utmost importance, particularly in terms of ensuring our children receive their education in an environment which is conducive to their learning.' Local Labour councillor, Brian McDonagh has called on Irish Water to urgently invest in water infrastructure following a spate of incidents that effectively banned bathers from the Velvet Strand. The call was made in response to a double failure at two Portmarnock Pumping Stations, leading to 'No Swim Warnings' on the beach. Speaking about the incidents Cllr McDonagh said: 'As a local resident and a swimmer, I am very concerned at these failures. Both could be prevented are avoidable, Irish Water is currently undertaking a local project to invest in infrastructure in the area. "We have to ensure that the new configuration can completely avoid such overflows On (bank holiday) Monday evening a thunder storm caused an overflow in the waste water drainage system leading to wastewater being discharged at Portmarnock Bridge and flowing into Baldoyle estuary. "Impact from this outflow is likely to be low. In a second, far more serious incident a technical failure at the Velvet Strand pumping station led to further sewage discharges overnight for a more prolonged period near the Martello tower. The first incident led to a notice allowing Bathing with conditions, the second to a complete prohibition.' Cllr McDonagh added: 'We really should implement a solution which would eliminate any overflow discharge so close to the shore.' A swimming ban resulting from the second incident was lifted on Saturday but a ban was reinstated on Monday following a third incident. A fundraising drive to build a replica of the Helen Blake boat which was involved in one of the most daring rescues in Irish maritime history, is being launched in Wexford town on Wednesday night. A casual conversation between two brothers after the centenary commemoration of the tragedy in 2014 lead the villagers of Fethard on Sea to embark on the ambitious project to build the replica of the lifeboat, nine of whose lifeboatmen perished trying to rescue sailors off the County Wexford coast. In 1914, the Helen Blake set out from Fethard on Sea in gale force winds to rescue the crew of the Norwegian schooner, Mexico, which had run aground on the Keeragh Islands. Before the day was out, nine members of the lifeboat crew had lost their lives in the greatest tragedy ever suffered by the Irish RNLI. Of the 14 Fethard crew members, nine were washed away in the impact, leaving the remaining five to scramble onto the island. Despite all that the volunteers had just endured, they continued to help rescue the eight-man crew of the Mexico, as the boat now sat trapped among the island rocks. Using ropes, they managed to transfer the crew to the shore. Saved, but stranded, the men remained without food, water or shelter for three days. One crew member from the Mexico succumbed to exposure. One hundred years later their sacrifice was remembered and commemorated during a ceremony attended by the Norwegian ambassador at the monument erected to their bravery in Fethard on Sea. Following the ceremony brothers David and Keith Power, descendants of a crew member, commented that it would be a fitting tribute if a replica of the lifeboat could be built. The idea was picked up and a number of villagers got together. A steering committee was formed and the project started to take shape. Thanks to local man, John Hickey, of Bord Iascaigh Mhara, funding was provided by FLAG to cover the costs of a feasibility study, which was followed by detailed drawings and stability calculations. On Wednesday evening, June 15, full details of the project will be revealed at a meeting in the Talbot Hotel. Speakers will include Theo Rye, the renowned naval architect responsible for the plans, Yvonne Byrne who carried out the initial feasibility study, and Sheena Bolger, the TUS co-ordinator for Wexford Local Development, who will play an important role in the construction. A number of descendants of the original crew members will also be there. Building the boat is estimated to take 18 months and the work will be carried out as part of a TUS training programme by 18 to 25-year-olds, who will gain valuable skills as well as work experience. Construction will be under the supervision of local shipwright, John Colfer, who counts the Dunbrody amongst the previous projects he has worked on. Work is now under way to raise the funds needed to complete the project with various initiatives planned throughout the building period. Details of a crowdfunding campaign will be announced on Wednesday night. A number of prominent Irish Americans have been contacted for their support and there will be corporate sponsorship packages including the opportunity of taking six people on an exclusive trip to the Keeraghs in the finished boat. Tributes were paid at Gorey District Court last Wednesday to the late Judge Sean Magee, who sat on the bench for many years in the Gorey District. Judge Gerard Haughton informed those present that the retired Judge Magee has sadly passed away the previous day. 'He was an absolute pleasure to deal with, a gentleman,' he said. Judge Magee served as a solicitor in Bray before being appointed to the bench in 1979. He served in the Dublin Metropolitan District before he was appointed to the Gorey District, which at the time, covered much of Wicklow too. 'He served with distinction here,' said Judge Haughton. 'He was a gentleman on the bench, and a gentleman as a solicitor.' Judge Magee retired in 1992. 'He was the type of person on the bench that set standards we all try to emulate, that I have tried to emulate for 25 years,' said Judge Haughton, expressing his sympathies to his family and friends. The sentiments were echoed by solicitor Maeve Breen on behalf of the local solicitors, and by the gardai, the courts service, and by the barristers present. Local stand-up comedian Anthony Riordan - of Republic of Telly fame - is at the centre of a new wave of comedy aimed at turning traditional style Irish comedy on its head. Anthony has joined forces with Cork duo, Cornelius Patrick O'Sullivan and Roger O'Sullivan - both well accustomed to doing the comedy rounds on radio and TV - and together the three men have produced 'The Irish Alternative' which is destined for the bright lights of the Edinburgh Festival this August. Anthony's comic genre is inspired by great American comedians like Patrice O'Neal and Anthony produces his own unique blend of self-deprecating comedy. But the South Kerry comedian is no stranger to Edinburgh having brought the house down during last year's festival where he was described as "your classic depressed stand-up comic." "We've basically put together an hour-long show where we will each present our own input and style of comedy and it's all about presenting an alternative to traditional Irish comedy," Anthony said. "We had a great preview show in Cahersiveen last Saturday night to help raise funds for our trip to Edinburgh and we hope to return to Waterville in a few weeks." Anthony is extremely popular in Irish comedy circles right now with a cult following and over 15,000 followers on his Twitter account @KerryComedian. Whatever the topic, Google it and you will find the information. These days people are writing about every subject under the sun. It means we must be reading it. There is hardly a topic about which there is not something or other written. But I'd say there is little written on the dynamic of sacristy life. Lost already? I'm going to try to explain. I'm a priest over 40 years. Maybe always living on the margins and certainly never a member of the 'establishment set'. Because I am a priest, and a priest in good standing at that, I often find myself going to liturgical services in churches around the country. It means going into the sacristy to vest. Most times it would be an unfamiliar church and I would not know the priest or sacristan attached to that particular church. It can be an intimidating experience to walk into a sacristy unannounced. And that initial interaction or exchange happens in nanoseconds. Two weeks ago I attended the funeral Mass of a former schoolmate. He was the year behind me in Synge Street. But in every other respect he was light years ahead of me. A brilliant pupil. Over the years we met from time to time and that was mainly through a mutual friend. He was struck down by cancer far too young. I had visited him a number of times in recent weeks in hospital and then some few days before he died in the Hospice in Dublin's Harold's Cross. His funeral Mass was in the Passionist church in Mount Argus in Dublin. I arrived early and surprisingly the sacristy is at the back of the church. They are usually up at the front, near the altar. A woman who was arranging flowers told me where to find it. I'm always nervous walking into a sacristy. Not being dressed in clerical garb doesn't help. There was an elderly priest in the sacristy, in the process of vesting for Mass and there also was another Passionist, who was preparing the altar for Mass. I introduced myself, said I was a Dominican, was a friend of the deceased and asked if I could concelebrate. It was that smile that immediately caught me. He greeted me with open arms. We had a few moments of chatting, a laugh or two. He knew one or two Dominicans. He told me that many years ago he had co-signed a letter to the papers with the late Fr Austin Flannery OP. He was gentle, genuinely friendly and made me feel so much at home. It was a marvellous feeling. And then his few words at the requiem Mass were inspirational. I came away from Mount Argus a better person. How often I have walked into a sacristy feeling scared and intimidated. How often I have walked into a sacristy and experienced that awful thing of clerics in clerical mode, looking and behaving in a style that is so alien from the world outside the sacristy door. And please don't tell me it has anything to do with 'holiness'. Nothing at all. But everything to do with an unhealthy clericalism that can do great damage to the people of God. It has something to do with that feeling that priests have this idea that they know what's best. Thank you Fr Ralph Egan. I learned so much about God's love from you in a few minutes. Living Christianity. Inspiring. More effective than any sermonising. Winners of the Inaugural ILDN Enterprise Awards (South Region) announced at the Ambassador Hotel in Cork. From left: Anne ORiordan, Enterprise Officer SKDP; James Sheehan, James Barber Shop; Tom Gwis, K&T Bakery Cahersiveen; Katie Gwis, K&T Bakery Cahersiveen, Noel Spillane, CEO SKDP Cahersiveen-based bakery K&T Bakery have been named as winners at the inaugural Ireland South ILDN Enterprise Awards. Four Companies from Kerry were shortlisted for honours at the awards which are run by The Irish Local Development Network (ILDN). The awards recognise indigenous small enterprises for their commercial and operational success in business. A total of thirteen companies were short-listed in Kerry, Waterford and in Cork city and county. K&T Bakery and James' Barber Shop were short-listed by South Kerry Development Partnership. The Gluten Free Kitchen Company and Maura's Cottage Flowers were nominated selected by North, East and West Kerry Partnership to represent their Region. K&T Bakery was set up by Polish couple Katarzyna and Tomasz Gwis - both baking experts with a family heritage in bread-making - in 2014. They recently opened a restaurant and cafe in the town and now employ 15 staff. The ILDN South Enterprise Awards were announced last Thursday in Cork. The short-listed companies each made presentations ons their business strategy, marketing and operational activities to date, and they were judged by Veronica Murphy Discovery Partnership, Paul Healy of the CIT Rubicon Centre and Seamus Hayes of Fitzwilliam Training and Consulting. K&T Bakery - and two other winners from Cork - now go on to represent the Southern region at the National ILDN Awards on September 15. "The calibre of companies participating in the awards demonstrates the ability of the Partnership Development companies to meet the needs of startups in their regions," said ILDN South Chair Eamonn O'Reilly. There's been little in the way of nasty surprises to trip up the students of North Kerry yet in this year's Leaving Cert with most reporting themselves very pleased with how the whole thing is going. Examiners are usually at pains to point out they're not in the business of tripping students up per se, of course. But year-in, year-out there's always at least one stinker of a paper that gets teachers and the students ire up. Not the case in 2016 thankfully. At least not yet, according to a number of deputy principals in North Kerry. In Presentation Secondary school in Listowel, where 56 are sitting the big test, all is going swimmingly. "They were very happy coming out of Irish Paper 2 today," Deputy Principal and Irish teacher Margaret Walsh told The Kerryman. "Everything predicted had come up with no surprises at all. That was certainly the case yesterday also in the first Irish paper when all the essays predicted came up, including one on 1916." Ms Walsh said the girls were exemplary in their calm poise approaching the exams all week and praised them as a 'wonderful group of students'. Over on the other side of town, St Michael's College deputy principal Liam Hassett was similarly impressed with how the lads were dealing with it all. "It's going very well. While boys probably don't go in for post mortems as much as girls they were happy enough with how the second Irish paper went today," Mr Hassett said on Tuesday. His own subject Engineering went very well with all angles covered well in advance. "The main thing is they have the hard work done, it's all about putting in the graft and being ready for the exam on the big day now," Mr Hassett said. Kerry County Council is asking members of the public who swim at beaches, lakes and rivers to report poor quality bathing water in an effort to maintain existing water quality across the county. Under European and Irish law, local authorities must identify official bathing areas so they can be assessed for safety, water quality and levels of use as monitoring microbiological fluctuations in water quality is a requirement of local authorities. Back in April, 15 Kerry beaches successfully maintained the Environmental Protection Agency's 'standards of excellence' award and the report also showed Kerry as being one of only three local authorities in Ireland where designated bathing areas achieved such high levels of quality. It is now felt the renewed call for public participation will assist in identifying any potential pollution areas. Valentia Coast Guard were scrambled to assist a man on a fishing vessel off the Kerry coast late on Tuesday afternoon. The Coast Guard rushed to the stricken man where a coordinated medical evacuation from the vessel took place after the fisherman - thought to be in his mid-twenties - reportedly fractured his arm after it was crushed in a wench on the boat. The vessel is said to have been roughly 120 miles west of the Blasket Islands when the call for assistance was made and the Shannon Coast Guard Helicopter was tasked with attending the man at the scene, along with the Waterford Coast Guard Helicopter. He was later taken to hospital for treatment. A Killarney family whose daughter was murdered in Boston 21 years ago is continuing to honour her memory and legacy by once again awarding a prestigious research scholarship in her name. Killarney couple Thomas and Betty Benson's daughter Orla - a former biotechnology student of Dublin City University - was killed while working in Boston during the summer of 1995. Following her tragic death, her parents decided to award an annual scholarship that would provide support for one DCU researcher who demonstrates outstanding potential in biotechnology. This year's Orla Benson Postgraduate Research Scholarship has been awarded to Mariana Di Luca, a researcher in DCU's Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Group. The scholarship, worth 2,500, will further her research into identifying the type of cells most common in causing heart disease and will further enable the development of new treatments that could enable the prevention of fatal heart attacks and strokes. Mariana, a previous recipient of the Government of Ireland scholarship from the Irish Research Council, has dedicated her research to understanding why healthy blood vessels become damaged and how that is linked to heart disease. By identifying the cells responsible for causing blocked vessels, Mariana's work aims to prevent or reverse potential artery damage by developing a drug that circumvents the harmed vessels. Marina explained gthat the award will allow her to finish a large portion of her PhD in Dr Carolina Cristina's laboratories in Argentina. The Benson family has worked with the DCU Educational Trust to establish the scholarship as a legacy to their daughter's dedication to and love of biotechnology. To date, the Orla Benson Memorial Endowment Fund has provided scholarships for 15 DCU students. Graph shows the number of IDA sponsored potential investor visits to the six Munster counties in 2015 The body tasked with promoting Ireland to international investors, the Industrial Development Agency (IDA), only sponsored one site visit by a potential investor to Kerry in the first quarter of 2016. News of the lack of IDA investor visits to Kerry comes as the agency prepares to build a multi million Euro advance manufacturing facility at Kerry Technology Park in Tralee. The figures were released by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O'Connor in response to questioning by Fianna Fail's employment spokesperson Deputy Niall Collins from limerick. Fine Gael TD for Kerry Brendan Griffin said that it's better to evaluate the IDA's performance for Kerry over a period longer than three months, and pointed out that Kerry had six visits in 2015, "a decent result in context, but one that we need to build on," he said. "I spoke to the Minister about Kerry's need to move on from the days of getting one or two visitors a year, if any, but with required developments on the way, particularly improvements in transport and the advancements at Kerry Technology Park, we have a fighting chance of doing just that," said Deputy Griffin John Brassil, Fianna Fail TD for Kerry, expressed disappointment at what he perceived to be the continued city-centric nature of the visits, but said he was also hopeful that the purpose designed manufacturing facility for Kerry Technology Park would encourage investors towards the counties. Kerry received six international visitors sponsored by the agency in 2015, more than the combined total that had been received from 2011 through to the end of 2014. The number of potential visitors brought to Kerry by the IDA in comparison with Dublin and the major cities has been frequently criticised in the past. Kerry has also performed remarkably poorly in comparison with Westmeath. Kerry saw 17 IDA sponsored visits since the start of 2009, compared to the Lake county's 112. This is despite Westmeath's population being just half Kerry's. A gang of bogus charity collectors who ran a scam collection in Tralee have been tracked down and caught by Gardai. A fortnight ago - in the run up to the June Bank Holiday weekend - a group of scam artists claiming to be raising money on behalf of Cork based charity 'Suicide Aware' staged a lengthy fake collection in Tralee town centre. Several members of the public became suspicious due to the con artists' behaviour and contacted the charity who said there were no such individuals authorised to collect any money on their behalf. The charity and members of the public contacted gardai in Tralee to alert them about the scam artists' activities. Garda stations across the county were alerted and advised to be on the look out for the suspicious collectors. The team of con artists were located by Gardai in Killorglin on Friday June 3 where they were targeting members of the public attending KFest. The bogus collectors ID badges, collection boxes, posters and money were confiscated. The seized money - understood to be a relatively small amount - will all be forwarded on to Suicide Aware. Gardai are continuing to investigate the matter to ascertain if the Suicide Aware ID badges the scam artists had were genuine and, if so, how they managed to obtain them. The Gardai advised anyone suspicious of a collector's true identity to check their credentials and contact the charity involved or gardai if they have further concerns. The scam collection in Kerry came just a week after three people from the west of Ireland appeared in court in Cork having carried out a similar scam collection for Suicide Aware in Cork City last November. Two of the trio involved in the Cork city scam were sentenced to community service and the third was fined. Gardai are hunting a crime gang responsible for the theft of a shotgun, ammunition and cash from a house raided in Rathmore in broad daylight on Monday. The Kerryman understands the house was unoccupied when thieves struck during working hours on Monday - sometime between 7.30am and 5.45pm. The owners of the home on the Kerry/Cork border in the townland of Lyreaoune, Rathmore, made the shocking discovery when they returned from work on Monday evening to find the premises ransacked and the gun, cash and ammo stolen. Now gardai are urging anyone who might have noticed anything unusual in the general area at the time to come forward. The information could prove vital in tracking down the gang and recovering the firearm and cash. It's an incident that has led to shock in the ordinarily quiet Rathmore area, once again underlining how vulnerable the homes of law-abiding rural citizens are to roving crime gangs. It's possible the callous thieves had identified the home as a target prior to striking on Monday. They ransacked the house, moving from room to room in search of valuables until they got their hands on the lucrative plunder. The Kerryman understands the double-barrelled shotgun was held legitimately under licence, but it is not clear if it was under lock and key in a gun safe at the time of the raid. A spokesperson for the gardai was unable to confirm whether the thieves had forced a safe open to get the gun and ammo or not. Gardai would not say how much money was stolen from the premises. but The Kerryman understands it was a substantial amount. The thieves broke into the home through a side window on the gable of the building. "We would appeal for any assistance members of the public in the area might be able to provide, if they noticed anything suspicious in the area on Monday," the garda spokesperson said. There were no reports of any strange vehicles at the time of press. A fundraising drive to build a replica of the Helen Blake boat which was involved in one of the most daring rescues in Irish maritime history, is being launched in Wexford town on Wednesday night. A casual conversation between two brothers after the centenary commemoration of the tragedy in 2014 lead the villagers of Fethard on Sea to embark on the ambitious project to build the replica of the lifeboat, nine of whose lifeboatmen perished trying to rescue sailors off the County Wexford coast. In 1914, the Helen Blake set out from Fethard on Sea in gale force winds to rescue the crew of the Norwegian schooner, Mexico, which had run aground on the Keeragh Islands. Before the day was out, nine members of the lifeboat crew had lost their lives in the greatest tragedy ever suffered by the Irish RNLI. Of the 14 Fethard crew members, nine were washed away in the impact, leaving the remaining five with no choice but to scramble onto the island. Despite all that the volunteers had just endured, they continued to help rescue the eight-man crew of the Mexico, as the boat now sat trapped among the island rocks. Using ropes, they managed to transfer the crew to the shore. Saved, but stranded, the men remained without food, water or shelter for three days. One crew member from the Mexico succumbed to exposure. One hundred years later their sacrifice was remembered and commemorated during a ceremony attended by the Norwegian ambassador at the monument erected to their bravery in Fethard on Sea. Following the ceremony brothers David and Keith Power, descendants of a crew member, commented that it would be a fitting tribute if a replica of the lifeboat could be built. The idea was picked up and a number of villagers got together. A steering committee was formed and the project started to take shape. Thanks to local man, John Hickey, of Bord Iascaigh Mhara, funding was provided by FLAG to cover the costs of a feasibility study, which was followed by detailed drawings and stability calculations. On Wednesday evening, June 15, full details of the project will be revealed at a meeting in the Talbot Hotel. Speakers will include Theo Rye, the renowned naval architect responsible for the plans, Yvonne Byrne who carried out the initial feasibility study, and Sheena Bolger, the TUS co-ordinator for Wexford Local Development, who will play an important role in the construction. A number of descendants of the original crew members will also be there. Building the boat is estimated to take 18 months and the work will be carried out as part of a TUS training programme by 18 to 25-year-olds, who will gain valuable skills as well as work experience. Construction will be under the supervision of local shipwright, John Colfer, who counts the Dunbrody amongst the previous projects he has worked on. Work is now under way to raise the funds needed to complete the project with various initiatives planned throughout the building period. Details of a crowdfunding campaign will be announced on Wednesday night. A number of prominent Irish Americans have been contacted for their support and there will be corporate sponsorship packages including the opportunity of taking six people on an exclusive trip to the Keeraghs in the finished boat. A New Ross Municipal District employee was the subject of online abuse in recent weeks. New Ross District Manager Sinead Casey said: 'An issue arose recently when a very hard working member of staff was attacked and abused on social media. The council cannot tolerate this kind of behaviour against our staff. We have very good staff in this district who work for everyone.' Ms Casey, pictured right, said the staff member was named on Facebook and people posted abusive comments. She said: 'A lot of our staff go above and beyond the call of duty for the town and I'd ask the public to show them some respect. 'If they have an issue they have channels they can go through to raise them her at The Tholsel. It's not over social media and we want to show support to our staff members.' Cllr Larry O'Brien agreed with her sentiments, saying council staff need to be respected. Cllr O'Brien said: 'I am not on social media but I think our staff should be protected. Putting our staff's name up on social media shouldn't be allowed to happen. We can't tolerate this!' Cllr Willie Fiztharris described the attack as a form of bullying which, he said, shouldn't be tolerated in today's society by anyone. Irish actor Colm Meaney is among the names starring in a new film being shot in Sligo. Element Pictures Distribution recently announced that it has acquired Irish and UK rights on Irish-German co-production Halal Daddy. Described as a culture clash comedy, it started principal photography last week in Sligo, with locations including Ballast Quay. Sligo native Conor McDermottroe (Swansong: Story of Occi Byrne) is writer and director. This is Conor's second film to be located in Sligo following the lauded Swansong which was released a number of years ago. He said he's thrilled to be back filming in his hometown. He added: "I am delighted to be back home near the location of the true events that inspired our film. "Halal Daddy is a truly positive warm-hearted comedy of multicultural Ireland at it's best." The cast is in place including Nikesh Patel (Indian Summers, London Has Fallen) who stars as lead Raghdan, Colm Meaney (Con Air, The Snapper), Art Malik (Passage to India, True Lies), Sarah Bolger (The Tudors, In America), Angeline Ball (Shameless, The Commitments) and Stephen Cromwell (Red Rock, The Legend of Longwood). Mark O'Halloran (Garage, Adam and Paul) co-writes and stars. Halal Daddy is an uplifting, feel good adventure, a contemporary story, celebrating multiculturalism in modern day Ireland. Head of Element Pictures Distribution Audrey Sheils said they are looking forward to working on the comedy, which is due for release next year. Audrey added: "We are delighted to be involved with such an exciting and original film which captures the Irish sense of humour perfectly. We look forward to bringing Halal Daddy to cinemas next year and giving audiences a comedy that will make them really laugh out loud." McDermottroe is surrounded by a stellar production crew. The production will film for five weeks in and around Sligo. Global Screen have reported very strong international interest in addition to UK and Irish rights having been acquired by Element Pictures Distribution (Ire), Koch Media (theatrical) and Telepool (TV rights) have boarded in Germany. The film's synopsis sees Raghdan Aziz's new home in the West of Ireland as the perfect getaway from his controlling Bradford based Muslim Dad, Amir. He's adored by his Sligo-based uncle and aunt, his surf buddies Derek and Neville think he's really cool and his girlfriend is much desired Sligonian Maeve Logan, so all is going well for Raghdan. However when Amir lands on his doorstep with a birthday present of a halal meat factory, things go awry for happy-go-lucky Raghdan. The top ten UK music chart this week in 1988 1 Doctorin' The Tardis - The Timelords 2 I Owe You Nothing - Bros 3 With A Little Help From My Friends/ She's Leaving Home - Wet Wet Wet / Billy Bragg, with Cara Tivey 4 Boys (Summertime Love) - Sabrina 5 Voyage Voyage - Desireless 6 Got To Be Certain - Kylie Minogue 7 Wild World - Maxi Priest 8 Somewhere In My Heart - Aztec Camera 9 Everyday Is Like Sunday - Morrissey 10 I Saw Him Standing There - Tiffany It sold over a million, but novelty song 'Doctorin' The Tardis' (a mash-up of the Doctor Who theme music, Gary Glitter's 'Rock and Roll (Part Two),' 'Block Buster!' by Sweet and 'Let's Get Together Tonite' by Steve Walsh) was hated by the critics, and in particular the leading music papers of the time. Melody Maker called it 'pure unadulterated agony' while Sounds labelled it a 'rancid reworking of ancient discs'. Timelords' Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty didn't disagree with the assessments, but cashed in, and followed up their chart topper with a 'how to have a No. 1' guide, called The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way). After The Timelords, the duo became anarchic acid house band The KLF, scoring a string of single and album hits. They retired the KLF name in 1992, deleting their entire back catalogue after a dramatic performance at the BRIT Awards, where they fired machine gun blanks into the audience and dumped a dead sheep at the door of an aftershow party. Melissa McCarthy as Michelle Darnell in The Boss What a difference two years makes. In the summer of 2014, actress Melissa McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone ended her winning streak of hilarious big-screen comedies with the misfiring road movie Tammy, which they co-wrote and he directed. Love and marriage didn't come together in a script packed with belly laughs. Unperturbed by Tammy's critical mauling, McCarthy and Falcone rekindle their unholy alliance in front of and behind the camera for this brash comedy about an egocentric businesswoman, who is forced to rebuild her life after a stint behind bars. The Boss improves on its predecessor in one crucial respect: it is sporadically funny and the ebullient leading lady strains every sinew in her single-minded quest to milk laughs from pratfalls. A throwaway visual gag of a mouthguard is silly enough to induce snorts of derision, while a scene of sisterly bonding over what to wear to a first date showcases McCarthy's gift for physical humour (at the expense of her co-star's blushes). However, husband and wife haven't learnt from past transgressions. They haven't invested enough time in fully realising the characters, some gags lack punchlines, and in the closing act, they risk a hostile takeover from mawkish sentiment. Michelle Darnell (McCarthy) was raised at the Blessed Sisters Of Mercy orphanage, where efforts to find the youngster a loving, adopted family ended in crushing disappointment. Emboldened by her humiliating ordeal, Michelle becomes America's 47th richest woman till her dubious ethics result in a five-year prison sentence for insider trading. She emerges without any friends to greet her. Her bodyguard Tito (Cedric Yarbrough) has abandoned her and long-suffering personal assistant Claire Rawlings (Kristen Bell) has a young daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) to nurture. In desperation, Michelle turns up unannounced on Claire's doorstep and takes up temporary residence on a temperamental sofa bed. From this low-rent headquarters, Michelle doggedly resolves to rebuild her empire by creating a flourishing chocolate brownie business from Claire's moreish secret recipe. Moderate success brings the shamed business mogul back into contact with her aggrieved rival, Renault (Peter Dinklage), and former mentor Ida Marquette (Kathy Bates). Meanwhile, single mother Claire nervously prepares for a date with nice guy Mike (Tyler Labine). The Boss is a pleasant, fleeting diversion that fulfils the most basic requirement of a comedy: it makes you laugh. McCarthy barrels through every frame with gusto and Bell dutifully plays the straight woman caught in the eye of the tornado. True, some of the giggles are inelegant and hard won but it's a vast improvement over the tumbleweed of Tammy. Effort exceeds reward throughout Falcone's film, but on the few occasions the script, performances and direction align, it is genuinely funny and sweet. The Timelords on Top of the Pops It sold over a million, but novelty song 'Doctorin' The Tardis' (a mash-up of the Doctor Who theme music, Gary Glitter's 'Rock and Roll (Part Two)' , 'Block Buster!' by Sweet and 'Let's Get Together Tonite' by Steve Walsh) was hated by the critics, and in particular the leading music papers of the time. Melody Maker called it 'pure unadulterated agony' while Sounds labelled it a 'rancid reworking of ancient discs'. Timelords' Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty didn't disagree with the assessments, but cashed in, and followed up their chart topper with a 'how to have a No. 1' guide, called The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way). After The Timelords, the duo became anarchic acid house band The KLF, scoring a string of single and album hits. They retired the KLF name in 1992, deleting their entire back catalogue after a dramatic performance at the BRIT Awards, where they fired machine gun blanks into the audience and dumped a dead sheep at the door of an aftershow party. 1 Doctorin' The Tardis The Timelords 2 I Owe You Nothing Bros 3 With A Little Help From My Friends/ She's Leaving Home Wet Wet Wet/Billy Bragg, with Cara Tivey 4 Boys (Summertime Love) Sabrina 5 Voyage Voyage Desireless 6 Got To Be Certain Kylie Minogue 7 Wild World Maxi Priest 8 Somewhere In My Heart Aztec Camera 9 Everyday Is Like Sunday Morrissey 10 I Saw Him Standing There Tiffany Traffic came to a standstill in Wicklow on Wednesday afternoon after a car overturned on the Upper Mall. The 10 registered Audi lost control and turned over onto its side blocking much of the Upper Mall for a time as emergency services and passer bys freed the driver of the car. The driver of the car who was unhurt was said to be very shaken by the incident. A shop owner along the Upper Mall said it was a 'miracle' that nobody was killed in the crash. 'It's a busy road and the post office is there too so there is always people coming and going. If the car had overturned onto its other side it could easily have ended up on the path and hurt or even killed someone. It's a miracle really. With the good weather there were more people than normal out and about too. It could have been so much worse.' Simon Harris was 20 years old when he began to contact reporters at the Bray People and Wicklow People, as his campaign for Greystones Town Council gathered steam and he was advocating for autism organisation the Triple A Alliance. Within a decade, and just a few months shy of his 30th birthday, he has been appointed Minister for Health, the 'poisoned chalice' of cabinet portfolios. 'It's been a very peculiar journey. A lot of people do get involved in politics young. I was elected to the Dail when I was 24. I might have been the 16th or 17th youngest ever. The difference is a lot of them would have come to politics through family, which isn't a judgement call, but a lot would have taken over from a relative and I didn't have that connection. 'I got involved through the issue; setting up the Triple A Alliance and working with about 200 families in Wicklow living with autism. Before I knew it, I was agitating and campaigning.' He was surprised to find himself being asked to become Minister for Health. 'I was shocked. I had read and heard I had a chance of being in the cabinet. There was a sense that I might be offered something, but I was surprised with health because of the scale of it.' While he received hundreds of messages wishing him well. some were almost commiserating. Does the health portfolio live up to its reputation? And what can Harris bring to it that two doctors couldn't? 'I don't think it is a poisoned chalice. If you strip it back a bit, why do people get involved in politics? Presumably everyone, regardless of what party they're in or none, wants to make a positive impact. It's hard to think of a department in government where the decisions you make, the investments you make, and the policies that you pursue have the potential to make a positive impact on people's lives.' A lot has been made of the Greystones man's age, particularly on social media, since the cabinet was announced. 'We have a very young population and they have their right to have a voice in government. Nobody would ever say "look at the age of Minister X" in terms of reference to someone being of an older age. That would be ageist.' With his 30th birthday falling in October, Harris may finally be able to dispose of the 'wunderkind' mantle. While he has probably made sacrifices to get where he is, in terms of privacy, for example, that doesn't bother him. 'A lot of Irish people my age had to give up a lot more than I did. They had to leave this country to get a job and couldn't be with their family and friends.' His parents May and Bart, siblings Adam and Gemma, partner Caoimhe, and circle of friends, keep him grounded, said Simon. Last week, leading oncologist Professor John Crown made an appeal for 50c to be tagged on to the price of cigarettes to fund a particular medication for cancer. 'I agree with him and lots of other groups that a very effective way of reducing smoking is price. A lot of research shows that if you do increase price you reduce consumption. We have a policy here called "Tobacco Free Ireland" which is aiming for a rate of less than five per cent of the population smoking by 2025, which is ambitious, but doable.' Minister Harris has discussed the medication aspect of the issue with Prof Crown. 'He was quite rightly advocating that Irish cancer patients need two other drugs made available to them, one called Pembro and another called Nivo. I'm open to the idea of having a special ring-fenced fund. However, the issue that has to be addressed is that we pay way more in this country for drugs than the European average.' One of the solutions he puts forward is working together at a European level to buy drugs. Prof Crown has also said that people with lower incomes tend to wait longer for diagnoses. The Minister said that on the one hand, education on health and nutrition can help reduce the instances of cancer overall. 'However, it is not acceptable that a person would be at a disadvantage in terms of access to diagnostics on the basis of wealth. It is absolutely a problem.' The solution, he said, is 'unapologetic investment in the health service,' including more frontline staff and putting diagnostic equipment in to primary care centres. He plans to form a cross-party group to devise a common ten-year strategy for the health service and sign up to it. 'Regardless of what happens in politics then, there's a roadmap and a price tag,' said the minister. On a campaign for a cystic fibrosis drug called Orkambi, Minister Harris said that while the recommendation was that the drug couldn't be purchased at a particular price, the HSE and the manufacturers are negotiating that matter. 'My hope is that the negotiation will be successful. People already on this drug will continue to receive it.' Here in Wicklow, with the closure of Loughlinstown A&E department, is it acceptable that residents in areas such as Glendalough have such a long journey to hospital in an emergency? 'What we need to do to make sure things are acceptable is to increase the capacity of the ambulance service,' said Simon. 'The role of the paramedics has changed. They are highly trained, but we don't have enough paramedics or vehicles.' He added that the community first responders' role has been highlighted in a report given to the Dail. A citizens assembly to be formed will be tasked with teasing out issues relating to the eighth amendment, 'right to life' aspect of our constitution. 'My own position on this, and I'm not afraid or ashamed to say it, has evolved,' said Simon, who recently read a damning UN report on the issue. 'As I've met and spoken to people and informed myself on the situation. I've met a number of families affected by fatal foetal abnormalities. You couldn't meet and talk to these people and hear their stories and not think this is an utterly unacceptable situation. I can't look at these people and say "what you've gone through is acceptable". I can't do it. I don't think it is acceptable. My belief is that the eighth amendment needs to be addressed. Ultimately we will need a referendum. We need to try to have a mature, respectful, informed dialogue as a country.' Helping others has been a lifelong mission and indeed, a passion for Hacketstown man Jim Kavanagh. Jim has spent over five years of his 55 years on earth in Tanzania helping small, poverty stricken communities install water systems and says that he feels more at home amongst his African friends than he does in Ireland. The Rathdangan native who is married to Helen and father to Ciara (15) and Aisling (14) first made the trip to Tanzania in his early twenties, having been inspired to do so at the age of 18. There was definitely a turning point at the age of 18. I read an article about the work of volunteers in Africa helping people who were desperately poor to get access to clean water supplies. I thought it was a wonderful thing that they were doing and I wanted to be a part of it,' he explained. While working with an engineering firm in Co Longford, Jim learned about the work of Viatores Christi in Dublin. 'I got involved with this group and I did a number of their weekend training courses. I also did a month long Swahili language course to prepare me,' Jim adds. His first trip out of Ireland was to Tanzania, a place that could not have been more different to Jim's rural Irish life at home. 'I went on placement for two years. It was my first time on a plane or to leave Ireland and when I landed I thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. It was so different to what I knew, the culture, landscape, climate and of course the people I met.' For Jim, seeing the desperate need of the African people made him even more inspired to make a difference. 'There was no way to avoid the poverty. It was heartbreaking to see the water that the people, including young children had to drink. They would walk for miles every day to fill containers with contaminated water; water that they would be sharing with animals. It would be like someone in Arklow walking to Woodenbridge every day to get dirty water to cook with and to drink. "Being there showed me that any small problem I thought I had at home was insignificant. In Tanzania I earned nothing and had nothing but I had everything in so many ways. Money cannot buy the satisfaction the work gave me,' says Jim. Once he returned home, Jim found it difficult to settle and he kept longing to return to Tanzania where he knew he could continue to make a difference. 'I went back to my old job but I just wanted to be back in Tanzania. While I was at home I studied through Loughborough University to get my qualifications in water technology. I had experience on the ground but I wanted a formal qualification and the volunteer work spurred me on to achieve that.' Jim married Helen in 1999 and they spent a year volunteering together, and on and off he has been able to go for a few months at a time to volunteer whenever he can. 'It is difficult to be able to go as much as I would like because I get no payment or wages so I have to be able to fund my own trip.' 'I see myself as part of the Masai community when I am working there. I sleep in a tent and I move around. If it is good enough for the people who live there it is good enough for me. I love what I do over there and it gives me a great sense of satisfaction.' Jim is currently back in Hacketstown on what was initially a planned holiday to facilitate time with his family. However, the project in Arusha, Tanzania he is involved with through the Holy Ghost Fathers has run out of funding and he is on a mission to raise funds to cover the 35,000 cost of completion. 'This is a year placement and I have done six months. The Holy Ghost Fathers told me that the funding has dried up and they are awaiting overseas aid which can take months so I am fundraising as much as possible and I have extended my stay for two months,' Jim says. Without the support of his family, Jim wouldn't be able to pursue his passion. 'I work in plumbing and heating when I am home. I said to Helen that the opportunity of a year long contract came up and she was fully supportive. There was a lot of belt-tightening and planning but we made it work and that is why I would hate to see the project left half-done. My target is 35,000 and I have raised 15,000 already so I am very determined.' Jim has been knocking doors and planning fundraisers throughout the past six weeks and will host two charity events on June 24 and 26. On Friday, June 24 a Ballad & Rebel Fest takes place on Black Toms from 8 p.m. Bands include The Rockabilly Rebels, Jorum, and The Navvies. Tickets cost 10 and are available at the door or directly from Jim at 085 1767365. Following the music event, a charity auction will take place at Hacketstown Community Hall on Sunday, June 26 at 2p.m. 'Anyone who would like to donate an item for the auction is welcome to do so from 12 - 5 p.m. on Saturday 25. All items from bags of coal or loads of bark mulch will be gratefully accepted, basically anything that can raise a few Euro for this worthy cause would be very welcome.' 'When I started this journey I never saw myself as a fundraiser but if that is what I have to do to see the project out I will. To see the benefit that these water systems bring to communities is priceless.' If Jim meets his 35,000 target he hopes to be back in Tanzania in July where he will spend a final six months completing the later water project. 'My long term ambition is to start a well-drilling programme and to ensure that all funding goes directly into the project and not on administration. Years ago I donated 1,000 to an agency and found out that only 200 of it went to the actual cause and that sickened me. I had spent so long saving it up and then hardly any of it went where I hoped it would. That is why I prefer to be on the ground so I can see my efforts making a real difference.' Giraffes are facing a "silent extinction", with only 90,000 still roaming the African plains, far fewer than the endangered African elephant, a David Attenborough documentary warns. Just 15 years ago, there were thought to be around 150,000 giraffes in the wild. Since then numbers have fallen by 40pc due to habitat loss and poaching. The new BBC documentary, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, followed a conservation team as they relocated a group of 20 animals across the Nile in Uganda, where it is hoped they will be safe from oil prospectors. "These gentle giants have been overlooked," said Attenborough. "It's well known that African elephants are in trouble, and there are perhaps just over half a million left. "But what no one realises is there are far fewer giraffes. They are killed for their meat, and their habitats are being destroyed. Time is running out." Although the total of all wild populations numbers around one fifth that of African elephants, the giraffe's official conservation status as judged by the International Union for Conservation of Nature is still "of least concern". Dr Julian Fennessy, executive director of Giraffe Conservation Foundation, said: "I am absolutely amazed that no one has a clue. This is a silent extinction. Some populations number less than 400. That is more endangered than any gorilla or almost any large mammal in the world. "Everyone thinks they are everywhere. But numbers are plummeting. "Giraffes have gone extinct in seven countries in Africa. It's not going to happen again. There is no giraffe going to go extinct on my watch." Experts believe growing human populations, fuel wood collections, hunting and drought have all contributed to the decline of giraffes. One of the most endangered populations is the group of more than 1,000 Rothschild's giraffes in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. They live beside the Nile, but the land contains at least 75pc of Uganda's discovered oil, and drilling plans are under way. Dr Fennessy launched the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to move animals away from the dangers of the oil drilling area. He has worked with the Ugandan Wildlife Authority to capture 20 of the Murchison Falls park giraffes and move them across the Nile to establish a new population. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] If US President Barack Obama found it difficult to speak to the survivors of the Pulse nightclub killing, it was not for lack of experience. His visit to Orlando yesterday, where he was accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, was the 10th occasion he had gone to offer solace to a community grieving after a mass shooting. He has previously said it is one of the most difficult aspects of his job. Some had suggested the president may wait a little longer before travelling to Florida, as he did when he visited Charleston, South Carolina, and San Bernadino in California, after similar atrocities. Yet for some reason, he decided he should come swiftly, as a debate about gun control and tolerance continues to engulf the country. "I think it is good that he comes and shows support," said Jessica Sciacca, who was waiting outside the city's Amway Centre stadium, where the president met privately with families of the 49 victims, with survivors and with local police and other law enforcement officials who responded to last Sunday's shooting. "I think the city has to come together. People have been coming together already." The day before the president's visit, his spokesman, Josh Earnest, said Mr Obama would focus on the victims, rather than enter, at least publicly, into the discussion over what led Omar Mateen to launch the attack. The 29-year-old, who had previously been investigated for possible links to Islamic extremism but cleared, claimed his attack on a gay night club had been done in the name of Isil. But there are also reports that Mateen may have been gay himself, and may have visited the Pulse night club. His second wife told officials she had tried to talk her husband out of the attack and she is currently under investigation. There is widespread speculation she could be charged. "The president's visit to Orlando has nothing to do with the individual who perpetrated this terrible attack," said Mr Earnest. He said Mr Obama intended to tell residents "that they're not alone, even as they endure what surely have been several dark nights." The White House released few details in advance about Mr Obama's trip, which aides said was hurriedly arranged in a fraction of the time usually required to plan a presidential trip. But the president planned "to make clear that the country stands with the people of Orlando". The parents of a little boy (2) who was killed by an alligator at Disney World have broken their silence. Matt and Melissa Graves have spoken out as it was revealed that Disney is planning to install signs warning of alligators in the area where a 2-year-old boy, Lane, was killed by one of the reptiles Words cannot describe the shock and grief our family is experiencing over the loss of our son. . We are devastated. The family have asked for privacy at this extremely difficult time. Expand Close Lane Graves of Elk Horn, Nebraska / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lane Graves of Elk Horn, Nebraska Read More The boy was grabbed by the reptile at the water's edge at about 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday while his family, on vacation from Omaha, Nebraska, relaxed on the shore nearby, authorities have said. His parents tried to save the child but were unable to free him from the alligator's grip. Police divers recovered the body of Lane Graves on Wednesday from the man-made lake where he had been snatched by the alligator as he played at the water's edge the night before. Read More A complete autopsy was conducted on Thursday afternoon on the body of the boy, which was found intact underwater. "The cause of death was ruled as a result of drowning and traumatic injuries," the Orange County Medical Examiner's Office said in a brief statement. It did not elaborate. Rose Silva, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said on Thursday that a probe into the toddler's death was ongoing, but was not criminal in nature. Read More The Graves family released a statement praising local authorities and adding: "Words cannot describe the shock and grief our family is experiencing over the loss of our son. We are devastated and ask for privacy during this extremely difficult time." The aquatic predators often roll their larger prey beneath the surface until their victim stops breathing, experts say, and then stash the body away to eat later. Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger spoke with the family by telephone on Wednesday and expressed his sympathies, the company said. Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said on Thursday that resort beaches that were closed after the attack would be off-limits to guests until further notice. Read More "All of our beaches are currently closed, and we are conducting a swift and thorough review of all of our processes and protocols," Wahler said in a statement. "This includes the number, placement and wording of our signage and warnings." The alligator was believed to be between 4 and 7 feet (1.2 and 2 meters) long. Trappers killed and opened up five alligators on Wednesday for sign of the boy before his body was recovered. The trappers remained at the lagoon on Thursday after removing a sixth alligator from the water late on Wednesday in an effort to find the one that snatched the child, said Greg Workman, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The commission's executive director, Nick Wiley, has said there is a good chance they have already captured the alligator in question. But officials said the search would go on until that was proved by forensic tests such as DNA studies, teeth measurements and comparison of bite marks. Workman said the commission also has wildlife officers on the scene around the clock. He said they are searching all day, but especially at night when alligators are more active because of cooler temperatures and less human activity. Disney's Orlando resort is the most visited theme park in the world, drawing more than 20 million visitors last year. The incident came ahead of Thursday's opening of the company's first theme park in China, a $5.5 billion project in Shanghai that boasts Disney's tallest castle. The attack happened on a beach by Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, an upmarket property just one stop from the Magic Kingdom on Walt Disney World's monorail. The hotel's website - showing rooms starting at $569 a night before taxes - says guests can enjoy diversions such as "bask on the white-sand beach." The Labour Party, Oxfam, Siptu, members of the public and other organisations remembered Jo Cox MP at a candlelight vigil at the the World Poverty Stone on the quays in Dublin last night. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews. A Peoples Vigil in memory of Jo Cox took place at Custom Quay in Dublin this evening. Pic Stephen Collins/Collins Photos Pictured members of the public take a moment to remember Jo Cox MP. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie From left: MPs Lucy Smith, Jeff Smith, and Paula Sheriff leave floral tributes close to where their colleague Jo Cox was murdered on Thursday in Birstall, England. Photo: Getty The man charged with the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox gave his name as "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain" as he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox. Thomas Mair, 52, was charged with murder in connection with the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox. Mrs Cox, 41, was attacked in the street outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, at lunchtime on Thursday. West Yorkshire Police said Thomas Mair, of Birstall, has been charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon. The 52-year-old will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday. West Yorkshire Police Temporary Chief Constable Dee Collins said on Friday that a 77-year-old man remains in a stable condition in hospital after he was injured when he "bravely intervened" in an effort to help Mrs Cox. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Tributes left to Labour MP Jo Cox who was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery. Danny Lawson/PA Wire Members of the public look at flowers and tributes in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire. Yui Mok/PA Wire Members of the public look at flowers and tributes in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire. Yui Mok/PA Wire Members of the public look at flowers and tributes in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire. Yui Mok/PA Wire Floral tributes are left at the boarded-up constituency office of Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox, in Batley near Leeds, in Britain June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble People gather during a vigil for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox, in Batley near Leeds, in Britain June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble Floral tributes are left at the boarded-up constituency office of Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox, in Batley near Leeds, in Britain June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble People gather during a vigil for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox, in Batley near Leeds, in Britain June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble People react as they view tributes to murdered Labour Party MP Jo Cox, at Parliament Square in London, Britain June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall A woman reacts as she views tributes to murdered Labour Party MP Jo Cox, at Parliament Square in London, Britain June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall Members of the public lay flowers and tributes in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire. John Stillwell/PA Wire Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury looks at flowers and tributes in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire. John Stillwell/PA Wire Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury (centre) looks at flowers and tributes in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire. John Stillwell/PA Wire Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock speaking at a vigil in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox. Around 300 people attended the event in Castle Square, Aberavon. Benjamin Wright/PA Wire Flowers at a vigil in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox. Around 300 people attended the event in Castle Square, Aberavon. Benjamin Wright/PA Wire Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock speaking at a vigil in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox. Around 300 people attended the event in Castle Square, Aberavon. Benjamin Wright/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tributes left to Labour MP Jo Cox who was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery. Danny Lawson/PA Wire Read More Meanwhile, an aide told of how mother-of two Mrs Cox's last words as she lay bleeding in the street were "my pain is too much". The father of Mrs Cox's assistant Fazila Aswat has described how his daughter tried to comfort her after the attack, which left her bleeding heavily. "She tried to help her, she tried to hit (the attacker) with her handbag but he tried to go at her. People came so he followed them and he came back again and shot her again twice," former Labour councillor Ghulam Maniyar told ITV News. "She said her injury was so bad, and she was in her arms. There was lots of blood. She said, 'Jo, get up', but she said, 'No, my pain is too much, Fazila'. And I think those were the last words Jo spoke. She could not do anything else. She tried to comfort her." Vigils were held across the UK on Friday evening as members of the public and politicians came together to lay flowers, light candles and stand in silence in memory of Mrs Cox. They followed a joint visit to her home town by David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn, where the Prime Minister issued a plea for tolerance in British politics. Expand Close From left: MPs Lucy Smith, Jeff Smith, and Paula Sheriff leave floral tributes close to where their colleague Jo Cox was murdered on Thursday in Birstall, England. Photo: Getty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp From left: MPs Lucy Smith, Jeff Smith, and Paula Sheriff leave floral tributes close to where their colleague Jo Cox was murdered on Thursday in Birstall, England. Photo: Getty The Prime Minister said the whole nation was "rightly shocked" at Mrs Cox's death, and called for people to "value, and see as precious, the democracy we have on these islands". Politics is about public service and MPs want to "make the world a better place", he said. Across the market square from where they stood, police tape cordoned off the spot where the former aid worker was killed in what Labour leader Mr Corbyn described as "an attack on democracy". He said Mrs Cox was "an exceptional, wonderful, very talented woman, taken from us in her early 40s when she had so much to give and so much of her life ahead of her". Downing Street confirmed that a female MP wrote to Mr Cameron last year raising concerns about the safety of her colleagues and attacks on her personally. A statement from Number 10 said: "The Prime Minister replied to the letter and voiced deep concern about the attacks she had suffered. The Prime Minister added that he would raise the issue with the Home Secretary. The Prime Minister also spoke to the MP about her concerns. "The Home Secretary wrote to the MP as well and voiced her 'deep concern about the appalling incidents'. The Home Secretary also wrote to the chief constable of the MP's local police force and urged the police to 'do everything in their power' to deal with the incidents. The Home Secretary also met the MP at the end of last year." In January, a new security package for MPs was unveiled with additional funding. Downing Street said this covered security measures at MPs' homes - in London and their constituencies - as well as constituency offices. Expand Close Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) stands during an impromptu vigil at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster, central London, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox. Philip Toscano/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) stands during an impromptu vigil at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster, central London, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox. Philip Toscano/PA Wire More than 200,000 was raised on Friday evening on a fundraising page set up by friends of Mrs Cox to support three charities "closest to her heart". President Barack Obama phoned Mrs Cox's husband from Air Force One and offered his condolences. "The president noted that the world is a better place because of her selfless service to others, and that there can be no justification for this heinous crime, which robbed a family, a community, and a nation of a dedicated wife, mother and public servant," a White House statement said. The Remain and Vote Leave sides have suspended national campaigning in light of the death of Mrs Cox, who entered Parliament as MP for Batley and Spen in last year's general election. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have announced that they will not contest the by-election resulting from her death, giving Labour a probable free run at retaining the Westminster seat which she won with a majority of 6,057. In an apparent reference to the EU referendum campaign, German chancellor Angela Merkel urged British politicians to "draw limits" around the language used in political debate, warning that otherwise "radicalisation will become unstoppable". The National Police Chiefs' Council said forces are contacting MPs around the country to give security advice. Defiant MPs have vowed to go ahead with constituency surgeries after the horrific murder. The streets of Bordeaux were flooded in a sea of red this morning as Belgian fans took over the French city. Many Irish fans were slow to start today and by midday you could be mistaken for believeing that there was only one team playing in Euro 2016. Margau Cannerts (19) told Independent.ie laid down the gauntlet to the Green army: No, no, no they' can't compare with the Belgium fans. Her pal Eline Plender added: We are the best. Expand Close Margau Cannuerts and Eline Plender outside the Fanzone in Bordeaux / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Margau Cannuerts and Eline Plender outside the Fanzone in Bordeaux Another Belgian fan added: I think the Irish are just waking from the party last night. Pockets of Irish began to emerge and after noon they started arriving into the pubs and bars surrounding the huge fanzone on Place de Quinconces in central Bordeaux. Niall Mulcahy from Limerick city and Paul McNamara from Clonlara, Co Clare arrived in on an early morning train from Bilbao. The pair said: We think we are the only ones awake. But later the party will really get started. Between 30,000 and 50,000 Irish fans are in the city ahead of the group game which kicks off at 3pm (CET) (2pm Irish time). From left: MPs Lucy Smith, Jeff Smith, and Paula Sheriff leave floral tributes close to where their colleague Jo Cox was murdered on Thursday in Birstall, England. Photo: Getty The last words of Jo Cox were "no, my pain is too much", the father of the British Labour MP's assistant has said. Gulham Maniyar said his daughter, Fazila Aswat, had tried to help the politician as she lay dying in her arms. Ms Aswat had urged Mrs Cox to get up but the pain was too much, according to the former Labour councillor. He told ITV News: "She said her (Jo's) injury was so bad and she was in her arms. There was lots of blood. "She said 'Jo, get up' but she (Jo) said 'no, my pain is too much, Fazila'. And I think those were the last words Jo spoke. "She could not do anything else. She tried to comfort her. Then the police came, the air ambulance came, they took her to hospital. She was a witness and her clothes were full of blood." Expand Close MP Jo Cox speaking in the House of Commons. Photo: AFP/Getty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp MP Jo Cox speaking in the House of Commons. Photo: AFP/Getty Mr Maniyar said Mrs Cox "was like a daughter" to him and called him "uncle". He added: "I think she's a caring person, not just an MP but she liked to help every human being, every single person. "She worried about Syrian people, she worried about ordinary people. Whenever you approached her, she'd come forward with a smile and try to help you. "It's shocking. Not just for my daughter but the whole community. We were living in harmony in the community, English community, Asian community. This news is shocking for the whole community." He added: "I met her many, many times. She's a wonderful lady and we all sadly miss her. I saw Jo three days ago. She was campaigning in town and she rang me and I went there. She took a picture with me and some colleagues. She was there smiling." Mr Maniyar said his daughter had tried to stop the attack and is "in shock". "She tried to help her, she tried to hit (the attacker) with her handbag, but he tried to go at her," he added. "People came so he followed them and he came back again and shot her (Jo) again twice. "My daughter... she is in shock because she's been with her (Jo) for one year and working very closely with her. It will take time to fully recover from the shock. She knew that she (Jo) was very badly injured. That's why she's not speaking about everything she's seen. She lost one of her best people." Tearful Meanwhile, tearful tributes have been paid to the murdered Labour MP. The politician's colleagues will remember her when Parliament is recalled on Monday, five days after the 41-year-old was killed in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall. The National Police Chiefs' Council said police forces are contacting MPs around the country to give security advice following the death of the Labour MP. Read more: Man who attacked tragic MP Jo Cox 'bought book on how to make handmade gun from white supremacist group' Defiant MPs have said they will go ahead with constituency surgeries in the wake of the horrific murder. Tommy Mair (52) was detained shortly after the attack and remains in police custody. His brother Scott has spoken of his shock at what happened, claiming Mair is "not a violent man and is not that political". It has emerged a Thomas Mair has been named in a newsletter produced by a right-wing organisation which has called for a return to apartheid-style government in South Africa and been linked to the Neo-Nazi organisation National Alliance (NA) dating back to 1999. In a visit earlier on Friday to the West Yorkshire town where Mrs Cox was killed, David Cameron issued a plea for tolerance in British political life as he joined Jeremy Corbyn to pay tribute. The sombre-faced British prime minister, Labour leader and Commons Speaker John Bercow bowed their heads as they laid bouquets at the foot of Birstall's Joseph Priestley memorial, adding to the impromptu shrine of flowers and messages which has grown up over the past day. Across the market square from where they stood, police tape still cordoned off the spot where the former aid worker and mother of two was killed in what Mr Corbyn described as "an attack on democracy". The prime minister said the whole nation was "rightly shocked" at Mrs Cox's death, and called for people to "value, and see as precious, the democracy we have on these islands". Politics was about public service and MPs wanted to "make the world a better place", he said. A group including Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff, Manchester Withington MP Jeff Smith and Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell wiped tears from their cheeks and shared an embrace as they laid flowers near the scene of the murder. Firemen in Sicily are battling dozens of forest blazes which they believe were lit by the island's mafia or their collaborators Firemen in Sicily are battling dozens of forest blazes which they believe were lit by the island's mafia or their collaborators. Authorities have pointed the blame at mafia mobsters allied with unscrupulous developers who hope to build villas and holiday homes on the torched land, as well as disgruntled forest rangers who were sacked after being found guilty of collusion with the Cosa Nostra. The fires broke out within hours of each other on Thursday, suggesting that they were deliberately lit in a coordinated plan. "We don't yet have the proof but we suspect there are criminal interests behind these fires," said Rosario Crocetta, the governor of Sicily. "It horrifies me that criminals in Sicily would set fire to national parks and centuries-old woodland, but there are speculative interests behind the fires," Mr Crocetta said. The wild fires were fanned by temperatures of up to 40C and the 'sirocco' wind that comes from the Sahara and affects southern Europe in the summer. This is the moment a group of Irish fans cooled off after defeat to Belgium in the Euro 2016 group stages. Video, captured by Independent.ie, shows members of the travelling Green Army jumping into the Monument aux Girondins fountain at the entrance to Bordeaux's Place de Quinconces. Earlier over 10,000 fans had watched Martin O'Neill's charges fail to score against a rampaging Belgian side in the nearby Fanzone. Despite the loss these fans still decided to take an afternoon swim. A 73-year-old man has shot dead a Finnish police officer and seriously wounded another after they approached a remote countryside property where gunfire had been reported. Police in Vihti, north west of Helsinki, dispatched several officers to the property late on Friday. They were targeted by gunfire as they approached the house and one shot fatally wounded a 30-year-old policeman and seriously wounded another. The gunman eventually committed suicide, possibly by shooting himself, police said. President Sauli Niinisto said the country was "upset" and Interior Minister Petteri Orpo wrote on Twitter that he was "shocked". Since Finland's independence from Russia in 1917, 130 police officers have been killed while on duty, according to Finnish police. Finnish broadcaster YLE said the last time that happened was in 2007. An armed guard walks past the remains of a burnt truck after a suicide car bomber attacked a Libyan police station west of Sirte this week. Photo: Reuters Libya rarely makes the headlines these days. With so much happening in Syria and Iraq, the country's turbulent post-Gaddafi transition receives little attention. Now and then, there is a short-lived burst of interest, usually related to the fact that Libya is a transit hub for refugees and migrants trying to get to Europe. Since late 2014, Libya has also made intermittent headlines because Isil saw the troubled country as the most promising of its satellites outside Syria and Iraq. That may be changing. In recent weeks, Libyan forces - a mix of army units and militias loosely aligned with a months-old UN-backed unity government - have advanced on Isil's stronghold of Sirte, a coastal town in central Libya. Sirte was Gaddafi's birthplace and also where he met his bloody demise at the hands of rebel forces in October 2011. Fighting continues but the Libyan forces have vowed to rout Isil - which is predominantly comprised of foreigners, including Tunisians, Iraqis, Egyptians and Sudanese - from the city. Isil took control of Sirte, a city which had been largely abandoned by the post-Gaddafi authorities due to its reputation as a bastion of the former regime, last year. It consolidated its control through fear and intimidation, carrying out public executions in a bid to cow the local population. Isil has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Libya since late 2014, including one on the five-star Corinthia Hotel in the capital Tripoli last year, in which over a dozen people were killed, and several on oil facilities south of Sirte. It also abducted and later beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts near Sirte. Earlier this year, Isil carried out a suicide truck bombing on a police training centre in the western town of Zliten. More than 60 people were killed in what was Libya's single deadliest attack yet. Isil first gained a foothold in Derna, a city in eastern Libya. Many young men from Derna had travelled to Syria to join Isil in Syria and Iraq. Some returned home to build its first Libyan affiliate, which declared its allegiance to Isil leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in late 2014. The group's expansion into Libya was helped by the chaos caused by a political power struggle which began in summer 2014 and led to the country being divided between rival governments and rival parliaments, all backed by a constellation of armed groups. Isil saw opportunity in the resulting vacuum as the bickering factions were more focused on prevailing over their opponents than acknowledging, let alone addressing, the growing threat posed by the extremist group. A lengthy UN-led mediation process culminated last December in a deal designed to bring a unity government into existence. This government is currently trying to take shape in Tripoli but faces daunting challenges, including the fact that powerful armed groups in different parts of the country oppose it. Western powers had hoped this unity government would be the first step in bringing Libya's squabbling factions together to fight Isil but there is little sign of that happening. The forces that have taken on Isil in Sirte in recent weeks are all from western Libya and largely opposed to armed factions in eastern Libya, who are loyal to a controversial general named Khalifa Haftar. He is against the UN-backed unity government. The rapid advances made by the forces battling Isil in Sirte - which is 450km from Tripoli - have taken many by surprise. They managed to seize control of its port and airport early on but their push deeper into the city has slowed over the past week as Isil fighters responded with suicide bombings and snipers. The weeks-old offensive has so far left 145 anti-Isil fighters dead and 500 injured. Last week, their commanders were claiming that Sirte would fall 'within days' but that was premature. What is likely to unfold is a street-by-street battle in which hardened Isil fighters with nothing to lose put up a fierce fight to hold the city that became their stronghold. Over the past year, Isil has been driven from its first redoubt in Derna and from the outskirts of the western Libya town of Sabratha. Losing Sirte would be a blow not just to Isil in Libya but to the parent group in Syria and Iraq. Libya is the only place outside Syria and Iraq where the group controls territory. It has featured frequently in Isil propaganda, with the group calling on foreign fighters to flock to the country. With Libya just across the Mediterranean from Europe - something Isil has boasted of - the battle in Sirte is not just important for Libyans but also its European neighbours to the north. Iraqi special forces in Fallujah during an operation to retake the city from Isil. Photo: Jean Marc Mojon/Getty Aid groups estimate that 50,000 civilians remain trapped inside Fallujah, which has been under Isil control for over two years. It is the last major city in western Iraq held by the extremist group. "Iraqi forces are now in the centre of the city. They had not been there since the beginning of 2014," Haidar al-Obeidi, commander of Iraq's special forces, said. He said Isil "collapsed" and suggested that most of them had fled after the Iraqi forces moved in on the al-Nazzal neighbourhood. The neighbourhood, near the government complex, served as a base for the militants, where they had weapons warehouses and command centres. When the neighbourhood fell, the Iraqi troops were able to move into the city centre and the government complex. Troops are also clearing the highway to the west of the city, linking it to Baghdad. The United Nations has said that about 42,000 people have fled since the military operation against Fallujah began in late May. Aid groups say the number of those who have fled Fallujah is lower, closer to 30,000. The conflict in Iraq has forced more than 3.3 million people to flee their homes. Iraq is also hosting up to 300,000 refugees from the civil war in Syria. Meanwhile, a two-year-old boy was killed by militants while fleeing Fallujah with his family, an aid organisation has said, highlighting the dangers faced by civilians trying to escape. The Norwegian Refugee Council cited a relative as saying that an Isil fighter shot the boy as he was being carried out of the city by his mother on Monday. The gunfire hit the mother's shoulder and killed her son. It was the mother's fifth attempt to flee Fallujah since her husband's escape three months earlier, the relative said. On her previous four attempts, Isil fighters had forced her to turn back. On Monday, the mother and her two sons and three daughters, all under eight years old, joined other residents on a perilous journey out of Fallujah. The relative explained: "The children were getting agitated and uncomfortable in the water, making noises as they were about to dash out. They must have attracted the attention of the fighters, who opened fire." The toddler was killed instantly. His mother was bleeding heavily and had to be dragged out of the water by her companions. Her other children escaped unharmed. The names of the mother and her relative were withheld to protect other family members still living under Isil rule. The Russian defence minister has met Bashar Assad in Syria Russia's defence minister has travelled to Syria to meet with its leader and visit the Russian air base. The Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Sergei Shoigu met with Syrian president Bashar Assad to discuss military ties and co-operation in fighting "terrorist groups". Russia has conducted an air campaign in Syria since last September, helping Mr Assad's forces win back some ground. Mr Shoigu also visited the Hemeimeem air base in the province of Latakia, where he talked with pilots and inspected the S-400 air defence missile systems protecting the base. A US- and Russian-brokered ceasefire that began on February 27 has helped reduce hostilities, but fierce fighting has continued in many areas. Islamic State and the al Qaida branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, have been excluded from the truce. SHARE By Tim Smith, USA TODAY NETWORK Greenville News COLUMBIA Legislation to regulate the release of police dash cam video and to revise the state Freedom of Information Act has died after House and Senate negotiators could not agree to join the two bills. The House last month swapped revisions to the FOIA in a dash cam bill after a senator halted progress of the FOIA bill in the Senate. The Senate then rejected what the House did and negotiators tried to reach a compromise but to no avail. Lawmakers adjourned for the year this week with no agreement on the legislation. "They wouldn't budge," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Larry Martin of Pickens told The Greenville News. "I really think it boiled down, as much as anything, to the rhetoric directed from a House member to Sen. (Margie) Bright Matthews. The back and forth on that just sort of poisoned the well. And that's never a good thing." Matthews, a Colleton County Democrat, blocked revisions to the House-passed FOIA bill saying she objected to smaller counties being limited in what they can charge for public records requests following an incident there in which clerks were inundated with such requests. The proposed revisions would require copying fees for records not exceed rates by copying businesses and would limit fees to retrieve records to rates no higher than the lowest salary of the employees handling the records. Copy charges also would be banned if the information is released in electronic form. The time agencies have to decide whether to release information would also be cut under the bill from 15 days to 10 days. An administrative process would be established under the bill to handle disputes over information requests to avoid all such disputes being handled before a circuit judge. Rep. Bill Taylor, an Aiken Republican, had called out Matthews over her objection, telling his constituents that she alone was jeopardizing the bill. That, in turn, did not set well with Matthews or some of her Senate allies, including Sen. Gerald Malloy, a Darlington County Democrat, who vowed not to accept the FOIA revisions because of what was being said about Matthews. "The dash cam bill had been worked out," Martin said. "I had been led to believe when the House took that action they were not going to kill that bill by insisting on the FOIA bill. Well my fear was born out." Martin said he has no objection to the FOIA revisions and he plans to refile the dash cam bill for next year's session. Taylor said he "finds it amusing how the senators deflect their responsibility by accusing the House of calling out their rules that allow one senator to block any bill." "I identified Sen. Bright Matthews because she was, in fact, that obstacle," he said. "Apparently they don't like to be identified individually. It's a shame that the Senate put these two bills in the position that they did. They wanted us to pass the dash cam, first utterance bill and yet they wouldn't pass the FOIA enforcement bill because it hadn't been debated on the Senate floor. Well, the dash cam video bill wasn't debated on the House floor or even in committee because they got everything to us very late." Taylors said he expects both bills to move forward next year in the House. Under the Senate dash cam bill, law enforcement dash camera videos of officer shootings would be considered public and available under the state Freedom of Information Act but police and prosecutors could ask a circuit judge to withhold their release if there is "clear and convincing" evidence the video falls under one of several exemptions, such as depriving a defendant the right to a fair trial, interfering with a prospective law enforcement action or constituting an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy. The hearing must be requested within 15 days and would require a judge's private review of the video. Martin said the bill would prevent situations that can occur now in which police withhold a dash cam video but do not explain why or say simply that the investigation is not complete. Martin in December said he filed his bill in response to the fatal shooting in July of Zachary Hammond, a Seneca teen, by a police officer that was captured on the officer's dashboard camera. The Independent Mail, the Greenville News and The State newspaper in Columbia filed state Freedom of Information Act requests for copies of the video after the shooting and eventually sued for its release. The video was released near the end of October after 10th Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams concluded that the officer's actions did not constitute a crime. Martin said the bill would provide consistency for law enforcement, prosecutors and the public instead of the current handling of such requests, in which he said police or prosecutors do not have to detail why they are not releasing the video. The bill offers similar standards for making videos public under federal law. It also would withhold the utterances of a dying victim captured on a 911 call unless released by the next of kin. Martin said such situations aren't common, but he believes it is respectful of the family to keep such tragic moments out of the public view unless and until they may be broadcast or released in a court proceeding. Predicting the biggest Anderson and Pickens football games of Week 10 Daniel-Crescent and BHP-Wren lead the best games around Anderson and Pickens in Week 10 of the high school football season. PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY PENDLETON ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL JEFF BOOZER The group of 18 Pendleton High School students show their bulldog pride in Costa Rica. SHARE A group of Pendleton High School students take a tram trough a rain forest in Costa Rica. The Pendleton High School student group went hiking around Costa Rica. A group of Pendleton High School students take a hike at the Arenal Volcano National Park in Costa Rica. Kaylee Wooten, Katy Boozer and Matthew Blanton learn to process sugar cane at Cabecera De Cana in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. By Frances Parrish of the Independent Mail Imagine being strapped into a harness attached to a zip line and flying over a Costa Rican rain forest while watching the canopies of the trees rush by. The experience just happened for a group of Pendleton High School students and teachers. "When you come off the hillside and you come out over the clearing and look down at the rain forest, you feel like the only person alive," Spanish teacher Jerry Williamson said. The ziplining was part school trip in which 18 students immersed themselves in the Costa Rican culture for eight days. "It's a life-changing thing," Williamson said. "This goes past the classroom. It goes across the curriculum and goes across life." Williamson has wanted to plan a trip like this for a long time, but it finally came together this year. "When I was hired three years ago, my goal was to make trips abroad as part of the Spanish program," he said. Williamson enlisted the help of his assistant principal Jeff Boozer. Boozer took students on trips to Ireland, Italy, Spain and England during his tenure as a teacher at Palmetto High School several years ago. The Costa Rica trip took 15 months to plan and only cost $2,000. The students traveled all over the country. They visited Earth University in San Jose, visited an elementary school, took tram canopy tours through a rain forest, hiked around the base of a volcano and toured a coffee plantation as well as a banana planation. They also went horseback riding through Monte Verde and planted 21 trees alongside a technical college. For Boozer, it was neat to see his students to interact with native children at the elementary school and participate in the native dance of Costa Rica as well as plant trees in a foreign country. "For our kids to dig a hole and plant a tree in the foreign country was neat to do ...," Boozer said. "I think it's been beneficial for our kids to learn how our culture is similar and different from others." The ziplining and visiting the students in the elementary school were the two highlights of the trip for rising senior Sophia Schaffer. At the elementary school, the Pendleton students brought the children school supplies, talked with them and played games with them in the gym. "It was a lot different at the school," Schaffer said. "The kids were excited and we tried to talk to them in Spanish." Schaffer had never ziplined before, but she wasn't scared. They traversed the canopy of the forest, stopping on different platforms. "The last zip line was about 800 meters and way above the rain forest," she said. "You could look down and see cows in a pasture in the valley. It was an amazing view." Schaffer said she learned a lot after hiking around the volcano and interacting with the students and other locals. "My Spanish has gotten better and I learned about different plants and animals," she said. "It was a whole different environment that I've never seen before." For parent Mandy Wimpey, sending her son, Aaron, to Costa Rica was something she couldn't pass up. "We don't get to travel that much," Wimpey said. "To send him somewhere that far away was amazing. He had never been out of the country, and the whole process from packing to getting a passport was new and really exciting." Aaron said he enjoyed the ziplining and walking around different cities. "My favorite part was walking around and seeing different people," Aaron said. "We got to learn from their perspective." After an exhausting eight days, the students and teachers said this trip needs to be made annually. "I'm more convinced now than ever we need to do this each year," Williamson said. "Travel makes them more well-rounded and better citizens than we can teach academically." Follow Frances Parrish on Twitter @frances_AIM CoreNet Global, the worlds premier professional association for corporate real estate (CRE) executives, commenced its third annual India conference on CRE today. This years conference on the theme Corporate Real Estate: Coming of Age was aimed at advancing the CRE practice through a series of educational and networking sessions. Prominent Indian journalist, author and politician Arun Shourie was present to deliver the keynote address along with sessions by Sanjay Dutt, Cushman & Wakefield, George McKay, Colliers and Ram Chandnani, CBRE among many others. The India chapter assembled leading thinkers and real estate strategists to host discussions on key areas impacting the business of CRE in India. CRE is progressing rapidly alongside wider economic and geopolitical changes around the globe. Indias large technical talent pool, competitive cost options, and proactive government IT policies make it the fastest emerging business destination translating to an increased demand for skilled CRE professionals. The India chapter plays an essential role in expanding CoreNets global footprint. Our network of CRE professionals in India has been instrumental in expanding our knowledge base of successful CRE practices in the country. The corporate real estate landscape in India is evolving and people are seeing significant opportunities in the region for business, said Angela Cain, CEO, CoreNet Global, at the conference. CoreNet Global brings together over 130 members in the CRE profession across India including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai and over 10,000 members globally. The governments push for the development of local talent and urban infrastructure through initiatives such as the Smart City program and Make in India have won the confidence of the international business community. CRE professionals in India must be agile, able to anticipate change, and be prepared to react quickly, so that companies can take advantage of growth opportunities, cost efficiencies and local competencies, said Bhumesh Gaur, India Chapter Co-Chair, CoreNet Global. Senior end users from companies like: Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, American Express, Standard Chartered Bank, Cisco Systems, ANZ, Ciena India, Fidelity, Juniper Networkis, Visa, John Deere and VMware Software participated at the event. Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems today celebrated the foundation laying of a new facility in Hyderabad for its joint venture named TATA Boeing Aerospace Limited (TBAL). The joint venture has been established to co-produce Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages and other aerostructures, as well as to pursue integrated systems in aerospace. The Hyderabad production facility will eventually be the sole producer of AH-64 fuselages globally. The Apache has been flown or selected for acquisition by the United States and 15 other nations, including India. Participating in the ceremony were Shri Manohar Parrikar, defence minister, Government of India; Sri K. T. Rama Rao, honorable minister of IT and Industries & Commerce, Telangana; and other dignitaries from the Telangana government. The joint venture between Tata and Boeing is a significant step in developing Indias capabilities for aerospace & defense manufacturing and becoming a global exporter. This is a clear example of the significant progress made towards Make in India for defense, said Shri. Manohar Parrikar, Union Defence Minister. I am delighted to see Boeing and Tata step forward and make this significant investment in India." Speaking on the occasion, S. Ramadorai, Chairman of Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), said, Todays ground-breaking ceremony is a significant milestone in furthering our commitment to the Indian aerospace sector. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 this partnership could boost the emerging manufacturing sector, contributing to the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of Make in India. I am positive that this joint venture which brings together the core strengths of both companies will help take this strategic relationship to the next level." This joint venture is an exciting advancement for Boeing in leveraging our capital and expertise globally, said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India, and board member of TBAL. I am delighted that every such step we take is forging the way towards building an indigenous aerospace ecosystem in support of Make in India. In November 2015, Boeing and Tata announced a joint venture for manufacturing aerostructures and collaboration on integrated systems development opportunities in India. This joint venture will create a manufacturing center of excellence to produce aerostructures for the AH-64 Apache and provide affordable manufacturing capabilities to the global aerospace industry. Todays groundbreaking is the next step in Boeing and TASLs journey to develop key technologies and capabilities, said Dave Koopersmith, Boeing vice president, Vertical Lift, and board member of TBAL. We will be making significant investments to ensure the success of this joint venture as we bring value to our customers globally and compete for additional manufacturing work in the global market. We are proud to partner with Boeing to manufacture complex aerospace aerostructures parts out of India, said Sukaran Singh, MD & CEO, Tata Advanced Systems, and Board Member of TBAL. Tata Advanced Systems has developed expertise in manufacturing as well as in large scale systems integration work in the aerospace and defence sector. Our capabilities are further enhanced through collaborations and partnerships with leading global aerospace majors. We intend to grow this unique joint venture partnership with Boeing, focusing on opportunities to collaborate on development and life cycle management of integrated systems. Boeing and Tata group companies have established partnerships in India to manufacture aerostructures for Boeings commercial and military aircraft. Tata Advanced Materials has delivered composite panels for the power and mission equipment cabinets and auxiliary power unit door fairings for the P-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. TAL Manufacturing Solutions is manufacturing complex floor beams out of composite materials for the Boeing 787-9, the most modern aircraft with exceptional environmental and fuel-efficient capabilities. TAL Manufacturing Solutions has provided ground support equipment for the C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifter. Given the current prime ministers focus on improving Indias stature amongst the global investment community, there has been a big change in Indias image as a business and economic hub. After 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) was allowed into the real estate industry, it was only a matter of time before foreign developers made big investment announcements.One of Chinas most prominent developers,, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) earlier this year with the northern state of Haryana to. The investment of, phased out over the next decade, is a very significant outlay by any Chinese company in India.Other Chinese developers are also interested in India and most likely to follow suit. A MoU signed between China Fortune Land Development Company Private Limited (CFLD) and Haryana state will see large format industrial parks come up in the state. Gezhouba, another prominent Chinese construction company, has in-principle agreed to investin irrigation projects in Telangana state.It will be interesting to see if larger deals are signed in 2016. With China experiencing a slowdown in their own economy, the developers there will get an opportunity to benefit from Indias growth story. The Wanda investment will be one of its biggest, so far. It is also bigger than most deals that other Chinese companies investing abroad carried out in 2015.Even for the Indian real estate industry, it will be among the biggest investments in the residential and retail asset classes by a foreign developer. Increased participation by foreign players is expected to help in the development of quality projects, which will benefit end-users and simultaneously create opportunities for Indian investors too.It will be interesting to observe the implications of Wandas strategy and the innovations such foreign players bring to India as they compete with local and well-established players to capitalise on the opportunities that India gives them now.Foreign developers are also going to look at partnering with their Indian counterparts. Interestingly, large residential projects are of particular interest to other Chinese developers. It remains to be seen if commercial asset class also gets on their radar in the near future.Wanda plans to invest USD 10 billion in the next 10 years to construct industrial townships, retail and residential developments. According to media reports, construction of the phase-I of Wanda Industrial New City is likely to begin in 2016 and it will be spread over 1,300 hectares. It will comprise an industrial park that will house companies from various sectors, such as software, automotive manufacturing, machinery, health care, education and other industries. The first phase is anticipated to be completed in the next 3-5 years.Japanese and Chinese private equity investors are also looking at entering Indias real estate sector. Japanese developers are keen to explore strategic partnerships and enter into joint ventures with Indian builders, and are particularly interested in industrial projects. There is likely to be an inflow of at least USD 2 billion in investments from Japan into the Indian real estate market over the next three years.Interestingly, the RICS-JLL survey this January had shown that- all seasoned real estate investors - felt that institutions from Japan and China could come knocking to the Indian real estate market in 2016.The author is Chairman & Country Head, JLL India An Indian Consortium, led by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IndianOil), Oil India Limited (OIL) and Bharat PetroResources Limited (BPRL), a 100% subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), signed the definitive agreement to acquire up to 23.9% shares from Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft), NOC of Russia in JSC Vankorneft, a company organised under the law of the Russian Federation, which is the owner of Vankor and North Vankor Field licences. The acquisition is subject to relevant Board, Government and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by September 2016. The agreement was signed on 17 June 2016 during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) held in St. Petersburg in the presence of Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon. Minister of State-Independent Charge, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, and Mr. Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy, Russia, by Mr. B Ashok, Chairman, IndianOil; Mr. Biswajit Roy, Director (HR & BD), OIL; Mr. D Rajkumar, Managing Director, BPRL; and Mr. Igor I Sechin, President, Chairman of the Management Board, Vice-Chairman of Board of Directors of Rosneft. Presently Rosneft Oil Company holds 85% shares while ONGC Videsh Ltd (through its subsidiary) holds 15% shares in JSC Vankorneft. Vankor field, located in East Siberia, is Russias second largest field by production and accounts for around 4% of Russian production and currently producing oil at a level of approximately 422,000 bopd. It is the largest of the fields, discovered and commissioned in Russia during the last twenty five years and is located in the North of Eastern Siberia in Turukhansk District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory 142 km away from Igarka town. The recoverable resources of the Vankor field as of 01.01.2016 stood at 361 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 138 bcm of gas. With the closure of the Vankor deal, IndianOil's equity oil portfolio will go up by 1.6 MMT per annum. The agreement takes forward the shared vision of the Honble Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, and the Honble President of Russia, Mr. Vladimir Putin, to strengthen the India-Russia partnership over the next decade, especially in the hydrocarbons sector. Commenting on the occasion, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon. Minister of State-Independent Charge, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, said, The agreement will further strengthen the long-standing relationship between Indian PSUs and Rosneft, paving the way for an enriching journey together. The acquisitions also have significant strategic importance to India, both in terms of augmenting Indias energy security as well as enhancing Indias stature in the global political and economic arenas. About IndianOil: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IndianOil) is India's largest commercial enterprise, ranked 119th among the world's largest corporates (and first among Indian enterprises) in the prestigious Fortune Global 500 listing for the year 2015. IndianOil has been meeting Indias energy demands for over half a century. Its business interests straddle the entire hydrocarbon value-chain from refining, pipeline transportation and marketing of petroleum products to exploration & production of crude oil & gas, marketing of natural gas and petrochemicals, besides forays into alternative energy and globalisation of downstream operations. As part of its Exploration & Production portfolio, IndianOil has participating interest in eight domestic and seven overseas blocks. The seven overseas blocks are located in Libya, Gabon, Nigeria, Yemen, Venezuela, Canada and USA. IndianOil accounts for nearly half of India's petroleum products market share, 35% national refining capacity (together with its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd., or CPCL), and 71% downstream sector pipelines through capacity. The IndianOil Group owns and operates 11 of India's 23 refineries with a combined refining capacity of 80.7 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum). The Corporation's cross-country pipelines network, for transportation of crude oil to refineries and finished products to high-demand centres, spans over 11,750 km. IndianOil's network of over 45,000 customer touch-points reaches petroleum products to every nook and corner of the country. These include over 25,000 fuel stations, including 6,700 Kisan Seva Kendra (KSK) outlets in the rural markets. They are backed for supplies by 130 bulk storage terminals and depots, 100 aviation fuel stations and 91 LPG bottling plants. About Rosneft: Rosneft is the leader of Russias petroleum industry and the worlds largest publicly traded petroleum company. Rosneft activities include hydrocarbon exploration and production, upstream offshore projects, hydrocarbon refining, and crude oil, gas and product marketing in Russia and abroad. The Company is included in the list of strategic companies and organizations of Russia. The main Company shareholder (69.50%) is OJSC ROSNEFTEGAZ, a 100% state-owned company. BP owns another 19.75%, and the remaining 10.75% of shares are publicly traded. Rosneft conducts its exploration and production activities in all key hydrocarbon provinces of Russia, including West Siberia, Southern and Central Russia, Timan-Pechora, East Siberia, Far East, and Russian continental shelf, including the Arctic region. The Company is also embarking on and implementing a number of projects in Venezuela, Brazil, USA, Canada, UAE, Algeria, Norway, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Abkhazia. Infosys conducted its 35th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday, June 18. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka at his 2nd AGM, stayed firm on his target to achieve $20 billion in revenue, by 2020."Infosys is moving towards a model based on innovation," Sikka said, adding that the company has laid out a strategy consisting of two parts."The 'Renew' and 'New' strategy has been key for growth in FY16 and Renew strategy has been well executed during FY16," he further stated.The company said that operating margins of the company grew by 12.9% for FY16, registering net profit margin at 21.6%. Infosys recorded FY16 revenue of Rs.62,441 crore, North America being the largest revenue contributor at 62.7%, whereas a slight drop in Europe due to currency depreciation.The operating cash flow improved to Rs.12,000 crore whereas the cash liquidity for FY16 stood at Rs.34,468 crore. It achieved annual revenue growth of 13.3% , in constant currency terms while the annual growth rate stood at 9.1% , in dollar terms.Infosys informed that the average revenue from top 10 clients has increased to $14 million whereas the performance in large deal wins went up by over 40%, during the year.Commenting on market volatility, Sikka said, "Infosys saw significant currency volatility in FY16 and the business models have been changing rapidly."Sikka stressed on measures like Zero Distance, Automation and Design Thinking, for deepening employee engagement over the last few years. He informed that 94,000 employees have been trained in Design Thinking, while 90% of projects have implemented 'Zero Distance'.Attrition rate of the company fell to 13.6% in FY16 as against 18.9% in FY15. There cant be anything more cruel than losing someone to death. It takes a lot of time for a person to get over someone's death, and all hell breaks loose if that someone was really close to you. While we choose our own way of dealing with pain and loneliness, a 68 YO man in Nepal found his rebound by joining school. Yes, that's right. Here's a story that will inspire you beyond imagination. Durga Kami, a 68-year-old man lost his wife to death and since then has been living in his one-room house. Instead of grieving his wife's death and succumbing to depression and loneliness, the Nepalese grandfather prefers to put a brave foot forward. Reuters Reuters His morning routine involves pulling up his socks (literally), wearing his school uniform and heading to school with the aid of his walking stick. Reuters When Kami wanted to complete his education, poverty acted like a spoiler and he could never achieve his goal of becoming a teacher. Now at 68, the father of six and grandfather of eight heads to school six days a week, and that's how he coping up with his loneliness. He studies in a class with 20 other children and all the 10th graders call him Kami 'Baa' ('father' in Nepali). Apart from his classes, he also joins all his class mate in other activities, including volleyball in the schoolyard. Reuters Talking to Reuters, 68 YO Kami added: "To forget my sorrows I go to school." Reuters Kami's 14-year-old class mate Sagar Thapa said, "I used to think 'why is this old man coming to school to study with us?' but as time passed I enjoyed his company. He is a little bit weak in studies compared to us but we help him out with that." Kami has also made a sweet promise to Sagar that if he passes the 10th grade, he will chop off his beard. Stories like these make us realise how trivial our issues in life are and that there is always something to look forward to. Let's hope he passes his 10th grade this time. The Udta Punjab online leak has left many baffled, wondering how the movie got leaked in the first place! Although allegations for the leak were being made on the Censor Board itself, considering it was 'for censor' copy, nothing has been proved yet. Headed by Joint Secretary Sanjay Murthy, an I&B Ministry team visited the CBFC office to probe the matter. Headed by Joint Secretary Sanjay Murthy, said the visit was in the wake of reports that a censor copy of Udta Punjab was leaked by the Board two days before the film's release. An Information & Broadcasting Ministry team, headed by Joint Secretary Sanjay Murthy, reached the office of Central Board of Film Certification, headed by Pahlaj Nihalani, on Friday. The visit was following reports that a copy of the Abhishek Chaubey directed Udta Punjab had been leaked on Wednesday, two days before the film's theatrical release, from the CBFC office. The makers worked overnight to remove it from all available Torrent sites which are used to download films. The leak is already under investigation by the Mumbai Police with a case registered under the Copyright and Information Technology Act. According to sources, Murthy and senior CBFC officials were holed up at the CBFC headquarters in Mumbai for a long time. The Ministry in Delhi maintains that no formal probe has been initiated and the visit was to assess facts. "We have not instituted any formal enquiry," a senior official from the Ministry told Mirror on condition of anonymity. Hindu Nihalani meanwhile has dismissed allegations that a Censor Board member is behind the leak. "The leaked copy is not the one submitted to the Censor Board for examination. We will cooperate with the investigation," the Chairperson asserted. But Nihalni's bete noire within the Board, Ashoke Pandit, had told reporters that he is sure the film was leaked by someone within the Board. He also alleged that the timing of the leak is one of the biggest clues. "Had the High Court judgement been in favour of the board's cuts, I am sure this leak would not have happened. When a producer hands over the censor copy it becomes the responsibility of the CBFC to ensure that it doesn't go anywhere," he said, adding that as head of the Board Nihalani should be held responsible for the leak. On Saturday, four units of the rare Bombay blood group will be flown across the border to save the life of a Bangladeshi youth waiting to undergo a life-saving surgery in Dhaka. Four Mumbaikars have come to the rescue of accident victim Mohammed Kamruzzaman who needs the blood for an urgent surgery to treat multiple fractures. BCCL/representational image The 25-year-old had met with a traffic accident in Dhaka on May 21 and was taken to the local Apollo Hospital for treatment. Doctors discovered that his blood group was incompatible with most common types. On further investigation, they found he had the rare Bombay blood group that even leading banks in Bangladesh were unaware of. In India, where a robust blood distribution network exists, less than 400 people are known to have the Bombay blood group, of whom few are active traceable donors. A frantic online and offline search led them to Vinay Shetty of the city-based NGO Think Foundation. BCCL/representational image SK Tuhinur Alam, one of Kamruzzaman's colleagues, reached Mumbai on Thursday to collect the precious units that were donated by Swapna Sawant, Krishnanand Kori, Mehul Bhelekar and Pravin Shinde. "We had given up hope that he will live. The bones of his left leg and hand are shattered. His pelvis too is broken. Doctors told us only surgery could guarantee his complete recovery," Alam told TOI on Friday . BCCL "We searched up and down the city (Dhaka) and called up an uncountable number of hospitals and blood banks, but most had never heard of this blood group. The hospital decided to test his family members and found his sister had the same group. But she was not fit to donate. Our employer, Arinoba Plastic Industries, facilitated this inter-country coordination after learning that Kamruzzaman was the main bread winner for the family and his ailing mother's treatment was dependent on his earnings. In a way, India is not saving just one life, but an entire family." BCCL/representational image It has been an uphill task for the NGO to get multiple authorities to allow the export of blood, which is only permitted under special circumstances. "We had to seek many permissions as export is permitted only under license. We got approvals from the State Blood Transfusion Council, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, Directorate of Health Services and Central Industrial Security Force that mans airport security ," Shetty said. The blood units will be transported in a special plastic box with ice gel packs. "Blood has a long shelf life, of about six weeks. Temperature control is key," he said. The Indian Air Force on Saturday added a new chapter in its illustrious history by commissioning its first batch of women fighter pilots. Flight cadets Avani Chaturvedi of Madhya Pradesh, Mohana Singh of Rajasthan and Bhawana Kanth of Bihar, were formally commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at a combined graduation parade at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal. History created: India's first batch of women fighter pilots commissioned https://t.co/A4v8otSkWBhttps://t.co/CVzENjxXU7 Times of India (@timesofindia) June 18, 2016 Avani Chaturvedi, Mohana Singh and Bhawna Kanth, female pilots who will be inducted in IAF fighter squadron shortly pic.twitter.com/wmAY106snR ANI (@ANI_news) June 18, 2016 This is the first time women have managed to break the glass-ceiling and make their presence felt in an area that was a male bastion for decades. They are part of the first batch of trainees recruited by IAF last year after the government decided to open the fighter stream for women on an experimental basis for five years. PTI All of them cleared the first stage of training and have about 150 hours of flying. Once they pass out at the Combined Graduation Parade Spring Term 2016, the three will begin advanced training on the advanced jet trainer, British built Hawks at Bidar in Karnataka. Flying officer Avani Chaturvedi after being inducted in IAF fighter squadron pic.twitter.com/5kxMdsxctC ANI (@ANI_news) June 18, 2016 It will take another 145 hours on the Hawks before they actually get into the cockpit of a supersonic fighter. Fighter pilot training takes place in three stages. Even though the IAF had women pilots since 1991, they were only for choppers and transport aircrafts, and not for combat roles. Though the glass ceiling in the defence forces is now being gradually broken, the Army and Navy have no plans as of now to induct women into the infantry, armoured corps or artillery, nor allow them to serve on board warships These are the three ladies who scripted history Avani Chaturvedi Avani was born in Madhya Pradesh's Satna district. She did her schooling from a small town named Deolond which is located near Rewa. She joined the IAF after completing her B Tech in Computer Science from Banasthali University, Jaipur. Her father is an executive engineer working for the state government. Her mother is a home maker. "My dream is to become a good fighter pilot on whom seniors can always rely when it comes to flying for live operations. I want to fly the best fighter aircraft and learn more and more each day," she says. Bhawana Kanth A native of a remote village in Darbhanga district, 24-year-old Bhawana Kanth has made Bihar proud by becoming one of the three first women fighter stream pilots in India's history. After completing her secondary education from Vidya Mandir, Kota, she joined BMS engineering college, Bangalore for doing BTech in medical electronics. After B Tech, she joined air force service commission. Mohana Singh Singh is from Jhunjunu, Rajasthan. Her father is in the IAF and her mother is a teacher. She completed her schooling from Air Force School, New Delhi and did her BTech (Electronics & Amp Comm) from GIMET, Amritsar. Having her father and grandfather in the defence forces, made Singh aspire to join the ranks and continue the family legacy. The irony of the birth places of C V Raman and S Chandrasekhar not being touched by technology will soon end. zeta.kenfolios The ancestral villages of the two Nobel laureates in Thanjavur district will now have 2 Mbps Wi-Fi, thanks to an initiative by the World Broadband Alliance (WBA). Microsense, a wireless internet service provider headquartered in Chennai and a founding-member of WBA, is carrying out the drive to link unconnected parts of the country. Villages Purasakudi and Mangudi, about 20km from Thanjavur, will have internet access from June 20, the World Wi-Fi Day. A team from Microsense are in the two villages setting up the last mile connection, tapping radio frequency signals from Wi-Fi towers in Thanjavur and Kumbakonam. BCCL/representational image Microsense India executive director Sujit Singh said, "Access points are being set up using Microsense's path breaking Cloud Wi-Fi platform near schools, the panchayat office, prominent streets and residential parts in the two villages where most of the 1000-odd families own smartphones." wikimedia Microsense has also donated two laptops to the Mangudi government-aided village school (up to Class 6) and a desktop as a common resource for villagers' use. Speaking of the hurdles in setting up connectivity in the remote villages, Singh said, "There are challenges that include provisioning power, drawing in the last mile from far off locations, besides deploying Wi-Fi gears." photonics.cusat World famous physicist C V Raman's ancestral home is in Purasakudi. Raman's grandnephew V S Sunder who is a mathematician at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences in the city welcomed the initiative. Raman's grandniece Uma Parameswaran, a retired English professor and now based in Canada, said, "C V Raman had great faith in the younger generation. He enjoyed taking schoolchildren around his institute." Pakistan's nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear warheads, although it could have more, says the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) in its latest report. AFP The report "Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons," is authored by Paul K Kerr, analyst in non-proliferation, and Mary Beth Nikitin, specialist in non-proliferation. The report dated June 14, comes in the wake of Pakistan lobbying at the Capitol Hill and before the US government in support of its membership to the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group. In the past few weeks, top Pakistani leadership including its Ambassador to the US have been writing letters to lawmakers and meeting Government officials to push for its NSG bid. AP Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military action against it. The report also expresses concern over the safety of Islamabad's nuclear weapons. "Some observers fear radical takeover of the Pakistani government or diversion of material or technology by personnel within Pakistan's nuclear complex. While US and Pakistani officials continue to express confidence in controls over Pakistan's nuclear weapons, continued instability in the country could impact these safeguards," the report said. AFP CRS is the independent research wing of the US Congress, which periodically prepares reports on issues of interest to American lawmakers for information purpose only and does not represent the official position of the US Congress. Madhya Pradesh has lost yet another big cat on Friday taking the total to three tiger deaths in the past one week alone. This time it was a tiger cub at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Umeria district. Save The Tiger/ Representational Image The administration is blaming the fight for territory among male tigers as the reason behind the recent deaths. According to a recent census, Bandhavgarh reserve houses 63 tigers in 1,600 sq kilometre, which experts say is disproportionate to the protected area. This brings the big cats into conflict for controlling a particular area. wildography/ Representational Image Tigers killing other tigers is more bad news for the conservation efforts of the state government. Madhya Pradesh had recorded a 20% increase in tiger numbers, from 257 in 2010 to 308 in 2014. BCCL However since 2015 the state has lost nearly 30 big cats. As many as 11 of them were killed in past four months either due to poisoning or electrocution from deadly electric wire traps laid for wild boars and deer. At least three were killed for sorcery after people conned villagers with the lure of receiving 'rain of wealth' from the sky. Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. POWER-GEN Europe and co-located Renewable Energy World Europe, represent the dynamic centre point, where a rapidly evolving power industry meets to gather information and compare views on shared opportunities and challenges. Attracting a worldwide audience, it is the industrys premier event, resolved to discussing solutions for advancing Europe's energy future. Featuring the leading suppliers, sub-suppliers, service providers and end-users across the entire power generation value chain, POWER-GEN Europe and Renewable Energy World Europe encapsulate all aspects of todays centralised and distributed power generation sector. Together they combine strategic and technical presentations with the largest trade show exhibition of power equipment and services in Europe. Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter Trump, His Virus and the Dark Age of Unreason By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Huffington Post " - Theres a virus infecting our politics and right now its flourishing with a scarlet heat. It feeds on fear, paranoia and bigotry. All that was required for it to spread was a timely opportunity and an opportunist with no scruples. There have been stretches of history when this virus lay dormant. Sometimes it would flare up here and there, then fade away after a brief but fierce burst of fever. At other moments, it has spread with the speed of a firestorm, a pandemic consuming everything in its path, sucking away the oxygen of democracy and freedom. Today its carrier is Donald Trump, but others came before him: narcissistic demagogues who lie and distort in pursuit of power and self-promotion. Bullies all, swaggering across the landscape with fistfuls of false promises, smears, innuendo and hatred for others, spite and spittle for anyone of a different race, faith, gender or nationality. In America, the virus has taken many forms: Pitchfork Ben Tillman, the South Carolina governor and senator who led vigilante terror attacks with a gang called the Red Shirts and praised the efficiency of lynch mobs; radios charismatic Father Charles Coughlin, the anti-Semitic, pro-Fascist Catholic priest who reached an audience of up to 30 million with his attacks on Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal; Mississippis Theodore Bilbo, a member of the Ku Klux Klan who vilified ethnic minorities and deplored the mongrelization of the white race; Louisianas corrupt and dictatorial Huey Long, who promised to make Every Man a King. And of course, George Wallace, the governor of Alabama and four-time presidential candidate who vowed, Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. Note that many of these men leavened their gospel of hate and their lust for power with populism giving the people hospitals, schools and highways. Father Coughlin spoke up for organized labor. Both he and Huey Long campaigned for the redistribution of wealth. Tillman even sponsored the first national campaign-finance reform law, the Tillman Act, in 1907, banning corporate contributions to federal candidates. But their populism was tinged with poison a pernicious nativism that called for building walls to keep out people and ideas they didnt like. Which brings us back to Trump and the hotheaded, ego-swollen provocateur he most resembles: Joseph McCarthy, U.S. senator from Wisconsin until now perhaps our most destructive demagogue. In the 1950s, this madman terrorized and divided the nation with false or grossly exaggerated tales of treason and subversion stirring the witches brew of anti-Communist hysteria with lies and manufactured accusations that ruined innocent people and their families. I have here in my hand a list, he would claim a list of supposed Reds in the State Department or the military. No one knew whose names were there, nor would he say, but it was enough to shatter lives and careers. In the end, McCarthy was brought down. A brave journalist called him out on the same television airwaves that helped the senator become a powerful, national sensation. It was Edward R. Murrow, and at the end of an episode exposing McCarthy on his CBS series See It Now, Murrow said: It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the junior senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. There also was the brave and moral lawyer Joseph Welch, acting as chief counsel to the U.S. Army after it was targeted for one of McCarthys inquisitions. When McCarthy smeared one of his young associates, Welch responded in full view of the TV and newsreel cameras during hearings in the Senate. Youve done enough, Welch said. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?... If there is a God in heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further. It was a devastating moment. Finally, McCarthys fellow senators including a handful of brave Republicans turned on him, putting an end to the reign of terror. It was 1954. A motion to censure McCarthy passed 67-22, and the junior senator from Wisconsin was finished. He soon disappeared from the front pages, and three years later was dead. Heres something McCarthy said that could have come straight out of the Trump playbook: McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled. Sounds just like The Donald, right? Interestingly, you can draw a direct line from McCarthy to Trump two degrees of separation. In a Venn diagram of this pair, the place where the two circles overlap, the person they share in common, is a fellow named Roy Cohn. Cohn was chief counsel to McCarthys Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the same one Welch went up against. Cohn was McCarthys henchman, a master of dark deeds and dirty tricks. When McCarthy fell, Cohn bounced back to his hometown of New York and became a prominent Manhattan wheeler-dealer, a fixer representing real estate moguls and mob bosses anyone with the bankroll to afford him. He worked for Trumps father, Fred, beating back federal prosecution of the property developer, and several years later would do the same for Donald. If you need someone to get vicious toward an opponent, Trump told a magazine reporter in 1979, you get Roy. To another writer he said, Roy was brutal but he was a very loyal guy. Cohn introduced Trump to his McCarthy-like methods of strong-arm manipulation and to the political sleazemeister Roger Stone, another dirty trickster and unofficial adviser to Trump who just this week suggested that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin was a disloyal American who may be a spy for Saudi Arabia, a terrorist agent. Cohn also introduced Trump to the man who is now his campaign chair, Paul Manafort, the political consultant and lobbyist who without a moral qualm in the world has made a fortune representing dictators even when their interests flew in the face of human rights or official US policy. So the ghost of Joseph McCarthy lives on in Donald Trump as he accuses President Obama of treason, slanders women, mocks people with disabilities, and impugns every politician or journalist who dares call him out for the liar and bamboozler he is. The ghosts of all the past American demagogues live on in him as well, although none of them have ever been so dangerous none have come as close to the grand prize of the White House. Because even a pathological liar occasionally speaks the truth, Trump has given voice to many who feel theyve gotten a raw deal from establishment politics, who see both parties as corporate pawns, who believe they have been cheated by a system that produces enormous profits from the labor of working men and women that are gobbled up by the 1 percent at the top. But again, Trumps brand of populism comes with venomous race-baiting that spews forth the red-hot lies of a forked and wicked tongue. We can hope for journalists with the courage and integrity of an Edward R. Murrow to challenge this would-be tyrant, to put the truth to every lie and publicly shame the devil for his outrages. We can hope for the likes of Joseph Welch, who demanded to know whether McCarthy had any sense of decency. Think of Gonzalo Curiel, the jurist Trump accused of persecuting him because of the judges Mexican heritage. Curiel has revealed the soulless little man behind the curtain of Trumps alleged empire, the avaricious money-grubber who conned hard-working Americans out of their hard-won cash to attend his so-called university. And we can hope there still remain in the Republican Party at least a few brave politicians who will stand up to Trump, as some did McCarthy. This might be a little harder. For every Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham who have announced their opposition to Trump, there is a weaselly Paul Ryan, a cynical Mitch McConnell and a passel of fellow travelers up and down the ballot who claim not to like Trump and who may not wholeheartedly endorse him but will vote for him in the name of party unity. As this headline in The Huffington Postaptly put it, Republicans Are Twisting Themselves Into Pretzels To Defend Donald Trump. Ten GOP senators were interviewed about Trump and his attack on Judge Curiels Mexican heritage. Most hemmed and hawed about their presumptive nominee. As Trump gets to reality on things hell change his point of view and be, you know, more responsible. That was Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. Trumps comments were racially toxic but dont give me any pause. That was Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Republican African-American in the Senate. And Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas? He said Trumps words were unfortunate. Asked if he was offended, Jennifer Bendery writes, the senator put his fingers to his lips, gestured that he was buttoning them shut, and shuffled away. No profiles in courage there. But why should we expect otherwise? Their acquiescence, their years of kowtowing to extremism in the appeasement of their base, have allowed Trump and his nightmarish sideshow to steal into the tent and take over the circus. Alexander Pope once said that party spirit is at best the madness of the many for the gain of a few. A kind of infection, if you will a virus that spreads through the body politic, contaminating all. Trump and his ilk would sweep the promise of America into the dustbin of history unless they are exposed now to the disinfectant of sunlight, the cleansing torch of truth. Nothing else can save us from the dark age of unreason that would arrive with the triumph of Donald Trump. Follow Bill Moyers on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BillMoyersHQ Follow Michael Winship on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MichaelWinship Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter For Email Marketing you can trust Donate Please read our Comment Policy before posting - It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. Putin Says Accepts U.S. is Sole Superpower, Dilutes Trump Praise By Reuters June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Reuters " - ST PETERSBURG, Russia President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he accepted the United States was probably still the world's sole superpower and he was ready to work with whoever won the presidency, but didn't want to be told how to live by Americans. Putin's comments follow a rocky period in U.S.-Russia relations, which have been undermined by disagreements over issues such as Ukraine and Syria. Putin reiterated criticism of what he said was the misguided role of the United States in Ukraine's affairs and said he opposed what he cast as U.S. efforts to prevent Russia repairing its relations with the European Union. But he had some positive words too. "America is a great power - today probably the only superpower. We accept that," Putin said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. "We want to and are ready to work with the United States." Asked about Donald Trump, Putin appeared to play down positive comments he had made about the Republican contender in the past, saying those had been misinterpreted. In December, Putin described Trump as "very flamboyant", "very talented" and "an absolute leader in the presidential race". Those comments, along with warm words from Trump about Putin, have fueled speculation the Kremlin would be pleased to see Trump in the White House. But on Friday Putin said he had only described Trump as "flamboyant". "He is, isn't he?" said Putin with a smile. "I did not give any other assessment of him." Putin said he welcomed Trump's desire to restore U.S.-Russia ties. "What's wrong with that?" Putin asked, drawing applause from the audience. He appeared keen however to hedge Russia's bets by avoiding the impression he was taking sides, and also emphasized his "warm relations" with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose wife Hillary is running for the White House. Putin said he was grateful for the attention and respect Bill Clinton had shown to Russia and Putin personally. He had less to say about Hillary Clinton though, saying he had never worked with her directly. (Reporting by Christian Lowe, Alexander Winning, Katya Golubkova and Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Jason Bush and Polina Devitt; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Russia Dismantles the Myth of the American Navys Invincibility By Valentin Vasilescu June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Katehon " - US rules the globe, having a navy three times stronger than that of Russia. Moreover, the Pentagon has created a strategic command to deploy large units of land forces, consisting of hundreds of cargo ships of large capacity. All of these vessels are organized in very strong expeditionary naval groups and around aircraft carriers, amphibious landing ships, and naval convoys of troops and military equipment. With troops deployed in Europe and Asia, with the armies of allied states, the US can trigger an invasion of Russia. Therefore Russia's new military doctrine establishes that the biggest risk to Russia's security groups is the American expeditionary naval groups, which can transport invasion troops to the Russian border. Several types of anti-ballistic shield protect US naval expeditionary groups and zones of landing for troops from transport ships. The first is the naval system AEGIS armed with SM-3 block 1b mounted on US destroyers and cruisers AEGIS, plus anti-ballistic shields in Poland and one in Romania. The second is the mobile THAAD system of the US land forces, defending landing zones. Add to this the mobile long-range missile anti-aircraft batteries like Patriot with anti-ballistic capabilities against missiles that are in their final stage of the path, under an altitude of 35,000 m. The premise from which Russian experts started building hypersonic vehicles was that American antiballistic missiles cannot intercept any projectile flying in the mesosphere (at altitudes of 35.000- 80.000 m), and that Russia, unlike the US, owns a number of very powerful rocket engines. For example, the Pentagon and NASA cannot send satellites into orbit if Russia does not deliver the RD-180 rocket engines. Russia is on the verge of creating, starting in 2018, the surest antidote to this vulnerability by means of a hypersonic battle. Aerial vehicles are classified according to the airspeed as follows: subsonic (below the speed of 1,220 km/h, - Mach 1) supersonic (speeds between Mach 1 and Mach 5 - up to 6000 km/h), and hypersonic (with speeds between Mach 5 and Mach 10 up to 12,000 km/h). Russian hypersonic weapons The main Russian hypersonic weapon are derived from space glider Yu-71 (Project 4202), which flew during tests at a speed of 6000-11200 km/h over a distance of 5,500 km at a cruising altitude below 80,000 m, receiving repeated pulses from a rocket engine to climb, execute maneuvers and cornering trajectory. It is estimated that the glider is armed with warheads that are spatially independent, with autonomous guidance systems similar to the air-ground missiles Kh-29 L/T and T Kh-25 (which provides a probable deviation of 2-6 m). Although it may take nuclear warheads, the space glider will be armed with conventional warheads and will be powered by a rocket launched normally from nuclear-powered Russian submarines. Another variant of the hypersonic weapon derived from the Yu-71 would be those launched from the Russian military transport aircraft Il-76MD-90A (II-476). Since 50% of the missiles fuel is spent solely on take off and rising though the layers of extremely dense atmosphere of up to 10,000 m, mass launcher and glider space represents 50% of the rocket carrier used to launch from nuclear-powered submarines. The second type of weapon different from hypersonic spatial glider is the Zirkon 3M22 missile, which is launched from maritime patrol aircraft. Zirkon has a speed of Mach 6.2 (6500 km/h) at a cruising altitude of 30,000 m and a kinetic energy at impact with the target 50 times higher than existing air-ship and ship-to ship missiles. Hypersonic concept for a war The new Russian military doctrine states that an attack on the American invasion fleet is to be executed in three waves, three alignments, thus preventing American expeditionary naval groups from positioning themselves near the Russian coast of the Baltic Sea. The first wave of hypersonic weapons, consisting of space gliders arranged on Russian nuclear-powered submarines under immersion in the middle of the Atlantic, starts fighting US naval expeditionary groups as they start crossing the Atlantic to Europe. The American naval groups need 7-8 days to cross the Atlantic; the plane Il-76MD-90A has a maximum flight distance of 6300 km and can be powered in the air, reaching the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in a few hours. If the first wave does not destroy the targets, the second wave of hypersonic weapons will be launched on the US naval groups when they are located 1,000 km from the eastern shore of the Atlantic Ocean. The attack will be launched from the Russian submarines in the Barents Sea or Plesesk base of strategic missiles, located near the Arctic Circle and the White Sea. The third wave of hypersonic attack will be executed by missiles 3M22 Zirkon launched on American naval groups when they would be in the Skagerrak strait (crossing the North Sea to the Baltic Sea), on the assumption that NATO is attacking Russia through the Baltics. If the American expeditionary naval group head to the Black Sea, it will be hit by the third wave of hypersonic weapons in the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. Why Is the Killer of British MP Jo Cox Not Being Called a "Terrorist"? By Glenn Greenwald June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " The Intercept " - British Labour MP Jo Cox was brutally murdered yesterday. Although the motive is not yet proven, there is mounting evidence that the detained suspect, 52-year-old white male Thomas Mair, was motivated by political ideology. Cox was an outspoken advocate for refugees. At least two witnesses say Mair, as he carried out the attack, yelled Britain First, the name of a virulently right-wing anti-immigrant party. He has years of affiliation with neo-Nazi groups: what Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a long history with white nationalism. The UK is in the midst of a bitter and virulent debate about whether to exit the EU Cox opposed that and much of the pro-Brexit case centers around fear-mongering over immigrants. The #brexit referendum has poisoned the country https://t.co/fc2EpkGLzx Steve Loughran (@steveloughran) June 17, 2016 Despite all of this, its virtually impossible to find any media outlet calling the attacker a terrorist or even suggesting that it might be terrorism. To the contrary, the suspected killer overnight has been alternatively described as a gentle soul or a mentally ill loner: Both rags that did most to fuel an atmosphere of hate want you to know he was a 'loner' and no one else is to blame. pic.twitter.com/UawOIduKdT Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) June 17, 2016 The singularly sensitive way that the media treats violent white men is beyond cliche at this point. pic.twitter.com/fixp8lO5eo Reed F. Richardson (@reedfrich) June 17, 2016 This stands in stark contrast to a very similar incident that took place in the U.K. in 2010, when a British MP, Stephen Timms, was brutally stabbed and almost killed by a woman angry over his vote in support of the Iraq War. In that case, British media outlets almost uniformly called the attack terrorism; The Guardian, for instance, described it as the first terrorist attack to injure someone on the U.K. mainland since 7 July 2005. The headline of the British tabloid Mirror called the attacker a woman terrorist. And just yesterday, another tabloid, The Sun, reported on Timmss comments about Cox and, in its headline, referred to him as Terror Stab Survivor. The difference is obvious: Timmss attacker was a Muslim of Bangladeshi descent, while Coxs alleged killer is not. As Ive written repeatedly, the word terrorism has no real concrete meaning and certainly no consistent application. In the West, functionally speaking, its now a propaganda term with little meaning other than a Muslim who engages in violence against Westerners or their allies. Its even used for Muslims who attack soldiers of an army occupying their country. Its certainly true that there are some suggestions that Mair Coxs alleged killer had struggles with mental illness. But exactly the same was true of Omar Mateen, who slaughtered 49 people in an Orlando LGBT club last week, and he was instantly decreed to be a terrorist by essentially every media outlet despite those mental health issues and his obvious struggles with his own sexual orientation. Again, the difference is painfully obvious. As Reza Aslan put it today about Mair: He suffered from mental illness is now terror shorthand for he wasnt Muslim even if he was a fucking Nazi! At this point, it is not hyperbole to note that the real definition of these terms is best captured by this screen shot from Family Guy: If Jo Cox's killer was motivated by ideology & political hatred, why are so few outlets calling it "terrorism"? https://t.co/WT7aoA1yDO Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 17, 2016 Those who instantly and reflexively call Muslims terrorists struggled with how to process this latest attack. As The Telegraphs Dan Hodges noted, a Breitbart writer indignantly complained just four days ago that the media were refusing to assign collective guilt to Muslims for Mateens attack and instead were blaming mental illness The media are trying to spin that this was a lone wolf attack by an unbalanced individual while ignoring the Islamic beliefs of the attacker while another Breitbart writer yesterday said exactly the opposite about Coxs killer: Are we seriously being expected to believe that this act of violence by a deranged loner represents a statement on the political climate of Britain of which we should all take note? As The Guardians Hadley Freeman put it: It really is something seeing the same people so quick to blame Islam for other killings cry now "We don't know the motive! Mental illness!" Hadley Freeman (@HadleyFreeman) June 17, 2016 Meanwhile, there was this stunningly illuminating exchange on the Facebook page of Britain First: Did a lightbulb just go off on the Britain First Facebook page? pic.twitter.com/a9nwWrtuxN Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) June 16, 2016 To be very clear: Im glad when the media withhold judgment about a killers motives or goals before there is sufficient evidence to know that with reasonable certainty. I have no particular objection to their refraining from applying the terrorist label to Coxs killer before more evidence is available. And, as I said, the term terrorist at this point has so little cogent meaning that debates about how to apply it seem quaint and completely academic. The scholars Remi Brulin and Lisa Stampnitzky have spent years documenting how the term, from the start, was little more than a propaganda tool designed to legitimize one sides violence while delegitimizing its enemies violence. NATO Threatens Europe With Annihilation By John Scales Avery June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - N ATO is supposed to be a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect Europe from aggression; but today it is aggressive tool of the United States. Today NATO is threatening to drive Europe into an all-destroying thermonuclear war with Russia. In recent years, participation in NATO has made European countries accomplices in US efforts to achieve global hegemony by means of military force, in violation of international law, and especially in violation of the UN Charter, the Nuremberg Principles. Former UN Assistant Secretary General Hans Christof von Sponeck used the following words to express his opinion that NATO now violates the UN Charter and international law: In the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, the Charter of the United Nations was declared to be NATOs legally binding framework. However, the United-Nations monopoly of the use of force, especially as specified in Article 51 of the Charter, was no longer accepted according to the 1999 NATO doctrine. NATOs territorial scope, until then limited to the Euro-Atlantic region, was expanded by its members to include the whole world At present the United States government has forced the European members of NATO to participate in aggressive operations in connection with the coup which it carried out against the elected government of Ukraine. The hubris, and reckless irresponsibility of the US government in risking a catastrophic war with Russia is almost beyond belief. According to The Guardian, June 16, 2016, The largest war game in eastern Europe since the end of the cold war has started in Poland, as Nato and partner countries seek to mount a display of strength as a response to concerns about Russias assertiveness and actions. The 10-day military exercise, involving 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries, has been welcomed among Natos allies in the region, though defence experts warn that any mishap could prompt an offensive reaction from Moscow. A defence attache at a European embassy in Warsaw said the nightmare scenario of the exercise, named Anaconda-2016, would be 'a mishap, a miscalculation which the Russians construe, or choose to construe, as an offensive action' . https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/06/nato-launches-largest-war-game-in-eastern-europe-since-cold-war-anaconda-2016 Do the people of Europe really want to participate in the madness of aggression against Russia? Of course not! What about European leaders? Why dont they follow the will of the people and free Europe from bondage to the United States? Have our leaders been bribed? Or have they been blackmailed through personal secrets, discovered by the long arm of NSA spying? To save itself from the danger of nuclear annihilation, Europe must declare its independence from America, just as the United States once declared its independence from Britain. Some suggestions for further reading http://www.countercurrents.org/chomsky130616.htm http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44891.htm https://www.sott.net/article/319923-War-is-a-racket-US-terrorizes-and-scams-Europe-through-NATO http://www.makewarshistory.co.uk/?p=2415 http://www.cctv-america.com/2016/06/15/the-heat-nato-war-games#utm_sguid=155260,43357f6d-09a8-927c-abd1-8d4fdafed861 http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/06/16/pentagons-real-trategy-keeping-money-flowing http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/05/americas-natos-outrageous-behavior-greatest-threat-exists.html http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44883.htm http://www.countercurrents.org/gaist150616.htm http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44852.htm http://www.countercurrents.org/avery090414.htm http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/06/the-illegality-of-nato/ https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2015/03/30/europe-must-not-be-forced-into-a-nuclear-war-with-russia/ http://www.countercurrents.org/avery240615.htm John Avery received a B.Sc. in theoretical physics from MIT and an M.Sc. from the University of Chicago. He later studied theoretical chemistry at the University of London, and was awarded a Ph.D. there in 1965. He is now Lektor Emeritus, Associate Professor, at the Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen. Fellowships, memberships in societies: Since 1990 he has been the Contact Person in Denmark for Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, this group received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. He was the Member of the Danish Peace Commission of 1998. Technical Advisor, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (1988- 1997). Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy, April 2004. http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at avery.john.s@gmail.com Barak Flogs Netanyahu, Laments Budding Fascism In Israel Former PM accuses premier of lying about his desire for Palestinian statehood, cheapening the Holocaust by Hitlerizing every threat By Judah Ari Gross June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Times Of Israel " - Former prime minister Ehud Barak blasted Israels current government on Thursday evening, saying it was putting the country on the path to becoming an apartheid state, and should be brought down if it fails to get back on track. I call on the government to come to its senses, to get back on track immediately, said Barak. If it does not do that, it will be incumbent upon all of us yes, all of us to get up from our seats, comfortable ones and uncomfortable ones, and bring it down via popular protest and via the ballot box before its too late, he said. Calling the Netanyahu government weak, flaccid and noisy, Barak lobbed criticism after criticism at the Israeli leader and his ministers in a blistering speech at the Herzliya Conference, accusing them of operating based on a covert agenda to make a two-state solution untenable. Fulfilling [that agenda] will inevitably and thats a key word in this discussion: inevitably bring us to a single state, which will be an apartheid state, Barak said. Or it will be a bi-national state with a Jewish minority in a generation or two which will have a high likelihood of experiencing a drawn-out civil war. He also said Israel faces no existential threats from regional enemies, and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of magnifying the threats from terror groups and other enemies by comparing them all to Nazi Germany. Hitlerization by the prime minister cheapens the Holocaust, he said. Our situation is grave even without [comparisons to] Hitler. Netanyahu dismissed the criticisms, accusing Barak of attacking him once a month in a bid to stay relevant. Barak, who last served as defense minister under Netanyahu until 2013 when he quit politics, echoed comments made earlier in the day by another former defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, saying Israels government and the Likud had been taken over by a fanatical core group with a radical ideology that freely attacks the Supreme Court, the freedom of expression and other principles of democracy. Only a blind person or a sheep, an ignoramus or someone jaded, cant see the erosion of democracy and the budding fascism,' Barak said, to considerable applause from the audience. Referencing the controversy surrounding statements made last month by IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan, who seemingly drew parallels between Israel and Nazi Germany, Barak made it clear that he was not comparing Israel to the European fascism of 90 years ago not 70 years ago. But if it looks like budding fascism, walks like budding fascism and quacks like budding fascism, thats the situation, he said, to another round of applause. The covert agenda After the end of his tenure as defense minister in 2013 when elections were called by Netanyahu, Barak said, he thought, naively, that this was a government that didnt know where it was going, but many of my best friends in the world suspect that Netanyahus administration knows quite well what it wants. There is a covert plan, Barak accused. What is this agenda? he asked rhetorically, before launching into a lengthy, numbered answer. One, Israel plans to continue controlling the area that was conquered, liberated in 1967 forever. Two, Israel is not interested in two states, and doesnt want a Palestinian state right next door. Three, Israel is waiting for the world to adapt to and accept this reality, and is hoping that tough incidents like terror attacks in Europe, the situation in Syria, and so on will divert its attention [from the situation here], Barak said. Four, Israel will agree to autonomy with limited rights for Palestinians, but not a state. Five, Israel will continue carefully building in the settlements and beyond them in order to gradually create irreversible facts on the ground, he added. To counteract those alleged actions, the former prime minister called for renewed ties with the Palestinian Authority, which he said was the only thing keeping Hamas, the Islamic State and other dangerous terror groups out of the West Bank. Netanyahu, he claimed, was in fact bringing Hamas and the Islamic State closer to Jerusalem and Kfar Saba, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Responding to recent statements by the prime minister and defense minister embracing the possibility of a peace agreement with the Palestinians, Barak called Netanyahu disingenuous and blatantly so. In capitals around the world in London and Washington, in Berlin and Paris, in Moscow and Beijing no leader believes a word coming out of Netanyahus mouth or his governments, he said. Going forward, he encouraged Israel to seriously revisit the Arab Peace Initiative, which he called not ideal, but a basis for negotiations. Israel, Barak said, was rapidly approaching a fork in the road, one way leading to all-out war with the Palestinians, and the other leading to an apartheid state. We are at the start of the path, whose inevitable end is similar to Belfast and Bosnia or old Johannesburg, and even all three together, he said. That situation would lead to a break between Israel and other countries around the world, as well as a deterioration in the relationship between Israel and Jewish communities in America. They will only accept a single state if and only if its a Jewish-Arab nation of all its citizens, operating on the condition of one person, one vote and who among us wants that? he asked. Where do we go from here? Aside from the issue of the Palestinians, Barak blamed the government for failing to plan for the future and handle the problems currently facing Israel. Those issues included the cost of living, the cost of apartments, the weakening of the middle class, the injustice in the deep wage gap, he said, neglecting to mention his own impressive personal wealth. Israel, Barak said, is generally doing well. Go to the periphery, to units in the IDF, to the colleges and you will find a more patriotic Israel, one that is proud, optimistic and confident than what the media would have you think, he said. But, the former prime minister said, again echoing Yaalon, Israel needs a different leadership, one that has a compass and not a weather vane, one that has the Declaration of Independence in its backpack, and not God forbid Torat HaMelech.' He was referring to a radical piece of religious literature favored by Jewish extremists. It was not clear whether Baraks fiery speech signaled a possible return to the political fold. Asked by The Times of Israel if he intended to return to politics, Barak responded: Lets just leave it at what I said in there for now. U.S. Sets Stage for Libya-Like Regime Change in Eritrea, Africas Cuba The U.S. is moving towards war against Eritrea, a fiercely independent African nation of only six million people. Washington has deployed its UN human rights proxies to justify another humanitarian military intervention, remarkably like the UN-sanctioned aggression against Libya, in 2011. The UN panel charges Eritrea with enslaving and murdering its own people a pack of imperial lies. Obama is set to add another war to his bloody legacy. By Glen Ford June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " BAR " -The United States is methodically setting the stage for a so-called humanitarian military intervention against the small northeast African nation of Eritrea, under legal pretexts much like those used to justify NATOs war of regime change against Libya, in 2011. As in Libya, the U.S. has hijacked the United Nations human rights apparatus to claim a responsibility to protect (R2P) Eritreas citizens from alleged abuses by their own government. War and regime change are the intended result. Washington engineered UN sanctions against Eritrea, beginning in 2009, on the patently bogus charge that Eritreas determinedly secular government provided political, financial and logistical support to Islamist Shabaab fighters in Somalia. Islamic jihadism is anathema to Eritrea, whose population of six million on the shores of the Red Sea is about evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. But few people in the United States knew Eritrea existed, much less its secular revolutionary history and politics. The lies stuck, as did the sanctions, even after the UN Human Rights Council conceded there was no further evidence of Eritrean aid to the Shabaab. A three-person UN panel now alleges that Eritrea is a lawless state that has committed crimes against humanity, enslaving up to 400,000 people and engaging in murder, forced disappearances, rape and torture. Mark Smith, the Australian chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea, demands that Eritrea be put on trial before the International Criminal Court, a body that has indicted only Africans and only those that were on the wrong side of U.S. foreign policy since its creation in 2002. Smith laid the legal groundwork for the overthrow of the Eritrean government: There is no genuine prospect of the Eritrean judicial system holding perpetrators to account in a fair and transparent manner. The perpetrators of these crimes must face justice and the victims voices must be heard. The international community should now take steps, including using the International Criminal Court [ICC], national courts and other available mechanisms, to ensure there is accountability for the atrocities being committed in Eritrea. The UN commission demands that Eritrea be put on trial before the International Criminal Court, a body that has indicted only Africans. In February of 2011, the United Nations Security Council, led by the U.S., Britain and France, referred the case against Libya to the ICC, to provide a criminal justice rationale for the military assault that was already underway against Muammar Gaddafis government. This time, Washington has instructed its UN proxies to give humanitarian legal cover in advance for an attack on Eritrea. The demonization campaign is built around two Big Lies: one, that Eritreas system of national service a form of draft, which is the right of all nations amounts to slavery; and two, that domestic oppression in Eritrea is a prime source of African refugees to Europe, with the tiny nation allegedly accounting for more cross-continental emigration than every other country except war-ravaged Syria. National service in Eritrea, as in many other countries, includes not only military duty on the front lines with Ethiopia which still occupies parts of Eritrea in clear violation of an international arbitration agreement but also labor in public works projects as well as service in health and education infrastructures. (Most teachers in Eritrea, for example, are national service workers.) Lots of folks would call that socialism or nation-building which is how the Eritreans see it. The Eritreans defend extended national service on grounds of necessity, citing an existential threat from the Ethiopian military, backed to the hilt by Washington. Economic sanctions have also necessitated that Eritrea mobilize the population to develop its own national resources. However, self-reliance is also a cornerstone of Eritrean domestic development policy, and seen as central to maintaining true national sovereignty and independence. Eritrea rejects foreign aid and entanglements with structures of international capital, and is one of only two nations in Africa that has no relationship with AFRICOM, the U.S. military command on the continent (Zimbabwe is the other). It is insane to believe that little Eritrea, with only six million people, has set more people to flight than neighboring Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, with a population 15 times greater. Eritreas fierce independence has put it in imperialisms crosshairs. Eritrea is Africas Cuba and the United States treats it as such in a striking variety of ways. Indeed, the other Big Lie against Eritrea that it is the second largest contributor to the waves of refugees risking life and limb to reach Europe is directly related to European immigration policies, urged on them by the U.S., that put Eritrea in much the same bind as U.S. policy towards Cuba. It is insane to believe that little Eritrea, with only six million people, has set more people to flight than neighboring Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, now in the throes of a devastating drought, with a population 15 times greater; or neighboring Sudan, also desperately poor and afflicted by multiple wars, with 40 million people; or nearby Somalia, a nation without a state, inhabited by 10 million people. Indeed, economic, political and war refugees from all across Africa claim to be Eritrean because, unlike citizens of any other African country, Eritrean refugees are afforded special status on arrival in Europe as presumptive political refugees who might face torture if returned home. As with U.S. Cuba policy, the Eritrean exception was designed to weaken and destabilize the country through a brain and human resource drain. Inevitably, however, the policy has made Eritrean identification papers the hottest selling documents on the streets of Khartoum and other refugee gathering points. Europe is awash, as is Israel, with fake Eritreans fleeing various military, political and economic catastrophes most of them rooted in Euro-American foreign destabilization policies and the global capitalist Race to the Bottom. If Latin Americans could pass for Cubans, the populations of U.S. Little Havanas would number in the tens of millions, full of Hondurans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Mexicans. Economic, political and war refugees from all across Africa claim to be Eritrean. Ethiopians pass most easily as Eritreans, since millions of them share the same ethnic background. About half of Eritreans are Tigrayan, the ethnic group that is the fourth largest in Ethiopia and dominates the ruling party in Addis Ababa. The Austrian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Andreas Melan, last year estimated that among the thousands of Eritrean migrants in Europe, 30 to 40 percent are Ethiopians. That may be an underestimate. And many more Eritreans actually hail from as far away as West Africa. The Eritrean ambassador to Israel believes that Ethiopians account for half of the purported Eritreans seeking refugee status in that country. "They know the Eritreans automatically receive a six-month visa, so they pretend to be Eritrean," said the ambassador. The Eritrean refugee scam is an open secret all across Europe, and is well known to the American and European governments. The Big Lie is maintained to serve imperial purposes, and will now be deployed to justify an armed assault on Eritrea as an alleged mass enslaver and rogue nation. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea will submit its manufactured findings to the Human Rights Council on June 21, setting the imperial lynch mob in motion. They know the Eritreans automatically receive a six-month visa, so they pretend to be Eritrean." Eritrea cannot expect a fair hearing from a UN apparatus that is puppeteered from Washington. As the Eritrean government stated in its preliminary response to the UN commissions charges: The purposes of national service in Eritrea are clearly stated in a legal proclamation of 1994 and are three-fold: national defense, economic and social development and national integration. The service is not indefinite although for a time and in certain cases it has been prolonged due the already explained existential threat of war. The commission based its findings on the testimony of about 800 (alleged) Eritreans interviewed in various foreign cities, while ignoring the 42,000 Eritrean expatriates that have petitioned the world body to lift sanctions against their home country. The UN panel is ignoring what is effectively a continuing state of war with Ethiopia, the illegal occupation of Eritrean territory which constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights, repeated armed aggression, sanctions and mistaken policies that consider almost all Eritreans asylum-seekers, said Eritrean government spokesperson Yemane Gebreab. Thats a diplomatic way of putting it. By referring the case to the International Criminal Court, and implicitly threatening military action against Eritrea, the commission has become a warmonger. On Monday, the New York Times reported that thousands of Ethiopian and Eritrean troops were rushing towards the disputed border, the site of heavy artillery duels. The Times quoted an Eritrean dissident living in Sweden as their expert of the moment. If there is a war, or the rumor of a war, it could be a way for the Eritrean government to get support and divert attention, said the dissident. The newspaper also relayed a Twitter message from an Eritrean American in his homelands capital. Here in Asmara, its peaceful despite #EthiopianAttacks against #Eritrea on the Tsorona front. And you wonder why theres national service? President Obama seems intent on adding War #8 to his imperial legacy. BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com State Department Dissent Memo Backs Escalation of Regime-change War in Syria By Bill Van Auken June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " WSWS " - The leaking of a so-called dissent channel cablea classified memo signed by over 50 mid-level State Department officials calling for the Obama administration to re-direct its military intervention in Syria to a war against the government of President Bashar al-Assadhas ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Moscow. The memo, issued under a State Department procedure allowing its functionaries to express disagreement with standing policy, called for targeted military strikes against the Assad government, employing a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed US-led diplomatic process. US air strikes, according to this thesis, would force the Assad government to halt military activities against CIA-backed rebels and force it to submit to a negotiating process directed at replacing it with a puppet regime of Washingtons choosing. The memo couches the call for a major escalation of US military aggression in the phony human rights rhetoric previously employed in relation to both Syria and the US-NATO war for regime-change in Libya in 2011. The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war is evident and unquestionable, the memo states. The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges. We are not advocating for a slippery slope that ends in a military confrontation with Russia, the document states, adding, however, that the signatories recognize that the risk of further deterioration in US-Russian relations is significant and that US military escalation may yield a number of second-order effects. The duplicity and hypocrisy of this thesis is breathtaking. The five years of brutal war were imposed upon Syria by a massive regime-change operation carried out by Washington and its regional allies in utter disregard for the lives and well-being of the Syrian people. US imperialism sought to achieve its aims by acting together with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to fund and arm Islamist militias, the most influential of them linked to Al Qaeda, as proxy forces, with tens of thousands of so-called foreign fighters funneled in to serve as troops in a war to topple Assad. The failure of this operation, due in part to the intervention of the Russian military on the side of the Syrian government and, in no small measure, to the revulsion felt by broad masses of Syrians toward the reactionary Islamist gunmen backed by Washington, is what underlies the demand for a US military escalation. From the outset, the US intervention in Syria was directed at advancing far broader strategic aims, principally preparing for confrontations with both Iran and Russia by depriving them of their principal ally in the Arab world. Thus, despite the protest that they are not advocating for a slippery slopewhoever has?the signatories to the document are clearly prepared to provoke a military confrontation with Moscow. The publication of reports on the leaked memo came just one day after US Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to Norway, stepped up threats to Moscow over Syria. Russia needs to understand that our patience is not infinite, in fact it is very limited with whether or not Assad is going to be held accountable, he said. Significantly, while the New York Times acknowledged that it had been handed the internal memo by a State Department official, department spokesman John Kirby Friday insisted that there was no interest in uncovering who was responsible for the leak or holding them accountable. For his part, Kerry described the memo as an important statement. The memo rekindles a simmering dispute within the administration that has divided the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House since August 2013, when President Barack Obama backed off from a threat to launch air strikes against the Assad government over fabricated charges that it was responsible for a chemical weapons attack. Instead, the White House accepted a Russian-brokered deal for Damascus to destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles, angering those who saw this as a missed opportunity to escalate the US war for regime-change. Kerry, like his predecessor as secretary of state, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, disagreed with Obamas decision and reportedly continued to press for stepped-up US military action in Syria directed against the government. In a further indication of mounting US-Russian tensions over Syria, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter Friday accused the Russian military of carrying out air strikes in the south of the country that allegedly hit CIA-trained rebels. He denounced Moscow, charging that its forces were not directed at fighting ISIS but had mostly supported Assad and fueled the civil war. Carter added that a hotline established to guard against unintended conflicts between US and Russian warplanes flying over Syria wasn't professionally used by the Russians. Apparently, US officials had tried to use the phone to get the Russians to stop bombing the CIA-backed rebels. The Russian government responded to the charge by stating that it was difficult to distinguish between the US-backed rebels and fighters of the Al Nusra Front, Al Qaedas Syrian affiliate, because the two fought side by side. This same essential point was candidly acknowledged by Anthony Cordesman, a long-time Pentagon adviser from the Center for International and Strategic Studies, in a report last week: The United States still has yet to show that it can create any meaningful US-supported Arab rebel force, he wrote. So far, its support of such rebels has largely had the effect of helping to arm the Al Nusra Front (an al Qaeda affiliate)... While promoting its intervention in Iraq and Syria as a struggle against terrorism, the principal purpose of US threats against Russia is to prevent it from enabling Syrian government forces to deal a decisive defeat against the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, which, together with ISIS, constitutes the main fighting forces in the war for regime-change. The State Department memo and mounting US threats were denounced by Russian officials. Alexei Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, described the memo as kind of an ultimatum signaling the acknowledgement that the US is unable to achieve its goal by diplomatic and political means and so there is a need to switch to military methods. He added, This is a signal to us, a warning to Assad and the international community that there are people in the US who call to shift the fire from the Islamic State to the government of Assad. Meanwhile, in Washington, President Obama held talks in the Oval Office with Saudi Arabias deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Afterwards, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, traveling with the prince, told the media that There should be a more robust intervention, in Syria and reiterated Saudi support for what has been referred to in US ruling circles as Plan B, including the provision of surface-to-air missiles to the Islamist militias and the use of Western air power to create a no-fly zone. While the Obama administration insisted that there are no plans to shift US military operations in Syria to directly target the Assad government, the rumblings in the State Department may well be a warning of what is to come after the presidential election, no matter whether the Democrats or Republicans emerge as the victors. Traditionally, US governments have put off major new military operations until after national elections in order to prevent war and militarism from becoming political issues placed before the American people. However, both parties presumptive presidential candidates, Clinton and Trump, have called for an escalation of US military operations in Syria, including the establishment of a no-fly zone, a measure that would directly challenge Russias air power in Syria. A US escalation of the Syrian bloodbath and the danger of a direct military confrontation between the worlds two major nuclear powers are likely to emerge as ever more direct threats after November. Copyright 1998-2016 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved Syria - Russian Surprise Attack Blows Up Kerry's Delaying Tactic By Moon Of Alabama June 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Moon Of Alabama " - The U.S. is unwilling to stop the war on Syria and to settle the case at the negotiation table. It wants a 100% of its demands fulfilled, the dissolution of the Syrian government and state and the inauguration of a U.S. proxy administration in Syria. After the ceasefire in Syria started in late February Obama broke his pledge to separate the U.S. supported "moderate rebels" from al-Qaeda. In April U.S. supported rebels, the Taliban like Ahrar al Sham and al-Qaeda joined to attack the Syrian government in south Aleppo. The U.S. proxies broke the ceasefire. Two UN resolutions demand that al-Qaeda in Syria be fought no matter what. But the U.S. has at least twice asked Russia not to bomb al-Qaeda. It insists, falsely, that it can not separate its "moderates" from al-Qaeda and that al-Qaeda can not be attacked because that would also hit its "moderate" friends. The Russian foreign minster Lavrov has talked wit Kerry many times about the issue. But the only response he received were requests to further withhold bombing. Meanwhile al-Qaeda and the "moderates" continued to break the ceasefire and to attack the Syrian government forces. After nearly four month Kerry still insists that the U.S. needs even more time for the requested separation of its proxy forces from al-Qaeda. Foreign Minister Lavrov recently expressed the Russian consternation: The Americans are now saying that they are unable to remove the 'good' opposition members from the positions held by al-Nusra Front, and that they will need another two-three months. I am under the impression that there is a game here and they may want to keep al-Nusra Front in some form and later use it to overthrow the [Assad] regime," Lavrov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The bucket was full and Kerry's latest request for another three month pause of attacking al-Qaeda was the drop that let it overflow. Russia now responded by hitting the U.S. where it did not expect to be hit: Russian warplanes hit Pentagon-backed Syrian fighters with a barrage of airstrikes earlier this week , disregarding several warnings from U.S. commanders in what American military officials called the most provocative act since Moscows air campaign in Syria began last year. The strikes hit a base near the Jordanian border, far from areas where the Russians were previously active, and targeted U.S.-backed forces battling the Islamic State militants. ... These latest strikes occurred on the other side of the country from the usual Russian operations, around Tanf, a town near where the borders of Jordan, Iraq, and Syria meet. ... The Russian strike hit a small rebel base for staging forces and equipment in a desolate, unpopulated area near the border. About 180 rebels were there as part of the Pentagon's program to train and equip fighters against Islamic State. When the first strikes hit, the rebels called a U.S. command center in Qatar, where the Pentagon orchestrates the daily air war against Islamic State. U.S. jets came and the Russian jets went away. The U.S. jets left to refuel, the Russian jets came back and hit again. Allegedly two U.S. proxy fighters were killed and 18 were wounded. Earlier today another such attack hit the same target. This was no accident but a well planned operation and the Russian spokesperson's response makes the intend clear: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to confirm the attack Friday, telling reporters it was difficult to distinguish different rebel groups from the air. Translation: "If you can not separate your forces from al-Qaeda and differentiate and designate exclusively "moderate" zones we can not do so either." The forces near Tanf are supported by U.S. artillery from Jordan and air power via Iraq. British and Jordan special operations forces are part of the ground component (and probably the majority of the "Syrian" fighters.) There is no al-Qaeda there. The Russians know that well. But they wanted to make the point that it is either separation everywhere or separation nowhere. From now on until the U.S. clearly separates them from AQ all U.S. supported forces will be hit indiscriminately anywhere and anytime. (The Syrian Kurds fighting the Islamic State with U.S. support are for now a different story.) The Pentagon does not want any further engagement against the Syrian government or against Russia. It wants to fight the Islamic State and its hates the CIA for its cooperation with al-Qaeda and other Jihadi elements. But John Brennan, the Saudi operative and head of the CIA, still seems to have Obama's ear. But what can Obama do now? Shoot down a Russian jet and thereby endanger any U.S. pilot flying in Syria or near the Russian border? Risk a war with Russia? Really? The Russian hit near Tanf was clearly a surprise. The Russians again caught Washington on the wrong foot. The message to the Obama administration is clear. "No more delays and obfuscations. You will separate your moderates NOW or all your assets in Syria will be juicy targets for the Russian air force." The Russian hits at Tanf and the U.S. proxies there has an additional benefit. The U.S. had planned to let those forces move north towards Deir Ezzor and to defeat the Islamic State in that city. Eventually a "Sunni entity" would be established in south east Syria and west Iraq under U.S. control. Syria would be split apart. The Syrian government and its allies will not allow that. There is a large operation planned to free Deir Ezzor from the Islamic State occupation. Several hundred Syrian government forces have held an isolated airport in Deir Ezzor against many unsuccessful Islamic State attacks. These troops get currently reinforced by additional Syrian army contingents and Hizbullah commandos.A big battle is coming. Deir Ezzor may be freed within the next few month. Any U.S. plans for some eastern Syrian entity are completely unrealistic if the Syrian government can take and hold its largest eastern city. The Obama administration's delaying tactic will now have to end. Russia will no longer stand back and watch while the U.S. sabotages the ceasefire and supports al-Qaeda. What then is the next move the U.S. will make? Britains astronaut Tim Peake has landed on earth in a Russian spacecraft today in Kazakhstan. Peake returned to earth along with U.S. astronaut Timothy Kopra and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko after a six month space mission. They were involved in experiments in space and they also took several aerial pictures of the earth. Peake and Kopra made use of social media to share their experience in space. On air personality, Freeze has never been shy to share his opinions on any and everything. The Cool FM OAP has overtime chosen Feminism as his go to topic whenever he wants to go on a rant. Speaking during an interview with Genevieve Magazine, Freeze whose real name is Ifedapo Oyerinde, said : The Federal Government has reassured Nigerians that it will give priority attention to infrastructure, agriculture and power in the implementation of the 2016 budget. Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Ahmed Zainab gave the assurance at a meeting with members of Civil Society Organizations in Abuja on the implementation of the 2016 budget. Some members of the civil society organizations have expressed their concerns about the implementation of the 2016 budget, one month after the 2016 appropriation bill was passed by the National Assembly. Some of them in the meeting were especially concerned with how the Federal Government would implement the 30% earmarked for capital projects. A total of 6.06 trillion was appropriated for the 2016 fiscal year by the Federal Government with over two trillion deficit to be financed by borrowing and using recovered loots. A 26-year- old fake soldier, Sulaimon Tajudeen, has been arrested by the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Peace Corps (NPC). The fake soldier who claimed to be a serving officer at the Ibadan Ojoo Barrack of the Nigeria Army was arrested in Osogbo on Thursday. The Provost of the paramilitary body, Patroit Oluwaseyi Akintayo, who carried out the arrest told journalists that the arrest was made following a tip off on how the suspect had been duping and extorting people on the claim that he was an officer of the Nigerian Army. A Peace Corps operative had disguised and approached the suspect with interest to obtain a form for Nigerian Army recruitment. The operative later observed that the suspect could not even understand any military language during their conversation. It was also learnt that the suspect could not produce his identity card when the operative requested for it. The suspect, who was traced to his residence at Oke-Baale area, Osogbo, confessed to the crime, saying that he had been in the business for a while by posing as a soldier and selling Nigerian Army and Nigeria Customs forms to unsuspecting members of public. It is true, I have been posing as a fake soldier and duping people to find a means of livelihood. I have sold Army forms running to over N137,000 from unsuspecting people. I also use the same act to extort people, especially the Okada rider, he confessed. Some of those who have fallen victim of the fake soldier were Azeez Oladapo who have parted with N27,500; Tajudeen Sodiq, N13,500; Bamidele Abass N36,000; Idowu Adebayo N15,000 and Blessing N4,000. The suspect has since been handed over to the Nigeria Army Barracks in Ede, Osun State for further interrogation. Source: TheNation A Nigerian online news agency, SaharaReporters have leveled allegations of a cover up among government officials. The allegations are in connection with an investigation into a massive fraud at a Nigerian oil company, Sahara Energy. The agency claims that although operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raided the Lagos and Abuja headquarters of Sahara Energy, government officials ordered EFCC not to publicize the raid. An excerpt from the allegation reads; SaharaReporters learnt that EFCC agents seized computers from the firm, but interventions from high-level officials of the Buhari regime meant that the investigation has not advanced or see the light of the day. Our sources named Mr. Buharis Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, as a key ally of Sahara Energy, and the official behind attempts to scuttle the firms billion dollar fraud. The current chairman of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, Mohammed Buba, who was appointed on May 25 during the labor strike against fuel price increase, was a director at Sahara Energy. Our sources said that Chief of Staff Kyari had since his appointment worked to shield Sahara Energy from any serious investigation. Mr. Buba, who is from Borno State, is one of the Chief of Staffs closest friends. He was a former MD of Pipelines and Product Marketing Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). SaharaReporters learned that Mamman Daura, one of President Muhammadu Buharis closest friends, is also involved in efforts to cover up investigations into Sahara Energy. An investigator disclosed that EFCC operatives found significant information regarding how former Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke used the firm to funnel funds to third parties. The source disclosed that the funds in question amounted to close to $400 million. Sahara Energy is named as one of the firms that reaped hundreds of millions of dollars through crude oil swap deals introduced by Ms. Alison-Madueke during her ministerial tenure. The former ministers offshore processing agreement with Sahara Energy also involved the owner of Aiteo, Benny Peters, Atlantic Energy, owned by Jide Omokore, and a fugitive oil dealer, Kola Aluko. Investigators believe that the firms made away with at least $4 billion of public funds through the opaque arrangements. Much of the revelations against Sahara Energy has come from fraud suspects currently under investigation by the EFCC. One of our sources said the informants were amazed that Sahara Energy has so far been shielded from the kind of publicity and shame extended to much smaller players. Last month, a company registered by Sahara Energy, Actus Integrated, was revealed as having given $60 million through Fidelity Bank to help former President Goodluck Jonathan rig himself into office during the 2015 presidential election. One source told SaharaReporters that the company might have equally donated heavily towards President Buharis presidential campaign through his friend Maman Daura and Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. A Nigerian businessman who duped Chinese companies of N49.6m hasbeen arraigned before a Lagos Magistrates Court for stealing. The businessman, Vincent Igwe, allegedly obtained the sum of N49,600,000 from the management of Chinese companies, LIAO MEIMEI and ZONK KAI under false pretence. The accused was arrested by operatives of the Police Special Fraud Unit, Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos and charged before an Igbosere Magistrates Court, Lagos on a two-count charge of felony, to wit, obtaining money under false pretence and stealing. Police prosecutor, Inspector Adoga Amedu informed the court in charge No A/38/2016 that the accused committed the alleged offence in 2016 at Surulere, Lagos. Amedu told the Court that the accused collected N49.6m from the management of LIAO MEIMEI and ZONK KAI situated at 20, Olukile Street, Surulere, Lagos under the pretence of supplying them wooden logs, but he converted the money to his personal use and escaped. He said the accused was trailed and arrested at a hideout following a petition by the complainant. Amedu said the offences committed are punishable under sections 312(a)(b)(3) and 285 of the Ccriminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011. Igwe pleaded not guilty to the alleged crime in the open court, and Chief Magistrate A.O Sholadoye admitted him on bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties in like sum. Sholadoye adjourned the case till 3 July, 2016 for mention, while the defendant was moved to Ikoyi Prison, Lagos pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions. Source: PMNews The Federal Government has formally accused the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, of forging the 2015 Senate Standing Rules used in electing them to office. Both presiding officers have been charged to court accordingly. Also charged alongside Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu are the immediate past Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, and his deputy Benedict Efeturi. The charges were filed more than a year after the controversial election and inauguration of the two principal officers on June 9, 2016. Days after the elections, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi (APC-Kaduna North) petitioned the Inspector General of Police, alleging that the Standing Rules used for the exercise was forged. He accused the four officials of conspiracy, and demanded criminal investigation of the matter. The police later launched an investigation, submitting a detailed report to the nations Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. Mr. Hunkuyi is the secretary of Unity Forum, a group of All Progressives Congress Senators opposed to the emergence of Mr. Saraki, preferring his opponent, Senator Ahmed Lawan instead. The federal government has now taken steps to press criminal charges against the Senate president and the three other officials. The case, with reference number, CR/219/16, was filed on June 10, 2015 at the Federal High Court in Abuja. It has been assigned to Justice Yusuf Haliru. The case bothers on two-count charge, including offence of conspiracy punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code Law; and offence of forgery with fraudulent intent punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Law. Count one reads, That you Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu on or about the 9th of June, 2015, at the National Assembly Complex, Three Arm Zone, Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves, to forge the Senate Standing Order, 2011 (as amended) and you thereby committed the offence of Conspiracy, punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code Law. Count Two reads, That you Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu on or about the 9th of June, 2015, at the National Assembly Complex, Three Arm Zone, Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with fraudulent intent forged the Senate Standing Order 2011 (as amended) causing it to be believed as the genuine Standing Order, 2015 and circulated same for use during the inauguration of the 8th Senate of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, when you knew that the said Order was not made in compliance the procedure for amendment of the Senate Order, you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Law. The Special Adviser to Mr. Saraki, Yusuph Olaniyonu, told PREMIUM TIMES the new case against the Senate president was just unravelling. Its a curious and very very recent development, Mr. Olaniyonu said. We are watching. Mr. Ekweremadus spokesperson, Uche Anichukwu, neither answered calls nor replied a text message. Mr. Saraki is currently facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false and anticipatory declaration of assets. Source: PremiumTimes Punch In this Interview with FEMI MAKINDE, the Chairman of Osun State branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Revd. Elisha Ogundiya says nothing will stop Christian students from wearing church garments to schools as long as their Muslim counterparts wear hijabs Vanguard Obosi (Anambra) The Rt. Rev. Owen Nwokolo, Bishop on the Niger (Anglican Communion), has commended President Muhammadu Buharis zeal on the war against corruption, criminality and terrorism since his assumption of office. Thisday Troops Thwart Attack on Agip Facility in Bayelsa as Ijaw Youths Demand Release of Kinsmen Troops attached to the Joint Military Force, the outfit deployed to protect oil installations in the Niger Delta, said yesterday that they outwitted suspected militants who attempted to attack an Agip oilfield in Okpoma, Bayelsa State. The Sun THE stage is set for a political showdown amongst leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State Daily Times President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Friday explained that the ongoing process of reviewing the 1999 Constitution was not intended to dent the solemnity, integrity and infallibility of the Constitution but necessary. Guardian Governor Muhammadu Badaru of Jigawa on Saturday said his government had planted 2.5 million tree seedlings in the last one year to fight desertification and create jobs in the state. Daily Trust A total of 2,873 delegates will participate in tomorrows All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Primary Election in Edo state. Leadership The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has set up a Joint Task to implement the 2013 Audit Report recently released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). Tribune THE chairman of Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State, Mrs. Nkechi Chukwurah, escaped death by a whisker when one of her security aides opened fire on her. The Nation When the news broke that the recently murdered army colonel, Samalia Inusa, a Chief Instructor at the Nigeria Army School of Infantry, Jaji, Kaduna State, was abducted by some gunmen at Kamazo area of Kaduna Refinery Road, on March 26, 2016, many thought his abduction and eventual killing might have been a revenge mission by members of the Shiite Islamic sect who were embroiled in a bloody clash with the Nigerian Army in December 2015. A PDP lawmaker in Delta, Chief Evance Ivwurie has commended President Muhammadu Buhari over policies and programmes being undertaken to salvage the nations economy. Ivwurie, representing Ethiope East Constituency in the Delta House of Assembly, gave the commendation in an interview in Asaba. The lawmaker said that corruption played major role in the economy crisis facing the country, urging all Nigerians to support the governments efforts in curbing the scourge. There is no gainsaying that the country is experiencing difficulties and challenges ranging from harsh economic recession, paucity of resources and insecurity. But, Nigerians have to be patient and support the government in its policies toward tackling the situation to make the economy to be better in no distance time, he pleaded. As part of its commitment to supporting and empowering SMEs across Nigeria, SME100 Nigeria presents another edition of the SME100 Business Lunch. This special edition, featuring Mr. Uzoma Dozie- C.E.O Diamond Bank is set to take Place on Friday the 24th of June, 2016 at Otres Resturant No, 7 Wole Olateju Street Lekki Phase 1 at 12.30pm. Mr. Uzoma Dozie would be speaking on the topic: The Age of Digital Disruption; Leveraging Technology for Business Growth. Speaking on the initiative, Executive Director, SME100 Nigeria, Charles Odii explained that In order to remain relevant, businesses must begin to confirm to the change technology is bringing across various sectors. Early adopters of digital age are bound to have an edge over those who choose to retain traditional processes and distribution channels in their businesses. To shun technology is to risk extinction. The participants at the SME100 Business Lunch will learn about the benefits of adopting innovative technology solutions in their various businesses and also how to leverage these technological solutions for business growth and expansion. There would also be the opportunity to meet and network with other enterprising and vibrant entrepreneurs. To register for this event please text your name to 08177743650 or email; [email protected] SME100 Nigeria is an institution that aims to inspire, empower and equip entrepreneurs in Nigeria by providing them with the 5 key requirements for business success; education, mentoring and access to finance, markets and networks. Visit www.sme100nigeria.com for more information. Join the conversations online @sme100nigeria. On this day in 2014;okada mechanics stormed former Lagos state Governors office Babatunde Fashola and protested seizure of motorcycles. Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja was pralaysed by commercial motorcycle (okada) mechanics over claims that policemen arrested and impoundment no fewer than 1,000 motorcycles from their workshops. The mechanics claimed the policemen, while enforcing the Road Traffic Law 2012, would storm workshops where motorcycles were being repaired and impound any okada they saw. The state government enacted the Road Traffic Law 2012, aimed at returning sanity to roads in the state. The Yobe State Government is looking to boost access to healthcare with the provision of a 200-bed ultra-modern hospital in Damaturu the capital city. The project, which is already at its completion stage, with installation of new equipment, will be put to use in August, according to the State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam. Gaidam made this known in an inspection tour of the hospital to assess progress of work. He expressed satisfaction with work done so far and revealed that President Mohammadu Buhari would be invited to commission the hospital. The hospital will provide specialised medical care not just to the people of Yobe State but to people in other parts of Nigeria, the Governor said. Responding to questions from reporters after the inspection, Governor Gaidam said when he took over office, construction work on the hospital structure was at 30 per cent, but that he had ensured that its completion. He said he had expanded the structure and also built staff housing facility before proceeding with the installation of equipment to serve the desired purpose. A partnership that includes Red Megacentro, a Chile-based real estate developer and self-storage operator, has received approval from the Miami Urban Development Review Board to build a 148-foot-tall, mixed-use project that will include six stories of self-storage. Called Megacenter Brickell, the development at 420 S.W. 7th St. will comprise about 200,000 square feet in two towers. Other features include four stories of boutique office space, 111 parking spaces on the basement level, 10,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor, a rooftop terrace, and 57 workforce housing units, according to the source. The project will also include a wraparound mural that will change periodically. We will work with the citys planning-department staff on various art installations on the property, Reinaldo Borges, a principal architect with Borges + Associates Architects, told board members during a meeting on Wednesday. Developer Megacenter Brickell LLC needed the board to grant 11 waivers, including a 30 percent reduction in the number of required parking spaces. The land on which the project will be built is near Little Havana. It was acquired in July 2015 by real estate developers Patricio Ureta and Pablo Wichmann for $7.9 million. Ureta and Wichmann partnered with Red Megacentro in 2012 to adopt the companys development model in the United States, the source reported. The self-storage operators U.S. projects include a 185,000-square-foot mixed-use development in Medley, Fla. Called Megacenter Palmetto, the project includes self-storage, full-service executive offices, a kitchen-fixture showroom and a K1 Speed indoor go-kart track. Red Megacentro has more than 7.5 million square feet of real estate in operation in Chile, Peru and the United States. It has built 40 self-storage facilities between the three countries, according to the source. The company focuses on redevelopment projects rather than new construction. Monday, June 20: The World Bank Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics kicks off in Washington. This years agenda encompasses analysis of big data, and poverty eradication and the lingering impact of past colonialism. Tuesday, June 21: The economic sentiment index released by the Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW) is one of the most closely watched survey-based indicators for the German economy. With nerves on edge over the Brexit vote this coming Thursday, the survey of investors and economists will of particular interest among investors looking to gauge the impact of a separation. Wednesday, June 22: Hundreds of thousands of music fans will descend on Pilton, Somerset for the five-day Glastonbury Festival. With a history dating back to 1970, Glastonbury has hosted such legendary performers as David Bowie, Van Morrison, U2 and Bruce Springsteen over the years. Adele and Coldplay will headline this years event. Separated into a series of minifestivals catering to different tastes, fans of all stripes are more than likely to find something to their liking amid the notoriously mud-ridden campgrounds. Thursday, June 23: In what may become a defining moment for both the U.K. and the European Union, U.K. voters will head to the polls to vote on a referendum on whether or not to secede from the 28-nation bloc. Despite dire warnings from several high-ranking politicos and economists, including Prime Minister David Cameron and Bank of England governor Mark Carney, that the economic fallout from a departure could severely impact both the U.K. and the euro zone, proponents of a Brexit have continued to keep up numbers in the polls. The June 16 assassination of Jo Cox, 41, a Labour Party Member of Parliament who was a vocal supporter of the pro-Remain camp, has cast an emotional pallor over the referendum. Friday, June 24:Inti Raymi is a multiweek winter solstice celebration in Peru that represents a link between modern and ancient civilizations. The festival is modeled on one dating from the Inca Empire in veneration of the god Inti, which means sun in Quechua. Merrymakers will take in modern culinary delights while feteing the ancient seasonal tradition. Saturday, June 25: Gay Pride parades across the world will take on a special significance in light of the June 12 mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub. Pride Week, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattans West Village, the event that catalyzed the gay rights movement in the U.S., has evolved into a celebration of the LGBT communitys achievements, heritage and history as well as the extent the struggle for equal rights is still alive. Authorities in the Turkish city of Istanbul have banned this years Gay Pride parade over security concerns from right-wing groups in the country claiming they would not allow degenerates to celebrate such festivals in the country. 7. User Content Submissions 7.1 The Websites may include functionality that allows the user to transmit or submit User Content to Intel using the Websites or to post or display User Content on the Websites. 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Where we provide technology for drones and autonomous vehicles, these may capture audio, video and photographs that unintentionally or incidentally capture people, for example workers in a field or pedestrians crossing a street. Where appropriate, we use technical and organizational controls to prevent it from being used improperly, but this information is important to help improve algorithms for product functionality and safety, including features such as mapping topography, obstacles, traffic and the like. Noi siamo fiduciosi del fatto che la Clinton comprenda il ruolo degli Stati Uniti nel mondo, non abbiamo dubbi che lei affrontera in modo assiduo i problemi che il nostro Paese deve affrontare, e lei ha dimostrato la sua disposizione allanalisi ed al duro impegno. E un estratto delleditoriale con cui il magazine The Atlantic ha palesato il suo appoggio alla candidata democratica alle elezioni presidenziali, Hillary Clinton. Il magazine ha deciso di dare il suo endorsment alla Clinton definendola uno dei candidati piu preparati di sempre e, inoltre, ha bollato Donald Trump come demagogo, xenofobo, sessista, uno che non sa niente ed e un bugiardo, specificandolo che lo considera il candidato piu dichiaratamente non qualificato nei 227 anni della storia della presidenza americana e che sarebbe una minaccia esistenziale per la Repubblica. Fondata nel 1857, la prestigiosa e storica rivista solo in altre due occasioni si era apertamente schierata a favore di un candidato alla Casa Bianca: nel 1860 con Abraham Lincoln e nel 1964 con Lyndon B. Johnson. A sottolineare limportanza e leccezionalita della decisione e il direttore di The Atlantic, Scott Stossel, che paragona la scelta di sostenere la Clinton a quella fatta nel 1964 a favore di Johnson che si scontrava con il repubblicano Barry Goldwater. Shale oil explorers and producers are among the most volatile companies in the energy sector. When these companies are wrapped in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), investors can choose between strategies involving indirect participation, hedged portfolios and direct exposure with high levels of volatility. Three ETFs particularly stand out for using these strategies, should the shale industry rebound, as of March 10, 2016. The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF Should a recovery in the U.S. shale oil industry occur, the companies that compose the holdings of the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (NYSE ARCA: XES) should benefit as well. Unlike conventional drilling with rigs that can pump relatively consistent levels of oil for 20 years or more, a typical shale oil well loses about 70% of production in the first year. By the third year, production is reduced to a trickle. The need to replace lost production puts shale oil companies in a constant state of drilling new wells, but with oil's price in the mid-$30s and the break-even price on shale oil being around $50 per barrel, oil producers have slowed the development of new wells. However, an increase in oil prices to the point where shale oil can be extracted and produced at a profit would likely start a new round of rig construction as companies play catch-up to replace lost production and rebuild their balance sheets. The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF could also benefit from lower shale oil production costs due to improvements in technology. On average, production costs for shale oil dropped from $100 in 2006 to $50 per barrel by the end of 2015 as advances in fracking technology resulted in lower up-front costs and more output per well. The continuation of this trend would lower the break-even point for production costs, resulting in profitable drilling at oil prices lower than $50 per barrel. The Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF The ETF that provides the closest thing to a pure play on shale oil companies is the Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF (NASDAQ: PSCE), which focuses on exploration, production, services and equipment companies in the Standard & Poors Small-Cap 600 Index. The fund's largest holding at a 13.8% allocation is PDC Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PDCE), which has shale oil operations in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado and the Utica Field in Ohio. The second-largest position in the fund is Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) at a 10.01% allocation, which focuses primarily on shale oil operations in Texas, Ohio, Colorado and Pennsylvania. The portfolios exposure to small-cap energy companies in general, as well as shale oil explorers and producers specifically, results in a high-volatility ETF that is not for the faint of heart. For example, the fund's beta is 1.7, meaning it is 70% more volatile than the general market. However, this fund is worthy of consideration for risk-tolerant investors seeking a bet on a U.S. shale industry rebound. The Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF As a market-weighted fund, the Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF (NYSE ARCA: FRAK) concentrates 58.48% of its top 10 holdings in large-cap companies that get a small percentage of revenues from shale oil, and distribute the balance of its holdings over smaller exploration and production companies. For example, the funds largest holding is Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY), which operates in three distinct segments: oil and gas, chemicals, and midstream and marketing. The company announced in October 2015 that it was reducing its exposure to shale oil by selling its operations in the Bakken field, located in North Dakota. These operations represented Occidental's largest stake in shale oil. As a result of its concentrated holdings of large-cap integrated oil positions mixed with small-caps in the oil and gas sector, the ETF offers hedged exposure to shale oil companies, with relatively lower volatility than a portfolio composed entirely of small-cap explorers and producers. For example, its return over 2015 was -34.01%, versus the Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETFs loss of 48.3% during the same period. The performance relationship of these funds is similar on the upside, as the one-month return for the Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF was 17.48%, while the Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF gained 24.41% over the same period. The Bottom Line These ETFs provide investors with three strategies to bet on a rebound for the U.S. shale industry. As an indirect play, the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF will benefit as producers expand their drilling operations. The Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF offers hedged exposure with relatively less volatility. For risk-tolerant investors, the direct and high volatility exposure provided by the Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF will likely deliver the biggest price swings out of these three ETFs, both on the upside and the downside. Premium tickets for the Broadway mega-smash Hamilton are approaching the $1,000 mark, and, of course, they are way more expensive when scalpers get involved. And yet that has not stopped the hype. The show, created by theater wunderkind Lin-Manuel Miranda, was the big winner at the Tony Awards on Sunday night, which will only point more tourists, millionaires and millionaire tourists in the direction of the Richard Rodgers Theatre to see the big, pricey show. One of many reasons Hamilton has been such a smash is Miranda himself. He is a passionate advocate for not only theater, but for the contributions immigrants have always made to America. In speeches, interviews, as well as the Hamilton songs, Miranda reminds folks that Hamilton was a poor, downtrodden immigrant. This is a message some may or may not want to hear in this angry election season. But you cant deny the relevance, even if Hamilton died 212 years ago next month. As the show's first and title song notes of Hamilton: The ship is in the harbor now/See if you can spot him/Another immigrant/Comin up from the bottom. In a recent interview with Jorge Ramos, Miranda was asked about todays politics and said, What youre seeing is a particular virulent strain of a virus that has always affected our American politics, and its one in which when times are difficult, politicians point at the newest people in the room and say theyre the reason you dont have a job. Miranda, of course, could not avoid the orange-headed elephant in the room: I think [Donald Trump] has done an amazing job at harnessing discontent particularly. Theres one problem here. Alexander Hamilton may be a neat symbol of what ambitious immigrants can accomplish in America. But he was no fan of immigrants himself. In fact, his own political party supported and passed the first (but certainly not the last) notoriously anti-immigrant laws in American history, which were aimed, in part, at the Irish. Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow -- in the book on which Hamilton the musical is based writes, Fearing an American fifth column, (Hamilton) now wanted to throttle the flow of immigration. According to Chernow, Hamilton himself said, My opinion in that the mass (of aliens) ought to be obliged to leave the country. Chernow writes that this is a disappointing stance from Americas most famous foreign-born citizen and once an influential voice for immigration. Ya think? Hamilton became embroiled in an intense debate over immigration and naturalization which unfolded in the 1790s. Hamiltons Federalist Party (which also included George Washington as well as the second president John Adams) ultimately supported what came to be known as the Alien and Sedition Acts, a serious of laws designed to clamp down on what were seen as radical foreign elements and excessive political dissent. One source of dismay to the Federalists was the French Revolution. Even though the American colonists had launched their own revolution just a decade earlier, many Federalists were unnerved by the radical turn the French had taken. The Naturalization Act changed voting rights for immigrants, demanding that they be in the U.S. 14 years rather than five in order to obtain the same rights as the native born. The Alien Act, Chernow adds, gave the president the power to deport, without a hearing or even a reasonable explanation, any foreign-born residents deemed dangerous to the peace. Heres where the Irish come in. The Federalists were betraying an unbecoming nativist streak and wanted to curb an influx of Irish immigrants, who were usually pro-French. So, its tempting to want to upbraid Miranda, and point out that Hamilton was actually quite a hypocrite when it comes to immigration. But maybe Miranda really is on to something. Maybe Hamilton is actually a typical American. So many of us know about our grandparents immigrant journey and even speak of it with pride. And yet, so many of us want to now build a wall. Think about this the next time you talk to a Trump supporter named Murphy or ONeill or Dugan. Or even Hamilton. Don't be surprised if a major topic of conversation in July at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia is a politician called Ryan from the midwest. But it wont be Paul Ryan the Speaker from Wisconsin, rather it will be Ohios own Tim Ryan who is widely being tipped as Hillary Clintons VP pick. Described as hugely charismatic by Vox, Tim Ryan landed on the front page after an article in the Wall Street Journal tagged him as one of the finalists for Hillary Clintons VP candidate. The six foot four broth of a boy is young, 42, but has been fourteen years in the House, where he has gained a reputation as a Congressman who gets things done. Hillary turned to him in March to help deliver the vital state of Ohio against Bernie Sanders and Ryan took her to an Irish pub on the eve of St. Patrick's Day which proved a huge hit. Other advantages include him being from a key state, but unlike Senator Sherrod Brown who would cost as vital Senate seatas Republican governor John Kasich would appoint a GOPerthere are no such issues with Ryan. His youth is also a smart contrast to Clinton, who will be 69 if she steps into the White House. And need we once again make clear the importance of Ohio which is simply a must win for Republicans this fall? At the local Irish pub in March, Ryan vowed the Irish vote would deliver for Hillary and it did. Lets just say the Irish will put her over the top! Ryan shouted at one point as Hillary sipped a Guinness. Read more: Five Irish Americans who could be Hillary Clintons running mate At 42, Ryan, who is a dedicated meditation and mindfulness expert and has written books on the topic, is a very fast riser in Congress. How fast? Politico reported that, On the House side, sources close to the Clinton campaign on Capitol Hill say Ohio's Ryan ... could be poised to join a Clinton administration. I think Tim is a prospect either for vice president or certainly in the Cabinet if he were to desire it, said one influential congressman. Ryan has also begun to burnish his Irish credentials. He issued the Irish American proclamation in the House this St.Patricks Day. "Nearly 44 million Americans celebrate Irish origins, and with good cause," said Congressman Ryan. "From the earliest stages of our nation's history, Irish-Americans have toiled to contribute to many aspects of American life, including industry, agriculture, science, education and the arts. I'm pleased that my House colleagues voted to honor Irish-Americans and their contributions to our nation's heritage," he stated. Hillary seems very impressed with the charismatic Ryan. Whether he makes it to the VP slot remains to be seen but he is definitely in the race. Incredulous as it seems, the idea that Irish bards could kill rats with poetry was a popular belief in Elizabethan England. In Shakespeares As You Like It there is a moment when the heroine Rosalind finds little love poems for her scattered in the woods. I was never so berhymed, she says, since Pythagoras time that I was an Irish rat. In Norton Shakespeare a footnote attempts to explain the line: I was never overwhelmed with rhyme since the days of the ancient Greeks, when I was an Irish rat. Alluding to Pythagoras doctrine of the transmigration of souls and to the popular belief in England that Irish bards were capable of rhyming rats to death. Two of Shakespeares contemporaries, Ben Jonson and Philip Sidney, also make a reference to killing rats with Irish verse. In Jonsons Poetaster, a character says: I could do worse/Rhime them to death, as they do Irish rats/ In drumming tunes. And Philip Sidney notes in his Defence of Poesie: I will not wish unto you to be rimed to death as is said to be done in Ireland. This belief in the Irish poets powerful pest extermination abilities actually began in Ireland. Bards were revered in ancient Ireland, and the early Celts believed their poets could literally kill with magical satire, reports John Kelly for Slate.com. Satirical crimes of the tongue were even criminalized in early Irish law. Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! Subscribe to IrishCentral But the link to deadly Irish poetry and mice killing can be attributed to Seanchan Torpest, a sixth-century bard who, according to folklore, suspected some rodents ate a meal his wife left for him. He vowed to make them pay by composing this piece: Mice, though sharp their snouts, Are not powerful in battles; I will bring death on the party For having eaten Bridget's present. Small was the present she made us, Its loss to her was not great, Let her have payment from us in a poem, Let her not refuse the poet's gratitude! You mice, which are in the roof of the house, Arise all of you, and fall down. According to a 19th-century Irish folk historian: "And thereupon ten mice fell dead on the floor from the roof of the house. The bardic tradition continued through the 17 century, along with the superstitions about the poets craft. Today, literary scholars even believe there is evidence that the rat-rhyming tradition lives on in the cursing and name-calling of Irelands modern poets, such as William Butler Yeats and James Joyce. IrishCentral History Love Irish history? Share your favorite stories with other history buffs in the IrishCentral History Facebook group. Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! Subscribe to IrishCentral *Originally published in 2016 Three astronauts have begun their descent to Earth this morning. European Tim Peake has spent the last six months on the International Space Station along side NASA's Tim Kopra and Soyuz spacecraft commander Yuri Malenchenko. The capsule is due to parachute to the ground in a remote part of Kazakhstan later this morning. Major Peake's tweeted that it's 'time to put on weight', with his wife replying that she 'can't wait'. The company, which took a dual sharelisting on Dublins ESM market and Paris Euronext exchange in 2014, has raised the money through European and North American institutional investors. The proceeds of the raise will be used to fund Mainstays ongoing development of its ReActiv8 product, seen as a potential breakthrough treatment for chronic back pain. The money will be used to support commercialisation of the product in the European market and to fund clinical trials in the US. The company is close to launching its product in Germany and hopes to follow up with launches in other central European countries with similar reimbursement/payment systems. Currently, the likes of the NHS in Britain and the big health insurers here dont have plans to cover use of ReActiv8 in their payment plans, but the company is hopeful of a mainstream launch here in the future. Mainstay is ready to proceed with clinical trials in the lucrative US market, but is still three years away from gaining commercial approval there. The product is an implantable device, installed via a simple medical procedure, which can be activated twice daily to treat the condition. Some 2m people globally suffer from chronic back pain. Mainstay chief executive Peter Crosby said the latest fundraising round will allow it to further progress towards our objectives of commercialisation of ReActiv8 in Europe and the US and help improve the lives of millions of people who suffer from chronic low back pain. The European Commission would look at whether the data purchased in the deal has a very long durability and might constitute a barrier for others, or if they can be replicated so that others stand a chance to enter the market, said Margrethe Vestager. Weve done that kind of analysis in the past and its something were generally paying a lot of attention to, she said in an interview in Copenhagen yesterday. The Dane, who took office at the end of 2014, has signalled a willingness to delve more into how merging companies leverage the treasure trove of data at their disposal. Data was one of the key considerations in the review of Facebooks takeover of messaging service WhatsApp, even though her predecessor in the end concluded there were no data usage concerns. Ms Vestager warned earlier this year that even though the regulator hasnt found a data competition problem yet, this doesnt mean we never will. Microsoft will acquire LinkedIn in one of the largest technology industry deals on record, as the maker of Windows and Office software attempts to put itself at the centre of peoples business lives. The deal is a way for Microsoft, which largely missed out on the consumer web boom dominated by the likes of Google and Facebook, to sprint ahead in social tools in this case, for professionals. When it announced the deal, Microsoft outlined a vision in which a persons LinkedIn profile resides at the middle of other pieces of their work life, connecting with Windows, Outlook, Skype, Office productivity tools like Excel and PowerPoint, and other Microsoft products. Microsofts bid for Linked In will require regulatory approval in the EU, US, Canada and Brazil. LinkedIns analytics will help power data tools for Microsofts Dynamics, which competes with Salesforce in helping companies manage relationships with their customers. Salesforce is believed to have been a rival potential bidder for LinkedIn in the process leading up to the acquisition by Microsoft. The deposit-guarantee plan is part of Europes so-called banking union, which also comprises European Central Bank supervision of euro-area banks and the Single Resolution Board housed in Brussels. Germany has resisted moving forward with the initiative until risks in the banking sector are reduced. EU membership has brought jobs and income gains to Britain and helped to make the country a dynamic and vibrant economy, Ms Lagarde said in a speech in Vienna, Austria. European integration has lifted trade and investment and raised productivity and incomes, she said. We have already been on record that the economic risks of leaving are firmly to the downside, Ms Lagarde said. There is, in my view, a clear case as to how the UK has benefited and will continue to benefit from its membership in the European Union, she said. Ms Lagardes warning reiterates the message contained in an IMF report last month which warned Brexit could lead to a protracted period of heightened uncertainty, triggering financial-market volatility and hurting economic output. The fund also warned it could erode Londons position as a financial centre and cause sharp falls in house and equity prices. Acknowledging that refugee and migration issues play an important role in the Brexit debate, Ms Lagarde urged British voters remain open to immigrants and the role they play in the economy and society. I have always admired the UK for its openness to other nationalities and foreign cultures, and I find it hard to believe that attitudes have changed in such a short time. Membership in the EU has made the UK a richer economy, but it has also made it a more diverse, more exciting, and more creative country, she said. UK banking giant, Citi yesterday said it still expected Britons to vote to stay in the EU in next weeks referendum, despite increased momentum for the Leave campaign. Sterling climbed yesterday as referendum campaigning was suspended for a second day after the murder of MP Jo Cox and an opinion poll on voter intentions was delayed. The IMF also delayed, by 24 hours, the publication of a detailed report on the implications of Brexit. The pound rose 0.4% to $1.4266 in the late afternoon after falling to $1.4013 on Thursday, the lowest level since April 6. Sterling also strengthened 0.2% to 78.88p per euro. Meanwhile, multi-billionaire businessman and the worlds wealthiest man, Bill Gates, entered the Brexit debate yesterday, saying Britain would be a significantly less attractive place to do business and invest if it were to leave the EU. In a letter to The Times, Mr Gates who has invested more than $1bn into the UK said Britain would be stronger, more prosperous and more influential inside the EU. He said Britains EU membership and access to the single market played a role in the decision to locate the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations research facilities in Cambridge. Meanwhile, British companies are preparing for the possibility that the country will vote to leave the EU with extra funds, pre-written statements and plans for late-night vigils by teams of consultants. In the final week before the referendum, the prospect of a Leave vote has come into sharp focus, prompting a last-minute flurry of preparations. Much of the focus is on how to assure customers, employees and investors that there will be near-term business continuity in the event of an Out vote. As citizens, we live in a digital, connected world, where borders do not apply. Through the internet, its easier than ever before for consumers to buy goods from anywhere in the world in their own time. However, few of our SMEs are truly tapping into these benefits. In April, IEDR (the dot.ie Domain Registry) commissioned a new wave of research for the latest edition of our dot.ie Digital Health Index which measures the health of 500 Irish SMEs digital presence by analysing the number of digital assets (like websites, apps and social media accounts) owned by them, and their perceived quality. Across many areas of the survey, weve witnessed some encouraging trends, even in the seven months since our last fieldwork in September 2015. An increasing number of SMEs have websites (72%, up from 65%), while more and more report a positive impact on their business thanks to social media. But elsewhere, some big problems endure: one in six Irish SMEs still have no online presence whatsoever. Thats 1 in 6 SMEs without so much as a website or a Facebook page. Among those without a website, over half 55% said they have no intention of building one in the near future. When questioned further, 60% of offliners said there was simply no need in their industry to build a website. Having an online presence can fundamentally alter the way a business sells products, relates with its existing customers, and acquires new ones. At the very least, a website lets customers know a bit about you, like your opening hours and contact details. In our DHI, we also delved into the other side of the equation: consumers and their attitudes to engaging with Irish businesses online. As much as 71% of consumers said they found it extremely frustrating when they couldnt find information about a business online. Only 29% of Irish SMEs can actually take sales orders online, and even fewer (25%) can process payments. Irish consumers are not waiting for businesses here to catch up. Instead, theyre purchasing from e-commerce-enabled businesses across the world who are willing to sell them goods and services, regardless of geography. Indeed, as a nation were so committed to buying online that we spent 6.5bn in 2015. The reality is that for the majority of Irish SMEs who arent selling online, theyre losing out on potential local business. However, more than one in four of the offline SMEs we surveyed said that lack of high-speed internet is preventing them getting online. There is a clear need for greater rural broadband infrastructure. It is baffling there are still urban centres without access to reliable broadband. In 2016, a business without an internet connection is like a business without a phone or a postal address. It means being cut off from the rest of the world, effectively being ex-directory. Billions of euros worth of trade is conducted via the Internet each day, and to be without reliable, fast access to this international business network is to be denied opportunities for growth. Many SMEs are, indeed, aware of the benefits of being online, but believe that building a website will take too much time or require skills that they do not possess. Particularly in areas outside Dublin, Local Enterprise Offices must continue to offer advice and courses preferably free ones in digital marketing and online business to local SMEs interested in connecting and selling to the world beyond. Increased peer-to-peer mentoring might also be useful in this regard. David Curtin is chief executive of IEDR (dot ie Domain Registry) In recent days Tesco Ireland has lodged two planning appeals to An Bord Pleanala against decisions by local authorities giving Aldi the go-ahead for a new store at Leixlip, Co Kildare and Lidl for a new store in Drogheda. The lodging of the appeals follows success earlier this year for Tesco when it opposed plans for Aldi to develop a new store at Ardee, Co Louth. Data obtained from An Bord Pleanala shows that in the last two years Tesco has had mixed success when opposing the expansion plans of the German discount chains. In six appeals against discount stores planning applications, Tesco Ireland was successful on four occasions, with planning refused in Cork City, Malahide in Dublin, Baileborough, Co Cavan, and Kildare town. The retailers practice of opposing proposed new Aldi and Lidl stores in towns and cities where it has a presence comes against a background of rapid growth for the two German retailers in the 10bn Irish grocery market. Latest figures from market research company Kantar Worldpanel show their combined market share climbed to 22.3% for the 12 weeks to May 22. That puts the German discount chains combined market share ahead of Dunnes Stores and roughly equal to Tesco and SuperValu. Over the past three years, Aldi and Lidls market share has grown by 7% at a cost to the larger players in the business. Last year, Aldi announced 400 new jobs here as it aimed this year to open its 129th store. However, in a bid to at least frustrate Aldis expansion plans, Tesco has lodged an appeal against Aldis planned store for Leixlip. In its 30-page appeal, Tescos consultants argue that the proposed development is not in keeping with the adjoining lands in the Architectural Conservation Area and that the proposed development should be revised as to ensure consistency with the surrounding developments. The appeal claims the proposal for Pound St, Leixlip, fails to meet development standards outlined in the statutory plans and is at odds with surrounding developments. It claims that, if built, it could affect the character of Leixlip and also lead to the creation of traffic conflicts at the location. This view is contrary to that of Kildare County Council, which ruled that the proposal would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity and that all traffic issues associated with the development had been resolved. The submission was made by a lawyer for Andrew Smith, aged 24, who appeared at the court to appeal the severity of his sentence. In June last year at Trim Circuit Court, Smith, of Dean Hill, Hayes, Navan, Co Meath pleaded guilty to assaulting Chloe Cherry on October 27, 2013 at Balsaw, Wilkinstown in Navan. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, with the final six months suspended, by Judge Michael OShea. At yesterdays appeal hearing, Patrick McCullough BL, for Smith, said the allegation that his client locked his then-girlfriend in a dog cage was a disputed fact which Smith denied but that the judge treated as an aggravating factor when sentencing the man. He added that it was incumbent on the judge to make some enquiries about the allegation and that a court should make some effort to resolve in so far as possible this factual dispute. This wasnt done in this case, Mr McCullough said. Another ground for appeal was that the trial judge failed to give adequate consideration to rehabilitation, Mr McCullough said, adding that for his client, rehabilitation was a very strong prospect. The lawyer further stated that the judge failed to give significant weight to mitigating factors, including Smiths lack of previous convictions, his early guilty plea, his remorse, and that he offered compensation to the victim. Orla Crowe BL, for the State, said the allegation that Smith locked Ms Cherry in a dog cage was an egregious part of the evidence but it was for the defence to raise the flag. It was for the appellant to say were asking the court to not have regard to the cage. Certainly at that point the flags could have been raised very clearly, she said. Describing the assault as very serious, Ms Crowe told the court that Smith bit Ms Cherrys leg before the woman ran to the car but Smith dragged her back into their home, where he pushed her and she fell to the floor. Ms Cherry locked herself into the bathroom but came out after Smith kicked the door and pleaded with her. She took out her phone but he took it from her, the court heard. Ms Crowe said Smith and Ms Cherrys first child was four months old at the time and that night was their first out together since the childs birth. The judge was entitled to conclude this was an assault at the higher end of the scale, Ms Crowe said. Judgment was reserved until July 5. St Vincents Church, which opened in Sundays Well in 1856 and which is owned by the Vincentian order, is due to close its doors on June 30. The small congregation is desperately hoping that a new priest can be found at the last minute who will be able to continue to say Mass at the church. A petition with 120 names has been sent to the Order of the Vincentians, as well as to the Bishop of Cork and Ross John Buckley, asking that St Vincents be kept open. In the petition, the campaigners say: We appreciate that there are manpower issues both within the Vincentian community and the diocese. We do not believe, however, that the recent announcement is the correct solution to this situation we find ourselves in and we would request an opportunity to work with you in seeking an alternative. The campaigners have also sent a letter to the Papal Nuncio. According to a spokeswoman for the Friends of St Vincents, as well as being a place where the parishioners go to Mass, the church is a tourist attraction for the public and a hub in the local community. The weekday Masses and weekly coffee morning provide an opportunity for all age groups in the area to come together, helping some who may otherwise not have anyone to talk to for the day to feel less isolated, she said. Many community activities are centred at the church walking group, choir, retired mens computer group, AA, Guides. She said that while some parishioners could go to the Sacred Heart Church for Mass, a number of elderly members of the parish with no access to a car would not have that option. The Pope is encouraging people to come back to the Church we have never left, she said. We are willing but wish to stay together as a group. Its hard for those who dont know the parish to understand our bond, but anyone who comes here can feel it. Fr Tom Deenihan of the Cork and Ross diocese said St Vincents is not a diocesan church and the Vincentians had always provided a priest but do not have any available now. He added that the diocese does not have a great surplus either. Fr Deenihan said the community affected is very small and is hemmed by other parishes. Much as we would like to provide a priest for every community, we cannot, he said, pointing out that, for example, Ballincollig has two priests for thousands of parishioners. This is the first time in Cork City that a church has been faced with the reality of the decline in vocations. This is going to become a more common story. Yesterday, the mother of three graduated with a degree in medicine from Trinity College Dublin six years after returning to education as a mature student. Emer, 33, who will take up a junior position in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, is considering a career in obstetrics and gynaecology. Her youngest child was just a year old when she applied for a place on the Trinity Access Programme (TAP) Foundation Course. The foundation course offers another way to third-level education for mature students and young adults whose social, economic and cultural experiences have prevented them from going to college. I dropped out of school because I had no interest in education. A year later I became pregnant, said Emer. At the graduation ceremony were Emers three children, Leanne, 14, Darren, 11, and Louise, who will celebrate her seventh birthday next month. Also looking on with pride was Emers husband, David, whom she married in 2010 just after starting the access programme. Emer Glanville left school with no qualifications but was inspired to start the Foundation Course by a woman who had returned to education as a mature student, and now has a degree in medicine. I had a friend who had come through the access programme, she said. She completed a degree in psychology and encouraged me to go for it. I chose medicine because I was attracted to science and Sara Grimson, the TAP course co-ordinator, was very encouraging. Emer found that she was a trail-blazer because no mature student had gone before her so she had no idea of what lay ahead. I never failed a single subject, she said. I got excellent grades and was delighted with myself. But there were tough times for Emer and her family who live in Glasnevin, Dublin: My husband, who is from Dublin, stopped working when I got into medicine. It was a big financial struggle from then on. Emer and another foundation student, Andre Maseko, who also graduated in medicine yesterday, supported each other through the five-year degree course. Andre Maseko is congratulated by a friend after receiving a degree in medicine from Trinity. Picture: Paul Sharp/Sharppix It was tough in the beginning, said Emer. I was the only student without a primary degree, and I felt very isolated. But Andre and I stuck it out together. Even up to our final exams we were side by side supporting each other. Andre came to Ireland from South Africa as a child after his father passed away. He had been living independently and supported himself throughout the course by part-time work as a cleaner. He will work his last shift as a cleaner in July, before starting his career as a medical doctor. Andre has also supported TAPs work by volunteering as an ambassador to inspire younger students to fulfil their educational potential. The TAP Foundation course for young adults and mature students began in 1997 and, to date, 617 students progressed to degree courses in TCD, including 39 who graduated yesterday. Briefing material for Frances Fitzgerald also notes that the State could intervene to address a problem of high insurance premiums and legal costs. The 78-page brief outlines priorities for the minister in relation to policing, immigration, and equality. Ireland has committed to taking 4,000 people, including 2,620 asylum seekers, from European hotspots under a relocation programme and a further 520 refugees from Lebanon under a resettlement programme. Most are currently in Italy and Greece, having fled war-torn regions such as Syria, Eritrea, and Iraq, while those being resettled are coming from UN camps after escaping Syria. Three Department of Justice fact-finding missions to Lebanon, involving gardai, concluded that the majority of the male applicants [for resettlement here] have suffered torture or trauma. Resettled adult refugees are initially accommodated in Monasterevin, Co Kildare, and Dungarvan, Co Waterford, while teenagers are placed in local schools. Families are later transferred to Cork, Kerry, Limerick, or Clare. Numbers arriving here under the separate relocation programme are minimal and so far include a Syrian family of 10 who moved to Ireland from Greece. Further arrivals are planned. The report states: As with the resettlement prog-ramme, the most significant challenge facing the relocation programme is sourcing appropriate housing. Increased pressure on local health services to help those arriving is also envisaged, states the report, along with accessing GP services, securing school placements, and childcare services. Meanwhile, an as-yet unpublished taskforce report has recommended a referendum be held on overhauling a section of the Constitution which says a womans place is in the home. The brief flags that an amendment to Article 41.2 should go ahead. It stops short of suggesting that a change would also cover the rights of carers in the home and says instead that this should be determined by law. The issue of inputting more gender-inclusive language in the text of the Constitution should also be considered, states the brief. A key issue for the minister, according to the brief, are legal and insurance costs. The escalating cost of insurance has been a long-term problem for individuals, small businesses, and professionals. A legal services bill to address cost complaints could directly ameliorate the problems, states the brief. At Naas District Court on Thursday, William OGorman, 28 Glenview, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, appeared for not paying a fixed penalty charge after being caught driving at 172km/h in a 120km/h zone, at the M7 Osberstown, Naas, on September 4, 2015. Mr OGorman, aged 28, who earns 800 per week in a security position in Munster, told the court he did not receive the fixed penalty notice. The alleged victim said in cross-examination that she obtained a barring order in the district court after the accused raped her in their home while their son slept downstairs. Padraig Dwyer, defending, put it to the woman that she was not acting like someone who was terrified of their husband. Counsel for the 42-year-old accused asked her why she continued to meet with him. She said the judge who granted the barring order told her she must facilitate access for her husband to their child. She said she tried to arrange meetings with her husband in public spaces where she felt safer. The woman agreed that she did not use the word rape when applying for the barring order. She said she found it very difficult to use that word at all. The accused has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape, assault causing harm, and five counts of threats to kill or cause serious harm between May 24 and August 1, 2014. The jury heard he has pleaded guilty to a count of assaulting his wife with a hammer in August 2014. Mr Dwyer asked the woman why she continued to have sex with her husband after she had made the decision to separate from him in 2014. She said life was not black and white. She said she had sex with him on one occasion because he refused to attend their childs birthday party unless she slept with him. Mr Dwyer put it to the woman that she had ample opportunity to escape the house on the night of the alleged rape in May 2014. He said she could have made a phone call or gone outside and shouted for help. That doesnt in any way describe my state of mind and how terrified I was, she replied. All I could think was, Do what he says, do what he says, you get through tonight. I believe if I even reached for the phone downstairs I would have been dead, she said. Counsel asked why she continued to live with the accused after an earlier incident where she alleged she arrived home to find him smoking a cigarette after dousing the living room with lighter fluid. Mr Dwyer suggested it was like something out of a horror film. The woman replied that she should have left earlier but that she was not responsible for her husbands actions. The trial continues. Margaret Kinsella of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) said students would have enjoyed a question asking about obesity and for the design of a family menu. She said a consumerism question incorporated a number of elements of the syllabus, covering packaging, and redress in the Small Claims Court. A question on the circulatory system was very straightforward, and one about water dealt with a very contemporary issue. Ms Kinsella said ordinary level students would have been challenged by some questions on their exam. However, with plenty of options, they could have avoided those by choosing different questions. Leaving Certificate construction studies was also examined yesterday afternoon, in an exam which a Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) spokesperson said gave higher level students a good opportunity to achieve high marks. He commended questions about construction site safety and the location and orientation of a house, set to become a very important topic in house-building in the near future. Some parts of the paper were testing, and the first questions requirement of detail of a porch with a flat roof may have troubled some students, but the paper was otherwise quite accessible for well-prepared students. Sarah Fox and Hanna Horgan sat Junior Cert German at Colaiste FCJ, Limerick. Picture: Liam Burke ASTI subject spokesperson James Howley was pleased with the themes throughout the exam around current issues in the area, such as eco-friendly design, renewable energy, and passive houses. While there was enough to test the strongest students, there was plenty at the same time to allow those who were more challenged to perform well. Mr Howley said students who had tuned in to current matters by reading newspapers and magazines, or by watching related TV programmes, would benefit by being allowed to reflect their learning in the exam. He suggested ordinary level students could have found some questions on a par with the difficulty of some that might be seen at higher level a reason for commending most students to take the tougher exam anyway. German was the morning exam for about 7,800 Leaving Certificate students, and ASTIs Marie Morrissey said the higher level paper was quite topical. Issues such as integrating refugees into society and schools arose, as did the growth of film-making in Ireland, with mention of Star Wars and Game of Thrones productions here. But she felt students might have found it tough to come up with any negative effects that were asked about by a pen-friend. The grammar section was quite nice, although students might have been surprised to be asked about conjunctions. One of the comprehension pieces was a bit tricky but another about modernising the corner shop idea with online shopping and delivery was nice. Ms Morrissey said the ordinary level exam had further topical points, also including refugee issues. A comprehension piece about living at home or moving out after the Leaving Certificate was considered relevant to students. Leaving Certificate students Jack Barry, Raheen, Owen Alfred, Raheen, and Jamie Riordan, Rhebogue, after sitting their German exam in St Clements College, Limerick. Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22 She said higher level Junior Certificate students could relate to a piece about using email, text messages, and other modern communication instead of writing letters. They should also have been well able for topics on shopping online, holiday plans, pets, and a school trip. At ordinary level, a comprehension piece was on teenagers talking about hobbies and best friends. Ms Morrissey thought there were no problems with the exam, featuring topics in the letter section that were typical of what has come up in the past. Fishmonger Pat OConnell was the plaintiff in a civil action in which he claimed greengrocer Michael Herlihy had defamed him on Pat Kennys radio programme on Newstalk on December 3, 2014. Mr OConnell said he was defamed by untruthful claims that he had intimidated other fish stall holders and had, on occasions, paid suppliers by brown envelopes in an underhand manner. After hearing the testimony of both parties, Judge David Riordan found that Mr OConnell had been defamed. He ordered Mr OHerlihy to make no further defamatory or injurious comments and also ordered him to pay the fishmonger 30,000 in compensation. Judge Riordan said: Mr Herlihy seeks to justify it by reheating the allegations but not by presenting evidence that what he is saying is correct. I have no doubt there is tension between certain stall holders and the tension boiled over when on air. Mr OConnell is now chairman of the stall holders association and the president of the Cork Business Association. Clearly he has a duty to vindicate his reputation. Fishmonger Pat OConnell saidthat he had been defamed by untruthful comments back in 2014. Mr Herlihy is steadfast that he [Mr OConnell] is engaged in these nefarious activities but he has not proven it. The case has not been met in any apologetic way. It is met in a manner that is feisty. To that extent, the matters complained of have been magnified. Prior to the radio show, there had been local media reports of Mr Herlihy buying potatoes from Lidl and selling them from his own stall. He explained yesterday that he had been unable to get potatoes otherwise at the time and he had restaurant orders to meet. Mr OConnell agreed to come on the radio programme and he stressed that there was absolutely nothing illegal about Mr Herlihy buying the Lidl potatoes and re-selling them. However, he said that he was on the programme to explain the ethos of the market as being about selling as much local produce as possible. Michael Herlihy must make no further injurious comments and must pay the fishmonger 30,000. Mr Herlihys opening remarks were that Mr OConnell had intimidated other fish stall holders to leave the English Market and that Mr Herlihy had seen people selling salmon to Mr OConnell and being slipped brown envelopes. Pat Kenny distanced himself and Newstalk from the allegations immediately. Mr OConnell said: I am very proud of my family and my familys business. I ended up being embarrassed, humiliated with lies and nothing but lies and how nasty it was. Mr Herlihy said Mr OConnell had intimidated other fish stall holders from leaving the market. Judge Riordan said the defendant was merely stating this and offering no evidence to support it. The meeting was overshadowed by Mrs Coxs murder but the Council did discuss the forthcoming referendum on Britains membership of the EU. Mr Kenny did not speak to the media in Manchester or Glasgow other than the main press conference, despite other leaders engaging with journalists on the fringes of the council meeting. Mr Kenny said I feel it important to speak to the Irish community who are entitled to vote in the referendum and to say, unashamedly, we feel very strongly they should vote to stay in the European Union. Mr Kenny was said to be quite political in the meeting as to why Britain should remain in Europe, highlighting that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would have no voice in Europe if they left. Alongside Mr Kenny, among those in attendance at the Council, was Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP, who hosted the event. The UK government delegation was led by David Mundell MP, the Secretary of State for Scotland, while the Northern Ireland Executive delegation was led by first minister Arlene Foster and deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness. Speaking at the Irish World Heritage Centre in Manchester yesterday, Mr Kenny again expressed condolences to the family of murdered British Labour MP Jo Cox: Its appropriate to pay tribute to the life and times of Jo Cox who was murdered on the street in West Yorkshire, a mother of two young children going about her business as any councillor or MP or public representative would do and to be shot down and taken away from her family is an appalling crime. He said he would not be campaigning on Brexit as a mark of respect. However, he told members of the Irish community in Manchester that the Government is now looking at giving a vote in the presidential elections to Irish emigrants: One of the priorities that I have asked the minister to look at and hopefully to be able to implement is the situation as far as emigrant voting is concerned in presidential elections. Enda Kenny encourages Irish Community in Liverpool to vote to remain #brexit #iestaff pic.twitter.com/Hjkldwl3kK via @Elaine_Loughlin Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) June 16, 2016 At home, Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail opened a book of condolences in Leinster House for Jo Cox MP. As Ceann Comhairle of the Dail, I wish to convey my sincere and heartfelt sympathies to Jos husband Brendan, their two young children, her extended family and friends and her colleagues on all sides of the political divide in the House of Commons, he said. Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that the total number of overseas visitors coming to Ireland grew by 16.6% to 1.785m trips in the first quarter of the year when compared to the same period in 2015. The number of holiday visitors grew by 28%, from 538,000 to 691,000. The total amount of revenue from overseas visitors grew by 18% in the first three months of the year bringing an additional 102m into the Irish economy compared with 2015. Revenue from holidaymakers grew by 29%. The positive figures come off the back of what was a record year for the tourism sector in 2015. Commenting on the figures, CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, said 2016 was already proving to be a really strong year for the sector. This was an excellent performance and reflects the sentiment weve been hearing from our tourism partners overseas and here at home. As we head into the high season, we are determined to ensure that tourism growth continues. We have an extensive programme of promotions under way around the world, reminding prospective visitors everywhere that there has never been a better time to come and discover the island of Ireland, he said. Failte Ireland CEO, Shaun Quinn, warned that a number of challenges still face the sector: There are still challenges including the spectre of Brexit next week, and the capacity issues in Dublin which we reported on earlier this week which serve as a caution against complacency. We must ensure growth is sustainable, and the sector must do all that it can to maintain its competitiveness as well as continually innovate to meet the changing needs of the modern consumer. Tourism minister Shane Ross said the figures showed the value of tourism to the economy: Tourism played a key part in our economic recovery and thankfully it continues to do so. I look forward to working with the tourism agencies to ensure that this strong performance is maintained, particularly as we enter peak tourism season, he said. Cartan Finegan, 86, says it is time for a full debate about assisted suicide but he says the medical profession is scared stiff of controversy over the issue. He urges the Government to tackle the subject and says as a first step, they should schedule Dail debate time on the Dying With Dignity Bill. Mr Finegan, who is currently living in a nursing home in south Co Dublin, said he had decided last year that he no longer wished to live with Parkinsons which has robbed him of much of his mobility and speech and is doing increasing damage to his memory. When he asked a family member abroad to help him, however, his worried relative contacted the health services, which set in train a chain of events culminating in gardai arriving at his door and his involuntary detention in a psychiatric ward. I began to consider euthanasia because I had witnessed persons being kept alive when they would have preferred to die, he said. Although I firmly believe in the right of an individual to have the option of ending their life, I am also aware that this option carries legal consequences. He said his situation highlighted the dilemma between the person who believes there should be a right to terminate their life and the legal profession that is constrained by law to adopt a certain course, and medical professions who are scared stiff of public controversy, irrespective of what they may believe warrants attention and change. Mr Cartan, who worked for Bord Bainne, CIE and other state bodies, and was integral to the success of the internationally recognised Kerrygold brand, chronicled his experiences in My Last Hurrah! a collection of writings he compiled last year for family and friends. He decided to bring them to wider pubic attention following disclosures in this newspaper by Tom Curran, the partner of the late right- to-die campaigner, Marie Fleming, that he had helped her die according to her wishes and had also helped around 200 other terminally ill people prepare plans to end their lives at a time of their choosing. News: 8 Pauline Carroll, 65, is now in a permanent vegetative state after suffering a heart attack and subsequent brain damage following the chemotherapy session which should not have gone ahead, it was claimed. Yesterday, she secured 975,000 in settlement of her action for damages against the HSE over the treatment at Midlands Regional Hospital, Tullamore, Co Offaly, in 2010. The HSE also agreed to provide an indemnity for as long as she lives for her care in a nursing home, where she now lives. The court heard liability was not conceded as there was an issue between the parties over whether the cardiac arrest, followed by brain damage, was caused by the chemotherapy treatment. Following discussions, a settlement of 975,000 was agreed. Ms Carroll, who worked as a psychiatric nurse all her life, sued the HSE, through her husband Kevin Carroll, Killeen, Mountmellick, Co Laois, over treatment she received on November 1, 2010. She suffered cardiac arrest and consequent brain damage, which was entirely preventable, had the chemotherapy drug she was receiving not switched to a different drug, it was claimed. Mr Justice Kevin Cross told Ms Carrolls husband it was a very good legal outcome for what has been an unfortunate and tragic outcome for his wife and their two sons. Denis McCullough, counsel for Ms Carroll, said she had been undergoing chemotherapy since August 2010, after she had also undergone surgery earlier that year for a a tumour. When she attended on November 1 and checked in, a nurse who, counsel said, had been rude to her on a previous occasion commenced the next session of treatment even though Ms Carroll told her (nurse) she had not seen a doctor yet. The nurse told her that she will be here until night and she commenced the treatment anyway. Counsel said the nurse was grossly offensive to her so much so that Ms Carroll became upset and had to be looked after by another nurse. The treatment proceeded and after about an hour, she was told the doctor was ready to see her. The doctor told her her bloods were too low and the treatment should not be given for another week or two. The doctor was very annoyed it had already started but said however it would have to continue. On November 3, at home, she suffered a cardiac arrest, was taken by ambulance to hospital where she suffered a second arrest causing the brain damage, counsel said. It was their sides argument the chemotherapy regime should not have been changed in circumstances where it was known she had suffered cardiac pain on August 30 and where both chemotherapy drugs she was put on were cardiotoxic, counsel said. There was a full dispute on the facts as to whether the chemotherapy treatment caused the cardiac arrest. The Carrolls expert would say she should not have been given it as her bloods level (white cells) was 1.07 when it should be at least 1.5. The HSE had argued giving the treatment at any level above 1.0 was perfectly reasonable, counsel said. Mr McCullough said an important part of the settlement was the HSE agreed to indemnify her for care beyond the next three years. In those circumstances, the family were happy to accept the settlement, he said. The 42-year-old, who cannot be identified to protect the victims identity, had denied a charge of sexual assault and four charges of conduct contrary to good order and discipline at Aiken Barracks, Dundalk, Co Louth, on October 30, 2013. He was convicted by a board of Defence Force members and the penalties imposed by Military Judge Colonel Michael Campion ranged from fines to detention and discharge. Opening an appeal against his court martial last month, his counsel, Roderick OHanlon, contended that indecent proposals or indecent behaviour does not constitute a sexual assault. Dismissing his appeal yesterday, Mr Justice Alan Mahon said the complainant had enquired as to whether a sauna in the gym was working on the day in question. She was told it was and the man suggested to her that he would meet her in the sauna later. She indicated that she was not agreeable to this suggestion. Later, as she walked toward the female changing area, the man shouted to her that he would follow her in. She indicated that this was not acceptable to her. The man then entered the female changing area, undressed, took a quick shower and wearing a towel entered the sauna. She asked him to leave, he did not do so and she ultimately left. She said she felt uncomfortable and advised him not to emerge from the sauna until she dressed herself. She then went into the female shower cubicle. Moments later the man came into the shower cubicle having removed his towel beforehand. There was a momentary contact because of their proximity in the shower. She said she felt faint when the man entered the shower cubicle, completely violated, and was angry, felt sick and uncomfortable. Mr Justice Mahon said an assault in common law does not require force. Citing academic study, he said assault in common law does not involve the direct application of force but could be constituted by movement or gesture. Mr Justice Mahon said the court was satisfied that the military judge was correct in refusing to direct an acquittal and the board were properly charged in relation to the matter. The former soldier is due to appeal the severity of his sentence. He was remanded on continuing bail until the conclusion of his sentence hearing. On January 3, the court issued its binding recommendation under the newly amended Industrial Relations Act which gives workers the right to collectively bargain even if their employer is non-unionised and the workers are denied representation. The recommendation means the pay of 63 Siptu members employed by Freshway Foods in Dublin increases from their current 9.38 per hour to 11.50 per hour the equivalent of the living wage by 2018. In a statement issued to Industrial Relations News (IRN), Ibec said there was an absence of any rationale for a pay increase of 21.2% cumulative over 16 months. In the absence of any rationale around the structuring of increases at 7.5%, 7.0% and 6.7%, it appears that the Labour Court are attempting to influence policy on the adoption of the living wage as defined by NERI a trade union-funded research unit. Ibec said the living wage concept has no status in Irish industrial relations and it is completely inappropriate for it to be used as part of any judgement. This is very worrying in terms of the direction of the Labour Court and the ability to establish a credibly independent view of business costs/interests in their recommendations under this legislation, it added. In an IRN article, Ibecs head of employer relations Maeve McElwee was said to be critical of how the question of comparator firms was dealt with by the Court. She told IRN that Ibec is concerned about the courts reference to a prepared food sector. She said she would also like to know the comparator firms used by the Court. In response, Siptu referenced Ms McElwees role with the Workplace Relations Commission. Siptus Gerry McCormack, said: The fact that a member of the WRC Board, which as part of its functions is to promote and encourage compliance with relevant employment legislation, would come out and publicly attack the Labour Court is extremely disappointing. As a consequence, Maeve McElwee, who as well as serving on the WRC Board is the head of industrial relations for Ibec, should consider her position. The programme was established by the State in the wake of the murder of journalist, Veronica Guerin 20 years ago in 1996. A state witness against four members of the John Gilligan drugs gang, Charlie Bowden, was the first to be admitted to the programme on his release from prison. More recently, Steve Collins, the father of gangland murder victim, Roy Collins, moved abroad with the help of the State after it purchased properties owned by Mr Collins in Limerick to allow his family start their new life. Roy Collins was shot dead by a member of the notorious McCarthy-Dundon gang in 2009 and in March 2012, Mr Collins and his family required the States help to start a new life abroad after their life in Limerick became intolerable due to constant threats. Figures provided by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald in a written Dail response to Indepoendent TD Tommy Brougham show that 1.19m was budgeted for the witness protection programme last year. This compared to a combined spend of 1.15m for 2013 and 2012 while the spend in 2014 was 1.2m. The budget for the programme this year is another 1.19m. The projected spend this year compares to a spend of 700,000 in 2011 and 700,000 in 2010. In her written Dail reply, Ms Fitzgerald said: The Garda Siochana has operated a Witness Security Programme since 1997 to respond to attempts by criminal and other groups to prevent the normal functioning of the criminal justice system, including threats of violence and systematic intimidation of witnesses. She said: The Witness Security Programme is operated by the garda authorities, overseen by the Crime and Security Section at Garda headquarters supported by the Special Detective Unit and other garda resources as necessary. She added: The operation of the programme and the resources required for it are kept under continuous review by the Garda authorities. By virtue of the highly confidential nature of the Witness Security Programme and the need to maintain the protection of persons who receive support from it, it has not been the practice of successive ministers to detail the specifics of its operation. It is an offence to identify the whereabouts or any new identity of a witness who has been relocated under the programme. The less you know about Egyptian mythology, the more youre likely to enjoy Gods of Egypt (12A). Alex Proyas movie opens with Set (Gerald Butler), the god of darkness, murdering his brother Osiris (Bryan Brown) and blinding his nephew and heir to the throne Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Having enslaved the Egyptian people, Set has plans to rule for eternity, but he reckons without the mortal Bek (Brenton Thwaites), whose love for the dead Zaya (Courtney Eaton) ensures that he will go to any length including challenging the gods and death itself in order to be reunited with her. Epic in tone and theme, Gods of Egypt benefits from lavishly designed CGI sets and an almost childish glee in exploring the storytelling possibilities of the clash between humans and immortals (there is also an endearingly retro quality to the action sequences that brings to mind the visual effects work of the great Ray Harryhausen). That said, much of the movie is unconvincing: the boyish, babbling Bek is the very antithesis of classical mythologys laconic hero, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a sulking grump as the exiled god Horus, and the various goddesses, and Courtney Eaton, are given little more to do than preen and pout. Indeed, its rarely a good sign when Gerald Butler takes home the acting laurels, but here the barrel-chested Butler brings verve and chutzpah to his arrogant Set, his willingness to play along with the tales improbability in pleasing contrast to the knowing smirks and asides that repeatedly puncture the movies mood of feverishly imagined escapism. Fresh from investigating the Amityville hauntings, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) are a husband-and-wife team of paranormal investigators experiencing a crisis of confidence in The Conjuring 2 (15A), particularly as Lorraine is having visions of Eds death at the hands of a demonic presence. When their expertise is required in London, however, Lorraine and Ed reluctantly travel to England, to investigate the bizarre occurrences at the home of the Hodgson family. James Wans horror flick isnt particularly original in its execution a series of creaks, moans, and bumps-in-the-night provide the expected escalation in tension but the familys plight is a fascinating one (its based on a true story) as young sisters Janet (Madison Wolfe) and Margaret (Lauren Esposito) are plagued by a capricious sprite which seems to revel in physical and emotional cruelty. The mise-en-scene contributes handsomely to the spooky proceedings, the grim, poky terraced house of the Hodgsons an entirely fitting habitat for a malicious spirit who strongly resembles Harold Steptoe, but what might have been an effective low-fi horror is frequently derailed by Wans insistence on shoehorning in Lorraines vivid visions of a demonic nun, which is visually far too lurid to dovetail with the more prosaic (but more chilling) haunting being experienced by the sisters. Ironically subtitled A modern love story, Bang Gang (18s) centres on a group of French teenagers with a very liberal attitude to sex. George (Marilyn Lima) sleeps with Alex (Finnegan Oldfield), but when Alex subsequently spurns George in favour of her friend Laetitia (Daisy Broom), George instigates an extreme version of spin-the-bottle within their circle of friends. Soon a host of teenagers are regularly gathering for bang gangs at Alexs house, but the theoretically idyllic free love and partner-swapping quickly evolves into a poisonous brew of jealousy, back-biting and revenge. Written and directed by Eva Husson, Bang Gang is an intriguing snapshot of adolescence as it explores the intoxicating promise of sex. Despite the premise and the lurid title, the sex scenes are very coyly shot; the teens are cruel in the way they exert emotional blackmail on one another, but there is very little here that could be considered physically or visually exploitative. Theres a natural, almost amateurish, quality to the performances that renders these teens very believable indeed (Marilyn Lima and Finnegan Oldfield shine), and Husson is subtle in the way she gradually erodes their initial pose of disaffected nonchalance and arrogance and reveals the characters as hollow, brittle and shallow. Husson appears to be asking whether the teenagers on display here are a modern incarnation of libertarianism or simply representative of a generation desensitised by easy access to drugs and pornography disappointingly, given the nuanced tale that has gone before, her answer comes in an abrupt and simplistic final act which would not be out of place in a Victorian morality play. Gods of Egypt ** The Conjuring 2 *** Bang Gang *** WHEN Samuel Johnson suggested that when youre tired of London, youre tired of life, he probably wasnt talking about mini-breaks. With a bit of planning and a lot of caffeine, its amazing how much culture you can inhale in one great big concentrated hit over the course of a day or two. London this summer is, as ever, a kaleidoscope of events, shows, happenings, openings, and all manner of interesting stuff. Sadly, youll have missed the National Pet Show (alpacas, skateboarding dogs, etc) but here are some of the edited highlights of other things going on between now and the end of the holidays, that do not involve shopping on Oxford Street, queuing to visit the Tower of London, or standing aimlessly outside Buckingham Palace waiting for something to happen. Wear comfy shoes. Morning ART Probably best to get the exhibitions and galleries out of the way earlier on in the day, when you still have the strength. You can double up at Tate Modern and Tate Britain (theres a river boat that will transfer you between the two), and the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery are both in Trafalgar Square, with the Royal Academy just down the road on Piccadilly. There are two major blockbuster art shows this summer - David Hockney, at the Royal Academy from July 2 to October 2 (www.royalacademy.org.uk), and Georgia OKeeffe at Tate Modern from July 6 to October 30 (www.tate.org.uk). Be prepared for crowds. Both will be worth it, particularly OKeeffe, a giant of 20th century modernism whose work is rarely on display outside the US. (Men put me down as one of the best woman painters....I think Im one of the best painters.) Until August 29, Tate Britain is showing Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-1979, featuring pyramids of oranges and other work set to irritate traditionalists. If you are a traditionalist, check out Dutch Flowers at the National Gallery until August 29 (www.nationalgallery.org.uk), and the BP Portrait Award from June 26 to 4 September at the National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org). Both promise to be gorgeous. If the idea of blockbuster shows is too much, most of the private galleries on Cork Street in Mayfair are open to the public, as is the White Cube (www.whitecube.com) in Bermondsey, the gallery of the Young British Artists like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin (although now technically Middle Aged British Artists). The Whitechapel Gallery (www.whitechapelgallery.org) is just off Brick Lane, the former Jewish, then Bengali and now gentrified artists quarter past the City (www.visitbricklane.org). Once edgy, Brick Lane is now a semi-Disneyfied version of its former self, but still worth a wander. Go for bagels at the 24 hour Beigel Bake at the Shoreditch end, an authentic East End institution. Across town in swankier South Kensington, The V&A is showing Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear until March 2017, which is worth a look if you are interested in corset torture, plus theres a gorgeous courtyard out the back to relax with a cold drink (www.vam.ac.uk). Or if youd rather something more cerebral, head to the Wellcome Collection (www.wellcomecollection.org) for States of Mind: Tracing The Edges of Consciousness. Until October 16, this exhibition looks at phenomena like somnambulism, synaesthesia, memory disorders and the nature of consciousness. London is also currently hosting a few music-related exhibitions. This year seems the 40th anniversary of punk, which is celebrated all over the capital via Punk London: 40 Years of Subversion, until November 26. Punk 1976-1978 will be at the British Library until October 2, and there will be talk from The Slits guitarist Viv Albertine, author of the brilliant memoir Clothes Music Boys, and Jon Savage, author of Englands Dreaming (arguably the most comprehensive book on punk ever written), on July 14. You can get tickets for 15 from www.boxoffice@bl.uk. The Rolling Stones, never slow to cash in, have taken over two floors at the Saatchi Gallery until September 4 (www.saatchigallery.com), With nine thematic galleries of memorabilia in their Exhibitionism exhibition, for a stiff 23 you can wander around. Afternoon OUTDOORS You may need some respite from all the culture vulturing, or at least some time outdoors if youve spent the morning strolling through museums and galleries. Youre spoiled for parks in London St James Park, Hyde Park and Regents Park are all central. If that sounds too sedate, stroll along the South Bank, site of the National Theatre, Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall, outdoor book market, skatepark and all kinds of buskers. The riverside walkway makes a great place to sit and people watch as you recharge for the next stage of your day (www.southbanklondon.com). Alternatively, take a Flipside walking tour (www.flipsidelondontours.com), where instead of traipsing around St Pauls Cathedral or joining the queue for the London Eye, you can choose between walking tours themed on Soho Punk, Gangland Soho, Westway Walk (around Notting Hill, taking in its fascinating pre-gentrification history), or Music Movies Murder & Mayhem (around Islington check out where Jimi Hendrix burned his first guitar, the Medellin cartel did their banking, and other obscure but fascinating stops that you wouldnt get on your average tourist bus). If its raining, spend the afternoon mooching about in the legendary Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road, once the shambolic queendom of eccentric owner Christina Foyle. Buying a book used to require queuing at three different tills, and books were categorised by publisher rather than author or topic. It has since been tidied up and organised, and is bibliophile heaven. (www.foyles.co.uk). As is the whole of the Charing Cross Road, with a dozen fascinating old bookshops selling all kinds of rarities. Evening THEATRE Youll be ready for a nice sit down by now, so have your theatre tickets booked in advance it is possible to buy on the day for last minute offers, although this can be a bit random. The biggest West End shows continue to be musicals Glenn Close is playing Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard at the moment. Check out the adaption of the movie Groundhog Day at the Old Vic (www.oldvictheatre.com) from 11 July to 17 September the music is by the wonderful Tim Minchin, who also did Matilda The Musical. Or if you miss it, theres always the award-winning adaptation of Mark Haddons novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime, at the Gielgud Theatre (www.geilgudtheatre.co.uk), which is astonishingly immersive in its portrayal of autism, while also managing to be funny. For something purely magical, theres always Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, from now until next May, at the Palace Theatre (www.palacetheatrelondon.org). This is Harrys first stage outing, where he will play the part of a grown up wizard. Tickets are already like gold. If you fancy something higher brow, visit the Almeida in Islington, voted London Theatre of the Year 2016 for its consistently high quality work in a smallish, modern environment (www.almeida.co.uk). Richard III, starring Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave, runs from 7 June to 6 August. Their productions are always sharp and brilliant. Or if you want funny, feminist stand up Bridgid Christie examines our mortality in her new show Mortal, from June 20 to July 6 at the Soho Theatre (www.sohotheatre.com). What better way to end your exhausting tour of London than by laughing at death? There are six days to make a last-ditch plea to the communications regulator to prolong the life of that anachronistic, though beloved, beast, the public telephone box. Though probably even Superman couldnt save his famous changing room now. 640 of the 900 remaining public phones could be gone by Christmas, and more than a few of us will mourn the demise of a network that provided a lifeline to generations of Irish people. The history of the Irish telephone box is a social history of the country, having charted births, deaths, marriages, the fates of emigrants, their loved-ones, and so much more, since 1925, when the first box was installed on Dawson Street, Dublin. That history can feel so alien in this digital millennium that it seems we were a different species then. How can you explain to a Snapchatter what it was like to press button A if someone answered your call? Or what it was like to be a student in a queue outside a phone kiosk on the Lower Rathmines Road, waiting to ring home on a Sunday night? It was an art form to say a polite hello, call out the number at breakneck speed, then wait for the folks to ring back without you incurring the evil eye of someone in the queue, who would tap the window and their watch in an infuriating attempt to get you to wrap it up. Almost as soon as the public payphone appeared, the ingenious and the mischievous looked for ways to cheat it. There were those who claimed to be practised in the dark arts of getting free calls. Theyd tap out the number, morse-code like, on the little spurs under the receiver, and claim to have gotten through without paying. That might well have been an urban myth, though there were many ways the average phone-user tried to get one over on the P&T, as Eir was known then. You might not actively seek to do the telecommunications company out of money, but if it accidentally came your way, it was like hitting the jackpot. A friend of mine tells the story of inadvertently banging against a pub payphone. It started to cough out a casino-like stream of 5p coins. He and his friends grabbed a hat, filled it with the unexpected windfall, and split it three ways. Later, when each went to pay for their chipper order by counting out stacks of 5ps, the man serving them called his family out from the back to witness the sight. And yet, the very first prosecution for interfering with a public telephone box had nothing to do with theft. In May, 1928, a man with a choice turn of phrase was bound over to the peace at the Limerick Sessions for using bad language when talking to the operator. The telephone box would feature in darker roles. They were robbed, of course, but they were often used by people who had nowhere else to go. They became refuges for addicts and homeless people, who stuffed the air vents with newspaper to keep the draft out. In the 1980s, RTE did a documentary about the babies abandoned in them. Then, as now, they were the target of vandals. Bob Geldof headed a 1980s TV campaign to remind everyone that phone wreckers were, and I quote, idiots. But for all the bad news stories, there are just as many good ones. If youre feeling nostalgic for a more innocent time, there was a wonderful account in the Irish Press newspaper of a nun who used a phonebox in Ballsbridge, in August, 1977, to enquire about the umbrella she had left behind at the Charismatic Renewal gathering in the RDS, earlier that day. She rushed to catch her train, only to discover that she had left her purse behind in the phonebox. Her word and the offer of her name and address was enough to secure a ticket to Malahide. Later, the station master at Lansdowne Road, a Tom Martin, thought to ring a shop near the RDS and ask someone to run down the road to see if the purse was still there. Then, as the Irish Press put it, miracle of miracles, when the nun returned next morning to tender her fare, Tom Martin presented her with the resurrected purse. (There was no news of the missing umbrella, though). For other heart-warming phone memories, you cant beat the short film, Bye Bye Now, by Ross Whitaker and Aideen OSullivan. In it, a father recalls going into a phonebox feeling like Clark Kent, but coming out as Superman, after hearing his wife had just given birth to a baby girl. Others lovingly recall how the kiosk itself was an integral part of the town architecture, used for courting, as an impromptu bus stop, and for fellas who had too much to drink. All of human life was in that little phonebox, said one contributor. And, funnily enough, some of them even used it to make phone calls, too, though when asked the last time they did so, the answer varied from three to ten years. It doesnt augur well for the future. Some towns have put up a spirited defence of what Eir now calls legacy architecture, but it does look like the end of the line. Theres still time to take a stance. ComReg has invited written comments before June 24. Its asking the public if it agrees with the recommendation that Eir can remove those phones used for less than a minute a day over a six-month period there are 640 of them. I cant help feeling well be doing that very Irish thing in the near future: saying our ridiculously prolonged bye bye bye bye, bye bye, bye bye. On a balmy June 2009 evening, the great and the good of the Progressive Democrats got together to wake the party, which was being wound up after a quarter of a century. In front of an assembled crowd, which included many of the partys leading figures, such as Mary Harney, Bobby Molly, Michael McDowell, and Liz ODonnell, founder and first leader Des OMalley was scathing in his criticism of modern politics in Ireland. In Ireland, you now have two middle of the road, inoffensive, whatever youre having yourself, catch-all parties, he said, and I dont think Ireland is particularly well served by having two middle-of-the-road parties. In the course of his remarks, he alluded to the fact that, in 2009, the Progressive Democrats or another small political party could not be formed because of new party funding rules. He was speaking in the context of Declan Ganleys Libertas movement, which was causing a lot of noise at the time, saying only a party backed by a rich man could survive. The only possibility of the formation of a new political party now is the one we saw very recently, and that is the formation of a political party by a very rich man and I think that is wrong, he said. Founding member of Renua, Eddie Hobbs, reportedly quits party https://t.co/gHmNzYgFrh pic.twitter.com/JxWz4fVWhq Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) June 14, 2016 With the news this week that celebrity financial guru Eddie Hobbs has left Renua in the wake of its disastrous general election, the partys future hangs in the balance. Hobbs departure follows that of founding leader Lucinda Creighton, who has left politics since losing her seat in February. On his announcement, Hobbs said that Renuas bid to reposition itself as a liberal democrat party will depend on how much Rome is left in it. He said he had achieved his objective of helping Renua to move away from its association with conservative Catholic policies towards becoming a liberal organisation. However, he indicated that that process was not yet complete. Whether it can [become a liberal democrat party] now depends on a) the next leadership and b) how much Rome is left in Renua, he said. The reasons for Renuas wipe-out at the election may have been largely self-imposed, as many have argued, but its struggles highlight the daunting task anyone who would seek to try and establish a new party in Irish politics. The Renua experience was a fascinating one. The country, having been ravaged by the worst recession in living memory, came captivated by the notion of new political movements in response to the failure of the Fianna Fail-dominated establishment. Fine Gael and Labour were handed the reigns in 2011, only to leave the country abjectly disillusioned by their stewardship of the economy. Founded by Fine Gae l rebels Lucinda Creighton, Terence Flanagan, and Billy Timmins after they voted against the last government on the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill in 2013, Renua came along at a time of great crisis in Irish politics. Having been booted out of Fine Gael, the rebels, along with Denis Naughten, ex-TD Peter Mathews, and senators Paul Bradford and Fidelma Healy Eames, formed the Reform Alliance. This new body, while not a party, was seized upon as the potential vehicle for change which would rock the system. Lucinda Creighton has stepped down as leader of Renua Ireland https://t.co/MzLB5PnYBg pic.twitter.com/6LQJxdy5wS Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) May 14, 2016 It seemed to have the required ingredients for success. Creighton was undoubtedly the focal point, but along with seasoned and well-respected colleagues such as Timmins and Naughten, the alliance had substance to it. The looming shadow of former Progressive Democrat leader and Tanaiste Michael McDowell over the alliance added spice to the mix. From that moment on, the question on much of the medias lips was whether we were going to form a new political party, said Creighton, in her resignation speech earlier this year. That speculation reached fever pitch when in January of 2014, we held what the Sunday Independent dubbed our Monster Meeting in the RDS. Just then, Naughten put a fly in the ointment, saying that, should a party be formed, he would not be part of it. This was a setback, but Creighton and co continued on form what would become Renua in early 2015. But aside from their image difficulties, the new party was beset by logistical, administrative, and financial hurdles, all of which combined to undermine their ability to compete. In terms of the financial hurdles, Fine Gael kept the State funding given for each of the seven who had left the party, robbing the alliance, and later Renua, of much- needed resources to aid them in the tricky few months. Secondly, a series of administrative delays meant they could not open a bank account into which donations could be lodged, which further impeded their general election challenge. It is understood that Creighton and Bradford were forced to invest their own personal monies in order to keep the fragile Renua ship alive. But they were up against it and, as the polls showed it, they were never able to compete. Going from a position where they were sure their incumbent members were likely to hold their seat to one where Creighton was beginning to look vulnerable under a fierce attack from Fine Gaels Kate OConnell, the Renua goose looked cooked from early on. Creighton has also gone on to blame what she called a campaign by Independent News and Media against her for one of the reasons she lost her seat. Ultimately, though, when the ballot boxes were opened on February 27, all three sitting Renua TDs lost their seats and no other Renua candidate succeeded in being elected to the Dail. This was even at a time when the shared Fianna Fail-Fine Gael vote fell below 50% of the total vote for the first time in our countrys history. Renua knew battle was lost six months before election https://t.co/pX4QFKR7Ph pic.twitter.com/qHj0eZ9sPd Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) March 31, 2016 Was it a case that Renua simply was the revolution nobody wanted and does it have a future? Despite the loss of Creighton, Timmins, and Flanagan, Renua will get more than 1.2m in state funding over the next five years, provided it continues as a political party. This is because it secured more than 2% of the national vote in the general election, even though it did not manage to elect a single deputy to the Dail. The funding will continue until the next election. John Leahy, a councillor and Renuas Offaly candidate, confirmed the party would receive 250,000 a year in exchequer funding over the lifetime of the 32nd Dail. Leahy, now the de facto leader of Renua, has a big consideration to make given they now have some form of a lifeline financially. While Renua had been the trailblazers, another new party did contest the general election and did succeed in winning three seats. The Social Democrats with its three co-leaders, Catherine Murphy, Stephen Donnelly, and Roisin Shortall now fly the flag in the Dail for the so-called new politics. Battling many of the same hurdles around state funding that Renua faced, the future of the Soc Dems is no less uncertain than Renuas. The party is struggling for relevance in a noisy 32nd Dail and does not have the machinery or resources of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, or even the reduced Labour Party. In total, 13.4m was paid in state funding to political parties and Independents based on their level of support in the Dail. So therefore bigger parties get more funding, while smaller parties get less. A further quirk in the system is that Independent members of the Dail each essentially get paid a leaders allowance, making it even harder for smaller parties to compete and survive. This is part of the reason why Independents have become so numerous in recent years. It is easier to work the system working alone and maybe in an alliance then it is to go through all the hassle of setting up a new party. I, for one, would like to see Renua continue, as diversity in political thinking is welcome, given how restrictive the Irish system has been. But we, as a society, must ask ourselves whether we benefit from effectively making it impossible for new political voices from being heard. At a time when public confidence in politics is low, surely we should be doing the reverse. But the apparent end of Renua as we knew it, makes me ponder what now for the new party? People never seem to believe me when I say that. Not you, they think, with your degree from Trinity and your nice clothes and your lovely, middle-class parents and your primary school teacher sister. You cant be an addict. I believe that I dont fit their idea of what a person struggling with addiction looks like because I dont live on the streets, because a fragile veneer of respectability covers the cracks in my psyche. As a society, we often try and other addicts. We talk about those people in a manner that is often simply a desperate attempt to create distance between us and them. It is a way of reassuring ourselves that the spectre of addiction could never visit upon us or our friends and family because we are intrinsically different to the frantic souls roaming the city streets, pupils pinpricked, their hands out-stretched with wanting. It is easier for us to believe that we are somehow better. But were not. We are all the same. I understand the voracious hunger that hollows out your stomach, a hunger that you can spend a lifetime trying to satisfy. I understand the need, the need, the need, oh the need that will break your bones and cut out your tongue. I understand the gnawing restlessness that would have you walk a thousand miles and still crackle in your veins. The only difference between me and those people is that I had parents who refused to allow me to fall through the cracks and wallow in the underworld. I received appropriate treatment. I had access to therapists and psychiatrists and doctors. I had money. But money is no real protection in the end. We are all the same, us addicts, and there are far more of us than people would like to admit. We are addicted to food, to sex, to shopping, to gambling, to drink, to drugs, to television, to our iPhones, to work, to busyness. We are addicted to anything that distracts us from life. We see negative emotions looming before us disappointment, boredom, sadness, frustration, jealousy, despair and we rush to find something, anything that will keep us from truly experiencing them. In a world of instant gratification and where appearances are everything, our ability to withstand discomfort looks like it is rapidly decreasing. That was my personal modus operandi for years. When I lost a family member at the age of 14 and the pain felt too savage to withstand, I discovered that food was an effective, if highly dysfunctional, way of managing that pain. Over time I began to use my eating disorder as a way of numbing out completely. I was endlessly pleasant, calm, and inoffensive. I never got angry or upset. I never cried. I lived life in a state of nothingness, painting myself in beige. I never felt sad but I never felt happy either. I never felt very much at all. I have been in recovery for five years now. While not a seamless, linear progression, my recovery has been accompanied with a series of triumphs, both professionally and personally. I have faced few obstacles. Nothing has ever tested my newfound dedication to feeling my feelings, as my long-suffering therapist would say. Until recently. Until grief came and made its home in me. It was my own fault. I pretended to be clean, to be sterile. I pretended to have no needs of my own to avoid seeming needy. And then it all became too much. I was thinking too much and not writing enough. So I stood still. This is what I need, I said, this is what I want. And I let go of the acrobats swing, reaching into the thin air. Reaching into emptiness. I fall, whispering I made a mistake, Im sorry, I take it back. Dont go. I am felled by the pain. I lie prone on a hotel bed, listening to my heart cracking inside my chest. Sobs claw their way out of my throat, talons sharp, until I can taste blood in my mouth. Logically I am aware that the sadness is disproportionate to the actual event, that it seems exaggerated, almost comical. In a strange way it is as if, somehow, every hurt of the last 17 years has been nestled in my body, hiding, waiting until I was ready. They emerge all at once, pooling in my lungs. I cannot breathe with it. And there is Addiction, waiting for me, sharpening his teeth with a rusty blade. Making Faustian promises of relief from the onslaught, if only I will hold his hand. It is tempting, god it is tempting, but I turn my back on him. It is the first in almost two decades that I have done so. I sit with the pain. I nurse it to me. I allow it to fill my belly. I call upon my army of warrior women and they surround me gladly, willing to listen. We stand shoulder to shoulder and I cry in front of them, allowing them to see me as messy and incomplete rather than perfect. I allow myself to be vulnerable. And, paradoxically, I discover what strength lay in that. I couldnt have imagined in the aching and the yearning of heartbreak, everything would come into focus; that the edges of the world would seem to solidify before my eyes. And that I would remember what it felt like to be truly alive. Thirty-one is a little old to learn these lessons. Its probably too old to cry with the abandon of a child over losing what I thought was the missing jigsaw piece to my happiness. I cannot help it. The grief is hot and fierce but I embrace it until I catch light, until I sizzle in its flames. I am on fire with it. But I feel alive, oh so alive. I burn. And I burn. And I burn. * Louise O Neill is from Clonakilty. Her latest novel, Asking For It, was named the overall book of the year at the Irish Book Awards. Burials began as it emerged the owner of a gun shop in Florida said the gunman, Omar Mateen, came to his shop to buy body armour and 1,000 rounds of ammunition about five weeks before the rampage. Robert Abell, co-owner of Lotus Gunworks in Jensen Beach, says the shop declined the sale because the customer raised suspicions by requesting a high grade of body armour typically used by law enforcement. Abell says the young man left empty-handed and that the shop alerted the FBI, but since no sale was made, the shop did not check the mans ID and had no name to give authorities. Abell says store staff realised the customer was nightclub shooter Omar Mateen only after seeing reports about the carnage in Orlando. Funerals are expected to be held over the next two weeks. Obama, who travelled to Orlando on Thursday and met survivors and families of those who died, told reporters: I held and hugged grieving family members and parents, and they asked, Why does this keep happening?. He urged Congress to pass measures to make it harder to legally acquire high-powered weapons like the semi-automatic rifle used in the attack on Sunday. Obama and vice president Joe Biden were in Orlando after the US-born gunman claiming allegiance to various Islamist militant groups carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. During the shooting rampage, Mateen exchanged text messages with his wife, CNN reported, as well as posting on Facebook and placing a phone call to a television station. Police killed Mateen, 29, a US citizen born in New York to Afghan immigrants. Mateen texted his wife to say I love you, babe during his rampage. CBS News said it had spoken to a police source who told them the 29-year-old and his wife Noor Salman communicated during the attack at Pulse on Sunday. NBC News, citing someone close to Salman, reported that she received a call from Mateens mother on the night of the shootings, asking if she knew where her husband was. The source said Salman then texted her husband asking Where are you? at around 2.30am, midway through his rampage. Mateen is said to have responded, Do you see whats happening? and when Salman answered no?, Mateen sent a text saying I love you, babe. NBC said she told investigators she tried to call her husband but failed to get through. Salman is under investigation to find out whether she knew about Mateens plans ahead of time. Salman apparently gave conflicting accounts about what she knew of Mateens intentions in the hours before the attack, authorities said. She also told investigators that in the weeks before the attack, Mateen spent thousands of dollars, including for the guns used in the attack. Mateen and Salman married in 2011. They have a three-year-old son and lived in Fort Pierce, about two hours from the massacre. Obama, who has visited mass shooting victims families in towns from San Bernardino, California, to Newtown, Connecticut, since becoming president, laid flowers at a memorial for the victims of the attack on the Pulse nightclub. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack but US officials have said they do not believe Mateen was assisted from abroad. A married couple also claiming allegiance to Islamic State shot dead 14 people in California in December. Salman is coming under increasing scrutiny as police investigate the massacre at the nightclub. Authorities say Mateen carried out the killing with a Sig Sauer MCX semi-automatic assault-style rifle and a pistol. A US attorney plans to bring evidence before a federal grand jury to determine whether charges will be filed against the gunmans wife, two law enforcement officials said. Despite mounting pledges of allegiance to IS, some say they believe Mateen was actually fuelled by struggles with his sexuality and may have latched on to IS as a vehicle for his anger. Several regulars at the gay nightclub said the gunman visited frequently over the past few years. Cord Cedeno said Mateen saw him at Pulse and messaged him on Grindr, a gay dating app. The Detmold state court sentenced Reinhold Hanning to five years in prison, though he will remain free while any appeals are heard. During his four-month trial, Hanning admitted serving as an Auschwitz guard. He said he was ashamed that he was aware Jews were being killed but did nothing to try to stop it. He had faced a maximum of 15 years. Hannings defence had called for an acquittal, saying there is no evidence he killed or beat anyone, while prosecutors sought a six-year sentence. He said during his trial that he volunteered for the SS at age 18 and served in Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944 but said he was not involved in the killings in the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. It disturbs me deeply that I was part of such a criminal organisation, he told the court in April. I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologise for my actions. Despite his age, Hanning has seemed alert during the four-month trial, paying attention to testimony and occasionally walking in to the courtroom on his own, though usually using a wheelchair. Several equally elderly Auschwitz survivors testified at the trial about their own experiences, and were among about 40 survivors or their families who joined the process as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law. Leon Schwarzbaum, a 95-year-old Auschwitz survivor from Berlin who was used as slave labourer to help build a factory for Siemens outside the camp, told the court at the start of the trial that he regularly saw flames belching from the chimneys of the Auschwitz crematoria. So much fire came out of the chimneys, no smoke, just fire, he told the court. And that was burning people. Schwarzbaum later said he does not want Hanning to go to prison and is happy he apologised, but had hoped he would have provided more details about Auschwitz for the sake of educating younger generations. The historical truth is important, Schwarzbaum said. Hanning joined the Hitler Youth with his class in 1935 at age 13, then volunteered at 18 for the Waffen SS in 1940 at the urging of his stepmother. He fought in several battles in World War II before being hit by grenade splinters in his head and leg at Kiev in 1941. He told the court that as he was recovering from his wounds he asked to be sent back but his commander decided he was no longer fit for frontline duty, and so sent him to Auschwitz, without his knowing what it was. Though there is no evidence Hanning was responsible for a specific crime, he was tried under new legal reasoning that as a guard he helped the death camp operate, and thus could be tried for accessory to murder. British prime minister David Cameron has issued a plea for tolerance in British political life as he joined Jeremy Corbyn and John Bercow to pay tribute to Labour MP Jo Cox in the West Yorkshire town where she was killed. Parliament is to be recalled on Monday to allow MPs to pay tribute to the mother of two, who the prime minister described as one of the most passionate and brilliant campaigners in the House of Commons. Ms Cox, who entered parliament as MP for Batley and Spen in last years general election, was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall on Thursday. The prime minister, Labour leader and commons speaker bowed their heads as they laid bouquets at the foot of Birstalls Joseph Priestley memorial, adding to the impromptu shrine of flowers and messages. Across the market square from where they stood, police tape still cordoned off the spot where the 41-year-old former aid worker was killed in what Mr Corbyn described as an attack on democracy. Cameron said the whole nation was rightly shocked at Ms Coxs death, and called for people to value, and see as precious, the democracy we have on these islands. Politics was about public service and MPs wanted to make the world a better place, he said. And Mr Cameron added: Where we see hatred, where we find division, where we see intolerance, we must drive it out of our politics and out of our public life and out of our communities. If we truly want to honour Jo, then what we should do is recognise that her values service, community, tolerance the values she lived by and worked by, those are the values that we need to redouble in our national life in the months and years to come, he said. Campaigning in the EU referendum remained suspended following Ms Coxs death, with Stronger In announcing that they will extend the pause in national campaign events to today. Unite union leader Len McCluskey cancelled a planned EU speech on Monday in a mark of respect to the murdered MP. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have announced that they will not contest the by-election resulting from her death, giving Labour a probable free run at retaining the Westminster seat which she won with a majority of 6,057 last year. Thomas Mair. The man held over the attack on Labour MP Jo Cox is not a violent man and is not that political, his brother has said. Tommy Mair, 52, was detained by police near his home in Birstall, West Yorkshire. Officers were seen searching his home not far from the scene of the attack, during which the alleged assailant reportedly shouted Britain first. Scott Mair, 50, told reporters his brother had a history of mental illness, but he has had help. And he told The Sun: We are struggling to believe what has happened. My brother is not a violent man and is not that political. We dont even know who he votes for. I am visibly shaken at this news. I am so sorry for the MP and her family. A Thomas Mair, from Batley, was named in a 2006 edition of the Springbok Cyber Newsletter, which is produced by the hard-right Springbok Club, an organisation which has called for a return to apartheid-style government in South Africa. The online article said he was one of the earliest subscribers and supporters of SA Patriot and was hoping to trace his whereabouts. And a US civil rights group the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Alabama, claimed it had obtained records showing a Thomas Mair had links with the neo-Nazi organisation National Alliance dating back to 1999. MPs last words: My pain is too much Sam Lister The last words of Jo Cox were no, my pain is too much, the father of the MPs assistant has said. Ghulam Maniyar said his daughter, Fazila Aswat, had tried to help the politician as she lay dying in her arms. Ms Aswat had urged Ms Cox to get up but the pain was too much, according to the former Labour councillor. He told ITV News: She said her (Jos) injury was so bad and she was in her arms. There was lots of blood. She said Jo, get up but she (Jo) said no, my pain is too much, Fazila. And I think those were the last words Jo spoke. She could not do anything else. She tried to comfort her. Then the police came, the air ambulance took her to hospital. She was a witness and her clothes were full of blood. Mr Maniyar said Ms Cox was like a daughter to him and called him uncle. He added: I think shes a caring person, not just an MP but she liked to help every human being, every single person. She worried about Syrian people, she worried about ordinary people. Whenever you approached her, shed come forward with a smile and try to help you. Its shocking. Not just for my daughter but the whole community. We were living in harmony in the community, English community, Asian community. Mr Maniyar said his daughter had tried to stop the attack and is in shock. She tried to help her, she tried to hit (the attacker) with her handbag, but he tried to go at her, he added. People came so he followed them and he came back again and shot her (Jo) again twice. My daughter... she is in shock because shes been with her (Jo) for one year and working very closely with her. Business The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (June 18, 2016) SEZ transparency demanded; U.S. cellphone tower investment; Korea funds farm research; startup incubator seeks applicants; Chinese tech firm to arrive. Government Told to Demand Transparency From SEZ Firms The companies involved in planning and building special economic zones (SEZs) in Dawei and Kyaukphyu are failing to disclose impact assessments and other information relating to the massive projects, according to the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). Progress on the Dawei SEZ, in southern Burmas Tenasserim Division, has been delayed by a lack of funding, but the governments of Burma, Thailand and, more recently, Japan, are all involved in a project that looks to be moving ahead. In Kyaukphyu, a Chinese-led consortium was awarded the rights to build a port and industrial zone by the outgoing government in January. Lead developer CITICs vice chairman Yuan Shaolin told Chinese state media in January that the company would protect the local environment and ensure the local population benefits from the SEZ. However, researchers from the Switzerland-based ICJ said in an article posted last year that they had asked investors, developers, auditors and a research institute involved in the SEZ projects for information relating to environmental impact assessments, environmental management plans, and financial audit reports over the past three months, but received no substantive responses. One of the articles authors reaffirmed these conclusions on Twitter on Saturday. Vani Sathisan, the ICJs international legal adviser based in Burma, and James Tager, a Harvard Satter Fellow working with the ICJ, warned that transparency on the projects was vital to making sure they did not have deleterious effects on local populations. They called for Burmas new government to ensure that companies were meeting what transparency requirements were already enshrined in law, and said the Parliament should pass a new piece of legislation on environmental impact assessments, which is currently in draft form. [Burmas] government has the obligation, under international law, to uphold the rights of its people to informed participation in environmental decision-making, they wrote. These obligations must start with government officers committing to sharing information with communities affected by proposed projects, and must continue with enforcement of regulations ensuring that corporate actors do the same. U.S. Finance Institution Backs Cellphone Tower Firm Washingtons development finance institution, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), has agreed to provide a loan worth US$250 million to Apollo Towers Myanmar Limited, a company building and operating cellphone towers in Burma. The loan represents the institutions first foray into Burma, and underlines expectations of greater expansion in telecommunications infrastructure in the country. A statement from Myanmar Investments International Limited, a London-listed investment fund and one of Apollo Towers shareholders, said the company has plans to more than double the number of cellphone towers it operates. Apollo Towers, whose shareholders also include U.S. firms Tillman Holding and TPG Growth, is one of a handful of private firms building infrastructure for the three companies currently offering mobile phone services in Burma. The sector has expanded rapidly towards ambitious coverage targets. Myanmar Investments reckons mobile phone penetration has now reached more than 75 percent of the population, up from just 9 percent in 2013. Apollo Towers already owns and operates about 1,800 towers, and is targeting 2,000 in its next stage of development, according to the statement. OPIC is pleased to be working with Apollo on this first, important investment in Burma, OPICs President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield was quoted in the statement as saying. Telecommunications are a critical part of ongoing development across the world and, through this project, OPIC is looking to have a significant impact on those who previously lacked access to telecommunications coverage in the country. Korean-Funded Research Institute Hopes to Step Up Farmers Productivity South Koreas overseas development agency is funding a new research center that it is hoped will help to address low productivity in Burmese agriculture. Research by the World Bank recently identified low yields as a challenge for Burmese farmers, who on average put in more work for a smaller crop yield than farmers in most of the rest of Asia, despite the countrys endowment of workable soil and weather conditions. A report in South Korean media said ground was broken earlier this month on a new Post-Harvest Research Center in Naypyidaw. The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is funding the center to the tune of US$4.5 million, the publicly funded Yonhap news Agency said. The report identified a Lack of know-how and sophisticated techniques as reasons for Burmas lower agricultural efficiency. The institute will be tasked with studying techniques related to packaging, processing, storage and others deemed to be critical to improving the yields and productivity of farming products after being harvested, Yonhap reported. Startup Incubator Invites Applications The downtown Rangoon-based tech hub Phandeeyar is inviting applications from local start-ups to gain a share of US$200,000 of available seed funding. The organization recently received $2 million from the Omidyar Network, the self-described philanthropic investment firm set up by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, which was explained in a blog post earlier this month: We believe that [Burmas] digital leapfrog can have a meaningful impact on the lives of ordinary citizens, the organization said. However, to do this, a new generation of technologists, civil society leaders, journalists and other change-agents will need to be equipped with the necessary skills to leverage the new connectivity infrastructure. These skills are in short supply today after decades of isolation. Of that cash, a seed fund of $200,000 is reportedly to be shared between at least six startups by the Phandeeyar Accelerator. We commit $25,000 of seed funding when you enter the Phandeeyar Accelerator, the incubators website says. The money belongs to your startup; you can spend it as you see fit, but we do recommend that you budget carefully and spend as much as you can on promoting and growing your company. As well as the cash, the startups will have access to specialist mentors and other training, free services like web hosting and space in the Phandeeyar office on Merchant Street. Chinese Tech Firm Plans to Set Up Burma Branch Chinese company GCI Science and Technology Co Ltd is planning to set up a unit in Burma, according to Reuters. The Guangzhou-based company is a spin-off from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. According to its website, the company is involved in consulting and services relating to communications networks, cloud computing, broadband internet and set-top boxes for digital TV. The site mentions its ambitions overseas, especially in Southeast Asia. Over the years, GCI Science & Technology, on the basis of further consolidating the domestic market, has actively expanded the international market [sic], set up overseas branches in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and other places, and has become the influential [sic] professional network optimization service provider on the Southeast Asian market, it says. Correction: It was previously reported that the ICJ had posted its article last Thursday. The ICJ article was published in 2015. An additional statement concerning one of the articles authors has been added. Censorship Harms Burmas Chance for Reconciliation It is the governments responsibility to recognize wrongdoings that have happened before in the effort to bring national reconciliation. The Human Rights Human Dignity film festival could not screen its opening film Twilight over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess in Rangoon this week. Burmas film censorship board banned the film because it could allegedly tarnish the image of the Burma Army and harm ethnic unity. I expect that there will be enoughcompletely warrantedcriticism of this decision. It showed that censorship still exists in Burma under the new government, and highlighted two critical issues as festival co-organizer Mon Mon Myat pointed out at the opening, that military and religion still cannot be touched. The decision shows that there is a line the National League for Democracy (NLD) ministers dare not cross. I have been in Burma long enough that I already know that argument of those who are ready to defend banning this film: that this is a sensitive time leading up to the 21st Century Panglong Conference and it is better not to shake the boat now. Because I care about peace and reconciliation in Burma and do understand that reconciliation is the biggest issues facing our country, I have spent hours asking myself if the screening of the film could really have been harmful. I came to the following conclusions: It is simply wrong for the censorship board to have banned the film. It is wrong to have a censorship board. The fact that the festival could not screen the film highlighted how the military still influences what can and cannot be done from behind the scenes. But it is not only about the military, it is about the deep fear that has been ingrained in peoples minds, and that even people who are not ex-military but who currently work in state institutions are afraid of upsetting the military. Banning the film does not help reconciliationit is the other way around. Censoring the truth harms reconciliation. Honestly recognizing the wrongdoings that have happened beforeand are still happeningwill do much more for reconciliation. I think I understand the concerns of the people in top positions who are making decisions on the NLD side. They are trying to walk a narrow path, one that will not upset the military but will also introduce reforms that people expect. But the truth, suffering and pain that many families and communities have dealt with must also be taken into consideration. Their experiences cannot be censored or pushed under the rug in the name of reconciliation. Denying the truth and not acknowledging pain and suffering undermines the chance for a resolution. Many groups have suffered under military rule. But if the democratically elected leaders and the military leaders want to achieve peace, they need to admit that ethnic and religious minority groups have suffered. Recognition of this will do just as much for reconciliation as any negotiations that go on behind closed doors. To really succeed in the peace process, you need those negotiations, partnered with high-profile talks and public recognition of past wrongdoings. It is the responsibility of the leadership to do so. If Burma genuinely wants to address human rights abuses, culture, art and media should be encouraged to bring truth, painful stories and wrongdoingsboth past and presentinto the open. Igor Blazevic is a human rights campaigner, founder of One World, Europes biggest human rights documentary film festival, and a jury member at the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival in Burma. Dateline Irrawaddy: Ethnic Groups Faith in Parliament Has Somehow Been Dashed The Irrawaddy talks with ethnic affairs reporters Lawi Weng and Saw Yan Naing about challenges facing the new government in the ongoing peace process. Kyaw Kha: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, well discuss the internal peace processa must for the new civilian government. Irrawaddy English edition ethnic affairs reporters Ko Saw Yan Naing and Ko Lawi Weng will join me for the discussion. I am Irrawaddy Burmese edition reporter Kyaw Kha. The new civilian government has said they would give priority to internal peace and ethnic issues. Late last month, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi formed two sub-committees responsible for preparations for the 21st Century Panglong Conference. Sub-committee 1 is led by Lt-Gen Yar Pyae and is tasked with holding talks with ethnic signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement [NCA]. Sub-committee 2 is led by Dr. Tin Myo Win and is tasked with holding talks with the NCA non-signatories. Sub-committee 2 met for the first time with non-signatories in Chiang Mai, Thailand earlier this month. Ko Saw Yan Naing, you covered the meeting. What significant things did you notice there? Saw Yan Naing: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi formed the sub-committee led by Tin Myo Win and therefore they have greater confidence and more transparency than the military-backed peace negotiation team led by U Aung Min. But then again, Tin Myo Wins team could not make decisions immediately regarding sensitive issues, so important decisions could not be made at the meeting. Mainly, they invited non-signatories to attend the 21st Century Panglong Conference and participate in the political dialogue framework reviewing process. The United Nationalities Federal Council [UNFC] leadership said they would make a decision on whether they would attend the meeting, but it seems they have not decided yet. They want to understand clearly how Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will hold the conference, and they want to take their time. Some analysts said the UNFC might be concerned that they will miss the opportunity to negotiate their demands if they dont participate in the Panglong Conference, because Daw Aung San Suu Kyi does not want to postpone it. She wants it to take place soon. Some people have pointed out that if the UNFC does not participate in the conference, its role might be downplayed. KK: NCA signatories met the sub-committee led by Lt-Gen Yar Pyae a few days ago in Yangon. It was an informal meeting about the political dialogue framework review. I covered the meeting and found differences between the previous government and the new government. The previous government held the Union Peace Conference and invited NCA-signatories. Although NCA non-signatories were also invited to the conference, they could only attend as observers and were not allowed to participate in discussions. But the new government has taken a different approach. It will allow NCA non-signatories to participate in discussions during the conference and in reviewing the framework for political dialogue. It looks like there a good outlook for talks between the government and NCA non-signatories. What do you think, Ko Lawi? Lawi Weng: Yes, and that is because of the differences between U Aung Min and U Thein Sein from the previous government and Dr. Tin Myo Win from the new government. The developments are encouraging. Given the circumstances, it is likely that the Arakan Army [AA], Taang National Liberation Army [TNLA] and Kokang may join the peace conference. If the military does not intervene and allows them to participate, it will do a lot for the process. We always write news stories about these three groupswho are non-signatories and members of the UNFC. It is possible that if these three groups join the peace conference, the rest may automatically come along. But then again, it greatly depends on the decision of the military. If the military stays silent and says nothing, it is a good sign. If they speak out against it, the situation might be different. KK: The Palaung [Taang] and Kokang submitted their official resignations to the UNFC last month, but the UNFC has not made a decision yet. We have also heard talk that the Palaung and Kokang may resign from the UNFC in order to join the United Wa State Army [UWSA], and that the Wa might lead allied forces in northern Burma along the Burma-China border. If that is true, it will be a tough challenge for the new government. What do you think? SYN: If the military agrees with the way paved by the NLD and allows NCA non-signatoriesthe AA, TNLA and Kokangto sign the NCA, the peace process is almost a done deal. But if the military does not allow these three groups to sign, forces in northern Shan Statethe Mongla Army, Kokang, Shan State Progressive Party [SSPP], AA and UWSA might ally. All of them are big forces and will pose grave danger together. Military tensions might arise then. In Shan State, ethnic groups are even fighting against each otherthere are renewed clashes between the Restoration Council of Shan State [RCSS] and the TNLA. It could lead to a very complicated situation if the military does not accept those three groups. LW: Speaking of the military, we have talked about a federal army. The UNFC has tried to establish a federal armyan inclusive army that ethnic minority groups could join, but it has been quite difficult. Mainly, there are budget problems. The UNFC has tried hard to translate its idea of a federal army into a reality, but it has not happened. The UWSA is the strongest ethnic armed group in Burma. If those three groups are not allowed to sign the NCA, they will probably join the Wa, which will pose a serious challenge to the ongoing peace process. The UWSA has money and can take the helm with that money. KK: What people expect in the time of the new civilian government is a ceasefire and permanent peace. So far, their expectations are far from being fulfilled. Local people measure peace against a yardstick of clashes. There are clashes in Kachin State, and in northern and southern Shan State. It seems like there are more clashes now than under the previous government. There are even clashes between ethnic armed groupsthe RCSS and the TNLA. Both sides have suffered heavy casualties and locals have also seen their homes destroyed or suffered injury or death. People in war zones wonder what Parliament, under the civilian government, can do for them. Ko Lawi, how much do you think Parliament will be able to solve this problem? LW: Ethnic minority groups had high hopes for the National League for Democracy [NLD], but the NLD-dominated parliament has made no significant effort to help resolve their problems. Ethnic groups expected Parliament to seek a resolution. Ethnic issues were only permitted as questions in Parliament. In the case of Arakan issues, their proposal was rejected by Parliament. Ethnic groups faith in Parliament has somehow been dashed. Lawmakers from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy [SNLD] and the Arakan National Party [ANP] have been informally talking at Parliament about merging the two parties. I spoke with a Palaung lawmaker a few days ago and he said they are thinking about how the TNLA could join that merger. He said the NLD is forced to make political maneuvers depending on the moves of the military. It is not that the NLD does not bother to solve the problems, but it cant make moves without military approvalsome ethnic groups are fed up with it. KK: The new government is already taking steps in the peace process. What are some of the improvements and challenges, Ko Yan Naing? SYN: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said she would give priority to peacebuilding. Then, her government took a series of steps. Tin Myo Win invited UNFC leaders to hold talks in Rangoon. He is also set to meet with the Wa group. There were also some improvements under the previous government; for example, guns almost fell silent in most of the regions controlled by the Karen National Union [KNU]. The challenge is Shan State. Fierce clashes have erupted there in spite of the ongoing peace process and there were even air strikes. According to consultancy IHS Janes intelligence report, modern military equipment [drones] was deployed. There are renewed clashes in Arakan State. The AA was not strong before but they have become bigger and more active throughout the peace process. While there are some improvements, there are many challenges. It will depend on how effectively Daw Aung San Suu Kyi can handle the situation and how willing the military is to cooperate. KK: Assessing what you two have said, most of the ethnic policies of the new government and the ethnic groups are the same, which is a positive sign for peace. The military plays a major role in the peace process under the current government. If the military will cooperate with the government, we can expect good news for peace. Ko Saw Yan Naing, Ko Lawi, thanks for your contributions. Microsoft acquires Wand Labs Indian startup to implement its "conversations as a platform" vision. According to PC World, Microsoft just bought the Indian developer of a chat app for iOS. Corporate Vice President David Ku wrote Thursday, June 16, in a Microsoft blog post announcing the deal that the Wand team will be joining Bing's engineering and platform group. The team members will be working on creating intelligent virtual assistants and chatbots. Wand Labs is a messaging startup that has been launched in 2013 by IIT-Delhi alumnus Vishal Sharma, previously the vice president of products at Google. The company has been working since then on chat apps that allow adding outside information from sources like Yelp. Users could also let other people access their smart home devices and share music using Wand. The chat app was tested by the company in private trials but the service has not been released broadly to consumers. Now, Sharma, Wand Labs CEO, said in a blog post that the Wand service will be shut down. Microsoft's overall vision for conversational interaction between computers and humans match well Wand's features. Earlier this year, at the Microsoft's Build conference, company executives showed off a vision of humans interacting with bots representing businesses. The bots helped humans to complete tasks like making a restaurant reservation or booking a hotel room. Ku mentioned Wand team's expertise on a variety of topics, including third-party developer semantics, integration and conversational interfaces as reasons for the company to join Microsoft. With the acquisition, it is likely Microsoft will also use some of the ideas and technology behind Wand. According to the website profit.ndtv.com, Microsoft's acquisition of Wand Labs builds on and extends the power of the Bing search engine, Office 365, the cloud computing platform Azure and Windows platforms to empower developers everywhere. However, this is the second acquisition by Microsoft this week, coming after revealing plans to buy LinkedIn in a deal worth over US$26 billion. Former Commonwealth Bank (CBA) IT executive Keith Hunter has pleaded guilty to bribery/kickbacks in a case that has two sides to it did CBA get the best outcome and just how much does this represent a tip of the iceberg culture? Hunter, formerly CBAs head of IT operations and in charge of an annual expense budget exceeding $1.5 billion, and New Zealand colleague Jon Waldron, were charged early last year with several counts of bribery allegedly more than US$2 million (nearly AU$3M) on a US$10.5M contract awarded to ServiceMesh. At the time, ServiceMesh founder Eric Pulier, a high-flying, serial technology entrepreneur, was suspended by his employer Computer Services Corporation (CSC). ServiceMesh was acquired by CSC in October 2013 for US$260M, and the ongoing use of the name relates to its "ServiceMesh Agility Platform". Pulier was vice-president of CSC and global head of its cloud operations. Puller was accused of setting up a phony charity to channel kickbacks in return for a contract that in turn boosted the value of ServiceMesh before its acquisition by CSC. There is no intimation that CSC acted improperly in any way apart from perhaps not seeing this during its extensive due diligence stage before buying ServiceMesh. The case reads like a comedy novel Hunter passing off false documents to claim he worked for the charity and others to cover the deposits made in a New Zealand CBA bank account. Fraud and Cybercrime Squad commander detective superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis said at the time, "It's a very serious offence. From my experience in criminal matters, these two individuals are probably the most senior executives that have been caught out for this particular offence." Asked during a media conference if it was a "blunder" by the men to store the funds at the bank where they were working, Katsogiannis said: "What do you think?" The long arm of the law moves slowly in corporate fraud Hunter will be formally sentenced in December and Waldron will appear at a hearing in July. Puliers lawyers have released a statement claiming the guilty plea had been brought about through Australian government pressure. According to BreakingNewsSi the statement says, Mr Hunter has consistently maintained his innocence, and Mr Hunter has repeatedly stated that he always acted in the best interests of his employer and that the payments he received were compensation for work he was undertaking for the ACE Foundation. Unfortunately, the Australian governments unethical investigation of Mr Hunter which has been characterised by leaks of inaccurate, self-serving information has bankrupted and broken Mr Hunter, apparently leaving him with no choice but to capitulate to the Australian governments demands. Pulier a one-time adviser to former US vice-president Al Gore is also the subject of an FBI investigation and is being sued for millions of dollars by CSC. Then there is the reputational damage to CBA, CSC and more. Did CBA get its moneys worth? Reporting on this matter has been mysteriously absent. What goods or services was the contract for? Was it a competitive tender? Was there any collusion between ServiceMesh and competitors? These and many more questions need to be asked if only to prove the probity by the bank. Unfortunately, the news is littered with fines for collusion, bribery and more makes me think that in larger IT contracts there needs to be more scrutiny. The bribe allegedly relates to a US$10.5M contract but, in various documents seen by iTWire, this was only the part of "tens of millions" spent with ServiceMesh and later CSC. Hunter was also responsible for using SeviceMesh in his previous position at Visa. Apples iPhone 6/S/Plus is claimed to violate the design patents of Chinese device maker Shenzhen Baili (also known as Digione) which is financially backed by Chinese Internet giant Baidu. A stop sales order has been issued. That is according to the Beijing Intellectual Property Office that ordered Apple to stop selling immediately. Apple of course immediately appealed and as a result the stop order has been stayed pending review. The decision only affects the Beijing area, but it is clear that Shenzhen Baili, a small smartphone maker, has its sights set on the entire Chinese market. It is not clear what the patent dispute is about. One source stated that Shenzhen Baili applied to the State Intellectual Property Office for a patent for the exterior design of its 100C smartphone in 2013 (relating to curve radius and appearance). It was awarded the patent in a decision issued in December 2013 and published in January 2014. Apple applied to the Office to rescind the patent in March 2015, and the regulator upheld the patent in December 2015. The ruling by the agency which administers matters involving patents in Beijing is the latest in a series of setbacks for Apple in its largest market after the US. Its iTunes movies, and iBooks services were blocked in April for violating foreign publishing regulations. In 2013, Chinese state media accused the company of shoddy customer service and inadequate warranties, requiring an apology from its chief executive Officer Tim Cook. Last month, it lost its fight to keep the iPhone name exclusive to its products after a Beijing court ruled that a little-known accessories maker could use the label for a range of wallets and purses. In 2012, Apple paid US$60 million to Proview International Holdings. to settle a dispute over the right to the iPad name in China. According to Nasdaq Erick Robinson, chief patent counsel for Asia Pacific at the Rouse China law firm said, It is still relatively rare for Chinese companies to attack and be successful against Western companies, but youre going to see more and more of this. Apple's revenue from China has fallen 26% to US$12.5 billion in Q1, 2016. Apples shares dived from US$97.55 to US$95.46 following the news and at the time of writing were still going south having reached US$95.30. Share market analysts say that this was also due to a revelation by JP Morgan that Apple Watch sales had tanked, and its revised 2016 sales estimates were down from 23.5 million units to 11.9 million units. Apple does not publish Watch sales figures. Analysts also say that if the iPhone 7 is not "brilliant", one can expect to see iPhone sales drop from an estimated 220 million units to about 204 million units. Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus. Nation of Islam follower selected to fill St. Pete Council vacancy By a 4-3 margin, the St. Petersburg City Council voted to fill a vacant council seat with the appointment of Brother John Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam which is headed by Louis Farrakhan. Prior to the deliberations, council members received calls and emails from the Jewish community... 17 to be honored as Women of Distinction on Dec. 1 Tampa JCCs and Federation Womens Philanthropy will present the Bobbe Karpay Women of Distinction awards to 17 honorees on Thursday, Dec. 1. Area synagogues and Jewish organizations were each invited to honor one woman who exemplifies the mission of the agency through her leadership and commitment. The event will take... Israeli military officers to give Tampa briefing A change in the U.S.-Israel military relationship that took place last year and has brought Israeli military brass to Tampa is reaping benefits for Israelis defense, an official in Israels Embassy to the U.S. says. The change, which took effect on Sept. 1, 2021, was for Israels military to be... Jewish Federation of Floridas Gulf Coast statement The Jewish Federation of Floridas Gulf Coast (Federation) and its Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) does not endorse candidates but does speak out on issues of concern for our community. We believe people of all faiths and no faiths should be treated with dignity and respect. We believe we have... By of the For some, headline-making, acquisition-hungry companies are the most exciting investments. But in a murky, unpredictable and low-growth economy the weak jobs report in early June is a recent example that's not the tack Milwaukee mutual fund manager Andy Fleming takes. Rather than seeking companies that are looking beyond themselves, he looks for those with an internal focus. "The ones that are saying 'let's fix the storefront before we make an addition,'" said Fleming, a vice president at Heartland Advisors Inc. and co-manager of the Heartland Value Plus Fund (HRVIX). Brady Corp. (BRC, $31.14), Milwaukee, makes identification and security products. When Chief Executive Officer J. Michael Nauman arrived in late 2014, Brady had been on an acquisition spree, Fleming said. "They weren't effectively integrating these acquisitions, and they weren't effectively investing in research and development," he said. Nauman, along with Aaron Pearce, his hand-picked chief financial officer, greatly improved the company's cost structure so that it now reflects its revenue profile, not its revenue expectations, Fleming said. The new management team consolidated facilities, eliminated less profitable products, worked down inventories and put systems in place to collect more quickly on billings. They're allocating capital more prudently and investing strategically in R&D, Fleming said. Since Nauman took the helm, Brady's net debt position has dropped by more than $75 million and the company has been buying back its stock opportunistically, he said. "As a result, they're generating double-digit returns on capital and healthy free cash flow," he said. The biggest risk here is the possibility that management could fail to execute operationally as well as it has to date, Fleming said. These shares have a 52-week trading range of $18.46 to $32.76. They could go as high as $38 in the next 24 months, he said. CTS Corp. (CTS, $17.70), Elkhart, Ind., makes and sells sensors, electronic components and actuators, primarily to original equipment manufacturers. Like Brady, CTS has a relatively new CEO, Kieran O'Sullivan, who arrived in 2013. "He immediately brought a lot of focus to the company," Fleming said. O'Sullivan sold CTS's lower-margin contract manufacturing division, reduced its number of facilities to 11 from 15, and moved some operations to lower-cost locations. He also added sales employees and sharpened the company's focus on R&D, he said. When a company's book-to-bill ratio the ratio of orders received to units shipped and billed is at one or higher, that means the company is seeing strong demand, and bodes well for future revenue growth. CTS has had six straight quarters of a book-to-bill ratio exceeding one, Fleming said. And new business wins are coming in at higher profit margins, he added. The biggest risk here is the possibility of a strengthening dollar, he said. These shares have a 52-week trading range of $12.87 to $20.25. They could reach as high as $24 in the next 24 months, Fleming said. Potlatch Corp. (PCH, $33.66), Spokane, Wash., is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and manages timberlands. Potlatch management earlier this year said it would take steps to close a wide gap between the company's net asset value and its stock price. Soon after the announcement, two directors bought Potlatch shares. Management made good on its plan, selling $114 million of non-core timberland and using the proceeds to pay down debt and buy back stock, Fleming said. The biggest risk here is the possibility that the Canadian dollar might weaken against the U.S. dollar, which tends to bring the price of lumber down and gives Potlatch's Canadian competitors a cost advantage, Fleming said. These shares have a 52-week trading range of $24.01 to $36.94. They could reach as high as $47 in the next 24 months, he said. About This The Journal Sentinel focuses on one Wisconsin money manager or analyst in this weekly feature, looking at a trend that helps investment pros make their decisions. Ryan Schleicher, director of author services and corporate sales at 800-CEO-READ in Milwaukee, with some of the bestselling business books he recommended. Schleicher believes these will be constructive reads for any business executive. Credit: Michael Sears In a pontoon boat on a lake "up north," with a fishing pole in one hand and a cold beverage in the other, I see a bald eagle fly overhead and hear the distant call of a loon. At night, the stars are so bright that my family and I are transported to another dimension. A more peaceful, soul-restoring dimension. That's my idea of the perfect Wisconsin summer vacation. What's yours? Whatever that may be, most successful people I know are not capable of completely unplugging from their professional roles when they are on vacation. In many ways, that is a tragic consequence of the Digital Age. However, Rick Bauman, a business psychologist at Humber, Mundie & McClary LLP in Milwaukee, has some advice for leaders who are on vacation but who also want to make constructive use of their time away from the office. "As a business psychologist, I would offer a primary method for reaching top leadership status: Read voraciously! Not only is effective reading the skill most lacking in many executives today, but in lacking such skill many of those executives have actually missed their primary calling," Bauman said. "Whether it be on your bedside table, laptop, tablet or smartphone, the written word represents a compendium of someone else's lifetime of research, experience and belief about a given topic. Therefore, go forth and read," Bauman said. "I would add that another role of the top executive is to stimulate the thoughts of others as he/she guides them. This is most effectively done through stimulation of one's own thoughts first ... through reading." OK, Doc. Got it. But what should we read? For that, we turned to Ryan Schleicher, director of author services and corporate sales for Milwaukee-based 800-CEO-Read. Schleicher's job includes monitoring the bestselling business books on the market. The following is Schleicher's list of 10 titles that would be constructive reads for C-Level executives this summer. 1. "Think Simple: How Smart Leaders Defeat Complexity"by Ken Segall. "We hear it all the time: Keep it Simple Stupid. It's easier said than done, though. Ken Segall interviews business leaders around the world about the power of simplicity and then distills it down into method," Schleicher said. 2. "Peter Drucker on Consulting: How to Apply Drucker's Principles for Business Success"by William A Cohen. "Drucker is the father of modern management. If you lead anything or anyone, you need Drucker in your life. In this book, Cohen is the first to reveal in detail Drucker's methods and ideas as a consultant," Schleicher said. 3. "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance"by Angela Duckworth. "While most leaders might be hesitant to admit that their success is based on anything but their own innate talent, the real secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence to what Duckworth calls 'grit,'" Schleicher said. 4. "Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life" by Amy E. Herman. "Amy Herman has trained experts ranging from FBI agents and cops to CEOs and ER docs. You already got ahead. Amy Herman's book is how you stay ahead," Schleicher said. 5. "The Greats On Leadership: Classic Wisdom for Modern Managers" by Jocelyn Davis. "You don't need a big title or a business degree in order to lead with impact. What you need is practical wisdom: the insight, judgment and strength of character that all great leaders have, but that most business schools and corporate workshops don't teach," Schleicher said. 6. "O Great One!: A Little Story About the Awesome Power of Recognition"by David Novak, with Christa Bourg. "This book is a breezy summer read, a parable about the secret to engaging and motivating people to do great things," Schleicher said. 7. "Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It"by Chris Voss, with Tahl Raz. "No CEO gets to where they are without being a skilled negotiator. In this book, a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new, field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations whether in the boardroom or at home," Schleicher said. 8. "The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence"by Dacher Keltner. "Stop yelling, start listening and read a revolutionary and timely reconsideration of everything we know about power. Keltner argues that compassion and selflessness enable us to have the most influence over others, and the result is power as a force for good in the world," Schleicher said. 9. "Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World"by Adam Grant. "CEOs know change is important and inevitable. Individuality is not a new attribute of success. It often takes great courage, but challenging the status quo and changing your world or the world at large is not only the arena of the eccentric. It is available to everyone, every day," Schleicher said. 10. "An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization"by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey. "Admittedly a little weighty for a beach read, but an important one, nonetheless, because organizations that not only free their workers of the fear that accompanies being a continuously imperfect human being, but can offer an opportunity for personal development, will have a considerably more engaged, energized and efficient workforce," Schleicher said. Best wishes for a reflective and productive Wisconsin summer. Steve Jagler is the business editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Send C-Level ideas to him at steve.jagler@journalsentinel.com. SHARE By Belman Homes is set to begin its second Operation Finally Home project in a redevelopment district called Dunbar Oaks in the City of Waukesha. On the heels of completing its first OFH project in the Cranberry Creek development in Jackson, Wisconsinwhere hundreds of people and companies dedicated countless hours to build two mortgage-free homes to two deserving veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan warsDavid Belman and his company are committed to do it all again. Im so passionate about doing this second Operation Finally Home project in Waukesha, Belman said. This is my hometown. Its where I grew up. Its where our business is. Belman plans to break ground this fall. At its basic level, building a home is a complex feat. Add to that are countless details big and small: getting donated land and materials, designing a home plan suited for its veteran, involving volunteers and trades people to work on every aspect, planning events, raising funds, involving the community and yes, choosing a deserving veteran. Yes, there are a lot of moving parts to this project. Ive learned that having a good team and good communication are two of the most important things when doing this, Belman said. Choosing good partners makes it easier. It went really well with the first project in Jackson. And just like the project in Jackson, we will work with local companies in the community. First Federal Bank of Wisconsin has a business relationship with Belman Homes, and Gary Riley, president of the bank, contacted Belman to see if a city-owned lot would work if Belman was inclined to tackle a second project in Waukesha. I sit on Waukeshas Redevelopment Authority Committee. There is a parcel of landDunbar Oaks in the citys redevelopment district. Through support and funding, David was able to get the last lot for the project, Riley said of the home site in a residential area near downtown Waukesha. Finding a lot is a huge task, Belman said. Yes, this is a big undertaking, but not compared to what these vets have had to deal with. You dont know what they have been through. The Metropolitan Builders Association is a big supporter in the OFH projects. We are part of the overall efforts through our membership and the opportunities presented, said Kristine Hillmer, executive director of the MBA. We get involved in the marketing end of it too, but efforts come from all over the association. The MBA has a long history of community involvement. Operation Finally Home utilizes our members skills and dedication, Hillmer said. This is a great tie in for us. The MBA is holding a town hall meeting at 5:30 p.m. on July 14 at its headquarters in Waukesha to get all its interested members aboard. The MBA is graciously supporting the second project, just as it did for the first one, Belman said. So many people who worked on the first project told me to count them in for the second one. Pella Windows was involved in the first OFH project and, has not only committed to the second homebuilding project in Waukesha, it has committed to work with OFH on a national level. Building a mortgage-free home for a deserving vet is a rare opportunity to change a persons life forever. For Belman, the unintended consequence is that he has been changed forever too. My dad was a vet. This is my way to support veterans and do what I can. The process has become very personal for him as well. All of us who supported that last project got to know Drew and Katelyn and Bo and Kim. You see the families grow and progress, he said of Sergeant Drew Wroblewski and his wife Katelyn and U.S. Army Specialist Robert Bo Kitelinger and his wife Kimthe new residents of the homes in Jackson. Choosing a vet Operation Finally Home works with Veterans Administration caseworkers to choose a veteran who will receive a mortgage-free home. A veterans disability rating must be 70 percent or higher. Our vets have visible and/or invisible wounds, such as amputations and PTSD, said Molly Halliday, vice president of marketing for OFH. The case worker works with the veteran through the application process. Veteran housing is a big issue when transitioning back into civilian life. When building a house for a veteran through OFH, Belman said there are certain specifications. The house has to be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant with wider doorways, zero thresholds and roll-in showers. Community involvement This is a community project, Belman said. It was so great to see how the Jackson community supported our first project of two homes. Through fundraising, cookouts benefitting the build and building awareness, members of community come together and welcome its newest and most deserving members. We want people to come and support the events that are being planned and to have events to raise additional funds. An ongoing list of OFH events are posted on Belman Homes website. Donations can be made directly at First Federal Bank of Wisconsin or on the OFH website at Operationfinallyhome.org/wisconsin. One hundred percent of the donations go directly to the project. SHARE By Hate is the most powerful sin. We do not have to look very far to find the effects of hate in our world, our nation and our own communities. The sickening massacre in Orlando last Sunday was an evil act of hatred. The shooter distorted his beliefs, and took advantage of ill-conceived gun laws to facilitate what was an act fueled only by his own hatred. The 20th century was the most bloody, most brutal our world has ever known. That brutality was driven in no small part by the evils of nationalism, fascism and hate. While Nazi Germany is always the clearest example, there were countless others, not the least of which was the apartheid era in South Africa. This past Thursday marked the 40th anniversary of the Soweto uprising, a series of events that put the anti-apartheid movement on the world stage. As we all shape the 21st century, we have to ensure that such atrocities cease to occur. The apartheid state, and those who brutally enforced it, drew its power from a distrust and hatred of the "other." Fear was the tool that allowed the South African government to perpetuate one of the world's clearest injustices. Those who enforced it, even by killing hundreds of children as was the case on June 16, 1976, had access to weapons and acted under the color of police and military action. But how does a person aim a rifle at a child's back and pull the trigger, if not fueled by a hatred and a righteousness fed by a false theology? I began my career in South Africa working with anti-apartheid leaders. There was a long period when very few people believed that apartheid would end in a peaceful manner, let alone see Nelson Mandela become the democratically elected president. While South Africa, like all democracies, struggles on a range of issues, I continue to be inspired by the anti-apartheid movement and its demonstration that even the most seemingly insurmountable challenges can be overcome. One of the things I continue to carry with me from my initial time in South Africa, and subsequent visits there, is what Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes as the spirit of Ubuntu. Tutu says that ubuntu essentially means, "A person is a person through other people." Ubuntu is about humanness, that we are tied to each other, that we are impacted by what happens to others, and that we are not fully realized as persons except through our relationships with other persons. One of the common factors in these acts of hate is the dehumanization of others, the very opposite of ubuntu. Whether the Holocaust, state terror such as apartheid, terrorist attacks or the gunning down of people seen as "other," the perpetrators' ability to disconnect from fellow human beings is perhaps the key enabling factor. Rational gun laws that respect the true intent of the Second Amendment, anti-terror efforts targeting groups such as ISIS and vigilance by local law enforcement and citizens all will make a difference but will never end this scourge. At the heart of this is what is in our own hearts. Until we see ourselves in others, until we see a flash of the Creator (however one might conceive that) in the eyes of every person, until we come to see that there is a thread woven between all human beings that ties us to each other, there always will be room for hate to destroy lives. How many generations are lost due to senseless killing? We all have been diminished as a result. So where can we each start to change our culture, to begin truly to see that we are tied together? If we begin with ourselves, what might that create in the world? Would this have stopped the shooter in Orlando? Likely not, but what might our world, our communities, be like a generation, two generations, from now if we were to embrace the concept of simply treating each other in ways that recognize the dignity of every person? I can't help but wonder what lies at the heart of our tendency toward violence, and what we all might be able to build if we truly embrace the belief that so many of us hold that is, that we are all of infinite innate worth, and if we treated each other that way, our world would be a different place. Marcus White is a vice president with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and former executive director of Interfaith Conference. SHARE By According to the American College of Surgeons, more than 5 million infants and children undergo surgery each year around the United States. These surgical events range from standardized outpatient procedures such as ear tubes to complex heart-defect repairs that take 12 or more hours in an operating room. While pediatric surgical outcomes have improved over the years, death and complication rates continue to be higher than in adult surgeries due to the complexities involved in operating on growing bones and bodies that metabolize anesthesia differently than other patient populations. For infants younger than 1 year old, researchers estimate the risk of cardiac arrest under anesthesia is about five times as high as for adults; for newborns it is about 10 times as high. Despite these sobering statistics, close to half of all pediatric surgeries still take place at adult-focused hospitals, even though research has proved that there are fewer complications, better survival rates and shorter hospital stays when children undergo surgery in pediatric hospitals. As a father and a doctor who has spent my entire career in pediatrics, I can't emphasize enough how important it is for parents and caregivers to understand why pediatric specialization matters when choosing a hospital for their kids whether for a routine surgery or a complex, lifesaving operation. That's why I couldn't be more proud that the American College of Surgeons recently announced that Children's Hospital of Wisconsin has been designated as one of the first Level I Children's Surgery Centers in the entire country. Earning Level I status means that Children's Hospital of Wisconsin has the resources, expertise and demonstrated quality outcomes in caring for the full range of surgical problems in all children, from the smallest preemies to not-quite-adult adolescents. And it means the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings and friends of the kids we operate on can rest a little easier knowing that their child is receiving care specifically designed for their smaller bodies, more fragile bones and unique responses to anesthesia. Every single one of our surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, radiologists and other staff are specifically trained to care for kids, which in a complex surgical situation, can mean the difference between life and death. Consider the extraordinary confluence of events that occurred this past fall. In just one incredible day, five lifesaving transplants occurred at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin thanks to the selflessness of one bereaved donor's family. A team of hundreds of people worked together to successfully take these five families on an amazing journey of hope from the laboratory team running the required tests to determine matches to the imaging department providing necessary pictures to prepare for surgery and the clinical teams on patient floors supporting recovery. These were just five of the nearly 19,000 surgical procedures that are completed each year at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, the state's only independent health care system dedicated solely to the health and well-being of children. We count more than 500 pediatric specialists among our ranks, including 40 surgeons and 35 anesthesiologists who are committed to making sure all kids from those needing simple stitches to those requiring lifesaving surgery get the kind of kid-focused care they need to not only survive, but to thrive. With a statewide population that is smaller than some cities with top-ranked children's hospitals, having a nationally renowned, pediatric-only medical system in our backyard is rare and didn't happen by accident. And it's both a privilege and a responsibility we need to protect for the sake of all our kids. Marc Gorelick, M.D., is chief operating officer at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and a professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Business / Local by Staff Reporter The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) has claimed that businesses are ready to use bond notes.It said the sector is fully behind the controversial move.The bond notes would be in circulation in October.The association held private talks with Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Friday.CZR president Denford Mutashu told journalists after the meeting that they held frank discussions with the aim of finding a common ground to ease the cash crisis.The retail sector has been accused of externalising funds through importing unnecessary goods.However, Mr Mutashu says the sector is now in the process of rationalising its systems so that they compliment policies being formulated by the government to stimulate economic activity. Oil and water flow down Ceresco Dam as oil spill clean up continues along the Kalamazoo River near Ceresco, Mich., in 2010. Credit: Associated Press SHARE By President Barack Obama is expected to visit Wisconsin to campaign for Hillary Clinton in the coming days, and while he is in our state he needs to recognize a major threat to Wisconsin's well-being: plans to expand a dangerous and unnecessary tar sands crude oil pipeline network through the state. Secretary of State John Kerry is in the middle of a historic blunder. The State Department's behind closed doors cooperation with a Canadian oil pipeline company's proposals risks squandering a fortune in fresh water: the public waters of Lake Superior, the upper Great Lakes and other Wisconsin waters. Obama should get the State Department to question and veto these tar sands crude oil pipeline plans now as he did with the Keystone XL pipeline. Whether you perceive Lake Superior (one-tenth of Earth's fresh water) and other Wisconsin waters as poetry or commodity, proposals for a massive expansion of tar sands crude oil pipelines near and under those waters does not make sense. Incredibly, the State Department is acting as an enabler for those plans. The State Department signed off on an agreement with the Canadian oil pipeline company Enbridge to quietly approve an increase in oil crossing the border. That agreement became known as the "double cross" a brazen attempt to avoid public review, a convoluted pipeline arrangement at the border that offered a pretense that a new permit was not needed and a doubling of oil flow across the border. Connect the dots on Enbridge's pipeline plans, a stealth version of the Keystone XL pipeline that would lock in Wisconsin as a major transportation corridor to ship tar sands to the world market for decades to come, and State Department cooperation with those plans, and a reasonable citizen would be outraged. Threatened: Lake Superior and the Namekagon, St. Croix, Chippewa, Wisconsin, Fox and Rock rivers. Also endangered: the sacred wild rice beds of Ojibwe nations, the health and safety of numerous landowners near the pipeline facing eminent domain procedures, as well as rural first responders who would face the chemical cocktail of the spills and leaks that are sure to come. Question: Why should Wisconsin put up with what Nebraska and British Columbia will not: a tar sands pipeline export scheme that is all risk and no reward for local citizens? Key fact: Tar sands promoters need a route to saltwater to get their product to the world market. Stymied by the ferocious resistance of ranchers and tribes in Nebraska and British Columbia, they now want to create a tar sands superhighway through Minnesota and Wisconsin (from Superior to Delavan) and on to the Gulf Coast. Due diligence is in order. Tars sands oil is notably dangerous to the planet's climate. Enbridge's safety record is alarming. A massive July 25, 2010, Enbridge tar sands pipeline spill in Michigan's Kalamazoo River required $1.2 billion to clean up. That spill also revealed that tar sands oil sinks in water, making cleanup difficult. Federal regulators described Enbridge's spill response as "Keystone Kops." "It will be very difficult to give Enbridge credibility going forward on any pipeline project," the Detroit Free Press Editorial Board noted on July 11, 2012. Now is the time to stand up for common sense, clean water, open public discussion and no permits for expanded tar sands oil pipelines. Obama and Kerry should join these common sense citizen efforts. There is no room for dangerous and unnecessary tar sands crude oil pipelines in Wisconsin's clean energy future. Future generations will thank you. Eric Hansen is an award-winning conservation essayist and commentator. For more information see the website of "Eighty Feet is Enough" an organization of landowners concerned about Enbridge pipeline expansion: http://80feetisenough.org SHARE State Secretary of the Department of Health Services Kitty Rhoades died Saturday. Journal Sentinel files By of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Kitty Rhoades died Saturday, surrounded by her family in Madison, after falling ill this past week, Gov. Scott Walker announced. Rhoades, 65, became state Department of Health Services secretary in February 2013, when she was elevated from the deputy's post after predecessor Dennis Smith took a job with a Washington law firm. The move came as Walker was seeking to avoid a full expansion of state Medicaid programs funded under the federal health care law. Before joining the health agency in January 2011 as its deputy, Rhoades served in the Assembly from 1999 until 2010. She was co-chairwoman of the powerful Joint Finance Committee in 2007 and 2008. "Kitty's passing will be felt by the many people she engaged with throughout her life ...," Walker said in a statement. "She was a vital part of our administration, a former colleague, and a dear friend." Walker said Rhoades had the chance to do what she loved serving and leading the people of Wisconsin on health care issues. "Her passion for public policy through her time serving as a business and community leader in Hudson, as a Wisconsin state representative for 12 years, and then as secretary of the Department of Health Services, was evident to all those who worked with her," Walker said. Attorney General Brad Schimel described Rhoades as "a great advocate, leader, and servant" who dedicated her career to improving the lives of Wisconsin citizens. Schimel said in his statement that thousands of lives were touched by Rhoades, and that he would always appreciate her dedication to their shared passion: fighting the state's opioid epidemic. Silverstein: Gutekunst would be smart to clear receiver trade with QB Reddit Email 0 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | After Montgomery and his troops defeated the Germans and Italians at El Alamain in northern Egypt in 1942, Winston Churchill was relieved finally to have some good news after a string of defeats. He said, Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi announced on Friday that Iraqi troops had captured the governmental complex in the center of Fallujah. The Lebanese newspaper al-Nahar (The Day) reports that the Iraqi army also took the eastern and southern districts of the city. Only some residential neighborhoods in northern Fallujah remain in the hands of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). There, however, sources told al-Nahar that Daesh still rules with an iron fist, in the districts of Jolan, al-Muhandis, al-Wahda, al-Jumhuria and al-Andalus in the north. A source inside the city said Friday that it was nevertheless possible that the neighborhoods would fall to the Iraqi government within hours. The image of invincibility and the projection of power that Daesh has striven for during the past two years has been shattered, the Iraqi source in Fallujah said, at the hands of the various Iraqi forces. The Iraqi war information bureau said that a counter-terrorism unit liberated the district of Nizal entirely after imposing severe losses on the Daesh fighters. Meanwhile, the 17th Infantry Division, a Baghdad formation, continued to advance and it succeeded in liberating al-Ursan district entirely, and in securing the left bank of the Euphrates. It also announced that units of the national gendarmes liberated the governors mansion for the county of Fallujah in the center of the city and raised the Iraqi flag over it. Dozens of Daesh guerrillas were killed in the confrontations. The government forces advanced to Baghdad Street, expelling the enemy. Battles continue as the army seeks to fulfill all its objectives. Fighting continues as the counter-terrorism division seeks to take Fallujah Hospital. Irans Arabic-language al-Alam [The World] reported on al-Abadis television address, in which he announced that Fallujah had returned to the bosom of the nation, and that shortly Daesh would be completely expelled from the city. He said, Our forces fulfilled their pledge, and liberated Fallujah, and next we will head to Mosul. He called on all the institutions of the state to exert every effort to take care of the civilians and to deliver humanitarian aid, as well as to be careful of peoples property and homes. He said, today is a day of forgiveness. (He meant that although many Fallujans may have collaborated with Daesh because they saw it as savior of Sunnis, they should not now be punished, in the interests of bringing all Iraqis together under the banner of the central government. He said that Daesh had no place in Iraq. Having taken Tikrit, Ramadi, Hit and Fallujah, the Iraqi government has over the past 2 years decisively rolled bak Daesh. It is now virtually besieged in Mosul, which is landlocked and increasingly surrounded. As a governmental entity, I wouldnt give Daesh more than a year. As a terrorist organization, it can be both long-lived and deadly. Related video: CBS This Morning: Iraq troops push into center of ISIS-held Fallujah Reddit Email 0 Shares By Bismellah Alizada | (GlobalVoices.org) | As all the countries that call the work of Jalaluddin Rumi their own rise up against the idea of Leonardo Di Caprio playing the poet and scholar in a Hollywood epic, social media users in Afghanistan are pushing back against Iran and Turkey's reported joint claim to the poet's 800-year-old masterpiece Mathnawi Manawi . On May 31, Irans Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) released a report quoting the countrys chair of National Documents Organization on Iran and Turkeys agreement to jointly register Rumis Mathnawi Manawi collection of verses as joint cultural heritage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The report proved a viral controversy on Afghan social media and prompted a frenzy of diplomatic back-and-forth. On June 9 Afghanistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially complained to Patricia McPhillips, UNESCO's representative to Afghanistan who subsequently promised to report the issue to UNESCOs central office. Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani asked the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for details of the news on the same day. Cavusoglu in turn expressed his unawareness of the issue and promised Afghanistans considerations and recommendations as the birthplace of Maulana Jalaladdin Muhammad Balkhi would be considered in the submission, a reaction that failed to quell online protest. Then, on June 12, a journalist for Afghan media outlet Ariana News posted an interview with Irans ambassador to Afghanistan who said Iran has no claim to own Maulana; Iran has no intention to register Mathnawi or Maulana. Iran only attempts to register some old versions of the Mathnawi. I come from Balkh Mathnawi Manawi (literally: The Spiritual Couplets) is one of three known works written by Rumi, consisting of six chapters and some 26,000 couplets in total. Mathnawi Manawi is revered across the Persian-speaking world, including in Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan, as a book of exceptional wisdom. For many Persian language-speakers it is even heralded as a second Quran or the Persian Quran the ultimate tribute to its mystical and spiritually rich content. Mathnawi also helped Rumi become Americas best-selling poet in 2014, which explains Hollywood's interest in his extraordinary life. On June 9, a group of civil society activists gathered in Kabul to protest Iran and Turkey's UNESCO submission, insisting Rumi was a cosmopolitan poet who is a precious asset of all people of culture. They argued: Everyone knows that he was born in [Afghanistan's] Balkh and then moved to Konya. Suhrab Sirat, a renowned Afghan poet, wrote a long post, quoting a couplet from Mathnawi: I come from Balkh, I come from Balkh, I come from Balkh/ A world rejoices my bitterness. . . Many other Facebook users also cited the same couplet of Mathnawi as proof he belongs to Balkh, Afghanistan. But in several of his ghazals, Rumi is more nebulous about his origins: Not Christian, nor Jew nor Muslim, not Hindu/ Buddhist, Sufi . . . Not any religion/ or cultural system. I am not from the East/ or the West, not out of the ocean or above, he writes in one. Mohammad Husain Mohammadi, a modern-day poet, novelist and storywriter, who owns Taak Publications, wrote: Maulanas homeland is the realm of Jaan (spirit) As the debate raged a Facebook page called Maulana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi (Maulana Jalaluddin Mohammad of Balkh) became home to a concerted campaign to recognise Rumi's Afghanistan connection. The page put forward a petition against the Ankara-Teheran UNESCO submission that has since been signed by over 5,000 people, close to its 7,500 target. Rumi's story Made in Konya'? Rumi most likely was born in Balkh either the Afghan city or the broader region that also ventures into modern-day Tajikistan on September 30, 1207. But in the wake of the Mongol invasion of Central Asia from 1215 to 1220, Bahauddin Walad, Rumi's Father, set out westwards together with his family. Rumis family proceeded to Baghdad, performing the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, then to Damascus, then to Karaman where they settled for seven years before leaving for Konya, Anatolia in 1228. At the time the city was under the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, which provides the basis for Maulana's last name. A student of theology, Arabic literature and religious studies, Maulana became a teacher at 25, and later a renowned jurist, who gave sermons in Konya's mosques. He also attracted thousands of students, for which he was widely envied. Rumi's poetic turn came after meeting and subsequently losing in mysterious circumstances his closest friend and mentor, Shams-e Tabrizi. Rocked by the loss, Maulauna burst into verse. Among the tens of thousands of verses attributed to Rumi, some 44,000 verses are collected in two epic books named Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi (his ghazals, love and mystic poems) written in honour of his friend, and some 25,000 are collected in Mathnawi Manawi (lines of wisdom). He died in Konya in 1273. Heading West With the news of the joint UNESCO submission still fresh, on June 6, David Franzoni, an Oscar winner screenwriter, told the Guardian newspaper that he had agreed to work on a biopic about the 13th-century poet Jalaluddin Rumi. He also said that he wants Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio to play the role of Rumi, sparking excitement among some Afghans and revulsion among others. Within hours the twitter hashtag #RumiWasntWhite was trending. Racists get so mad when a FICTIONAL character eg hermione is made black but they're fine whitewashing REAL PEOPLE??? Ok #RumiWasntWhite Chlo Dameron (@Marmite___) June 7, 2016 I hope the #Rumi film will be an authentic representation of customs of the region unlike the traumatic Rock The Kasbah. #RumiWasntWhite Shuja Rabbani (@ShujaRabbani) June 7, 2016 So they want a white man to play Rumi, a SUFI PERSIAN poet, but when they need a terrorist they find Muslim actors so easily #RumiWasntWhite Aayesha (@AayeshaJ) June 7, 2016 Only time will tell whether Rumi's legend will be honoured or mistreated by the silver screen, but many Afghans admit whether freely or reluctantly that it was created thousands of miles west of the land of his birth. Yet the theologian of broad learning still has much to teach Afghanistan, where extremist interpretations of religion continue cast a shadow over the joy of spirit that suffused his life's work. Rumi's true admirers will hope the noise surrounding his origins does not drown out the power and wisdom of his words, at a time when the world is most in need of them. Via GlobalVoices.org) Related video added by Juan Cole: Rumi; Mewlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, A Documentary in English Reddit Email 0 Shares Maan News Agency | BETHLEHEM (Maan) The Palestinian Prime Ministers office on Thursday slammed Israels decision to cut off water supplies for tens of thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this week as inhumane and outrageous. Rami Hamdallah issued a statement in response to the move by Israels national water company Mekorot, which saw water supplies suspended in the municipality of Jenin, several villages in Nablus, as well as the city of Salfit and its surrounding villages. 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, Hamdallah said. Palestinians are forced to spend great sums of money to buy water that is theirs in the first place. Israelis, including settlers, have access to 300 liters of water per day, according to EWASH, while the West Bank average is around 70 liters, below the World Health Organizations recommended minimum of 100 liters per day for basic sanitation, hygiene and drinking. Director of Communications at the Prime Ministers Office Jamal Dajani called Mekorots decision inhumane and outrageous. The move to deprive the villages of access to safe drinking water was seen as especially outrageous, as Palestinian Muslims celebrated the holy month of Ramadan, which entered its second week on Tuesday. Some areas reportedly had not received water for more than 40 days, according Al Jazeera. In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Israels Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) told Maan that due to increased rates of water consumption in the summer, water flow is regulated. Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq estimated in a 2013 report that up to 50 percent of Palestinian water supplies are diverted by Mekorot over the summer months to meet the consumption needs of Israels illegal settlements. COGAT added that a Civil Administration team repaired a burst pipe line on Thursday, which had disrupted the water supply to the villages of Marda and Biddya in Salfit, Salfit city, the Tapuach area in Salfit, as well as the village of Jammain in Nablus. The water flow has been regulated and is currently up and running, they added. COGAT also claimed that water supply had in fact been increased in the evenings to meet the needs of those observing Ramadan, who fast throughout the day. The spokesperson added that despite the difficulties, Israel, through its Joint Water Committee (JWC) works to improve water infrastructure in the occupied West Bank, while Palestinians dont cooperate for the improvement of the water flow in the region. According to Al-Haq, JWC holds complete decision-making power over the coordinated joint management and development of all water resources in the West Bank. The establishment of JWC more than two decades ago should have been a positive reform for Palestinians, Al-Haq wrote. However, their report notes that the consensus system enables Israel to veto any proposal by Palestinians to maintain existing water infrastructure or build new projects. Just half of Palestinian proposals for wells and improvement projects to the water network were approved by Israel between 1995 and 2008, compared to a 100 percent approval rate for Israeli projects, a study cited in the report found. According to Amnesty international, nearly 200,000 Palestinians in the West Bank do not have access to running water. Israel is waging a water war against Palestinians, Dajani said. 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. Via Maan News Agency RT: Israel cuts water supplies to West Bank, Palestine authorities claim Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 17, 2016) - Almo Capital Corp. (TSXV: APT) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option and joint venture agreement (the "Agreement") with privately-held Golden Tiger Minerals Inc. ("Golden Tiger"), pursuant to which Almo has been granted an option to acquire up to an 80% interest in certain rights Golden Tiger holds relating to a property known as the "Medicine Springs Property". The property comprises 149 unpatented mineral claims and is located in Elko County, Nevada. Golden Tiger has the rights (the "Leasehold Rights") to explore and operate on the Medicine Springs Property pursuant to an agreement (the "Underlying Agreement") with the property owners, Herb Duerr and Steve Sutherland. The Underlying Agreement provides that Golden Tiger must make certain cash payments to the owners, issue shares of Golden Tiger to the owners and provide work commitment funds. The initial term of the Underlying Agreement is 20 years. Almo has the option to acquire a minimum 50% interest and a maximum 80% interest in the Leasehold Rights subject to a 3% net smelter royalty in favour of Messrs. Duerr and Sutherland and a 0.5% net smelter royalty in favour of Nevada Eagle Resources, LLC, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation. To acquire the minimum interest Almo has to (a) pay US$150,000 to Golden Tiger, US$50,000 of which was paid upon execution of the Agreement and US$50,000 which is due on or before the first and second anniversaries of the Agreement; (b) issue 600,000 shares to Golden Tiger, 200,000 shares to be issued within 5 days of the date of Exchange approval and a further 200,000 shares on or before the first and second anniversary of the Agreement; and (c) make expenditures of US$600,000 on the Medicine Springs Property, US$100,000 of which is to be incurred on or before the first anniversary of the Agreement and US$500,000 on or before the second anniversary of the Agreement. To acquire the maximum interest, Almo has to have earned the minimum interest and Almo has to (a) pay an additional US$150,000 to Golden Tiger, US$50,000 of which is due on or before the third, fourth and fifth anniversaries of the Agreement; (b) issue an additional 400,000 shares to Golden Tiger, 200,000 shares to be issued on or before the third and fourth anniversary of the Agreement; and (c) make expenditures of an additional US$1,650,000 on the Medicine Springs Property, US$500,000 of which is to be incurred on or before the third and fourth anniversary of the Agreement and US$650,000 on or before the fifth anniversary of the Agreement. Almo will be the operator during the option period and will be the initial operator under the joint venture. A joint venture will be formed on the earliest of the date Almo gives notice to Golden Tiger that it will not acquire the Maximum Interest, the date Almo acquires the Maximum Interest, and the fifth anniversary of the Agreement. Golden Tiger is a private company of which Mr. Barry Miller, of Okanagan Falls, British Columbia, is a principal. As Mr. Miller is "related party" of Almo, the transaction constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61101 Protection Of Minority Security Holders In Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). MI 61-101has been adopted by the TSX Venture Exchange as Policy 5.9 Insider Bids, Issuer Bids, Going Private Transactions and Related Party Transactions ("Policy 5.9"). As a result, Almo must satisfy (or be exempt from) the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements set out in MI 61101. As Almo's securities are listed only on the TSX Venture Exchange, Almo may rely on the valuation exemption set out in MI 61-101 (Issuer Not Listed on Specified Markets). As there are no minority shareholder approval exemptions available to Almo, Almo will be seeking minority shareholder approval of the Related Party Transaction at its annual general and special meeting scheduled to be held on July 15, 2016. The Agreement is also subject to regulatory approval. About the Medicine Springs Property A 43-101 technical report dated June 1, 2016 on the property has been prepared for Golden Tiger by Paul D. Noland, certified professional geologist. The report will be filed on SEDAR. The property consists of 149 unpatented mineral claims (2980 acres) located in the Ruby Valley / Medicine Range area of south-eastern Elko County in Nevada, USA and has an extensive history of exploration and drilling, with reported significant intercepts of silver, lead and zinc. Neither the Company nor Golden Tiger has completed exploration work within the Property but benefit from past works by three companies, which included four phases of drilling, geological mapping, rock and soil geochemistry, preliminary metallurgical work, CSAMT geophysical surveying and historic mining. The primary target is silver zinc lead oxide mineralized material localized along NW and NNE trending fault and fracture systems and porous/ reactive horizons in the Permian silty/sandy limestones. The mineralized zones are expressed as breccias, jasperoid, decalcification and oxidized barite bearing rubble. The mineralized material is known to be oxidized to the maximum depth of the data available, being approximately 200 meters. The author of the technical report cites the results as justifying a systematic exploration and development program with a proposed Phase One budget of approximately US$600,000 and a Phase Two budget of an additional US$1,650,000. The proposed Phase One program would consist of detailed geologic mapping followed by approximately 4,000 meters of diamond core drilling and an additional 3,000 to 4,000 meters of reverse circulation-rotary (RCR) drilling. This drilling would target known mineralized structures for the purpose of confirming modes of mineralization as well as extending known mineralized trends along strike. The author of the report states that the economic viability of the Medicine Springs Property depends on successfully expanding known mineralization, and developing an economically viable recovery method. Potential for expansion of demonstrated mineralization is excellent. Proposed exploration will target and extend known structural trends along strike initially, then attempt to discover other parallel structures indicated by mapping and geophysics. The technical information related to the property presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Paul D. Noland, a qualified person. About Almo Almo is a junior resource exploration company focused on acquiring mineral properties and exploring for economically viable mineral resources. With the signing of the Agreement, the Company will become primarily focused upon exploring the Medicine Springs Property. For further information, please contact: David Robinson, Chief Executive Officer Almo Capital Corp. Phone: 403.399.9047 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. 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 release. This press release contains forwardlooking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute "forwardlooking statements" and include any information that addresses activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including the Company's strategy, plans or future financial or operating performance and other statements that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance. Forwardlooking statements are generally identifiable by the use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. These statements, however, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed, implied by or projected in the forwardlooking information or statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forwardlooking statements include but are not limited to the ability of the Company to attract financing and the general market conditions of the industry in which the Company operates and the other factors discussed in the sections relating to risk factors discussed in the Company's continuous disclosure filings on SEDAR. There can be no assurance that any forwardlooking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place any undue reliance on forwardlooking information or statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forwardlooking statements after the date of this document or to revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events. The Assembly of Kosovo [official website, in Albanian] voted press release] Friday to extend the European mandate known as EU Rule of Law mission (EULEX ) [official website] for two years. The move comes after the EU voted [press release] on Monday to extend and fully fund the mandate until 2018. The parliament had previous issues [press release] about the mandate in regards to what types of cases the organization would prosecute and their relationships with local officials. As a result Prime Minster Mustafa [official website, Albanian] had to take to the assembly floor to alleviate negative attitudes about the program and fears of corruption. After much debate the measure was approved by 84-6 and adopted after a second review. EULEX was established to aid Kosovo in the rule of law application when it comes to instances such as war crimes that may cause conflict with in the region. Two independent human rights experts called [JURIST report] upon the UN in April to put into motion a plan to redress damages suffered by internationally displaced persons who were exposed to lead poisoning at camps settled by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in 1998 and 1999. The head of the UN mission in Kosovo said in March that Kosovo is set to face complex challenges this year and should shift focus towards more fundamental issues [JURIST report] such as the intrinsic links between post-conflict development, enforcement of the rule of law, and human rights, rather than politics. The Dutch government in January announced [JURIST report] the establishment of a special court being set up in The Hague to investigate and try alleged war crimes committed by ethnic Albanian rebels during and after Kosovos 1998-99 guerilla war. [JURIST] The Mexican Congress on Friday passed several anti-corruption bills that would increase the severity of penalties for corruption charges. Should President Enrique Pena Nieto [official website, in Spanish] approve the bill, public officials would face [Reuters report] increased fines and jail time for crimes such as bribery, embezzlement and illegal enrichment. While the bill would require government-funded entities to make public disclosures, Institutional Revolutionary Party (IRP) [party website, in Spanish] members and allies voted down a provision requiring the same for public officials. Nieto is expected to sign the bill after recently declaring his intention to strengthen corruption laws. The anti-corruption bills in Mexico follow recent news of courts combating corruption worldwide. Also Friday the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected [JURIST report] the appeal of former Connecticut governor John Rowlands corruption charges. Former Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina, former vice president Roxana Baldetti, and 70 other Guatemalan officials face corruption charges [JURIST report] for being involved in an embezzlement scheme. Earlier this month, South African President Jacob Zuma, along with the state prosecutor, began an appeal [JURIST report] of a ruling reinstating 783 corruption charges against him. Last month, Former Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was charged in federal court [JURIST report] for manipulating the economy in order to resolve the countrys low foreign reserves. More than 40 prosecutors in Virginia filed an amicus brief [text, PDF] Friday in support of a challenge to the governors executive action [JURIST report] to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 felons individuals in the state. The prosecutors argue that the governors actions are not only in violation of the Virginia constitution but also an issue of public safety. They are concerned that the restoration of felon voting rights will create an undue burden for them to discharge their duties. For instance, they argue that the current process of review burdens their resources by trying to identify felons in the jury selection process: If felons whose rights have been restored may not be struck for cause on the basis of their prior felony conviction, Commonwealths Attorneys must use a peremptory strike to disqualify a felon deemed unfit for jury service. But each side generally only has four peremptory strikes in felony cases and three peremptory strikes in misdemeanor cases. Every peremptory strike is valuable because the peremptory remains an important litigators tool and a fundamental part of the process of selecting impartial juries, such that the increasing limitation of it gives [one] pause. If Commonwealths Attorneys are now required to use peremptory challenges to strike former felons, the peremptory challenge system may be significantly altered. The prosecutors also have an issue with how the executive order will affect the review process for felons who also want to have their gun rights restored. 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. News / National by Staff reporter Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko recently presented a damning report to President Robert Mugabe on the activities of war veterans that stopped short of accusing them of treason, it has emerged.A furious Mugabe last week lashed out at the war veterans, describing them as dissidents for allegedly threatening war should Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa fail to succeed the 92-year-old leader.Senior Zanu-PF officials said Mugabe's shocking statement, which evoked memories of the 1980s Gukurahundi atrocities, was motivated by the report.Mphoko was acting-president when war veterans held a meeting in Gweru where they came up with several resolutions backing Mnangagwa's presidential candidature.Mnangagwa has been linked to the Team Lacoste faction in Zanu-PF, which is fighting with the rival G40 group in the race to succeed Mugabe.In Mphoko's report, war veterans' leader, Chris Mutsvangwa, his secretary general Victor Matemadanda and spokesperson Douglas Mahiya were described as threats to national stability, calling Mugabe to rein them in.Armed with the report, Mugabe reportedly pushed for the ouster of the trio in last week's politburo meeting.But he was reportedly refrained from going ahead by secretary for security Kembo Mohadi and secretary for war veterans Sydney Sekeramayi who said the party should live to its promise to put an end to suspensions."On Monday (last week) Mphoko briefed the president on what had transpired in his absence (as he had travelled to Papa New Guinea) and in the briefings, he tendered a report which had audio, newspaper cuttings , minutes of the war veterans meeting as well as a detailed narration of the state security situation in the country," said an insider."The report highlighted the issue of war veterans' leaders who are alleged to have stated that they will go to war if Mnangagwa does not succeed Mugabe and the VP sought clarification on whether it was proper for the war veterans to make such statementsto which Mugabe said it was not correct."Mphoko is said to also have claimed that he was in possession of a document, Blue Ocean Strategy, by war veterans, outlining strategies the former fighters with the backing of Mnangagwa wanted to use to oust Mugabe, although he did not produce it in the politburo meeting.Mphoko on Friday refused to comment on the matter saying; "Do you think I can discuss such things with you," before hanging his mobile phone.Matemadanda last night said he did not know anything about the Blue Ocean strategy."I was only told yesterday (Friday) that it is a strategy of exclusion. It's a theory," Matemadanda said."If they have minutes of rallies they should produce them and they should be signed by the chairperson."One of us, Cde Black Jesus has said at five of our meetings that President Mugabe should be declared life president. They don't want to talk about it because they want things against us."He added: "The Blue Ocean thing which is their imagination is what they are using to get the president angry about us. It is sad that in the ruling party decisions are being made based on rumour mongering."In Mphoko's report according to insiders, certain military officials were said to be behind the war veterans' move. They said on Saturday last week, some generals instructed war veterans to issue a statement attacking Mphoko and deny making a statement to the effect that they would be bloodshed if Mnangagwa does not succeed Mugabe.The report, the insiders further said, also questioned Mnangagwa's silence over the matter with Mphoko imploring Mugabe to demand that his co-VP speak on his role within the war veterans."In the report, VP Mphoko complained that he and other senior party leaders such as the First Lady, secretary for commissariat, Saviour Kasukuwere and Jonathan Moyo have become permanent topics for discussion at every war veterans meeting although they are not members of the organisation."Mphoko also narrated to Mugabe that the attacks by those perceived to be supporting Mnangagwa started long back but the VP has remained mum."He also touched on the conduct of the expelled Zanu-PF youth chairpersons led by Godfrey Tsenengamu, alleging Mnangagwa funded his Save Zanu-PF campaign and helped them with strategies aimed at attacking Mugabe, his wife, Mphoko and other senior party leaders," another senior Zanu-PF official said.He added: "Talking about bloodshed is a declaration of war and that alone is dangerous. Even the president did not like such an utterance."He equated it to the allegations that were once levelled against Rugare Gumbo (that Mugabe will be removed the Kabila (Laurent) style) and said the war veterans were stocking hatred in the party."In Gweru, war veterans resolved that Mnangagwa was "the only man known in China" and as the second most senior member should automatically take over from Mugabe.This according to party and government sources infuriated Mugabe who was determined to have war veterans leader Christopher Mutsvangwa fired from the politburo.War veterans from Matabeleland saved Mutsvangwa in the central committee after Hurungwe MP Sarah Mahoka and Mandi Chimene pushed for his ouster."The issue was also raised in the politburo and Mnangagwa denied ever sending the war veterans to make such statements exposing them to censure," said another insider."Don't be surprised to hear that they have been expelled from the partythe leadership because Mugabe felt their statements were divisive and treasonous."He agreed with Mphoko that action has to be taken against Mutsvangwa or else the party could disintegrate into chaos and anarchy."Mutsvangwa has however disowned the Midlands report and came out guns blazing against Mphoko, accusing him of misinforming Mugabe. Some central committee members reportedly claimed that the minutes where doctored by G40 to destroy Mnangagwa's political ambitions.Mnangagwa reportedly challenged members if there was anyone who ever heard him saying he wanted to take over power from Mugabe.Mphoko is also said to have laboured to explain his war credentials to central committee members as he tried to dispel accusations by war veterans that he was a war deserter.Mugabe's wrath against war veterans was also said to have been triggered by a report that was also submitted in the politburo that was written by Kadoma businessman Jimaya Muduuuri that seriously attacked G40 and partly, war veterans and at the same time exonerating Mnangagwa.Muduvuri had been making rounds meeting war veterans while in the company of suspended secretary for youth Pupurai Togarepi in a mission he is widely believed to have been sent by Grace through director of State House Innocent Tizora.Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba and Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya-Moyo were not available for comment yesterday. News / National by Staff Reporter INVESTIGATIONS into the alleged looting of proceeds from diamond mining in Chiadzwa must be expedited and culprits brought to book, a Government minister has said.Speaking at the official opening of Zimunya Marange Zanu-PF and war veterans offices at Bazel Bridge in Marange yesterday, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said Government would continue supporting Minister of Mines and Mining Development Walter Chidhakwa in the ongoing investigations and ensure the matter was brought to finality.He admitted that Government let down the people of Marange by letting the companies that were operating in Chiadzwa loot proceeds from diamond mining while the villagers remained in abject poverty."When the diamonds were discovered here we all thought that it will improve the livelihood of the people in this area. Now all we have is a lot of theories on what could have happened to our diamonds."Why should the people of Marange remain poor when some people siphoned their riches to foreign countries? We did let down the people of this region. "Now we are behind the Government through the Ministry of Mines in the investigation into the looting of the proceeds from Chiadzwa."Kana zvichinzi tichasvina dumbu iroro madiamonds edu abude ticharisvina. Whoever stole the diamonds must face the full wrath of the law. We want this issue to be brought to its logical conclusion," said Kasukuwere to the applause of villagers gathered for the occasion.Government recently launched an investigation into the looting of proceeds from diamond mining in Chiadzwa. In fact, Zimbabwe has since extended investigations into the looting of its diamond money to London following a statement by a British peer, Lord David Chidgey, that billions of dollars from proceeds of Zimbabwe's diamonds were stashed in Lon- don.Lord Chidge told the House of Lords just a fortnight ago that London was the destination of choice for billions of dollars whisked out of The Crimea and the proceeds of the diamond fields of Zimbabwe and the bauxite mines of Guinea. The Auditor-General's Office has already invited local and international auditors to investigate firms that mined diamonds in Chiadzwa over the past decade until Government took over all operations there early this year.Speaking during yesterday's event, Minister of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators Ex-Political Detainees and Restrictees Tshinga Dube took a swipe at the media for fanning divisions between the ruling party and the liberation war fighters' representatives' body."We are sometimes swayed by the press, which at times have a different agenda from that of ours. I am not attacking the press in any way because they are a necessary evil to keep our people informed on what is going on and criticise us when we do the wrong things and let the public know that we are doing the wrong things. But at times they overemphasise on their slant and tend to create wedges between the party and other party organs," said Dube (see story below).The Bazeley Bridge Zanu-PF and war veterans district offices were built with the assistance of Member of the House of Assembly for Zimunya-Marange Dr Chris Mushohwe, who was also present during yesterday's occasion as well as his Mutare South counterpart Nyasha Chikwinya. News / National by Nyemudzai Kakore The Government has aligned 159 laws with the new Constitution following its adoption in 2013, and efforts are underway to complete the process, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.Mnangagwa, who also oversees the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, told Senators on Thursday that there was no deadline in the alignment of the laws with the new Constitution.He said this while responding to questions in Senate on when the government would ensure that all laws were aligned with the Constitution before another election."There is no deadline. Out of the 299 Statutes in our books, we have so far aligned 159 statutes. We have identified about 200 Statutes requiring alignment and out of that number, 159 have been completed and processed through this House, through the General Laws Amendment Bill and other independent Statutes," he said."The ones that have not been processed are from line ministries where Ministers have not been able to process in time the areas of their concern or mandate. However, with regards to such alignment relating to the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, the Government or the Executive directly, that has been completed."Senator for Bulawayo Province Senator Victor Mapungwana, had asked Mnangagwa the deadline of the realignment of a number of amendments to the electoral laws to guarantee the credibility of the 2018 harmonised elections.Said Sen Mapungwana, "It is now 36 months after the draft Constitution was signed into law, which relates to three years. "My question is, what is the time limit or deadline for all outstanding provisions of the Constitution to be implemented, taking into account that we are left with less than 18 months to go for another General Election."Zimbabwe adopted a new Constitution in 2013 putting an end to the post-war Lancaster House Constitution that had been used as the country's supreme law since 1980. News / National by Nqobile Tshili THE usage of plastic money has increased by more than 400 percent in the last five weeks as Zimbabweans embrace credit cards amid the cash shortage. Plastic money entails cashless ways of conducting business which include the use of credit cards at point of sale machines.The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe this week announced a reduction of charges for all electronic transactions as a way to promote the usage of plastic money.The Minister of Finance and Economic Development Patrick Chinamasa told senators on Thursday that embracing plastic money was easing demand for cash.He was responding to questions by senators who wanted to know what the government was doing to ease the cash crisis as the country awaits the introduction of bond notes. "As I speak, over the past four or five weeks, we have seen a quantum leap in the usage of plastic money an increase of more than 400 percent."We are encouraging honourable senators here to resort to the use of plastic money because this will reduce the demand on the US dollar which as you all know, we do not print," said Minister Chinamasa." plastic money usage has been popularised amongst corporates. We hope that this multi-pronged approach will go a long way towards assisting and reducing the demand on the US dollars." He said apart from the strength of the US$ against other currencies, hoarding of hard currency was worsening cash shortages."For an economy to run, you must have a currency which is circulating. A unique challenge for Zimbabwe by the way we are only one of three countries which use the US$ for funding, both imports and domestic transactions but the trick always is, the money should circulate," he said."We use the US dollar both, as a store of value, as a medium of exchange and to fund our imports. Increasingly, people are taking money out of the financial service sector and storing it for value. That is what has created the problem, hence the promotion of plastic money." Minister Chinamasa said the country is in the process of tightening screws on cash circulation saying the liberal monetary policy being used was prone to abuse.He said before the government introduces bond notes between September and early October his Ministry will embark on awareness campaigns both in urban and rural areas to dispel myths associated with bond notes.For the past few months the country has been experiencing a serious cash shortage attributed to externalisation of money. This has led to long winding queues at most banks some of which have drastically reduced maximum cash withdrawals to as little as $50 per day. News / National by Mashudu Netsianda THE trial of a senior police officer who was allegedly caught in bed with a married subordinate before he threw the woman's husband off a speeding vehicle as he fled the scene, has been set for July 8.The woman's husband, Pasipanodya Tadzembwa (28), who is a soldier stationed at One Brigade, hung onto the bonnet of a car for 50 metres as he tried to confront Sipho Ndlovu (35) whom he had allegedly found in bed with his wife.Mr Tadzembwa was hospitalised after being thrown off the vehicle driven by the fleeing Ndlovu, who is the Officer-in-Charge of Figtree Police Station.Ndlovu yesterday appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Mr Trynos Utawashe facing a charge of attempted murder.Mr Utawashe remanded him out of custody on $200 bail.Prosecuting, Miss Paida Zengeni said on May 3 this year shortly after 10PM, Mr Tadzembwa arrived at his home in Bulawayo's Nketa suburb after he got a tip- off that Ndlovu was romping with his wife, Kilisalisti Nyaradzo Manjonjo, at their matrimonial home. Manjonjo is also a police officer stationed at Matopo."Tadzembwa rushed home and found Ndlovu in his bed with his wife. Tadzembwa made an effort to contact the local police to report the matter but failed as Ndlovu bolted out of the house and got into his car and started to drive away," said Miss Zengeni.The court heard that as Ndlovu drove away, Mr Tadzembwa tried to jump onto the bonnet and was hit by the car."He got up and jumped onto it again and was driven for about 50 metres before he was thrown off the moving vehicle and sustained injuries on his head and other parts of the body. Ndlovu drove away and did not stop and Tadzembwa was taken to hospital," said Miss Zengeni.The location of the house where the confrontation took place was not disclosed in court.Although Manjonjo, in her statement, claimed that Mr Tadzembwa was her ex-boyfriend, court files contain a marriage certificate showing that the couple got married last year in December. A mother whose 3-year-old son was splashing in a lagoon about an hour before an alligator attacked a 2-year-old Elkhorn boy there said she was shocked the attack occurred so close to an area where children play. Jennifer Venditti Roye of Madison, Miss., said that after she saw an online photo of Lane Graves, she realized she had seen the boy near a pool thats close to the Seven Seas Lagoon. The pool, she said, has a slide for small children. An alligator dragged Lane into the lagoon Tuesday night. His body was recovered Wednesday afternoon. Florida officials still are searching for the alligator that attacked the boy. The wide-open and well-lit beach is next to the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, where Lane and his family were staying. Venditti Roye said children often ran to play in the sand or dip their toes in the lagoon water. Venditti Roye said she had been vacationing at the resort with her son Channing. The two had dinner near the pool and beach, and played as they waited for a movie-night showing to begin. Channing had his shoes on, she said, and ran through the beach to cool off his feet in the water. Venditti Roye said she grabbed her phone to take a photo of Channing as he stood in the murky water, and went over to join him. She said she didnt think about alligators. Channing was in the water about 8 or 8:30 p.m., she said. The attack occurred about 9 p.m., officials have said. Venditti Roye said her son pointed to the hotel and said he was tired something he never had done. Thank goodness ... we would have been there, the 41-year-old mother said. We would have seen it, maybe it would have been (Channing). No workers or lifeguards at the nearby pool warned Venditti Roye about the possibility of alligators in the lagoon. When she was at the airport Wednesday morning, Venditti Roye saw an online article about the alligator attack and read a few negative reader comments about parenting. I dont even understand how people are pointing fingers, she said. It was a tragedy. Not due to neglect or a parenting choice. That is it. In a Facebook post, she wrote, in part, I can assure you alligators were not on my mind at all when Channing was in the water. Its a tiny beach, surrounded by pools, water slides, a restaurant and a fire pit. I cant conceive that an alligator would be in such a busy, small space. The post has been shared more than 214,000 times, and the photos of her son ankle-deep in the water have been showed on national TV. She said she hasnt yet told Channing about what happened to Lane, but her other two children realize what happened. The family lives on a small lake in Mississippi, and now her 6-year-old daughter is afraid and refuses to go in the water. Venditti Roye said she hasnt talked to the Graves family, but hopes they can find closure. I would just hug them so tightly and just cry with them, she said. Let them know that so many people and strangers out there are praying for them and praying they find some comfort. News / National by Staf reporter A ROW over a social network WhatsApp profile picture yesterday spilled into the courts with a Harare woman, Miriam Dziva, accusing her hubby's girlfriend, Tamary Sithole, of being in the habit of downloading her (Dziva) husband's photos using them as her profile pictures as well.Dziva told the court that she wanted a peace order against Sithole."Whenever I put my husband's picture on my profile Tamary downloads and uses the same as her profile picture too. I want her to be ordered to stop taking my husband's profile pictures," she said.Dziva also told the court that Tamary was in the habit of calling her husband and feeding him with false information."She also calls my husband telling him that our child is not his," she said.Dziva also pleaded with the court to bar Sithole from attending her in-laws' family events saying the habit was a threat to her marriage."She recently attended my father-in-law's funeral yet she is not our relative, I also want her to be barred from attending our gatherings," she said.In her response Sithole denied being a girlfriend to Dziva's husband, whom she identified as Shepherd, adding she was actually his first wife."I am not a girlfriend, I am actually the first wife and am expecting his child," Sithole said. "I have never stolen her photos; I just put my husband's pictures on my profile."After listening to the submission by both parties presiding magistrate Gamuchirai Siwardi dismissed Dziva's application saying she could not stop Sithole from dating her (Dziva) husband. News / National by Thobekile Zhou Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) interim leader, Joice Mujuru, is making her debut in Bulawayo as an opposition political leader since the launch of her party in March, with the maiden rally being held at Stanley Square in the City of Kings.Mujuru hopes to overwhelm an electorate in the "City of Kings" that has consistently voted for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) led by Morgan Tsvangirai since 2000. News / National by Nduduzo Tshuma THE Zanu-PF national political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere, yesterday dismissed former Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru's lined up rallies as a non-event that the ruling party won't lose sleep over.Dr Mujuru, sacked from the government for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Mugabe, has lined up rallies in the country's 10 provinces ahead the Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) party official launch scheduled for the end of July.In a real political test since the formation of the opposition party in May, Dr Mujuru is set to address her first rally in Bulawayo at Stanley Square in Makokoba suburb.Interestingly, Mrs Mujuru has chosen the Robert Mugabe Square in Harare to officially launch her party, the same venue of the successful One Million Man March organised by Zanu-PF youths on May 25 in solidarity with President Mugabe.Kasukuwere, who was in Bulawayo yesterday, said Mrs Mujuru could not be considered as a factor in the country's politics. "That's a non event", he said referring to the Bulawayo rally. "We won't lose sleep over it. She has no people and the best thing to do is to resign from politics."Commenting on the planned launch of ZimPF at the Robert Mugabe Square, Kasukuwere said: "She will be embarrassed. Like I said, she has no backers. She can never achieve the numbers we recorded during the Million man March."The situation on the ground paints a gloomy picture for the party with reported infighting within the Bulawayo structures leading to a recent vote of no confidence passed against the provincial co-ordinator Ms Esnath Bulayani.The party moved to reverse the no confidence vote but insiders said that did not restore normal relations between members as there are still divisions. At national level, there has also been reported tussling for positions with former Zanu-PF politburo members Mr Rugare Gumbo and Mr Didymus Mutasa allegedly pressuring Mrs Mujuru to give them senior positions.The ZimPF deputy spokesperson, Mr Kudzai Mbudzi, told our sister paper The Herald that Mr Gumbo and Mr Mutasa were holding Mrs Mujuru hostage as they wanted her to "anoint them" for positions.Mrs Mujuru also faced a revolt from the party's youth with Jim Kunaka leaving the opposition party to join Zanu-PF citing the former Vice president's poor leadership qualities.Meanwhile, the Zanu-PF deputy secretary for youth affairs, Kudzanai Chipanga, yesterday paid tribute to party youths from Bulawayo for their huge turnout at the One Million Man March.Addressing youths at a youth housing scheme ground breaking ceremony in Mvutshwa, Chipanga said even President Mugabe was happy that there has been restoration of order in the province."You came in your numbers and even the Harare residents could feel that Bulawayo had arrived," said Chipanga."I want to thank the entire leadership of Bulawayo, it shows that you are confident of the leadership of President Mugabe. The President said I should thank you for what you did." Waste Management will begin cracking down on customers who fail to pay their garbage bills. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN FILE) SHARE Waste Management will begin cracking down on customers who fail to pay their garbage bills. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN FILE) By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun BREMERTON Waste Management plans to cut off garbage collection service to delinquent customers in the city, after years of picking up trash whether residents paid or not. The company told the Bremerton City Council last month that about 1,000 accounts in the city had been referred to collections agencies and unveiled a schedule it hopes will bring greater compliance. Letters were to be sent this week to customers who didn't pay their April and May bills, warning of a potential disruption of service. The strategy could be effective because "there hasn't been incentive to pick up the phone and call us" if collection never stops, Joe Krukowski, the area controller for Waste Management, told the Bremerton City Council on May 25. Some City Council members worried that nonpaying customers will let garbage pile up or dump it illegally. "What's that going to look like for our city?" Councilwoman Leslie Daugs asked. "Bigger rats," Councilman Jerry McDonald quipped. City Attorney Roger Lubovich told the council that while all city residents are required to have garbage service, nowhere does it say "we're prohibited from stopping service." He added that residents could be fined should trash fester. "We're gonna do code enforcement if we see a bunch of garbage piling up," Lubovich said. For years, Waste Management has picked up garbage in the city even when customers don't pay. That's partly due to the public health risk decaying trash poses. But city officials OK'd Waste Management's plan to cease service. In 2014, about one in five customers had unpaid garbage bills, amounting to bad debt for Waste Management totaling $338,000, the company said. In 2015, that number rose to about $500,000. The city and the company believe most people will settle up. Waste Management officials had informed the city that in 2014, it shut down service to 300 customers in Kitsap County, after which 75 percent paid their bills and resumed service. Letters of "potential interruption of service" for those who failed to pay garbage bills in April and May were due to go out June 15 under the company's plans shared with the city. Customers who don't respond to the letters will get at least two phone calls, and tags will be placed on trash bins indicating the bill is past due. Without payment, accounts will be suspended July 15; canceled July 31 to go with the loss of garbage bins; and written off and sent to collections Sept. 30. "I think we should've tackled this earlier," Councilman Greg Wheeler said of the delinquency issue. "But I'm glad we're doing this now." By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun POULSBO The city of Poulsbo expects to pay more to its next police chief, hoping the promise of a bigger salary will attract top applicants and put the city in line with what similar-sized cities pay their chiefs. Former Chief Al Townsend, who resigned in March in the wake of allegations he had an affair with a female officer, made $125,000 a year. He had been on the job three years. "Now we are finding that market conditions have changed," Mayor Becky Erickson told council members Wednesday, saying she had consulted with a state law enforcement advocacy group, local police chiefs and Kitsap County Sheriff Gary Simpson in mapping out how to replace Townsend. "Qualified police chiefs are tough to find." The City Council on Wednesday approved an annual salary range of $135,00 to $142,000. Some of the cities Erickson said were comparable to Poulsbo were Enumclaw in King County, Sumner in Pierce County and Port Orchard. Port Orchard Chief Geoffrey Marti makes about $128,400 a year, according to that city's human resources department. Erickson set Aug. 15 as the day applicants would be interviewed by three panels. A new police chief could start work in September in the best-case scenario, though Erickson said October might be more realistic. "We want to do this in the summer, we don't want it dragging into fall," Erickson said during a meeting of the council's public safety/legal committee. Hiring over the summer would accommodate a finalist who has children in school and had to relocate to Kitsap County. The process is similar to what the city did in 2013 to replace former Chief Dennis Swiney. Townsend, who at the time was Port Orchard's police chief, served on an interview panel for Poulsbo and decided to apply with Erickson's encouragement. During that process, a private firm was paid $16,500 to conduct the search. This time, the city will pay the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs $5,000 to do the search. The previous process, which included travel and lodging expenses for candidates, cost the city about $45,000. This round, the council authorized Erickson to spend up to $30,000. Erickson said Townsend was asked to apply during the last search because officials were not satisfied with the pool of five finalists. She said a surprise candidate entering the process as it neared a conclusion likely would not happen during this search. The city has not offered a public accounting of Townsend's alleged misconduct, but Councilman Ed Stern asked Public Safety Director Shawn DeLaney who is leading the department until a chief is hired about how the negative publicity the department has received would affect hiring. "How much dust needs to be settled in the department?" Stern asked. DeLaney said the department was in good shape and said a candidate for chief would likely be wary of a department with a federal consent decree, which Poulsbo is not under. The decrees are brought by the U.S. Department of Justice to reform police departments with patterns of civil rights violations. Erickson said the department has seen some "bumpy" times recently, but she expressed her confidence in its officers. "It's a pretty good group," Erickson said. "They are good guys, and they are doing a good job for the city." Before his resignation, Townsend vehemently denied an affair with former Officer Danielle Branes, who resigned from the department Nov. 2 after less than seven months on the job. But he acknowledged he urged the city's Civil Service Commission to lower standards for less-experienced officers to hire her. When pressed, Townsend suggested in an interview with the Kitsap Sun that Branes had fabricated allegations to get attention. Erickson, who was present when Townsend was questioned, supported him and maintained the allegations were false. After the Sun published on March 12 part of its investigation into misconduct, which included Townsend's comments about Branes fabricating allegations of an affair, the former officer apparently forwarded to Erickson a photo of her and Townsend kissing. The Sun has obtained that photo from the city through the state's Public Records Act, showing when it was received by Erickson. Townsend, who was neither disciplined nor fired, resigned that day, giving his reason that he had become a "distraction." Erickson was made aware of the allegations against Townsend in October, along with concerns from then Deputy Chief John Halsted that fallout from the alleged affair jeopardized public safety. A $13,000 investigation, seemingly perfunctory and paid by the city's insurer, found no evidence of wrongdoing by Townsend and questioned Branes' credibility. The Herald reports: When Islamic State took credit for the Orlando shooting tragedy, a hactivist from Anonymous felt he had to do something. The hacker, @WauchulaGhost, broke into hundreds of IS supporters Twitter accounts and posted rainbow flags and pro-gay content from them. He posted tweets from their accounts like Im gay and proud!!, Out and Proud! and #OrlandoWillNotBeForgotten, including links to gay porn sites. There was even a touch of softcore gay porn thrown in for good measure. Just a bit of shirtless kissing, smiling and rollin round the bedroom. Yknow, the sort of thing that makes the terror groups blood boil. The accounts have experienced a total revamp. One avatar reads IM GAY AND IM PROUD. Another says I HEART PORN. Another simply reads LOVE NOT WAR. Speaking to Newsweek, the hacker, choosing to remain anonymous, said: I did it for the lives lost in Orlando. Daesh (IS) have been spreading and praising the attack, so I thought I would defend those that were lost. The taking of innocent lives will not be tolerated. News / National by Staff reporter ZIMBABWE'S major political parties are in the red, as the economic hardships which have swept over industries and the general population take a toll on their operations.This threatens to make the political elections in 2018 a matter of survival of the fittest.Zanu-PF is so far the only party in good stead - by virtue of its proximity to State coffers - to position itself much more strongly ahead of its political opponents. But this is little consolation as it is in debt.Pressure is ever being piled on its traditional financiers to dig deeper into their pockets to save the party from financial ruin.The harsh economic environment means that smaller political parties, which have recently mushroomed, unless backed by deep pockets, may not even be around for the 2018 plebiscite.Those agitating for a coalition of the country's opposition political parties also list financial considerations in addition to the advantages of the combined human capital and grassroots support as compelling reason to join hands against Zanu-PF.Under the Political Parties Finance Act, political parties in the country are barred from receiving funding from foreign donors.In terms of the Act, a political party that secures at least five percent of the total votes cast is entitled to receive funding from government.Following the July 31, 2013 general elections, Zanu-PF was entitled to receive about US$2,3 million annually while the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), led by Morgan Tsvangirai was eligible to receive US$700 000.Obert Mpofu, the Zanu-PF secretary for finance, said this week the ruling party was yet to receive its allocation for the current financial year from Treasury."We haven't received anything for this financial year, that's something which Treasury can best comment on. I can't comment on that," Mpofu said.He said Zanu-PF members were making monthly contributions in order to meet the running expenses of the party."That's a party constitutional requirement and all our members are aware of the requirement to pay for their subscriptions," he added.Treasury itself is hamstrung by the widespread cash shortages and slow economic growth in the country,Poor commodity prices and a strong United States dollar have also reduced the country's revenue streams.The Financial Gazette this week canvassed several political parties which admitted that the failing economy was scuttling party programmes.To keep going, parties are now surviving on the benevolence of party leaders who are subsidizing them as well as efforts of volunteers.Many of the political parties also make reference to the July 17 ruling made last year by the Supreme Court that allowed employers to fire employees on three months' notice.Estimates place the number of people that lost jobs as a result of this judgement at over 20 000. Some of the affected employees can no longer afford to maintain their membership of political parties through the payment of subscriptions.A senior official in the MDC led by Welshman Ncube gave a grim picture of the party's financial position, which he said had been compounded by the elective congress it is scheduled to hold this year.Half-way into the year, the party still has not announced a date for the elective congress, which is reflective of the difficulties the MDC could be encountering in mobilising resources for the indaba."The situation is really bad. The majority of party members including some in the national executive are failing to pay subscriptions forcing top leadership and elected officials to subsidise expenses. It is one of the reasons that congress scheduled for this year is delaying to kick off," said the MDC official.The party is also understood to be struggling to pay utility bills and salaries at its five provincial offices, which have an average of between one and two permanent employees each.Kurauone Chihwayi, the MDC national spokesperson, however, downplayed the financial squeeze saying preparations for the MDC's elective congress were at a "very advanced stage"."The party's National Council met last month and received a comprehensive report from Treasury to the satisfaction of everybody. The secretary-general was given the green light to prepare for congress. Bad economy or good economy, subscriptions or no subscriptions the party will hold its congress this year and very soon," he said.ZAPU, led by Dumiso Dabengwa, has battled a cash crunch since last year that forced it to postpone its elective congress to this year. The date for its elective congress is yet to be announced. An estimated US$200 000 is required to hold the congress, and the party has only managed to raise US$80 000 so far.The People's Democratic Party national spokesperson, Jacob Mafume, said all the political parties were in trouble because of the economy."We move on through a spirit of volunteerism that has been the hallmark of Zimbabwe and like the Spartans of old, we fight a great struggle with the barest of supplies in the genuine belief that light always defeats darkness," he said.MDC-T treasurer, Theresa Makone, refused to comment on the financial position of the country's largest opposition political party."I don't discuss treasury issues of the MDC-T with the press unfortunately," she said.Political commentator and media scholar, Khanyile Mlotshwa, said it was a matter of time before the economic hardships cascaded down to the political parties."I believe it serves them rightMunicipalities are struggling to provide services and this has been shown by the recent spate of accidentsPolitical parties should be the last of our worries, especially considering that most of them are donor funded. If they can cancel the whole political party funding from the Treasury, they would have done this country a great service," he said. This base supplied by Lundell Plastics will hold what the people of Sac City, Iowa, hope will become the World's Largest Popcorn Ball. (LundellPlastics.com) News / National by Staff reporter A HARARE businesswoman, who had been convicted of allegedly defrauding a South Africa-based businessman of $20 000 in a failed business deal, was on Thursday acquitted by the High Court, while the latter is being sought by the police.Patience Chivasa was sometime last year convicted and sentenced to pay a $600 fine or six months in prison for defrauding Dharmesh Nagar.In addition, she was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, which was wholly suspended on condition she restituted Nagar the $20 000.However, through her lawyer, Admire Rubaya, she filed an appeal at the High Court challenging both conviction and sentence and the matter was heard by Justices Charles Hungwe and Edith Mushore.In his submissions, Rubaya told the court that the evidence relied upon by the magistrate was that of a single witness."It was the word of the appellant (Chivasa) against that of Dharmesh Nagar. Having assessed the two conflicting versions of the appellant and Nagar, the court did not show why it rejected the appellant's explanation," he said."There is so much doubt about the guilt of the appellant if it is appreciated that if the money had been truly released by the company, Media Revolutions, there ought to have been proper documentation, not only about its release, but also about the purpose thereafter, as well as security for its release. The failure by the complainant (Nagar) to produce such documentation, especially given the high value of the money, tends to weaken the State case."After hearing submissions by both the State and the defence, the judges ruled Chivasa was wrongly convicted and ought to have been acquitted."The appeal be and is hereby allowed. The conviction is set aside and sentence quashed," Justice Hungwe said.A month ago, Nagar obtained a default judgement against Chivasa for the payment of over $22 000, but the latter filed an urgent chamber application for rescission of judgment, which application was dismissed and the matter referred to a normal roll.Meanwhile, the business impasse between the two former partners took a new twist last month when Chivasa reported Nagar to the police for allegedly tampering with an e-mail that led to her arrest. She made two reports, one for insulting her over the phone under RRB 2803100 and another for forgery under RRB 2803101.Nagar, who is the director of Sebenzisa Marketing and Media Communications trading as Media Revolutions, is alleged to have tampered with Chivasa's e-mail and presented the same to police leading to her conviction. SHARE Stephanie Bean Daniel Kim Faiz Rehmani Guillermo DelCul SmartBank announced the addition of Stephanie Bean as banking officer, senior branch sales manager. Board-certified vascular surgeon Dr. Daniel Kim and board-certified neurologist Dr. Faiz Rehmani have joined Blount Memorial's active medical staff. Kim, most recently the medical director of St. Elizabeth Healthcare Florence's vascular institute in Kentucky, will see patients at 425 Blount Memorial Physician Office Building on the hospital's campus. Rehmani will see patients at 200 Blount Memorial Cancer Center in Maryville. Guillermo Daniel (Bill) DelCul of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received the Glenn T. Seaborg Award at the 40th Actinide Separations Conference. DelCul was recognized for his long career in nuclear science and engineering with R&D activities on actinide separations, processing of used nuclear fuel, high temperature molten salts, technical support of enrichment activities and national security-related research. Baohua Gu, a senior scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elected a fellow of the Geological Society of America. R. Scott Elmore has been named a fellow of the Knoxville Bar Foundation. He is managing partner at Elmore, Stone & Caffey, PLLC. Shelby Ford has been promoted to partner at Crowe Horwath LLP, where she works in tax services and specializes in identifying federal and state research and development tax credits. Ford previously was a senior manager. Kristin Hamre, PhD, assistant professor in anatomy and neurobiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has received a grant worth approximately $1.5 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of genetics in fetal alcohol syndrome. Blake Haugen joined Pershing Yoakley & Associates Analytics as a data engineer in the Knoxville office. HomeTrust Bank has promoted DeAnna Hughes to market president for the bank's Morristown market. Hughes joined HomeTrust Bank, Morristown, as commercial relationship manager in 2015. VMC Facilities LLC announced that Danny Koontz has been hired as vice president/director of operations. Koontz formerly was director of facilities management for Ruby Tuesday Restaurants and most recently vice president of business development for Mobile Fixture in Mobile, Ala. Julie McGranaghan has joined Pershing Yoakley & Associates as a consulting staffer. She will be part of the valuation service line and based in the Knoxville office. Mountain Commerce Bank announced that Nellie Dunn has joined the team as vice president and senior treasury management specialist, and Brice Chapman has been promoted to vice president and relationship manager. The Green Electronics Council recently announced ORAU as a winner of its Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool Sustainable Purchaser Award. The award recognizes excellence in the procurement of green electronics, or those electronics that have been manufactured to conserve energy, eliminate environmentally sensitive materials and increase recyclability. Studio Four Design has hired Michelle Barton as a design coordinator and promoted Macy Clower from production assistant to full-time design assistant. TeamHealth recently named its 2016 Regional Medical Director and Vice President of Operations Teams of the Year. The honorees for emergency medicine were Marty McBee and Kim Moore. For Acute Care Services, Hunter Housman and Karen Migdelany were honored and for Anesthesia, Peter Goldzweig and Megan Dennard received awards, The recipients were recognized in April during TeamHealth's annual National Medical Leadership Conference. Kimberly W. Young has been promoted to vice president at Pugh CPAs. Young, previously a senior manager, has been with the firm since 2006. SHARE By Sean Kinch, Chapter16.org Julia Franks begins "Over the Plain Houses" with an epigraph from Anne Sexton's "Her Kind," a poem about a woman ostracized from civilized society. Sexton's speaker imagines herself "a possessed witch" who brooms "over the plain houses" at night, "dreaming evil." What makes this debut novel remarkable are the ways in which Sexton's diabolical metaphors become literal: Franks's heroine, Irenie Lambey, actually does sneak into "caves in woods" and fill them with "closets, silks, innumerable goods." But Irenie doesn't visit the mountain shadows to consort with demons. She's escaping a soured marriage during a time when women struggled to find shelter from violence in their own homes. The setting is western North Carolina farm country in 1939, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture sent agents into rural communities to provide training and guidance for surviving the Depression. Irenie is married to Brodis, a handsome logger turned preacher, who discovers by chance that his wife fills the witching hours of night by roaming the hills near their home. If Brodis were to question Irenie directly, he would learn that she is still traumatized by the miscarriage of their daughter 14 years earlier. Instead, he speculates that her head has been turned by Virginia Furman, a USDA representative who has already meddled in their lives, convincing Irenie that they should send their son Matthew to a boarding school for gifted students in Asheville. Soon Brodis becomes convinced that his once-pious wife has not only rebelled against him but has repudiated God himself. The novel toggles between the perspectives of Irenie and Brodis, sometimes switching within a scene to show differences in what they see and how they respond to it. Irenie works in the kitchen and ponders her choices. Brodis plows the fields, disturbed by his family's dissolution and increasingly desperate to redress its errancies. These scenes accumulate with mounting emotional significance. Though Irenie's fate remains the center of attention, Brodis occupies equivalent pages, including long sequences on his trying adolescence, life-and-death experiences in the logging industry and religious conversion. He does not come across as a conventional, Bible-thumping hypocrite but as a genuine man of God who endeavors to exercise compassion and follow the path of peace. Franks tests our sympathy for him when he commits an egregious act of violence, but Brodis never appears less than human. This novel cannot be reduced to its treatment of the Depression, or of women's issues, any more than Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain" could be called simply a Civil War novel. "Over the Plain Houses" captures elemental emotions and depicts deep ambivalences about intimate relationships. Irenie hoped that marrying Brodis would open up her world, "But somehow the opposite had happened." Their land, a parcel from her parents' farm, "had shrunk so tight that she found herself lonely in it." The feminist theme announced in the Sexton-inspired title echoes throughout "Over the Plain Houses." In order to carve out nooks of agency for themselves, women in this community resort to misdirection and obfuscation. They speak in codes and transmit wisdom through generations via secret recipes. Against this paternalistic, misogynistic backdrop, a few enlightened male voices telescope to a more humane future. Troubled by Brodis's insistence on a literal interpretation of the Bible's injunction that a wife should submit to her husband, Irenie asks her father, "Does Mama belong to you?" Her father (who jokes about being henpecked) assures her that "every creature belongs to its own self." In Julia Franks's novel, modernity has yet to break away from superstition and bigotry, but the most frightening demons, then and now, are the hobgoblins that possess our minds. To read an uncut version of this review and more local book coverage visit http://chapter16.org/, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. FICTION Over the Plain Houses by Julia Franks (Hub City Press, 280 pages, $26) Discussion Who: Julia Franks Where: Union Ave. Books When: 6 p.m. Thursday, June 23 SHARE By Karen R. Long, Newsday (TNS) This year, Americans can mark the centennial of the National Park Service with a commemorative coin or T-shirt or 16 new Forever stamps. Subaru, Airstream and REI are all eager to brand and bond with park-goers, a lucrative market that mounted to 307 million visitors in 2015. Like overweight, unruly guests, we strain at the belt of our national wilderness, popping newborn bison into our hatchbacks and tromping off the trails. So it comes as a welcome surprise that the 60-year-old environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams could visit Big Bend National Park in Texas for 10 days in January 2015 and have it to herself. "I want to be absorbed into someplace larger and more expansive than the human brain," she writes. "I am seeking a different kind of circuitry, the nervous system of rivers and deserts and mountains born of fire If the world ends, let me be here." Readers who like their prose ardent and their politics leaning left will take particular pleasure in "The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks." Best known for her contemplative memoir, "When Women Were Birds," Williams has stitched together 12 strikingly different essays, each centered on a national park, battlefield, seashore or monument. Twenty-two black-and-white photos from artists such as Lee Friedlander, Sally Mann and Richard Avedon elevate these pages. Ken Burns taped an eloquent snippet with Williams for his PBS series on the parks. She comes with some nifty bona fides. A lifelong hiker, she needed 136 stitches to close a gash to her forehead caused by a fall off a cliff in Utah. A Westerner whose father was nicknamed "Teton Tempest," Williams writes an absorbing chapter on Grand Teton National Park and the gnarly politics of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who surreptitiously bought up the land to donate to the federal government. Even better is Williams' portrait of Valerie Naylor, superintendent of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the North Dakota badlands. She gamely manages what is now "an island within a sea of oil development," and has testified on behalf of oil companies when she's struck a compromise worth defending. Naylor finds the heads of gas and oil companies easier to reason with than her state governor or legislators. "Most of the issues confronting our national parks today are political," Williams writes. "Should Devils Tower National Monument be respected as a scared site to Kiowa people or managed as a recreational site for climbers?" Williams writes plainly that she is no historian or scientist or public policy lawyer; she is a citizen activist. And "The Hour of Land" is a meandering read best tackled as discrete chapters on different days. But Williams is frequently a lyrical writer and an intrepid thinker. She notes, for instance, that reintroducing condors in the Grand Canyon has helped park rangers locate the dead, cutting the search window by days in a place notorious for suicide. Edward Abbey, the cranky environmentalist and misanthrope, haunts these pages Williams reprints her long, posthumous letter to him. She also tucks in her letters to the Secretary of the Interior and the editors of the Los Angeles Times, Salt Lake Tribune and the Progressive. It takes a certain robust ego to place one's readers at this after-the-fact, over-the shoulder remove. Collected sermons, anyone? Still, Terry Tempest Williams' ideas are worth wrangling. Reading her is better than buying a commemorative postage stamp she delivers us into a more thoughtful grove. When the newly elected bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa visited his future residence, one of the first things he checked out was the garage. Father David Konderla didn't need extra room for a boat or an off-road vehicle or some other tie to the Heart of Texas ranch country that has long been his home. He needed room for his woodworking power tools. The priest has crafted four crosiers the gracefully hooked shepherd's staff that symbolizes a bishop's pastoral work with his flock for bishops in Texas and New Mexico. He recently finished one for himself, preparing for the June 29 rites in Oklahoma in which he will be raised to the episcopate. "I'm sure I don't know everything there is to know about Oklahoma, but it's a place that has a lot in common with Texas when it comes to how people see life," said Konderla. He's the second of 12 children, and the oldest son, in a Polish-Irish-German family in Bryan, Texas. The future bishop worked as a machinist for seven years after finishing high school, before entering seminary. When people outside the Sun Belt think about Catholics in Texas, they think about the state's vibrant and growing Latino culture. That's appropriate, he said, but it's also important to remember the legacy of European immigrants in Central Texas from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany, Italy and elsewhere. Now those two historic streams of Catholic life are blending with Catholics from Africa, Asia, South America and around the world, as well as converts to the faith. Bible Belt states like Texas and Oklahoma are changing, but much remains familiar, said Konderla. Today, there are nearly a million more Catholics in Texas than Southern Baptists. However, only 4 percent of Tulsa is Catholic. "I expect to be working with many people who are really Catholics, but they just don't know it yet," he said. "We're talking about a part of America in which there's a lot of life and growth in Protestantism itself, as well as among Catholics. There are plenty of people here who are committed to the basics of the faith, but there are also lots of people in churches that have left behind some of the authoritative teachings of historic Christianity. ... Some of the foundations are shifting down here." It was not a surprise, for many insiders, when Konderla was selected as a bishop. He is, after all, the fourth priest from the thriving Diocese of Austin that the Vatican has raised to the episcopate since 2010. Also, Pope Francis has selected several former campus ministers as bishops. Thus, it's significant that Tulsa's new bishop is the second leader of the giant St. Mary's Catholic Center across from Texas A&M University to be moved into the hierarchy, after Bishop Michael Sis of San Angelo, Texas. Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo has called this particular congregation in Bryan a "vocations factory," since it has regularly produced a dozen or so seminarians or members of religious orders a year. Even more startling, considering wider American Catholic trends, is the fact that the parish offers confession 10 times a week, as well as by appointment. The campus ministry has 50 full- and part-time staff members, and standing-room-only flocks in weekday Masses are not a surprise. When Konderla carved and shaped his own crosier, he included wood from the water oak trees removed when the parish built a larger facility dedicated to student ministry. His episcopal ring crafted by his youngest brother includes gold from the wedding ring of his mother, Ann, who died in 2012. Whatever Sun Belt Catholics do in the future, he said, will have to be true to the church's teachings in the past. "You have to have a foundation you can build on," said Konderla. "If everything is up for grabs, how do you live your life? There are things that are true, even if they are hard truths. ... "When some people hear those words 'hard truths' they think about truths that are hard and unyielding and constantly putting other things down. That isn't what people are looking for. They are looking for truths that are 'hard' in the sense that they are firm and can hold weight. They are truths you can build on." Terry Mattingly is the editor of GetReligion.org and Senior Fellow for Media and Religion at The King's College in New York City. He lives in Oak Ridge, Tenn. SHARE LAVENDER FEST The Lavender Festival will be held in Oak Ridge's Jackson Square from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today. The festival celebrates health, herbs and the environment. Shop with artisan vendors, enjoy live music under the festival tent, plus children's activities, free cooking demonstrations and educational presentations throughout the day. A Taste of Tennessee Wines will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Square with the wineries of Great Valley Wine Trail. Come visit with Tennessee winemakers and taste their award-winning wines. Tickets are $10 at the gate, and benefit the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge. Must be over 21, with valid ID. TOUCH A TRUCK Knoxville Center is hosting a free Touch a Truck Safety Day between 1-4 p.m. today. Local emergency vehicles will be on hand for the kids to see and explore. The Life Star helicopter will be on site weather and emergencies permitting. Plus, there will be a safety house, small toy prizes and door prizes. City on a Hill church will offer free bounce house fun and food for kids in the parking lot near the main entrance. More: 865-544-1501, http://knoxvillecenter.com/events-news ZOO VISITORS Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Captain America are at Zoo Knoxville 10 a.m.-2 p.m. today for a Superhero Saturday. Children ages 12 and younger who come to the zoo dressed as their favorite super heroes are admitted free with a paying adult. Spider-Man and Captain America will pose for photos with fans. At the zoo's "Superhero Boot Camp," children can learn to use their own super powers. HIKE WITH DAD The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society hosts a Father's Day Hike starting at 9 a.m. today. The short hike of 1 to 1.5 miles is at the UT arboretum at 901 S. Illinois Ave. in Oak Ridge. A pre-hike meet-and-greet with coffee, doughnuts and juice starts at 8:30 a.m. The event is free but donations are accepted for the arboretum society and its programs. FREE BRACELET Stop by the Disney Store at West Town Mall for Summer Play Days fun. Free daily events will take place now through Sept. 5 and will include story time, trivia, how to draw Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars characters. There will also be a Showtime where kids can become a Junior Avenger or learn the ways of the Force. Upcoming times are 11:30 a.m. today; 2 p.m. June 19; 11:30 a.m. June 20; 2 p.m. June 21; 6 p.m. June 22; 11:30 a.m. June 23; 1 p.m. June 24; 11:30 a.m. June 25. Children who participate on any Wednesday between now and Aug. 31 can collect Tsum Tsum bracelets featuring their favorite Disney characters. Info: 865-470-7110, www.disneystore.com/disney-store-locator-and-events/mn/1001278/ SHARE By Bruce Vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (TNS) For a man who devoted half his long life to the Church of Scientology, quit, wrote a book highly critical of its leader his son and now suffers the church's wrath, Ron Miscavige comes off as a pretty happy, upbeat guy. The 80-year-old West Allis resident sat down this week to talk about his memoir, "Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige and Me," which almost immediately landed on The New York Times bestseller list and put the first-time author on major network news shows after it was published last month by St. Martin's Press. It also thrust him into the crosshairs of the church, which calls the book a lie and launched a website portraying Miscavige as a wife-beater, ungrateful father and huckster trying to make a buck off his famous son. Plus, he assumes he's still under constant surveillance, but doesn't seem to care. "You don't ever beat a bully by running away," he said. His main hope for the book, he said, is that it might lead to an end of the church's policy of "disconnection," in which all members stop contact with anyone who leaves. He remains cut off by two daughters still in the church. The church issued a statement after this story first appeared that read in part: "Ronald Miscavige was nowhere around when David Miscavige ascended to the leadership of the Church of Scientology, mentored by and working directly with the religion's founder L. Ron Hubbard and entrusted by him with the future of the Church. "Any father exploiting his son in this manner is a sad exercise in betrayal." Though there's little Scientology presence or history in Milwaukee, the area became part of the story when West Allis police arrested a private investigator who had been getting paid $10,000 a week to shadow Miscavige's every move since he left the church in 2012. He and his second wife of nearly 25 years had come to Wisconsin to be near her parents. The private eye had fake IDs, multiple license plates, a GPS tracking device, guns and a silencer. The Florida-based investigator told West Allis police that once when he thought Miscavige was having a heart attack in a parking lot and called it in, David Miscavige himself told him not to intervene. "If he dies, he dies," the younger Miscavige said, according to the investigator. The investigator was arrested in 2013, but the story didn't break until 2015. Scientology denied the investigator's claims. Miscavige says now that he was in fact clutching at his chest on the day in question, but only to find his cellphone, which had fallen from a pocket as he loaded groceries into his car. He wrote that when he later learned of this son's instruction, he was stunned, and the anecdote leads off the book. It chronicles his attraction to Scientology's original principles in the 1960s, and how his family became so involved that David left home at 16 to go work closely with founder L. Ron Hubbard and rose to become leader of the organization after Hubbard's death. Miscavige still believes in the value of some of those early teachings; he says they helped him stop being physically abusive to his first wife. But he says his son turned the church into an obsessively controlling, secretive money machine, and has become, "in my mind, evil." The book is an easy read that offers a primer for those unfamiliar with Scientology, but it is more of a tell-all about Miscavige's own life and how it brought his son into the church. He describes a normal parent-child relationship when David was young, though as a cookware salesman, Miscavige traveled a lot. While he thinks David had the brains and drive to be successful at anything, he thinks his son modeled his punitive, controlling style from Hubbard, taking on his "valence," in Scientology jargon. Miscavige is just the latest in a series of critics and former church members to publicize their beefs with the organization, which he believes continues to exist on the momentum of its billions of dollars and celebrity members like Tom Cruise and John Travolta. "I think the church will continue shrinking," he said. "No one ever achieves what's promised," spiritually, and his son isn't grooming anyone to take over. Departure At Age 76 Eventually, at age 76 and after 45 years in the church and 26 years in its administration, Miscavige and his second wife escaped the California desert compound known as Golden Era Productions, or Gold for short, in 2012. On the anti-book website, the church has posted a video mocking Miscavige's dramatization of his departure. Miscavige said other church critics urged him to write a book but it wasn't until his daughters rebuffed his attempts to communicate that he decided he would. He sat down with collaborator Dan Koon and told his whole story in five days. "It wasn't hard to write," he said. "It was just the truth." He does have normal contact with his oldest son, who left the church many years earlier. Why did Miscavige stay so long, given the oppressive conditions he describes in the book? "I was 76 years old, father of the COB," he said, using the term for his son's title, chairman of the board. But eventually, the conditions living on the base no vacation time, limited food options, emotional denigration led Miscavige and his wife to drive off one morning, after weeks of elaborate planning. Miscavige still lives in West Allis. "I really love Milwaukee," he said during an interview. "The people are friendly," and remind of him of growing up in Pennsylvania coal country. His second wife, daughter of famous Wisconsin race car driver Tom Bigelow, had worked in marketing for the church, also at the California production compound, and now manages a women's clothing store in the Milwaukee area. During his years on the Scientology staff in California, he composed, performed and recorded music for church films and events, including with Edgar Winter and Isaac Hayes. Now, he plays standards on cornet at Studz Pub in West Allis and performs with the Dixieland group Razzamataz. He brought his horn to an interview and volunteered a riff from Louis Armstrong's "Struttin' with some Barbecue." In part, it was to counter one of the many claims about him by the church, that he was a third-rate musician. "Hey, I can play." Kassie Patterson, center, waves a flag symbolizing equality while parading down Gay Street with Tyler Loveday, left, and friends during the 2016 Knoxville PrideFest Parade on Saturday, June 18, 2016. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE University of Tennessee students, faculty, and staff walk under the Clinch Avenue Bridge while chanting "Vol means all" during the Knoxville PrideFest parade on Saturday, June 18, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) Metropolitan Community Church members memorialize the recent Orlando shootings on their float before the 2016 Knoxville PrideFest Parade on Saturday, June 18, 2016. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL) John-Michael Riggs parades down Gay Street during the Knoxville PrideFest parade on Saturday, June 18, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) Alex Irwin of Knoxville, embraces Chris Callahan of Murfreesboro on the Clinch Avenue Bridge during the Knoxville PrideFest parade on Saturday, June 18, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) By Travis Dorman of the Knoxville News Sentinel A record number of people of all races, religions and sexual orientations crowded the streets of downtown Knoxville on Saturday to attend the largest PrideFest Parade in the city's history. The event came a week after the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that killed 50 people. "It's important in the wake of the Orlando massacre that we're here to show that you can't force us back in the closet," said Johnathan Clayton, a University of Tennessee senior in religious studies and photography. "We're here, and we'll be here." Audience members cheered and laughed as the motley procession passed. Dancers twirled rainbow streamers, church floats blasted Christian music, a colossal papier-m che Dolly Parton puppet bounced and waved, and a kilt-wearing Bernie Sanders supporter played a bagpipe as he marched in front of the Knox County Democratic Party car. Various groups in the parade honored the shooting victims and their families by carrying banners or riding floats on which "Orlando" was written in rainbow letters. "Orlando certainly emboldens people," said parade organizer Dusty Brock, who has worked with PrideFest for five years. "It doesn't scare anybody. It really kind of makes them angry and emboldens them to come out." Brock, 44, said the event's turnout increases each year as public perception evolves and more people feel free to be themselves. The numbers of floats, participants and observers this year were higher than ever. Brock estimated more than 700 people and 70 vehicles were registered to be in the parade. The Knoxville Police Department devoted extra resources to ensuring safety. Officers were present on every block of the parade route, and a strict bag check was implemented at the entrance of the festival at World's Fair Park. Clayton also belongs to the UT Diversity Matters coalition, which fought against the recent passage of a state law to defund UT's Office of Diversity and Inclusion. He marched in the parade alongside a group of UT faculty, staff, students and their parents, chanting "Vol means all." "We have all shown up to tell the administration that it's really important that they support us, and they have an obligation to do that," Clayton said. Not everyone supported the spectacle. Groups of protesters holding signs yelled at paraders, urging them to repent of their sins or suffer eternal damnation. Shouting matches were common, and violence at times seemed imminent but never erupted. Some paradegoers responded by simply chanting "Orlando" or "Love wins." One protester was Tom Pierce, a candidate for Knox County's 9th District Commission seat who describes himself as a white separatist. "This event is basically turning Knoxville into a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah," Pierce said. "We're Christians, we're American citizens motivated by Christian principles, and this is our city, too. "From the beginning, God created male and female, Adam and Eve. This goes against the very nature with which God planted the whole world. This is all Satan. This is all love of the devil. ... It's ultimately sucking people to hell." After the parade, attendees filtered into World's Fair Park for a festival that included musical performances and vendors selling merchandise, food and alcoholic beverages. Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero spoke to initiate the festivities, celebrating the successes of the gay rights movement and expressing solidarity with the victims in Orlando. The mayor called the Orlando shooting "terrifying and heartbreaking." "But that's also why the response that I have seen locally and nationally has been so heartening," Rogero said. SHARE By News Sentinel Staff WALLAND A 93-year-old man died and his wife was injured Friday in a house fire in Blount County. Firefighters responded to the house on East Old Millers Cove Road at about 4 p.m. and entered the burning home to reach James White, who had collapsed after the fire started, according to the Blount County Sheriff's Office. Firefighters pulled him out of the home, but White later died from his injuries. His wife, Margie White, was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, where she was being treated for smoke inhalation. The Sheriff's Office is investigating the cause of the fire, but no arson is suspected. An autopsy on White will be performed Saturday at the Knox County Regional Forensic Center. More details as they develop online and in Saturday's News Sentinel. Opinion / Columnist Consciousness means being aware of and responding to one's surroundings. Some Academics spend their lives trying to find out why we, the human species, are here on Earth? Why are we muscularly weaker than lions but at the same time able to lock up lions in the Zoo and dominate the land ourselves? How did Cecil John Rhodes, with only 480 troopers, capture and enslave Matabeleland and Mashonaland inhibited by more than 4 million people? What is power? Where does power come from?Consciousness is the realisation that our grandmothers cleverly taught us that a muscularly weak insect persuaded elephant to sleep, and insect penetrated the elephants trunk causing the massive animal to slam his trunk on a tree until death.We were getting a PhD Degree when Grandmothers taught us that weak Rabbit created a game where Baboon had to tie all other Baboons on a tree and tie himself last at the creative instruction of Rabbit, while Rabbit ate all the meal for the party with his friends. This is the PhD page that we take for granted but it bears the exact methodology that President Mugabe used, to end up eating the party meal alone with his wife Marujata and children and Son's In laws and brothers to Son In Law.Rugare Gumbo, Joyce Mujuru, Dydimus Mutasa, spent their lives tying all the Baboons, who are us, with a rope. Gukurahundi, Vote rigging, Corruption, Rape, Murder, abductions, imprisonments, job dismissal, property seizure, nepotistic tenders, botched projects, ghost workers, farm invasions.Baboon like me, Jabulani Sibanda is feared in Zaka. He spent most of his life tying other Baboons on trees telling them tha Zaka must be a one party region where MDC should not make inrods. Lastly, Rabbit Mugabe instructed Baboon Jabulani to tie himself on a tree. Once Jabulani was secure on a tree, Mugabe and his wife Marujata employed other Baboons who are keen to be uplifted as Jabulani Sibanda was. While on tight ropes, Jabulani, my fellow Baboon started to notice that he was indeed a Baboon who over associated with Rabbit. Sibanda started preaching to us how Sexually Transmitted Political Power works.Baboon Mutswangwa, upon being elevated by Magabe to secure the Sexually Transmition Hideout, blew the whistle louder. The rules for earning supper are that the Baboon on the scope has to be as effective enough to cause absolute ruin to other Baboons. The Baboon on scope is ALWAYS unconscious of the Rabbits old logic. Rabbit uses Baboons every year for 36 years if not 51. Whether its Josiah Tongogara, Edgar Tekere, Maurice Nyagumbo, Enos Nkala, Edison Zvobgo, Joyce Mujuru, Rugare Gumbo or Dydimus Mutasa. They spent their lives tying Baboons who are you and me. They silenced us and forced us to agree that Mugabe is god. Some of us were young at Independence and we had these Baboons culturing us to culture our children to be submissive to a corrupt Rabbit they knew very well.Taking our intuition, our children joined the Police Force expecting to strengthen the Rule of Law and make this country a democratic successful state. Little did our children know that they were holding the AK 47 tight only to strengthen Mugabe and Marujata to fly to Singapore at will. They serve to strengthen Mugabe and Marujata to dish $200 Million tenders to their Son In Law's brother while Dydimus Mutasa's lips are now cracking with malnutrition.The only closest Baboon left, from all the Baboons from 1975, is Mnangagwa. Marujata humiliates Mnangagwa everyday even now. Mugabe and Marujata are now using the small Baboons who are our children, to tie the Rugare Gumbo generation of spent Baboons.In 1986, the Dydimus Mutasa generation of Baboons forced us to teach our children that nothing is better than Mugabe. During that year, our wives were carrying our new born Born-Free sons and daughters. In fear of Mutasa, Nkala and Mujuru, we taught our children that nothing is better than Mugabe. These children held that to heart, grew up with it, joined the Army and the Police to defend Mugabe as we had taught them. These are the Million men march Mugabe defenders that we saw recently. Take a look at their skin health, they are heavily malnourished. They have never known a full standard meal during their life time. If you promise them bus fare, Coca-Cola and half bread, they will do what ever you want even killing. They are mentally deficient and dangerous and have no capability to reason. If they see Beyonce on television, they have no capability to envision themselves transforming political sphere right here in Zimbabwe to get the quality of life that Beyonce have. They believe Beyonce is American and I am African thus why I am like this.The Born-Free who back Mugabe have no capability to look at the skin texture of Zahara, and ask themselves why a Zimbabwean has to look like Sandra Ndebele.Failure to respond to ones surroundings is called lack of consciousness!!!Rabbit does not like consciousness. Rabbit knows that consciousness is more powerful than an Atomic Bomb. By the way, an Atomic Bomb has only been used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 1945. Since then, all humanity found out the fact that if this weapon is used again, it will be the end of all living things on planet Earth. Consciousness made the level of aggression to neutralise. It is consciousness which beat the Atomic bomb.Consciousness is the very first tool any intelligent human being must master first before anything. It is dangerous to fail to respond to one's environment. And yet, this is the major quality Zimbabweans lack. In South Africa 1950, Steve Biko came with a theory of Black Consciousness. The apartheid Rabbit had identified Baboons to tie Baboons so that the White Rabbit and his friends would enjoy life. A Rhodesian Secondary School called Milton High School located in Bulawayo produced the architect of apartheid Hendrik Verwoerd. This Rabbit wrote and used a thesis to divide the sleeping Baboons grading Zulus in one area, Sotho, one side, Xhosa, oneside, Indians, oneside, Baca, oneside. When they had been divided, he planted a few Baboons to tie the rest of the group. Black consciousness failed to take effect quickly because Baboons had been divided and were incapable to ORGINISE AND REASON together. The astute ANC quarantined the Baboon mentality and conscientised South Africans that the differences between the Zulu and Xhosa were artificial in any form of reality.In 1980, Mugabe clearly divided the Ndebele as Dissidents and made the likes of Mujuru to feel hierarchical. By 1989, Tekere had noticed that in actual terms, Mugabe was playing Rabbit with the people of Zimbabwe. In his remorse, after noticing that he had been used by Zanu to undermine the Ndebele for Mugabe's personal enjoyment, Tekere rented his ZUM Party Offices in Bulawayo 1989. The people of Zimbabwe, who knew that Tekere had hunted and killed Ndebeles since 1962 in Gweru to form Zanu, joined ZUM in Bulawayo.At that time, Morgan Tsvangirai, in his own words, could kill for Mugabe. By 1998, Tsvangirai saw what the Ndebele had about the real Mugabe. At that time, Mujuru, Gumbo and Mutasa were still tying Zimbabweans on trees forcing them to say that Mugabe was god. Mutasa still has murder cases standing today where, in one case, an MDC activists's then twelve year old son Christpowers Maisiri was burnt to death. Just translate it this way, if somebody burnt Bona Mugabe to death, how would Mugabe feel. In the same context, think about Itai Dzamara. If someone abducted Bona Mugabe, how many nights would Mugabe sleep in his mention as a happy, free human being in a liberated Zimbabwe which does not need change of leadership?Tsvangirai's party was infiltrated by Baboons who are confessing today. Rigging happened in 2008 and the Baboons who were killing for Mugabe today are watching Mugabe's Son in Law's brother walk out with a 200 Million contract. All the aging War Veterans come dehydrated asking to be given $200 by Mugabe while Simba Chikore's brother single handendly takes $200 million. If Simba's brother can take $200 Million, how much more Simba himself? How much more Bona ant the little brothers. What does Tongogara's family get? What does Mutasa's son in Law get? What does Dabengwa's child get? What does jabulani Sibanda's son in Law get? Whose Zimbabwe is this? Why am I here? What can I do differently? Where is my Consciousness as an individual? Where is our collective Consciousness as Nation?Does this not bring Consciousness to a Police Officer who survives by bribery but still defend those who tie us? Does this bring Consciousness to a poor soldier who is ready to pull a trigger against a Zimbabwean who wants his share of $200 million like Simba's brother? Is someone Conscious enough to remember the Marange Diamond? Is anyone Conscious enough to remember our missing $15 Billion? Is anybody Conscious enough to notice that we need to create Collective Consciousness? Is anyone Conscious enough that even if you were a millionaire in Zimbabwe, you have no hospitals? Are we collectively Conscious to notice that our infrastructure is dilapidated?Who is going to synergise our Consciousness to see things together and act collectively? Is it opposition parties who are nucleating everyday? Can opposition parties, who have been cultured by Mugabe to see things in Shona and Ndebele, unite to collectively effect a Paradigm Shift?If opposition parties have failed for thirty years, to remove crooks who tie us on ropes for 40 years until they have son in laws, who then is capable to unite us?Who can unite someone in Zanu, Someone in MDC, Someone in Zapu, Someone in ZRP, Someone in ZNA, Someone in MLP and Conscientise us to move out of Mugabe's craft of divisiveness, and effect change that is good for us?If Mugabe failed us in 1986, was he capable to save us in 1998? Ok, let's say we are nice people, or let's say it was because of Ian Smith, or Gayigusu, or ESSAP? What can we say about 2003? Did Mugabe fail Zimbabwe because of War Vets payout, or White Farmers? Or Morgan Tsvangirai, or Tony Blair? Or George Bush Sanctions?Have we still have a brain? Do we lack consciousness?Lets look at 2016 now that we are complaining about $15 Billion, Chikores $200 Million etc. Could Zimbabwe be getting worse because Joyce Mujuru stripped for young Nigerian guys, preparing frogs to take Mugabe's life? Is it because, maybe, that Mutasa is incorrigible? Is it that Gumbo gives biased anti-President report? Is it because Mtwakazi People are causing disunity in Zimbabwe? Is it because the West stole our Zimdollar? Is it because Jabulani Sibanda wants to talk like the President, is it because Mnangagwa has more than a thousand documented girlfriends whose contact numbers are in Marujata's computer?Or is it because we are unconscious?Could we be individually conscious about all these things but due to a culture of tribe and parties we cannot work together?Is collective consciousness impossible to create in Zimbabwe?Would we rather deteriorate to levels worse than 2008, than create collective consciousness and get Mugabe out on the 25th of August 2016?Can ZRP and ZNA see that if they wont point a gun at fellow countrymen, by October, they will be earning more than $1 400.00 each? Can Zimbabweans see that if they will drop all forms of divisions, in party and tribe which was formed by Mugabe in 1962, we could make a historical take over of our country on the 25th of August 2016You have sixty days to prepare to march to Mugabe's Blue Roof Residence on the 15th of Agust 2016. Nine Million Zimbabweans must much to Mugabe's residence and humble him and his Marujata, at allocate them a humble three bedroom house in Mambo Gweru.August the 25th 2016, will be known in World History, as a day Zimbabweans became collectively conscious about their environment, and claimed back their wealthy country. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gestures as she greets supporters at a presidential primary election night rally June 7 in New York. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) SHARE Madeline Rogero Megan Barry By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel WASHINGTON Megan Barry and Madeline Rogero know from experience what a powerful message it sends to girls and women when someone like Hillary Clinton makes history. Barry, who made history herself last year when she became the first woman elected mayor of Nashville, was walking in the city's Christmas parade last December when she overheard someone tell two girls the mayor was approaching. "They looked at me, and they looked at the guys behind me and said, 'Which one is he?' " Barry recalled. "I got to say, 'It's me. I'm the mayor.' One of the little girls said, 'Oh my god. Girls can be mayor?' " Rogero, the first woman to serve as mayor in Knoxville, said parents have introduced her to their daughters while making the point that girls can grow up to be mayor, senator or even president. Clinton's landmark achievement as the first woman to win a major political party's presidential nomination, Rogero said, helps particularly in showing girls and young women they can attain whatever goals they set. "We've come a long way to finally get to this point," said Rogero, now in her second term as mayor. For many women in Tennessee, Clinton's achievement is cause for celebration and a chance to take stock of how far women have come in a country where less than a century ago they couldn't even vote. "Where we are now is pretty stunning to me," said Linda Haney, who through her involvement with the Democratic Women of Knoxville has worked to honor Tennesseans who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Beyond its historical significance, Clinton's nomination also could end up affecting politics and policy at the state and national levels if she goes on to win the White House in November. "Here in Tennessee, it's especially important," said Mary Mancini, chairwoman of the Tennessee Democratic Party. "We have a Legislature that has a Republican supermajority, and in the past couple of years, we've seen both a blatant dismissal of the issues that affect women and their families, like expanding access to health care and equal pay, as well as a blatant disregard for their well-being." Just this year, the state Legislature failed to approve what had been a routine renewal of funding for the Tennessee Economic Council on Women, which studies employment policies, educational needs, domestic relations and other issues affecting women. The absence of funding means the 18-year-old agency will close its doors at the end of the month. "Because of these things, the fact that we have a woman nominee as president will probably have an impact on our down-ballot races and the women and men who have stepped up as Democrats to take on our backward state Legislature," Mancini said. "Having (Clinton) at the top of the ticket really gives them hope and purpose and a feeling of solidarity." State Rep. Karen Camper, D-Memphis, witnessed some of that solidarity when she recently took part in a leadership program at Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics. "It was just amazing the number of women that were there and how they felt about a woman as president and that having a woman at the table of power was just something we needed at this moment in time," Camper said. Although they're from different parties, Camper said she felt that same sense of pride when state Rep. Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, was elected unanimously five years ago as the first woman speaker in the state House. "That was significant for Tennessee and just in general," she said. "I'm just proud to be a part of that history to actually see it." Clinton's background as a lawyer, first lady, senator and secretary of state makes her "probably the most qualified person to ever be in this position," Rogero said. Lenda Sherrell of Monteagle, Tenn., said she has followed Clinton's career for years and has always admired the way she's charted her own course, even turning setbacks into triumph. When Clinton was humiliated by the Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to former President Bill Clinton's impeachment, she picked herself up, ran for Senate and won. When she lost the 2008 presidential race to Barack Obama, instead of retreating from public life, she became Obama's secretary of state. "She has just been the model of a woman who is strong and resilient and has always done what she wants to do with her life," said Sherrell, who helped Clinton's campaign organize its grassroots network in Tennessee during the Democratic primary. Not all women, though, have embraced Clinton's candidacy. Polls consistently showed young women in particular gravitated toward Clinton's opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the Democratic primary. Haney said she understands why young people would take an interest in Sanders, who made economic issues, including college debt and raising the minimum wage, the centerpiece of his campaign. Those voters may believe change would happen faster under Sanders, but Clinton has fought for women, children, the poor and the disadvantaged her entire career, Haney said. If Clinton wins in November, she said, "that will make a huge difference for women and for the world to see that we finally have a woman president. It took us a long time." SHARE A look at recent events in the news that pleased us ... Prize story: A story by Roane State Community College assistant professor Elizabeth Genovise has been named a 2016 O. Henry Prize Story, among the nation's most prestigious honors for short fiction. Past winners include literary luminaries such as William Faulkner, John Updike, Flannery O'Connor, Alice Walker and Truman Capote. Genovise's piece, "Irises," was among 20 stories selected from thousands of works published in literary magazines. "Irises," which appeared in Cimarron Review, is a story about a moment when a daughter learns a long-hidden and profound secret from her mother's past. Fast ride: Lightning Rod, the world's fastest wooden roller coaster, is officially open at Dollywood. The launching wooden coaster climbs more than 20 stories high, boasts a 165-foot drop and reaches a top speed of 73 miles an hour. With a $22 million price tag, the ride is the single-largest attraction investment in the park. The roller coaster is part of a 10-year, $300 million investment in attractions and improvements to Dollywood and its associated properties. Library restored: Recently completed repairs to the iconic Hoskins Library at the University of Tennessee have returned the arch-lined main room to its former glory. The 85-year-old library's tile room was damaged by hail in 2011 and water seeped around its metal-framed windows. The water damaged the plaster walls. The roof was fixed a year ago, the windows have been sealed and the plaster repaired. Named for former UT President James D. Hoskins, the university's former main library houses the Papers of Andrew Jackson research project, the map room, microfilm storage and offices. Vote delayed: The Knox County E-911 Center faces a nearly $472,000 shortfall in the 2017 budget, prompting the board of directors to delay a vote on joining the Chattanooga-based Tennessee Valley Regional Communications System. The agreement was supposed to be finalized June 30, when price reductions granted by Motorola Solutions were set to expire. The board must find a way to cut or reallocate $471,786.39 from the 2016-17 budget year that starts July 1. The total proposed 2017 budget for the E-911 Center that accepts emergency phone calls from the public and dispatches emergency units is $8,963,960.39. By Choi Sung-jin Rep. Park Young-sun sponsored a bill on Friday about introducing "punitive damages," saying it is aimed to root out anti-social, unlawful acts by businesses, particularly large enterprises. At a news conference, Rep. Park, a fourth-term lawmaker with the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, explained the bill, which calls for imposing penalties up to three times the compensation of the insurance policies on businesses that commit unlawful acts maliciously. "There are mounting calls for an across-the-board introduction of exemplary damages, now limited to a few areas, on the occasion of the oxy scandal' which threw the public into unrest and anger," Park said. She was referring to the toxic humidifier sterilizers marketed by Oxy Reckitt Benckiser and other companies, causing hundreds of deaths. Pointing out that no compensation has been made for Korean consumers in the aftermath of the Oxy scandal and Volkswagen emissions fraud, Rep. Park vowed to enact a law that addresses this problem in the 20th legislature of the National Assembly. "Some say punitive damages will put enormous burdens on the businesses but they are mistaken," she said. "Without some restraining devices like this, businesses can go bankrupt if they are entangled in large-scale industrial scandals. This law rather protects companies in that regard." This legislative move by Park, a well-known anti-big business crusader, reflects the soaring number of complaints from Korean consumers about giant unethical business enterprises. And nowhere is this more serious than with imported cars here, industry experts say. Volkswagen, for instance, has recently submitted its recall plan of vehicles with fabricated emissions software to the environment ministry but was turned down. It was the third rejection by the ministry. All the while, up to 125,000 Volkswagen cars continued to run the Korean streets and highways for seven months, with no restraints on them at all, blowing out excessive amounts of toxic nitrogen oxide. Expert suspect the German carmaker is dragging its feet to gain time. "There can be no recall plans that do not accompany decreases in mileage or engine power, as argued by Volkswagen," said Professor Kim Pil-soo of Daelim University College. "If recalls could become possible by just adjusting the software, the automaker might not have made the fabrications in the first place." The story was quite different in the United States, though. Volkswagen agreed with the U.S. government to repurchase the parts of the problematic vehicles and pay compensation totaling $1 billion to the buyers. In Korea, however, prosecutors said Volkswagen forged the emissions records not just on its diesel cars but on its gasoline vehicles too, and under the instructions of its headquarters in Germany, in a glaring violation that added fuel to the Korean consumers' ire. Other foreign carmakers are not free from blame, either. Mercedes-Benz sold 98 cars with nine-speed transmissions without obtaining certifications for the cars from the Korean government. The German carmaker was also slapped with a penalty tax of 50.2 billion won ($42.9 million) on suspicion of tax avoidance. GM Korea slipped one of its models through the loopholes of the domestic law. Unlike in the United States where it has to install 10 fourth-generation advanced airbags on its new Chevrolet Malibu, GM Korea equipped the same car for the Korean market with only eight second-generation airbags. This became possible because the fourth-generation airbags are obligatory in the U.S. but the company could get by with second-generation airbags in Korea. "In Korea, the laws and systems are unable to keep up with changing times, and officials are not implementing even these outdated rules," said an industry executive. "This has lead to widespread expediency under the pretext of customary practices." Imported carmakers regard Korea as an easy mark because the legal system itself is full of loopholes here, he said, adding that all the environment ministry has done with respect to the Volkswagen scandal has been to impose fines of only 14.1 billion won on the company. The ministry has no effective means of discipline if Volkswagen keeps dragging its feet. The court can mete out 10 year prison sentences to executives or impose 50 million won in penalties on the carmaker if it refuses to recall its cars, but the law is so far inapplicable because Volkswagen is not refusing to comply with it but only delaying doing any meaningful things. All this shows why there are mounting calls for introducing punitive damages in Korea, the experts said. "The U.S. government levies penalties by calculating daily loss caused by toxic exhaust fumes," said Professor Kim. "If Korea had a similar rule, Volkswagen could hardly have acted as it is doing here." By Bambang Susantono MANILA Many parts of Asia have been gripped by searing temperatures and the worst drought in decades. Millions of people face shortages of food or water, leading to the loss of lives, livelihoods, crops, and livestock. As water shortages depress productivity, reduce energy output at hydro plants, and cut food exports, economies are suffering. To find relief, we must look to the skies but not in the way one might expect. While rainfall would obviously be welcome, there is a tool for coping with extreme weather over which we actually have some control: satellites. The extreme weather confronting Asia is not expected to abate anytime soon. The current drought can be blamed partly on an unusually strong El Nino that has been warming the Pacific Ocean since mid-2015. More and stronger El Ninos are expected this century, reflecting the impact of climate change. This will aggravate Asia's already serious water problem, which is becoming particularly serious in cities, owing to rapid urbanization. The region's urban population is set to double, to 3.2 billion people, by 2050, by which time nearly three-quarters of its total population could face water stress. Controlling these forces may seem impossible. But preventing further water shortages is not. What is needed now is bold action to improve our understanding of the nature and scale of Asia's water crisis, thereby strengthening our capacity to respond to it. A lack of data about, say, riparian flows, including how much water is diverted for agriculture and human consumption, undermines efficient resource management. Likewise, the absence of detailed rainfall records, particularly in remote areas, impedes efforts to assess flood and drought risk. Accurate data are also needed to design the right irrigation systems, dams, and embankments not to mention building them where they will have the greatest impact in terms of mitigating the effects of climate change. Missing data frustrate sound policymaking in myriad ways. Though agriculture consumes about 80% of freshwater stocks in Asia, most countries cannot correctly measure how much water is used to grow a crop, and how much of that water is re-used downstream. Greater clarity about how much water enters and leaves catchments, and for what purposes, would enable smarter policies, just as savvy investors rely on good financial accounting. As some water-scarce countries, such as Australia, have already shown, such accounting helps countries to allocate water more efficiently among agriculture and energy producers and urban consumers. Here is where satellite technology comes in. Regular sweeps over cropped areas using remote sensing something like a full-body health scan can quickly gather information on rainfall, land temperature, and even groundwater levels that would otherwise take months to obtain. When combined with physical measurements on the ground, these data can help governments gain a better accounting of water resources, prepare for droughts and floods, and plan future water use. Already, the Water Accounting Plus software system developed by UNESCO-IHE, the International Water Management Institute, and the Food and Agriculture Organization uses open-access remote-sensing data to assess land use, rainfall, and temperature. The data enable the system to determine how much water is available in a river basin, how much is being used for various purposes, and how water use has changed over time. With such information, countries like Cambodia and Vietnam can confront the surge in water demand they face. To help propel them toward that goal, UNESCO-IHE, with support from the Asian Development Bank, has been working with their governments as well as the authorities in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan to create a pilot program to answer key questions about land and water use. More such initiatives are needed and quickly. One area of focus must be agriculture. In Vietnam's parched central highlands and coastal provinces, for example, there is an urgent need to harvest "more crop per drop" and improve emergency responses. If satellite technology is fully exploited, farmers could receive real-time information on their mobile phones about how much water to use and when. Moreover, the region's most productive farmers could be identified and encouraged to share their best practices with other farmers. Another key step will be to map water stocks and usage across entire countries, and to make this information available online. Rather than allowing vital data to gather dust, as has occurred in the past, we must augment it, update it, and share it widely, so that it can be put to use. Breaking the data drought will not by itself end Asia's water crisis. But it is a crucial first step to ensure that the region's destiny is not dictated by its weather. Bambang Susantono is the Asian Development Bank's Vice-President of Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development. Opinion / Columnist THE lead article, "Mujuru takes off her gloves", as she launches her 2018 election campaign with a star rally in Bulawayo published by a certain private owned daily made interesting reading on two counts.Firstly with reference to former Vice-President Joice Mujuru's purported gladiator gloves or lack of them and secondly for her choice of the City of Kings as the venue to launch her campaign.Many will remember the verve and fanfare generated by the private media that accompanied her entry into opposition politics, which turned out to be justifiably empty and lent credence to the adage that those with the least wit are the greatest babblers.Even the most condescending of her supporters had begun to query her pedigree as a result of her political hibernation amid internecine bickering and jostling for positions within that party, which did less to endear her association to the electorate as 2018 beckons.As such, Mujuru and the Zimbabwe People First have been too busy pursuing shadows and shapes in the form of perceived infiltration by other political parties whereas the private media mouthpieces have had their hands full trying to piece the patchworks together and, therefore, have no brief talking about their mare fighting steeds and stallions bare knuckle when she did not put on her fighting gloves in the first place.Bulawayo is a nemesis to her. It is a city where the late Joshua Nkomo's statue towers above any other piece of sculptor.A city where Father Zimbabwe owned his first property in an urban centre in Pelandaba suburb.This is the city that glorifies and celebrates its heroes and heroines but disdains villains and God knows in which category she fits because certainly she isn't a heroine!She dared ridicule the good name of Father Zimbabwe by dismissing him as senile just because the late Vice President had spoken in favour of giving Mr Strive Masiiwa's Econet the second mobile phone licence whereas she favoured Telecel.General Josh knew what indigenisation entailed, which is more than I can vouch for her.Her political hangers-on such as Gift Nyandoro and Jealous Mawarire have also tried to elevate her to some undeserved status of "Mother of the nation," this and that in a vain attempt to equate here popular appeal to that of the late VP Joshua Nkomo.I mean, the woman is unrelenting and wants to hound the late VP in his hitherto stronghold and even his grave (MHSRIP).Now with her amnesia conveniently tucked safely elsewhere, she has the temerity to approach that city of long memories canvassing for support!Hopefully she is not going to Stanley Square in Makokoba, which is the ceremonial home of political activism, to shed crocodile tears about purported omissions and commissions of Zanu-PF and beg for forgiveness because people know her for who she is, an uncouth, unrepentant and manipulative person ready to sacrifice her children to achieve her goals.And talking about children, one wonders what has become of the late General Solomon Mujuru's illegitimate offspring that stood on the brink of being prejudiced of a share of their father's wealth in the disputed estate.I have noted previously that the most afflicted among the ill is one who will not admit his or her affliction.Picture this: Zim People First has alleged that one Jim Kunaka (a political prostitute if you ask me who until his recent return to Zanu- PF had been in that party's ranks, was being treated by that party for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) allegedly for horrors he visited on others as a Zanu-PF member and was receiving anti-psychotic therapy) is a nut case that had been planted by the revolutionary party.Correct me if I'm wrong but I note with great trepidation that the Zim PF project appears constituted by people gone bonkers for Mujuru was in Zanu-PF until her unceremonious expulsion for entertaining equally crazy ideas.Elliot Pfebve, a self-exiled MDC-T activist once accused Joice Mujuru of attempting to assassinate him and if indeed Zanu-PF visited horrors as she and her opposition acolytes are wont to regurgitate, then her body and soul is indelibly etched in that ignoble register.A senior official of the ZimPF project, Didymus Mutasa, was once indicted by local courts for political violence in his former constituency, Headlands.He defied President Mugabe's calls for political tolerance and procured catapults for his henchmen who then used these to persecute his foes, within and outside Zanu-PF.As for Rugare Gumbo, his transgressions began in the bush and no amount of city lights exposure could compel the leopard to change its spots.Mawarire is a former member of the ruling party. I could go on and on. So, if we pursue Zim PF's logic to the end, all these office bearers and revered elders brimming with wisdom and inspiration yet blighted by self-eulogising do require hospitalisation after all.Nyandoro's attempted equivocation falls flat on its face as it fails to convince people about what value Mutasa and Gumbo will add to an association of disgruntled and politically spent forces."We value our elders so much for their wisdom and they are the ones who give the party inspiration."My foot! If these two chaps had any discernible wits, they would have advised Mujuru to skip Bulawayo and maybe start with Mt Darwin for I honestly believe that in Zimbabwe's politics, a prophet of a little stature like her might command some modicum of honour and respect if not among his or her community at least among relatives.Lest I be deemed too harsh and unkind, I will give her credit for her nerve to hoodwink two former high ranking members of Zanu-PF into believing that she was the panacea to the country's challenges in the same manner she duped historians into believing that she downed some chopper in a fire fight somewhere somehow. Such talent ought not to go unnoticed.So, as she prepares for her rallies countrywide, the country will not wait with bated breath for she is bound to stumble into another mistake that will surely send her whimpering to her hibernation. Lawmakers from the U.S. House and Senate have introduced legislation calling for suspending civil nuclear cooperation with China if Beijing is found to have failed to enforce U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea. The bipartisan legislation, titled the"U.S.-China Nuclear Cooperation and Nonproliferation Act of 2016," was introduced late last month in the House by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and in the Senate by Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). The bill requires the president to determine within six months if China has engaged in various proliferation misbehaviors, including re-transferring any U.S. nuclear items to a third country without the permission from the U.S. government or diverting or attempting to divert U.S. nuclear items to military use. It also requires the president to determine whether China failed to prevent transfer of proliferation-sensitive items to countries of concern, or "failed to undertake measures to enforce the sanctions provided for in U.S. Security Council Resolution 2270," adopted in March in response to the North's fourth nuclear test. Should such violations be found, the legislation requires immediate suspension of all cooperation under the bilateral agreement, including any transfers of nuclear technology or materials, until such issues are addressed. The bill also expresses concern about China's pursuit of commercial reprocessing of nuclear fuel. "China's plans to reprocess United States-origin spent fuel raise the risk that China could divert plutonium to military purposes, enabling it to produce additional nuclear weapons that threaten the United States and its allies," the bill said. "China's pursuit of commercial plutonium reprocessing will increase the likelihood that Japan expands its commercial reprocessing program and that South Korea will increase efforts to initiate a similar program of its own." Growing stockpiles of plutonium in East Asia increase the chances of military diversion and theft, raising the risk of nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and interstate nuclear conflict, the legislation said, adding that it is in the interest of the United States to prevent the stockpiling of plutonium in East Asia. The bill requires U.S. authorization before China re-exports "U.S.-origin" technology to other countries and prohibits consent for Chinese reprocessing U.S. spent nuclear fuel unless the president certifies that fissile material is adequately safeguarded and protected. (Yonhap) North Korean officials will attend an annual security conference next week that usually brings together government officials and scholars from all six nations involved in long-stalled negotiations on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs, according to the forum's organizers on Saturday. Organized by the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) of the University of California, San Diego, the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) has served as an opportunity for informal dialogue between North Korea and its nuclear negotiation partners -- South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. North Korea, which conducted its fourth nuclear test in January this year, did not attend the NEACD in 2014 and 2015. This year's forum will be held in Beijing next week with officials from North Korea planning to take part. "I can confirm that representatives from the North Korean government will attend," Eric Anderson, an analyst in charge of media inquiry at the IGCC, told Yonhap News Agency via e-mail. The six-party talks were last held in late 2008 and diplomatic efforts to resume the negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions have produced little results as the North showed no signs of giving up its nuclear weapons program. In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Amb. Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea policy will visit China next week to attend the forum. Earlier this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned that North Korea appears to have restarted its main nuclear bomb fuel plant. If the warning by the IAEA is correct, it would be the latest move by North Korea in expanding its nuclear weapons program, despite tightened international sanctions. (Yonhap) Argentina's lower house of parliament has adopted a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights violations, the first Latin American nation to do so, sources said Friday. The Argentine Chamber of Deputies adopted the resolution on June 7, expressing support for last year's U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning the North's human rights abuses and condemning systematic and widespread human rights abuses in the communist nation. In particular, the resolution called for indicting those responsible for the abuses, and urged the country's government to take a more active part in international efforts to improve the North's human rights record, the sources said. In addition, the resolution called for greater efforts to help Koreans in Argentina to be united with their relatives in the North. It was the first time that the parliament of a Latin American nation has adopted such a resolution. North Korea has long been labeled one of the worst human rights violators. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information. But the North has bristled at such criticism, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime. (Yonhap) Kim Chan-woo, South Korea's ambassador for Arctic Affairs, opened the first seminar between the two countries on Arctic issues. "The Arctic is one of the last frontiers left to mankind, and it will be the Arctic sea routes which will assume a pivotal role in utilizing these opportunities," he said in his opening remarks. "When energy, mineral resources and goods move along the Arctic sea routes, the Arctic will be born as a new zone of prosperity." Last year, Kim was appointed as South Korea's first Arctic affairs ambassador, reflecting the importance Seoul places on strengthening cooperation with the northern countries. The heightened interest in the region comes as new business opportunities are expected to arise from the possible emergence of a viable trade route in the Arctic Ocean. It also falls in line with President Park Geun-hye's Eurasia Initiative, which seeks to build a single, united Eurasia through increased links in transport, infrastructure, IT and other sectors. With climate change, glaciers around the North Pole have been melting at an increasingly fast pace, leading some experts to estimate that it will be possible to navigate the waters year round by 2030. According to South Korea's foreign ministry, the Northern Sea Route would reduce the distance between the Korean port city of Busan and the Dutch city of Rotterdam by 32 percent, from 22,000 kilometers through the Suez Canal, to 15,000 kilometers. Shipping goods between the two points would take 30 days instead of 40. If commercialized, the Northern Sea Route would also present a vast array of new business opportunities for South Korean firms in shipbuilding, floating platforms and infrastructure, Kim said. The Arctic region has a population of 12 million and a total gross domestic product of $450 billion. (Yonhap) A delegation from the Ulsan regional government left for Tangshan in northern China's Hebei Province on Friday to hold talks with Chinese officials on strengthening tourism exchanges in relation to this year's gathering of representatives from five cities that have mountain ranges containing the word Alps. The gathering, known as the 2016 Congress of World Alps Cities Association for Mountain Tourism, is scheduled to be convened in the Chinese province in September, with the venue city yet to be decided. During the delegation's visit to Hubei, the two sides are expected to discuss ways to activate the group of mountainous cities including the expansion of members aimed at elevating it to an international body. The five-member group comprises the South Korean municipality, China's Hubei provincial government, New Zealand's Queenstown city government, Japan's Toyama city government and Titlis Rotair, an integrated tourism company in Switzerland's Engelberg. Ulsan, a city in southeastern South Korea, has the Yeongnam Alps, Hubei the Beijing Alps, Queenstown the Southern Alps, Toyama the Northern Alps and Engelberg the Uri Alps. The South Korean city took the initiative in launching the group in 2012 in a bid to seek cooperation with cities that have a mountain range with the Alps appellation in developing themselves into world-class mountain tourism spots. The group's general meetings have so far been convened in Ulsan. Kang Jong-jin, who is responsible for the congress hosting, said the city government "will push ahead with a project to develop the association into a channel through which negotiations for the tourism business are held and tourist products are made." (Yonhap) LAS VEGASAdult Source Media is now offering a new release from Colette.com to fans of artful glamcore. Perfect Threesomes 2 is available this week at retailers and distributors worldwide. The movie features five scenes of three-way action and stars a plethora of pretty porn starlets, including Veronica Rodriguez, Nina North, Aubrey Star, Anny Aurora, Piper Perri and Caprice. Directed by founder Colette, Perfect Threesomes 2 continues to follow the format that has made Colette.com first a popular membership site and now a popular new DVD line. Colette's releases are marked by top-notch cinematography, beautiful women and intimate sex scenes. 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For domestic and international DVD sales, contact [email protected] For licensing and broadcasting opportunities, contact Jim Crawford at [email protected] The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more This article appears in the June 17, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. ZEPP-LAROUCHE IN SAN FRANCISCO The Choice Before the United States [PDF version of this article] This is an edited transcript of Helga Zepp-LaRouches keynote address to the Schiller Institutes June 8 Strategic Seminar in San Francisco, which drew 70 guests and experts to discuss, Will the United States Join the New Silk Road? Global Scientific Development or Nuclear War. If you look at the world situationespecially you the American public, who know almost nothing about itpeople in Europe know a little bit morebut if you compare the immediate danger of an escalation of a confrontation between NATO, the United States, and Great Britain on the one hand, and Russia and China on the other, public knowledge about it is so little that for me, this is actually the more scary aspect. Because the absence of public debate on the possible extinction of all civilization may be because of the indifference of many people, because they just dont care; or it may be that they are too scared to think it through. But the lack of a public debate is what we have to change. So therefore, what I am going to say is not only meant to be food for thoughtand I really want you to think about itbut it is also meant to be food for action. Start with the first immediate situation, which is the war danger. For about two days, maneuvers have been underway in the Baltic states and Poland, where there is a remarkable combination of four NATO exercises. The most prominent is Anaconda 2016. It includes 30,000 soldiers from 24 nations, including 14,000 Americans and 12,000 Poles; 1,130 parachute drops; the crossing of the Vistula River; a night-time assault; 35 helicopters; and 3,000 vehicles, along with naval vessels. Together with the other three exercises in the Baltic states, there are more than 60,000 troops in maneuvers right now on the border of Russia. I can tell you that it is the first time since Hitler and his Operation Barbarossa that that number of troops has massed at what was then the Soviet border; its the first time since the beginning of the 1940s that this has occurred. Obviously, when you have this many troops in exercisesrehearsing the non-existent threat of Russia attacking the Baltic statesthen there is a danger that an accident could happen. You could have an escalation. The warning time is a couple of minutes, so you could have a rapid deterioration of this situation into a large war. The Guardianthis is a British newspaperquoted an unnamed European defense attache saying this is a nightmare scenario, because a mishap could lead to a great danger. I wouldnt call it a matter of a mishap. I say it is the largest provocation, intended to compel Russia to capitulate. But will it capitulate? Obviously not. Just a couple of weeks ago in Romania, the U.S./NATO anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system was completed and went livethe ABM system that many Russian experts have said is intended to destroy the capability of the Russian nuclear arsenal. Two years ago at a conference in Moscow, video animations were used to demonstrate that the entire ABM system which Obama has been steadily building, has only one aim, and that is to prepare for a first strike on Russia, by taking out its second-strike capability. Russia said, of course, that it cannotit will notaccept that this ABM system be built beyond a certain point, because when Russia becomes indefensible, obviously, then it will be too late. The Forgotten Lesson The whole ballistic missile defense system supposedly was directed against Iranian missiles. Everyone knew from the beginning that that was a lie. Russia repeatedly offered to have such installations in the South of Russia, much closer to Iran, which the United States refused. And now, since the signing of the P5+1 agreement with Iran, such a threat no longer exists. Furthermore, Putin has proposed to Obama many times that the threat which Russia sees in this ABM system be discussed. And Obama has flatly refused to even discuss it. So there are now arguments appearing that correctly make the point that there is only one explanation for the refusal to discuss it, and that is indeed, that the United States is preparing a surprise attack on Russia. U.S. Army/Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Hughes Normally you would say this is crazy, this cannot be, because if you use nuclear weapons, People have forgotten the stark lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis, and that President Kennedy said at that time, if it comes to nuclear war, those who die in the first hours will be happy as compared to those who die a couple of weeks later, or who die as a consequence of the nuclear winter, because those will die a much more miserable death. That lesson has been forgotten. It has been ignored. But the NATO doctrine has been changed for the worse since the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and since the strategic confrontation of the medium-range missile crisis in the 1980s, when the SS-20 and the Pershing 2 were directed against each other with only a few minutes warning time. At that time there were hundreds of thousands of people in the streets in Europe, warning that if it comes to nuclear war, then it would be the end of human civilization. Today, experts assess the danger of nuclear war as far greater, for a number of reasons. One reason is the junking of the Mutually Assured Destruction doctrine, which was the idea that no one side can use nuclear weapons, because it will lead to the annihilation of everybody; but that idea of Mutually Assured Destruction has been replaced by a utopian conception, that with modern technology and smarter weapons you can actually win a nuclear war. President Obama, when he took office, promised he would work toward a nuclear-free world. He got the Nobel Peace Prize for that. If you look at it, he has just recently committed the United States to spend a trillion dollars to modernize all of its nuclear arsenals, including tactical nuclear weapons installed mostly in Europe, the so-called B61-12 bombs, which are supposed to be put on stealth bombers, and then sneak through the air defense of the opponent, meaning Russia, and disarm it in a first strike. They are supposed to be more usable that current bombs. Now recently in hearings in the U.S. Senate, Senator Dianne Feinstein commented on that, and said the very idea of having new, modernized nuclear weapons which are supposedly more usable, is already an utterly immoral idea. Right now, were a the situation where beginning of July in the NATO summit in Warsaw, they intend to emplace battalions at the Russian border in the Baltics, they want to beef up the equipment, move heavy armament into Poland, into the Baltic States, and arm the Ukrainian forces deployed against the Eastern Ukraine. They want to link up the Romanian ballistic missile system with the Aegis destroyer warships in the Baltics, in the Black Sea. And all of this has reached a point of utmost provocation. But one should be very clear, and that has also been expressed by many military experts, with all of this big moving of troops into Poland, into Estonia, Lithuania, what does it all amount to? Nothing! Because if it came to war, these conventional forces would be overrun by the Russian army in no time. And there is general agreement among military experts that they therefore only constitute a so-called tripwire condition, mainly being the pretext, where some kind of an incident then creates the precondition for war. Danger in the Pacific Now if it comes to war, and that has been stressed just today in a comment by the Russian Ambassador in Denmark, where somebody said to him, obviously Russia makes a fierce response to these maneuvers, and the Russian Ambassador to Denmark said, No, we will not dramatize these maneuvers. Well just keep a very sharp eye. And people should just be aware that if it comes to war, it will be a general war, which nobody can want. Now Russia is obviously reacting to it. Theyre taking their own military measures. Theyre putting more troops into the various bases in the Northern Military District. They are making their own maneuvers against the intrusion of Aegis destroyer ships in the Black Sea, pilots training to take out these Aegis ships, which are part of the system. But this all shows you how extremely dangerous this is. And we are sitting on top of immediate war danger right now; and the people in the United States do not even know about it. Now unfortunately, this is not the only spot of potential war danger. The other one is related to China, because the confrontation against China is exactly of the same nature as that against Russia. One of which is the South China Sea. Now when you listen to the western media, you will hear about the alleged aggressive land grabbing of China in some of these islands in the China Sea, most of which are just rocks. But in reality, it is nothing of that sort. If you look at the map, the South China Sea islands are all in the relative vicinity of China, and since the 9th Century have been regarded as Chinese territory. China has expressed that by the so-called Nine Dash Line, showing what its claims are. And in the recent period the United States started to make the point that China is fortifying some of these islands, building landing strips, which China is doing. But so have all the other countries done, Vietnam, the Philippines, have all done the same thing. And Washington is clearly moving to create a similar provocation. Now the Philippine government, still under the old government, went to the Hague, to the International Arbitration Court, and said that these claims are not legitimate; and basically, its expected that the Hague Court, soon in September will come out with a ruling against China. People have to understand that there are laws and agreements; for example, there is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the so-called UNCLOS. And for the parties in the South China Sea, the DOC, which has been signed by all the countries from this region, which says that nobody would unilaterally seek arbitration, but that every territorial controversy would be negotiated on the bilateral level through negotiation and diplomacy. And therefore, China has taken the position that the effort to take this to an International Court, which is not recognized by China, is actually a violation of International Law. There have been deliberate violations of the 12-mile zone by U.S. warships or overflights of these islands by U.S. fighter jets; and it is very clear that at a certain moment, China may assert its right to put up an air defense system, an ADIZ system. And at that point we are probably looking at a showdown, at the potential that it gets out of control. Okay, now lets take a step back. What is this all about? Why are we staging military provocations at several spots in the world, at the Russian border in Eastern Europe, at the South China Sea, and around South and North Korea with the threat of the United States to station THAAD missiles, missiles which look very far into the territory of Russia and China, and are not just aimed against North Korea? Then naturally the whole situation in Southwest Asia, which is still a complete powder keg; despite the fact that the situation in Syria has been stabilized by President Putins intervention. Why are we at the verge of World War III? What is the cause? What is the issue? The Unipolar Illusion Well, it all comes back to when the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. As recent decisions make clear without question of doubt, there were promises given to Gorbachov, to Chancellor Kohl, to Genscher, and to others, that if Germany were allowed to unify, and be part of NATO, then NATO would absolutely not expand to the borders of Russia. Now recent archived materials have documented the truth of what was said by the former U.S. Ambassador Matlock and others, that these promises were given, and that was part of how the Cold War ended. But at the same time, Secretary of State Baker had already made moves to do exactly the opposite: namely to move NATO troops closer to the border, and to win over more members of the former Warsaw Pact to join NATO. And as Victoria Nuland has publicly stated, the State Department spent just in the case of Ukraine, $5 billion for regime change, for color revolution. And all of this was an attempt to encircle Russia, with the idea of finally causing regime change in Russia; and by the same logic also in China. Now the logic behind that is, that at the moment when the Soviet Union disintegrated, there was a unique chance to have a peace order for the 21st Century, because the enemy was gone; Communism had disintegrated. And why not establish a peace order, which would have created a basis for the ending of war; and for finally attending to those issues which are in the common interest of all of mankind? Now we of the LaRouche Movement and the Schiller Institute, we proposed exactly that. We proposed first, the Eurasian Land-Bridge, the New Silk Road, and we kept pushing the idea of uniting Europe and Asia through development corridors, as the basis for a peace order, and we always invited the United States to be part of that. Unfortunately, you had at that time the neo-cons in the United States. Already in 1997 the neo-cons had developed the idea of a Project for a New American Century, which was the idea that, okay, the Soviet Union is the enemy, and now is the time to have a unipolar world, and to go for regime change against anybody who doesnt submit to this order. The idea that the United States, together with Great Britainbased on the Special Relationship with the Britishwould have an empire; and would not allow any one nation or a group of nations to ever become economically, politically, or militarily as strong as the United States, to bypass the United States. And therefore regime change, color revolution, or military intervention as we have seen it in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, would be legitimate. Obviously this is an illusion, because the unipolar world has long ceased to exist. Asia is rising, bypassing the United States. They are already exporting more high-technology goods; they are already producing more high-technology scientists and engineers than the United States. Chinas economic growth rate even when it went down from 12% in the coastal areas, 10% generally, to only about 7%is still significant growth. India is even bigger; they have 8%. China and India together have 2.5 billion people. One of every three humans is Indian or Chinese. Since China launched the New Silk Road initiative, 70 countries have joined in this kind of economic cooperation; and its expected that by the end of year, it will be 100 nations, working in win-win cooperation with China, with Russia, and with India. And therefore, the idea of maintaining a unipolar world by military domination, by drawing people into military alliances for confrontation against Russia and China, is simply a no-win perspective. That was just very, very clear a the recent Shangri-La Security Summit in Singapore, where U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter tried to impose a NATO-like structure for Asia. It did not go over so well, because Japan is now moving more with Russia, and the Vietnamese invited the Chinese for military maneuvers. So it didnt go over so well, because many countries realize that they have the choice right now between either joining World War III on the side of the United States, or to keep going into a cooperation with the BRICS countries, with the Asia-centered Silk Road. Therefore, the idea that its possible to maintain a unipolar world simply will not succeed. Now however, how do we get out of this? How do we get the United States to recognize that its not in their best interest to do this? Because, eventually, if it comes to a global war, it will lead to the destruction of all of mankind. Given the present combination of governments from the Bush administration to Obama, I dont think that an appeal to pure reason is going to work. Therefore, I want to focus on the significance of the 28 pages. Most of you are aware of the subject. For those of you who are watching and listening, let me just very briefly summarize it, again. The 9/11 attacks occurred. Then there was a Congressional investigation of both Houses, the Congress and the Senate, headed by Sen. Bob Graham. They published an official report; and of this report, 28 pages were classified. President Obama, in his election campaign, had promised the families of the 3,000 victims of the attacks that he would publish those pages, because these people have the right to know why their relatives died. September 11 In the meantime, a whole movement has been created for the release of these 28 pages. Some Congressmen have read them; they were allowed to read them but not talk about them, because they were still classified. A lot of information has come out in various forms since, which makes very, very clear that what these 28 pages signify, is the role of Saudi Arabia in the financing of the September 11 attacks. The question then becomes, who in the United States was complicit in the cover-up? Everything points to the role of the FBI, among others. Recently, the Senate passed the so-called JASTA bill (Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act), allowing civil suits against Saudi Arabia to go ahead in this context. Why is this so important? Just take it a step back. What did September 11 do? It not only changed the Constitution in the United States. It eliminated many, many civil liberties. It allowed the limitless surveillance of not only American citizens, but citizens around the world, through the National Security Agency (NSA). In terms of foreign policy, it not only gave the go ahead for the war against Afghanistan; it was also the pretext for the war against Saddam Hussein. Remember the famous so-called weapons of mass destruction, which never existed. The war against Qaddafi, the attempt to topple Assad, the total destruction of the Middle East and Northern Africa. And naturally, that has to be stated very clearly: Europe right now is completely destabilized, to the point of the detonation of the European Union, through an unprecedented refugee crisis. Or, rather, the last time there was something like that was at the end of World War II, when millions of people marched across Europe and Asia as a consequence of the Second World War. Now you have millions on the march, from the Middle East, from Northern Africa, trying to get into Europe; and Europe is falling apart as a consequence. And nobody dares to talk about the so-called root causes of this refugee crisis. But the root causes are wars based on lies, based on the lies of September 11. So therefore, if this document were publishedand now the demand is not only to publish that, but also the 80,000 pages withheld by the FBI which were never given to the September 11 Commissionthen, naturally, the whole policy would have to be reviewed and rejected. The role of Saudi Arabia in financing ISIS and al-Nusra, the continuous supply of ISIS by Turkey; all of this would come out. And maybe it would cause a big upheaval; but that upheaval is absolutely necessary to stop this present drive into World War III. I appeal to you that one of the very clear leverages you American citizens have to intervene, is the publication of these 28 pages, which by no means are just a single issuethe question of who did September 11. But given the fact that already in the German media, there was a prime-time TV program called Monitor on June 1 said that when the 28 pages come out, the entire history of 9/11 will have to be rewritten, getting to one of the keys to the strategic situation, one second before 12:00 midnight, I hope. Let me introduce the third subject I want to talk about. The solution to all of this would be a piece of cake. It is already there! A New Silk Road has been launched. We called it in 1989, first, the Productive Triangle; in 1991 we called it the Eurasian Land-Bridge. The New Silk Road was the idea that when the Iron Curtain had fallen, we would integrate the populations of the industrial centers of Europe with those of Asia, through development corridors. This New Silk Road program would have changed the world in the direction of a peace order, already in 1991; but, unfortunately, you had Bush, Sr., you had Margaret Thatcher, you had Francois Mitterrand, who all had completely different ideas. They wanted to reduce Russia from a superpower to a Third World, raw-materials-producing country, and they imposed the shock therapy of the Yeltsin period. They dismantled the Russian potential, and said they had no intention of allowing Germany to have any kind of economic relation with Russia. So it did not happen. You had the 1990s, the time of genocide against Russia. You had all of the consequences of the Bush period. You had the eight years of Clinton, which were a certain interruption; but then with Bush, Jr. and Obama, you went back to the old project of an American Century doctrine and the idea of a unilateral world. Chinas Offer Fortunately, in 2013, President Xi Jinping announced the New Silk Road to be the strategic objective of China. In the almost three years which have passed since, this idea of ending geopolitics, of establishing win-win cooperation among all nations on the planet in the tradition of the ancient Silk Road, is progressing extremely quickly. Remember, the ancient Silk Road was a fantastic cooperation in terms of exchange of culture, goods, paper, technology, porcelain, silk, silk-producing, and many other cultural manifestations. It led to a tremendous benefit for all the countries which participated, from Asia to Europe. Xinhua/Rao Aimin The New Silk Road, obviously, is doing exactly that. The amount of projects which have been concluded between China and ASEAN countries, China and Latin American countries, China and Europe, China and African countries, China and East European countries, and now, in a very clear fashion, the economic integration between the Eurasian Economic Union, headed by Russia, and the New Silk Road, is progressing very well. An alliance has been formed between Russia and China, with India being the third factor in the situation. Many, many other countries have been joining. Contrary to what you read and hear in the mass media, China is not doing badly. They are shifting their economic orientation from an export orientation, because the export markets in the trans-Atlantic sector are shrinking. They are now going more into infrastructure investment in many countries of the world, and to developing the inner region of China. To raise the consumer to a higher standard in their own population, since they have lifted 600 million people out of poverty, into a decent living standard in China. This is indeed the absolutely correct policy, to say we will uplift the remaining people who are still poor, and also allow them to participate in the Chinese economic miracle. Xi Jinping has offered to President Obama that the United States join. The United States should also rebuild Southwest Asia, which I think is the moral obligation of the United States, given the fact that they were the key reason why these countries are now in such disarray. It should also participate in the building of Africa, which I think the West has an absolute moral obligation to do: Because the reason why you have millions of people as refugees, not only risking their lives drowning in the Mediterranean, but also dying in the Sahara, which has even more victims than even the Mediterranean, is because 50 years of IMF policy has denied economic development to Africa! And the reason that people are taking the risk of a 50% chance that they will die, to cross the Mediterranean, is because they are running from war, from hunger, from epidemics, and this is the result of Western policy denying this continent economic development! So we have a moral obligation to join hands to develop southwest Asia, to develop Africa. Now, the United States also needs a Silk Road. If you look at the figures of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the productivity, which has collapsed for seven years in a row, all the indices are going down. The United States population is in a terrible condition, or at least in the poorer parts, while the rich become richer and Wall Street is having a heyday with cocaine parties and plotting destruction for the rest of the world. But the United States needs an infrastructure project: the roads are bad, the traffic is ridiculous. People spend hours and hours every day in commuting, taking the risk of disappearing with their cars into a pothole. They have no rail system: China has built a 20,000 km fast train system through the end of last year; they plan to have 50,000 km by the year 2020, uniting every major city in China through a fast train system. And these are fantastictheyre smooth, theyre fast, theyre quiet. How many kilometers of fast train systems has the United States built? Zero! So, for the United States to build its own Silk Road, to connect with the global development perspective, is a question of the best action for self-interest. And we have to get the United States off this confrontation course, and simply say, we have to shift from this policy and all the trillion-dollar investment in modernization of nuclear arsenals and the largest military budget in the world, trying to maintain an empire which is collapsing anyway. Rather shift; get rid of Wall Street; impose Glass-Steagall; get back to a policy of Alexander Hamilton, a credit policy; invest in infrastructure and go in the direction of a win-win cooperation with the other nations of the world: With Russia, China, European nations, with India; build up Latin America, build up Africa and Southwest Asia. What Is More Important? So this is really the choice before the United States. And I know it is very difficult for you to grasp how this should be done, but, you know, think about Kennedy; think about the kind of optimistic country the United States used to be. Think about the idea that America was built to be a beacon of hope and a temple of liberty, where people from the whole world would go and try to be free. The U.S. sings in the National Anthem, the land of the free is the United States the land of the free today? I dont think anybody who is in their right mind would say that today. So, go back to the values of the American Republic, as it was founded by people like Benjamin Franklin, or George Washington; go back to the policies of Alexander Hamilton, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kennedy, Martin Luther King. And I think if the United States could mobilize itself to bring back that nation, the whole would world would love to be friends of the United States again. Right now, I can tell you, the rest of the world has almost given up on the United States, and then they look at the election process, the choice between a very, very irrational Trump and unfortunately a very, very predictable Hillary Clinton, given her statements about confrontation against Russia and China, I think you have to really mobilize now. And I think the 28 pages, Glass-Steagall, these are flanks which can derail the situation long before this election takes place. So we have to have a completely new world. In a certain sense, remember, mankind is not a beast, and mankind is not bound to do what seems to be inevitable, but mankind is the only species capable of reason, capable of free will, of defining and designing a beautiful future, and going to implement that which the last time with Kennedy, was the Apollo Project, and I think we can absolutely do it again! I think you have a great possibility in front of you, and I would encourage you: Be American. Be true Americans again, and the whole world will be most happy and embrace you. [applause] Question: Helga, my name is K from Silicon Valley, and the question I have is how do we deal with the fear that I feel exists in our culture, about really having the courage to speak out about the kinds of things youre discussing? I think really down deep, I think all of us truly want peace in the world; and yet we feel that those of us who speak out, against, if you will, the club you mentioned earlier, we seem to get chastised and labeled as radicals. I happen to tend to be on the right side of the political world, and when I attend LaRouche events, Im chastised by some of my colleagues who say, What in the hell are you doing? And how do we deal with that? Zepp-LaRouche: I think its the question of, can you look into the mirror in the morningyou know, what is more important? Is it more important to be accepted by your stupid neighbors, and your colleagues when theyre thinking stupidly? Or is it more important that you are truthful, that you uphold principles which are the important principles of the Universe and of mankind? I think its very important that you make a distinction: Do you want to be a shallow-minded opportunist, going with public opinion just to be in the flow? Or do you want to be a truthful person? And I think the only people who are worth anything, are those people who are searching for the truth, no matter if its science, culture, or political truth. And I always tell people, if you think through where we are at, its okay to have fear. Fear is actually a good thing. If children didnt have fear, and some children have to be taught what are the dangers, because they would jump out of a window, they would put their hand into the oven, they would take matches and burn down the house; because they dont yet have the sense of real danger. So fear, per se, is not a bad thing. Fear is actually something which is part of the survival instinct. Without fear you cannot survive. But, fear has to be located in the right thing, and not an irrational fear. Fear of the stupid opinion of your neighbor is really nothing compared to the fear of the possibility of the annihilation of mankind in a nuclear war. Or, for that matter, in a financial system breaking down in chaos, because we are equally close to a collapse of the trans-Atlantic financial system, which if it happened, would lead to chaos, and out of the chaos would come, for sure, also war. So if you think about what could happen with these maneuvers, with this confrontation policy toward Russia and China, you could have a situation where nuclear war happens: And what would that mean? Have you ever thought about what that would mean? It would mean that everything you did, your family, your ancestors, all the great minds of the past, of Abraham Lincoln, of Beethoven, of Einstein, all of this would have been for nothing! Because there would be absolutely nobody to even remember that they existed. There would be no museum to keep the record, it would all vanish. Now, for me, that is a real fear, because I think that mankind has produced so many beautiful things, like the great Classical compositions, or the great dramas, all the many beautiful cultures which have developed around the world; I think that that is the fear you should have, really. And in a certain sense, you must become free, your inner self has to become free. And Friedrich Schiller developed this conception in two very beautiful writings of his, which are called, On the Sublime. And there, he describes this and says, when man is only a physical beast, a physical creature, then fear can take over very easily, because even a bear is stronger, a tiger can eat a man, and therefore, as long as you are only a physical person, fear dominates you. But man is not just that: Man has the ability to connect his or her identity to universal principles which are more immortal than your physical existence, and of a higher value than you as a person. Now, Schiller says, if you do that, and you locate your identity in the universal history of all of mankind, or other great principles, then you may not be physically safe because a lion can still eat you for breakfast, but your inner person is free. You are morally free. And then you are not afraid of things which you should not be afraid of. And I think the whole struggle of all us, is to continuously work on this idea of inner freedom, because if you dont think, if you can be intimidated, then you are nothing but a slave. And I think that that is a condition which we should all absolutely abhor, and reject as not being in cohesion with human dignity. So be courageous and develop your inner freedom, and then you will be funny and laugh at your stupid neighbors, and be ironic, make polemics, and then, very, very soon, they will realize you are the wise man, and they are the children who have to learn from you. This article appears in the June 17, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. NATOS GAMBLE WITH WORLD WAR III Peace Is Possible Only with Russia and China! [PDF version of this article] June 11Nomen est omenthe name is an omencan be said of the NATO Anakonda 16 maneuvers currently taking place in Poland with 31,000 soldiers involved. For while the exercise is supposed to defend against the supposed invasion of Poland and the Baltic States by an adversary (Russia, naturally), the name of the exercisea snake that strangles its mealsbetrays the actual intention of NATO, which has now advanced along the entire Eastern European border of Russia. Three other simultaneous maneuvers are being held in the Baltic states and Poland, so that 50-60,000 soldiers in all, are operating right on the border of Russia. The last time this happened, it was the invasion of Hitlers Reichswehr in 1941and that is exactly how the Russian population experiences it. The difference is that what is at stake this time is World War III and the use of thermonuclear weapons, and thus the end of mankind. In parallel with Anakonda 16, three other maneuvers are underwayBaltops 16 in and around the Baltic Sea, Saber Strike 16 in the three Baltic republics, and Swift Response 16 in Poland and Germany. There are no published figures on the exact size of these forces, but it can be estimated that between 50,000 and 60,000 soldiers are taking part in the four maneuvers combined. At the same time, the USS Porterone of the four Aegis Class destroyers stationed in Rota, Spain, and a part of the U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) systemarrived in the Black Sea en route to the Bulgarian port of Varna. Simultaneously, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower entered the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, and the USS Harry Truman moved from the Persian Gulf through the Suez Canal to the U.S. European Command in the Mediterranean, in a clear demonstration of capacities, as Rear Admiral Bret Batchelder put it. Russia is reacting to these demonstrations by adding personnel to the military bases in its northern military district, holding exercises in Crimea and in the Rostov region and, according to Izvestia, conducting exercises in which Russian pilots practice neutralizing the American BMD installations along the Russian border. What is the real purpose of this BMD system? As Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov recently emphasized at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore, Russia fears that the purpose of the U.S. BMD system being installed along the Russian border is to conduct a surprise strike on the Russian nuclear arsenal and incapacitate the defensive second strike. The pretext, transparent from the beginning, that this system is necessary to protect Europe from missile strikes from Iran, was vitiated no later than the P5+1 Agreement with Iran; and military experts agree that this system can be converted in an extremely short time from a defensive to an offensive missile system, simply by changing the software, without the host countries like Romania or Poland even noticing. It has now dawned on some observers that this combinationthe encirclement of Russia, maneuvers expressing an aggressive intention even in their name, and the expected countermeasures by Russiahas created a situation in which the critical moment of decision could be only minutes away. Der Spiegel worries that these maneuvers, based on a scenario of an actual war, are going too far. Die Zeit calls the installation of the BMD systems in Romania and Poland probably the greatest error NATO has ever committed, possibly leading to Russia canceling the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. One high-ranking military figure commented that these provocations against Putin are extremely foolish, because they can only lead to escalation. This situation very much recalls that prior to World War I, he said. If one side is confronted with the threat of losing face, that marks the start of war. Of even greater concern is President Obamas refusal to even acknowledge, let alone discuss, Russias security concerns over the U.S. BMD system, although President Putin has repeatedly requested such opportunitiesmost recently on May 27 of this year. Moscow has of course not failed to notice that NATO doctrine has long since departed from the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) and has abandoned its premise, that using nuclear weapons is out of the question because it would lead to mutual and complete destruction. It has been replaced with the utopian doctrine that a limited nuclear attack is winnable because, thanks to modern technologies, the second-strike capacity of any adversary can be knocked out by means of a surprise attack. This idea was put forward in 2006 in Foreign Affairs, the journal of the Council on Foreign Relations. Today it is the basis for various U.S. and NATO doctrinesthat of Prompt Global Strike, of the U.S. BMD system, and of the Air-Sea Battle doctrine for Asia. That Obama refuses even to discuss the Russian issues and arguments, raised again by Anatoly Antonov, can only be interpreted in one way, in the eyes of many observers. That conclusion is supported by the bellicose tone adopted by the new guard of American military commanders. Thus Lt. General Ben Hodges, Commander of U.S. Forces Europe, stressed that NATOs position in the Baltic states has shifted from assurance to deterrence. Deterrence requires the actual presence of military capacities that render the adversary incapable of attaining his objectives; it does not involve a tripwire, which only triggers the intervention of the full strategic arsenal. We need Russia in the international community, said Hodges, but it only respects strength. Russia has repeatedly stressed that it does not have the slightest intention of invading the Baltic states or Polandyet this scenario is the basis for the entire hysteria. Early this year the RAND Corporation published a study purporting to show that the Baltic states, due to a lack of strategic depth, could not be defended against a Russian intervention, and could be overrun by Russian troops within 60 hours. The study thereby implicitly acknowledged that all the battalions and heavy equipment being transferred there will still perform only the function of a tripwire. Precisely thisaccording to Michael Carpenter, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committeemakes it necessary to quadruple the Pentagons spending for Europe in 2017. Europe as Cannon Fodder? It is literally one minute to midnight. Survival demands that we wake up, before we in Europe are sacrificed as cannon fodder in a supposedly limited nuclear war to the geopolitical interests of the Anglo-American empire, an empire whose claim to rule over a unipolar world can no longer be sustained. If, at the NATO summit in Warsaw in early July, there is a further buildup of the U.S. BMD systemplanned, among other things, is the linking of the system in Romania with the missile-capable Aegis destroyersthen the point of no return could be reached very soon. At the most recent conference of the Schiller Institute, the Russian Consul-General in San Francisco answered a question on this subject from former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel, and made the point. I share the understanding that we are very close to a major conflict. And I add that there is no possibility of a limited nuclear war. If that starts, it will be end of the world. Schiller Institute It is high time to leave NATO and replace it with an inclusive security architecture that allows all of us to survive. Federal Chancellor Merkels walking on eggsstriving for an EU-Russia common economic space in the long run, but approving the extension of the EU sanctions against Russia for another six monthsis immensely dangerous. The Christian Democratic Union politician should know what the Bible had to say, in Revelation 3:15, about being lukewarm. This article appears in the June 17, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. KESHA ROGERS IN SAN FRANCISCO A Whole Different Conception of Mankind [PDF version of this article] This is an edited transcript of Kesha Rogers presentation to the Schiller Institutes June 8 Strategic Seminar in San Francisco, Will the United States Join the New Silk Road? Kesha Rogers, the LaRouche PAC Policy Committee leader based in Houston, Texas, was twice elected the Democratic Party nominee for the Congressional District that includes the Houston Space Center. She is leading the campaign for the revival of the U.S. Space Program shut down by Barack Obama. Im here and were going to talk! It was a blessing when Mr. LaRouche asked me to lead the campaign to revive the Space Program, because the Space Program is at the heart of our nations potential contribution to the world, once we choose to return to space, as we must. I agree with what Helga Zepp-LaRouche said at the beginning of her presentation: There is currently no discussion of the war policy which threatens the extinction of mankind. It must be addressed now. I also agree with Senator Gravel, who said earlier that Obamas military provocations and his drive towards war threaten our very existence. That also gets to the question of where the policy of shutting down NASA has come from. I ran for Congress against Obamas destruction of our Space Program. But why is it that now, none of the presidential candidates, even Sen. Bernie Sanders, has the policy that we as a nation must resume mankinds mission in space? We must reject the compromises which have been made with this President and his policy of dismantling the Space Program; we must recognize that that policy is a threat to human existence itself. The fact of the matter is, that not only do these Presidential candidates not have a space policy, but that they have continued to capitulate to President Obamas policy of war, and to capitulate to President Obamas policy of not collaborating with nations which represent the interest of who we are as a human species, particularly in space exploration. Krafft Ehricke Mr. LaRouche has long understood this: What we need right now is a transformation of our identity as a human species, and the best way to achieve that is through the understanding of mankinds role in the exploration and conquest of space. Now, what the Space Program represents is not just the technological aspect, not just the development of new technologies, but it gets at the very philosophy that governs the fabric of our human existence. It is important to make that point clear. I know that there are a people here today who have very technical backgrounds, and who are probably more competent in various scientific aspects of the Space Program than I am. But what I would like to offer in this dialogue and discussion, is what has been lost in the shutdown of the Space Program from the standpoint of what the great German space pioneer, Krafft Ehricke, contributed. EIRNS/Stuart Lewis Why is it that Krafft Ehricke was a great collaborator of ours, and someone who became very close to Mr. LaRouche and Mr. LaRouches thinking, and to our movements thinking concerning the policy that governs the understanding of space exploration? Indeed, it governs not just space exploration, but the destiny of who we are as a species, as mankind. We have accepted a system of limitations imposed on mankind; in reality, there are no limitations to be imposed on mankind. Krafft Ehricke was a German scientist who came to the United States and worked as part of Operation Paperclip, with scientists such as Wernher von Braun and others who had worked on the V-2 rocket in Germany. Now, what is fascinating about Ehricke, is that he did not believe in or accept the conditions of being practical or of doing that which is acceptable, per se. He had a different concept, a different philosophy to understand and govern the relationships among nations, peoples, and the cosmos and the Solar system as a whole. He put forward the conception of nations moving from their understanding of the limitations of a single planet, a one-globe planet, to a polyglobal world. Now if we are going to defend ourselves as nations, as human beings, we have to look at what Russia, China, and other nations are doing to initiate what Krafft Ehricke understood as the emergence of a poly-global world, as our destiny in a world that expands out into the outer reaches of our Solar System, and that actually rejects the limitations imposed on mankind. Ehricke understood, first of all, what would lead to a society which accepts dictatorship, a society which accepts chauvinistic policies in the political realm, or a society that accepts the dismantling of nations, or nations being divided. He saw that there were two opposing views of society. One he called an open-world conception of mankind, which rejects limitations imposed on mankind, while the other view was what he called a closed-world conception. Ill discuss these in just a moment. He understood this also because he lived through those conditions in World War II Germany, and also understood why some accepted the policies of fascism under Hitler. Krafft Ehrickes identity was really formed when, as a child, at the age of twelve, he was introduced to the work of the great German space pioneer and scientist Hermann Oberth. He also saw Fritz Langs movie The Woman in the Moon, and this completely transformed his life. He studied aeronautical engineering at Technological University of Berlin in 1938. He was drafted and sent to France. There he was run over by a tank, and had his leg broken in several places. Back in Berlin to recover, he continued his studies in engineering, and continued to promote, even through the horrors of Nazism and war, the importance of the exploration of space, where mankind would soon go. After recovering, he was sent to Russia, in a tank unit. But what happened was that in 1942, because of the papers he was publishing on rocket design and some of his other works, he was called to work with von Braun and others at the Peenemunde V-2 rocket facility. Later, Krafft Ehricke learned that his entire unit had been wiped out in Russia. Much of what we accomplished in space, and much of what we will accomplish in the future, would probably not have happened if he had stayed in Russia to be killed with the rest of his unit. I find him very remarkable because, despite all this, when the first team of scientists was sent to the United States, to Fort Bliss, Texas, he declined to go. This was right after the war. He declined because he had a wife in Berlin. He was in Bavaria at the time. He walked for 30 days because, remember, all the infrastructure had been wiped out, 30 days to the capital, Berlin, to find his wife. After that, they left for the U.S. A Fight Worth Fighting That history is relevant, because the determination of a human mind, the determination of a single individual to make such contributions, points to our creative potential as human beings to overcome any obstacles and to fight for that which is truly human; and thats what Krafft Ehricke represents. Thats what our organization, and what Mr. LaRouche has continued to fight for. What Ehricke made clear, was his understanding of the importance of his conception of space exploration, which has to be the model for why we fight on for the development of space: It is not simply for the sake of the technological advances, although they are useful; but he had a different idea. Here is an example. Ehricke wrote: The concept of space travel carries with it enormous impact, because it challenges man on practically all fronts of his physical and spiritual existence. The idea of travelling to other celestial bodies reflects to the very highest degree the independence and agility of the human mind. It lends ultimate dignity to mans technical and scientific endeavors. Above all, it touches on the philosophy of his very existence. As a result, the concept of space travel disregards national borders, refuses to recognize differences of historical or ethnological origins, and penetrates the fiber of one sociological or political creed as fast as that of the next. I think that what we are seeing right now points towards the emergence of a new conception of mankind, a new era, a new paradigm for mankind represented by what Russia and China are doing, which half of humanity is now moving toward. It is the only choice, the only option that we have right now for a renewed conception of who we are as a species. None of this political stuff is going to suffice. No other lower conception will suffice. Todays trans-Atlantic system lurching towards war under British Empire puppet Obama, stands for a no-growth policy, and for crippling limitations imposed on mankind. Contrast that with the open-world system which Krafft Ehricke defines as the removal of limitations. With that we can actually take the economic expansion that we are seeing right now centered in Eurasia, and not only spread that for expansion throughout the world, but throughout our Solar System as well. So, lets take a look at this for a second, because the philosophy of a closed world system has been a dominant one, but now that dominant philosophy is under attack and is being removed. (Figure 1) FIGURE 1 View full size This is the debate that is well worth having right now in any sort of political setting, whether Democratic, Republican, or whatever. This is the question of the human debate over who we are, and what our mission and destiny as a human species is. It is this which connects all of us, whatever our backgrounds, to a better understanding of what our contributions to the future of mankind must be. We must ask what are going to be the contributions we make to those future generations, those children not yet born; we must ask and study and find the answers. This mission must replace the present trans-Atlantic system headed for the annihilation of all humanity through thermonuclear war. Ive had my handy associate, my husband, put together these charts for me: These are charts which are enhanced from Ehrickes work, from a schematic that he made in the 1970s, on the principle of a growth versus no-growth world, open-world versus closed-world system. If you think about the growth paradigm: It rejects the view of society based on limits to growth imposed on mankind, and actually rejects the entropic worldview. You can also see that its moving upwards in terms of developments around advances in technology and advances in global society, looking towards what we would call a maximum open-world system. Its fascinating, because Ehricke was really forecasting what was to come, in terms of the acceptance of a society of bestiality, of chauvinistic views, of geopolitical policies, and all the rest of what he understood were the poisonous consequences of the Club of Romes no-growth policy. This is not the nature of who we are as a human species. FIGURE 2 View full size And also, he forecast (Figure 2) what we see as the move into a polyglobal world, which is being led by Russia and China. What you see here are the consequences of a growth paradigm. This growth paradigm today is the emergence of the 40-year fight of Mr. and Mrs. LaRouche around the Silk Road development plan, and the policy for space exploration. The travel to the far side of the Moon will become a new, total transformation of mankind in the coming two years, when China reaches that goal, never accomplished before. Opportunities Before Us I wont go through all of these projects. The two red dots are Russias and Chinas new space launch centers; the long purple line there that goes from China to Duisburg, Germany, is the rail connection and corridors of development there; you have also the development around the South-North Water Projects of China in the blue there; and also the development of the Chabahar Port in Iran, involving India and Afghanistan. This, then, is the growth paradigm that rejects the limitations that have been imposed on mankind. Now on the other side, Ehricke knew what would happen if we didnt move in that direction. (Figure 3) These are the consequences of a no-growth system, of a no-growth paradigm which insists that there are limited resources, which accepts the winding-down of our system, and the idea that there are limitations that can be imposed on the progress of mankind. FIGURE 3 View full size He made this very clear. If you look at this, you see that this is exactly where we are today in the trans-Atlantic system, under the policies promoted by the British and promoted by President Obama. If you accept this no-growth paradigm, the results will be extreme poverty, mass starvation, and wars. This is what we see in the NATO escalation and provocations toward war on the Baltic Sea, and what we are seeing in the South China Sea. Ehricke was right on the mark in his understanding of what happens to a society that allows for the elimination of our creative identity as a species, and accepts geopolitical and other policies that say that human beings are nothing more than beasts. FIGURE 4 View full size This closed-world system, at this very moment, is being rejected by Russia and China and their allies. (Figure 4) Think of the development plans being furthered by Russia and China, India, and throughout the world, including the water development projects, the projects for high-speed rail systems, and the expansion into space exploration. Think why it is that that represents a threat to the no-growth policies that were seeing here. Think in this connection of the hotspots of provocations of war. And these are just a fewbut you get the picture: If you took that other growth map, and what were seeing in these development plans, and put this on top of it, you know why that represents a threat to the empires drive toward a war of extinction and annihilation, and why this has to be stopped now. How Will We Do It? I think we have a great potential and opportunity before us. I want to look very directly and clinically at why Mrs. LaRouche said that the absence of the discussion of the threat imposed on mankind cannot be accepted, because until we discuss this threat, we will not be able to solve the problem. We must activate our human ability to transcend this threat to mankinds very existence. And we have the potential to do that. We have the potential to actually take mankind to a new level of cooperation that has long been forgotten. Thats what we are seeing right now, and it requires the renewed creativity of who we are as human beings, of who we are in terms of our understanding of what we have to bring about for the future. If you look at what it is that we have to create, it means that we have to look into the future right now, and most people dont have that conception any longer, because theyve lost a sense of our creative identity. Were thinking about the now, how do I survive? What am I going to survive on? How am I going to make my next paycheck? But Ehricke had a different idea about mankind: that the threat of starvation, and all of what were facing right now, all of what people think are unsolvable problems on Earth, are absolutely solvable, if we come together around an understanding of our extraterrestrial imperative as a species. Then we can solve these problems by rejecting the limitations that have been imposed on us, as we go out into our destiny in space. FIGURE 5 View full size Courtesy of Krafft Ehricke This is an artists painting from a drawing by Ehricke of a Moon colony. (Figure 5) Its interesting that recently theres been a lot of discussion related to this. At a recent conference, the head of the European Space Agency made the point of the importance of mankind going out into space, and said that we have to develop villages on the Moon and that our destiny is the colonization of Mars. This is also something that is being discussed right now by the Chinese, who want to send astronauts to the Moon by 2036. It is something that China and Russia are working on in collaboration, and other nations around the world are pursuing. You ask, How are we going to do that? Well, were going to do that because were going to vastly increase what we can do to solve the problems here on Earth, by understanding the resources that exist within our Solar System, such as the development of helium-3 on the Moon, which is a very important resource to develop for fusion power. (Figure 6) This is a lunar freighter that would allow for bringing different resources to the Moon. A flotilla of vehicles will go to the Moon, to develop the Moon, and develop the resources on the Moon that will allow us to expand on to Mars and other planetary bodies. FIGURE 6 Courtesy of Krafft Ehricke Now Ehricke was a pioneer of new chemical fuels for rockets; most important was the liquid hydrogen fuel of the Centaur rocket which was critical to the U.S. Space Program. But he had realized as early as the 1940s, that our exploration into space was going to have to be done through developing nuclear power resources. So, he had a creative imagination that took the mind of man out of the swamp which says that we cannot solve these problems, and that we must impose limitations on ourselves; because he made very clear that the philosophy of man rejects this conception, the philosophy of our human species rejects this conception. What eliminates the conflicts which pit nation against nation and family against family, is mankinds collaboration around the development of space exploration. You just think about it: There on the Moon theres not going to be a territory for Russia, a territory for China, a territory for India, and so forth. There are not going to be nuclear weapons on the Moon. Theres going to be a whole different conception of mankind. And thats something that people cant even imagine now, because weve become so accepting of this closed-world system, of this one-world system, that we have lost sight of the fact that our human species has a destiny! And that destiny can only be understood through the spark within us that is the reason we fight for a Space Program, that spark which is the reason that we now have the opportunity to put an end, once and for all, to the geopolitical view of the world, which has brought us almost to the annihilation of mankind. (Figure 7) FIGURE 7 View full size I hope I have given you something to think about. We have the opportunity to overcome these challenges, if we choose to do the right thing, which is located in our conception of what is going to unify us as a species, whats going to develop and expand our human species to a level that has never been known before. I think Russia and China, and the nations joining them, are ready to do that, and have made a commitment to do that. The question is whether the American people, whether you are ready to do that. PRESS RELEASE U.S. Is the Enabler of Wahhabi Jihadi Terror June 15, 2016 (EIRNS)Christina Lin, a scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), has penned an article in Asia Times, warning that the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi terrorism is coming to Southeast Asiaand the United States has been the essential enabler of this spread by boosting the Saudis with arms sales and other protection. Lin described the Saudi religious-industrial complex as the source of the spreading Wahhabi disease, which is the swamp from which jihadist terrorists are recruited. She cited Southeast Asian diplomats and scholars who are now warning that the Saudi poison has spread throughout the region, particularly into Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Hillary Clinton was a critical Obama Administration enabler, by pushing through a $19.4 billion arms sale to the Saudis when she was Secretary of State. Even as the Europeans are considering cutting off arms sales to the Saudis, in light of the Yemen genocide, Washington continues to enable the Saudis to carry out their evil. After concluding with a demand for the U.S. to cut off arms sales to the Saudis, she adds that Moreover, Washingtons political establishment needs to come clean and declassify the 28 pages of the 9/11 Report. PRESS RELEASE Barak: Time to Come Soon to Topple Netanyahu; Exposes Hidden Agenda of One-State from Jordan River to the Sea June 17, 2016 (EIRNS)Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister, and ex-Defense Minister/crony of fascist Benjamin Netanyahu, came out with a blistering attack on Netanyahu yesterday at the annual Herziliya Conference on security and policy. "I call on the government to pull itself together and get back on track," he said, according to Haaretz. "If it does not do soit will be upon all of us, yes, a-l-l-l-l of usto get up from our seats, both cozy and less cozy, and topple it, through mass protest and through the ballot box, before it will be too late." Barak has been a snake, betraying the policies of the late Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, and serving as Netanyahus lackey for years. But yesterdays speech reflects the growing concern by the Israeli military-security institutions that Netanyahu is creating a fascist state. Barak endorsed the work of "Commanders for Israeli Security," (CIS), which calls for an independent Palestinian state, reported the US-based Israel Policy Forum. Barak systematically laid out the hidden agenda of Netanyahu to create a state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, which he warned will either be an "Apartheid State", or "bi-national state" in which the Jews will become a minority within a couple of generations, while likely suffering continuous civil war, reported Sputnik. "Only a blind person or someone playing dumb, a fool or someone inured wont see the process of democracy eroding and the seeds of fascism that have become attached to this government. If it looks like seeds of fascism, walks like seeds of fascism and barks like seeds of fascism, then it is seeds of fascism. Thats the situation," said Barak, Haaretz quoted (emphasis added). More is expected to come from the patriotic military and security professionals who see Netanyahu and the rightwingers and religious fanatics he has been allying with for the last half-decade, as a threat to Israel itself. On June 8, reported Sputnik, former Mossad chief (1998-2002) Ephraim Halevy called Netanyahu a fearmonger and said that the appointment of Lieberman as Defense Minister signaled the "beginning of the countdown to the end of the administration of Mr. Netanyahu." The Commanders for Israels Security is a network of over 200 retired IDF generals and their equivalents from the Mossad, Shin-Bet and police forces, says the Israel Policy Forum. PRESS RELEASE St. Petersburg: Will Italy Be Pace-Setter to Shift EU-Russia Relations? June 17, 2016 (EIRNS)This is the question raised by Italian media today, within a few hours of Prime Minister Matteo Renzis speech in St. Petersburg and his meeting with President Putin. La Repubblica remarks that in contrast to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who went to St. Petersburg and then shamelessly accused Moscow of not living up to the Minsk agreements, "everybody knows that the Minsk agreement should be also respected by Kiev, which so far has ignored them. Putin is asking that similar pressures be put on the Ukrainian government. Italy seems to agree on this. Other European countries are starting, more timidly, to think the same. And Putin smiles more now." CNBC interviewed former Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin, who complained about Junckers speech, "There is no glimpse of a positive addition, any positive direction of how we can overcome [differences]," he said. "That is not correct communication at all.." Conversely, the organizer of the "Italia in Russia" pavilion at the SPIEF, Antonio Fallico, said in an interview that "Italy has not isolated Russia despite the difficult period and international tensions. Italy ... has understood the opportunities offered by the import substitution policies decided by Moscow. The Made with Italy must be seen as the new pillar to strengthen bilateral relations," even if this involves a "different view of economic collaboration, which seems to have been already understood." During the press conference with Putin, Renzi had critical remarks on extending sanctions, saying that this is not a routine issue, and therefore it deserves a discussion among the Europeans. "We do not need a new Cold War," Renzi said, adding that Italy disagrees with the U.S. government on Russia policy. Italian and Russian representatives signed two memorandums of understanding, five agreements and two letters of intent. The two MOUs were signed by Salini Impregilo (the firm that enlarged the Panama Canal) and Rosavtodor for road infrastructure, and between Pizzarotti and North Caucasus Development Corp., to build a medical complex. The five agreements concern Mikro Kapital (General Invest) and Gorod Deneg, for a guarantee fund to ensure credit for start-ups; Tesmec-Rosseti to supply technology for management of electricity lines and for a center to develop and test electric technologies; Prysmian-Rosseti to develop the market of energy transmission in the cables and system segment, and Zamperla-Stavropol region for an amusement park. The two letters of intent have to do with Codest, Tenova e Silarus (Titan Group) to create a silicon complex for production of high-quality metallized metal in the Sverdlovsk region; and Codest, Maire Tecnimont e Azot to build a complex for fertilizer production in the Kemerovo region in Western Siberia. PRESS RELEASE Putin Presents Vision for Peace and Development at SPIEF June 17, 2016 (EIRNS)President Vladimir Putin addressed the Plenary Session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) with a powerful political and economic vision for the future of Eurasia, and by implication for the world, countering it to Obamas belligerent war preparations. He posed that the geopolitical tensions were in fact driven by the economic crisis. He made a strong appeal for the EU nations to end the destructive sanctions regime, identifying the fact that they were the result of Obamas manipulation. He pointed to the German and French business leaders who have opened up to the restoration of relations with Russia, and called on political leaders to meet them halfway, to reestablish trust between the EU and Russia. Putin said the world, and Russia, need a strong US, but not one which interferes and hinders Europe in building ties. On the TTIP, he said Europe would be severely restricted if tied down to a single regional association. He repeated several times that his vision of a "greater Eurasia," together especially with China, was open to all - and emphatically to the EU nations. He reviewed in detail his plans for rebuilding the Russian economy, based on manufacturing, application of technologies to industry, 3 million new jobs in S&M sized industries by 2020, and even more focus on sci/tech in education. This is what Obama calls his successful "international isolation" of Russia. PRESS RELEASE Two Day Manhattan Project Weekend Event June 18, 2016 (EIRNS)On Saturday, June 25, Executive Intelligence Review will hold conferences entitled, "Declare Independence from the British EmpireJoin Russia, China and India in Global Economic Development." This conference will occur in tandem with the Germany Schiller Institute, and will feature discussions by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche, as well as other speakers, at the Beacon Hotel, 2130 Broadway (at 75th Street), Beacon Room. Pre-registration is required to attend this event. Click here to pre-register or call 201-562-9890 On Sunday, June 26, there will be a Schiller Institute Musical Tribute Dedicated to Sylvia Olden Lee. Presented by The Schiller Institute NYC Chorus and the Foundation for the Revival of Classical Culture at the Good Shepherd-Faith Church Sanctuary, 152 W. 66th St, Manhattan. Access is one of the fundamental reasons so many young people today idolize YouTube stars over traditional Hollywood celebrities. You can track the daily lives of digital luminaries like Tyler Oakley, Justine Ezarik and Connor Franta simply by checking out their latest videos, tweets or snaps. Theyll reply to your comments or answer your questions in a video. You can get an autograph or a hug just by showing up at the meet-and-greets, book signings or live shows they promote on social media. That closeness has fueled the rise of online video fame -- but its also a source of great vulnerability in light of the recent killing of Christina Grimmie, 22, a finalist on NBCs The Voice who first gain notoriety as a teenage YouTuber. Grimmie was shot and killed while signing autographs after a performance in Orlando, Fla., on June 10. The gunman, 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl, fatally shot himself after being tackled by Grimmies brother. A motive for the shooting is still unknown. Advertisement Grimmies death has rippled across the so-called video creator community, which has responded by posting teary videos over the young stars untimely death while doing something so ingrained in the nascent industry: meeting fans. They were celebrating life in a place where we should feel safe, Oakley said in a clip he posted Tuesday about Grimmie and the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that same weekend (the latter has also been traumatic for the YouTube community given that so many of its biggest stars are gay and talk frequently about overcoming discrimination). That sense of loss and unease is already taking a toll on the annual online video industry gathering known as VidCon, which starts June 23. Grimmie had performed at VidCon several times. Thirty-thousand fans, creators and industry officials are expected to attend the sold-out event in Anaheim, about 10,000 more than last year. Thats raised the stakes for organizers who scrambled after the twin tragedies in Orlando to beef up security. Among the changes: more police officers, nearly double the security guards, metal detectors and random bag checks. Moreover, the event that is best known for getting hordes of screaming fans closer than ever to their favorite stars, will limit access to creators. See the most-read stories this hour Previously, after panels many fans have come up to give creators gifts or letters or to ask questions and talk, organizers wrote in a Tumblr post outlining the new security measures. This will no longer be a thing. Creators wont be able to linger after panels and the audience will not be allowed to approach the panelists. This sucks; obviously, we dont want to build a wall between creators and their communities, but it is unfortunately necessary. They continued: As in all years we want VidCon to be fun, but you cant have fun without being safe. As much as VidCon has stepped up security, creators and their management have decided theres still room for more. Petar Mandich, a talent manager for video personalities such as Ezarik, Joey Graceffa and Evelina, has hired private guards to mind his stable of stars. Its just an extra layer, Mandich said. Weve had fans cross the line a bit. Obviously we dont want to alienate the fans and make them feel like theres a barrier. At the same time, were doing this for everyones safety. Grimmies death has exposed a paradox of YouTube fame, said Hank Green, the co-founder of VidCon who is also launching a guild for creators. Creators really do have a more significant connection with their communities than in other media, Green said. That closeness can be an asset in that fans are more likely to understand the humanity of a creator, or it can be a liability if a fan begins to have delusions of a more significant relationship than exists. Viewers can get very attached to you and your channel, and because they are literally part of the success of your channel, some feel entitled. Travel vlogging team Damon Dominique and Joanna Franco While the attack on Grimmie appears unprecedented, creators also find themselves at risk online interacting with fans. Threats, abuse and general creepiness arent uncommon. We have had fans tweet us asking if a certain address was our address (it was). Weve had fans find our building from a picture we posted on Instagram and wait outside. It definitely makes you think twice about something as simple as posting to Instagram or Snapchat, said travel vlogging team Damon Dominique and Joanna Franco, known simply as Damon and Jo, in a response to e-mailed questions. Weve learned to wait to post certain photos or tag them, because the instant factor of social media is sometimes dangerous. The pair, who have nearly 400,000 subscribers to their YouTube channel, said fans sometimes feel so close to them that they get angry when they believe theyre not being treated fairly. A slight can be as simple as posting a video in Portuguese for the duos large Brazilian following and not in English. Viewers can get very attached to you and your channel, and because they are literally part of the success of your channel, some feel entitled, said Dominique and Franco, who are regularly mailed gifts from fans. MORE: Get our best stories in your Facebook feed To combat trolls, the two have set up filters to remove abusive words in the comments below their videos. At the same time, we let people speak their minds, and whats interesting is that, in the comments, fans will jump to defend you before you even get to it yourself, they said. In that way, you almost feel safer to have an army of supporters. Cultivating those supporters can make or break a creators career. Sonja R., a closely followed video gamer who goes by the online handle OMGitsfirefoxx, talks to fans online and makes an effort to remember many of their names. Now she has more than 700,000 followers each on YouTube and Twitch. She calls them her Foxx Family. Two years ago, when she was still living in Canada, she was hacked. Her address, bank accounts and PayPal accounts were posted online. Then last year, while living with fellow YouTubers in Santa Monica, she caught a young fan rummaging through her garbage and trying to look inside their home. They chased her away. Now I dont vlog within a 10-mile radius of where I live, said the 25-year-old, who requested not to be quoted by last name because she feared it would make it easier for stalkers to find her. Sonja plans to hold a meet-and-greet at VidCon, where shes also a featured panelist. This year, however, shell be bringing along a security guard. Hes an Uber driver and former Los Angeles police officer she met a week before the shootings in Orlando. He gave me his business card and I thought, When am I going to need private security? I just play video games, she said. Im glad I kept his card. Im going to make a call. david.pierson@latimes.com Twitter: @dhpierson ALSO Christina Grimmies brother thanks fans for GoFundMe donations: Words cannot express Six great moments from Christina Grimmie on The Voice Fans and peers remember slain Voice contestant Christina Grimmie Last summer, flower delivery start-up BloomThat was in an enviable position. The 2-year-old San Francisco company had raised more than $5 million in venture capital funding. It had earned a tech world pedigree after graduating from the prestigious incubator Y Combinator. And it had its roots firmly planted in the on-demand economy -- a business model popularized by Uber that was the hot new category in Silicon Valley. But to live up to its promise of delivering bouquets within one hour in three markets, BloomThat was hemorrhaging cash. After launching in New York last summer, it was burning through more than $500,000 a month. Advertisement It was not good; we probably had around four to five months of runway left, said David Bladow, BloomThats co-founder and chief executive. Faced with the prospect of going bust, Bladow and his cofounders asked themselves: Do customers really need their service at the press of a button? Its a question being asked at a number of startups that promise instant gratification. As the on-demand business model strains companies finances and the tech downturn makes investor money harder to come by, companies are realizing that what works for Uber may not work for them. Some, like BloomThat, have changed course from a model that was, for a time, seen as the easiest way to land funding in Silicon Valley. Someone said, grow, grow, grow, and someone else parroted it, then everyone else parroted it, and we fell victim to the macro trend, Bladow said. Last year alone, venture capital firms invested more than $17 billion across 214 companies that had the on-demand business model, up from $7.3 billion the previous year. These investments represented nearly 13% of all venture funding that year, according to data gathered by CB Insights. Uber, the pioneer of the on-demand model, also continued to grow, giving the Valley reason to keep throwing money at on-demand businesses. Uber reportedly seeks to raise up to $2 billion in the leveraged loan market But offering rides is different from selling flowers. For Uber to offer on-demand service, all it needs is lots of drivers using their own cars to log onto the app and start driving. For BloomThat to deliver flowers in a one-hour window, it had to set up distribution centers stocked with fresh bouquets that were ready to be deployed at a moments notice. That takes real estate, supplies and staff -- before even getting into the logistics of one-hour delivery. Zirx, a venture-funded San Francisco startup that offered on-demand valet parking, found its initial business model undermined by similar costs. The company was paying a premium to lease parking spots in cities that have notoriously few parking spots. The more popular the company got, the more it cost to secure additional spots. Customers, however, werent willing to pay the premium. Most consumers have a price point in mind for a service, said Sean Behr, chief executive of Zirx. The consumer is unwilling to pay for the true nature of on-demand. The idea that were an on-demand company that was part of the problem. Matt Schwab, BloomThat co-founder and president And so the first signs of an on-demand exodus have started to show. Some, like Spoonrocket (on-demand meals), Homejoy (on-demand house cleaning), and Shuddle (Uber for kids), have gone out of business because they couldnt raise enough money. Sidecar, an Uber competitor, sold its assets to General Motors last year. And Zirx has dropped the on-demand component of its business entirely. A company needs to look into their own business and ask themselves what theyre best at, said Eurie Kim, a partner at venture capital firm Forerunner Ventures, which invested in BloomThat and supported the companys move away from on-demand delivery. When you do that, you realize there are probably two or three things your customer really loves about your business, and its not necessarily the delivery. For BloomThat, the company learned that customers thought on-demand delivery was nice, but it wasnt a deal breaker. People didnt mind ordering flowers and getting them in a later window, or even the next day. By extending the delivery window by an hour, the company was able to reduce its number of drivers and distribution centers and cut costs by 25%. BloomThat co-founders Matthew Schwab and David Bladow. (Peter DaSilva / Los Angeles Times ) The company now offers on-demand delivery only in city centers, and nationwide next-day delivery. The latter accounts for 50% of its orders, and the company became profitable four months ago. When Behr looked at Zirxs model, he realized it would be a very difficult product to make money. So he, too, changed the companys course. Earlier this year Zirx changed its business to offer a service where it moves vehicles for other companies, such as rental car services, mechanics, and car dealers. Behr expects Zirx to be profitable by the end of the year. The idea that were an on-demand company -- that was part of the problem, said Matt Schwab, BloomThats co-founder and president. Were not an on-demand company. Were a company that builds products that has on-demand delivery. It seems trivial, but flipping the thinking changed the focus of the company. There are some industries where on-demand delivery is critical, said Ooshma Garg, founder of Gobble, a dinner kit company that delivered on-demand meals back in 2012, before changing to a subscription model. But that only applies to two or three industries, not 100. We figured out that on-demand didnt work for us within three months of trying it, she said. During its on-demand period, the quality of Gobbles food and service suffered. Its target market, which was families, lived in the suburbs -- meaning it had to have delivery drivers stationed across the Bay Area with trunks full of food. Any meals that werent sold went to waste. It wasnt profitable. Gobble quickly changed direction to a subscription model. It is now 20 times larger and is no longer losing money. Its not just companies that are waking up to the fact being on-demand doesnt guarantee success -- the investor tide has also turned. As the downturn leads to more cautious investment, on-demand businesses are among the hardest-hit; funding for such companies fell in the first quarter of this year to $1.3 billion, down from $7.3 billion six months ago. If you look in venture capital markets, the on-demand sector is definitely out of favor, said Ajay Chopra, a partner at Trinity Ventures who is an investor in both Gobble and Zirx. Its not lost on venture capitalists that the collective fear of missing out on investing in the next Uber is what drove many of the investments in on-demand businesses to begin with. See the most-read stories in Business this hour But as with any boom, there is a shake-out. Here, its been the realization that on-demand delivery isnt as new or groundbreaking as previously thought (e-commerce firms Webvan and Kozmo.com offered delivery in less than an hour in the late 90s before going out of business during the dot-com crash), and its not actually crucial to most companies. A lot will go out of business, sell, or merge, Chopra said. And I expect a lot of companies will pivot to a different model. And while a pivot may be an admission that a company didnt get it right the first time, thats just part of running a business, Chopra said. Its not easy. Gobble, Zirx and BloomThat all went through awkward transition periods. Gobble spent months educating its customers on the new business. Zirx had to cut the consumer-facing part of its business entirely. BloomThats growth flatlined for five months while it figured out its new model. Its not the straightforward overnight success story that Silicon Valley likes to sell. But its far more sustainable and lucrative than the rush to win at on-demand. Weve come out of this fog, Bladow said. It allows me to sleep a lot better at night. tracey.lien@latimes.com Twitter: @traceylien MORE BUSINESS NEWS Waze begins steering drivers away from nerve-racking L.A. intersections Heres why companies leave you in the dark about hacks for months Uber reportedly seeks to raise up to $2 billion in the leveraged loan market Why the Tesla and electric car boom could be good news for the grid Access is one of the fundamental reasons so many young people today idolize YouTube stars over traditional Hollywood celebrities. You can track the daily lives of digital luminaries like Tyler Oakley, Justine Ezarik and Connor Franta simply by checking out their latest videos, tweets or snaps. Theyll reply to your comments or answer your questions in a video. You can get an autograph or a hug just by showing up at the meet-and-greets, book signings or live shows they promote on social media. That closeness has fueled the rise of online video fame -- but its also a source of great vulnerability in light of the recent murder of Christina Grimmie, 22, a finalist on NBCs The Voice who first gain notoriety as a YouTuber Advertisement Grimmie was shot and killed while signing autographs after a performance in Orlando, Fla., on June 10. The gunman, 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl, fatally shot himself after being tackled by Grimmies brother. A motive for the shooting is still unknown. Grimmies death has rippled across the so-called video creator community, which has responded by posting teary videos over the young stars untimely death in an environment they all know too well: meeting fans. They were celebrating life in a place where we should feel safe, Oakley said in a clip he posted Tuesday about Grimmie and the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that same weekend (the latter has also been excruciatingly painful for the YouTube community given that so many of its biggest stars are gay and talk frequently about overcoming discrimination). That sense of loss and unease is already taking a toll on the annual online video industry gathering known as VidCon, which starts June 23. Grimmie had performed at VidCon several times. Thirty-thousand fans, creators and industry officials are expected to attend the sold out event in Anaheim, about 10,000 more than last year. Thats raised the stakes for organizers who scrambled after the twin tragedies in Orlando to beef-up security. Among the changes: more police officers, nearly double the security guards, metal detectors, and random bag checks. Moreover, the event which is best known for getting hordes of screaming fans closer than ever to their favorite stars, will be limiting access to creators. Previously, after panels many fans have come up to give creators gifts or letters or to ask questions and talk, organizers wrote in a Tumblr post outlining the new security measures. This will no longer be a thing. Creators wont be able to linger after panels and the audience will not be allowed to approach the panelists. This sucks; obviously, we dont want to build a wall between creators and their communities, but it is unfortunately necessary. They continued: As in all years we want VidCon to be fun, but you cant have fun without being safe. As much as VidCon has stepped-up security, creators and their management have decided theres still room for more.. Petar Mandich, a talent manager for video personalities such as Ezarik, Joey Graceffa and Evelina, has hired private guards to mind his stable of stars. Its just an extra layer, Mandich said. Weve had fans cross the line a bit. Obviously we dont want to alienate the fans and make them feel like theres a barrier. At the same time, were doing this for everyones safety. While the attack on Grimmie appears unprecedented, creators also find themselves at risk online interacting with fans. Threats, abuse and general creepiness arent uncommon. We have had fans tweet us asking if a certain address was our address (it was). Weve had fans find our building from a picture we posted on Instagram and wait outside. It definitely makes you think twice about something as simple as posting to Instagram or Snapchat, said travel vlogging team Damon Dominique and Joanna Franco, known simply as Damon and Jo, in a response to e-mailed questions. Weve learned to wait to post certain photos or tag them, because the instant factor of social media is sometimes dangerous. The pair, who have nearly 400,000 subscribers to their YouTube channel, said fans sometimes feel so close to them that they get angry when they believe theyre not being treated fairly. A slight can be as simple as posting a video in Portuguese for the duos large Brazilian following and not in English. Viewers can get very attached to you and your channel, and because they are literally part of the success of your channel, some feel entitled, said Dominique and Franco, who are regularly mailed gifts from fans. To combat trolls, the two have set-up filters to remove abusive words in the comments below their videos. At the same time, we let people speak their minds, and whats interesting is that, in the comments, fans will jump to defend you before you even get it to yourself, they said. In that way, you almost feel safer to have an army of supporters. Cultivating those supporters can make or break a creators career. Sonja R., a closely-followed video gamer who goes by the online handle OMGitsfirefoxx. She talks to fans online and makes an effort to remember many of their names. Now she has over 700,000 followers each on YouTube and Twitch. She calls them her Foxx Family. Two years ago, when she was still living in Canada, she was hacked. Her address, bank accounts and PayPal accounts were posted online. Then last year, while living with fellow YouTubers in Santa Monica, she caught a young fan rummaging through her garbage and trying to look inside their home. They chased her away. Now I dont vlog within a 10 miles radius of where I live, said the 25-year-old, who requested not to be quoted by last name because she feared it would make it easier for stalkers to find her. Sonja plans to hold a meet-and-greet at VidCon, where shes also a featured panelist. This year, however, shell be bringing along a security guard. Hes an Uber driver and former Los Angeles police officer she met shortly before the shootings in Orlando. He gave me his business card and I thought, When am I going to need private security? I just play video games, she said. Im glad I kept his card. Im going to make a call. david.pierson@latimes.com Twitter: @dhpierson The design team working with architect Frank Gehry on a controversial new master plan for the Los Angeles River has begun to introduce its work to the public but in a noticeably cautious and low-key way. River LA, the nonprofit group that began collaborating with Gehrys office more than a year ago, isnt ready to unveil any design proposals by the architect. Or any rough sketches, for that matter. Instead it has been holding upbeat, informal listening sessions in neighborhoods near the river, in an apparent effort to build goodwill. The new website it developed with two of Gehrys partners, expected to go live Tuesday morning at lariverindex.org, is stuffed with maps and charts but similarly short on architectural detail. Advertisement See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour The quiet rollout suggests that River LA is less interested in giving a clear picture of what Gehrys plan eventually may include than in tamping down charges that it has been born of secrecy and worries that it may operate as a Trojan horse, a kind of high-design architectural cover, for rampant real-estate speculation in communities along the river. At the same time, as the river takes on new shades of economic and political meaning becoming a magnet for attention and investment after decades of near invisibility the race to reimagine it is growing more crowded. River plans are moving forward at the federal level and in Sacramento, with little clarity about how they ultimately might relate to the Gehry effort. William Bowling and Deborah Jones, representatives of Friends of the Los Angeles River, walk along the riverbank in Long Beach on Feb. 12, 2015. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times ) Some longtime river advocates, including Friends of the Los Angeles River co-founder Lewis MacAdams, have sharply criticized River LA for keeping its relationship with Gehry under wraps for much of last year. The makeup of River LAs board of directors, which includes real-estate developers and land-use attorneys, has fueled anxiety among neighborhood activists about what the master plan will produce. River LA has responded by playing down, at least for now, the possibility of any new construction near the river, which might drive fears of gentrification or displacement, and playing up a wonkish attention to hydrological and ecological detail, which is likely to offend no one. According to Tensho Takemori and Anand Devarajan, the partners in Gehrys firm who have been overseeing research on the river alongside prominent Philadelphia landscape architect Laurie Olin and Mark Hanna, a water resources engineer at Geosyntec Consultants the website is meant to emphasize that the new master plan remains a work in progress. It is organized as an index allowing users to sift through data and graphics on nine major topics, including flood risk management, ecology and habitat and water quality. This is just meant to be information, Takemori said. Theres no designs, no proposals or anything like that. Weve tried to take an inform-ourselves approach before we make any decisions about whats right and whats wrong. Anand Devarajan, a partner in Gehryas firm Added Devarajan, Weve tried to take an inform-ourselves approach before we make any decisions about whats right and whats wrong. Still, the website, funded in part by grants from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, does contain hints about where the Gehry team is focusing its work and what kinds of designs may emerge in the coming months. One section, Water Recharge, suggests that by redesigning the river to capture more storm water directing it to aquifers rather than allowing it to flow via the river out to sea the region could decrease its reliance on water imported from other parts of California and the Western U.S. by as much as 14% per year. Under the Open Space and Parks tab is a proposal, short on details, for creating 2,300 acres of new park space within a mile of the river. A central goal of this master plan, like the ones that have come before, will be to strike an effective balance between maintaining flood-control measures while opening up the river to new kinds of public access. When the river, beginning nearly a century ago, was encased in concrete to protect against flooding, it was largely fenced off. It became, for all practical purposes, a massive piece of private infrastructure designed for one task only: whisking storm water away from the city and toward the ocean. Architect Frank Gehry is seen in his Playa Vista office in September 2015. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times ) But on the vast majority of days perhaps as many as 360 per year there is so little water in the rivers concrete channel that the public could use most of the space without danger. Reopening the channel to that kind of broad and regular access will be, in part, an effort to make it visible again as a civic amenity. Gehry said that his work with Takemori and Devarajan and with Olin, whom hes known for decades has included preliminary discussions about building housing along the 51-mile-long river or even atop new bridges crossing it. Our goal on the housing is, wherever we end up, our value system says we want to get it so that its mixed, Gehry said. So its not just low-end housing and middle-end and high-end we want to collide them somehow. And then how do you connect that to open space, if you can create a park? Its not just low-end housing and middle-end and high-end we want to collide them somehow. Frank Gehry Gehry said he has been exploring programming opportunities along the river with Gustavo Dudamel, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and with a pair of museum directors, Ann Philbin of the Hammer Museum and Michael Govan of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He described those talks as informal. I think well get cultural buy-in, Gehry said. Im pushing that. Fifty-one miles: You could do performances at different parts. River LA, which was known as the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation before a recent rebranding effort, was founded in 2009 by the city of Los Angeles to coordinate policy on the river. As it works with Gehrys team, the group has been taking advice on media relations and other topics from Mercury Public Affairs, which describes itself as a high-stakes public strategy firm. The launch of the website comes on the heels of three public meetings River LA organized last month. The first, on the morning of May 14, was held in the city of South Gate, which straddles the river about seven miles south of downtown Los Angeles. About three dozen people sat on plastic chairs inside the South Gate Park Girls Clubhouse to hear Omar Brownson, River LAs executive director, describe the potential of rethinking the river and introduce representatives of Gehrys team. Gehry himself did not appear. A view toward downtown Los Angeles shows the L.A. River in Maywood, Calif., on Sept. 30, 2015. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) Lining the walls were boards, roughly 8 feet tall, plastered with charts, graphs and information. The boards were separated into three categories of research, labeled water, people (including ideas on public health and transportation) and public space. Rivers dont know political boundaries, Brownson said in his opening remarks. The city of L.A. realized it had to be creative about how to approach the river, and so it created us as a nonprofit organization that could work across public, private and philanthropic sectors. Were not going to talk at you. This is meant to be a conversation, he added, before encouraging the audience to study the boards and ask questions of Takemori, Devarajan and Hanna. Similar meetings were held May 21 in Reseda, in the San Fernando Valley, and May 25 in Boyle Heights, across the river from downtown L.A. Throughout the process, the Gehry team has suggested that its work, by building on earlier master plans and enlisting the support of a range of elected officials, ultimately will stand as a comprehensive new blueprint for remaking the river. Were taking into account all the stuff that people have done before us. Were not ignoring it, Gehry said. The thing Im happiest about is how weve been reaching out to all the political entities and getting people interested and focused and realizing this could be transformative. Everybodys been really open. Im feeling really good about it. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti walks along the L.A. River in 2014. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times ) But significant questions remain about how the Gehry effort, launched with the blessing of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, will relate not just to existing river plans but to emerging ones. The Army Corps of Engineers in Washington is pursuing a plan to restore an 11-mile stretch of the river near downtown. Even as the Gehry team was putting the finishing touches on the website, a news release was going out to reporters about the new Lower Los Angeles River Working Group, organized by State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, who is active on water-policy issues in Sacramento and whose 63rd Assembly district includes Long Beach, South Gate and Bell. The release did not highlight the work of River LA or the Gehry office, although the 39-member working group includes Maria Camacho, River LAs director of external affairs. Asked how the Gehry research will be coordinated with the working group, which was created and funded by AB 530, Brownson replied, Its complicated. Were working on it. Another complication, at least in terms of River LAs determination not to roil the political waters, is Gehry himself. Though the architect acknowledges the public relations benefits of proceeding cautiously on plans for the river, hes eager to move ahead on design work. Im 87, he said. I want things to happen quickly. ALSO Game of Thrones and Outlander top our summer TV binge list Electric Daisy Carnival celebrates 20th anniversary in Las Vegas with 400,000 revelers: The stakes have never been so high From 30 Rock to Saved by the Bell: The funniest shows to watch on NBCs streaming service SeeSo right now christopher.hawthorne@latimes.com UPDATES: 9:31 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details. This article was originally published at 3 a.m. This summer, in Star Trek: Beyond, Zoe Saldana will reprise her role as the USS Enterprises chief communications officer, Uhura, a part that was pioneering for black women in its origins. Played on the original, 1960s Star Trek CBS show by actress Nichelle Nichols, the Uhura role was unique in its time for casting an African American woman on television in a position of respect, rather than subservience. But it was Saldanas recent performance as another groundbreaking black woman, jazz legend Nina Simone, in the controversial, long-gestating biopic Nina, that has placed the actress at the center of an intense discussion about race. Theres no one way to be black, Saldana said, addressing the controversy around Nina in a revealing interview in the latest issue of Allure, which hits newsstands June 28. You have no idea who I am. I am black. Im raising black men. Dont you ever think you can look at me and address me with such disdain. Advertisement Saldana, who is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, is best known for her roles as exotic, otherworldly characters: In Avatar, she plays the blue Navi princess Neytiri, and in Guardians of the Galaxy, shes the green assassin Gamora. Nina, which arrived in theaters in April to scathing reviews, drew ire from Simones estate and fans for Saldanas casting, and for the makeup and prosthetics used to make the actress more closely resemble Simone. Nina looks like half my family, Saldana said, in response to the critique. But if you think the [prosthetic] nose I wore was unattractive, then maybe you need to ask yourself, What do you consider beautiful? Do you consider a thinner nose beautiful, so the wider you get, the more insulted you become? See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Saldana told Allure she turned Nina director Cynthia Mort down for a year before accepting the part. The script probably would still be lying around, going from office to office, agency to agency, and nobody would have done it, Mort said. Female stories arent relevant enough, especially a black female story. I made a choice. Do I continue passing on the script and hope that the right black person will do it, or do I say, You know what? Whatever consequences this may bring about, my casting is nothing in comparison to the fact that this story must be told. ALSO Watch the trailer for Netflixs Nina Simone documentary Zoe Saldanas new Star Trek uniform channels the 60s series What fueled Nina Simones creative fire? Two films will tell different stories The plus-size woman is having her moment, while her counterpart, the plus-size man, is finally stepping out, striking a pose and getting plenty of attention for however long it lasts. Headlines were made earlier this year when top-tier agency IMG Models signed New York resident Zach Miko, whos 6-foot-6 with a 40-inch waist, to its newly created Brawn division, which is dedicated to larger men. Vogue.com referred to him as The Plus-Size Male Model Out to Change the Fashion Industry, and Out.com praised Miko as The First Plus-Size Hunk. The hunks take? I grew up feeling in my head and heart I was not traditionally good looking or sexy, says Miko, who modeled for Target. I wonder how different I would have felt seeing a man my size being called handsome and representing fashion. If just a handful of boys can see me in magazines and ads and as a result not feel the insecurity and self-doubt that I felt growing up, that will make it all worth it for me. Advertisement To fully employ plus-size male models such as Miko and Sherman Oaks-based Dexter Mayfield, the menswear industry still has some catching up to do. When Im shopping, I head to my go-tos: Topman, Forever 21 and H&M and hope and pray they are fully stocked, says Mayfield, who works as an actor and dancer. Sherman Oaks-based Dexter Mayfield says he hopes for more fashion options for larger men. When it comes to finding pants, Mayfield, a dancer, actor and model, says he sometimes shops at womens plus-size store Torrid, which sells clothes for sizes 12 to 24. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times ) Topman especially does a great job with tops with extended-length shirts that dont feel baggy, he explains. But when it comes to lower body, the options are limited. You see a lot of relaxed fit, and Im not very confident in those. His solution? I cross the aisle and head to Torrid, he says. I know my size in womens jeans. Theyre comfortable. They stretch, and the staff at womens stores are great and understanding. They know that guys want to look good too. I wonder how different I would have felt seeing a man my size being called handsome and representing fashion. Zach Miko Other sartorial areas in need of catching up? Formalwear and undergarments. What if I want to look good in my Calvins too? Mayfield says. The reactions these men have brought about in the age of the Internet have been staggering. Social media movements like #BigGuyTwitter have come up to unite and draw attention to larger-than-the-sample-size men. And fans are in full force as well. Of course there have been plenty of trolls and critics, but I have amazing support from my fans, says Miko. It feels like every time someone online or in the press says something mean, 10 more supporters jump on them to shut them down. Dexter Mayfield says mens formalwear and undergarments need improving when it comes to larger sizes. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times ) Its a lesson that American Eagle learned well when it released its commitment to not retouch male models earlier this year as well as a campaign starring plus-size male models such as Kelvin Davis, the blogger behind Notoriously Dapper who says hes 5-foot-10ish and 240 pounds on his Instagram profile. The only real backlash was to the brands unfortunate after-the-fact April Fools Day messaging, which the company later said was not a joke but an awareness-raising hoax. (Luckily, money speaks louder than outrage, and their $25,000 donation to the National Eating Disorders Assn., a nonprofit group that supports those affected by eating disorders, seemed to help confirm American Eagle was on the right side of things.) As for how receptive the menswear industry will continue to be? It remains to seen. The womens plus-size industry is an almost $20-billion-a-year industry, Miko says. The consumers have spoken. Fashion is an incredible art, but its also a business. So speaking from a business standpoint, you can double your market share. Why wouldnt you want to do that? image@latimes.com His office wont confirm it, but unexplained expenses from Rep. Duncan Hunters campaign account may have gone to buy lunches for his children at their private school in El Cajon. Hunter campaign reports filed several weeks back listed $1,300 spent with Kis restaurant in Cardiff-by-the-Sea in 2015 and early 2016 21 separate transactions that seemed far afield from his East County base. This week, in following up on an ongoing Federal Election Commission review of Hunters campaign accounts, U-T Watchdog came up with a possible explanation for the charges. Advertisement Kis provides school lunch delivery to Christian Unified Schools, where Hunters three children attend. And on the schools website, visitors who click lunch info and menu are taken to a Kis fact sheet. Theres no way to know whether the expenses are school lunches, because Hunters staff has declined to discuss specific expenses. The Kis charges by Hunters campaign were all during the school year, and none during the summer. The most recent ones reported were Feb. 26 and March 21 of this year, for $68.90 and $45.50. The restaurant allows parents to load up an account ahead of time or pay by the meal. The Hunter campaign transactions in 2015 ranged from $9.40 on Sept. 24 to $336.15 on April 15. Federal law prohibits office-holders from using campaign funds for personal expenses, to keep donors many of them defense contractors, in Hunters case from obtaining undue influence by covering such costs. Hunter sits on the House Armed Services Committee. Hunters campaign funds have been under public scrutiny since April 4, when the FEC sent a letter questioning $1,300 in video game expenses. Hunters office initially provided U-T Watchdog with explanations for certain expenses for instance, he said his son paid for the online video games with the campaign credit card by mistake, and then the family was the victim of fraudulent charges. Hunter said he has repaid $12,000 in mistaken or personal expenses, including $1,200 paid to a garage-door company, $811 for oral or facial surgery, and $361 for a Coronado surf shop. As the FEC probe has continued, the office has stopped explaining individual charges. The Union-Tribune has been told no less than a dozen times, maybe more, that Rep. Hunter is conducting an independent audit for all of 2015, and will act on its recommendations, spokesman Joe Kasper said this week. All anybody of integrity can do is take responsibility and resolve the problem. He did not say when the audit would be completed or made public. Several of the problem expenses have centered on Christian Unified. For instance, Hunter repaid his campaign for $1,650 that was applied to school tuition, although he said the funds were intended as a charitable donation, which is an allowable campaign expense. The campaign also spent $208 on Aug. 20, 2015, at Educational Outfitters, which provides uniforms to families of Christian Unified. The expense was listed as gift certificate for donation. That expense is not among those so far reported as reimbursed by Hunter to the campaign. Other food expenses have drawn scrutiny. According to the FECs campaign guide, contributed funds may be used to pay for meals during face-to-face fundraising events. By contrast, a candidate may not use campaign funds to take his or her family out to dinner. The San Diego Union-Tribune previously reported that the campaign spent $297 on 16 trips to Jack in the Box not the typical campaign wining and dining. The committee also reported spending $216 on food and beverages at a jewelry store in Italy, which told the U-T it has no food offerings. The campaign also spent money at Disneyland $229 at the Star Trader shop in Tomorrowland for food/beverages. A spokesman for the park told the Union-Tribune the only edible items the store sells are Pez candy and a Star Wars-themed Rice Krispies treat. The campaign last month reported that Hunter had reimbursed the committee for an undisclosed amount spent at Legoland California. Although the repayment was noted, the original expense does not appear on financial reports. Hunters campaign reports show spending at SeaWorld San Diego, including $708 for fundraiser venue on Jan. 19-20 this year. On July 31, 2015, the campaign made two payments totaling $72 to SeaWorld for food/beverages, and another two payments totaling $182 for educational meeting event venue, the reports show. The FEC probe of Hunters campaign is continuing, most recently with a letter the agency sent to Hunters campaign on Monday. It requests an explanation of why some of the numbers on the report covering the last three months in 2015 dont add up correctly. Hunters campaign manager and wife, Margaret Hunter, used to have one of two campaign credit cards. Hunter told the Watchdog in April that he now has the only card. morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com Cook writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. ALSO Group sues over decision to allow Islamic center near John Wayne Airport Oakland police likened to a frat house, and mayor says toxic, macho culture must end Obama touts the wonders of Yosemite and national parks, plus the realities of climate change The Oakland Police Department will now operate under civilian control after the agency parted ways with its third police chief in nine days, Mayor Libby Schaaf announced Friday. Acting Chief Paul Figueroa tendered his resignation to Schaaf on Friday, and the departments command staff will now report to City Administrator Sabrina Landreth, Schaaf said during a news conference Friday evening. Figueroa was appointed to replace Interim Chief Ben Fairow on Wednesday, after Schaaf said she had received information that made her question Fairows ability to lead. Advertisement Fairows tenure as Oaklands top cop lasted just six days. He had been appointed to replace Chief Sean Whent, who resigned in the wake of a widening sexual misconduct scandal that has ensnared more than a dozen city police officers and members of three other East Bay law enforcement agencies. Im hoping to not have to fire anyone else anytime soon, said the mayor, laughing in response to a question from a reporter. Schaaf did not say why Figueroa resigned. In a statement released Friday, Figueroa said, I thank the city for the opportunity, and I am deeply sorry that I was unable to fulfill the functions of acting chief of police. Figueroa voluntarily went on leave after resigning the chiefs post Friday, Schaaf said. The Oakland department is currently reeling from allegations that officers were having inappropriate relationships with a teenage sex worker, possibly while she was underage. Schaaf also said Friday that the department was close to finishing an investigation into an exchange of racist text messages between officers. As the mayor of Oakland I am here to run a Police Department, not a frat house. Mayor Libby Schaaf The text message inquiry does not involve Figueroa, according to Schaaf , who said that situation was not as widespread as the sexual misconduct scandal. According to Schaaf, several African American officers sent and received messages that were wholly inappropriate and not acceptable from anyone who wears the badge of the Oakland Police Department. She would not name the officers or disclose their ranks, but the situation is eerily similar to a scandal that recently roiled the San Francisco Police Department, one of several that led to the resignation of Police Chief Greg Suhr. Schaaf said the investigation of the text messages would be completed within two weeks. As the mayor of Oakland I am here to run a Police Department, not a frat house. Today continues to be a day where we are sharing disturbing information with you, said Schaaf, adding later that she hoped to root out what is clearly a toxic, macho, culture within the citys police. The revolving door of chiefs has become the latest source of embarrassment for a department that has remained under federal oversight for 13 years and is now embroiled in a widening sex scandal. Whent resigned on June 9, in what city officials termed a personal choice. But three sources with knowledge of the situation told The Times that Whent was let go over his mishandling of an investigation into the sex scandal. Two officers have resigned and three were placed on administrative leave as a result of the sex scandal, city officials have said. John Burris, the attorney who negotiated the 2003 settlement that placed Oakland police under federal oversight, said he hoped all of the departments skeletons can be revealed at one time in order to clear a path to real reform. It appears to be a cesspool here, he said. But you gotta keep working at it to drain the swamps. james.queally@latimes.com Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California. ALSO Suspect in fire that killed 5 was here illegally, fought with another transient before slayings Sherpa fire in Santa Barbara County grows to nearly 6,000 acres as a hot, windy weekend looms Ex-L.A. GOP official who poked fun at Democrats sex scandals barred from contacting juveniles UPDATES: 7:42 p.m.: This story was updated with details from a press conference with Mayor Libby Schaaf. This story first published at 6:03 p.m. Oaklands police department is reeling from scandal, and that prompted Mayor Libby Schaaf to mince no words Friday. As the mayor of Oakland, I am here to run a police department, not a frat house, she said. Today continues to be a day where we are sharing disturbing information with you. Schaaf vowed to root out what is clearly a toxic, macho, culture within the citys police department. Advertisement What is this scandal about? It involves allegations that officers were having inappropriate relationships with a teenage sex worker, possibly while she was underage. After a sex scandal rocked Oakland police, officials are trying to figure out how to restore public trust The woman at the center of the sexual misconduct scandal said in a televised interview that she had slept with more than a dozen Oakland police officers. She also accused several officers of having sex with her when she was underage and said she had had sexual encounters with members of several other Bay Area law enforcement agencies. What happened Friday? Acting Chief Paul Figueroa tendered his resignation to Schaaf on Friday, and the departments command staff now will report to City Administrator Sabrina Landreth, Schaaf said during a news conference Friday evening. Figueroa was appointed to replace Interim Chief Ben Fairow on Wednesday, after Schaaf said she had received information that made her question Fairows ability to lead. Fairows tenure as Oaklands top cop lasted just six days. He had been appointed to replace Chief Sean Whent, who resigned in the wake of the widening sexual misconduct scandal. Im hoping to not have to fire anyone else anytime soon, said the mayor, laughing in response to a question from a reporter. Schaaf did not say why Figueroa resigned. In a statement released Friday, Figueroa said, I thank the city for the opportunity, and I am deeply sorry that I was unable to fulfill the functions of acting chief of police. Figueroa voluntarily went on leave after resigning the chiefs post Friday, Schaaf said. What about these text messages? Schaaf also said Friday that the department was close to finishing an investigation into an exchange of racist text messages between officers. The text message inquiry does not involve Figueroa, according to Schaaf , who said that situation was not as widespread as the sexual misconduct scandal. According to Schaaf, several African American officers sent and received messages that were wholly inappropriate and not acceptable from anyone who wears the badge of the Oakland Police Department. Join the conversation on Facebook She would not name the officers or disclose their ranks, but the situation is similar to a scandal that recently roiled the San Francisco Police Department, one of several that led to the resignation of Police Chief Greg Suhr. Schaaf said the investigation of the text messages would be completed within two weeks. Whent resigned on June 9, in what city officials termed a personal choice. But three sources with knowledge of the situation told The Times that Whent was let go over his mishandling of an investigation into the sex scandal. Two officers have resigned, and three were placed on administrative leave as a result of the sex scandal, city officials have said. John Burris, the attorney who negotiated the 2003 settlement that placed Oakland police under federal oversight, said he hoped all of the departments skeletons can be revealed at one time in order to clear a path to real reform. It appears to be a cesspool here, he said. But you gotta keep working at it to drain the swamps. james.queally@latimes.com Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California. ALSO Oakland replaces interim police chief six days after his appointment Report links Oakland police chiefs resignation to officer sex scandal Oakland police chief resigns amid misconduct investigations In an unmarked dirt lot at the end of Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville lie the remains of hundreds of unidentified migrants. Most of these people died alone in the Imperial Valley desert or mountains, likely while attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Some drowned in irrigation canals. Others died of thirst or exposure to extreme heat. Each burial site is marked only with a large brick, each inscribed with the words John Doe or Jane Doe and a row number. Advertisement The expansive lot offers a stark contrast to the grassy, well-kept property at the front of the cemetery, where flowers and other mementos decorate the headstones that mark each grave. This paupers cemetery, about 125 miles east of San Diego, is one of the few known resting places for unidentified migrants who died on U.S. soil. Migrant deaths are commonplace in the Imperial Valley, where summer temperatures regularly surpass 100 degrees. Many residents of the small town of Holtville have gone most of their lives without knowing about the dirt lot at Terrace Park. That portion of the cemetery remains closed to the public. The last migrants were buried in that county-funded section of the cemetery in 2009, according to Terrace Park officials. Now whenever deceased migrants are found in this county, theyre cremated and their ashes are scattered at sea. Their anonymity in death is an extreme reflection of the often desperate attempts by people to enter the United States. The flow of unauthorized immigrants has been a source of debate for decades. Although pro-immigrant groups say the U.S. should welcome foreigners fleeing strife or seeking better economic opportunities, critics counter that unauthorized immigrants should be barred because they flout the nations rules and take resources away from Americans citizens. Its really sad because each one of these people, they did not expect to die when they crossed the border. Enrique Morones, co-founder of Border Angels All of the cremations orchestrated by the Imperial County Public Administrator are taxpayer funded. Critics of illegal immigration said taxpayer funds used for the burial or cremation of undocumented immigrants means that less money is available for other important needs. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has vowed to build a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border and have Mexico pay for the project. When he announced his candidacy about a year ago, he made illegal immigration a prominent issue of his campaign. Then there are groups like the San Diego-based nonprofit group Border Angels, which for the last 15 years has visited the dirt lot at Terrace Park to memorialize the migrants buried there. Volunteers place small, colorful wooden crosses inscribed with messages such as No olvidados (Not forgotten) and Fe (Faith). Its really sad because each one of these people, they did not expect to die when they crossed the border, Enrique Morones, a co-founder of the group, said during a recent trip to the cemetery. He travels to the site about every six weeks, often with students and other interested people. Established in the 1930s, Terrace Park Cemetery eventually became part of the Central Valley Cemetery District, which also encompasses the Evergreen and Imperial cemeteries. Imperial County began funding burials at Terrace Park for indigents in 1995 after space for such burials at Evergreen was exhausted, said Chuck Jernigan, superintendent of the cemetery district. About 240 unidentified individuals are buried in the 3-acre dirt lot at Terrace Park, although Jernigan stressed that not all were migrants who died while crossing the border. There are people there who were not from a foreign country, but who were never identified, he said. In addition, more than 280 identified people are laid to rest in the same location, often because their families didnt have the financial resources to pay for a funeral and gravesite elsewhere. The paupers cemetery opened shortly after the 1994 establishment of Operation Gatekeeper, a program aimed at deterring illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego. Ramped-up enforcement in that area prompted migration patterns to shift eastward into the Imperial Valley and Arizona. Should L.A. roll back its so-called boycott on Arizona? Illegal immigration reached record highs in the following decade, with the number of immigrants in the U.S. illegally reaching a record 12 million around 2011. The current population is estimated at 11 million. Today, more Mexican immigrants are returning to Mexico than those entering the United States, based on analyses by the Mexican National Survey of Demographic Dynamics, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Pew Research Center. Experts attribute the trend to various factors, including a stronger economy and a declining birthrate in Mexico. There were about 240 deaths in fiscal 2015 along the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes the Border Patrol sectors spanning Southern California, Arizona and Texas, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In the El Centro sector, three deaths were recorded in 2013, six in 2014 and four last year, the agency said. By comparison, the same sector reported 90 deaths in 1998 and 56 the following year. Five of the eight John or Jane Does found so far this year were unauthorized immigrants, the coroners office said. Many victims underestimated the perils of their journey, carrying insufficient amounts of water, wearing the wrong type of clothing or wading across canals without knowing how to swim. To make matters worse, smugglers often forbid clients from carrying I.D. as a way to cast off blame if migrants die or are apprehended. With John Does, we will use whatever means we can to identify these individuals, said Sgt. Eric Frazier, supervising deputy coroner at the Imperial County coroners office. That includes fingerprint analysis and dental or DNA comparisons. Investigators also look for distinct tattoos, birthmarks or unique details in a decedents clothing that family members may recognize. Such details are entered into a federal database of migrants and screened for potential familial matches. The coroners office typically holds an unidentified body for 30 days after an autopsy is performed, in case it hears from family members. If the remains arent claimed during that period, theyre transferred to the Imperial County public administrators office, along with any property or clothing belonging to that individual. MORE: Get our best stories in your Facebook feed The public administrator generally acts as a facilitator for the affairs of people who died and have no known relatives. The administrator works with the U.S. Border Patrol and the Mexican consulate in a bid to identify anonymous migrants. The administrators office cremates unidentified migrants instead of burying them a switch that saves the county roughly $860 a person, said Rosie Blankenship, assistant public administrator for Imperial County. Two mortuaries in El Centro Frye Chapel and Hems Brothers are contracted to perform the cremations. Each cremation costs the county about $645, which is drawn from its indigent burial account. The public administrator keeps the cremains in a secured vault for one year. If they arent claimed in that time, they are scattered at sea off San Diego. tatiana.sanchez@sduniontribune.com Sanchez writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. ALSO Gov. Brown signs bill that could help immigrants get access to health insurance California sees surge in Chinese illegally crossing border from Mexico California leaders tell Supreme Court that undocumented workers are making the state stronger With Yosemite Falls in the background, President Obama told an audience Saturday that climate change is already impacting Americas national parks. Make no mistake, climate change is no longer just a threat its already a reality, he said from a lectern near Sentinel Bridge in Yosemite National Park. For the record: This article quotes President Obama as saying climate change could threaten monuments such as the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island. The president referred to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The first familys trip to the nations fourth most-visited park with about 4 million visitors a year comes as the National Park Service is approaching its 100th anniversary in August. During the visit, the first by a president since John F. Kennedys in 1962, Obama urged Americans to visit the parks and called for increased action to preserve the nations wildlands for future generations. Advertisement Just look at this scene. Youve got to come here and breathe it in yourself. President Obama Referring to a painting of Vernal Fall and Half Dome two of Yosemites iconic features that hangs in the West Wing of the White House, Obama said jokingly that the park looks slightly better in person. After taking in the surroundings with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Sasha and Malia, the president said: Just look at this scene. Youve got to come here and breathe it in yourself. He spoke in Yosemite after a visit to another of the National Park Systems 400-plus sites: Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Obama on Saturday pointed to some of the environmental gains made during his time in office, including protection of 265 million acres of public lands and waters, more than any previous administration. He also touted the establishment of new monuments, including one to labor leader Cesar Chavez in Kern County. Weve designated new monuments and historic sites that better reflect the story of all our people, Obama said. Three Southern California sites were designated national monuments this year: Sand to Snow, Mojave Trails and Castle Mountains. Those areas, in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, have helped connect hundreds of miles of the regions protected wildlands. As a green meadow waved gently in the breeze behind him, Obama marveled at Yosemites natural beauty even as he warned of the imminent threats posed by climate change. He pointed to the drying of Yosemites grasslands and the shrinking of its largest glacier, which once stretched a mile wide. He cited shifts in the historic bird ranges and said alpine mammals such as pikas had been forced farther up slopes to escape rising temperatures. Fires are raging across the west right now all while its still really early in the season, he said, pointing out blazes in California and several other states. The future could be bleak for many sites in the national parks system, he said: No more glaciers at Glacier National Park. No more Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park. Rising sea levels could threaten natural areas such as Everglades National Park in Florida, as well as such man-made icons as the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island, he added. Earlier in the day, in jeans and and rolled-up sleeves, Obama took photos with young visitors in Yosemite, chatting with them about the importance of the national parks. He highlighted the Every Kid in a Park program, which offers free passes to fourth-graders and their families for all federally managed lands and waters. During his remarks, Obama recalled visiting Yellowstone National Park at 11 for the first time, awestruck by the sight of a moose in a lake, a field full of deer, a mother bear and her cub. That changes you, he said. Youre not the same after that. And I want to make sure every kid feels that. amina.khan@latimes.com Ruben Aguirre, famous for his portrayal of the towering Profesor Jirafales, the likable and often disrespected giraffe teacher on the 1970s-era hit show El Chavo del Ocho, died Friday from complications of pneumonia. He was 82. Aguirre, who had battled various complications of diabetes in recent weeks, was hospitalized in May, then released, his daughter Veronica told BBC World. She said he died at home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Aguirre was a stalwart of El Chavo. Although the show was aimed at adults, it was popular with children. Grown actors played the children depicted in the shows odd world. They included Roberto Gomez Bolanos known as El Chespirito, a giant among Latin American humorists who portrayed the iconic character, El Chavo. Advertisement The adults-as-children device helped lend the screwball comedy an edge, and helped usher in an era of edgier comedy in Mexico and elsewhere. Aguirres character was gentler than that of his oversized charges, however, and gave the show its sentimental heart. The tall teachers on-air romance with Dona Florinda, whose affections he sought, and his signature expression ta-ta-ta became classic tropes of Latino popular culture. Aguirres rise to stardom was an unlikely one. He never studied acting. He went to school in agronomy. He once described himself as a once mediocre actor, who had ascended only through others help. Born in 1934 in Saltillo in the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila, Aguirre started his acting career near Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo Leon. He got his first breaks in radio, then migrated to television, taking bit parts. Pipo the clown was one of his early roles. He was also a bullfighting reporter who delivered his nations first satellite broadcast of a Madrid bullfight. The attention won him a job in Mexico City, where he appeared in a childrens program called El Club de los Millonarios and another educational show. From there, he met two actors from El Chavo del Ocho who brought him into Gomez Bolanos circle. From that point forward, Gomez Bolanos included Aguirre in practically all his works. Gomez Bolanos had multiple programs in prime-time Latin American TV markets, including sitcoms and skit shows. The role that landed him fame was that of Profesor Jirafales, the teacher who courted Florinda, the mother of his student Quico. His teacher character, tall and prone to thinking himself smarter than he was, became a central character. The El Chavo series ended in 1980, but it lasted 12 more years in the form of various skits on Gomez Bolanos other programs. It endures in endless reruns throughout Latin America. Aguirre eventually founded a circus that became his main livelihood for years. But his fortunes sank after a car accident seriously injured him in 2007. This cost him his savings, and forced him to put off retirement. In his last years, he was so financially strapped that he interrupted hospitalizations because his family couldnt pay for them. He confessed to his bitterness: My strength fails me, he said. Jill Leovy of the Times and Sergio Burstein of Hoy Los Angeles contributed to this report. MORE OBITUARIES Singer Julius La Rosa dies at 86 Guy Clark dies at 74; influential songwriter of L.A. Freeway Helen Chavez dies at 88; widow of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez Among the most chilling details to emerge in the Orlando massacre is that the killer paused during his three-hour rampage at the Pulse nightclub to search Facebook for news about it. Pulse Orlando and shooting, Omar Mateen typed into his smartphone, investigators found. His real-time search is a striking data point in what has become a pattern in mass shootings: Killers deeply attuned to their media coverage and in some cases engineering it. Advertisement The 2007 Virginia Tech shooter interrupted his killing spree to mail a videotape to NBC to claim credit and explain his motives. The 2014 Isla Vista killer posted a manifesto on YouTube. Others have discussed their plans in online forums. Media outlets have long taken the position that they simply report the news. But experts who study mass violence say they are also part of the story, because the intense coverage that such tragedies receive can inspire new shooters. The perpetrators of these attacks are often disillusioned young men, and they inhabit the same publicity-obsessed culture as everybody else. Killing offers the prospect of becoming a household name. This seems like a way to achieve some recognition and respect they lack in their daily lives, said Dewey Cornell, a forensic clinical psychologist at the University of Virginia. We live in a world where people are really conscious of their social standing and audience, he said. Around the world, mass shooters have left suicide notes and manifestos describing how they were inspired by the 1999 killings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., one of the first school massacres in the age of 24-hour cable news coverage. Sherry Towers, a researcher at Arizona State University, has conducted one of the few studies looking at connections between shootings. She spent most of her career studying how social behavior spreads diseases such as influenza and Ebola. But in 2014, after noticing three shootings within about 10 days on various college campuses, she began wondering whether mass violence was also contagious. So she built a statistical model to analyze databases of hundreds of shootings. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj The study found that shootings that occurred in schools or ones in which at least four people died the sorts of incidents that receive widespread media coverage occurred in clusters. That suggested to researchers the kind of copycat effect that has been well documented for suicides. After the shootings, the risk of more shootings rose significantly and remained elevated for an average of 13 days, according to the analysis published last year in the journal PLOS One. However, the research found no increased risk after shootings in which at least three people were hit but not necessarily killed, incidents that are so common they usually receive only local news coverage. When there was likely to be national or international media coverage, those were the ones where we found contagion, Towers said. 1 / 81 Inaya Bava, 5, on June 16, 2016, draws on crosses set up to remember the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting at the Orlando Regional Medical Center. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 81 Relatives of those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack arrive at Amway Center on June 16, 2016, for private meetings with President Obama. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 81 President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden bring flowers to the makeshift memorial at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. (Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel) 4 / 81 Jiffy Lube employee Ralph Nieves puts up a sign of support for the Orlando community following the shooting at the Pulse nightclub. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images) 5 / 81 Sarah Roemer, left, and Brandi Van Dongen, nurses at Arnold Palmer Childrens Hospital in Orlando, pray at one of the memorials. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 81 The Parliament House is one of the largest nightclubs catering to the LGBT clients. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 81 Rafael Rivera, left and Jeannette Gonzalez grieve at a wake for Eric Ortiz, one of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 81 Members of the media and public wait to catch a glimpse of President Obama at Amway Center. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 81 A prayer service is held on June 15, 2016, for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting at Delaney Street Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) 10 / 81 Kelly Greenwood prepares a casket on June 16, 2016, at the Cardinal Casket Company in Orlando, Fla. (John Taggart / EPA) 11 / 81 Candles are placed under American flags set in a circle outside a vigil at Christ Church Unity for the shooting victims. (Charles King / Orlando Sentinel) 12 / 81 At the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Taylor Green, 25, left, and Brittany Spencer, 25, grieve for those killed in the Pulse nightclub attack. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 81 ATF investigators continue to work the scene of the Pulse nightclub shooting along Orange Ave. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 81 Friends and family attend the funeral of Angel Luis Candelario-Padro. It was the first funeral for the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. (Jacob Langston / Orlando Sentinel) 15 / 81 Doctors, nurses and first-responders at a prayer service in the emergency room at Florida Hospital in Orlando to honor the victims of the nightclub shooting. (Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel) 16 / 81 FBI investigators continue to work at the Pulse nightclub on June 15. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 81 Mourners embrace outside the visitation for Pulse nightclub shooting victim Javier Jorge-Reyes. (David Goldman / Associated Press) 18 / 81 Mourners gather at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando for a vigil in honor of the nightclub attack victims. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 81 Mourners gather at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando for a vigil in honor of the nightclub attack victims. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 81 Mourners gather at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando for a vigil in honor of the nightclub attack victims. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 81 Michelle Moment sing praise during a service at the First Baptist Church of Orlando during a special prayer service for the attack on Pulse nightclub. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 81 We were protected, we were saved it was just a miracle, said Orlando Torres, 52. A promoter at Pulse, Torres was trapped in a bathroom stall with a friend. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 81 With stitches in his hand, gunshot victim Angel Colon tells his story to the media at a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center on Tuesday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 81 Patience Carter after describing the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times ) 25 / 81 Gunshot victim Patience Carter, 20, left, is consoled by Dr. Neil Finkler at a news conference at Florida Hospital, joined by Dr. Brian Vickaryous, center, and fellow survivor Angel Santiago, 32, right, where they described the attack and its aftermath. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 81 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) 27 / 81 Doctors and other staff at Orlando Regional Medical Center involved in the response to the nightclub shooting answer questions at a news conference on June 14, 2016. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 81 Thousands gather for a memorial at the Plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on June 13, 2016, to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 81 Alison Cossio, center, holds a photo of her friend Christopher Sanfeliz, who one of the victims of the Orlando shooting, during a June 13, 2016, candlelight vigil and rally, hosted by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, at Los Angeles City Hall. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 81 Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels plays guitar and sings during the Islamic Center of Southern California and ICUJP Interfaith Vigil Against Violence and Hatred Monday,night in remembrance of the 50 people killed in Orlando. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 81 Marwa Balkar holds a candle at the Islamic Center of Southern California and ICUJP Interfaith Vigil Against Violence and Hatred on June 13, 2016, in remembrance of the 49 people killed in Orlando, Fla. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 81 Los Angeles City Hall is lit up in colors of the rainbow during a candlelight vigil and rally, hosted by the Los Angeles LGBT Center. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 81 Scott Phillips and Em Enagan mourn for the 49 lives lost in the Orlando shooting during a vigil at Los Angeles City Hall. (Callaghan OHare / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 81 A song is sung during a candlelight vigil and rally, hosted by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, at Los Angeles City Hall, for the victims of Sundays shooting massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 81 Thousands gather for a memorial rally at the Plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on Monday to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 81 Madeline Lago, 15, and her mother Carmen Lago were among the thousands who gathered for a memorial at the Plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on Monday to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack. They bowed their heads as the bell was tolled. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 81 Thousands gather for a memorial at the Plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on Monday to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 81 Friends and relatives bring flowers and remembrances to the plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on Monday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 81 Danielle Irigoyen brings flowers to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Im very close to many of the people who go to Pulse. Pulse was a safe place for us all, she sail. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 81 Investigators gather at the Pulse nightclub on Monday morning. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 81 Investigators set up at the Pulse nightclub. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 81 Family gather for victims at Beardall Senior Center in Orlandoon Monday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 81 Friends of Shane Tomlinson, who was killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting, gather in prayer and remembrances in downtown Orlando on Monday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 81 Friends of Shane Tomlinson, including Richie Compton, left, and Erik Winger, right, gather in prayer and remembrances in downtown Orlando on Monday. Shane Tomlinson was killed killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 81 Family and friends arrive at the Senior Center in Orlando as they await news on their loved ones on Monday. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times) (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 81 Volunteers gather in prayer on Monday at the Senior Center in Orlando where they are there to help grieving family and friends of those killed and injured in the shooting at Pulse nightclub. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 81 FBI investigators in Orlando, Fla., look at the floor plans of Pulse nightclub as they gather on Monday morning to continue the investigation. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 81 People gather at Taylor Square in Sydney, Australia, to show solidarity with victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. (Dan Himbrechts / EPA) 49 / 81 City Hall in Tel Aviv, Israel, is lit up in solidarity with Orlandos shooting victims. (Oded Balilty / Associated Press) 50 / 81 New Zealand residents gather at Frank Kitts Park in Wellingtond to mourn victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla. (Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images) 51 / 81 A man lights a candle in Paris on June 12 to remember those slain and wounded in the Orlando nightclub shooting. (Rapahel Satter / Associated Press) 52 / 81 New Zealand residents gather in Frank Kitts Park to mourn victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. (Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images) 53 / 81 Residents gather at Joy Metropolitan Community Church near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando to mourn the mass shooting victims of the early morning attack on June 12, 2016. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 81 Johnpaul Vazquez, right, and his boyfriend Yazan Sale sit by Lake Eola, in downtown Orlando, thinking of those killed and injured. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 81 Judy Rettig, center, and Dave Hack, left, hug after a prayer service held at the Joy Meropolitan Community Church in Orlando. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 81 Zafar Basith prays at a vigil for the Orlando shooting victims at the Baitul Hameed Mosque in Chino. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 81 Raymond Braun, right, right, gets a hug after a vigil held in West Hollywood for the victims of the shooting at the nightclub in Orlando. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 81 Monte Dobbs and Jhoanna Galvez of Long Beach, comfort each other during a vigil service at the corner of La Cienega Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. (Harrison Hill / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 81 Orlando, second from right, was at the nightclub and trapped for three hours in a bathroom. Orlando and family attend a vigil and church service held at Joy Meropolitan Community Church very close to Pulse nightclub. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 60 / 81 People hug in solaceafter a vigil and church service held at Joy Meropolitan Community Church very close to Pulse nightclub. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 61 / 81 Susan Stephens, right, gets a hug from Karen Castelloes before a vigil and prayer service is held at Joy Meropolitan Community Church very close to Pulse nightclub. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 62 / 81 Investigators view the site of the early morning mass shooting on June 12, 2016, at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 81 People hold signs in support of the Orlando shooting victims on Sunday. (Jacob Langston / Orlando Sentinel) 64 / 81 Kelvin Cobaris, a local clergyman, consoles Orlando city commissioner Patty Sheehan (right) and Terry DeCarlo, an Orlando gay-rights advocate, as they arrive on the scene near where at least 50 people were reportedly shot and killed in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. (Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel) 65 / 81 Aerial view of the shooting scene at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Red Huber / Orlando Sentinel) 66 / 81 A bomb disposal unit checks for explosives around the apartment building where shooting suspect Omar Mateen is believed to have lived on June 12, 2016 in Fort Pierce, Florida. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 67 / 81 Ray Rivera, a DJ at Pulse nightclub, is consoled by a friend outside of the Orlando Police Department after 50 people were killed at the club on Sunday. (Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel) 68 / 81 Orlando police officers outside of Pulse nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation on Sunday. (Gerardo Mora / Getty Images) 69 / 81 Terry DeCarlo, executive director of the LGBT Center of Central Florida, right, is comforted by an Orlando Police officer after a shooting involving multiple fatalities at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla. on Sunday. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) 70 / 81 An aerial view of the shooting scene at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Red Huber / Orlando Sentinel) 71 / 81 Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, center, and others have a moment of silence on June 12, 2016, in West Hollywood for the victims of the shooting in Orlando, Fla., that happened early that morning. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 81 Emergency personnel at Orlando Regional Medical Center wait with stretchers for the arrival of victims from the fatal nightclub shooting. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) 73 / 81 A police officer stands guard outside the Orlando Regional Medical Center after a fatal shooting at nearby Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) 74 / 81 Law enforcement agencies and local city representatives speak at a news conference after 50 people were killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Jacob Langston / Orlando Sentinel) 75 / 81 An Orange County (Fla.) Sheriffs Department SWAT member arrives at Pulse nightclub. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) 76 / 81 Orlando police direct family members away from the Pulse nightclub, where 50 people were killed. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) 77 / 81 Jermaine Towns, left, and Brandon Shuford wait down the street from the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) 78 / 81 Bystanders wait down the street after a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) 79 / 81 The scene outside Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., after the shooting early Sunday. (Univision Florida Central / EPA) 80 / 81 An injured person is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage Sunday morning in Orlando, Fla. (Steven Fernandez / Associated Press) 81 / 81 An injured man is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage Sunday morning in Orlando, Fla. A gunman with an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a gay nightclub, killing at least 50 people before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. (Steven Fernandez / Associated Press) Still, she said the phenomenon has its limits, noting that mass shootings remain rare in Canada even though most people there live close to the U.S. border and are exposed to the same news coverage. The difference, she suggested, could be that Canadians have more regulated access to firearms. Much more research is needed to dissect the various factors that may be at work, she said. With few formal studies on the role of the media, experts can only offer observations. Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston who has tracked mass killings, said that beginning with Columbine there was a rash of school shootings that generated widespread media coverage. The killings stopped abruptly after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and did not resume for several months, he said. With the media focused on a story far bigger than any shooting, he said, We robbed the copycat phenomenon of its inspiration. He also pointed to a trend of escalating death tolls in individual mass shootings, blaming the pattern on publicity-seeking. All these killers want the publicity, he said. They want to go down in infamy. Achieving the highest body count is one way to do that. The media have not only a right but a responsibility to report the news, Levin said. The problem is the way the news gets reported. The emphasis is usually not on the victims but on the killer. We make celebrities out of monsters. After the 2012 shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., some relatives of victims urged the media not to mention the shooters name. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper would only refer to James E. Holmes as Suspect A. Some news figures have also complied with that wish. In a segment in which CNNs Anderson Cooper read the names of the 49 people killed in Orlando, he said that out of respect for the dead the network would not air the name or photograph of their killer. Some officials have also refused to refer to Mateen by name at news conferences. It is impossible to know if such gestures matter to potential killers or if a blackout on naming shooters would slow the violence. In any case, the rise of social media has given them as it has everybody else a platform to rapidly spread whatever messages they choose without the help of traditional media outlets. Moments before he opened fire at the Pulse nightclub, Mateen went to his Facebook page and posted his political views and various threats and demands. alan.zarembo@latimes.com Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske contributed to this report. ALSO The worst mass shooting? A look back at massacres in U.S. history Heres who the major networks are sending to Orlando for mass-shooting coverage The AR-15-style rifle: a popular seller tainted by mass murder South Carolinas governor somberly held up programs from the funerals of the victims of last years Charleston church shootings, saying Friday during a memorial service that the faith of those victims showed how to heal in the aftermath of still another mass shooting. As for me, I will forever know that there are angels on Earth, said Gov. Nikki Haley during a three-hour service that was somber yet punctuated by joyous singing. Coming just days after the massacre in Orlando, Fla., Friday was the anniversary of the shooting deaths of nine black worshipers during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. A white man, Dylann Roof, faces charges in both state and federal courts, and prosecutors in each are seeking the death penalty. Advertisement Haley, who attended the funerals of all the victims, said she got to know the families of those who were killed and the three survivors in the days and weeks following the shootings. There hasnt been a day since June 17, 2015, that I havent thought about the 12, she said. South Carolina Gov. Nikki R. Haley holds a photo of Clementa C. Pinckney as she speaks during a memorial service on the anniversary of last years deadly shooting at a Charleston church. (Chuck Burton/Associated Press) She recalled each victim, sometimes with gentle humor, as she showed the funeral programs she says she keeps as reminders. The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor had the voice of an angel, she said. Haley recalled state Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney, the Emanuel AME pastor who was slain, as a gentle giant and a man who never talked about what he was against. He always spoke about what he was for. Haley said that in the wake of the shootings after which many family members of the victims said they forgave the gunman the people of South Carolina didnt have protests, they had vigils. They didnt have riots, they had hugs. The College of Charlestons TD Arena, where the service was held, seats about 5,000 people and was about half full. The stage was lined with the pictures of the nine people killed. Above each were the words Still Speaking from Eternity. Its the same venue where President Obama last year led the congregation in Amazing Grace during the funeral for Pinckney. A presidential aide read a message to the congregation from Obama and the first lady in which they said as a nation we are deeply moved by your boundless love and your unshakable resilience. ALSO In Orlando, Obama reprises role as comforter-in-chief Victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre: Who they were In a week of mourning in Orlando, members of the LGBT community vow to stay resilient Good morning. It is Saturday, June 18. Heres what you dont want to miss this weekend: TOP STORIES Suspects arrests: A Honduran citizen charged with killing five people in a fire was in the country illegally and had been arrested three times in the months before the Westlake blaze. Johnny Josue Sanchez was arrested by border agents in 2012 for illegally entering the country. This year, he was arrested for domestic violence and drug possession. He is accused of setting fire to an abandoned building to avenge a beating he took in a dispute. Los Angeles Times Heat advisory: Southern Californians can expect heat warnings and advisories this weekend and early next week. The National Weather Service is warning people to limit their exposure outside and prepare for power outages. Los Angeles Times Advertisement Domestic abuse: Baldwin Park City Councilwoman Susan Rubio told a court Thursday that she is fearful of her husband in the wake of his loss in last weeks election. Im afraid he is going to blame it on me and try to retaliate, she said of her husband, Assemblyman Roger Hernandez. In court documents, Rubio accused her husband of choking, shoving and hitting her repeatedly and threatening her with a knife. Hernandez denies the allegations. Los Angeles Times Top issue: A new poll finds that what concerns Angelenos most is homelessness and poverty. The result isnt all that surprising, as the homeless population in L.A. is growing and encampments are appearing on more sidewalks and under more freeway overpasses. The poll comes as the Los Angeles City Council considers a ballot measure to raise millions of dollars for homeless services. LA Weekly Ending a boycott: Should the Los Angeles City Council roll back its boycott of Arizona? After the state passed a controversial immigration bill, L.A. leaders prohibited city employees from traveling there for business or contracting with Arizona-based firms. But the boycott has repeatedly been loosened, and now Councilman Gil Cedillo wants to get rid of it. What I find offensive or unnecessary is for us to pretend that we have a boycott, Cedillo said. Los Angeles Times Car vs. train vs. bike: Whats the fastest way to get from downtown to Santa Monica? A car, apparently, but just by a hair. This race between journalists makes a good case for an electric bicycle. Hollywood Reporter Just relax: Dream meditation, float therapy and whole body Cryosauna are Los Angeles latest wellness trends. We wont take undue stress lying down unless were lying in a sensory-deprivation tank or on a zero-gravity lounge chair with virtual-reality glasses perched on our faces. LA Weekly THIS WEEKS MOST POPULAR STORIES IN ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA 1. Working as a port pilot is one of the most lucrative jobs in Los Angeles city government. So when the coveted position went to the boss son, others called foul. Los Angeles Times 2. A 20-year-old Indiana man was found in Santa Monica with a car full of guns, ammunition and explosive-making materials. Once he said he was headed to the L.A. Pride festival, police went into high-gear. Los Angeles Times 3. It seems every TV character who lives in Los Angeles has moved from the Westside to Silver Lake. Heres why that part of town is playing a starring role. Vulture 4. A Southern California start-up believes people need a mobile napping unit to catch a few minutes of sleep. Orange County Register 5. This video shows what the drought has done to one California town. Slate ICYMI, HERE ARE THIS WEEKS GREAT READS Breaking his silence: Former L.A. County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti is talking about the O.J. Simpson murder trial two decades after the verdict. The former official has regrets (a few), shrugs (more) and explanations (many). Los Angeles Times Trump studios: Donald Trump loves to have his name on projects and products, and in 2012 that meant a movie studio. His idea was to create the largest studio city in America twice the size of the Universal Studios theme park in Florida. But an air reserve base and a political campaign got in the way. Hollywood Reporter Art education: Before the Broad opens for the day, high school students from throughout Los Angeles, many of whom have never been to a museum before, take a seat in front of the works of art. The educational program encourages them to write about their interpretations of the art. Since January, 3,200 students have come through the program, writes Steve Lopez. Los Angeles Times Up in smoke: Just about any question you have about cannabis can be answered by Altered State: Marijuana in California, the current exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California. Marijuana is often misunderstood, or people have a very limited perspective based on what they think they know. We are going to put the debate out there, said museum director Lori Fogarty. Los Angeles Times LOOKING AHEAD Thursday: YouTubes VidCon convention will get underway in Anaheim. Friday: Dwell on Design, the West Coasts largest design show, will begin in Los Angeles. 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. Because of new rules designed to raise graduation standards, officials of the Los Angeles Unified School District woke up in December to the grim news that only half of its students were on track to graduate, down from 74% the year before. The problem was that this was the first year all students had to pass the full range of college-prep courses known as the A through G sequence required by the University of California and California State University for admission. But just a couple of months later, the situation suddenly, startlingly improved, with 63% on track to graduate. By the end of March, 68% had completed their A-G courses, and an additional 15% were close enough that they might be able to make it. The actual graduation rate will not be known for several months. How did this remarkable turnaround happen, and what does it mean? Advertisement Partly, it was that Michelle King, LA Unifieds new superintendent, moved swiftly and decisively, plunging the districts high schools into a full-bore effort to bring students up to snuff, with extra counseling, Saturday classes and after-school classes. But also, the district relied heavily on what are known as online credit-recovery classes. These courses, which have helped boost graduation rates locally and across the country, have grown quickly from a barely known concept a decade ago to one of the biggest and most controversial new trends in education. This is how they work: Students who flunk a course can make up the credit by taking classes either in computer-equipped rooms at school, or at home if they have the equipment and Internet access. Teachers lecture on videos, the computer displays the readings or practice problems, and students take tests that are automatically graded. Written work is supposed to be reviewed by a district teacher. The courses have certain benefits: Students can replay a lecture for missed material, something that cant happen in a regular classroom. When they cant concentrate any longer, they can put the course on hold and take a break. But professors and other education experts are concerned that there is too little quality control to ensure that students have completed the equivalent of a regular classroom experience. Considering all the credit-recovery courses provided by educational publishers, its impossible to say as a rule whether these courses are sufficiently rigorous. Only one large-scale study has been published: Researchers reported in April that Chicago students who were randomly assigned to take an online Algebra I makeup course fared somewhat worse than those who were assigned to classroom makeup courses, with lower pass rates and lower scores on an end-of-course assessment. And an online credit-recovery course observed by Russell Rumberger, director of the California Dropout Research Project at UC Santa Barbara, required only 12 hours of computer time and the reading of one book. LAUSD maintains thats not the case with its programs, which it says are rigorous and effective and take about 60 hours of work. A Los Angeles Times editorial writer arranged to take one of the courses... The results were at the same time reassuring and potentially disturbing. In order to get a closer look, a Los Angeles Times editorial writer arranged to take one of the courses offered to students at LAUSD: English Language Arts 11A, commonly known as the first semester of junior-year English. The results were at the same time reassuring and potentially disturbing. Any student who actually takes the full course sits through each lesson, answers the questions and completes the assignments gets a meaningful education. Thats why UC accepts the course, produced by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Edgenuity, as a college-prep class. The reading excerpts come from fine and often challenging literature Moby-Dick, The Scarlet Letter, great poetry and the like. Video lectures give the background of the works and teach lessons about tone, setting, vocabulary choice and so forth. There are four writing assignments during each semester. All in all, it would easily take 50 or 60 hours or more. The catch is that taking the full course isnt always necessary. Some students are able to pre-test out of much of the course, including the writing. A 10-question multiple-choice quiz is given at the beginning of each of the three-dozen units. With a score of 60% or better six of the questions a student passes the unit, without having to go through the lectures, read the full materials or write the essays. Opening up other tabs on the computer to search for answers on the Internet is allowed. Thats not really cheating: The questions arent about straightforward facts. Students must interpret passages, for instance. But theres plenty of help online via Sparks notes and other resources, and a full hour is given to answer the 10 questions. A second problem with the course is that no full books are assigned in the first semester; the second semester requires just one book. Thats the minimum required by UC, but significantly fewer than most junior-year classroom-based courses. Carol Alexander, director of college-prep requirements at LAUSD, said theres only one book required because the students have already taken the course in class and read books there. But if they flunked the course in class, what reason is there to believe that they did the reading or understood it? Frances Gipson, the districts chief academic officer, said that not all students get the opportunity to pre-test out of all the units in the course. Students are not supposed to be allowed to skip sections that they did poorly on the first time, she said. That might be true. But two students at Fremont High School who took the same junior English course described nearly identical experiences. Both said they had pre-tested out of most of the units. One said he had been given only one writing assignment, and the other said he had been given one or two over both semesters only a fraction of those the course supposedly requires. L.A. Unified appears to be setting the bar lower than most districts across the nation. Edgenuity says that of the 1,900 districts using the companys credit-recovery courses, most will not allow students in English classes to pre-test out of units. Districts that do allow skipping of units through pre-testing often require the students at least to do the writing assignments, and they monitor the tests so students cant search the Internet for clues. And most districts set the passing grade for the pre-test at 70% or higher in contrast to L.A. Unifieds 60%. The big issue is the lack of accountability... Who checks that students are getting enough online coursework to receive a meaningful education? The big issue is the lack of accountability. The district has a vested interest in raising graduation rates and making the A-G policy look good. But who checks that students are getting enough online coursework to receive a meaningful education? Who sets the standard, if there is any standard, for the minimum amount of work that must be put into an online course to receive credit? A UC official also was surprised to learn that students might be pre-testing out of most of the units in any course. Monica Lin, associate director for undergraduate admissions, said UC doesnt supervise how local school districts use their courses and doesnt have the time and resources to conduct regular audits even if it wanted to. She added that the university would reconsider approval if it knew that large numbers of students were pre-testing their way through most of the course. Her instincts are right. If large numbers of students are indeed testing out of significant portions of these courses which is difficult to ascertain and if theyre skipping writing assignments on a regular basis, then those students are being done a serious disservice. If theyre just reading one book in a year in whats supposed to be the equivalent of a junior-year English course, thats unacceptable too and raises worrisome questions about the rest of the credit-recovery courses being offered as well. L.A. Unified deserves credit for its intensive attempt to raise its graduation rates. Online credit recovery can and should be a helpful tool, giving students independence, flexibility and a chance to make up for past mistakes. But the district needs to get a handle on these courses. It along with UC and the State Board of Education needs to set minimum standards, including how much of a course must be completed without pre-testing in order to earn credit. The new federal school-accountability law that replaced the No Child Left Behind Act places considerable pressure on low-performing high schools and their districts to raise graduation rates. But thats a worthy goal only if students are better educated than they were as dropouts. No one is doing teenagers a favor by sending them to college or into the work world thinking they have skills that are still lacking. This piece is the first in a two-part series. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook ALSO Group that wants to launch new L.A. schools names its first grant winners Parting Words: the high school graduation speeches of Los Angeles Superintendents listen and learn tour leaves LAUSD parents with questions unanswered To the editor: I cant stop thinking about all the lives that were tragically cut short in Orlando Sunday morning. I cant stop thinking about how it could have been you or me, but it wasnt. It was them, simply because the killer chose to carry out this violent act in Orlando instead of West Hollywood, or San Francisco, or New York, or Austin. That morning I left the bars covered in glitter, while our members and allies of the LGBTQ community in Orlando left covered in blood or not at all. I cant imagine going out to dance and never coming back or having to leave my friends behind. I cant imagine the confusion and terror they experienced as the shots rang out. I cant imagine the anguish their families felt as they waited for updates or the pain theyll feel for the rest of their lives. I cant imagine what it must have been like for the first responders to hear the constant ringing of cellphones in the pockets of those lifeless bodies. I cant even begin to imagine what it feels like to be full of so much hate like the killer was. What I do feel is sadness, anger, frustration, helplessness and fear. I also feel a strong sense of hope and pride for a community that has shown strength and solidarity. This needs to be sustained so we can continue making progress in the fight for acceptance and equality. Advertisement Its time to do something. Moments of silence are important, but moments of action are what we need. Love will always win. Jacob Alvarez, West Hollywood .. To the editor: Without question, many people share Pastor Roger Jimenezs satisfaction over the killings in Orlando. They probably applaud the Sacramento Baptist ministers honesty. (Sacramento Baptist church pastor praises massacre of 49 people at gay nightclub, June 14) It shows how far we still have to go, how toxic the environment is for some gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people just trying to go about their lives. Dont doubt it. The number of reported hate crimes against gays is up in L.A. County of all places. Across the country, politicians, religious leaders and commentators have a new excuse for segregating gays its called deeply held religious beliefs. Im sure Jimenez can tell you more about that. Jimenezs tirade against gays sounds a lot like presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps rant against Muslims. Both expose a huge crack in our democracy. Thomas Bailey, Long Beach .. To the editor: As I read the article about YouTube pulling the video of Jimenezs anti-gay sermon, I was struck by how easy it would be to dismiss the pastor as simply another radical Christian hater. I suspect, however, that many of my Christian friends would find that label to be offensive to them personally and not consistent with their religious beliefs or practices. Perhaps this might shed light on why President Obama chooses not to use the term radical Islam when discussing the perpetrators of the recent San Bernardino and Orlando attacks. Dick Granoff, Rancho Palos Verdes Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Good morning. Im Paul Thornton, The Times letters editor, and it is Saturday, June 18, 2016. Summer officially begins Monday, and the record temperatures are expected to arrive here right on schedule. While its still cool, lets take a look back at the week in Opinion. It didnt take long for Donald Trump to eclipse the Orlando massacre as the biggest news story of the moment. Trumps first attempt to garner some attention hours after news broke that 49 people had been killed early Sunday morning at a gay nightclub in Orlando his tweet expecting congrats for being right on suspending Muslim immigration to the U.S. didnt dominate the news cycle. So Trump did what always works: He gave a speech, made further inflammatory comments about Muslims and implied the president was somehow complicit in the attack. In so doing, says The Times editorial board, the candidate known for exploring the depths of election-year rhetoric set a new low, even for himself: Trump who made hay during Obamas 2012 reelection campaign by pushing birther challenges to Obamas citizenship told television interviewers Monday that Obama may be willfully standing down in the face of terrorist plots by Islamic radicals, lending credence to a conspiracy theory pushed by folks who stubbornly cling to the fiction that the president is a Kenyan-born Muslim. Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind, Trump said on Fox News. 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. Whats inconceivable is Trump suggesting Obama may be endangering the people he has sworn to protect based on nothing more than the chatter of political lunatics. This isnt the first time Trump has used innuendo to introduce personal smears as though hes a small-town gossip. You can almost hear him whisper, Im not saying this, but others are talking before channeling the kind of garbage that lives out on the political fringes. Trump doubled down on his anti-Muslim hate-mongering in a speech in New Hampshire in which he warned that radical Islam is coming and pledged to ban immigration from areas of the world in which anti-U.S or anti-European terrorism may arise. Never mind that the shooter in Orlando was a native New Yorker. In Trumps view, the government has no mechanism for keeping children of immigrants from radicalizing. So not only would he ban adherents of a major world religion for the acts of the few, he also indicts them for the imagined crimes of their unborn children. And he urged Muslim communities to turn in the people who they know are bad and they do know where they are, implying Muslims are intentionally shielding terrorists. Weve said before that Trumps shoot-from-the-lip persona makes him unsuited for the presidency, and well keep saying it right up until the election, when we hope he fades from the national stage and takes his repugnant intolerance with him. Yet we also fear his campaign has given currency to dangerously wrong ideas about race, religion and proper conduct of a civil society. More reasonable minds recognize those ideas as intellectually and morally bankrupt, and they should recognize the boastful messenger for what he is. Click here to read more. Trump is not just any conspiracy theorist. Jesse Walker, who wrote the book (literally) on understanding paranoia in America, says Trumps conspiracy theorizing has two purposes: to cast suspicion on his political rivals, and to cast the object of his paranoia as a kind of invader acting against the national interest. L.A. Times Yes, the NRA and its sycophants in Congress bear some responsibility for Orlando. Its important to understand the motives of the killer and any possible security lapses that occurred before Sunday. But this shouldnt distract us from the issue of all-too-ready access to guns in America, says The Times editorial board. L.A. Times Dont blame Muslims; the LGBT community isnt. Nico Lang implores us to avoid scapegoating Muslim Americans. Melissa Batchelor Warnke spotlights LGBT voices speaking out on the Orlando massacre; she also highlights the constant threat of violence faced by members of that community. One reader satirically expands on Trumps respectful plan to spy on Muslims. Jonah Goldberg laments the script-reading that occurred by familiar liberal and conservative voices after the shooting. The Times editorial board shoots down calls to ban firearm sales to suspected terrorists. An Op-Ed article wrestles with the moral dilemma of worshiping the loving, homophobic god of Abraham. More post-Orlando reaction can be found at latimes.com/opinion. Hillary Clinton rose from losing badly in 2008 in the Democratic primary to being on her way to the White House in 2016. Foreign Policy magazine columnist Suzanne Nossel writes that Clintons dexterity in defeat holds lessons for anyone faced with coming back from a harsh setback that is to say, for all of us. L.A. Times Solar and wind are great, but nuclear is even better. Six nuclear reactors, from Nebraska to New York, are slated for shutdown by 2019. Energy researcher Robert Bryce says that should seriously concern anyone who cares about fighting global warming. L.A. Times Bernie Sanders has ignited a Democratic Party debate on Israel. Ben Ehrenreich, who recently returned from a trip to the West Bank, credits the partys presumptive runner-up for appointing two well-known activists sympathetic to the Palestinian cause to the key committee responsible for drafting the Democratic Party platform. L.A. Times Reach me: paul.thornton@latimes.com. Setting up a lemonade stand to raise money for cancer research is nothing new for the Peresie family. Last year, Ella Peresie organized a lemonade stand fundraiser and donated the money to cancer research in memory of 12-year-old Burbank resident Christopher Wilke, who passed away in 2014 after being diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer of the bile duct. Ella was classmates with Christophers brother. So when she heard last month that her 7-year-old cousin Noah Cross was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, she and her brother, Ben, dusted off the lemonade stand to raise money for their cousin, who lives in Virginia. Follow us on Twitter >> Even before the fundraiser, which was held on June 12, the Peresie siblings started accepting donations from family and friends. This is not something new or out of character for my kids, said Joanna Peresie, Ella and Ben Peresies mother. I just kind of got lucky with those two, I guess. Joanna Peresie before and after her haircut. (Left: Courtesy of Joanna Peresie; Right: Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) After Noah was diagnosed, his classmates opted to get buzz cuts as a sign of solidarity. Joanna Peresie said she was moved by what those children in Virginia did for her nephew, and it led her to an idea. I told them that if they could raise $1,000, I would get a buzz cut, Joanna Peresie said. Joanna Peresies children did not just raise $1,000, they collected more than $3,200 in about 10 days, which includes the money from the lemonade stand. Joanna Peresie admitted that she did not expect her children to get close to the amount she set. She and her husband thought their children would raise close to $500, recollecting that the kids collected about $300 last year during their fundraiser for Christopher. So I told my husband that my friends are really loving, caring and generous, but theyre also just a little bit evil and I think they would definitely pony up some money to see if I would really get a buzz cut, she said. Sure enough, they did. After selling lemonade and treats in their neighborhood, Joanna Peresie kept her promise. With help from Tammy Talbot, owner of Crowning Glory Hair Studio in Burbank, her blonde, shoulder-length hair was shaved off in front of her family, friends and neighbors. Joanna Peresie with a shaved head at her Burbank home on Thursday, June 16, 2016. Peresie promised to cut her hair if her children raised more than $1,000 at a lemonade stand/bake sale fundraiser for a nephew from Virginia who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. Her children raised $3,400. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) I thought maybe well do a four or a five [guide size] on the clipper to leave something fun, maybe not all the way to my bare scalp, Joanna Peresie said with a laugh. But she put the No. 1 guard on there and took it all off. Its gone. Theres no hair. The freshly shaved hair was then collected and will be donated to the nonprofit Children with Hair Loss, Joanna Peresie said. She said she has never shaved her head before and is getting used to the looks from strangers as she goes about her daily routine. The biggest adjustment is getting used to not requiring shampoo, she said. The first morning after, I got in the shower and I put a handful of shampoo on the top of my head and there was nothing there to catch it. At the end of the day, Joanna Peresie does not regret her decision and is proud to stand in solidarity with her nephew and to have such caring children and neighbors. The stand was Ben and Ellas idea, but it wasnt just Ben and Ella who made it a success, she said. We received donations and support from friends, neighbors and people weve never even met. There is absolutely no way that day would have been as successful as it was if not for the kindness and generosity of our community. To donate money for Noah Cross cause, visit www.gofundme.com/noahcross. -- Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio As construction workers were busy digging and hammering at the Lido Marina Village recently, Dan Schmenk stood in his bookstore, Lido Books, and looked around at the shops stacks of paperbacks and hard covers. Were going to have double the space soon, he said. As the once-popular retail center at the entrance to the Balboa Peninsula works to remake itself, the independent bookshop, which has been a tenant there for all of its 15 years and has been celebrated as one of Newport Beachs popular gathering places, must change as well. But what the store will be undergoing is not exactly a facelift but more of a literary peel. And it will do so in a new location within the center. The prime piece of waterfront real estate once drew crowds to eat and shop, but the foot traffic languished in recent years as vacancies in the center mounted and the grounds began to look neglected. In 2012, the village was acquired by DJM Capital Partners. The private equity and development firm envisioned bringing back the villages charm and vibrancy by restoring upscale shopping, dining and marina activities to the location. Schmenk has weathered the construction and been able to carry on business with his loyal customer base, despite having a closed street in front of his shop. He and Newport Beach designer and architect Rand Kruse, who also is designing other spaces at Lido Marina Village, are rebranding Lido Books to fit with the new look of the village. Having being inspired by classical European libraries, like Cambridge Universitys, Schmenk said he wanted the updated Lido Books to maintain its inviting charm through a restoration mix of modern and old-school. The store will be relocated one door down from his current address. Kruse said his new space will incorporate fixtures on interlocked wheels so they can be moved as needed. Also being added are brass tabletop lamps from Berlin, ceiling fixtures to light bookshelves and a childrens section, to fill a demand for children books. We wanted to make it as big as possible but include that library touch and make it cozy and classic, Kruse said. We were thinking it should have that jewel box feel. In addition to the bookstores inventory of about 5,000 books, Lido Books will offer more merchandise like notebooks, pens, cards and book cards stamped with the store name, he said. Millennials, he noted, are interested in inexpensive novelty gifts, like vintage bookends. The renovation, Schmenk and Kruse said, will help the bookstore keep in pace with the times. The bookselling industry had been in jeopardy over the past few years. Borders went bankrupt in 2011, couldnt find a buyer and ended up being liquidated. Barnes & Noble has reported declining sales, and the demand for the companys Nook tablets tumbled with customers making fewer purchases at its brick-and-mortar bookstores. But according to American Booksellers Assn., retail sales at bookstores were up by 7.5% in November 2015, compared with the same month the previous year, according to preliminary figures recently released by the U.S. census. November 2015 bookstore sales are estimated at $757 million, compared with sales of $704 million for the same period last year. Independent stores have been commended for being integral parts of communities as corporations took greater hold in America. Its that personal touch, and people like talking to someone who knows about books, said Schmenk, whose bookstore also features magazines from international publishers. Because independent bookstores are often reflective of the communities in which they are located, there is more interaction with customers and greater service, he said. Since many of his customers travel, Schmenk said, he will find a book based in a particular country. For the couple flying to Scotland, he suggested a mystery by Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin for the 10-hour flight. Shoppers will find a few more books on France in his store, Schmenk cautioned, since its his favorite place to visit. Not to be forgotten are Lido Books partnerships with local organizations to promote author lectures and other events. And his website notes top sellers and offers an option to order books online. Newport Beach resident and author Candi Sary, at Lido Books on a recent Wednesday morning, said she has been shopping at the bookstore for about a year. Her novel, Black Crow White Lie, is on the shelves. This just doesnt exist anymore, Sary said of the neighborhood bookstore like Schmenks. He reads the greatest stuff, and I stay about an hour just talking to him about books. Schmenk is adamant that he wont sacrifice certain things at the new store, which is projected to open in the spring. I want it to be approachable and not too chic, and I want it to be a place that favors books above everything else, Schmenk said. But more importantly, I dont want anyone to judge the store by its new cover. Lido Books is at 3424 Via Oporto, Newport Beach. For more information, call (949) 673-2549 or visit lidovillagebooks.com. An employee at Best Buys nationwide computer repair center served as a paid FBI informant who for years tipped off agents to illicit material found on customers hard drives, according to the lawyer for a Newport Beach doctor facing child pornography charges as a result of information from the employee. Federal authorities deny they directed the man to actively look for illegal activity. But the attorney alleges the FBI essentially used the employee to perform warrantless searches on electronics that passed through the massive maintenance facility outside Louisville, Ky., where technicians known as Geek Squad agents work on devices from across the country. Since 2009, the FBI was dealing with a paid agent inside the Geek Squad who was used for the specific purpose of searching clients computers for child pornography and other contraband or evidence of crimes, defense attorney James Riddet claimed in a court filing last month. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Riddet represents Dr. Mark Albert Rettenmaier, a gynecological oncologist who practiced at Hoag Hospital until his indictment in November 2014 on two felony counts of possession of child pornography. Rettenmaier, who is free on bail, has taken a leave from seeing patients, Riddet said. Rettenmaier has pleaded not guilty, and Riddet has asked a judge to throw out the bulk of the evidence in the case, arguing it was gleaned from illegal searches based partially on the FBIs relationship with Justin Meade, a supervisor at the Geek Squad center. A hearing on the topic where Riddet hopes to question Meade is scheduled for August. According to Riddet, Rettenmaiers case began in November 2011, when he took a computer hard drive to a Best Buy store for repairs. The drive was shipped to the maintenance center in Kentucky, and in January 2012, Meade contacted a local FBI office to say a technician had found something suspicious. Meade showed an FBI agent photos on Rettenmaiers hard drive, and the agent recognized them as child pornography, according to court records. The Geek Squad had to use specialized technical tools to recover the photos because they were either damaged or had been deleted, according to court papers. Riddet contends it is impossible to tell when the files were placed on the hard drive or who accessed them. Based on the discovery of the photos, the FBI obtained a search warrant for Rettenmaiers Laguna Hills home, which it raided in February 2012, court documents state. During the search, Rettenmaier returned home and investigators seized the iPhone he had with him, according to prosecutors. The U.S. attorneys office in Orange County indicted Rettenmaier on allegations of possessing child pornography on a laptop, multiple hard drives and the iPhone. Prosecutors allege the phone alone held more than 800 pictures of naked or partially nude girls. According to Riddet, an informant file he received from prosecutors shows Meade began speaking with the FBI as early as 2007. Riddet claims the informant file, which is under seal and not available to the public, shows Meade was officially signed up as a source for child pornography investigations in 2009. In 2010 and 2011, Meade contacted the FBI more than a dozen times before his informant file was closed in November 2012, according to Riddets court filings. The file also reportedly shows the FBI paid Meade $500 for his work between October 2010 and September 2011. * Constitutional issue? If Meade was working on behalf of the FBI, the practice may have run afoul of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches, according to one prominent legal scholar. If the government wants to look at somebodys computer, they need to get a warrant, said UC Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, an expert on constitutional law. But whether paying informants automatically makes them agents of the government is not a clearly defined legal issue. According to Chemerinsky, the outcome of Rettenmaiers case will greatly depend on its individual circumstances. Its not going to be a bright-line test, he said. Follow us on Twitter >> Federal prosecutors declined to talk about the case on the record, but in court filings they contested the idea that Meade was doing the FBIs bidding. I never asked or ordered Mr. Meade or any Best Buy employee to search for child pornography or gather information on child pornography or any other crimes on my behalf or on behalf of the FBI, Tracey Riley, the FBI agent Meade contacted, wrote in a declaration filed in January. According to Riley, Meade essentially became the Geek Squads liaison to the FBI. He and Riley spoke frequently because Meade was the one who reached out any time a technician found child pornography. The declaration acknowledges that Meade was paid the $500, but it doesnt explain why. According to Best Buy public relations director Paula Baldwin, Geek Squad policy requires that we notify local authorities if our Geek Squad agents find suspicious content as they are opening files necessary to perform the services specified on the customers work order. Baldwin declined to comment on whether employees are allowed to accept compensation from law enforcement for such reports. Meade could not be reached for comment, but in his own declaration in the case, he wrote that he reported the alleged pornography because of Best Buys policy, not on any direction from the FBI. I never reviewed evidence or communicated to the FBI out of a motivation to get paid by the FBI or any other law enforcement agency, Meade wrote. In fact, he wrote, he doesnt remember being compensated. Nevertheless, Riddet contends the payment acknowledged in Rileys declaration crossed a line. If, as the government contends, Meade was a well-meaning employee of Best Buy who was merely following company policy, and if, further, he was just a good citizen calling the FBI when his job required him to do so, why was he paid at all? Riddet wrote in documents filed last month. He argues that by giving Meade $500, the FBI was encouraging him explicitly or not to find child pornography. jeremiah.dobruck2@latimes.com Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck ALSO Thirteen new homes are coming to Eastside Costa Mesa after the Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday to approve the plans. The project by Irvine-based Melia Homes calls for construction of 13 two-story single-family homes on a vacant 2.1-acre lot at 22nd Street and Santa Ana Avenue. The proposed Craftsman/Spanish-style homes would have four or five bedrooms and at least four bathrooms and range from 2,740 to 3,719 square feet, not including the garages. None of the houses would be more than 26.5 feet tall. The Planning Commissions decision is final unless appealed to the City Council. I think this is a fantastic development, said commission Chairman Robert Dickson. Its going to be a great addition to that area. Chad Brown, vice president of planning and development for Melia Homes, said he sees the project as a nice crown jewel. Opportunities to build projects like this dont come along very often on the Eastside, Brown said Tuesday. So were taking steps to make sure were doing it properly, correctly and in the best interests of everyone. Read the latest headlines from the Daily Pilot >> A few speakers Monday said they were worried that the project could snarl traffic on surrounding streets. Some also raised concerns about lot sizes on the site, an issue that has been brought up repeatedly. The lots for the Melia project range from 6,006 to 6,863 square feet. The land is part of the Santa Ana/Colleen Island annexation that brought 14 acres of unincorporated Orange County into the city in 2014. Under county standards, the minimum lot size for single-family homes on the property was 7,200 square feet. The Costa Mesa City Council instead set the floor at the citys standard 6,000 square feet, a decision that drew the ire of some nearby residents. We would love to have 10,000-square-foot lots behind us so that we all have those big buffers, because thats what we all bought into, longtime area resident Liz Parker said at Mondays commission meeting. Still, Parker credited Melia Homes for being willing to work with the community on the project. The company held informational meetings for neighbors on March 2 and April 21 and, based on those meetings, agreed to provide additional on-street parking and to modify one of the homes windows to provide extra privacy for a neighbor on 22nd Street. They came and listened to our concerns, Parker said. Is it perfect? No. Brown said the company hopes to have models open in a little less than a year. The homes are expected to be priced at $1.2 million to $1.5 million, though the prices will be driven by market forces, Brown said. luke.money@latimes.com Twitter: @LukeMMoney A statue honoring late Newport Beach lifeguard Ben Carlson is scheduled to be unveiled at 7:30 p.m. July 6 during a public ceremony at the Newport Pier. The 9-foot stainless-steel likeness of Carlson, who died in July 2014 while helping a struggling swimmer, was approved by the Newport Beach City Council last year. It will stand in McFadden Square near the pier. Carlson, 32, was the first lifeguard in the Newport Beach departments history to die in the line of duty. The statue, by artist Jake Janz, Carlsons brother-in-law, will depict Carlson clutching a rescue tube and fins in his left hand while his right hand shades his eyes as he gazes toward the ocean. The artwork is funded through donations to the Benjamin Carlson Memorial & Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit formed by Carlsons family and friends after his death. Sabot Nationals bring boat racers to Newport Balboa Yacht Club hosted the annual Senior and Masters Naples Sabot Nationals boat races last weekend in the turning basin near Newport Harbor Yacht Club. Racers representing 10 yacht clubs from San Diego to Santa Barbara competed in four divisions. The Senior division (over age 18) included 10 racers, with Chuck Sinks of San Diego Yacht Club placing first. In the Masters division (over 40), Scott Finkboner of Mission Bay Yacht Club placed first among 16 racers. The Clydesdale division, for racers weighing more than 220 pounds, had three entries. Mike Pinckney of Balboa Yacht Club and Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club was the winner. There were three entries in the Grand Masters division (over 65), with Merideth Blair of San Diego Yacht Club placing first. The regatta for adults who race the 8-foot-long Naples Sabot began in 1972 and has been held every year since, rotating among Southern California harbors. Mission Bay Yacht Club will host the 2017 edition. Irvine church to host A Taste of Greece festival Traditional Greek cuisine, live music, dancing, boutiques and more will be part of the festivities at the 38th annual A Taste of Greece next weekend at St. Pauls Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine. Hours will be from 5 to 10 p.m. June 24, noon to 10 p.m. June 25 and noon to 9 p.m. June 26. The church is at 4949 Alton Pkwy. Admission is $3 (free for children younger than 10, and for senior citizens 65 and older from noon to 5 p.m. June 25). For more information, call (949) 733-3102 or visit irvinegreekfest.com. When Costa Mesa High School senior Miguel Elias was 18, he became hospitalized for nearly two months, all the while thinking, I wont be able to graduate. Im not going to graduate. Last November, he collided with two cars while riding his motorcycle on the way home from working at a Costa Mesa tire shop. The incident left him in a Santa Ana hospital with internal bleeding. His femur had snapped in half, his knee cap shattered, face shifted, lungs collapsed. But despite his numerous surgeries and weeks of physical therapy, Elias, now 19, was able to make it back to Mesa in plenty of time for prom, final exams and what he wanted most Thursdays graduation. His older sister, Yesenia Elias, 27, calls his return a miracle, especially considering that right before the accident, he told her he didnt want to continue going to school. He just wanted to work and see where he would go next. I probably wouldnt have even graduated if it hadnt been for the accident, Elias said. I knew I needed to keep going to school because I couldnt run around the tire shop anymore. I needed to change. He suffered no permanent damage from the collisions, though his left leg cant bend as easily as it used to. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Costa Mesa High School student Miguel Elias was hospitalized for nearly two months after his motorcycle collided with two cars last November. (Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot) Elias has been working and earning his own money since he was 16, first as a busboy at a Japanese restaurant. He then later moved on to carrying, replacing and fixing tires. But when he was younger, his sister said he wanted something a little different. Growing up, he always told us he wanted to be a businessman and he even did a school project where he said thats what he wanted to be, Yesenia said. Then when he started working, he thought, Im making money. Im pulling through. But that cant be all your life. To Elias, working meant having his own cash to pay for things, including his motorcycle. On the night of Elias accident last winter, the teen remembers finishing his shift at the tire shop, then pulling out of the parking lot on his bike. Thats it. The next thing he can recall is waking up two weeks later, looking at the hospital ceiling above him. He had been sedated and in a coma. His face, his body, everything was just swollen, said Yesenia, who had recently gotten a new job at the time of the accident. She moved around her work schedule to be with her brother at the hospital nearly every day. I dont even know how to describe how heartbreaking it was. With his lungs collapsed, his nose broken and his mouth wired shut, for weeks the teen used a feeding tube in his abdominal area to eat and a trach tube inserted into an opening in his neck to breathe. While in the hospital, he underwent several procedures. One was implanting titanium plates into his face to bring back its structure; another involved inserting a rod into his left leg to keep his snapped femur in place. After he transferred to a rehabilitation center in Tustin, he spent three weeks there completing speech and physical therapy. He came home in January to take online classes that Mesa counselor Jeff Gall helped him enroll in. The courses helped make up the work he missed while away from school. My mission was to finish all my online classes before the start of second semester, Elias said. He completed everything in less than a month. We put everything in place for him ... but it was his internal drive that helped him. Jeff Gall, Costa Mesa High School counselor Elias came back to school in time for second semester in February, first in a wheelchair, then a walker. Later he used a cane and then, once again, on his own two feet. Gall, who has known Elias since his freshman year, said that once graduating became important to Elias it became important for Mesa staff and faculty to help get him there. Everyone from the admin to teachers, career specialists and college specialists accommodated, Gall said. Teachers let him out of class early to avoid the crowds during passing time. Friends carried his notebooks. We put everything in place for him but it was his internal drive that helped him, Gall said. While Gall said hes excited to see Elias walk in Mesas graduation Thursday, Elias said hes just happy to walk in general. All throughout the hospital, I worried about not graduating, he said. Before that, I didnt even want to go to school. But then I noticed I needed to change, besides just working my whole life. In the fall, Elias will attend Golden West College in Huntington Beach to study something he first considered long ago business. -- Alex Chan, alexandra.chan@latimes.com Twitter: @AlexandraChan10 ALSO At Five Crowns, new look stays old Investigation will look into claims made by principal in Gold Ribbon Award application New outdoor dining areas coming to 3 Corona del Mar restaurants An association representing business owners in Costa Mesa has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the City Councils decision to allow an Islamic group to open a new gathering center in a business park next to John Wayne Airport. The lawsuit alleges the approval violates property rights by giving privileges to the center that arent enjoyed by other tenants in the area. The Koll-Irvine Community Assn., which encompasses the business park located south of the 405 Freeway next to the airport, is looking to overturn the councils vote that cleared the way for the Ismailis, a branch of Shia Islam, to open a 6,000-square-foot center at 3184 Airway Ave., Suite J. The evidence before the council did not support the decision, states the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court. The evidence does not support the findings, and the findings do not support the decision. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Costa Mesa city spokesman Tony Dodero said the city has received the lawsuit, but that he cannot comment on pending litigation. Salim Rahemtulla, a member of the Ismaili group, said he too is aware of the lawsuit, but declined to comment. The councils 3-2 vote in March overturned an earlier Planning Commission decision to deny the Ismailis proposed jamatkhana used for religious, cultural and educational purposes. The Planning Commission had ruled in February that the facility would put further stress on the areas parking. In the lawsuit, the association alleges allowing the Ismailis to open up shop will impact the property rights of its membership. The business park is a shared-use ownership; the association owns the common area and all of the businesses have to share the parking area and the common area, said Michael Leifer, a partner with the Irvine-based firm Palmieri Tyler who is representing the association. And what appears to be happening is that the citys approval purports to give the religious center rights that are different and potentially superior to rights of other businesses in the park. Essentially, Leifer said Friday, the city is purporting to be the referee, umpire, arbitrator of a division of a shared property right that it doesnt have the power to do. The case has been assigned to Judge Craig Griffin. Some business owners in the park sent letters urging the Planning Commission to deny another project in the area this week, saying it would further exacerbate parking issues. The commission voted unanimously Monday to approve a proposal from the Arts & Learning Conservatory an educational nonprofit organization that offers musical theater and performing arts classes to buy and move into 3184 Airway Ave., Suite A. Planning Commission Chairman Robert Dickson called the conservatory project a win for the center because youre reducing the parking demand quite dramatically. -- Luke Money, lucas.money@latimes.com Twitter: @LukeMMoney ALSO Future of Fairview Developmental Center site is topic of general plan dissension in Costa Mesa Fairview Park open space measure qualifies for November ballot Boys death prompts Newport to examine bike safety near schools April 11 Burglary, residence: 900 block of Regent Park. A man reported that sometime between 9:50 a.m and noon that day, someone broke into his home by smashing a sliding-glass door in a bedroom. Although several rooms and closets inside the residence were ransacked, the victim did not believe anything was stolen. April 12 Burglary, residence: 4700 block of Indianola Way. A man told deputies that sometime between 8 a.m. Wednesday, April 6 and 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, someone entered his house and stole a refrigerator. The suspect also pried a lock off a backyard storage container and stole several power tools, including a hand and table saw, from inside. Deputies observed the latch to the container had been pried off and the interior ransacked. The victim, who remodels homes, said hed recently hired three men to install drywall throughout the house. Hed been referred to them through a friend. Theft, wallet: 2100 block of Foothill Boulevard. A woman said she was in the Ross Dress for Less store just before 1 p.m. when she placed her wallet, containing U.S. and Mexican currency, on the counter during her transaction at the checkout. She left the store, forgetting her wallet, and immediately returned to where shed left it, but it was missing. The victim reported the incident to a manager, who checked the stores video surveillance footage. A black female in her 30s, about 5 feet 4 inches and weighing about 170 pounds and wearing an orange, long-sleeve blouse was shown approaching the counter after the victims departure and taking the wallet. The suspect was then seen searching the wallet, before returning several items at the counter for an exchange. She left the store after the transaction. April 13 Grand theft, unlocked vehicle: 400 block of Foothill Boulevard. A man told deputies on the previous Saturday at 1 p.m. hed parked his 2007 Honda Accord in front of a location, and that hed inadvertently left its doors unlocked. When he returned an hour later, he noticed a black leather bag containing his company-issued HP Elite Book laptop had been taken from the rear drivers side seat. Nothing else was reported as missing or disturbed. April 15 Petty theft, unlocked vehicle: 300 block of Georgian Road. A woman said sometime between 5:30 a.m. and 7:10 a.m., someone entered her unlocked 2013 Volkswagen Touareg while it was parked in front of her residence. When she returned to the vehicle, she saw that it had been ransacked and a medical document for her daughter and a pair of Sam Edelman high heels had been taken from inside. The suspect had left the trunk ajar after departing. April 16 Grand theft: 1100 block of Lavender Lane. A couple had called in their cleaning service for a regular 10:45 a.m. cleaning that day and returned home at around 7 p.m. to discover the husbands wedding ring and the wifes contact lenses were missing. The following morning, the female victim called the owner of the cleaning service to advise him of the missing items and was told one of the mans employees had been arrested for stealing items from every house they cleaned yesterday. He said the Simi Valley Police Department had arrested the woman. An officer with the department later told the victims the ring and contact lenses had been turned in at the time of the suspects arrest. Details on the suspect were not immediately available at the time of the report. Petty theft: 4500 block of Palm Drive. A woman reported that sometime between 10:45 a.m. and 7 p.m. that day, someone stole 50 paving stones from her backyard. Deputies observed the imprints of the missing stones in the dirt. The victim said she had no idea who might have taken them. Petty theft: 400 block of Foothill Drive. An employee of a local business said that sometime between 3 and 5 p.m. that day, someone stole a pallet loaded with 55 empty milk crates from outside the business, where they were stored. -- Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine -- ALSO: The quick success and slow decline of a local icon Man charged with killing his nephews in Arcadia is extradited from Hong Kong Crescenta Valley Sheriffs Station committee hosts forum to examine local drug trends The man accused of killing British lawmaker Jo Cox defiantly refused to give his name in court Saturday, instead identifying himself as Death to traitors, freedom for Britain. Thomas Mair, 52, also would not confirm his address or date of birth during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in central London. The only sentence he uttered was: My name is Death to traitors, freedom for Britain. Advertisement Mair has been charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, firearm possession with intent to commit a crime and other weapons charges. He is accused of killing Cox, 41, as she exited her car and headed toward a public library to meet constituents Thursday in her home district of Birstall, a small market town outside the northern city of Leeds. Wearing a gray tracksuit, he looked alert and stoic as he sat in the dock flanked by two security guards. Prosecutor David Cawthorne told the court that Cox had spent that morning at a local school and care home before heading to Birstall Library for a pre-arranged meeting with local constituents. Mair approached Cox and immediately started to stab her repeatedly with a large knife, causing her to fall to the ground, the prosecutor said. He said Mair then removed a gun from a black bag and shot her three times as she lay on the ground. Mair continued to stab Cox and was heard to say: Britain first. Keep Britain independent. Britain always comes first. This is for Britain, the prosecutor said. Mair then placed his weapons inside a bag and calmly walked away, according to authorities. A 77-year-old man, named in court as Bernard Carter-Kenny, also was stabbed in the abdomen when he tried to intervene. He is listed in stable condition at a local hospital. The prosecutor said that while doctors were frantically trying to save Coxs life, Mair was tracked down less than a mile away, wearing a black baseball cap and carrying a black bag. As officers approached him, the prosecutor said, Mair stood in the road with outstretched arms and said: Its me. Once arrested, Mair also told officers that he was a political activist, the court heard. Inside his bag, police found a single-barrel gun with one round still in the chamber, ammunition, a blood-stained knife and a bloodied mobile phone, authorities said. Cox, a mother of two who was campaigning for Britain to remain in the European Union ahead of a June 23 referendum, died within an hour of the attack. Mairs lawyer, Keith Allen, said his client has not indicated what plea would be given in the case, and Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot ordered him remanded into custody. She also suggested that Mair undergo a psychiatric evaluation at Belmarsh prison. Bearing in mind the name he has just given, he ought to be seen by a psychiatrist, she said. In the small town of Birstall, Coxs family visited the scene where she was slain as well as a makeshift memorial to read messages, greet friends as well as strangers and thank the public for their support. Her sister, Kim Leadbeater, spoke on behalf of the family and said Jo was perfect and only ever wanted everyone to be happy. For now, our family is broken, she said. But we will mend over time. And we will never let Jo leave our lives. She will live on through all the good people in the world. Cox focused on the positive, she said. [Jo would] talk about the silent majority who didnt always shout the loudest, but who she knew were in her corner, the sister said. Over the past 48 hours, people have not been silent. They have been vocal and passionate and have spoken from the heart with genuine emotion and no hidden agendas. Jo would have loved it. We have to continue this strength and solidarity in the days, months and years to come as part of Jos legacy, she said. And focus on, as Jo would say, that which unites us and not which divides us. Coxs death brought political campaigning in the European Union referendum to a virtual standstill. Both sides in the debate immediately canceled events as a mark of respect, and questions are being asked about the vitriolic tone of the campaign, which has stirred up anti-immigrant and xenophobic feelings among some sections of the electorate. A search of Mairs home found newspaper articles about Cox as well as material from right-wing extremist and white supremacist groups, authorities said. Vigils have taken place across Britain, and heartfelt tributes have poured in from friends and colleagues across the political spectrum, who describe Cox as one of the Labor Partys rising stars. Cox had been a member of Parliament for little more than a year and was a campaigner with aid organizations, including Oxfam, before entering politics. She recently had spoken up for the plight of refugees, especially Syrian children, and a fund to raise money for the causes closest to her heart already has amassed more than $700,000. President Obama phoned Coxs husband, Brendan, to offer his personal condolences. Shortly after her slaying, Brendan Cox released a statement saying his wife would have wanted two things to happen now. One, that our precious children are bathed in love, and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesnt have a creed, race or religion; it is poisonous. On Saturday, he tweeted: Very proud of my sister in law Kim who spoke on behalf of us all and did her sister proud #MoreInCommon ALSO: Apple pressures Unicode into pulling rifle emoji Oakland loses third police chief in nine days, will operate under civilian control Sherpa fire in Santa Barbara County grows to nearly 6,000 acres as a hot, windy weekend looms Boyle is a special correspondent. UPDATES: 12:45 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional information, including comments by Coxs family. 6:14 a.m.: This article has been updated with additional details and background. This article was originally published at 3:34 a.m. An International Space Station crew including an American, Briton and Russian landed safely Saturday in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASAs Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and the Russian agency Roscosmos Yuri Malenchenko touched down as scheduled at 3:15 p.m. local time about 90 miles southeast of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. All descent maneuvers were performed without any hitches and the crew reported feeling fine as their ship dropped out of orbit and headed down to Earth. Helicopters carrying recovery teams circling the landing area as the capsule descended slowly under a massive orange-and-white parachute. Advertisement Support crew helped the three get out of the capsule, charred by a fiery descent through the atmosphere, and placed them in reclining chairs for a quick checkup. Squinting at the sun, Peake said he felt elated, adding that the smells of Earth are just so strong. Id love some cool rain right now! he said with a smile as he sat in scorching heat in his bulky spacesuit. After a medical checkup, the crew will change their spacesuits for regular clothing and be flown separately to their respective bases. Maj. Peake, a 44-year-old former army helicopter pilot, has become a hero at home, helping rekindle an interest in space exploration. He was not the first Briton in space. Helen Sharman visited Russias Mir space station in 1991 on a privately backed mission, and several British-born American citizens flew with NASAs space shuttle program. But Peake is Britains first publicly funded British astronaut and the first Briton to visit the International Space Station. He performed the first British spacewalk and was honored by Queen Elizabeth II in her annual Birthday Honors List. He excited many at home by joining the 26.2-mile London Marathon from 250 miles above the Earth, harnessed to a treadmill aboard the ISS with a simulation of the route through Londons streets playing on an iPad. Peake finished the race in 3 hours and 35 minutes, a record for the fastest marathon in orbit, according to Guinness World Records. The trio spent 186 days in space since their launch in December 2015. They have conducted hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science. Im going to miss the view definitely, Peake said after landing. NASA said the data received would help in the potential development of vaccines and could be relevant in the treatment of patients suffering from ocular diseases, such as glaucoma. For Malenchenko, it was a sixth mission, and he logged up a total of 828 days in space, the second-longest accumulated time in space after Russian Gennady Padalka. Kopra has logged up 244 days in space on two flights. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams along with Russians Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will operate the station for three weeks until the arrival of three new crew members. ALSO: Apple pressures Unicode into pulling rifle emoji Oakland loses third police chief in nine days, will operate under civilian control Sherpa fire in Santa Barbara County grows to nearly 6,000 acres as a hot, windy weekend looms Facebook, Google and Twitter are all named as defendants in a suit filed by the family of a California college student killed in the deadly 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. The family of Cal State Long Beach student Nohemi Gonzalez alleges each of the companies supplied "material support" to the Islamic State and other extremist groups leading to the attacks. ISIS Uses Social Media to Spread Progaganda Known as ISIS or ISIL, the Islamic State regularly uses the social media channels and Google's YouTube to spread propaganda, celebrate similar attacks and lure new recruits. Filed in San Francisco federal court, the suit is the latest in a growing number of them insisting that social media platforms make it too easy for groups like ISIS to spread their divisive rhetoric. The 23-year-old Gonzalez was among 130 people killed in coordinated attacks that spread across much of Paris. Facebook Denies Claims in Statement "Facebook execs quickly moved to dismiss the suit as without merit, adding in a statement "There is no place for terrorists or content that promotes or supports terrorism. "There is no place for terrorists or content that promotes or supports terrorism on Facebook," execs added. "Anyone can report terrorist accounts or content to us, and our global team responds to these reports quickly around the clock. If we see evidence of a threat of imminent harm or a terror attack, we reach out to law enforcement." Twitter and Google also disputed the validity of the suit, adding that their policies strongly condemn the promotion of violence and take swift action against such content. The suit seeks damages to be determined at trial, though family attorney Keith Altman stressed the matter is not about money. "Google shares the profits with ISIS and these extremist groups," he said. "By their terms of service, in order to you on YouTube (a Google subsidiary), you have to submit your articles for monetization to Google. Then they start putting ads on our pages and sharing revenue with you." Earlier this year, Twitter insisted it suspended as many as 125,000 accounts over a six-month period based on connections to ISIL. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu scheduled an initial conference for September. 2014 to date: Red Xs=homicides; Blue Xs= shootings, person wounded; Brown Xs=shots fired at victim(s), not hit; Purple Xs=shots at occupied residence/vehicle; Green Xs= shots at unoccupied vehicle/residence; Grey Xs=shots fired (no hit, no target identified); Orange X's=non-fatal stabbings. Map is unofficial. A separate map (not shown here) indicates add'l shootings in Central LB. Advertisement Advertisement On Sept 15 and 22, 2015 the Council voted (without dissent) to adopt a FY16 budget, recommended by Mayor Robert Garcia, that failed to restore LBPD's former field anti-gang unit. It leaves LB taxpayers with a budgeted police level for citywide deployment roughly equivalent per capita to what L.A. would have if L.A.'s Mayor and Council cut roughly 30% of LAPD's officers. In August 2012, Mayor Foster first recommended the budgeted elimination of LBPD's field anti-gang unit. The Council balked, funded the unit at half strength for a year, but in subsequent years quietly let it disappear. Other recent shootings: June 17: 65th/Orizaba: No-hit shooting after armed robbery victim (8th dist.) pursues alleged robbers (9th dist.) June 17: Gunfire, area Elm/Plymouth (no property/persons hit, 8th dist.) June 16: Gunfire heard and man (adult) passenger in car found shot, area Temple Ave./14th St. (4th St.) June 12: Man Is Shot, 6800 block Curtis Ave. (9th dist.) June 9: Two people shot -- one declared deceased at the scene (64th St./Coronado Ave., 9th dist.) May 30: Man (adult) shot, 100 block Gordon St. (southern tip Coolidge Triangle, 9th dist.) May 25: Drive-by shooting, man hit, Orange Ave./61st St. (9th dist.) May 24: 1300 block Walnut Ave., vehicle is damaged. (6th dist.) May 21: 900 block E. Artesia: Gunfire exchanged between two suspects, one is hit (9th dist.) May 15: Man is shot, area Orange Ave./61st St. (9th dist.) May 14: 1100 block Orange Ave. man is shot during a home invasion (border 6th/2nd Council dists.) May 8: 1000 block of Alamitos Ave., man is shot (6th dist. near 1st dist. border) May 3: 15th St./Stanley Ave, vehicle struck by gunfire (4th dist.) May 3: 3300 block E. 65th (near Ramona Park), 16 year is shot/killed (9th dist.) May 3, 1500 block Walnut, man shot (6th dist.) April 30: 800 block Via Wanda, evidence of gunfire, no persons hit (8th dist.) April 28: 300 block W. Willow St., gunfire heard, evidence of shooting found (6th dist.) April 28: Walnut/14th St., man is shot (6th district) April 27: 1600 block Pine Ave., man is shot (noon hour, 1st dist.) April 27: 500 block Maine Ave., gunfire heard, evidence of shooting found (1st dist.) April 21, 1800 block Pine Ave., man shot (6th dist.) April 18, 1200 block E. 17th St., four people shot; one dies, three are wounded (6th dist.) April 11: 200 block W. 12th St., male victim is shot (1st dist.) April 11: 1900 block W. Willow St., building is hit (7th dist.) April 10: Man (adult) shot, 3300 block Caspian Ave. (7th dist.) April 9: Man (adult) shot, Linden/Norton (8th dist.) [This shooting just days before election day was a few blocks from the newly named Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library in 9th dist.] April 9: Man (adult) shot, Coolidge Triangle area, 200 block E. Barclay (9th dist.) Apr. 7: Man (adult) shot/wounded area Artesia Blvd./Butler Ave. (9th dist.) Apr. 7: Man (adult) shot/wounded area Artesia Blvd./Butler Ave. (9th dist.) Apr. 2: Late afternoon gunfire South St./Linden Ave., no persons/property (border 8th/9th Council districts) Advertisement Advertisement Mar. 31: 17 year old shot/killed, 1300 block E. 11th St. (6th dist. near border of 2nd dist.) Mar. 30: Man is shot/killed, 1600 block Pine Ave. (1st dist.) Mar. 21: Car to car shooting, 1400 block E. 14th St., no victims found (6th dist.) Mar. 19: Gunfire, area 10th/Olive, no person hit (border of the 1st/6th districts) Mar. 17: Man is shot, E. 10th St./Lime Ave. (borders 1st and 6th districts) Mar. 11: Man is shot, area 1st St. between Lime/Alamitos (border 2nd district) Mar. 6: Man is shot, area 19th/Cedar (6th dist.), found dead in vehicle 1700 block Pacific Ave. (1st dist.) Mar. 3: Two people shot, one of whom dies, area Artesia Blvd/Butler Ave. (9th dist.) Feb. 28: Man found shot to death, area 10th St./Norman Court(4th dist.) Feb. 27: Gunfire hits vehicle, area 11th/Ohio (4th dist.) Feb. 9: Man (adult) shot in midnight hour, 2200 block Spaulding St. (4th dist.) Feb. 8: 2600 block Adriatic Ave., man is shot (7th dist.) Feb. 6: 1900 block of W. Wardlow Rd., man is shot (7th dist.) Feb. 2: 2200 block Lime Ave., man is shot (6th dist.) Jan. 24: 1900 block Pasadena Ave., unoccupied vehicle struck by gunfire (6th dist.) Jan. 24: 800 block Walnut Ave.: two vehicles damaged by gunfire (2nd dist.) Jan. 17: 1300 block Walnut Ave. (three vehicles damaged by gunfire (3:30 a.m.) (6th dist.), Jan. 10: 3200 block E. Artesia Blvd. (9th dist.): Man (adult) was found shot multiple times Jan. 9: Chestnut/17th St.: Evidence of gunfire, no persons/property struck (1st dist.) Jan. 1: 1300 block MLK Ave. (6th Council district); no persons hit Advertisement Advertisement Disqus Reports of bear sightings are circulating around east Tennessee, which comes at no surprise considering this is bear country. Increased activity is also expected this time of year as bears continue their quest to replenish their energy and fatten back up from a long, lean winter. Last fall, hard mast production was sparse and in particular, the acorn crop was very spotty. Black bears depend heavily on acorns as a food source to pack on those extra pounds before entering their winter dens. Many bears went into their dens malnourished and some were so lean that they didnt den at all. For example, Appalachian Bear Rescue in Townsend took in numerous cubs that were about 10 months of age that weighed a mere 6 and 7 pounds. Many bears emerged from their winter dens much leaner than in normal years and have been anxiously waiting the ripening of the summer berries. Fortunately, black berries, raspberries, dewberries and mulberries are coming into season and bears are reaping the bounties. Bears will also enjoy blueberries and huckleberries as the summer progresses followed by wild grapes, cherries and other fruits that will hopefully carry them over until the hard mast matures this fall. The ripening of the berries is a significant event for bears this year as springtime foods have been hard to come by, said TWRA Black Bear Coordinator Dan Gibbs. Many bears have opted to utilize humans as a source of food, diving into garbage cans and raiding the bird feeders at will. And while it may seem tempting to try and give handouts to hungry bears, habituating them to humans is one of the worst things that can happen to them. Citizens and visitors alike should be proactive in their efforts to ensure that bears remain wild, thus reducing bear-human interactions. Nationwide bear management experience has clearly shown that bears attracted to human food sources, or that are deliberately fed by humans, have a relatively short life. The survival rate of bears receiving food from people is likely a fraction of that of wild bears that do not have repeated contact with humans. The deliberate and accidental feeding of bears is socially irresponsible and causes animals to become conditioned and habituated to people. Bears that habituate to human presence eventually become a threat to human safety. The end result is that such bears are often killed by intolerant and/or fearful landowners or have to be destroyed by the TWRA. The fact that garbage kills bears is irrefutable, officials said. The primary corrective action to this management dilemma is to simply restrict the access bears have to human foods. However, state and federal agencies have confronted significant challenges in bringing about even moderate changes to human behavior to achieve greater safety for humans and bears. Tennessee residents and visitors can support bears by taking steps to ensure that wild bears remain wild by carefully managing sources of human food or garbage that might attract bears. The wise stewardship of habitat we share with bears is the joint responsibility of both wildlife managers and the public and will be essential for a viable future for our state treasure, the black bears of Tennessee. Remember these Bear Wise Basics when residing or vacating in bear country: - Never feed or approach bears. - Do not store food, garbage, or recyclables in areas accessible to bears. - Do not feed birds or other wildlife where bears are active. - Feed outdoor pets a portion size that will be completely consumed during each meal and securely store pet foods. - Keep grills and smokers clean and stored in a secure area when not in use. - Talk to family and neighbors when bear activity is occurring in your area. The U.S. Forest Service also offers this information for visitors at campgrounds and picnic areas: - Keep a clean site by properly disposing of: All garbage, including fruit rinds and cores, aluminum foil (even from grills) that has been used to cook or store food, plastic wrap and bags that have stored food, and cans and jars that are empty. - Pick up food scraps around your site. - Never leave food or coolers unattended (unless inside a vehicle or hard-sided camper). - Wipe down tabletops before vacating your site. - If a bear approaches your site, pack up your food and trash. If necessary, attempt to scare the animal away with loud shouts, by banging pans together, or even throwing rocks and sticks at it. If the bear is persistent, move away slowly to your vehicle or another secure area. While in the Backcountry: - Hang food and anything with strong odors (toothpaste, bug repellent, soap, etc.) at least 10 feet off the ground and 4 feet from a tree or limb, or use special food storage boxes and cable systems if available. - Do not cook or store food in or near your tent (food odors on tent or gear may attract a bear.) - If a bear approaches, frighten it by yelling, banging pans together, or throwing rocks. - Do respect bears and admire them from a distance. - Pack out trash -- don't bury it. Any Time You See A Bear: - Do not feed or toss food to a bear or any wild animal. - Keep children close at hand. - Keep pets indoors or in a vehicle or camper. - Do not approach a bear--they are dangerous. If it changes its natural behavior (feeding, foraging, or movement) because of your presence, you are too close. - Never surround or corner a bear. - Never run from a bear -- back slowly away and make lots of noise. - Encourage others to follow these instructions. - Be responsible. Improper behavior on your part may cause the bear to die. - In the extreme case that you are attacked by a black bear, try to fight back using any object available. Act aggressively and intimidate the bear by yelling and waving your arms. Playing dead is not appropriate. While Hiking: - Let someone know where you are going and when you plan to return. - Carry bear pepper spray. - Read all signs at the trailhead. - Hike in a group, keep children close at hand. - Make your presence known (call out). - Hike during daylight hours and stay on the trail. - Watch for bear signs: scat, claw marks, diggings, logs or stumps torn apart, etc. Miss Tennessee Valley Meredith Maroney and Miss Chattanooga Caty Davis not only swept Fridays preliminary awards at the Miss Tennessee Pageant, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville students were honored earlier in the day at the Parents Luncheon for their community service accomplishments. The two Scenic City Pageants representatives are attempting to become the franchises fourth Miss Tennessee winner in the last five years tonight when the field of 35 contestants is reduced to the top 15 finalists who will compete for the $13,000 scholarship that will be awarded to the new titleholder succeeding former Miss Scenic City Hannah Robison. The coverage at www.eplustv6.com begins at 9pm. Miss Maroneys performance of Somewhere from the iconic West Side Story resulted in a talent victory that was preceded by receiving a $1,000 Public Relations Award Scholarship for selling the most program book ads. The junior Communications major is a native of Jackson which has hosted the pageant for over 60 years. Miss Davis, a senior majoring in Psychology, added the Lifestyle and Fitness Award to the $1,000 Miss America State Community Service Award the Knoxville resident received for her platform of Addiction Doesnt Define Me: Empowering Families Affected by Substance Abuse as well as the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Medal for exceptional accomplishments in academics, fitness and leadership. The Scenic City directors Rodney Hullender, Keith Brown and Bobbie Nation, all of whom work at the East Brainerd hair salon Splash!, were honored as the Co-Local Directors of the Year by the state organization for producing six Miss Tennessee winners since the programs inception 14 years ago. The three title local preliminary is open statewide and is one of the most competitive in the Miss America Organization attracting contestants from throughout Tennessee. The 2017 program will be held on Aug. 27 at Chattanooga State. You are here: Home Six people were killed and another two are missing in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region due to floods brought by a week of rain. According to local civil affairs department, 39,000 hectares of crops were affected as of Friday. Several thousand houses collapsed and 15,000 people were relocated. Economic losses are estimated to be around 317 million yuan (48 million U.S. dollars). A total of 66 flood alerts have been issued across the region since June 9. Water level at 33 gauging stations on 20 rivers have crossed the warning marks, said the regional flood control headquarters. Jun 18, 2016, 2:01pm ET Mazda marks 25th Anniversary of Le Mans win The iconic green-and-orange livery rides again. With the 24 Hours of Le Mans kicking off this weekend, Mazda is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its own historic win at the world's most famous enduro. To mark the occasion, Mazda is reviving the livery of its winning car, the 1991 Mazda 787B. The iconic orange and green livery from Japanese clothier Renown will run again on Mazda's 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship race car. Both the Le Mans winner and the IMSA prototype are number 55 (five is pronounced "go" in Japanese, so the number is a pun saying "Go, go!"). "As a kid, I remember seeing pictures and models of the Mazda 787B, said Jonathan Bomarito, driver of IMSA car, of the classic 787B. "There was no other car in the world that looked like it, or sounded like it. It showed that Mazda was a unique car company, approaching things in their own way." The 787B was perhaps the pinnacle of Mazda's trademark rotary engine technology, its quad-rotor mill capable of approximately 800 horsepower and an otherworldly roar as it breathed through long individual intake runners. "That day in 1991 cemented what defined Mazda, and that spirit and passion of the company is seen and felt every day in each element of our brand, said John Doonan, motorsports director of Mazda North America. Mazda has a long history of tackling the world's most grueling races, from the 1968 84 Hours of Nurburgring to the 1979 RX-7's debut class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona. The Bethlehem fire and police departments are getting a boost. Both departments held a joint promotion and swearing-in ceremony Friday. Four police officers and three firefighters were promoted. And four police officers and six firefighters were sworn into service and will begin work in the next few weeks. The firefighters will complete 18 weeks of training at the Allentown Fire Academy before hitting the streets. Fire Chief Robert Novatnack requested family members and loved ones offer patience to the firefighters as they undergo training. "It's going to be tough," Novatnack said. "They're going to get dirty, but they'll come out ready to serve." Both Navatnack and Police Chief Mark DiLuzio urged new hires to take their job seriously and understand their quest should be to serve. William Doseldo was one of those promoted, from lieutenant to captain in the police department. He will oversee criminal investigations. DiLuzio said his 27 years of experience make him the best man for the job. Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez administered the oath for each of the participants. Before he swore in Sgt. Wade Haubert, who was promoted, he told the audience he had Haubert as a student when he was a teacher at William Allen High School in Allentown. "He made a great student and I'm proud to now have him serving the city of Bethlehem," Donchez said. Family members were invited to pin on officers' or firefighters' new badges. Vera Ayala was one of several children who pinned new badges for their dads. When asked about pinning on her father's badge, she bashfully said, "I was very excited." She also said she was proud of her dad, firefighter Juan Ayala. DiLuzio said all recognized at the ceremony were "fine gentlemen." He said he felt confident the promoted police officers will be excellent leaders. Tom and Julia Glick came to the ceremony for their son Jonathan, one of the new police officers. Tom Glick his son wrote his college essay on serving his community, and the ceremony was indication he meant that. "We're on cloud nine right now," he said as he hugged his son. "We are very fortunate to have such a high caliber of people serving the city of Bethlehem," Donchez said. Police promotions: Capt. William Doseldo promoted from lieutenant Lt. Benjamin Hackett promoted from sergeant Sgt. Wade Haubert promoted from officer Sgt. Samuel Kessler promoted from officer Officers sworn in: Jonathan Glick Daniel Heayn Brian Kovacs Sean Dobson Fire promotions: Capt. Allan Burghardt promoted from lieutenant Capt. Michael Reich promoted from lieutenant Lt. Dale Norton promoted from firefighter Firefighters sworn in: Steven Levine Neil Lipinsky Bernard Smicherko Juan Ayala Joseph Gallone Chad Miller Ashleigh Albert is lehighvalleylive.com's Russell J. Flanagan Memorial news intern. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. You are here: Home A man has miraculously escaped death after a 1.5-meter steel bar pierced his body from groin to skull in east China's Shandong Province on Tuesday. Surgeons remove a 1.5-meter steel bar out of a man's body after he falls from a height of five meters on to the steel bar. (Photo/China.com) The 46-year-old construction worker, surnamed Zhang, woke up Thursday, weak but conscious, according to doctors at Shandong University's Qilu Hospital in Jinan, the provincial capital. Zhang was working at a construction site when he fell from a height of five meters on to the steel bar. Firefighters were able to cut the bar and accompany the man to hospital. An xray showed that the steel bar had only just missed his skull, trachea, heart, carotid artery and liver. "This is a very rare accident," said Sang Xiguang, head of the emergency surgery department. Surgeons from nine departments worked with firefighters to remove the bar from the man's body. The emergency operation took more than seven hours. By 1:00 a.m. Wednesday, the man was wheeled out of the operating room and transferred to intensive care unit. "Luckily the bar barely touched his vital organs," said Zhang Yuan, attending doctor of the neurosurgery department, "The wound was so large, he might not have made it if he was in poor health." "One wrong move, and the operation would have failed," he said. "Everyone was exhausted by the end of the seven hours," Sang said. The man is now stable, doctors said, but he will remain under close observation for two weeks as the risk of infection is high. "We will try our best to help him recover," said Sang. A Northampton County man was fatally injured in a workplace incident Thursday, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office said. Robert Schoenberger, 53, of the 3800 block of Banyan Drive in Danielsville, Lehigh Township, was hurt while operating a press Thursday morning at the Allentown Steel Fabricating Co., 260 Race St. in Catasauqua, the coroner's office said Friday. He was struck by an object and taken to St. Luke's University Hospital, Fountain Hill, where he was pronounced dead at 8:45 a.m. Thursday. The cause was sharp-force injuries to the abdomen, and the death was ruled an accident. In addition to the coroner's office, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death. Allentown Steel Fabricating says it provides a variety of custom fabrication and other services involving mild steel, alloy steel, stainless steel and aluminum. Efforts to reach the company for comment Friday were not immediately successful. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. bushkill helipad hearing Residents fill the Bushkill Township Vol. Fire Company Hall on June 16, 2016 for a conditional use hearing for a proposed helicopter landing pad on Seifert Road. (John Best | lehighvalleylive.com contributor) Residents who live near a helipad proposed in Bushkill Township say landing helicopters in a residential area will be too loud and dangerous. About 60 people attended a Thursday night conditional use hearing for a proposed helicopter landing pad on Seifert Road. The applicant, pilot Francesco Lazzarini, said he would like to install paving stones in an 80-foot-diamter to land his company's helicopters on his property. Lazzarini, chief operating officer and director of operations for HeliFlite, a helicopter charter company, is asking the township to allow him to build the helipad so he can occasionally fly an aircraft home from work. HeliFlite employs 23 pilots, owns seven helicopters and manages two others. The bulk of the fleet is stored at Newark Liberty International Airport. Lazzarini, who bought the Seifert Road property in February 2015, said there would be a maximum of 25 landings and 25 takeoffs per year and, since he did not plan to install lights, the helipad would only be used during daylight hours. Private-use heliports on lots that have at least five acres are permitted by conditional use in Bushkill Township. Lazzarini's home is on 12.4 acres. Lazzarini and a sound expert he hired, Norman Dotti of Russell Acoustics LLC from Point Pleasant, N.J., testified and were questioned by Lazzarini's lawyer, Stanley Margle, neighbor Eric Michelman's lawyer, Ted Lewis, and at least 18 residents -- none of whom said they were happy with the proposed helipad. The two major themes expressed by the residents dealt with safety and noise. Lazzarini, an Italian Naval Academy and U.S. Navy flight school graduate, said he and his company have never had an accident or been cited for a violation by the Federal Aviation Administration in over 20 years. Lazzarini's wife and his handyman would be trained as ground crew members to ensure the pad would be clear of people or animals during landings, he said. Bushkill Township is home to several private helipads, including one that was approved in January 2015 on Keller Road at the home of Richard Villone. Dotti testified that both of Lazzarini's twin turbine helicopters, the six-passenger Bell 430 and eight-passenger Sikorsky S-76, would be louder than Villone's Robinson R44. However, Dotti said Lazzarini's less frequent 25 yearly landings would have less "sound exposure" than Villone's approved aircraft, which was reported to be used 20 times per week. "The usage is so limited," Lazzarini said, "the impact, good or bad, would be limited." Almost all of the residents who spoke said they were concerned the loudness would be a detriment to the neighborhood. Questioners grilled Lazzarini and Dotti and several accused Lazzarini of being inconsiderate of neighbors. Some questioned why Lazzarini couldn't land his helicopters at Lehigh Valley International Airport or Braden Airpark in Forks Township. "Please don't inconvenience all your neighbors to save a five-minute drive," resident John O'Hagan said. Lazzarini testified that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which has authority in these matters, chose the location on his property for the helipad and it chose the two flight tracts that he is to use. Township solicitor Gary Asteak adjourned the five-hour hearing at 11 p.m. and said it would resume at 6 p.m. on July 21 at the Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Co. hall. John Best is a freelance writer. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook. Rep. Charlie Dent with service academy students in June 2016 From left are Phil Donner of Kutztown High School, U.S. Military Academy (West Point); Patrick McLaughlin of Allentown Central Catholic High School, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; Tyler Herber of Hamburg High School, U.S. Military Academy Association of Graduates Scholarship; (seated) Abigail Smith, Northwestern Lehigh High School, U.S. Military Academy (West Point); Zackary Bauer, Parkland High School, United States Naval Academy; and U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent. (Courtesy photo) U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent on Friday recognized Lehigh Valley area students who will be headed to the U.S. military academies. Dent, R-Pa., hosted a send-off reception at his Allentown office at 3900 Hamilton Blvd. Standing with Dent, right, are students, from left, Phil Donner of Kutztown High School, U.S. Military Academy (West Point); Patrick McLaughlin of Allentown Central Catholic High School, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; Tyler Herber of Hamburg High School, U.S. Military Academy Association of Graduates Scholarship; (seated) Abigail Smith of Northwestern Lehigh High School, U.S. Military Academy (West Point); and Zackary Bauer, Parkland High School, United States Naval Academy. Dent represents the 15th Congressional District, which covers parts of Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Lebanon and Dauphin counties. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook. Bangor wedding by mayro Bangor Mayor Joseph Capozzolo, right, officiates at the April 2 wedding of groom Paul Sweitzer and bride Fabiola Triana in Bangor. (Courtesy photo) Bangor's mayor has found a charitable way to spend the money he receives for performing wedding ceremonies. Since 2002, Mayor Joseph Capozzolo has been donating the checks he receives from his matrimonial officiating to the Bangor Public Library. Capozzolo was Bangor's mayor from 2002 to 2010 and again from 2014 to now. Mayors in Pennsylvania are authorized to perform certain duties that include swearing-in officials, administering oaths and performing weddings. The mayor is allowed to set the rate that he charges for the service. Capozzolo said he asks for a minimum $100 donation from newlywed couples, but sometimes gets more. When he began as mayor, he didn't feel right about keeping the money and wanted to find a worthy charitable cause, he said. "I felt that the library is an asset to the borough and the community," Capozzolo said, "and they really need it." Through the years, Capozzolo estimates he has performed several dozen weddings for people from 18 to 80 years old and donated more than $2,000. Handing over a $100 check at a time isn't a huge amount of money, but Bangor Public Library Director Janet Kichline, newly appointed five weeks ago, said any donation is greatly appreciated, especially considering the library's constant financial concerns. "We're always fundraising," Kichline said. "We're always looking for money." The library hosts a youth summer reading program that runs until Aug. 6 and it's followed by party for the kids, so any extra dollars will be well spent, Kichline said. The library serves Bangor, East Bangor, Portland, Roseto, Upper Mount Bethel and Washington townships and a portion of Lower Mount Bethel Township. Capozzolo said most weddings he performs are in Bangor, but he has traveled around Northampton County and other counties, as well. John Best is a freelance writer. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook. The judge offered no additional comments as Ezekiel Snyder was sentenced for what the prosecutor called "an extremely heinous crime." The eight-year prison term for the 24-year-old from Red Bank, New Jersey, is a little more than half his original 15-year-sentence, which was invalidated after a trial judge in 2011 referenced the 1957 courtroom drama "12 Angry Men" in his instructions to the jury. Ezekiel Snyder (Photo courtesy NJDOC) Snyder was convicted for his role in a brutal 2008 home invasion in Phillipsburg during which a co-defendant sexually assaulted a woman at gunpoint. In 2014, a court panel said the trial judge, John J. Coyle, erred when he told the jury to watch the film, potentially putting pressure on dissenting jurors in Snyder's trial. Snyder in April pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery. In exchange, the state offered an eight-year state prison sentence for the plea, which Judge H. Matthew Curry accepted Friday. Snyder, who appeared in a tan jail garb and shackles, was led from the courtroom by a sheriff's officer. He barely spoke during Friday's proceedings. "He has just totally disregarded society's rules," Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Victor Jusino said, describing a criminal history that began when Snyder was 14. The defendant is seen out of focus at left in this scene from 1957's "12 Angry Men." A judge's reference to the movie during while instructing a deadlocked jury in deliberations over a Phillipsburg home invasion caused a 15-year-sentence to be overturned. (MGM photo) Snyder was 17 when he and Taquan Range, of Phillipsburg, were among a group of three people who barged into a Phillipsburg apartment on Jan. 29, 2008, looking for a drug dealer. They had hit the wrong house but refused to leave, terrorizing and assaulting the 21-year-old woman who lived there, authorities said. Range put a gun to her head, led her upstairs and sexually assaulted the woman in front of her 3-year-old son. The third intruder was never identified. Range is serving a 20-year state prison sentence on charges including robbery and sexual assault. Jusino said the state "agonized" over Snyder's recommended sentence but agreed to it based on Snyder's age at the time and his willingness to take responsibility. It was "an extremely heinous crime, a crime of opportunity" that injured people including children, the prosecutor said. Snyder's attorney, Edward Hesketh, asked the court to honor the plea agreement. "This is not a giveaway. This is a plea and a sentence," Hesketh said. "He's going to serve time. He accepts responsibility." Jusino said the victim also accepted the plea agreement, though she did not wish to appear in court Friday. "She has put this behind her," he said. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and find him on Facebook. Beijing, the capital of China, topped the ranking of Provincial Housing Price-to-Income Ratio in 2016, according to the latest report released by E-house China R&D Institute. The housing price to income ratio is the basic affordability measure for housing in a given area. The ratio is calculated by dividing general housing prices by the average annual income of a family. For people who want to buy a house, it is easy to decide to buy a house or not based on scientific calculation. The report gave figures based on data from national and local bureaus of statistics. In developed countries, a ratio over 6 means there is a bubble in the real estate. But in China, a ratio below 7 is still reasonable, according to the report. Even though Hainan ranked No.3 on the list, it is special because most of its houses have been sold to people from other cities, unlike in Beijing and Shanghai. Inner Mongolia was at the bottom of the list with the ratio of 4.4. Let's take a look at the top 10 worst provinces to buy a house in China: Heilongjiang Heilongjiang Housing price-to-income ratio: 6.9 Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Late on Thursday night, Liberal Democrat peer Jonny Oates put his very powerful reaction to Jo Coxs murder on his Facebook page. With his permission, its reproduced here. Enough, now, with the angry people. Enough with the raging and the cries of betrayal. Enough with the cynicism. Enough with the shout that every politician is dodgy, or on the take or untruthful. Enough with those who fuel the cynicism in their puerile, childish headlines or their languid, over-sophisticated commentaries. Enough with those who would never step up to the plate, do the work or accept the accountability. Enough with those who twist the slightest openness in the words of politicians and then complain when their words become closed and their language obtuse. Enough with those who have never done anything for anyone but are happy to question the motives of any person who attempts to do so. Enough of those people who listen only to their own opinion and then castigate MPs for being out of touch MPs who week in and week out are in their towns and villages, on the doorsteps, in their surgeries, listening to others, soaking up pain and grief and suffering and often abuse. Enough of the people who fuel the rage, enough of those who can take the image of suffering and desperate people, robbed of dignity and hope and of the lives of those they love and use it for their political advantage. Enough of all the rage and division and hatred. Time to stop the anger and ask ourselves what sort of country do we want to be? What can we do to truly honour Jo Cox, who in her life, said no to the easy option of cynicism and took the much harder route of trying to make the world a better place. Jo Coxs murder is a wake up call to all of us. If we can show just an iota of the courage and love that Jo showed in her life, or just one ounce of the compassionate bravery that her husband has shown since her death, then we can and will create the better world that Jo Cox lived and worked for. Kirsty Williams has been talking to Wales Online about her plans on education secretary. Here are some of the best bits: On supporting teachers She used tact and sensitivity, unlike some education secretaries in Whitehall. You are not going to get anything done in schools without getting teachers onside. I think there is some excellent practice, said Ms Williams. I think that there are schools and other education institutions that are doing amazing work and children that are having a great education experience, but my concern is that it is not universal. There are too many variables between schools even between schools that find themselves in the same local authority. What I want to do is focus on making sure that good practice, that undoubtedly exists within the system in Wales, is shared and adopted by all schools so all of our children, regardless of where they live, have access to the very best education. What I have been struck with in recent weeks is that the profession in many areas does not feel valued and I want to raise the status of the teaching profession. We are going to be asking a lot of them, [and] it is they that will make the difference to school standards in Wales, not me in an office in Cardiff Bay so we need to support them to do the job that we expect of them. Curriculum reform I think the overall objective of Donaldson is ambitious, exciting and exactly the kind of curriculum that successful education systems in other countries have got and I want a piece of that for my kids I want a piece of that for Wales children. The crucial thing is that we get the implementation right in terms of developing the curriculum itself and ensuring our workforce is ready to deliver that. What Im more worried about is that we will talk the talk and get to 2021 and wont be doing anything significantly different that will be a failure so we have got to work hard to make good on the vision that Donaldson has. The Scottish model is actually a very good one. The implantation in primary schools was brilliant but in secondary schools was a lot more confused, to put it politely, so Kirsty has got this one spot on. Supporting university students Kirsty is responsible for student finance. It will be easier for her to be consistent with Welsh Lib Dem policy, which was to end the subsidy the Welsh Government gives to students. It will be difficult Im sure, but we cannot afford to duck that, she said. I was very clear in the run-up to the election, and during the election campaign , about what my party thought was a sustainable way forward. I think whats important is that we recognise that we need a system that if people want to go on to higher education, they are not prevented from doing so because of the expense of day-to-day living costs. That is often the biggest barrier: How do you keep a roof over your head? How do you feed yourself? How do you pay for your resources? Those are the issues that are at the forefront of students minds. And, finally, her views about her new job. You can sense her enthusiasm: I have spent 17 years getting up in the morning thinking: What am I going to say about this today? I now have the opportunity to get up in the morning and say: What am I going to do about this today? This is an amazing opportunity for the Welsh Liberal Democrats to be able to have an influence on what has got to be the most important job of a Welsh Government and that is educating our children. And we have got to get it right, because if we get our education system right; [and] if we have well-qualified, well-motivated youngsters leaving our schools, colleges and universities; that will lead to a stronger, better economy. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings There tends to be a load of solidarity between women across party anyway. Many of us put up with the same issues within our parties and in politics generally, so theres a great deal of common ground. Jo Cox chaired Labours Womens Network and our own Womens organisation, Liberal Democrat Women, made its own tribute to her. We have been deeply saddened by the news of Jo Coxs death. It is particularly heart-breaking to see that this happened whilst she was working for her constituents. Jo was a woman who fought for equality and justice daily through her role as a Member of Parliament and also as Chair of the Labour Womens Network. The Liberal Democrat Women commend her for her work in being a charismatic and thoughtful leader in Parliament as well as an inspiration to women and girls in the UK. We hope that we can all pull together to ensure her memory and her work is never lost or forgotten. We also hope that in light of this tragedy we all remain confident in the democracy we have in our country and that we do not let political views divide or silence us. Our sincere condolences to her husband Brendan Cox and her two young children. One really lovely sight in an utterly hellish week happened at the Glasgow vigil for Jo Cox last night, attended by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and Scottish Labour Leader Kezia Dugdale, who knew Jo well. As they both lay their flowers, Nicola put her arm round Kez. This is how things should be. In other signs of consensus, Tim Farron has added his support to a move to allow backbenchers from different parties to sit together during the recall of Parliament on Monday for tributes to Jo Cox. Traditionally, the Government sits on one side, the opposition on the other, divided by two swords lengths. Seriously. Symbolism matters. This is a great idea. I hope we can do this on Monday to show we all stand united against hate. https://t.co/anbKA0JDAb Tim Farron (@timfarron) June 18, 2016 Lets hope the Speaker agrees, because it is a super idea. However, we need to do more than that. We need to conduct our politics in a much more intelligent, respectful inclusive manner that serves the needs of all our people. That is the way to insulate ourselves from bitter, divisive scapegoating hatred. The last few weeks have seen some of the most unpleasant stirrings of scapegoating prejudice that I have ever seen. It has made me really fear for the direction our country is taking. I found the Scottish referendum really difficult. The environment in which that was conducted was toxic at times, but it was nothing compared to this. It has seemed like the rules of civilised debate have been cast aside. Alex Massie put it very well in an article for the Spectator entitled A Day of Infamy on Thursday night: Sometimes rhetoric has consequences. If you spend days, weeks, months, years telling people they are under threat, that their country has been stolen from them, that they have been betrayed and sold down the river, that their birthright has been pilfered, that their problem is theyre too slow to realise any of this is happening, that their problem is theyre not sufficiently mad as hell, then at some point, in some place, something or someone is going to snap. And then something terrible is going to happen. We cant control the weather but, in politics, we can control the climate in which the weather happens. Thats on us, all of us, whatever side of any given argument we happen to be. Today, it feels like weve done something terrible to that climate. I suspect its a while since Alex Massie and Polly Toynbee last agreed on something, but in her Guardian column, Toynbee looked at how mainstream the damaging rhetoric has become: This campaign has stirred up anti-migrant sentiment that used to be confined to outbursts from the far fringes of British politics. The justice minister, Michael Gove, and the leader of the house, Chris Grayling together with former London mayor Boris Johnson have allied themselves to divisive anti-foreigner sentiment ramped up to a level unprecedented in our lifetime. Ted Heath expelled Enoch Powell from the Tory front ranks for it. Oswald Mosley was ejected from his party for it. Gove and Grayling remain in the cabinet. When politicians from a mainstream party use immigration as their main weapon in a hotly fought campaign, they unleash something dark and hateful that in all countries always lurks not far beneath the surface. If people are worried about low pay, insufficient housing and public services at breaking point, it is because they dont have enough money to make ends meet, they cant get a decent place to live and its a nightmare trying to get a GP appointment. It is surely better to respond to their concerns by tackling low pay, building more houses and making our public services fit for purpose. Its really not rocket science. And how much better to get people invested in things that will actually solve our problems than just stoke up worse ones. Giving people the false hope that all their problems could be resolved by getting rid of immigrants or benefits claimants or the EU is criminally irresponsible. Once you get your way, the problems will still be there. On the other hand, giving people concrete, sometimes literally if you are talking about building more houses, makes for a much better society. How do we know this works? Because it did, after the war. When we had a society that had food in its belly, decent healthcare and housing, it was also ready to become more liberal, decriminalising homosexuality, freeing women to make their own choices, exploding with creativity and innovation. Is that not what we want for our country? Its also worth pointing out that the political agenda is set by those who vote. We need to make it very easy for those disengaged people to have their say and show willing to listen to them. The move to individual electoral registration has served to erect more barriers for people who were never engaged anyway. In the days leading up to and beyond Thursday, there needs to be a lot more one nation talk and a conscious turning back from the horrible, divisive rhetoric from certain quarters. If our politicians cant achieve that, then the future for the country is very bleak indeed. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings A MASSIVE street spectacle costing 1.8m and attracting an audience of 200,000 people will form a centrepiece of Limericks 2020 bid, if it is successful, the Limerick Leader can reveal. Lifting the Siege will take place over three days on a scale similar to Royal de Luxes Giant Granny show for City of Culture in 2014. Walk the Plank, a UK group specialising in outdoor theatre, will work with aerial dance company Fidget Feet, plus several other partners - including the Northside Misfits drama group - to bring the show to the city as a flagship event for the European Capital of Culture (ECOC), starting in Moyross and culminating in a massive city wide performance in April of 2020. Bid director Mike Fitzpatrick said it was about imagining a spectacle on a scale that we had done previously with Royal de Luxe. Deputy bid director Sheila Deegan said it would be a flagship event, but in the same way that Granny came to town, we will actually be creating something that comes out of Limerick, into specific areas. The completed bid document was handed in last Friday and a four person team representing the European Capital of Culture 2020 jury panel will visit Limerick on July 12. They will be brought on a highly choreographed eight hour whistle stop tour of the city. Two of the ten person panel accompanied by a EU Commission official and a counterpart from the Department of Arts will visit Limerick a day after Galway and a day before running the rule over the Three Sisters bid consisting of Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny. Then, on July 14, a team from Limerick will make a presentation over two hours to the panel at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, with the winning city to be announced on July 15. Estimates vary, but the accepted wisdom is that the ECOC designation to be awarded jointly to an Irish and Croatian city in 2020 is worth around 170m to the winner. The EU will award roughly 1.5m at the end of 2020 but the bulk of the cost must be underwritten by the host nation. Limericks 2020 team this week filed its second and final bid book with the EU Commission, which regulates the process. The 100-page document, seen by the Limerick Leader, is called Belonging Limerick 2020 and opens with the line: Limerick is creating a sense of belonging in Europe. There is a total of 40 events listed, all budgeted and boasting at least one, and in many cases, more than one European partner but the likelihood, bid director Mike Fitzpatrick said this week, is that there will be upwards of 200 events taking place in 2020, if succcessful. A budget of 37m over four years weighted at about two thirds towards programming has been assembled, with artistic programmers Mary Coll, Jurgen Simpson and Niamh Bowen putting together an ambitious list of events. The massive street spectacle called Lifting the Siege on the scale of Royal de Luxe, but markedly different will be one of the flagship events, costing 1.8m and attracting an estimated audience of 200,000 people. It will start in Moyross and culminate in the city. Typically an ECOC city would have five to eight such really big events in a year, Mr Fitzpatrick said. A beefed up Eva International will be another flagship event. The 2020 bid director said he was confident that Limerick would connect with Europe. Feedback from the initial stage suggested that Limerick needed to work harder to do that with its programming. It is now a really exciting artistic programme, said Mr Fitzpatrick. It has really connected us to Europe, our thinking has changed. The journey from bidding to now is that now we are absolutely sure, we actually feel that we are part of Europe and we believe that our ECOC, if designated, would make a strong contribution to its history, which is a strong statement. Our goal now is creating belonging. It seems very simple, but it is a key moment for Europe as well as Limerick. The Limerick 2030 strategy sets out a vision to be an international city, a European city and I think we have reached that stage in some ways, so we have been successful. In terms of the quality of the bid, judging by the reaction we are getting from our consultants, we feel that we have a very strong bid in place. Ultimately it will be the choice of ten people on the day. Deputy director Sheila Deegan added: We have to believe that we have a good bid because we have worked really hard and have understood what the jury said to us. We also understand where it can bring us, we have that ambition and have had it for a very long time so if we are to be honest about it, we have done what we think can get us to finishing line. Of the jury visit, the team will take them on a journey, to connect with the bid. We are enlivening the town, so that we can show the potential - you have to, said Ms Deegan. It is about them understanding that whatever they see and hear, whoever they meet, that it is a credible, believable reflection of the bid. We will have a number of things organised and will be inviting people to participate, and also we have a series of places that will bring the bid book to life. THE RECENT dry spell is in stark contrast to the turn of the year when homeowners in parts of the county were under siege from rising flood waters. On Friday the public was invited to City Hall to meet with representatives of some of the 21 strong Shannon Flood Risk State Agency Co-ordination Working Group. Chairperson of the Office of Public Works, Clare McGrath said the purpose of the day was to allow the public to engage with all the State agencies involved in the working group around flood risk. The group, chaired by the OPW, has met on a number of occasions and has produced a work plan around flood risk. Each of us has individual responsibilities but collectively around flood risk. What are the things that each of us are doing that is helping and benefiting flood risk management. We have produced that plan. We want to engage with the public on the work programme so we have had engagements in Athlone, Carrick-on-Shannon and now here in Limerick. They can have local questions addressed by people on the ground. What I would like to see when we are done is the feedback put up on the website and take that back to the next meeting of the work group, said Ms McGrath. In the plan, which is available at opw.ie, Limerick City and County Council says, Upto 1,000 properties could be at risk of flooding in the Limerick area if new infrastructure is not provided In 2015, up to 200 were at risk of flooding and over 20 were flooded. CFRAMS [Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management] has identified a large number of areas in Limerick that are at risk of flooding and where new flood defence infrastructure will have to be constructed including Montpelier, Castleconnell, Ballyvolane, Annacotty, Corbally, Kings Island, Limerick city, Condell Road, Foynes and Askeaton, say the council in the work programme. In response to a question from Cllr Joe Leddin at the full meeting of the council in May, the local authority is involved in nine flood relief schemes Kings Island, Foynes, Askeaton, Condell Road, Corbally, Browns Quay, Ballyorgan, Ballysteen and Shanagolden. Upgrading the defences at Verdant Place, Kings Island goes to tender this week with works expected to commence in September. The Government has earmarked 430m nationally for the roll-out of flood defence schemes over the next five years. It is very important that I say this is about protecting the people at the greatest risk and greatest impact in their homes. So what we are looking at here is prioritising around urban, city, villages, where you have communities, said Ms McGrath. During the flooding crisis in December 2015 and the early part of 2016 there were calls for one single lead authority for the River Shannon as too many cooks spoil the broth. The Shannon Flood Risk State Agency Co-Ordination Working Group is made up of 12 local authorities, OPW, Waterways Ireland, ESB, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Bord na Mona, EPA and Irish Water. Ms McGrath admitted it is a complicated process. There is no doubt about it because everyone, rightly, has something maybe to say in relation to a scheme and its impact. Certainly I could take the line we will put in 20-foot walls down the town, divide the town and there you are protected against floods but you will need to drive 40 miles to get to the other side. You could take the engineering side and say there is a straight forward solution but that is not what we do obviously because you are in communities. You have to look and say what is the optimum to give the benefit of the scheme but actually will work for the town as well and that is challenging because different people will have different views but what is most important is that when we do it it is the right scheme for the place, said Ms McGrath. THE PARTNER of Andrew ODonoghue, who was murdered in Murroe exactly a year ago this weekend, said the pain never ends. A remembrance Mass will be said this Saturday in the Road Tramps motorcycle clubhouse where Andrew was gunned down on June 20, 2015. Catherine Danaher, aged 42, from Cappamore, and Andrew, Lynwood Park, had been a couple since she was 18 and they have a teenage daughter, Ava. I actually know what a broken heart feels like. I never thought it could physically or emotionally happen but it is broken. I knew what real love was. I know that life goes on but my life actually ended the day he was killed, said Catherine, who was speaking in Murroe where she, Andrew and Ava had built a home together. Her mind keeps drifting back to the fateful day. All I wish is that I could have five more minutes with him, if I could go back and even have five more minutes of that day. I had put a pizza and chips in the oven as a treat. He got a call and said, Im just going up to the clubhouse, Ill be back. He never came back. "I don't know if I said goodbye to him properly because I never saw him alive again. He was literally going down the road. When I went in to see him [in the morgue], the only part I recognised of him was the left hand side of his moustache - it would go up. Why would you do that to someone - shoot him at point blank range in the face? asks Catherine. A year and a half before he died, Andrew, who was aged 51, had a quadruple bypass. After that he said to me Im brand new. We had turned a page in our lives and were making all these plans. I was robbed of a lovely future. I look at elderly couples together and I was robbed of that. Ive never been with anyone else. All I have is my lovely memories of him, said Catherine. While bikers are perceived to be big, tough men with beards and tattoos she says Andrew was a gentle giant. He was my rock, He was my life. He was quiet, lovable, kind and so gifted with his hands he could make anything. His whole life was based around making me happy. If he saw me smiling he was happy. He was a wonderful provider for me and Ava, said Catherine, who recalls when they started dating she had a hole in one of her boots and he went off to buy her a new pair. As well as the emotional struggle, the mum of one has had to survive on her disability allowance of just over 200. However, the whole community of Murroe has rallied behind her. I cannot put it into words. I am overwhelmed by the support I have had from people. Every single person in Murroe genuinely cares about me. My neighbours have been brilliant. The local priests - Fr Loughlin Brennan and Fr Tom Ryan have called in for chats and the monks in Glenstal Abbey have been very good to me as well. The St Vincent de Paul have been a big help too. Everyone is looking out for me, said Catherine. A benefit night in Andrews memory organised by the Road Tramps and people in the parish paid for new windows and doors in the house. Everybody has been so kind just like Andrew was, she said. Two men have been charged in connection with the fatal shooting and are awaiting trial. ANNACOTTY alternative folk musician, Marty Ryan also known as Annas Anchor has released his latest single, Signal Tower, as part of his forthcoming debut album. The single is accompanied by a music video, which captures the musician in action in 200 different locations around the country, covering an estimated 1,300 miles. His debut LP will be released via Struggletown and Never Meant Records this autumn. I wrote this song [Signal Tower] while visiting a super small island off the coast of Ireland called Inishturk. It only has a population of 50, so there was nothing to do on the island other than take a step back, which is something Im not used to. I usually get really agitated if Im not as productive as possible, but out there I had no choice but to take it all in. I sat down at this lookout point beside an old signal tower and spent a couple of hours writing the song about that very sentiment, how I dont give myself a break and thats not always the best way to be for yourself, your health and loved ones. Last summer, Annas Anchor received positive reviews for his Island Project, which saw him produce eight tracks after visiting eight Irish islands. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping (R front) and his wife Peng Liyuan are greeted by Serbian children with flowers upon their arrival at the airport of Belgrade, Serbia, June 17, 2016. Xi started a state visit to Serbia Friday. [Lan Hongguang/Xinhua] Chinese President Xi Jinping said in Belgrade on Friday that China and Serbia are "all-weather friends" and have a "special brotherly bond," calling on both sides to expand their ties. Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were warmly welcomed by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and his wife Dragica Nikolic in an elegant and quiet villa late Friday. The two heads of state exchanged views on a series of issues of shared interest. Hailing the traditional friendship between the two countries, Xi told his Serbian counterpart that China-Serbia practical cooperation and people-to-people exchanges have yielded fruitful results. China highly values the friendship with Serbia and cherishes the good momentum of vigorous development of bilateral ties, he stressed. Xi called on both sides to adhere to the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, make ties more strategic and comprehensive, expand practical cooperation in various fields so as to promote all-round and in-depth development of China-Serbia relationship. Xi expounded to his host China's economic and social progress, stressing that China will develop in way that suits the state of the country and will adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, adding that China is fully confident in its future. As an old friend and true friend, Serbia is glad to see China's great achievements in socialism development and reform and opening-up, Nikolic said, stressing that both sides should firmly support each other on issues of core interests and major concerns. Serbia is ready to join hands with China to promote bilateral ties to a higher level, said Nikolic. Earlier in the day, Xi arrived in Belgrade for a state visit to Serbia. It is the first state visit by a Chinese head of state to Serbia in 32 years, and Xi's second trip to Central and Eastern Europe in less than three months. New book Neither Snow Nor Rain traces history of U.S. Postal Service Jun 16, 2016, 1 PM Devin Leonards new book, Neither Snow Nor Rain A History of the United States Postal Service, offers an entertaining, informative look at the Postal Service and its influence on our society. By Bill McAllister, Washington Correspondent This fast-paced history is a wonderful tale of the United States Postal Service. Bloomberg Businessweek writer Devin Leonard has managed to capture the glories and the follies of this venerable, troubled institution as no recent author has. His new book Neither Snow Nor Rain A History of the United States Postal Service should be a part of every U.S. stamp collectors library for the simple reason that one cannot fully appreciate the nations stamps without understanding the governmental agency that produced them. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter And this book tells it all, from how reluctant early postmasters general were to approve stamps in the first place, to the glories of the much-saved 1993 29 Elvis Presley commemorative. In between there are delightful chapters on the Jenny Inverts, stamp collector Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other postal characters who have made the USPS a much beloved organization. Leonard avoids any predictions on how to save the USPS from its current red ink crisis or offer suggestions about the future of letter mail, topics that are surely worthy of another book. This book does put a number of issues facing the Postal Service in perspective. It discloses that Postmaster General John Jack Potter, who endorsed the 2006 postal law that is responsible for most of the Postal Services continuing billion-dollar deficits, had private misgivings about the act. Potter was privately grim about its prospects, the book says. William Henderson, Potters predecessor, is quoted as asking him about the law, which has forced the Postal Service to pay billions in healthcare costs for its retirees in advance: I called Jack and said, Is this a good thing? And he said No, Leonard quotes Henderson as saying. Potters concerns may have remained unknown, but the book makes clear that there were early, public warnings about another issue that would dominate the Postal Services future. In 1977, a congressionally appointed committee warned that the USPS could lose 23 percent of its first-class mail by 1985 as more people began to pay their bills electronically. Those alarms largely went unanswered until after the 2008 financial crash. The crash forced USPS executives to finally realize their organization had to downsize quickly to cope with the dramatic loss of its valuable first-class mail the recession triggered. That loss continues and shows no sign of abating. There are other key disclosures in the book, such as how Richard Nixon got the National Association of Letter Carriers, an influential postal union, to endorse his controversial plan to remove the old Post Office Department from the presidential cabinet and transform it into an independent federal agency. Charles Colson, one of his Nixons top aides, promised to give collective bargaining rights to postal unions. With that assurance, the unions quickly fell in line and helped Nixon change the future of mail service. What the book makes clear is that from the outset, members of Congress and politicians of all stripes have been intent on micromanaging postal issues. One of the biggest headaches postmasters general have bemoaned is the current Postal Regulatory Commission. Congress demanded that as a check on the Postal Services mail monopoly. Lawmakers even meddled with the startup of airmail service, a remarkable achievement. It is one of the proudest innovations that the USPS has made since the British government placed the management of its colonial postal service in the hands of Philadelphia printer Benjamin Franklin in 1737. Lawmakers, including future New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, threatened to defund the new airmail project and turn the service over to the Army, the book points out. Postal officials managed to outmaneuver them. There are a few, minor flaws in the book. Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank ordered the 1993 Elvis Presley stamp printed over the objections of his own Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, but Frank did not dedicate the stamp, as the book states. That chore fell to Franks successor, Marvin T. Runyon, who presided over the dedication on a rainy night at Presleys Graceland mansion. Leonard seems to suggest that additional sheets of the 1918 Jenny Inverts might still be floating around, noting that the famous biplane on the stamp was upside down on a number of sheets. True, postal inspectors found several additional upside-down sheets had been printed, but all those sheets were reported to have been destroyed. These two quibbles aside, this is a gem of a book about one government agency that touches almost every American six days a week. Keep reading about the U.S. Postal Service: April financial results better than U.S. Postal Service predicted USPS delivery woes confirmed by new Postal Regulatory Commission report Congress set to address financial plight of U.S. Postal Service 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. School & Education, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: June 18 2016 Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano honored Mineola Junior Firefighters for earning Youth Group of the Year from FASNY. Mineola Junior Firefighters earns Youth Group of the Year from the Firemens Association of the State of New York (FASNY). Mineola, NY - June 17, 2016 - Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano honored Mineola Junior Firefighters for earning Youth Group of the Year from the Firemens Association of the State of New York (FASNY). The 26-member department is recognized internationally as a model for other youth groups on how to create and run a successful youth-centered service organization. More than 75 percent of junior firefighters join the ranks of one of Mineolas three fire companies. Joining the junior volunteers were Mineola Chief Jeff Clark, Mineola Captain Neil Ressa, Nassau County Junior Firefighters Association Chairman Jerry Presta and FASNY Director Eugene Perry, Jr. 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 Taliban recently said that the US drone strike that killed its last emir, along with other targeted killings and detentions of its leaders, would not weaken its resolve. Rather, it is the Talibans religious obligation to continue fighting despite such losses. The Taliban stated that the West has been mired in Afghanistan for 15 years because it has failed to understand the psychology of the jihadist group. That statement was published on Voice of Jihads English language website on June 13. Voice of Jihads English language section was offline for three weeks and was restored on June 12. The Taliban have been slowly restoring content to the website. The Taliban issued the statement in response to calls by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry for the group to enter in negotiations with the Afghan government lest the US continue to target more leaders. The US killed Taliban emir Mullah Mansour in a drone strike in Baluchistan, Pakistan on May 21 as he was traveling from Iran. The strike was the first of its kind in the Taliban stronghold of Baluchistan. The Taliban consider the ongoing struggle against the foreign occupation as a religious obligation (Jihad) and are willing to face all kinds of hardship to accomplish this, the Taliban responded to threats of further attacks on its top leaders. They consider any hardship in this struggle including being tortured, injured, imprisoned or dying as means towards gaining their Lords pleasure. Death in this struggle amounts to martyrdom in their eyes. To justify its view that its followers embrace the thought of dying while waging jihad, the Taliban cited the Koran: In numerous places of the Holy Koran Allah Almighty has described martyrdom as a holy blessing. So much so that Allah Almighty declared in one place to his creation that Do not call those killed in the path of Allah as dead for they are not dead but living, yet you know not. In another place He Almighty states You should not think as dead who in the path of their Lord have scattered their heads, for they are living and provided for by their Lord. The Taliban then said that the West does not understand its motivations to continue fighting, and denied that it only seeks power. This failure merely fed the Talibans resolve to continue fighting: The greatest failure of our enemies is that they have failed to understand the psychology of the Taliban. For example several times they Americans and Kabul officials have offered to give the Taliban a role in the government of Afghanistan. Yet they truth is that the Taliban are not fighting for the seat of power. If the aim of the Taliban was power then why would they have refused American conditions? They could have simply accepted the American proposals and today there would have been no blacklists, no wanted posters, no terrorism charges, no Guantanamo, no Bagram and Kandahar prisons and no drone strikes. Yet the truth of the matter is that the Talibans struggle is not for material gains. Taliban consider their struggle as Jihad. They are willing to risk their life and limb in this cause and a means to gaining their Lords pleasure. And whats more they congratulate each other for the difficulties faced in such a struggle. Is it not absurd then that one party yearns for martyrdom, raises their hands five times a day for it, considers it as the greatest achievement possible, is proud of it, always ponders on it and nostalgically reflects that so and so was lucky because he gained martyrdom. Yet the other party then threatens it with the same yearning (martyrdom) and barks at him that if you do not give up your resolve then we will fulfill this yearning of yours. While the Talibans rhetoric is often viewed as mere propaganda, the group has followed these principles. Numerous Taliban leaders have been killed or detained since the US invasion of Afghanistan. And the US-led surge from 2009 to 2012 put enormous stain on the groups leadership and rank and file. Hundreds of leaders and thousands of fighters were killed as US forces ejected the Taliban from strongholds in the south. These losses did not force the Taliban to the negotiating table. Instead, the Taliban regroups and waited for US forces to draw down, then launched its own campaign to retake lost ground. The Taliban insisted all along that it did not seek a negotiated settlement and maintained its goal was the expulsion of foreign forces, the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law, and the return of the Talibans Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Taliban has acted similarly with respect to its relationship with al Qaeda. Instead of turning over Osama bin Laden and the cadre of al Qaeda leaders, operatives, and fighters based in Afghanistan after 9/11, the Taliban insisted it had a religious obligation to protect its brothers. Fifteen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban still refuses to denounce al Qaeda, and instead has publicly accepted Ayman al Zawahiris oath of allegiance to its last emir, Mullah Mansour. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of 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. 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. Wine Enthusiast Reveals America's 100 Best Wine Restaurants of 2016 Each year, the magazine's team of editors combs the nation in search of restaurants that they feel reflect the best, brightest and most progressive wine and food experiences available today.This is not a list of "the best wine programs" but rather a list of restaurants where wine, food, service and atmosphere are all integral to the overall experience - with an emphasis on discovery - much like the magazine itself. See this year's full list below and online here:"This is a highly subjective list reflecting Wine Enthusiast's dedication to not only legendary wine establishments but also those that are reflecting or pushing new and exciting trends in the market," explains Susan Kostrzewa, Executive Editor of Wine Enthusiast. "There's an incredible amount of diversity and experimentation happening with wine in the restaurant space right now and our list reflects this variety - from small lists that are redrawn every day, to massive tomes that reflect decades of cellaring - and similarly, the food ranges from an upscale hot dog hangout in New York wine country to the peak of fine dining."Categorized by special features and trends rather than by a ranking system, this year's 100 Best Wine Restaurant List includes 24 Classics, restaurants at least a decade old that continue to be on the forefront of the national wine and food conversation as well as 17 Grand Openings. Open since the beginning of 2015, these spots are already enriching their communities and influencing the national scene.Other categories include Tasting Menus (restaurants that exclusively offer a chef's choice tasting menu); Great Glass Programs (restaurants with exceptional by-the-glass lists); Laser Focus (eateries whose wine lists are narrow in focus, and whose staff has deep knowledge and expertise in those areas); Steakhouse 2.0 (innovative steakhouses challenging conventional dogma around wine-and-meat pairing); and lastly Not to Be Missed, restaurants who simply defy category.Additional editorial highlights include joint Chef and Sommelier Q&A's, exclusive recipes, observations and passions of several influential wine directors, a separate stand alone story highlighting Under the Radar Food Cities, and exclusively for online, restaurants' riot dishes dishes that could cause a riot if they dared take them off the menu.To commemorate the release of America's 100 Best Wine Restaurants List and the annual August Restaurant issue the entire Wine Enthusiast team will gather on Monday June 27th at Marta Restaurant (a 2016 Best Wine Restaurant) in Manhattan for an invite-only party from 7:00pm-9:00pm. The party will toast and honor recipients of this year's prestigious awards and celebrate the exciting era of wine, dining and hospitality taking place in America today.Prior to the party, for the second year, Wine Enthusiast will host a 45-minute press panel, also at Marta starting at 6:00pm. The panel will engage a lively conversation between three of the nation's most esteemed wine and food professionals (all are recipients of a 2016 American's 100 Best Wine Restaurant Award). Panelists include Eric Zeibold (chef/owner, Kinship), Jordan Salcito (Beverage Director, Momofuku Group) and Jack Mason (Wine Director, Marta).America's 100 Best Wine Restaurants of 2016 (in alphabetical order):610 Magnolia (Louisville, KY)A.kitchen+bar (Philadelphia, PA)A16 Restaurant & Wine Bar (San Francisco, CA)Acre (Auburn, AL)Addison at The Grand Del Mar (San Diego, CA)Alter (Miami, FL)Artisan (Paso Robles, CA)Ava Gene's (Portland, OR)Barolo Grill (Denver, CO)Bateau (Seattle, WA)Bern's Steak House (Tampa, FL)Bisq (Boston, MA)Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, NY)Bracero (San Diego, CA)Brennan's (New Orleans, LA)Canlis (Seattle, WA)Capa (Orlando, FL)Chada Thai & Wine (Las Vegas, NV)Charlie Bird (New York, NY)Cliff's Edge (Los Angeles, CA)Coi (San Francisco, CA)Commander's Palace (New Orleans, LA)Coquine (Portland, OR)Craigie on Main (Boston, MA)DANIEL (New York, NY)db Bistro Moderne (Miami, FL)Element 47 at The Little Nell (Aspen, CO)Eleven Madison Park (New York, NY)Eloisa (Santa Fe, NM)Empire State South (Atlanta, GA)FIG Restaurant (Charleston, SC)Fiola di Fabio Trabocchi (Washington, DC)Fish & Game (Hudson, NY)Five & Ten (Athens, GA)FLX Wienery (Dundee, NY)Four Horsemen (Brooklyn, NY)Frasca Food and Wine (Boulder, CO)FT33 (Dallas, TX)Gabriel Kreuther (New York, NY)Gramercy Tavern (New York, NY)Hearth (New York, NY)Intro (Chicago, IL)Iron Gate (Washington, DC)JORY (Newberg, OR)Kindred (Davidson, NC)Kinship (Washington, DC)L'Etoile Restaurant (Madison, WI)La Cuchara (Baltimore, MD)Le Bernardin (New York, NY)Le Pigeon (Portland, OR)Liholiho Yacht Club (San Francisco, CA)Manresa (Los Gatos, CA)Maple and Ash (Chicago, IL)Marta (New York, NY)McCrady's (Charleston, SC)Melisse (Santa Monica, CA)Miller Union (Atlanta, GA)Molyvos (New York, NY)Momofuku Ko (New York, NY)Niche (St. Louis, MO)NINEBARK (Napa, CA)Osteria Langhe (Chicago, IL)Otium (Los Angeles, CA)Pappas Bros (Dallas, TX)Parachute (Chicago, IL)Picasso (Las Vegas, NV)Plumed Horse (Saratoga, CA)PRESS Napa Valley (St. Helena, CA)Prima (Nashville, TN)Rebelle (New York, NY)Redbird (Los Angeles, CA)Reeds American Table (St Louis, MO)Reef (Houston, TX)Republique (Los Angeles, CA)Restaurant Eugene (Atlanta, GA)Restaurant Latour (Hamburg, NJ)RN74 (San Francisco, CA)Rustic Canyon (Santa Monica, CA)Sage (Las Vegas, NV)Sepia (Chicago, IL)Spiaggia Restaurant and Lounge (Chicago, IL)Spoon and Stable (Minneapolis, MN)Studio (Laguna Beach, CA)Taberna de Haro (Brookline, MA)The Catbird Seat (Nashville, TN)The French Laundry (Yountville, CA)The Grey (Savannah, GA)The Kitchen (Sacramento, CA)The Lark (Santa Barbara, CA)The Pass & Provisions (Houston, TX)The Progress (San Francisco, CA)The Restaurant at Meadowood (St Helena, CA)Trentina (Cleveland, OH)Troquet (Boston, MA)Underbelly (Houston, TX)Vedge (Philadelphia, PA)Vertical Detroit (Detroit, MI)Wallse (New York, NY)Wildair (New York, NY)Woodberry Kitchen (Baltimore, MD)About Wine Enthusiast Magazine Wine Enthusiast Magazine educates and entertains readers about wine and the wine lifestyle in an accessible and user-friendly way. Published 13 times per year, the magazine's readership is more than 800,000. The magazine and its Buying Guide with more than 100,000 ratings and reviews are available online. The magazine hosts signature Wine Enthusiast events for both consumer and trade. Madagascar-BBC: Journalists angry One hundred journalists demonstrated Friday in the National Assembly against the draft amendment to the law on cybercrime. The new code of communication into consideration punishes 2 to 5 years' imprisonment any person guilty of defamation of agents and state officials on the Internet. In a first version of this text, it was planned to remove these penalties but senators finally reintroduced and adopted article 20, subject of controversy. It penalizes insults and defamation deemed heavy prison sentences by trade unionists who find the text draconian . In this law on cybercrime, trade unionists also address the fines. Fines that go up to 100 million ariary over 30 000 US dollars. Bill returned to the table of Deputies is strongly opposed by the press unions. In 2014, the law on cybercrime had caused the imprisonment of two journalists found guilty of defamation of government officials. Unions who showed at the time against some injustice had heard that the text had been adopted in the National Assembly. We do not do this fight only for journalists since any user of social networks, everyone can fall foul of Article 20 , supported Lalatiana Rakotondrazafy, Secretary General of the Union of Journalists of Madagascar. BBC Afrique ************************ Madagascar-Voice of America: Journalists denounce draconian defamation law One hundred Malagasy journalists demonstrated Friday outside the headquarters of the National Assembly in the capital Antananarivo to demand the repeal of a law on defamation they consider draconian. Malagasy law now punishes two to five years' imprisonment any defamation via internet agents and state officials. In its original version, the new bill suppressed both, but senators finally decided to reintroduce, to the chagrin of journalists. We demand the continuation (...) the repeal of Article 20 of the law on cybercrime , said the journalist Lalatiana Rakotondrazafy during the event. All citizens are threatened by this law , said for her part Lova Rabary, editor of the daily L'Express de Madagascar, told AFP. Just publish (online) something that does not please the authorities for us to be dragged to court for defamation , she explains. The bill must now be considered by the deputies before being voted. VOICE OF AMERICA AFRIQUE Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > CPI General Secretarys Letters to Union Home Minister and Chhattisgarh (...) The following is the text of the two letters sent by CPI General Secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh on the police treatment meted out to a fact-finding team to Chhattisgarh. I am writing to express my deep anxiety at the false charges that the Chhattisgarh Police is drumming up against a visiting delegation comprising CPI and CPM members, and professors from Delhi University and JNU. A delegation, comprising Vineet Tiwari, Joshi-Adhikari Institute, a CPI member, New Delhi; Sanjay Parate, Chhattisgarh State Secretary, CPI-M; Archana Prasad, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and CC member, AIDWA; and Nandini Sundar, Professor, Delhi University who does not belong to any political party, visited the Bastar Division from May 12 to 16, 2016. The focus of the visit was to study the situation of ordinary villagers who are living through the conflict between the state and Maoists. The group visited Nama and Kumakoleng villages on May 15 and interacted with the villagers, who complained of harassment by both Maoists and police. The group in its press release has faithfully reported whatever the villagers said, including criticism of the Maoists (copy of the press release attached). However, the Chhattisgarh Police are falsely claiming that the delegation instigated villagers against the police and threatened them into supporting the Maoists. They have produced what is self-evidently a fake complaint in the names of the villagers, and also organised rallies with Samajik Ekta Manch-type vigilantes in front of the Darbha thana demanding that an FIR be registered against the group. Is it believable that some professors come from Delhi and threaten people in Bastar to join the Naxals? Why should people be afraid of somebody who come for a few hours to discuss with them and go? This apparently looks like a cock and bull story. It seems that the District Collector of Bastar, Mr Amit Kataria, posted the so-called complaint of the villagers on his facebook without verificationis it the practice to post all unverified complaints received as part of his official work on his facebook? This is a highly irresponsible behaviour for a Collector, and is part of an effort to whip up hysteria against JNU and researchers in general. The police have also been cross-questioning all those who interacted with the team, including the driver of the hired vehicle, in order to intimidate them. It looks that the whole affair is part of the ongoing intimadtory tactics that the Bastar Police, especially the IGP, Mr S.R.P. Kalluri, have been employing against journalists, researchers, lawyers and others, to prevent them from visiting Bastar and reporting on violations of human rights. The understanding that all those, who are not with the police, are pro-Naxalites is utter nonsense. Why are the police so touchy about anybody visiting Bastar and enquiring about the atrocities of the police and Naxalites over there? Why should people believe only the police version? Chhattisgarh is a part of India. More than four journalists have been arrested and kept in jail. All the journalist unions all over India are agitating on it. Two innocent tribal boys were killed by the police while they were taking bath in the river. There is a feeling of police raj, it will tarnish the image of Chhattis-garh in India and abroad. The CPI has been working in Bastar since many years, and our party members are under severe pressure from the Maoists and the police both. We have complained to you in the past about this. In a democracy, the law should not be used to harass political opponents. The CPI and CPI-M ideologically, politically differ with the Naxalites. Our leaders and cadres are attacked by Naxals and killed in many places. There are some police officers who do not understand the difference between the CPI, CPI-M and Naxals. Surely we are the against killing innocents in the name of Naxalites. We fight against the Naxals ideology. But we also fight against police atrocities and cold-blooded murders. This is irritating some police officers. The police is only a department that looks after Law and Order. They should not guide government policies. They can only advice. Unlimited power will cause damage to the democratic society. I trust that you will rein in your adminis-tration and police and instruct them not to harass and falsely implicate our party members and independent researchers, journalists and others. S. Sudhakar Reddy [Former Member of Lok Sabha, General Secretary, CPI] Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Report of a Fact-finding Team on Chhattisgarh DOCUMENT The following is the Report of a Fact-finding Team on Chhattisgarh for which the Chhattisgarh Government is trying to harass the team members. A delegation comprising Sanjay Parate, Secretary, State CPI-M; Vineet Tiwari, Joshi-Adhikari Institute, New Delhi; Archana Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru University and CC member, AIDWA; and Nandini Sundar, Delhi University visited the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh from May 12 to 16, 2016. We visited the following districts: Bijapur, Sukma, Bastar and Kanker. The focus of the visit was on the situation of ordinary villagers who are living through the conflict between the state and Maoists. The levels of Maoist presence and scale of state repression vary somewhat across the districts. The worst affected at the moment appear to be Sukma district and the Darbha/Tongpal block of Bastar district, but fake encounters and arrests are a problem everywhere. There are other common features: Preliminary Observations 1. The whole district is heavily militarised with camps every 5 km, and in the villages around Raoghat, every 2 km. These are being set up in complete violation of the Fifth Schedule, PESA and the Forest Rights Act 2006. No gram sabha permission is sought, camps come up at night, and peoples cultivation is taken over, without their rights being settled. There is massive destruction to the environment. 2. In some places the camps have created a sense of security, with the Maoists presence coming down, but in most places they have enhanced the insecurity of the villagers. Civic action programme, organised by the security forces in which people are forced to participate, bring them into conflict with the Maoists. 3. Across the four districts, villagers said that people were being arrested in large numbers. The villagers, who have no understanding of the legal system, are forced to pay high fees to the lawyers, and their lives are ruined. The law is being used as an instrument of torture rather than of justice or peace-keeping. 4. There is almost no implementation of the NREGA despite this being a drought year. In many places we heard complaints that people had not been paid wages for the NREGA work done seven years ago. 5. The living conditions of villagers are at starvation levels. Average incomes are Rs 1000-2500 per household per month, with the maximum cash generated by tendu patta collection and wage labour in Andhra Pradesh. 6. In this context, the vast amounts of money being spent on militarisation, rewards to security forces, surrenders, and civic action spectacles amount to a criminal diversion of money from the welfare of the people. The Maoists also bear responsibility for not allowing work on roads, and use of panchayat funds, etc. but in areas where there are no Maoists, we found no evidence of the developmental state. Demands To Political Parties: 1. An all-party delegation should visit Bastar, especially some of the interior villages, and initiate conversation with a wide range of stakeholders to suggest measures for conflict resolution. 2. The parties should demand that the Centre and State Government initiate a dialogue with all political parties and the Naxalites, and come up with a comprehensive plan that recognises the rights and development needs of the people. To the Central and State governments: 1. There should be a high-level judicial enquiry of all the encounters, arrests, surrenders and rapes and other atrocities by police, security forces and Naxalites since 2005. 2. There should be prosecution of all these cases and compensation should be paid regardless of the perpetrator. 3. The camps should be removed. 4. The forest rights, and land rights of the people should be recognised. No projects should be implemented, including mining, without the full knowledge and consent of the gram sabha. 5. There should be a full accounting with onthe-ground verification of all works done under government schemes. In particular the NREGA should be implemented, and all pending dues must be immediately paid. To the Maoists: 1. The Maoists must allow all development works to take place. 2. They should allow political activity such as standing for elections. 3. They should stop beating people, and killing informers. Specific Incidents 1. Marjum fake encounter. 2. Beating of villagers in Kumakoleng by Maoists following police arrests and mass surrender induced by police threats. 3. Arrests and alleged rape in Tadmendri. 4. Rape and sexual exploitation by BSF SPO in Etebalka. 5. Arrests in Tadmendri, Bastar, Antagarh (Badrangi). Marjum fake encounter: In first week of May, 2016, two police personnel died in a cross-firing incident near the Marjum village in Dantewada district between the police force and the Maoists. After a few days, on May 8, 2016, the villagers went to a nearby village to celebrate Beej Pandum, a traditional festival of the villagers. Two boys of the age around 17-18 years, namely, Markam Mangloo and Podiyam Vijja, went to take bath in the nearby river stream. The patrolling force found them alone, shot them there and declared them as Maoists. The villagers were informed at around 12 in the noon that there was some firing near the river. The villagers found the two boys missing and contacted the police who were informed about the death of the two boys. The newspapers were informed from the police that both the boys were Maoists and they were killed in the encounter. On May 12, 2016, ex-MLAs of the CPI, Nanda Sori and Manish Kunjam, brought the villagers to Dantewada and organised a press conference where the villagers accused the police of the fake encounter and said that both the boys had no connection with Maoists at all. The Sarpanch of the village and the Anganwadi Karykarta were also present along with the family members, relatives and other villagers in the press conference who also confirmed that the police was making false allegations and these were nothing else but murders of the innocent tribal boys. The CPI announced that it would stage a protest demonstration for the fair enquiry of the incident on May 19, 2016. The effect of staged surrenders, mass arrests and civic action programmes on villagesMaoist beatings, revival of Salwa Judum-style division of villages: Kumakoleng: We visited Kumakoleng, thana Leda, Tongpal block, and found that the village was largely deserted, after the Maoists had beaten up villagers on April 17. Eight villagers had to be hospitalised, including two women. People were scared to return to the village for fear of being beaten by the Maoists. The sequence of events that we could piece together is as follows: The Maoists came to this area in 2004. These villages were considered by the police as Maoist garhs. They beat up any villager who opposed them. But several people also joined the dalams and sanghams were formed. There was a firing in Chintalnar near Kachiras, in which one of the dalam leaders, Sonadhar, left his diary (Sonadhar was later killed by the police in Odisha). The diary contained the names of many villagers who had contributed food etc. to the Maoists. The police put pressure on these villagers, threatening to arrest them. Therefore in March 2016, approxi-mately 50 people from Kumakoleng panchayat surrendered to the police; some of them were later brought around to identify others. The Maoists then put pressure on the villagers for surrendering. On April 15, the police held a camp in Kumakoleng and distributed sarees, vessels etc. This was attended by the Additional SP among others. At this shivir, some of the villagers, especially the non-adivasi castes which have traditionally not been so close to the Maoists, asked the police to set up a CRPF camp in their village. On April 17, the Maoists came looking for two people who had surrendered, Sukhman Yadav and Bhagirath, and beat up a large number of people in Kumakoleng, including those who had asked for a police camp. Only 35 out of 110 households are still left in the village. In neighbouring Nama village, Soutnar panchayat, all the villagers have resolved to keep the Maoists out and have been patrolling the villages with bows and arrows and axes for the last three months. They have not given their initiative any formal name like a gram surakshadal and laughingly called themselves the tangiya gang. In their case too, tension with the Maoists was created after the surrender of a former Maoist, Shankar, who then identified the villagers. Under pressure from the Maoists for surrendering, the villagers asked for a CRPF camp. They were also put off by the beating and killing of a villager Somaru in 2010 on charges of being an informant, when the villagers felt he was innocent. In Koleng the village, the police held a camp and distributed sarees, vessels, mobile phones etc. There too villagers think they will be safer with a camp. In Darbha, the police arrested Bhadri Mahu villagers. Villagers were told to come to Darbha en masse to get the men released, but it turned out to be a staged spectacle in which the police distributed sarees etc. The men were not released. Instead, journalist Sabtosh Yadav, who came to report on the arrests, was arrested. Arrests and Alleged Rape in Indrawati National Park area: The villagers in Tadmendri village allege that the police is carrying out arrests in the name of anti-Naxal operations. During the time of the Salwa Judum, Mahendra Karma held a meeting in Koyenar and during the meeting a police jeep was burnt. Thereafter the Sarpanch was arrested. Recently three people have been arrested from Tadmendri on April 23, 2016 by the name of Aytu Kursum (23-24 years), Valle Vardam (19-20 years) and Dudda Vedke (28-29 years). They have been arrested in the Rani Bodli Murder Case and no investigations have started yet. The villagers have been in jail since this. A rape case was also alleged in Chichkunta village where Phullu Devi was surrounded by SPOs while she was in the field and arrested on the pretext of being from Platoon 2 of the local area Dalam. She was raped by the two men from the security forces from the Farsegarh camp on January 17-18, 2016. She is now in Jagdalpur jail and the police deny that there has been any rape or illegal arrests in the case. Rape and Sexual Exploitation by BSF SPO in Etebalka: A visit to Etebalka resulted in the revelation of the case of a young girl being exploited by a BSF SPO, Budu Ram, s/o Phagu Ram. He regularly visited her house and raped the girl two-to-three times. When the girl protested, the SPO threatened her and said that the reward for being a police informer and SPO is that he is free to do all these things. The girl was married off to a third person by her family in June 2015 without any knowledge of this incident. Her in-laws discovered she was pregnant and she was sent home with a demand that the husbands family should be compensated. The SPO already had two wives. A Panchayat was called to settle the matter. It decided that the SPO should pay Rs 51,000 to the girls family, but only Rs 25,000 has been so far paid. The girl wrote a complaint to the District Collector for which she has not got any response. There is no action by the BSF against the SPO. The existence of such camps and the authority it gives jawans and SPOs/sahayak arakashak/DRG leads to sexual exploitation, and makes all women in the vicinity vulnerable. We also heard allegations of rapes in the vicinity of other BSF camps but the families were unwilling to talk. Illegal Arrests at Badrangi Village: Two brothers, Pinashi and Raju, have been picked up by the police on the pretext of being Naxals. Pinashi had been picked up twice before but he has now been in jail for the last one year. The villagers allege that a tiffin bomb was planted in his house to prove that he is a Naxal. When he was arrested earlier he was beaten up at the camp and told to give a bribe of Rs 20,000 to finish the case. Now he has taken a loan for that purpose but the villagers are not ready to repay the loan since Pinashi is in jail. Raju was picked up three months ago. His wife died and he has three small children, two of them girls, who have been left helpless. The villagers claim that he has nothing to do with Naxalites. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Mathura Carnage: Murder Most Foul! by Sudhanshu Tripathi The unfortunate event at Jawahar Bagh in Mathura killing a very fine, gentle and promising city SP Mukul Dwivedi sounds a very dark chapter in independent Indias decaying politics where offenders and criminals rule the roost. Though a very young and perhaps deeply religious sub-inspector was also killed in the mayhem besides more than two dozens of the so-called satyagrahis united under the banner of the Swadhin Bharat Andolan in the name of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose led by one mastermind, Ram Vriksha Yadav, also killed in his self-prepared strategy to defeat the police force which was ordered by the High Court to get the public park vacated from the clutches of these anti-social elements illegally occupying it since 2014 under the pretext of fulfilling their irrational demands, the way the SP was brutally and mercilessly killedalmost unarmed and betrayed by his fellow policemen who ran away from the spot when he was overpowered by these criminalsraises many serious questions about the prevailing quality of governance and administration in the State of UP, being ruled by an equally young CM, Akhilesh Yadav. Further, even when the SP and the sub-inspector were being criminally assaulted by the goons of Ram Vriksha Yadav, the police party were denied permission to open fire at them which might have saved the precious lives of these two sincere officers. Evidently, all this draws a clear line of indictment running from officials in Mathura to the State administration in Lucknow. If the life of a Superintendent of Police is not safe in the State, who had gone with few personnel in the park very peacefully on that fateful day (June 2) just to oversee or recce the area for the final operation to be carried out later, what about the security of common men and their lives? Why did these criminal-protestors act dispropor-tionately to commit unparalleled barbarity upon the hapless SP who was simply arguing and trying to convince them about their unlawful occupation of public land and their baseless demands for creating an ideal society. Was this only a coincidence or an act of preconceived and deliberate murder of the SP? In fact, the SP was said to be particularly concerned about this land-grabbing of the park by these criminal protesters and had also made efforts earlier to get the park vacated but was always discou-raged by his higher-ups and political masters on one pretext or the other in his endeavour. Indeed, the Ram Vrishka gang was highly organised, well prepared and having a big cache of arms and ammunitions that went unnoticed by the local intelligence. Only after the tragic incident did these facts gradually come out with each passing day. And the morale of the going was certainly very high because they were not afraid of the consequences of killing even a senior police officer of the Superintendent rank. The question is: how could they do all these illegal and nefarious acts just under the very nose of the district administration of Mathura? All indications gathered by information so far suggest that the deceased, Ram Vrishka Yadav, was enjoying a very strong and high level of political patronage of a senior Cabinet Minister of the ruling party in the State. Being a Yadav was an additional weight in his favour. He had developed a parallel government inside Jawahar Bagh of around 264 acres and got several of permanent cottages constructed for his followers. This speaks aloud about his mala-fide intentions of capturing forever the public park wherein he had entered into along with his followers two years ago having only two days of permission from the city authorities for retiring as they were on their way to Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, coming from Madhya Pradesh. Several Aadhar cards and id cards were also found during search operations carried out after the mayhemthese point towards the possibility of their misuse in the next elections of the State Assembly a few months ahead with a view to provide advantage to the ruling Samajwadi Party for ensuring it another full term of government. In this scenario, how can sincere, dedicated and honest officers perform their duties well in the interest of society? Who will take care of common man and their woes? What will happen to the bereaved families of the killed SP and the sub-inspector? As it has a now emerged that a clear political protection was provided to the leader of this criminal group and also about the serious lapses in the police action, all these facts, obviously, need to be thoroughly investigated by none other than the CBI, as the State inquiry will not reveal the truth, and the culprits ought to be punished for their heinous crime of murdering the innocent police officers. Dr Sudhanshu Tripathi is an Associate Professor, Political Science, MDPG College, Pratapgarh (UP). Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > If the Congress is to live, the Gandhis must go. It has clean, capable (...) IMPRESSIONS The fall of the Congress is the principal reason for the rise of the BJP. This was clear in 2014 when the reticent, text-reading Sonia Gandhi was no match to the eloquent, conqui-stadorial Narendra Modi. It was reinforced in last months five State elections when the Congress was decimated across the board. Indias founding political party has reached a stage where it knows it has fallen, knows what it must do to get on its feet again, but has no guts to do it. The extent of this cadaverous state will be the determining factor again in the major State elections next year and the parliamentary elections in 2019. If the Congress does not rise from the mortuary at least in time for 2019, it might not get another chance. With hindsight, Mahatma Gandhis appeal for the winding up of the Congress upon independence now looks not only ethical but also wise. After all, the Indian National Congress was not a political party; it was a peoples movement for independence. Jawaharlal Nehru defied Gandhis advice and made the Congress a party. It gave the Congress a big advantage to begin with; as the saying went in those days, even a lamp-post put up by the Congress would get elected. That was a short-term advantage because the idea was fundamentally flawed. A democracy needs two or three parties, competing on different ideological platforms. Nehru prevented other parties from coming up so that he could win easily. Despite his professed socialism, he engineered the fading away of even the Congress Socialists led by people like Jayaprakash Narayan. His Cabinet was a hotchpotch of conservatives, business tycoons, corporate executives, capitalists, Rightists, Leftists and plain camp-followers. If Gandhis advice had been taken, there would have been a Leftist party under Nehru, a Rightist party under Sardar Patel, and probably a Hindu nationalist grouping under Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. That would have provided a healthy base for democracy to develop. The multiplex character of the Congress prevented it from becoming a party with a defined ideology and a cadre of leaders committed to that ideology. It was left to Indira Gandhi to give the party what looked like an ideologydynastic hegemony. The power of her personality ensured that Congress leaders not only accepted the anti-democratic concept but started justifying it with more loyalty than the Kings. The Congress started losing its credentials. Popular acceptance of the dynasty idea declined steadily after Indira, hitting rock-bottom with Rahul Gandhi. He created a bad first impression, appearing to be a part-time politician with frequent disappearances. We dont know if that phase has passed. What we know is that his big speeches in Parliament and many appearances with common people, students and Dalits have not made much of an impact. He looks amateurish and not grown up. He just doesnt have it in him. The cronies who matter in the top-heavy Congress will argue that if he gives up his number two status and takes over the presidentship of the party from his mother, he will flower and all will be well. Indeed, in their desperate search for ways to make the party relevant again, Congressmen might try to make Rahul Gandhi the party President. That will be a move towards a Congress-mukt Bharat. For the Congress, Rahul Gandhi is not the solution. He is the problem. If the Congress is to revive itself, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi must leave the scene. For good. They must have nothing do with the party or with politics. Only then will the party get a chance to rebuild itself. The immediate impact may be a spurt in factionalism. But the Congress has split before and regrouped. It must regroup now with a clear policy-platform and a leadership seen by the people as clean. That is the only way to become a democratic party with a fair chance to compete in the electoral field. With the Gandhis must go every leader tainted with corruption. Fortunately for the party, there are leaders senior enough and capable enough who are untainted, Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken. There are also younger men who have proved their mettle: Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora. In the States there are a whole lot of thinking Congressmen, modernistic, socially aware, environment-and-climate-conscious. If these men and women take over with no High Command to constrict them, the Congress will live to see another day. If not, the High Command alone will fly high. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Two Years of Modi Government If I were to award marks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his two-year governance, I would give him four out of 10. I wouldnt fail him because he did not officially pursue the Hindutva programme and yet allowed the RSS and Bajrang Dal, both extremist organisations, to have the run of the field. I know that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was allowed to use Akashvani to purvey his parochial and extremist views. In the same manner other government-owned institutions, such as the Nehru Library, were asked to follow the words coming from the RSS headquarters at Nagpur, or Jhandewalan in New Delhi. Heads of different educational institutes with Nehru-vian leanings were dismissed. The process is not yet complete. Even the Central institutions in the Congress-run States are being systematically saffronised. Modi doesnt have to give day-to-day instructions. The message has reached that the entire set-up will have towilly-nillyfollow the Hindutva line of thinking, no matter how antediluvian. Take the case of murder at Dadri, only 50 kilometres from Delhi. One Muslim was killed by fanatics simply because his family was suspected to have eaten beef. The extremists were not content with the killing of one person but wanted action against the whole family. They did not even raise their voice in protest. What kind of message must this have sent to the world about a nation which is capable of sending a man to the moon, when it is steeped in the antediluvian ideas that consider beef-eating as a sin? What saddens one is the silence of those who claim to be secularists. Will these same chest-beating secularists also remain silent if Modi tomorrow permits his Foreign Minister to break ties with Japan because the Japanese are famous for producing their famous Kobe beef, which is considered one of the worlds greatest delicacies? Unfortunately, the Hindutva crowd does not realise that India is ruled by the Constitution and it is not a Hindu Rashtra. The Constitution gives equal rights to Hindus who are 80 per cent and the minorities who make up the remaining 20 per cent of the population. Together they constitute the republic. Modi was right when he raised the slogan, sabka saath, sabka vikas, meaning thereby that we shall be all together and advance further hand- -in-hand. But subsequently he and his party, the BJP, appear to have lost the way and today, whether they like it or not, their government has come to represent a particular way of thinkingan intolerant Indiawhich has the overtones of Hindutva. Probably, the partys think-tank has come to believe that they can win more votes by dividing the society. With Assembly elections due in UP early next year, the Bajrang Dal has begun vitiating the atmosphere. They are holding more and more exercises in different cities where lathis and other weapons are used. This is a kind of parallel police force and even UP, where a non-BJP government is currently in power, there are morning and evening parades of extremists to instruct the young recruits in the use of lathis. The same fear of Islamic domination, that is being exploited by Right-wing parties in the West, is being cunningly manipulated in India by the BJP and its allies. We forget that in the democratic structure we have, everyone is free to eat whatever he or she likes. Nothing can be enforced. In a vast country like India where food and dress change every 50 kilometres, diversity is inevitable. Indeed, this is Indias strength. Respecting diversity keeps our different units together in a federal structure which we follow. The BJP hardliners, who believe they have come to power because of a fundamental shift in national values, should think again. There is more than a grain of truth in the argument that voters gave them a chance because they had lost faith in the Congress and were looking for an alternative. The Congress will be failing them if it persists with dynastic politics. The party must realise if it has not done so farthat Rahul Gandhi does not sell. Sonia Gandhi herself will be a far better bet than the other leaders so far available in the party. The disadvantage of being an Italian has disappeared over the years and she is considered as much an Indian as anyone by birth. But the problem is that she has very little chance to head the country because the Congress has lost its shine. No doubt, the BJP has Hinduised politics but that is the dominant thinking which has caught the public imagi-nation at present, thanks to Modis leadership. This thinking may not last long since the Indian nation is basically pluralistic. The BJP itself seems to be conscious of this because there is some evidence that it is moving from the Right-of-the-Centre to the Centre. The predicament that plagues the party is that its cadres come from the RSS. Maybe, that is the reason that there is no scam in the government. However one may dislike the RSS ideology, its emphasis on integrity cannot be doubted. Yet, there should be no misgiving on its interference in the governance. Even top bureaucrats are judged by their proximity to the Hindutva philosophy. Modi himself was an RSS pracharak (preacher). Even now he is a regular visitor to Nagpur where he interacts with the RSS leadership. Some of the ideas he gathers from there are reflected in the policy which his government frames. This has torn asunder the fabric of the nations secular temperament in the country and given rise to extremist groups in different regions. I only hope that this is a passing phase. But as long as it lasts the preference for sons of the soil will be casting a shadow on the idea of India. This is unfortunate. I hope that the Prime Minister will rethink his policies so that the basic structure of the Constitution is in no way affected. The author is a veteran journalist renowned not only in this country but also in our neighbouring states of Pakistan and Bangladesh where his columns are widely read. His website is www.kuldipnayar.com Kochi: The culprit in the Jisha murder case, Ameerul Islam, was taken to the Judicial First Class magistrate yesterday and has been transferred to the Kakkanad sub-jail for a two-week period in judicial custody. Though the culprit is caught and the DNA tests returned positive results, the case still remains unresolved. The reason the police gives as the cause of crime has not been convincing enough, such as that a woman slapped Ameerul and Jisha laughed on seeing that. None of the women in the nearby areas have attested to such an incident, and none have recognized Ameerul. The owner of the lodge where Ameerul had stayed for a few months also withheld information from the police. In spite of repeated questioning for information on migrant labourers who had left the place after Jishas murder, this owner had made no mention of Ameerul. Malayali audience have a special love for Allu Arjun and it is quite visible from the way his movies are received in Kerala. Recently in an interview, the stylish star said that he is a big fan of Dulquer Salmaan and his movies 'OK Kanmani' and 'Charlie'. He also added that he loved Dulquer's performance in 'OK Kanmani' more. The stylish actor also expressed his desire to work with superstar Mohanlal in a Malayalam film. He also stated that he was stunned by the performance of Fahadh Faasil in Bangalore days and the mesmerising performance of Nivin Pauly in 'Premam'. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Saturday for countries to do more to help cope with Europe's migrant crisis, saying Greece could not manage on its own. Speaking in Athens before heading to the Greek island of Lesbos, the gateway into Europe for nearly a million people last year, Ban said Greece had shown "remarkable solidarity and compassion" in dealing with the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war, despite its economic hardship. "Greece should not be left alone to address this challenge on its own," Ban told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "We must work together to protect people and address the causes of displacement. I continue to call for a greatest sharing of this responsibility across Europe and indeed across the world." About one million people crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greek islands last year in small and often overcrowded inflatable boats. Hundreds drowned trying to make the crossing. The migratory shift from Turkey to Greece has slowed to a trickle since March, when the European Union and Turkey reached an agreement for Ankara to seal the route in return for financial and political rewards. The accord obliges Greece to return to Turkey those migrants who either do not apply for asylum or have their claims rejected. Officials say about 8,400 migrants are currently on Greek islands, nearly all of whom have expressed interest in applying for asylum, overwhelming the system. Additionally, there are an estimated 48,000 on the Greek mainland, stuck there after a wave of border shutdowns throughout the Balkans. Tsipras said Greece had taken a big burden on its shoulders and asked for solidarity so that his country could deal with the situation. In a symbolic move, Tsipras offered Ban a life jacket, one of thousands of items Greek authorities have recovered from the shores of Greek islands since last year. He hoped the EU-Turkey deal was respected so that refugees and migrants would not need this life-saving tool in the future. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Michele Kambas; Editing by Mark Potter) Vincent Clerc, the Chief Commercial Officer at Maersk Line takes a look on Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Effective July 1, 2016, SOLAS will require that shippers of a packed container provide its verified gross mass (VGM). The customer benefits of a properly implemented and enforced regulation are important to have in mind, especially these last hectic days before go-live. We are committed to making the process as easy as possible but we also anticipate the next six months to be bumpy. In many ways, implementation of the SOLAS Amendment has really demonstrated the hardships of container shipping being a truly global industry. As we have been preparing for implementation of VGM, it has been clear that coordination and alignment on a global level with hundreds of jurisdictions with very different shipping and trade tradition have to improve. The SOLAS initiative will help avoid potential accidents throughout the supply chain for example when loading and discharging of containers or during haulage. The high profile accidents seen over the years have had significant customer impact with weeks or months of delay to the affected cargo. When analyzing root causes for such accidents it has been clear, that significant vessel instability has been caused by actual weight exceeding the declared weight by several hundred percent. For a few containers this might not be an issue, but when it is the case for more and more of the cargo, the risk of major container stack collapses or a serious vessel accident increases significantly. At Maersk Line we support the commitment to safety and are well prepared to assist our customers in meeting the new global safety requirements. We fully believe that the shipping industry should up its game, and provide customers with the contemporary service they expect and ensure the safety of the people who deliver the service. This also goes for VGM. BIMCO President and Chairman of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, Philippe Louis-Dreyfus opened the Armateurs de France and BIMCO event in Paris on 14 June 2016. The purpose of the event was to provide an overview of BIMCOs main activities and explain the ongoing work on some high profile BIMCO contracts like the BIMCO Standard Term Sheet and the recent Bunker Terms 2015. In his opening remarks Mr Louis-Dreyfus said: In my capacity as BIMCO President I am very pleased to introduce BIMCO and its core activities; as a key player in international shipping, BIMCO and its work is highly relevant to the French shipping community. Following the opening of the event, President of Armateurs de France and CEO of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, Gildas Maire, gave an introduction to the company. Commenting on BIMCOs activities relating to contracts and clauses, Chairman of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Mr Louis-Dreyfus said: BIMCOs contractual work is absolutely essential for the shipping industry as part of their daily business activities. With BIMCO engaging in the development of a standard term sheet, the organisation has proved ready to break new ground. President of Armateurs de France Gildas Maire, who is actively involved in the development of the term sheet added: I feel confident that a BIMCO standard term sheet will be a very useful and practical tool to have in hand when negotiating ship financing, whatever the size of the shipowner. SUNDAY'S WORD is bumfuzzle (bum-fuzz-el). It means to confuse or perplex. In a sentence: The Washington Redskins were bumfuzzled by the opposing teams defense. FRIDAYS WORD was capricious. It means determined by chance or impulse rather than necessity. In a sentence: The boss has a very capricious way to make decisions. Ridgeway Mayor Craig ODier will be on hand at the Ridgeway Ruritan Clubs meeting next Tuesday night. On June 21 at 6:30 p.m., theyll get together at the Ruritan building on Magnolia Street, across from the Rescue Squad. The Board of Directors will meet at 6, followed by the regular meeting. Mayor ODier is the nights guest speaker. Meanwhile, the Martinsville Uptown Morning Rotary Club will hear from Tracy McKoy next Thursday. McKoy is with Gateway Streetscape Foundation, a group that works to improve the lives of residents in Henry County and Martinsville. The meeting starts at 7:30 a.m. and all are invited to join in for breakfast. Be careful who you give to Sadly, things arent like they used to be, when you could trust people asking for donations. More groups keep coming out with stories of scam artists trying to rip people off, after that shooting in Orlando. Its gotten to the point the Better Business Bureau is offering a warning. Unfortunately, scam artists prey off the emotions that prompt people to give, Julie Wheeler said. Shes the President and CEO of the BBB that serves Martinsville, Henry County and the rest of Southside. Take your time, do your homework and research the organization orgroup you wish to donate to. Make sure youre not falling for the latest charity phone scam, phishing scam or clickbait trap that plays up the shock value of a tragedy. What should you look for? Before you donate to some online site, remember that anybody can set up a crowd-funding account. Make sure you know where the money is going. Also, be careful when youre clicking a donation link set up online. Wheeler says its a better idea to go to the website yourself, because too many times, those links can be fake and just an attempt by scammers to steal your personal information. Whered that come from? Following up on Fridays column, we say a lot of things that people ask where they come from. Those sayings arrived here a lot of different ways. Everyones probably heard the phrase deader than a doornail. Well, that actually came out of an English play, back in 1350, entitled The Vision of Piers Plowman. Back then, they said dead as a herring, mainly because people only saw herrings when the fish were long dead and preserved. But then, after the play came out, people started saying dead as a doornail. But why a doornail and not one for another part of the house? The reason given is that a doornail was one of the heavy studded nails on the outside of a medieval door and seemed dead because of the number of times it got hit by a knock on the door. You may have also heard the one about hes all hat and no cattle. That comes from a bit farther south in Texas, stretching back to the 1940s. That was when there was a major push to replace the traditional Texas farming business with oilmen and a bunch of people from up north. A lot of these people coming in bought ranches and some even bought animals, but they didnt know anything about farming. Instead, it was just a hobby to those folks. Theres also the one saying that I didnt just fall off the turnip truck. Weve all heard someone say that, when they dont believe a story were telling. That one goes back to the early 1900s in the Midwest. Parents used to tell children that rather than coming by a stork, theyd been brought on the turnip truck. Then theres the one where we say everything is right as rain. Thats been around since the 1800s. Rain was seen as good, because it helps crops grow, according to the Dictionary of Early English. It was also seen as something straight in direction, since rain comes down in a straight line. Finally and appropriate for a day where we head to church, theres the phrase, its time to put on my Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes. It came from the early 1800s in the Midwest. When people went to church, it was the Sunday meeting, one they would dress up nice for. Soon, when people started dressing up nice to go anywhere, theyd just call it their Sunday go-to-meeting clothes. home US LGBT Muslims ostracized following Orlando shooting tragedy Gay Muslims fear backlash in the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shooting that happened Sunday, June 12 at the height of Islamaphobia and anti-LGBT sentiments. Sunday's tragedy is not just the worst mass shooting in the U.S. history but also the worst attack against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in America, according to Reuters. After an Afghan-American gunman with Islamic State sympathy attacked the Pulse gay nightclub and killed 49 and injured 53, several Muslim groups quickly denounced the attack and expressed solidarity with the LGBT community. On the other hand, politicians like Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump responded by blaming the Muslims for not reporting the gunman and reiterating his proposal to ban Muslim immigrants. "When I heard about the shootings, the first thing I thought was, please don't let it be a Muslim," Amina Abdul Jalil, a gay Muslim, said Tuesday during a vigil in Atlanta for the Orlando victims, as reported by NBC News. Los Angeles Times quoted the rising cases of hate crimes exposing Muslim bigotry in the country as a result of Islamic terroristic attacks. Hate crimes against American Muslims rose to 481 cases in 2015 from 154 the previous year. Orlando's mass shooting tragedy also highlighted the Islamic faith's denunciation of homosexuality. Representative for Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, Tynan Powell, told Reuters, "There are Muslims who believe that the Koran forbids homosexuality, just as there are Christians who believe the Bible does." A study made by Pew Research Center in 2015, as reported by the Associated Press, indicates 42 percent Muslims living in the U.S. support same-sex marriages while Christians rated a bit higher at 44 percent, Mormons at 40 percent, and Evangelicals the lowest at 28 percent. One gay Muslim man originating from Afghanistan, who has requested to remain anonymous, recalled he was told off during a vigil for Orlando victims at University of Minnesota on Tuesday, "This is not the right time or place for you." "Even my grieving was questioned because of my identity," he said. Mona Siam, a lesbian Muslim who left her country Jordan to find freedom in America, also said she feels that every part of her identity is being attacked. In light of all these, 50 LGBTQ groups on Monday espoused for unity instead of anti-Muslim rhetoric. They stated, "We know what it looks like and feels like to be scapegoated and isolated in the midst of a crisis." RicharsonFarm20162 (2).jpg Seen here with some of the herd at the Richardson Family's Rocky Acres Farm of Warren, are, left to right Brand and wife Heather Richardson and his parents Robert and Martha Richardson. (Larry Radner/ Photo Provided) WARREN -- Rocky Acres Farm, the people who operate it - Robert and Martha Richardson along with their son Brian and his wife Heather - and their herd of 48 milking cows recently won the Overall Top Quality Producer Award from Agri-Mark for the best milk quality record among all 1,100 cooperative members. Brian and Heather Richardson care for the cattle while Robert and Martha Richardson care for the crops and do the bookkeeping and other tasks. The Richardson's also won the Overall Top Quality Producer Award from Agri-Mark in 2006. Agri-Mark, a regional dairy cooperative that makes butter and other products at a plant in West Springfield, announced the award to mark June as National Dairy Month. In a news release, Agri-Mark referred to Rocky Acres' milk quality record as "impressive," citing high scores on its tests for quality. "Every year we try to improve our herd and get each cow to do as well as they can in terms of production and quality," Brian Richardson said in a news release. Heather Richardson said in the release that her family's goal is to make high quality milk because they drink the milk themselves and would not want an inferior product. "We know our cows are healthy if they are producing top quality milk. Having healthy cows is very important to us," she said. "It takes a lot of work to take care of 100 head of both milking cows and young stock each day, but we would not be doing it if we did not love what we are doing," Robert Richardson said. "We are doing the best we can to take care of our land and the cows. Crops and cows are a 24/7 job for us. Our 500-acre farm is grass-based and we have been on this farm since 1961. We hope that a future generation will be farming this land another 55 years from now." Agri-Mark, headquartered in Andover, had $917 million in 2015 sales and markets more than 336 million gallons of farm-fresh milk each year for 1,100 dairy farms in New England and New York, the co-op said. Agri-Mark farmers own the Cabot brand of Vermont cheddar, butter and other dairy products and the McCadam brand of New York cheddar, pepper jack and other cheeses. eagleton school Three additional former staff members of the now defunct Eagleton School for boys with learning disabilities have been indicted on charges of abuse (Gillian Jones/The Berkshire Eagle via AP) (Associated Press photo) PITTSFIELD Three additional former Eagleton School staff members were indicted Thursday on assault charges, bringing the total number of people arraigned on charges connected to the abuse scandal to 13, according to the Berkshire Eagle. Justin M. Senecal, 27, Derrick Saunders, 42, and Martin Schmitt, 46, were all arraigned in Berkshire Superior Court on Thursday on charges that they abused students while employed at the school. The Eagleton School, a former treatment clinic for boys with disabilities, became the center of controversy after allegations of abuse by employees began to emerge. Authorities raided the clinic in January, and the school was forced to shut down in April. The arraignments that occurred on Thursday brought the total number for the week to five, after Michael T. Bell of Watervliet, New York, was arraigned on Tuesday, and Alexis A. Lopez, 23, of Pittsfield, was arraigned on Wednesday. The three men apparently pleaded not guilty to a number of abuse charges on Thursday. Senecal, who allegedly assaulted a student on July 11, 2013, was charged with two counts of assault and battery on a disabled person, as well as one count of caretaker abuse on a disabled person. Saunders, who allegedly assaulted a student on between April 1 and April 30, 2014, pleaded not guilty to one count each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a disabled person, and caretaker abuse on a disabled person. Schmitt, who allegedly assaulted three different students between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2015, pleaded not guilty to three separate counts each of assault and battery on a disabled person and caretaker abuse on a disabled person, along with one count each of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and threatening to commit a crime. The three men were released on their own recognizance, on the condition that they not have contact with the alleged victims involved in the case. Albert Ganem.jpg Albert Ganem (Republican file) WILBRAHAM - On a 6 to 1 vote, the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee voted Friday night to offer the regional school superintendent position to Albert Ganem. Ganem is the district manager of professional learning for the Worcester public schools district. During a telephone call placed by consultant Tracy Novick of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees which helped screen the candidates, Ganem said he accepts the position, pending contract negotiations. Ganem was selected over Hampden-Wilbraham Assistant Superintendent for Business Beth Regulbuto and Kimberly Merrick, administrator of special education for the Wachusett Regional School District. School Committee chairman Peter Salerno was the sole dissenting vote for Ganem, voting instead for Regulbuto. Following the 6 to 1 vote, Salerno said he would change his vote to Ganem, to make the decision unanimous. School Committee member William Bontempi advocated for Ganem. Bontempi said that in his opinion the school district "needs healing." Ganem's strength is his personality, Bontempi said, adding that for him a school district "is built on relationships." School Committee member Michael Mazzuca said that in his opinion Ganem "will guide the district through the middle school issue." The towns of Wilbraham and Hampden have not been able to come to an agreement on how to consolidate the district's two middle schools. Hampden selectmen say they are opposed to closing Thornton Burgess Middle School in Hampden, which school officials recommended. School Committee member Lisa Morace of Hampden said, "We need a new set of eyes to come in. We need a burst of energy." Salerno said he would vote for Assistant Beth Regulbuto for the position, saying she has served the district for more than 10 years as assistant superintendent for business. "I believe loyalty counts," he said. Bontempi said there were some concerns expressed by teachers that Regulbuto is not certified as a teacher and has never taught in a public school classroom. Ganem will replace Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Superintendent M. Martin O'Shea who is leaving July 1 to take the Longmeadow superintendent job. Bontempi said that Ganem, Regulbuto and the new curriculum director for the school district, Neil Gile, will need to work as a team in the central office. SPRINGFIELD - The Most Rev. Mitchell T. Rozanski, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, is asking Western Massachusetts Catholics "to pause for a moment of silent reflection" this weekend in response to the dozens dead or wounded at the hands of a 29-year-old gunman at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando. In a statement to be read at weekend Masses on the week anniversary of the massacre June 12, Rozanski is asking parishioners to "join the Holy Father in praying for an end of all such acts of violence which permeate our world." Saying there is "no possible or rational explanation" for "this horrific act," Rozanski says the "ultimate solution is to respond to violence with peaceful prayers and actions, to solemnly remember those whose lives were taken or injured as well as to remember their families and friends." "Once again our nation has been confronted by unspeakable violence directed at innocent people. Such senseless acts stir genuine emotions in all of us, as we seek to make sense out of this tragedy. And there is little doubt that many are anxious to point the finger of blame on one aspect or another of this horrific act," Rozanski says. "But in the end there is no possible or rational explanation. There is no one answer." Rozanski asks Catholics to "echo the desire of our Holy Father, Pope Francis who earlier this week stated, 'We all hope that ways may be found, as soon as possible, to effectively identify and contrast the causes of such terrible and absurd violence which so deeply upsets the desire for peace of the American people and of the whole of humanity.'" The statement from Rozanski, who has been attending a special five-day assembly, or retreat held every three years, of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, in Huntington, Beach, Calif., asked that his message be shared with parishioners, followed by a moment of silence. Earlier in the week, the Right Rev. Douglas Fisher, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, linked the massacre to the "availability of assault weapons" as well as to "homophobia and racism" and the need to break the "cycle of fear" with love "that defies the darkness." In his letter on Orlando, Bishop James Hazelwood of the Worcester-based New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who was in Springfield last weekend for the synod's annual assembly, called for a change in gun laws, as well as a change in attitudes toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons and toward people of the Islamic faith. Both the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America sanction same sex marriage. Omar Mateen, the American born son of immigrants from Afghanistan in the 1980s, was killed by police. He pledged allegiance to the radical Islamic State during a 911 call, though it is believed he was self radicalized and not directed by any group to carry out the attack. He legally bought a rifle and handgun in the days leading up to the massacre. Islamic state militants ISIS Iraqi forces retook parts of the city of Falluja on Friday, a site that had previously been held by Islamic State fighters, according to the New York Times. This undated file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), now called the Islamic State group. (File photo/AP ) IRAQ In a surprising turn of events, pro-government Iraqi forces retook large sections of the city of Falluja on Friday, areas that had long been maintained by fighters of the Islamic State (IS), according to the New York Times. The Times reports that Islamic State fighters "abandoned their dug-in positions" and retreated to western regions of the city. Iraqi forces took the center of the city and laid claim to the main government building, raising the Iraqi flag, according to the Wall Street Journal. Falluja's main hospital which has allegedly been used by the Islamic State as a headquarters for the past number of months was subsequently besieged by Iraqi forces, according to the paper. This marks the most recent in a string of territorial victories for the Iraqi security forces, which recently retook the city of Ramadi in January, after "months of battling" IS fighters. "ISIS has lost its power to defend Falluja," Col. Jamal Lateef, a police commander in Anbar Province, said in an interview with the New York Times. The victory, while promising for Iraq's security forces, has been accompanied by myriad reports of concern for the livelihood of civilian populations. A number of human rights organizations have expressed concern for the fallout from the battle for Falluja, including the U.N., which issued a warning on June 1, 2016, that an estimated 20,000 children were at risk and "coming under fire" due to the violence between government forces and the Islamic State. Thousands of civilians have fled the city in recent days, and have been faced with highly dangerous journeys, many of which have reportedly ended in death. The Islamic State took hold of the city in December of 2013, and managed to hold onto it for nearly two years, according to Aljazeera. Reports from the government allege that the Islamic State has suffered significant territorial losses in the past several months. However, CIA Director John O. Brennan warned on Thursday that though the terrorist organization had seen losses in recent months, it would likely continue its campaign against the West, and was probably "training operatives" to conduct more attacks on Western countries. mcdonald's.jpg Police found a man who had been the victim of a stabbing attack in the parking lot of a McDonald's on Main St. in Springfield on Friday night. (Lucas Ropek/The Republican) SPRINGFIELD A man was rushed to the hospital in Springfield on Friday night, after being stabbed multiple times, according to police. Authorities received a call at approximately 9:35 p.m. for a man who appeared to be injured walking on Main St., according to Sgt. Steven Wyszynski, of the Springfield Police Department. Witnesses say they saw him holding his side and that they could see blood, according to Wyzynski. The victim was found in the parking lot of the McDonald's at 2392 Main St., where he had apparently stumbled after his attack, according to police. He had been stabbed "at least twice." The victim, who appears to be in his "mid-thirties," seemed to be "very intoxicated" at the time police found him, according to Wyszynski. Police don't yet have a location for the attack, nor have they apprehended the assailant, but are currently investigating the incident. police lights.jpg BOSTON Police reported Saturday that a girl found dead in an East Boston garage this week has been identified as 19-year-old Blanca Lainez. Officers assigned to East Boston responded to reports of a person down near 54 Princeton St. just before 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to Boston Police. Lainez, of East Boston, was found inside a garage suffering from undetermined traumatic injuries, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Boston Police are actively investigating the incident and have asked anyone with information to contact homicide detectives at 617-343-4470. Those with information on the incident may also contact Boston Police anonymously by calling the CrimeStoppers tip line at at 1-800-494-TIPS or by texting the word 'TIP' to CRIME (27463), police said. SPRINGFIELD -- The Xi Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Hats Off 2016 event held on June 14, celebrated the achievements of youth and community service at the Sheraton Hotel in Springfield. The 12th annual event featured a silent auction, a "Parade of Hats," vendors and more. The Xi Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is the oldest greek letter organization established for and by African American women. Through its Community Enrichment Foundation Incorporated, the group provides scholarships and performs community service in the Pioneer Valley. For more information, visit the group's official website here. Individuals who often look at photographs of semi-naked women and other forms of soft-core pornography may become desensitized to such images, hold more negative attitudes toward women, and endorse myths about rape, suggests a new study. Share on Pinterest Frequent viewers of soft-core pornography may have less positive attitudes toward women, researchers suggest. Study co-author Dr. Simon Duff, of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, and colleagues recently presented their findings at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Societys Division of Forensic Psychology (DFP), held in Brighton, U.K. According to the researchers, previous studies on exposure to hard-core pornography have shown that viewers may be more likely to be involved in sexual offending, sexual deviance, have greater acceptance of rape myths, and have more negative attitudes toward intimate relationships. However, the team points out that there has been little research on the effects of soft-core pornography on thinking and behavior. Dr. Duff and colleagues explain that individuals are often exposed to soft-core pornography, such as images of women wearing lingerie for advertising campaigns or pictures of semi-naked women in newspapers. With this in mind, the team says it is surprising that more research into the effects of soft-core pornography has not been conducted. Is living near an airport bad for your health? A Swedish research team recently uncovered an increase in both hypertension and asymptomatic organ damage in those who are exposed to aircraft sounds over prolonged periods of time. Share on Pinterest Could the sounds of aircraft significantly impact health? In 2013, there were 64 million take-offs and landings a 1.2 percent rise from 2012. The International Civil Aviation Organization believe that this figure is likely to double in the next 2 decades. With airports multiplying and expanding, more and more people are exposed to aircraft noise on a regular basis. Exposure has previously been associated with sleep disturbances, breathing problems during the night, and nervousness. Emerging research suggests that aircraft noise might have significant physical effects on individuals who are subjected to the highest levels of noise. For instance, a Swedish study , published in Epidemiology in 2007, using more than 2,000 participants, found an association between long-term aircraft noise and hypertension. Similarly, a study using data from more than 6 million individuals, published in The BMJ in 2013, found that individuals who lived in areas with the highest levels of noise exposure had a 3.5 percent increased cardiovascular hospital admission rate. Aircraft noise and health revisited New data on this topic was presented this week at the EuroPRevent 2016 meeting by Marta Rojek, from Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow, Poland. Rojek and her team investigated aircraft noise and its effect on hypertension and asymptomatic organ damage. The team used 201 adults aged 40-66, all of whom lived in a region with either low or high aircraft noise for the past 3 years. Of this group, 101 regularly experienced aircraft sounds of 60 decibels or more, and the remaining 100 lived in an area experiencing sounds of 55 decibels or less these were the control group. The subjects were all paired by age, gender, and the amount of time they had lived in the area. The individuals blood pressure was measured, as was the stiffness of their aorta and the mass and function of the hearts left ventricle (one of the hearts four chambers). Aortic stiffness is a marker for biological aging and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, such as stroke and myocardial infarction. As expected, those living nearest to airports, and enduring the highest air traffic noises, fared least well. Individuals living in an area where there was greater air traffic noise had increased hypertension, when compared with those who lived in quieter areas 40 percent and 24 percent, respectively. The high-noise group had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure than the control group (89 compared with 79 mm Hg). Similarly, when the researchers looked for signs of organ damage, they found that those living with higher levels of aircraft noise had stiffer aortas and higher ventricular mass. Our results suggest that living near an airport for 3 years or more is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure and hypertension. These changes may then lead to damage of the aorta and heart which could increase the risk of having a heart attack. Marta Rojek 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 World Sickle Cell Awareness Day 2016 Creating awareness of the realities faced by the sickle cell community Public consciousness raising to support prevention programs through genetic counseling Proper public health programs to deal with clinical management of the disease Initiating newborn screening to catch the disease early Dispelling myths about the disease Educating the parent and patient communities Upgrading clinician knowledge on the disease Stepping up efforts for progress in therapeutic research To create public awareness on the importance of blood donation To create more bone marrow and stem cell registries To push public policy makers and government decision makers to create proactive policies to create a better life for people with SCD New Horizons Sickle Cell Disease Association of American http://www.sicklecelldisease.org/ What Are You Doing for World Sickle Cell Day? http://sicklecellsociety.org/what-are-you-doing-for-world-sickle-cell-day/ http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/all-events/?tx_browser_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=4087 http://sicklecellanemia.ca/pdf_2016/world_sickle_day_ready.pdf http://www.moh.gov.sa/en/HealthAwareness/healthDay/2015/Pages/HealthDay-2015-06-19.aspx https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/sickle-cell-disease Hoban, Megan D., Stuart H. Orkin, and Daniel E. Bauer. "Genetic treatment of a molecular disorder: gene therapy approaches to sickle cell disease." Blood (2016): blood-2015. Accessed on 16 June 2016 SCD affects each person differently and there may be some with mild symptoms and others with serious symptoms requiring hospitalizations. SCD is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern which means both parents have to carry a copy of the defective gene if the child has to present with the condition. The carriers do not have any clinical symptoms of SCD and usually lead normal lives.Regular treatment involves symptom management and improving life quality. Prophylactic blood transfusions on a regular basis are the core treatment for SCD along with other regular therapies and testing. At present, there is no cure for SCD except bone marrow transplant which is a costly procedure which may or may not work. Bone marrow transplant requires an HLA-matched donor usually a sibling. Gene therapy to insert a normal gene producing hemoglobin has been progressing positively with the clinical trials moving into Phase 3.World Sickle Cell Awareness Day is marked on 19June each year. In 2008, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution to consider sickle cell disease (SCD) as a serious public health concern. SCD is one of the most prevalent genetic disorders across the globe. It is mostly concentrated in the four continents of Africa, Asia, North and South America. It is also present in Southern Europe in Italy and Greece. An estimated 500,000 live births with SCD occur each year and 50% of these children die before the age of 5.With advocacy from the Sickle Cell Disease International Organization (SCDIO) and commitment and support from the world scientific community, the African Union (2005), the UNESCO (2005), WHO (2006), and the United Nations (2008) recognized sickle cell disease as a public health priority and therefore,emphasize the need to commemorate a day to recognize this serious health issue. The primary need is to raise awareness about this disorder and preventive measures including genetic counseling, antenatal and prenatal testing.World sickle cell day 2016 is being celebrated across the globe in collaboration with several sickle cell clinics and patient advocacy organizations to raise awareness on prevention and optimal management of SCD. This day calls for public-private partnerships from respective national governments, local government bodies, non-governmental organizations, clinical communities, medical researchers, parents and caregivers and patient communities. The common goal is to create support services and a range of clinical programs to enable the sickle cell communities to lead a quality life.Some of the objectives of world sickle cell day include:This year, sickle cell clinics and organizations are focusing on the center point of SCD management which is blood. Blood is central to the treatment of SCD and the quality of blood and safety issues have a major role in regulating life quality. International guidelines and protocols on safe blood transfusions include testing for HIV, HBV and HCV (with NAT - nucleic acid testing) and cross matching for antibodies.Organizations across the globe are calling for voluntary blood donation drives to provide phenotype-matched blood to people with SCD. Safe channels providing blood transfusion to people with SCD is important to avoid transmission of human viruses.This year's theme revolves around safe, tested, cross-matched blood for every person with SCD. Blood transfusions are the mainstay of people with SCD whose lives depend on receiving timely, safe transfusions. It is extremely important to raise awareness on safety issues and need for voluntary blood donation. With community participation and motivation by SCD organizations and clinical centers, voluntary blood donation should be able to cover the transfusion needs of people with SCD. Improving safe access and transfusion care is a major step in improving the quality of lives of people with SCD.Until a cure is found for SCD, it is important for people to stay healthy, take proactive steps in maintaining their health and comply with available treatment procedures. New hope has been generated with the latest update that gene therapy for SCD has made new strides. In the journalresearchers Hoban, Orkin and Bauer have explained the process of gene therapy for SCD which now uses next-generation lentiviral vectors, new genome engineering and gene regulation approaches with the goal of preventing the red blood cells from degenerating into the sickle shape. Preclinical studies have been successful and several clinical trial sites have now opened up. These prospects provide much hope and positive outlook for SCD communities across the globe.Source: Medindia Advertisement Tom Frieden, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the rise in infections in Puerto Rico could mean "in the coming months, it is possible that thousands of pregnant women" could be infected."This could lead to dozens or hundreds of infants being born with microcephaly in the coming year," he told a teleconference with reporters.The mosquito-borne Zika virus can cause the birth defect microcephaly, leading babies to be born with unusually small heads and deformed brains.Frieden's projections were based on blood screenings done at donation centers in Puerto Rico.Of the 12,777 tests done from April 3 to June 11, 68 came back positive, or 0.5 percent. But for the week ending June 11, 1.1 percent of the samples tested positive for the virus."Although the blood donors do not represent the general population, the increasing prevalence of blood donations that test positive for the virus likely reflects an overall increase in infection in the population at large," Frieden said."If you look at the graph, you can see a steady line upward with the infection rate," he said.The blood test used in the United States to detect the virus was developed by Swiss drug giant Roche, and got Food and Drug Administration approval in late March.Frieden said it can only detect the virus if it is currently present in the blood, and cannot show past infections.On Thursday, US health officials said Zika has been linked to birth defects in the fetuses and babies of six women in the United States who were infected. Three of the women gave birth.The CDC plans to issue weekly updates on pregnancy outcomes for women infected with Zika.Experts warn that the continental United States will likely see an increase in cases as summer begins in the northern hemisphere.The virus, which usually causes only mild, flu-like symptoms, can also trigger adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can cause paralysis and death.Source: AFP Divorce can be stressful not only for the couple coping with separation, but for the entire family. Especially in India, it amounts to a family breakup. It is a normal reaction to be shocked and go through a phase of sadness during separation from your spouse. The stress of separating your entire life from each other can be stressful often leading to depression and low self-esteem. However, each individual who goes through divorce experiences varying levels of emotional and mental discomfort. Some people go through extreme stages of emotional stress while others move through the divorce hurdles with more skill. Divorce stress syndrome, is an actual medical condition in which the person going through divorce, experiences panic attacks, sleeplessness, or crippling back pain. Lot of research has proven that divorces take a worrying toll on the health. In fact, high-conflict divorces are seen as so traumatic that they have been categorized as one of the triggers of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)Typically, PTSD is a condition associated with accident victims or soldiers in war zones and the symptoms include flashbacks, unsocial behavior, heightened anxiety, insomnia and psychosomatic illness. Women are twice as likely compared to men to suffer from PTSD. An entire family can break-up during a nasty divorce. It is not uncommon for divorcing individuals to go through a grieving process similar to a death in the family. A loss of companionship, support, hope, plans and dreams involves grieving. The stages of divorce recovery include the following steps: Advertisement Grief and Sorrow: The emotional roller coaster you undergo during a divorce is no less than a death of an immediate family member. Phases of grief are denial of the happenings in your life, anger and resentment of how something like this can happen to you, bargaining to make the relationship work, depression of the relationship falling apart and finally, acceptance of the reality of the divorce. Identifying which stage you belong to will help you think clearly and make better decisions and will help your family understand your emotional thought process. Guilt and Shame: Many people feel that they failed to fulfill their vow of staying married for life. Although its personal, you also feel guilt towards your communitys expectations. If divorce is bad for your culture, then you might be extra guilty. The guilt and shame frequently translate to anger or depression, which are more tolerable feelings without even knowing it. It becomes difficult to accept your own responsibility in the failed marriage. Fear and Anxiety: Your body reacts to the stress of divorce by a fight or flight response. Symptoms such as increase in heart rate, increase adrenaline, hot flashes and anxiety attacks occur during such fight or flight responses. Men and women who feel muddled and overwhelmed due to divorce tend to return back to old habits of thought and action rather than looking into the situation and selecting the best choices for the future. Finally, you become unable to think clearly or make a rational decision. Although a divorce is devastating for both genders, women feel more depressed by the sudden end of marriage. Typically, women have their future dreams wrapped up in their marriage, but divorce causes an unexpected riot in their lives. Learning to take care of yourself can be one of the most valuable lessons you learn following a divorce. As you feel the emotions of loss and manage stress, you can resolve to take better care of yourself and make positive choices going forward in life after divorce. Some depression busters to keep up with the emotional changes during a divorce are listed below. These will help you make sure you keep yourself well and dont give in to the stress and depression. Here are some ways that will help you in dealing with depression and get over the divorce hangover. Make Time for Yourself: Read or take up a hobby and help yourself heal. Schedule a time for your daily activities that calm and soothe you. Go for a walk in a garden or forest, listen to music, enjoy a hot bath, get a massage, read a favorite book, take a yoga class, or savor a warm cup of tea. Meet friends and get your daily dose of laughter. Take the High Road: Is it better to be happy and at peace rather than be right? Your spouse was probably not responsible for all the terrible things that you reported to your lawyer. Is it worth fighting for all of it or is it better to end the marriage in a friendly divorce? This is a question you must think about before getting into the revenge game. Try to pay attention to what you need at the moment and fulfill it. Advertisement Plan and Make a Routine: A divorce can unsettle almost every area of your life, increasing feelings of stress, insecurity, and chaos. Getting back into a regular routine can deliver a reassuring feel of structure and normalcy. On the other hand, changing the routine completely can also help you forget your stress even if it is only for a while. Keep a diary to manage stress and cope with the separation. If your old job reminds you of your spouse, then change your job and make new friends. Plan a holiday or an outing with your kids. Dont be a Stereotype: Dont let people pity you. They will think that just because you have undergone a divorce, you are definitely shattered. It is probably true, but some people are strong, so dont let other people talk you down. Importantly, avoid using alcohol, drugs, or food to cope. These are just a temporary escape from your problems, but destructive in the long run. Organize and Clean Up: As far as possible, try not to make any major decisions during the phase of emotional instability. For starters, clean up and get organized in your house. Return or get rid of your spouses possessions so that they dont constantly remind you of old memories. In contrast, preserve your energy and dont put all your energy in forgetting old memories and cleaning up, keep it simple. Do not overexert yourself. Share your Wisdom: Life after divorce can be challenging in many ways. Normally, our boundaries keep us from talking about such a sensitive topic. However, your divorce may free you to become the person you are really meant to be. So inspire a friend who might be stuck in an abusive relationship to get out now, so that they know that divorce isnt the death sentence that people think it is. Ignore the Horror: The most daunting aspect of getting divorced is getting uncalled-for advice from everyone around you. Ignore these as you know which ones are bitter and full of anger and which ones are for care and insight. Exercise: Exercising is a stress buster. Walking and laughing exercises are known to release any negative energy and help you overcome any depression after divorce. In conclusion, when a family breaks up, it is essential that you replace it with something meaningful. If you dont have support of family and friends, there are various other support groups out there for you. Keeping an empty space in life will only make you blame yourself at some point in the divorce process. For a stress free divorce, forget the blaming and find good friends who may give you good advice and focus on your positive qualities rather than negative ones. Overcome the bad relationship with a positive note and you will get to the light at the end of the long tunnel. Toothpaste is important to oral health because it fights off gum disease (gingivitis) and contains fluoride, strengthening the tooth enamel and preventing tooth decay . Toothpaste is a gel or paste that removes the sticky film of bacteria constantly formed on the teeth surfaces, known as plaque . Toothpaste is used for brushing teeth with a toothbrush and is rinsed off later. Furthermore, toothpaste also contains abrasives to clean and whiten teeth, which flavours freshening breath and gives better visual appeal. This article will provide a brief overview of toothpaste its history, ingredients, different formulations, and issues relating to safety. Toothpaste is by no means the invention of modern times. Around 3,0005,000 BC, Egyptians were the first to develop a dental cream that contained powdered ashes from an ox, myrrh, eggshells, and pumice, to remove debris from teeth. Later, water was added at the time of use. Some 1,000 years later, Greeks and Romans added more abrasives to the powder mixture, for example, crushed bones and oyster shells. Romans also appear to be the first to add flavors, help with bad breath, and make their paste more edible. Around the same time, China and India were using a powder/paste with flavorings, such as ginseng, herbal mints, and salt, thereby resembling toothpaste which is not too dissimilar from those used nowadays. The most common issues with ancient toothpaste were the high level of abrasive, poor taste, and high cost. Advertisement In 1914 came undoubtedly one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of toothpaste the introduction of fluoride. Later, The American Dental Association (ADA) approved the use of fluoride salts in toothpaste in 1960, paving the way for a global roll-out of fluoride toothpaste. Furthermore, toothpaste has now become multitaskers due to the ncorporation of active ingredients that help to combat a variety of oral diseases and conditions and provide cosmetic benefits. Despite the many types of toothpaste, some common ingredients include the following: Abrasive agents - such as magnesium carbonate, dehydrated silica gels, calcium carbonate, hydrated aluminum oxides, and phosphate salts. - such as magnesium carbonate, dehydrated silica gels, calcium carbonate, hydrated aluminum oxides, and phosphate salts. Humectants - substances that keep the toothpaste from drying out such as glycerol, sorbitol. - substances that keep the toothpaste from drying out such as glycerol, sorbitol. Thickeners - agents that add thickness to the toothpaste, including seaweed or mineral colloids, synthetic cellulose, or natural gum that give proper toothpaste texture. - agents that add thickness to the toothpaste, including seaweed or mineral colloids, synthetic cellulose, or natural gum that give proper toothpaste texture. Foaming agents - to make the toothpaste foamy, detergents such as sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium alkylsulfonyl succinate are added. - to make the toothpaste foamy, detergents such as sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium alkylsulfonyl succinate are added. Preservatives - to prevent the growth of microorganisms. Some kinds of toothpastes contain other ingredients, depending on their formulation: Fluoride , which strengthens enamel and prevents cavities , which strengthens enamel and prevents cavities Flavoring agents like spearmint, peppermint, or menthol and sweeteners including sorbitol, glycerol, and xylitol are used for bad breath. like spearmint, peppermint, or menthol and including sorbitol, glycerol, and xylitol are used for bad breath. Anti-calculus agents - to retard the calcification of dental plaque and calculus formation. Ingredients like pyrophosphate or zinc citrate are used. Additionally, some toothpaste contains an antibiotic called triclosan, which kills some bacteria in the mouth. - to retard the calcification of dental plaque and calculus formation. Ingredients like pyrophosphate or zinc citrate are used. Additionally, some toothpaste contains an antibiotic called triclosan, which kills some bacteria in the mouth. Anti-sensitivity agents , including strontium chloride or potassium nitrate reduce pain in sensitive teeth. It is recommended to consult a dentist before using desensitizing toothpaste. , including strontium chloride or potassium nitrate reduce pain in sensitive teeth. It is recommended to consult a dentist before using desensitizing toothpaste. Whitening agents - consist of coarse abrasives such as condensed phosphates, hydrogen peroxide, and blue covarine, which remove stains from the teeth surfaces. - consist of coarse abrasives such as condensed phosphates, hydrogen peroxide, and blue covarine, which remove stains from the teeth surfaces. Natural toothpaste - made from herbal extracts and other natural ingredients, like seaweed extract, essential oil of ginger, or propolis. Advertisement Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that exists in soil, rocks, water, and many foods. It protects teeth against decay by helping strengthen developing enamel in children under the age of 7 and slowing acid production of bacteria caused by plaque. It also protects teeth against a process called demineralization, where bacteria combine with sugars to create acid that erodes the tooth. Further, fluoride promotes a process that brings calcium and phosphate ions to the tooth to create a new surface area that is acid-resistant. In many cities and countries, local authorities add fluoride to the drinking water, which has been shown to reduce tooth decay by at least 25%. Fluoride toothpaste provides an additional layer of protection against dental decay and plaque build-up. Mouthwash should be avoided soon after brushing since it can wash off the protective effect of fluoride on the teeth. At the same time, too much fluoride can lead to dental fluorosis. Fluorosis is a condition that produces a change in the color of tooth enamel. This discoloration usually manifests as white or sometimes brown spots. Fluorosis usually occurs when children in the teeth forming years swallow toothpaste rather than spitting it out. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the teeth forming years are before the age of 8. Chronic exposure to high levels of fluoride in areas with naturally occurring high levels of fluoride in drinking water can lead to skeletal fluorosis. This occurs when fluoride builds up in bones, causing stiffness and pain. In the most severe cases, ligaments can calcify, causing pain and trouble moving. There are so many toothpaste options to choose from, it can be difficult for people to determine which one is the right one for them. The first thing is to make sure that the product is safe and will do what it claims. If the choice is to purchase a fluoride toothpaste - Children up to 3 years old should use toothpaste with a fluoride level of 1,000 parts per million (ppm). Supervise children under age 6 to discourage swallowing toothpaste. Use only a pea-sized amount of toothpaste between the ages of 3 and 6. Anyone ages 3 and older should use toothpaste with a fluoride level of 1,350-1,500 ppm. For any fluoride toothpaste, look for the American Dental Associations seal of approval. It indicates the toothpaste will: Contain fluoride Have active ingredients to improve dental health, such as lessening tooth sensitivity, preventing enamel erosion, or reducing gingivitis Not have sugar in the flavoring agents Provide scientific evidence demonstrating safety and efficacy. Toothpaste without fluoride is considered cosmetics, and they do not fall under FDA supervision. However, these products should still provide a list of ingredients. To avoid counterfeit and unregulated products, stay away from any toothpaste that doesnt state ingredient information or is not properly labeled. Beyond that, choose toothpaste based on any personal preferences or specific dental needs. Whitening teeth, addressing tooth sensitivity, controlling tartar, and choosing different flavorings are all options. Opt for American Dental Association (ADA) approval Be wary of imposters Consider your needs and the needs of your family members. Remember, using good, fluoridated toothpaste is also an essential part of the oral hygiene routine for effective plaque removal. When choosing the best toothpaste, it is important to think about unique oral health needs. "The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip" is on view Friday in Detroit and runs through Sept. 11. It features more than 70 photographs, including ones from Robert Frank's 1950s book "The Americans," contemporary artists and others. The exhibition is organized by the nonprofit Aperture Foundation. After Detroit it's scheduled to visit the Amarillo Museum of Art in Texas this fall and the Museum of Fine Arts on St. Petersburg, Florida, next year. It previously was displayed at a museum in Arkansas. A book titled "The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip" accompanies the exhibition. Just down from the Emanuel AME church where nine black parishioners studying their Bibles were gunned down one year ago a statue of Vice President John C. Calhoun, a staunch defender of slavery, towers above a park. After the June 17, 2015, massacre, South Carolina lawmakers did what many people thought was impossible to achieve and removed the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia. Across the country, as far away as Alaska, officials moved to strip streets, college dormitories and even lakes of the names of Confederates, secessionists and public figures who championed segregation. But a year later, little has changed in Charleston, the city where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans first set foot in North America. It was here that the work of plantation slaves made the city one of the wealthiest in the nation before the Civil War. It was here where the bombardment of Fort Sumter threw the nation into that war in 1861. A section of a street in front of the white stucco Emanuel AME church may have been renamed "Mother Emanuel Way Memorial District," but all of Charleston's Confederate commemorations remain intact and longstanding racial issues endure. "I think a lot of things happened out of the immediate emotions of how horrific the killings were. That's the human side of folks and the politeness, particularly of Charleston, that we just had to do something. But then when reality checks us the question is what is that going to cost us in terms of changing the way we think and do things?" said Dot Scott, president of the Charleston branch of the NAACP. A white man who police said hated blacks and posted photos of himself with the Confederate flag has been charged with killing the nine parishioners. "It was truly an attack on a race of people," Malcolm Graham, the brother of victim Cynthia Hurd, said of the shootings. "After 400 years, the African-American community still is suffering and dealing with these types of issues relating to race." So why was there not a push to remove Confederate symbols in Charleston following the church attack? Bernard Powers, a black College of Charleston history professor, noted that it took a 15-year struggle to get the flag removed from the Statehouse grounds and that it happened only after the slayings. "People see what it took, and ultimately that flag was removed because nine people were murdered," said Powers, who co-authored a book about the massacre called "We are Charleston." ''I think people appreciate how deeply entrenched the reverence is for the Confederacy. For a lot of folks, it is a civil religion." As soon as South Carolina lawmakers voted to pull down the flag, they shut the door on any other changes. Gov. Nikki Haley had pushed for the flag to come down but feared that going further would incite fights across the state, so she asked lawmakers to protect all the other flags and monuments while removing the Statehouse flag. "Our goal was to hold everything together. Let's do what we can, let's be kind and accepting and understand history is just that it's history," she said. So a statue of former Gov. and U.S. Sen. "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman still stands on the Statehouse grounds. Tillman once famously praised a lynch mob that killed seven black Republicans in 1876 to intimidate others from voting. The statue calls him a "friend and leader of the common people" but makes no mention of the violence he bragged about for decades, something black lawmakers would like to see added. Changing a monument requires a two-thirds vote, and South Carolina and House Speaker Jay Lucas has vowed to block changes of any kind. That means the Citadel, South Carolina's Charleston-based military college, has to keep the Confederate flag up in the campus chapel among the flags of the 50 states and other territories, even though the school's board of visitors voted to take it down. It's not just South Carolina. North Carolina passed a bill protecting its Confederate monuments, and other Southern states also made it harder to alter monuments or change the names of buildings honoring prominent Confederates. Like many southern states, just about every North Carolina county has a monument extolling the bravery and honor of its Confederate soldiers. University of North Carolina history professor W. Fitzhugh Brundage, who is white, said he understands blacks who feel alienated seeing statues in public places honoring those who fought a war in large part to keep them enslaved. "That is a reminder that this state's history includes an organized effort to keep people like you, African-Americans, enslaved at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars of destruction," he said. Though the monuments remain, the Confederate fervor may be fading decade by decade in Charleston. The area commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Civil War earlier this decade with subdued events at Fort Sumter and elsewhere, compared to the celebratory mood surrounding the 100th anniversary. And there was a new emphasis on slavery as a cause of the war and the roles that blacks played in the conflict. Daniel Turner, a 57-year-old wastewater treatment plant operator from Charlotte, North Carolina, visiting Charleston's Confederate Museum, said he realizes why the Confederate flag is offensive to many. "I understand the flag," Turner said. "There are bad people who used it. But the monuments are different. They are a part of history. We can't change that." Brundage said he expects skirmishes over Confederate monuments to continue to pop up across the South, but that a full-scale removal of Confederate symbols still seems a long way off, even generations removed from the Civil War. "The flag may be down in front of the Statehouse of South Carolina, but the landscape of South Carolina is still full bursting with symbols honoring the Confederacy," the professor said. "And they're going to be there." SEBEWAING A $3.3 million cossette mixer was very carefully put into place at Michigan Sugar Companys Sebewaing plant. The mixer is part of the $125 million worth of improvements Michigan Sugar plans to do over the next few years at its four grower-owned facilities. Michigan Sugar is constantly looking for opportunities to reinvest in our cooperatives across the Thumb and Saginaw Valley using the latest technology, and we always seek to partner with local businesses to get that work done, said David Noble, vice president of operations for Michigan Sugar. In addition to pumping capital into the local economy in Sebewaing, this project will boost our efficiency, saving energy and water use, and put the Sebewaing facility on track for future success. Parts for the mixer came from BMA a company in Braunschweig, Germany, in 2015. The parts were then assembled at Sebewaing Tool and Engineering during the last six months. It took most of the winter to assemble it. The mixer is about 17 feet in diameter and about 40 feet long. It weighs about 108 metric tons, said Tim Rowbotham with Sebewaing Tool and Engineering. We pride ourselves on our ability to tackle a diverse range of engineering projects, so we were proud to work together with Michigan Sugar to upgrade its local production facility using this cutting-edge equipment. When companies like Michigan Sugar look to local businesses to help with improvement projects, they create a win-win environment. This project helped us grow, and helped Michigan Sugar significantly upgrade its local operations. Assembling the mixer was the easy part. It then had to be moved to the sugar plant, which was not an easy task even though the two companies are only a few blocks away from each other. We knew when we built the mixer the only way to get it out would be to take out the south wall. That was planned into the scope of the job, said Rowbotham. Anthes Movers of Cass City was contracted to relocate the mixer. Altogether it took us about seven days to move the mixer. Most of that time was jacking it up getting it ready to move and unloading, said Bud Anthes owner of the moving company. The actual moving didnt take long. We just followed the truck route. Anthes Movers has been in business since the 1880s. Bud is the fourth generation and his son, Chris, is the fifth generation to operate the company. Moving is a family business. Moving it wasnt a problem. It was about like moving a house, but smaller. The weight was more concentrated into a smaller area, and heavier about 90 tons, said Anthes noting there was some difficulty making the turn from Pine Street into the factorys drive. Sebewaing Light and Water disconnected and reconnected the power lines just like when we move the house. With the mixer in place it will play an integral role in the sugar production process this fall at 763 N. Beck St. Fresh sliced sugar beets are called cossettes thus the name of the mixer. A mixers intense heat scalds the cossettes to initiate the sugar extraction, explained Rowbotham. The new mixer marks a significant improvement to the Sebewaing facility. By installing a new mixer of modern design and made with the best materials in use in the industry, we are able to use less energy and less water, while reducing maintenance costs, Noble said. The new mixer will save about 8 million gallons of water over the course of the 2016-17 beet slicing campaign, and will reduce the total energy use at our Sebewaing facility by 3 to 5 percent. To do the updates, Michigan Sugar borrowed $55 million, and is getting the rest from it grower-owners. In exchange for stock in the company, growers would be required to pay 75 cents a ton for beets they deliver over the next five years. The 75 cents per ton deducted from the growers payments will provide the capital for plant improvements. The mixer will save the company energy and water costs, and other improvements are also being made. Of the $125 million in upgrades planned over the next few years about $57 million of that will be invested in the Croswell facility. UPPER THUMB The Safe Pipes Act, which will protect against oil spills in the Great Lakes, awaits President Barack Obamas signature. It passed both the U.S. House and Senate unanimously, and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters said this week that he is pleased with the show of bipartisanship. Legislators around the country view the Great Lakes as an asset, not only for the Midwest, but as a strategic asset for the nation, Peters said. Peters and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow in September announced the Pipeline Improvement and Preventing Spills Act, which would ban crude oil transport and stiffen safety thresholds for pipelines. The Safe Pipes Act would: Designate the Great Lakes an unusually sensitive area, making pipelines in the Great Lakes subject to higher safety standards. Require the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to consider response plans that address cleanup of an oil spill affecting waters or shorelines partially or entirely covered by ice (the bill would increase funding to PHMSA by 2 percent annually over four years to conduct oversight). Require the Government Accountability Office to report and review risks in regard to age, condition, material and construction of a pipeline. Of concern in the Great Lakes is Canadian Energy firm Enbridges Line 5, which runs 645 miles from Wisconsin across the Upper Penninsula, down the Straits of Mackinac into northern Michigan and cuts across the Thumb to Sarnia, Ontario. Line 5 carries an average of 14,000 barrels of light crude per day, as well as natural gas. The firm says it was built in 1953, and in more than 60 years of operation, there have been no leaks. The senators said last year that they were concerned about the aging pipeline and spill potential. A 2014 University of Michigan study, commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation, found the straits to be the worst possible place for a Great Lakes oil spill. Water flow there transports volumes up to 80,000 cubic meters per second more than 10 times the water flow over Niagara Falls, the study states. This could carry contaminants 65 miles south to Rogers City within 10 days of a spill, Peters told the Tribune in September. Whether a spill reaches Saginaw Bay and the Thumb coastline, more than 100 miles farther south, would depend on how quickly Enbridge can shut down the leak, Stabenow told the Tribune in December. She said she was told the company can shut it down automatically. In 2010, a pipeline ruptured near Marshall, spilling 843,000 gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River and amassing a $1.2 billion cleanup the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history. 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. GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- The following are recent business announcements, promotions, and other business news in Mid-Michigan: The Hamilton Community Health Network celebrated the first graduating class of its Family Medicine Resident Program this week. Also graduating is the class of the Dental Residency Program. Dr. Michael Lacaze, D.O., Dr. Amy Yip, D.O., Dr. Alexis Peplinski, D.O, and Dr. Jasmina Saric, DMD, successfully completed their board certifications and residency. "We are very proud of their accomplishments and excited for the residents themselves," stated Clarence Pierce, CEO. The program focuses on delivering medical care through population-based care and the Primary Care Medical Home model of health care. The inpatient portion of the training is in partnership with Hurley Medical Center. John K. Bleyaert, private wealth advisor | Courtesy, Acorn Wealth Advisors Acorn Wealth Advisors welcomed John Bleyaert to their team as a private wealth advisor in January 2016. Bleyaert graduated from the University of Michigan in 1981, and received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1987. He has been working in the investment industry since 1983, both at banks and registered investment advisor firms. Crain's Detroit Business has named Genisys Credit Union president and CEO, Jackie Buchanan one of the top 100 Most Influential Women in Jackie Buchanan, president and CEO of Genisys Credit Union | Courtesy, Genisys Credit Union Michigan. "I am honored to have received this recognition," said Buchanan. "I share it with the entire Genisys team as a sign of the value we are providing to our members and communities." She is the only credit union CEO in the state to make the list. When selecting the Top 100 Most Influential Women, Crain's looked for proven leaders from business, academia and from civic, nonprofit and public policy organizations. RetroFoam of Michigan was presented an award by Consumers Energy for Highest Natural Gas Savings of all participating contractors in their windows and insulation rebate program for 2015. Consumers Energy had previously recognized RetroFoam of Michigan as the leading Ted Ykimoff of Consumers Energy (left) presents Mark Massey, President of RetroFoam of Michigan, with the Excellence in Energy Efficiency award for Highest Total Natural Gas Savings. | Courtesy photo, RetroFoam of Michigan contractor in Highest Electric Savings in 2013 and 2014. The Excellence in Energy Efficiency banquet was held at Michigan International Speedway on May 25. There were 46 total award recipients and 35 honorable mentions recognized for their energy efficiency measures. Christopher Estes, president and CEO of Security Credit Union, was recently recognized as The Salvation Army Genesee/Shiawassee Regional Command's 2015 Hands of Mercy Award recipient. Each year, the award is presented to an individual or organization that shares The Salvation Army's longstanding dedication to the local community, while pioneering civic responsibility and leadership roles. "On behalf of the board of directors, I would like to congratulate Christopher on this extraordinary achievement," said Kennith Scott, chairman of Security Credit Union's board of directors. "He is both a committed and gifted leader who possesses the drive and dedication to bring people together around common goals. He's proven this through his work in the community and at SCU." Do you have a business announcement to share? Email Lynn Goff at lgoff@mlive.com. EMU.jpg Eastern Michigan University's Board of Regents will vote on a proposed agreement to privatize its dining services with Chartwells Higher Education on Tuesday, June 21. MLive file photo YPSILANTI, MI - Eastern Michigan University plans to enter into a partnership with Chartwells Higher Education to provide its dining services in an agreement that could take effect on July 1. The agreement with Chartwells Higher Education to provide residential, retail and catering food services will be presented to the EMU Board of Regents Tuesday, June 21, at its regular meeting. Under the plan, Chartwells will provide "significant capital investment" in the university's dining facilities, according to a release from EMU. The company will fund extensive renovation and remodeling, along with introducing new food vendors and developing new dining spaces in additional buildings on campus. Plans include a number of new well-known vendors consistent with some of those requested in a recent survey of students, the release states. The announcement of the proposed agreement came three days after a variety of speakers voiced opposition to privatization on Tuesday, June 14, at EMU, in addition to releasing an online petition, urging the university and its Board of Regents not to privatize University Dining Services. EMU's Board of Regents also is expected to vote on the ratified three-year contract with its American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 25 and Local 3866 unions, which includes 46 University Dining Services employees. Under the agreement, all current EMU dining employees will remain EMU employees, with salaries and benefits in accordance with current applicable collective bargaining agreements. "We greatly value our dining employees and are grateful for the outstanding services they provide for our students and the entire campus community," said Don Loppnow, interim president at Eastern Michigan. "I want to sincerely thank them for their ongoing distinguished and hard work on behalf of the university. We are pleased they will continue to remain University employees under this agreement." Future hires, however, would be made by Chartwells - a cause for concern among those who attended the June 14 press conference at Bruce T. Halle Library Auditorium. "It's a good agreement, but it does not resolve the concerns of the outsourcing issue," said AFSCME Local 3866 President Jason Crispell, who represents food service and maintenance workers at EMU. "We work hard at the bargaining table to protect jobs of our members, but we're concerned about future jobs and their future opportunities." Under the proposed agreement, Chartwells has agreed to employ EMU students for an equal or greater number of hours annually as exists in the university's current dining operations. "The primary reasons for seeking to enter into this truly transformative agreement are the substantial financial incentives and capital investments that the vendor will make in our university," Loppnow said in a release. "Funding from an outside vendor makes it possible to expand and upgrade dining facilities while maintaining the high quality food offerings and services that have been our standard here. "This process will allow us to continue to focus even more directly on our primary mission of academics and educating students, while turning over food services to an organization that provides high quality services at many colleges and universities and local school districts across the country. This is where they excel." Eastern Michigan joins a variety of other Michigan public universities in working with an outside partner to run its dining services, including Central Michigan, Oakland, Wayne State and Grand Valley State universities. The recommendation to the Board of Regents culminates a process in which the University issued a request for proposals in April for food service operations on campus. For more information outlining the agreement, visit the EMU Dining Services website. According to the release, Chartwells' additional initiatives include: * the participation of the campus community in terms of providing suggestions and ideas about food options and services, including a survey of students, faculty, and staff at least twice each academic year; * improved use of technology, including mobile apps to check menus and in which immediate feedback can be provided about food services and requests can be made for new products or services and online ordering; * new expanded use for students of meal plan "flex dollars" at all Eastern dining locations (except catering, concessions, and vending); * greater involvement with the surrounding community, commitments to sustainable practices and local sourcing of food; and * local food trucks. Martin Slagter covers higher education for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at mslagter@mlive.com or on Twitter. SAGINAW, MI -- Despite Bay City attorney Edward M. Czuprynski's confidence the felony case against him would be dismissed, the matter is heading to trial. Saginaw County District Judge M. Randall Jurrens on Friday, June 17, concluded a three-day preliminary examination by binding Czuprynski over to Circuit Court for jury trial. A trial date has not been set. Czuprynski is charged with one count of operating a motor vehicle while visibly impaired by a controlled substance causing serious bodily impairment, a five-year felony. The charge stems from an incident that happened the night of June 16, when Czuprynski was driving a 2003 Buick LeSabre east on Center Avenue and collided with pedestrian James S. Stivenson, 52, near the intersection of Scheurmann Road in Hampton Township. In binding the case over, Jurrens stated Genesee County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Larobardiere had met his burden in presenting probable cause that a crime had been committed. However, he said, witnesses' contradictory versions of events baffled him. "There are disparate facts. I struggle to understand how people can see things so differently," said Jurrens. "The question is whether or not due to the consumption of the controlled substance the defendant drove with less ability than would have an ordinary, careful driver. The defendant's driving ability must have been lessened to the point that it would have been noticed by another person." The judge said that while other motorists testified they didn't observe Czuprynski driving erratically, responding officers testified Czuprynski exhibited signs of impairment. The day's testimony As his lone witness of the day, Czuprynski called Hampton Township Police Lt. Bryan T. Benchley, who was working the night of the collision. Before he arrived at the crash site at 10:41 p.m., the lieutenant contacted the Michigan State Police and requested the presence of a drug recognition expert, he said. Benchley requested the expert due to the driver being Czuprynski, whom he said has a history of using marijuana, and because he wanted to avoid an appearance of impropriety as he was aware of Czuprynski having a history of publicly criticizing fellow Hampton Township Police Officer John May. Benchley said Czuprynski had red, glassy eyes and a bore a slight odor of alcohol, but he did not see him sway or fall asleep at any time. In the affidavit Benchley signed in an attempt to obtain a warrant for Czuprynski's blood, it describes Czuprynski falling asleep in the back of a police patrol vehicle. The lieutenant said the discrepancy was due to the affidavit containing compiled observations from officers at the scene. Czuprynski, however, said the other officers previously testified they never saw him falling asleep. Though Benchley testified he believed Czuprynski was under the influence of some substance that contributed to the crash, he said he took him home as opposed to arresting him as he wanted to await the results of blood analysis. After Benchley testified, Larobardiere requested Judge Jurrens bind Czuprynski over to Circuit Court. Czuprynski opposed the bind over, saying the prosecution failed to present probable cause that any substance he consumed impaired his ability to drive, let alone contributed to the crash. "It's been unrefuted that I took a sleeping pill be it 5 or 10 minutes before I left the office," he said. "It doesn't matter ... because the time it takes to drive from my office to this intersection is 4 minutes." Jurrens interrupted him, saying no evidence had been presented as to when Czuprynski took the pill. "I'm not aware of any evidence as to when you took the pill, how many pills you took, how many beers you drank, when you drank the beers," the judge said. "I have statements from police of what you told them. It's true that's the only suggestion of what happened." Czuprynski said responsibility for the crash rests on the pedestrian's shoulders. He said Stivenson was dressed all in black and had a blood alcohol level of 0.19, based on hospital records. He also alleged Stivenson may have run into his vehicle's path. "Had I not told (police) that I'd taken a sleeping pill, there probably would not have been sleepy eye observations nearly an hour later," Czuprynski said. "There probably would not have been a blood draw, if you will. Had I realized all this would have gone on ... from those honest statements, then I certainly would have been in a better position." Larobardiere said Stivenson's intoxication was irrelevant. "There is no crime for the victim to consume the alcohol and walk across the street," Larobardiere said. "However, there is a crime for a suspect or defendant to ingest alcohol and then sleeping medication and then operate a motor vehicle. That's the difference here." Previous days' testimony Czuprynski's hearing began April 15, resumed June 2, and concluded June 17. Czuprynski has represented himself and questioned witnesses directly throughout the hearing. Stivenson was walking south toward the Rebel Food Store and was in the crosswalk of the southernmost lane when struck, police have said. Police were dispatched to the scene at 10:27 p.m. On the hearing's first date, Stivenson pushed a walker to the witness stand and testified. He said he drank two beers earlier that day and was walking across Center Avenue to the Rebel store to buy more beer and return some bottles. He said he was in the crosswalk and one step from the curb when Czuprynski hit him. "I got a lot of injuries," Stivenson said. "They flew me in a helicopter 'cause they couldn't do nothing for me in Bay City. I got pins in my hips, plates in my legs. My knees were blowed out. My shoulder was blowed out. I can't walk. I was in a wheelchair 'til I got (my walker). I just started walking 'cause I've been going to therapy three times a week. I used to be a good guitar player, but that got taken away from me, too." Also in April, Hampton Township Police Officer Jason Ruth testified he responded to the scene and spoke with Czuprynski. "Mr. Czuprynski stated that he thought somebody had thrown a bag of garbage at his vehicle," Ruth said. "I could smell a slight odor of intoxicants. He said he had one beer approximately two hours (prior). He appeared tired, drowsy. He didn't act like somebody that had just hit somebody." Ruth said Czuprynski told him he didn't think Stivenson was in the crosswalk. Ruth added Czuprynski did not express concern for Stivenson and he refused to participate in field sobriety tests. Police at the scene summoned Michigan State Police Sgt. Jeff Short, a drug recognition expert, to the site. Czuprynski refused to submit to a blood draw and police placed him in custody. Officers eventually took him to McLaren Bay Region hospital. After officers obtained a warrant, staff at the hospital drew blood from Czuprynski, Ruth and Short testified in April. When the hearing resumed June 2, Short testified Czuprynski told him he had ingested a sleeping pill 10 minutes before leaving his office on Adams Street in Bay City to head to his Hampton Township residence. Czuprynski presented a Google Maps printout indicating it is a 1.8-mile drive from his office to his home, and that it would have taken about 4 minutes for him to reach Rebel Food Store. Czuprynski has maintained that despite lab results indicating he had the depressant temazepam in his blood, the substance hadn't had time to enter his bloodstream or affect his ability to drive when the collision occurred. In support of this claim, Czuprynski called Dr. Charles Dennis Simpson, a professor at Western Michigan University in the college's specialty program in alcohol and drug abuse, to the witness stand. He testified police lab results indicate there was 0.321 nanograms of temazepam in Czuprynski's blood when a sample was taken from him at 1:05 a.m., a few hours after the crash. "It's a short-term drug used for insomnia," Simpson said of temazepam. Czuprynski asked him how long it would take for the drug to enter a person's bloodstream. The doctor said research indicates the average amount of time for absorption in the bloodstream runs 25 minutes to 30 minutes. He added that in order for the drug to affect a person it must be in the bloodstream. Czuprynski asked Simpson if a traffic crash occurred 15 minutes after the driver ingested the drug, would the driver be under the drug's influence. "If there was 15 minutes, it is significantly unlikely that there would be any effect of that drug on that individual at that time," Simpson said. Full absorption in the blood stream would take 1.2 to 1.6 hours, and the resulting effect would manifest in the person swaying, having droopy eyes and appearing sleepy, the doctor said. The Genesee County Prosecutor's Office is prosecuting the case and a Saginaw County judge presided as Bay County's prosecutors and judges recused themselves. Czuprynski has claimed the prosecution is politically motivated. Czuprynski is running as an Independent for Bay County prosecutor. He is hosting a presentation at the State Theatre, 913 Washington Ave., at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 18. Czuprynski is also being sued by Stivenson for damages. Stivenson is represented by attorney Geoffrey N. Fieger. The trial on the civil case is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Feb. 7. Tom Nardon BulletSafe.jpg Tom Nardone, founder of BulletSafe (Screen shot from BulletSafe YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0auYRvUs0A) Prolific Detroit-area entrepreneur, philanthropist and teacher Tom Nardone is in the national media again. This time the reason is a little more somber, not pumpkin-carving hilarity on "Conan" or because Nardone is offering free sex toys to furloughed government employees. It's related to the Orlando shooting rampage at a gay nightclub that claimed 49 victims early June 12. The Wall Street Journal story, "Civilian Access to Body Armor Stirs debate," led reporter Ben Kesling to Nardone, whose company BulletSafe designs and sells protective armor products to the general public. It's been reported that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, while accumulating the weaponry and ammo he used in his rampage, also attempted to acquire body armor. While many across the nation debate what firearms civilians should be able to buy and what screenings they should undergo, up rises the question about body armor. Should it, too, be restricted? "It's not clear why civilians would need military-style body armor," said Cory Salzillo, legislative director of the California State Sheriffs' Association, which backs legislation currently before Congress that would ban civilian sales of such armor. "We don't live in situations that require military-grade equipment." Currently, only convicted felons are prohibited from possessing bulletproof vests. Nardone told The Journal his website traffic doubled the following after the Orlando shooting. He sells nearly 700 vests a month. The bulk of Nardone's sales are to people who work in dangerous settings, like security guards and dog catchers. While some body armor companies sell vests for nearly $1,000, Nardone tells the Journal his sell for about $300.' State police served search warrants at two residences connected with suspected dog fighting operations and drug dealing. At least one of the homes contained numerous dogs, cages, crates and even a custom dog running treadmill. Police say they seized $25,000 in cash, heroin, marijuana and crack cocaine. Five suspects were arrested and are expected to be arrested this weekend. Photos and video from the raids were posted on the Michigan State Police Twitter page. Twenty-five dogs trained to do battle were removed from the residences and turned over to the Humane Society of Michigan, investigators say. Humane Society employees joined police at the raids and removed the animals. Humane Society of Michigan spokesman Ryan McTigue said he could release no information about the dogs, their conditions or what will happen with them. He referred all questions to state police. "The dogs are being held as part of an investigation," state police said in a statement on Twitter. Police received tips about the illegal activity and began surveillance about a week ago, according to Lt. Mike Shaw. Shaw said police often find signs of dog fighting while serving search warrants at suspected drug houses. He said the common denominator is money. "They're betting at different events like that to go along with the drug proceeds ... " Shaw said. The lieutenant on Friday said the investigation is ongoing and it's unclear if dog fighting actually occurred inside the homes that were raided. FLINT, MI -- Hundreds of students crossed the stage Saturday morning as part of Kettering University's 108th commencement ceremony. Around 290 Kettering graduates received their degrees on Saturday, June 10. The commencement ceremony was held at the Connie and Jim John Recreation Center on the university's campus. Doctor Laura Sullivan, a Kettering University faculty member, served as the speaker at the graduation. Sullivan is also an activist and adviser to the city of Flint, state of Michigan, and Environmental Protection Agency during the city's water crisis. Justin and Michele Loper are part of the class of 2016, but are also mother and son. This is the second time the duo has shared the graduation stage. Michelle is the current school board president for Beecher Community Schools. In 2011 she had the privilege of signing and handing her son's diploma to him at his high school graduation, according to a report from Kettering University. On Saturday the mother and son took the stage for a second time as Michelle receives her master's in business administration and Justin completes his undergraduate industrial engineering degree. Following the commencement ceremony there was an outdoor reception for families and graduates to celebrate. FLINT, MI -- Lending her car to a friend has now left one woman without a vehicle after it was stolen at a local store. The woman told Flint police on Wednesday, June 15 around 3:58 p.m. she allowed her friend to drive her car. The man drove to a business, leaving the keys in the vehicle as he ran inside the store, according to a report from the Flint Police Report. When the friend came outside, he found the woman's car was missing. The vehicle is described as a white 2016 Chevy Cruz, according to the report. The woman said the vehicle also has damage to the grill. No further information was released. Amanda Emery is a police reporter for MLive-The Flint Journal. Contact her at aemery@mlive.com or 810-285-0792. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - More than 1,100 attendees from around the country are expected for the Association of State Floodplain Managers national conference next week at DeVos Place. The schedule includes scores of technical education sessions on topics like fluvial hazard areas, inundation mapping and detention basin retrofits. There also will be tours to Saugatuck, Big Rapids and Allendale, with time for lunch and night life in Grand Rapids. Conference-goers are projected to spend more than $2.2 million and occupy more than 3,600 hotel room nights from Sunday, June 19, through Friday, June 24, according to Experience GR, the local convention and visitors bureau. The conference includes 200 seminars, including several that focus on flood-related topics in Michigan. Here's a sampling of workshop titles: Restoring the Grand River for the 99 Percent of Time There is Not Flooding, and 1 Percent Flood Conveyance as Green Infrastructure GR Forward: Developing Multipurpose Flood Infrastructure that Creates Ecological, Economic, & Community Benefits Forecasting the 2013 Grand River Record Floods Integrated Ice Jam & Sediment Modeling to Determine Flood Risk on the Muskegon River Michigan's Dam Removal Movement: A 20-Year Retrospective The "100-Year Flood": Shall We Start A National Discussion? How the California Drought Increases Future Flooding Ten Years of Reconstruction in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina: Are We More Resilient? Mapping & Visualizing Lake Level Changes for the U.S. Great Lakes Flood-Inundation Maps: Helping to Protect Lansing Where Three Rivers Meet The "Art" in Floodplain Mitigation: Sculpting a Community Asset and Economic Driver Adventures in Non-levee Embankments Workshop presenters include Jason Carey, the Colorado engineer who's working on a planned $35 million project to restore rapids to the Grand River through downtown. One conference tour will involve a 2-mile walk along Grand River floodwalls to see the vision for the whitewater project and related flood levee improvements required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as a downtown bus tour that will end at a Beer City USA brewery. Matt Vande Bunte writes about government and other issues on MLive. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. 18.06.2016 LISTEN The much awaited and anticipated movie, Black Monkey, is set to be premiered at the Silver Birds Cinema and the Accra Mall all in the Greater Accra Region on the 9th of July, 2016 at 6:30pm and 8:30pm respectively. According to the producer and director of themovie, Frank Fiifi Garbin in an interview with Seancitygh, aside from its premiere in the Greater Accra Region, the Black Monkey's movie premiere will reach all other regions accross Ghana. Great Kumawood stars of all time featured in the movie are set to invade the premises of the said premiere centres, SilverBirds and Accra Mall with lots of movie loving Ghanaians expected to troop there for the historic premiere in the making . Black Monkey is an African story told from the African point of view and setting. The name, Black Monkey is just a name of a character which represents the Black ideologies and culture. It uses African symbolic names aimed at promoting the culture of Africa. There is also another character, Ofui (a fool) who can be bought easily and always follow blindly. Actor Kwadwo Nkansah Lilwin is called Opete, someone who betrays his own people and sells the secrets of Blackman to the White just for a bottle of schnapp. The movie also talks about the emancipation of the Africans from mental slavery. "If a white man calls you black monkey, you too call him white Monkey. afterall we have Black and white Monkeys they are all monkeys," Frank added Bosso (Niger) (AFP) - Rotting bodies, looted buildings and a grim silence mark the once bustling town of Bosso in southeastern Niger following one of Boko Haram's deadliest ever attacks in the west African nation. In the empty, dusty streets, soldiers outnumber the few remaining residents -- including the elderly who were unable to flee the insurgents, and some who have returned briefly to collect their possessions. "Corpses littered the streets," said Abdelaziz Zembada, a 50-year-old local shopkeeper on a visit to see if it was safe to return for good. Boko Haram attacked a military post in town on June 3, killing 26 soldiers, including two from neighbouring Nigeria, and a number of civilians as well. Everywhere, there are traces of people's rush to escape. A single abandoned sandal rests in the courtyard of a building. Pots, pans and containers are scattered on the ground. Inside one earth-and-straw home there is nothing, save a mattress and broken tea cups. Behind a sheet of corrugated metal, a rotting goat gives off a putrid odour. A man's unclaimed body decomposes in a local authority building. Witnesses believe there are more undiscovered dead scattered throughout the town. Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless in its quest to form a hardline Islamic state. Extending the attacks to neighbouring countries, the group's ascendancy has prompted a regional military fightback involving troops from Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as Nigeria. Zembada, the shopkeeper, said he and his wife managed to whisk three of their children to safety, but a four-year-old daughter was among those killed in the attack. "When we came back to get her, that's when the shell landed," he said. "My daughter was inside with two of my neighbour's children... She hasn't been buried yet." During the assault the local military contingent was overrun, its barracks looted and a handful of their armoured vehicles, trucks and cars were torched. In the charred ruins of their dormitory, only skeletons of beds are still identifiable. - 'Getting better' - All the town's public buildings -- gendarme offices, the town hall and an administration centre -- were pillaged. A local school and health centre, where someone had scrawled "Boko Haram" on a chalkboard, were not spared either. In addition to what they took from the buildings, the attackers also carted off some 200 tonnes of grain that were supposed to feed needy locals. Niger's military claim to have regained full control of Bosso, but it refuses to reveal the exact size of its force. "Soldiers are there. It is a consequential number," said Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum. "Within a few weeks we will repopulate Bosso and the residents will return to their lives," he said. For now, many residents are shuttling back and forth between neighbouring towns and Bosso to pick up what is left of their belongings. "We spent the night of (June) 3 on the roof and ran away on foot in the morning with the whole family," said El Hadj Abba Makani, a father of 10 with two wives, as he loaded all he could into a battered 4x4. "We are afraid, but if everyone comes back we will too," said the shopkeeper. Some residents are already home, beginning the struggle to rebuild lives shattered by the attack. "We're discouraged. We want people to come back," said Souleymane Salissa, a barber. His home and shop were looted, but he is back and managing to get by with business from the soldiers. In addition to cutting hair he also offers a service to charge mobile phones. "Things are getting better, even if yesterday we heard gunfire," Salissa said. "(But) if you hear 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest), that's when you have to worry." The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWA), Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, has indicated strongly that the UN would not endorse any attempts to ban social media in Ghana during elections. The Ghana Police Service had indicated it was considering the shutdown of social media services in the country on November 7, the day of the general elections, since in their view, the abuse of social media platforms often creates unnecessary tension in the country. This intention was met with backlash from a host of civil society organizations who viewed such a move as an infringement on the constitutional rights of Ghanaians. Dr. Ibn Chambas agreed with the critics of such a ban, saying that any possible ban will restrict the democratic space and curtail freedom of expression. I should say without hesitation that from a UN point of view, we would be obviously averse to any steps that will amount to restricting the democratic space particularly any steps that will be taken to restrict the freedom of expression. Dr. Ibn Chambas, whilst acknowledging that social media, for good or for bad, was one of the modes of expression of free speech in democratic societies, he cautioned that a total ban would obviously not be something the UN would encourage. Backlash against potential social media shutdown The Police Service's indication they were considering the possibility of shutting down social media platforms across the country on election day, was met with criticism from from the general public. Groups like the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), rejected the Police Administration's reasoning for a social media ban saying any restriction on social media would be tantamount to a violation of freedom of expression . Kinna Likimani, the Project Lead of Ghana Decides, a social media platform dedicated to election coverage in Ghana, also described the Police Service's decision to shut down social media platforms as an affront to the tenets of the 1992 constitution . By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana His Excellency, Lt. Gen. Joseph Henry Smith (Rtd); Ghanas Ambassador to the United States (US) has commended legendary Ghanaian musician Gyedu-Blay Ambolley for being one of the most authentic musicians to ever come out of Ghana. Ambassador Smith said this at an event put together in honor of Ambolley when the musician paid a courtesy call on the embassy of Ghana in the US in June, 2016. The Ambassador said he has personally enjoyed Ambolley's music over the years, stressing that he admired him for continuing to entertain through the medium of music and making genuine Ghanaian music. The music legend spent some time sharing the history of his musical journey with the embassy, taking photographs and signing autographs. He also responded to questions about his career. In 1973 Ambolley released his first LP album titled Simigwa on the Essiebons label in Ghana, he has since then gone on to release some 29 albums according to information on his personal website www.Ambolley.com He told TheAfricanDream.net in an interview at the embassy that he was in the US to master his twenty-sixth studio album which was going to continue to display his vintage authenticity. It will have something on it for everyone because its eclectic nature will make it appealing to all who listen to it. said Ambolley of his soon to be released twenty-sixth studio album. Ambolley's US management led by Nathan Pryce, informs that a plan to take Ambolley's music to a global audience is in the works for 2017. Ambolley insists on extending the African rhythm as did Fela Kuti of Nigeria. Watch Ambolley at Ghana Embassy in USA below Ambolley who becomes a septuagenarian in 2017 said to TheAfricanDream.net at the embassy that he was really excited to see Ghana celebrate its anniversary that year as a nation when she turns 60 on March 6: I hope to perform some of my music live at the embassy for the Ambassador, his staff, dignitaries and guests that will be in attendance. Source: Oral Ofori / TheAfricanDream.net 18.06.2016 LISTEN First of all, We the NDC Youth of Chiana-Paga Constituency wish to express our sincere condolences to His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama for the demise of His late Mother Hajia Habiba . May her soul rest in perfect peace. It's very sad to note that the Ruling NDC party has lost interest in the Chiana-Paga Constituency seat. The very seat that is being occupied by its own candidate Hon. Abuga Pele. The very seat that voted massively for His Excellency John Dramani Mahama and Hon. Abuga Pele in 2012. The very seat which the NDC government took for granted and decided to prosecute it's member of parliament over the controversial GYEEDA scandal where its even clear that it's a deliberate act just to cripple the famous Hon. Abuga Pele. Even renowned men of God, Lawyers, Anti Corruption Crusaders, even members of the main opposition party have come out openly to defend our humble Member of Parliament (Hon. Abuga Pele ) and if one follows the court proceedings correctly, they will all attest to the fact that Hon. Abuga Pele Insha Allah will be vindicated soon. What at all have we done to deserve this embarrassment? We feel the NDC's National Executive Committee and His Excellency John Mahama are clearly asking us to advise ourselves. It's about five months to the general elections but the Ruling NDC party has not conducted primaries to choose its parliamentary candidate . The constituency is not a 'sure banker' for the NDC and we see no reason why the primaries should be delayed. And We think there should be enough time for reconsilation after the primaries. You will all agree with us that there cannot be active campaign when the primaries are yet to be conducted, Giving the opposition candidate who happens to be a Royal enough time to get to interact with the constituents Whiles we are still fighting among ourselves just to get our preferred candidate elected at the primaries. And this is doing more harm than good to the Great NDC party. We the People in Chiana-Paga Constituency will from now on be relactant towards party activities because we think the NDC and The President do not care if we Vote or not. We the Constituents think we are neglected after doing what we could do best for the President and the member of Parliament to win the elections. We had the highest percentage in the Region for the President and see what we are being paid for our loyalty to the Great NDC party. In addition, we will like to make known to the general public the rumors which is circulating in the Chiana-Paga Constituency; 1. Some National Executives have their preferred candidate which they want to impose on the constituents. And we will strongly resist that move. 2. That the Ruling NDC is planning to abandon Chiana-Paga Constituency Member of Parliament if he wins for an independent candidate who will eventually come when he looses the bid to be an NDC parliamentary candidate. Has the NDC NEC forgotten what happened in 2008? Is the NDC giving out the seat to the NPP on a silver platter? And Can't we the constituents make our own decision as to who will be our parliamentary candidate? Any way, we believe that if one is loyal to the party, he will be loyal to his constituents. But that is if Loyalty really matters to NDC National Executive Committee. Because we believe in loyalty and we will support the Loyal candidate who has always been there for the party no matter the situation. We are therefore giving the NEC a three day ultimatum to come out with a fix date for the primaries to be held, if not we will advice ourselves accordingly. Thank you Signed. Hajj Seidu Sulemana, Chairman. (0243911649) Nyaaba Peter. Webadua Emmanuel. Akolgo Monica. Mrs. Georgina Weseh. 18.06.2016 LISTEN A Nigerian friend of mine once used a word I had never heard before to caterwaul. It means to shriek, or yowl. And it is often used to ridicule the propensity of some people to make a tremendous din, whilst twisting common sense tightly into a knot, over issues that are otherwise quite simple and straight-forward. A journalist working for JoyFM, Manasseh Azuri Awuni, got a story that when he was Vice-President, President John Mahama received a gift, a Ford Expedition car, from a contractor in Burkina Faso, in 2012. That contractor had built a wall, at a cost of over half a million dollars, for the Ghana embassy in Ouagadougou. The man also later obtained a lucrative contract to construct part of a road linking Ghana with other West African countries. There is a well-known regulation that governs the receipt, by officials, of gifts given to them by individuals and companies. The regulation limits the value of gifts that can be legitimately received. That limit is way way below the value of the car which President Mahama received from the Burkina Faso businessman. Manasseh, on getting the story, went to the contractor to confirm that he had indeed given the President of Ghana a car. The contractor, after being shown documentary evidence that the car had indeed been sent to the President of Ghana, owned up and admitted that he had given the President the car as a gift. This all seemed very straight-forward. Until the President's propagandists stepped into the matter. Yes, they said, the President had been given the car. But it had been added to the presidential pool of official vehicles! What, for heaven's sake, is the relevance of that? Did the President accept a car as a gift from the contractor or not? If he did, did it breach the regulations governing the acceptance of gifts by officials? Who asked the President not to order cars for his presidential pool but to rely on gifts of cars from private individuals to constitute his presidential pool of vehicles? Another line of defence has been that the contractor could not have given the gift to the President to induce him to give him a contract, because the contractor's bid for the contract to construct the embassy wall was competitive, compared to other bids! But who said the issue was about the size of the bids proffered in relation to the construction of the wall? The issue is about whether the President broke the rule in accepting a gift of a certain magnitude, or not! Caterwauling over the motives of Manasseh; or whatever, is neither here nor there, either. One journalist has gone as far as to say that Manasseh had, in packaging the story, committed some errors. But who has ever claimed that journalists do not make mistakes? What is important is the substance of what they publish. If Manasseh's story is substantially accurate, then any minor mistakes he may have made is of no consequence. The amount of deliberately-created confusion in Ghanaian politics is becoming ridiculously gargantuan with time. Pundits should know that their antics are not being bought by the general public, and that if they continue to stand common sense on its head for too long, there will be a time when allthat people in power and their defenders have to say will be dismissed as utter rot. But that carries enormous dangers with it, for in order that society should run smoothly, there ought to be a basic level of trust between the Government and the governed. It is the Government that is in charge of public safety, for instance. When the Government makes a pronouncement on public safety, it must be believed and obeyed by everyone. Otherwise, individuals could take their own measures to ensure their personal safety, whereas such measures would almost always go contrary to what is safe for everyone. A state of affairs in which individuals decide to do what they like, rather than accept what the Government asks them to do, is calledanarchy. Anarchy starts from a total disenchantment, by a society, with those that govern it. The disenchantment, invariably, begins with a cynical attitude to pronouncements by the Government. In this connection, I would like to draw attention to a statement purpoted to have been issued by a part of the Convention People's Party, on a pronouncement made by the CPP's own leader, Mr Ivor Greenstreet, on the issue of the Burkina Faso contractor's gift to our President. The statement reads in part: As Ghanaians, we are totally embarrassed by the misconduct of the President and demand his immediate resignation. The President has breached his own code of ethics for Ministers and other Public Appointees. The President has breached the Public Procurement Act. The President has breached the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Guidelines on Conflict of Interest. The President has breached the 1992 Constitution. The President has breached his own Oath of office and is therefore no longer fit to hold himself as a worthy leader of our country. That, I am afraid, states the issue in as straight-forward a manner as is warranted by the facts of the case. No amount of caterwauling by those who condone impunity on the part of our office-holders, can cover those facts. He propagandists would do well to learn one thing from this statement: you cannot fool all the people with words all the time! When you try to do so, you will be exposed by completely unexpected members of the public. For members of the public are never as stupid as propagandists think they are. Another word of warning to the propagandists is this: even people who are hypnotised do snap out of their hypnosis at one time or the other! www.cameronduodu.com The President of the Republic breach the tax law of the state by evading the payment of Gift tax on the Ford Expedition in Manasseh awuni's expose. If Mahama led Administration claim the Ford expedition is a gift but not a bribe. The question then is , did he pay Gift tax? Why is the president not setting good example for the citizens of this state. Why has he conceal this gift until now? Tax exemption status enjoyed by presidents of Ghana. According to the Income Tax 2015 (Act 896), the salary, allowance, facilities, pension and gratuity of the President in accordance with Article 68(5) of the Constitution is exempted from tax. But not in the case of gift tax. If the president paid tax on the sale of his books my first coup " then why didn't he pay Gift tax in this Ford expedition case. In a country where government keep increasing tax rates instead of widening the tax net, which is bringing untoward pressure on Ghanaians, even jail terms and the President who is the custodian of the land is Guilty and walk about freely. Don't forget leadership by example . A gift is a receipt without consideration. In Ghana any person receiving a taxable gift shall, within thirty (30) days of receipt, furnish the Commissioner with a return in writing. Gifts tax is not only levied on monetary gifts but on bonds, shares, permanent structures and land that were presented as gifts.The value of a gift by way of per quite under section 8 (3) is determined as either the cost to the donor or how much it would yield when sold. With gift under section 105, however , the value is determined as the market price at the time or date receipt. Gifts exempt from tax are By a person under a will or upon intestacy By a person from that person's spouse, child , parent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, nephew or niece By a religious body which uses the gift for the benefit of the public or a section of the public For charitable purposes Taxable gift are Buildings of a permanent or temporary nature Land Shares, bonds and other securities Money, including foreign currency Business and business assets Any means of transportation (by land, air or sea) Goods or chattels not included in the means of transportation Part of or any right or interest in , to or over any of the assets referred to above. It is worthy of note that it is immaterial whether or not that person being taxed physical received the asset so long as the act omission or transaction inured or inured to the benefit of that person. Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will strictly enforce the 15% gifts tax rate on any gift valued at GH50. Amendment of the VAT Act 810 in 31st December, 2010, had increased the gifts tax from 5% to 15% and made it mandatory for IRS to charge it on gifts received from loved ones. Where section 78 applies to a person and that person furnishes a return under section 108, the Commissioner is deemed to have made an assessment of the value of the taxable gift received by that person and the tax payable on that assessment are those respective amounts shown in the return. It must be emphasized that the knowledge of this law is very limited in Ghana. Therefore it affects the application of it. Though data is not readily available at the Ghana Revenue Authority on the percentage of Ghanaian who of their will, file and pay their gift tax returns my observation indicates poor compliance of this law. It beholds on each Ghanaian who receives a gift to take the necessary steps and file the returns. In a country where companies are bullied by President task force on tax related issues. Dr Clement Apaak Asked if the companies will be required to pay any penalty for evading tax or failing to meet their tax obligation responded; they will pay an Interest or penalty of 300%...defaulted companies must meet this requirement by paying this interest or risk being hauled court again. No company is above the lawany refusal or failure to pay up the interest or penalty is also another offence altogetherTheir evil deeds have been uncovered, he said. So in the case of the President what will this task force and the Commissioner do? Ghanaians expect better from them, if the President Mahama is wrong he should be dealt with as the laws of the state demands. No one is above the law. Taking a look at the tax law when the said gift was received. Julius W.A. Afedi President John Dramani Mahama exhibited carelessness in accepting the much-criticized Ford Expedition gift, from a Burkinabe contractor, according to the Executive Director of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe. The president was careless in receiving the gift, Mr. Cudjoe said. But he also criticized the government set up that allowed indiscriminate access to the President making him susceptible to such gift giving. The Burkinabe contractor in question, Djibril Kanazoe, has been accused of bribing President John Mahama with the expensive vehicle in an attempt to win a bid to execute a road construction project. Djibril Kanazoe, admitted giving President Mahama a Ford Expedition vehicle, for which the President called to thank him. The structures have to be looked at This issue notwithstanding, Franklin Cudjoe asserted that the bigger problem of the government set up ought to be assessed because until we do, the gift-giving issues wont end This is Africa, every village chief, fetish priest, linguist who dies, people want to come to the president and tell the president; he is dead, can we do this? When you are president and the type of presidential monarch we have in his part of the world because the constitution makes them Captain Planet, everybody wants to come to the president to do something, Mr. Cudjoe explained on Cit FMs news analysis programme, The Big Issue. We should look at exactly how we are set up as a government, as a state, because this thing [gift giving] will not end today, it won't end tomorrow the structures have to be looked at, the IMANI boss stated. President should have said no Despite this, Mr. Cudjoe maintained that President Mahama acted carelessly and he felt the President should have just said no to the gift. He suggested that the President probably didn't even know that this was going to get nasty but he ought to have known that somebody giving a gift of that magnitude possibly wants something. I am saying careless because he just assumed that this is a gift he is giving us, and probably we are good friends and these things have a way of boomeranging and so that is the point I am making, Mr. Cudjoe concluded. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) Youth League has dissociated itself from comments by its flagbearer, Ivor Greenstreet who has said he sees nothing wrong with President John Mahama accepting a gift from a contractor. In a statement signed by John Osei, the League says the president has embarrassed himself and should resign from office. Allegations of conflict of interest and corruption have been hanging around President John Mahama after Joy News' Manasseh Azure investigations showed the President in 2012 received a gift from a Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe. The contractor had been awarded a contract from government. Government has acknowledged the president received the Ford Expedition (2010 edition) but does not use it personally. Ivor Greenstreet has defended President Mahama's conduct and has dismissed talks of an impeachment. I don't have a feeling that there is a breach of protocol or conflict of interest The CPP Youth have however expressed disappointment in their flagbearer's comment and have asked that it be ignored. The CPP statement below PRESIDENT MAHAMA MUST RESIGN As Ghanaians, we are totally embarrassed by the misconduct of the President and demand his immediate resignation. . The President has breached his own code of ethics for Ministers and other Public Appointees. The President has breached the Public Procurement Act. The President has breached the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Guidelines on Conflict of Interest. The President has breached the 1992 Constitution. The President has breached his own Oath of office and is therefore no longer fit to hold himself as a worthy leader of our country. There is no way the President can absolve himself from this mess. It's interesting that the year Mr. Djibril Kanazoe, the Burkinabe contractor, gave a Ford Expedition to the President was the very year he won the Jericho wall contract. President Mahama has breached his own code of ethics which states that gifts that are to be accepted without any conditions should not exceed 200 cedis or 50 dollars. The said vehicle is within the range of 100,000 dollars. We are of the same opinion of Mr. Daniel Batidam, the Advisor on Governance at the Office of the President who in answering a hypothetical question on this issue said that the President should have known better and that any responsible leader would not need to be advised on that. The advice the president would certainly need from Mr. Batidam is that he, the president, should honour the words of his oath and resign. Fighter John Osei, Head of Finance and Administration, (00233266692006) CPP Youth League -myjoyonline 18.06.2016 LISTEN By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA Accra, June 17, GNA - The Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA), would hold a three-day 50th Annual Meetings of the Association from July 12 - July 15 in Accra. The event is on the theme: 'Energy Development through Customer Management, Revenue Collection and Energy Efficiency.' The event would be co-hosted by the Volta River Authority, the Ghana Grid Company, the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company. Mr Kirk Koffie, Chief Executive Officer of VRA, speaking at the media launch of the event, said the meeting would feature scientific forum, Executive Committee meeting and 2016 Annual General Meeting. He said to mark the golden jubilee of the meetings, this year's event would feature the maiden CEOs Forum on addressing challenges to access to electricity. He said the Association has 54 active member utilities in 43 African countries with the aim to promote the development and integration of Africa power systems through interconnection of networks. He said it is also to exchange experiences and technical know-how as well as the pooling of energy resources in a win-win approach for all member. He said over the years, APUA has worked towards the promotion of renewable energies and energy efficiency as well as rural electrification, promotion of interconnections of grids between countries through the coordination of the forum for African Regional Power Pool. He said the theme for the meeting is relevant, appropriate and reflects some of the challenges confronting the continents utilities sector. 'Our deliberations will accordingly focus on identifying strategies and politics that will enable us to effectively deal with those issues,' he added. Mr Abel Didier Tella, Director General, APUA commended VRA and other power utilities for the honour to host the event in Ghana. He said the Association was founded in 1970 as the first African continental group of power utilities to pool efforts towards the integration of the African power sector. He said in 2012, the Association launched a five-year strategic action plan to rejuvenate the group to make it more relevant and bring added value to its members. He said Ghana by accepting to organise and host the event is confirming her active participation, since the creation of APUA. GNA 18.06.2016 LISTEN Public office is no longer going to be the platform for the brazen theft of public funds. Public service is going to be just that, public service. I have said it before, and I will repeat it. Those who are coming into office, if we win, must understand that they are coming to give public service. Those who are coming there to make money must stay in the private sector. Presidential hopeful Akufo-Addo made these patriotic remarks as part of a general presentation he delivered to the Young Executive Forum of the NPP, a UK-based affiliate of the NPP, recently. This bold statement sounds good on paper, at least in the broader context of his promise to create an office for an independent Special Prosecutor, who will be vested with a legislative mandate to execute the fight against public corruption. All these create a universal sense of patriotic cynicism against and ironical hypocrisy on the part of a desperate aspiring president, Akufo-Addo, who did not ask for or even attempt a pursuit of a separation of powers between the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice, both of which he officially assumed in the corrupt Kufuor administration and there performed poorly if not abysmally, eventually leading to his secondment to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. By the way, Akufo-Addo deceptive patriotic political rhetoric can only go so far except when one begins to closely examine the stream of internal party corruption allegations Paul Afoko, Baah Acheamfour, Kwabena Agyapong, Kennedy Agyapong, and other NPP honchos have leveled against Akufo-Addo, the late Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, and others in the highest hierarchy of the partys leadership. Widespread allegations involving Akufo-Addo and his underhanded bribing of party delegates in exchange for his presidential candidacy are still fresh on our minds, not to mention his scandalous involvement in the mystery surrounding the so-called Drill Ship Sagaand several other scandalous controversies trailing this desperate man everywhere his Machiavellianism and politics of division go. As a matter of fact, knowledge of these allegations is enormously indispensable as they contribute to political discourse on proper transvaluation of values pertaining to policy positions, on pragmatic political economy strategies and tactics which our presidential candidates and political parties claim to represent. As for the Mahama presidency for instance, if we ever care to know, there is already abundant information in the public to evaluate him onhis pending legacy. This therefore means among other things, that we are primarily left with the other presidential candidates to do with them as we wish, especially as the 2016 general elections draw nigh. This is a somewhat difficult task that must be accomplished nonetheless. But talk, they say, is cheap. This may evidently be truer in the case of Akufo-Addo. In an article Akufo-AddoThe Artful Dodger, a piece published on Ghanaweb on July 17, 2008, Henry Acquah presented the following review of a 16-point charge against Akufo-Addo, the artful dodger: Why did Akufo Addo, as Attorney General, oversee the de-confiscation of frozen assets of Raymond Amankwah, a world reputed Cocaine Baron? Did he not know that by literally presiding over that act, a terrible example was set and cocaine barons all over the globe were sent a signal that the new government of Ghana had no problem with the trafficking of narcotic drugs? Did the fact that Raymond Amankwah was a relative of Akufo Addo in anyway influence that decision? Was Raymond Amankwah until his recent arrest in Brazil, not associated with Akufo Addo's campaign? Was Akufo Addo not the Attorney General in the year 2001, when the state prosecution of Frank Benneh was suddenly discontinued? Why did he so mysteriously stop a case that NDC's Deputy Attorney General, Martin Amidu prosecute so relentlessly until NPP took over the reins of office? Does Akufo Addo know that the discontinuation of that famous case was another strong signal of his own lack of political commitment to fight the drug menace and the indication of the weakness of NPP's resolve to deal with the canker? What about the three NPP Dzorwulu branch executives who were busted with narcotics at Kotoka in February 2002 when Akufo Addo was AG? Is it not interesting that under his tenure as AG, all those three arrested NPP drug queens just vanished into thin air? Their dockets also just disappeared like magic? What did Nana Addo do about that case to send a strong and clear message to Ghana and the world that his government was dead set to punish anyone, regardless of proximity to the ruling class, who dares engage in the dangerous narcotic trafficking? Was Akufo Addo not the parliamentarian who was pushing hard for a law (described by Ghanaians as Amoateng Bill) to be passed that will essentially allow Ghanaian drug offenders, languishing in Thai jails among others to be sent back to Ghana to complete their term? O, how Nana Addo cares about the plight of Ghanaians abroad!!! What has Nana Addo got to say about his woeful failure to show a similar compassion, zeal and resourcefulness in the case of the over 40 Ghanaians who were brutally butchered to death in Gambia under his tenure as Foreign Minister. Does Nana Akufo addo still believe in the Amoateng Bill? Does he think that it will be useful to bring back to Ghana, top NPP drug financiers like Eric Amoateng and Raymond Amankwah? Why does Nana Addo think that the accusation of Drug addiction has never been leveled against any other leader or potential leader of his party, (Busia, Victor Owusu, Adu Boahen, J.A. Kufuor, Alan Kyeremateng) but only him? Is it just a coincidence? Why has it been so difficult for him to personally respond to the accusation as Obama has done in the USA and as Prof Mills has convincingly done about the allegation that he was sick and dying? Is Nana Addo surprised that given the catalogue of serious actions and inactions on his part, Ghanaians think that he is not qualified to be leading a nation that wants to wage a serious crusade against the drug canker and other attendant problems like the spiraling crime in the country? We can go on and on and on. But we need to pause and wait for direct and truthful answers from the NPP candidate. It is shocking that a man who prides himself a great story teller, suddenly becomes so mute anytime the above questions are asked. Finally, though we may all agree that Akufo-Addo and President Mahama are not the same, we shall still entreat Akufo-Addo to read, if he had not already, the article Fighting Graft: Mahama Offered Me A Ministerial JobAppiah Ofori, published on Ghanaweb and dated May 18, 2016. In this eye-opening article anti-corruption campaigner Appiah Ofori, an NPP member, made the following shocking revelations about President Mahama, granted that the latter offered him a Ministerial job in his government on the condition that he, Appiah Ofori, contributed to the fight against public corruption regardless of whether or not any of his [Mahamas] political appointees were caught up in the dragnet of public corruption. Here are Appiah Oforis own words to that effect: This gave me the impression that Mahama will not tolerate corruption in his government but sadly the corrupt practices in his government are amazing. When his appointees are found guilty of corruption per the Auditor General Report, no prosecution is made and that is the only way fear will be put corrupt officials and thereby reduce the high rate of corruption. This is my problem with President Mahama. Readers may want to replace President Mahama with Akufo-Addo in this quote and again, to refer back to Henry Acquahs article Akufo-AddoThe Artful Dodger (Note: Readers may also want to take a look at Nana Akyea Mensahs article Akufo-Addo is a Corrupt Individual, Ghanaweb, September 8, 2014). In other words it all should be clear by now, that the vigorous pursuit of the art of empty political rhetoric or political-moral inaction on the part of the ruling class in the face of wanton public corruption constitutes a genetic defect in the political structure of our duopoly. This genetic defect is a transferable meme in the political structure of our duopoly in view of the politics of equalization. The politics of equalization then breeds impunity which in turn gives rise to a demoralizing landscape of political immorality. Henry Acquahs article does demonstrate that Akufo-Addo is not antithetical to this demoralizing landscape of political immorality. To this extent by clearly stating his policy objections to acts of brazen theft of public funds, Akufo-Addo is also demonstrating the nuances of political deception and Machiavellianism, which is that his prospective government may totally ignore non-brazen theft of public funds. That is, his presentation was totally devoid of policy strategies and tactics for dealing with non-brazen theft of public funds. This could be why Akufo-Addo is such a Machiavellian, though open, mystery. This is because he was not and had never been, apparently, a true reflection of his vaunted rhetoric of political and moral seriousness. His projected seriousness is therefore merely a window-dressing rehearsal for political convenience, a staged political deception calculated to actualize his childhood dream of becoming president at all cost. We shall see how this childhood dream pans out in Kwame Nkrumahs Ghana. Maybe we may have to give him the benefit of the doubt. REFERNCES Ghanaweb. My Govt Will Deal With Blatant TheftAkufo-Addo. June 12, 2016. Henry Acquah. Akufo-AddoThe Artful Dodger. Ghanaweb. July 17, 2008. Nana Akyea Mensah (The Odikro). Akufo-Addo Is A Corrupt Individual. Ghanaweb. September 8, 2014. Ghanaweb. Fighting Graft: Mahama Offered Me A Ministerial JobAppiah Ofori. May 18, 2016. The United Nations (UN) says it is opposed to any idea to restrict social media access in Ghana ahead of the November polls. The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas said such an attempt is aimed at restricting the democratic space which the UN is strongly against. Dr Chambas disclosed this at a media briefing Accra, Friday. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor on May 26, 2016, declared that the Ghana Police Service was considering blocking social media across the country on November 7. He is concerned that social media could be used as a tool for misinformation thus posing a danger to the nations security during the polls. "At one stage I was even saying that if it becomes critical on the eve and the election day we shall block all social media as other countries have done. So we are thinking about it," John Kudalor said at a media interaction in Accra In an interview on Joy News, the IGP said: If people are churning out the type of information which is quite false then why not? The security of this nation is paramount. Following this announcement, the IGP and the police administration came under severe criticism for what has largely been described by some civil societies as an attack on the Constitution of Ghana. But Dr Chambas said the UN would obviously be averse to any steps that will amount to restrict to restricting the democratic space particularly any step that will be taken to restrict the freedom of expression. He said, for good or for bad social media serve as one of the modes of expressions of free speech of democratic societies. Even though he agreed the platform has some negative sides, he did not rule out the obvious good sides. He disclosed We [UN officials] have a scheduled meeting with the IGP to seek clarification as to exactly what he might have meant. Some African governments including Congo-Brazzaville, Chad and Uganda in Africa have interfered with or banned access to the social networking website Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Bangladesh, China, Iran, North Korea and Syria also blocked social media access although the bans were not related to elections. The impact of social media on elections has become a fascinating subject for research among social scientist. One study published in 2012 found that Facebook feeds have a significant impact on voting patterns. In the US, political analysts have observed that social media could decide who wins the presidential elections in November. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected] The Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has condemned what he refers to as the piecemeal approach being adopted by the Mahama -led administration in the conversion of polytechnics into universities. According to him, governments decision to convert some polytechnics while neglecting others has created some challenges. It will be recalled that earlier this year students of the Cape Coast Polytechnic expressed concerns over their exclusion from the list of six polytechnics to be transformed into technical universities in September, 2015. This resulted in the disruption of academic activities on the campuses of these polytechnics, notably in the Cape Coast polytechnic. Addressing students at the Cape Coast Polytechnic at the end of day 2 of his tour of the Central Region, Nana Addo expressed disappointment in governments decision to exclude some schools in the conversion process. We cannot do this policy piecemeal. Either you are doing it for everybody, or you are not doing it at all. We can't have a situation where some are picked and some are left out of the process. It is not a good idea. Let us make sure that all the polytechnics in our country, in each of the regions, have the same infrastructure and the same level of development. Then we can make the transition for all of them. But pick some and leave some out, then you are disadvantaging and destabilizing the ones that you have left out, he said Everything that John Mahama does, there is no proper preparation and there is no proper follow through of the idea, Nana Akufo-Addo assured the students of Cape Coast polytechnic that when we get the chance (in 2017), we are going to make sure we do all together as one, he added. He further indicated that his administration is going to make sure that the infrastructures of the polytechnics are fully developed, and that the collaboration between the polytechnics and industry is strong. That is what is going to make technical education the future of our country.. We are not in favour of the piecemeal approach to the conversion. We want all the polytechnics to be considered as one. That is the proper way to go ahead with this policy. It is important that I speak out, because our President likes to copy ideas that I have. So let me put this out. Nana Addo said his government will also focus on building the industrial sector and enhancing Ghanas agriculture when voted into power. He added that his government will give companies tax incentives, such as tax credits, so that we can encourage companies to employ fresh graduates, instead of having graduates sitting in the house for 4, 5 years and doing nothing. 18.06.2016 LISTEN This is a DRAFT apology letter written on behalf of President Mahama to the good people of Ghana. This was drafted by a patriotic citizen who is hoping that the presidency will copy and use. It reads as follows: Fellow Ghanaians, I have observed that a lot of you have expressed displeasure at my decision to accept a car gift from a Burkinabe contractor. I have thought through the issue and I agree with your sentiments. I should not have accepted the gift for the following reasons. 1. Cultural Norms Culturally we give gifts: To family and friend To show gratitude To show compassion to the poor or support a course. The Burkinabe is not my relative or 'friend'. I am not poor so I did not need his car. It is now clear to me that he used the gift as a bait to get favours from me and by extension my government. As a business person, there is no way he would buy a brand new car to a stranger (that's me) without expecting any favours. To the extent I could not make this deduction at the time of receiving the gift, I am sorry for the misjudgment. 2. Fence Wall for $650,000 (GHC 2.5m) I sincerely regret that a whooping amount of $0.65m was spent to build a mere fence wall and I did not sanction the officers involved. The contractor for this ridiculous contract was the giver of the gift. The nation still lacks vital amenities such as potable water, good roads, good schools, health facilities etc. To use $0.65m to build a fence wall meant less money for all those vital amenities which are lacking. In hindsight, this was clearly a misplaced priority. Please forgive me for the misjudgment. Finally, I wish to thank Manasseh Azure Awuni for his efforts to help build a better Ghana. He deserves praise and not condemnation. May he live 'forever' for other journalists to learn from him. I am Sorry! Please forgive me. Thank you all. Written for H.E John Dramani Mahama By: Kwabena Boateng (A patriotic citizen) Ghana has many rivers, streams and other water bodies. River Volta remains one of the largest and is perhaps the most important, powering Ghanas biggest hydroelectric power plant, the Akosombo Dam. Stretching over a distance of about 1600 kilometers, the river flows from Benin through the Northern, Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Volta Regions. The river serves the people in many ways. The livelihoods of the young men and women depend on it. They undertake fishing activities and operate commercial boats, transporting people across the vast river. The river also serves as the water source for irrigational projects in the Volta Region including the Aveyime Irrigation Project. But the stark reality is that the river is drying up and the consequences for the people living along it are shocking no food, no water, no cash. What they seem to have is a bleak future Background In 1961, the government of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah started the construction of the Akosombo Dam which took four years to complete. Several kilometers stretch of the river was blocked to create the dam. This has resulted in reduced flow of the river downstream, thus encouraging the growth of aquatic weeds in it. In some parts, the aquatic weeds have grown into bushes and even forests. Head of the Volta River Authoritys Volta Dredging Project Ulysses Ocran Hammond says a 100 kilometer stretch of the river has been affected by this problem. We are aware of the proliferation of the aquatic weeds within the lower Volta area. When we constructed the dam in Akosombo, the natural flow of the river was reduced. And the entire ecology of the area changes. Allowing for the weeds to grow, Mr. Ocran Hammond told Joy News. The result is reduced catch for the fisherfolks here and transportation on the river has become more dangerous than ever. Its really bad because it is affecting fishing business. The fishes will hide under the weed and they will not come out, Commercial Boat Operator and Fisherman, Edem Manila explained. Those times we were kids, we normally come to the river side and somebody call you and dash you a fish. These days its scarce before you can even get fish to buy. Because the fishermen say the bushes have become a hiding place for the fish so they dont get enough, Vincent Sena, another resident along the river told Joy News. With fishing now less lucrative, many of young people are being forced out of work. The problem is bigger than just reduced catch and unsafe transportation on the river. Take for example a community called Devime in the Central Tongu District of the Volta region. It used to be a fishing community, but not anymore. Before the 1960s, a tributary of the Volta River used to run through this community. It was called Agbenorbu meaning: We are alive because of this water body. The Agbenorbu Tributary was about 4 miles long and 30 yards wide. Following the construction of the Akosombo Dam, the area previously occupied by water is now forest with bushes as tall as 2 meters. Residents relied on the water body for their livelihoods and transportation, but not anymore. Catechist of the local Presbyterian Church at Devime, Lawson Moro who used to be a fisherman and relied on money from that to feed his family lamented about how drastic things have changed for the worse. We used to do the casting of nets so we can get fish for sale for our foodstuffs but after the Akosombo Dam, nothing again So we are in difficulties, he explained. The forest that has taken over the place of the hitherto clean, clear river has now become a haven of snakes, threatening the lives of residents. Even last week, a very big python was killed beside the school over there there are crocodiles and other predators in this which is a danger to the lives of the people here, a resident told Joy News. Its a big struggle for the people here including a trader, Comfort Gakpo. She says the stream was such a nice one that it even served as a tourist attraction and people swam in it. She and her parents used to rely on this water body for drinking, washing and other household chores. Now, they need to walk over very long distances to get access to clean water. We had been drinking it, but now we cant We have to go to a far place, two kilometers away to fetch water, Comfort explained. Thats not all. Education in this community has been badly affected as well. The headmaster of the Devime M/A school, Mohammed Issah explains most parents have abandoned the community in search of greener pastures elsewhere, leaving their children to fend for themselves. There are some children in my school whose parents because of hardship, they have left. This makes it difficult for the school children to get something to eat to go to school and they have become a burden on us the teachers, Mohammed Issah said. The situation is same in many other communities through which the Volta River used to run. Mafi Aklamador is another former fishing community affected by the problem. Traditional leader, Gershon Kofi Dzisenu says the river which used to pass through this community was not only a source of fishing. They relied on it to water their crops. But not anymore. It was our livelihood, it brought income... when it overflows its banks, it watered the farmlands and gave food to the people in the community. But since the Akosombo Dam was constructed, that was the last flood we have seen, he explained. Gershon says the problem is a major contributory factor to deepening poverty in most communities along the Volta River. The people in the lower Volta are suffering because we have lost all our natural resources, which is fish. So poverty levels in this part of Tongu have gone high, he added. The majority of the population in Mafi Aklamador are now mainly children and the elderly. The young people have abandoned the area to go look for better living elsewhere. Assembly member for the Godfred Oscar is worried about this state of affairs. If you comb through the community, the youth mostly are away. This is not good enough, he said. He wants the bushes cleared with heavy machinery so that they can use the water for irrigation and fish farming. The Volta River Authoritys Ulysses Ocran Hammond says processes are underway for the award of a contract that will see the harvesting of the weeds in the river. He assures work will begin by the end of the year. The early settlers built communities on islands along the Volta River in areas where they could have bumper harvests. Siamekope is one of such islands. About one hundred people live here. There is no electricity, no clean sources of drinking water, no health post, no school, among others. The residents are not happy about governments inability to provide them with basic amenities here. Residents seeking health care, children seeking education and women needing household items would have to make the journey over the river without life jackets to get to town. For residents here, without the Volta River, they have no life at all. They pray that the promised efforts to save the lower Volta from drying further yields positive results, or, their communities may go extinct too. They only hope someone is listening to their concernsWhen the last tree dies, the last man dies; so says an old saying. A worse situation obviously faces us if the biggest water body dries up. Watch the video Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com | Joseph Opoku Gakpo | Joy News 18.06.2016 LISTEN By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA Eikwe (W/R), June 18, GNA - Some refugees at the Krisan Refugee Camp in the Western Region have accused officials of the camp of allegedly diverting relief items donated to them. Mr John Konah, a Liberian Refugee, told the Ghana News Agency that sometimes officials of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Camp Manager diverted relief items donated to them by NGOs and philanthropists. He said his queries about irregularities at the camp were often met with intimidation by the manager, Mr Martin Bannerman, who branded him as a trouble-maker and often reported him to the police for no wrong doing. He alleged that UNHCR officials and the Ghana Refugee Board registered one Razak Alhassan as 'Maxwell Randy Johnson' for him to benefit from the privileges as a refugee. 'I was rather threatened with police action when I raised query about the issue,' he said. Mr Konah's allegation was corroborated by a Togolese refugee who gave his name as Wingo, saying he had once faced similar intimidation. When contacted, Mr Bannerman, however, denied the allegations and said donations were supervised by the leaders adding that the accusers were known to be notorious for stealing and causing trouble at the camp. Mr Bannerman alleged that Konah was a rebel in his home country, therefore, the Liberian Embassy was not willing to grant him passport to return to Liberia even though he had been given financial resources for repatriation. 'Those two refugees think they are above the country's laws and, therefore, do not want to abide by the rules and regulations governing the camp,' he said. He spoke about the challenges facing the camp and indicated that there were no sufficient medicines at the clinic, however, all the refugees had been registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme to access free medical care. The Camp Manager said the refugees had been trained in employable skills such as batik and tie and dye making and hairdressing to supplement their income. The UNHCR Focal Person at the Camp, who only gave her name as Auntie Rebecca, also denied the allegations and said some refugees had lost their status. This is because they had been given financial resources for repatriation and local integration, but they were still hanging around and causing nuisance at the camp. She said the law did not allow the UNHCR and the GRB to expel them from the camp thus encouraging them to misbehave. The camp was established in 1996 and hosted about 900 refugees from 15 different countries including, Togo, Liberia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Congo Brazzaville and Pakistan. GNA you are here: The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana. June 18, 2016 Syria - Russian Surprise Attack Blows Up Kerry's Delaying Tactic The U.S. is unwilling to stop the war on Syria and to settle the case at the negotiation table. It wants a 100% of its demands fulfilled, the dissolution of the Syrian government and state and the inauguration of a U.S. proxy administration in Syria. After the ceasefire in Syria started in late February Obama broke his pledge to separate the U.S. supported "moderate rebels" from al-Qaeda. In April U.S. supported rebels, the Taliban like Ahrar al Sham and al-Qaeda joined to attack the Syrian government in south Aleppo. The U.S.proxies broke the ceasefire. Two UN resolutions demand that al-Qaeda in Syria be fought no matter what. But the U.S. has at least twice asked Russia not to bomb al-Qaeda. It insists, falsely, that it can not separate its "moderates" from al-Qaeda and that al-Qaeda can not be attacked because that would also hit its "moderate" friends. The Russian foreign minster Lavrov has talked wit Kerry many times about the issue. But the only response he received were requests to further withhold bombing. Meanwhile al-Qaeda and the "moderates" continued to break the ceasefire and to attack the Syrian government forces. After nearly four month Kerry still insists that the U.S. needs even more time for the requested separation of its proxy forces from al-Qaeda. Foreign Minister Lavrov recently expressed the Russian consternation: The Americans are now saying that they are unable to remove the 'good' opposition members from the positions held by al-Nusra Front, and that they will need another two-three months. I am under the impression that there is a game here and they may want to keep al-Nusra Front in some form and later use it to overthrow the [Assad] regime," Lavrov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The bucket was full and Kerry's latest request for another three month pause of attacking al-Qaeda was the drop that let it overflow. Russia now responded by hitting the U.S. where it did not expect to be hit: Russian warplanes hit Pentagon-backed Syrian fighters with a barrage of airstrikes earlier this week, disregarding several warnings from U.S. commanders in what American military officials called the most provocative act since Moscows air campaign in Syria began last year. The strikes hit a base near the Jordanian border, far from areas where the Russians were previously active, and targeted U.S.-backed forces battling the Islamic State militants. ... These latest strikes occurred on the other side of the country from the usual Russian operations, around Tanf, a town near where the borders of Jordan, Iraq, and Syria meet. ... The Russian strike hit a small rebel base for staging forces and equipment in a desolate, unpopulated area near the border. About 180 rebels were there as part of the Pentagon's program to train and equip fighters against Islamic State. When the first strikes hit, the rebels called a U.S. command center in Qatar, where the Pentagon orchestrates the daily air war against Islamic State. U.S. jets came and the Russian jets went away. The U.S. jets left to refuel, the Russian jets came back and hit again. Allegedly two U.S. proxy fighters were killed and 18 were wounded. Earlier today another such attack hit the same target. This was no accident but a well planned operation and the Russian spokesperson's response makes the intend clear: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to confirm the attack Friday, telling reporters it was difficult to distinguish different rebel groups from the air. Translation: "If you can not separate your forces from al-Qaeda and differentiate and designate exclusively "moderate" zones we can not do so either." The forces near Tanf are supported by U.S. artillery from Jordan and air power via Iraq. British and Jordan special operations forces are part of the ground component (and probably the majority of the "Syrian" fighters.) There is no al-Qaeda there. The Russians know that well. But they wanted to make the point that it is either separation everywhere or separation nowhere. From now on until the U.S. clearly separates them from AQ all U.S. supported forces will be hit indiscriminately anywhere and anytime. (The Syrian Kurds fighting the Islamic State with U.S. support are for now a different story.) The Pentagon does not want any further engagement against the Syrian government or against Russia. It wants to fight the Islamic State and its hates the CIA for its cooperation with al-Qaeda and other Jihadi elements. But John Brennan, the Saudi operative and head of the CIA, still seems to have Obama's ear. But what can Obama do now? Shoot down a Russian jet and thereby endanger any U.S. pilot flying in Syria or near the Russian border? Risk a war with Russia? Really? The Russian hit near Tanf was clearly a surprise. The Russians again caught Washington on the wrong foot. The message to the Obama administration is clear. "No more delays and obfuscations. You will separate your moderates NOW or all your assets in Syria will be juicy targets for the Russian air force." The Russian hits at Tanf and the U.S. proxies there has an additional benefit. The U.S. had planned to let those forces move north towards Deir Ezzor and to defeat the Islamic State in that city. Eventually a "Sunni entity" would be established in south east Syria and west Iraq under U.S. control. Syria would be split apart. The Syrian government and its allies will not allow that. There is a large operation planned to free Deir Ezzor from the Islamic State occupation. Several hundred Syrian government forces have held an isolated airport in Deir Ezzor against many unsuccessful Islamic State attacks. These troops get currently reinforced by additional Syrian army contingents and Hizbullah commandos.A big battle is coming. Deir Ezzor may be freed within the next few month. Any U.S. plans for some eastern Syrian entity are completely unrealistic if the Syrian government can take and hold its largest eastern city. The Obama administration's delaying tactic will now have to end. Russia will no longer stand back and watch while the U.S. sabotages the ceasefire and supports al-Qaeda. What then is the next move the U.S. will make? Posted by b on June 18, 2016 at 15:15 UTC | Permalink Comments next page After at least a year of being roiled by the contracting oil and gas industry, Midlands labor market has stabilized as the year progresses. Figures from the Texas Workforce Commission show May unemployment in the Midland metropolitan statistical area was 4.3 percent, unchanged from April and from March. A year ago unemployment was 3.5 percent. Odessa saw its rate slip to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent in April. Midland didnt get hit as hard as Odessa, observed Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of the commissions Workforce Solutions Permian Basin. Noting that not only has unemployment stabilized but wages have as well, it appears were holding our own, he said. Staff in the offices in the 17 counties Taylor oversees are seeing a slowdown in the number of people coming in to file unemployment claims, he added. Its been difficult for the last year, but it seems to be leveling off, he said. (Hiring) will continue to be slow for awhile as companies want to see oil prices stabilize, he predicted. At a recent meeting of his board, Taylor said board members were telling him they were seeing more activity and he heard Halliburton is seeking to hire 70 in the region. The June report will tell us how things are going to look this summer, he said. Taylor said his staff was shocked by the number of students seeking summer jobs but were having difficulty because adults had taken the jobs. Having just spoken with representatives of Midland College and Odessa College before speaking with the Reporter-Telegram, Taylor said he hopes to have funding for training opportunities for displaced workers in the next month or so. Midlands civilian labor force held relatively steady in May at 90,197, down from 90,358 in April and from 91,531 last May. Midland lost 100 jobs from April to May as 100-job gains each in the Education and Health Services and the Leisure and Hospitality sectors were partially offset by a 200-job loss in the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector and a 100-job loss in the Mining, Logging and Construction sector. For the 12 months from May 2015 to May 2016, Midland has lost 1,900 jobs, led by 1,700 jobs lost in the Mining, Logging and Construction sector and 700 jobs in the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector. Government led job creation over the last year with 300 new jobs, followed by the Education and Health Services and the Leisure and Hospitality sectors with 200 jobs each. Statewide, unemployment held at 4.4 percent a second month. The commission reports the state added 200 nonfarm jobs in May and has added 171,800 seasonally adjusted jobs over the last year, adding jobs in 13 of the last 14 months. The lowest unemployment rate was in Amarillo at 2.8 percent while the highest was in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission at 7 percent. Midland unemployment January 2016 3.8 percent January 2015 2.8 percent February 2016 4 percent February 2015 3 percent March 2016 4.3 percent March 2015 3.1 percent April 2016 4.3 percent April 2015 3.1 percent May 2016 4.3 percent May 2015 3.5 percent ** Preliminary numbers for May with April numbers in parentheses: Amarillo: 2.8 (2.7) Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos: 2.9 (2.9) Lubbock: 3.1 (3.0) College Station-Bryan: 3.3 (3.2) Dallas-Plano-Irving: 3.4 (3.4) San Antonio-New Braunfels: 3.4 (3.4) Sherman-Denison: 3.5 (3.5) Abilene: 3.6 (3.5) Fort Worth-Arlington: 3.7 (3.7) Waco: 3.7 (3.6) Texarkana: 3.9 (3.8) Killeen-Temple: 4.1 (4.1) Tyler: 4.1 (4.1) Wichita Falls: 4.1 (4.1) San Angelo: 4.2 (4.3) Midland: 4.3 (4.3) El Paso: 4.5 (4.5) Laredo: 4.6 (4.6) Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land: 4.8 (4.8) Victoria 4.8 (4.8) Corpus Christi: 5.3 (5.3) Longview: 5.5 (5.4) Beaumont-Port Arthur: 6.1 (6.1) Odessa: 6.1 (6.2) Brownsville-Harlingen: 6.6 (6.7) McAllen-Edinburg-Mission: 7.0 (7.2) AUSTIN -- As solutions to long-standing national problems go, a spit sample might seem a little underwhelming. And yet University of Texas officials say a spit sample, and the way it was collected, offers lessons for dealing with a problem that has vexed American universities for decades. The sample belongs to Adriana Quintanilla, a UT freshman considering a career in the medical field. Quintanilla collected it as part of a program that is developing various kinds of devices with which people can check for diseases, such as the Zika virus. This is a rare thing for a freshman. Quintanillas first experience with science was not, as education consultant David Goldberg calls it, the the math-science death march: the thick textbooks, abstract concepts and boring labs that usually precede meaningful hands-on work. Experts say early hands-on work early could be the difference between students such as Quintanilla sticking with science tracks or abandoning them. I didnt think I would enjoy it, but I do, Quintanilla said. Im learning about the kind of research I didnt know we could do. UT officials say the universitys Freshman Research Initiative, which is a decade old, is now a proven approach to a national challenge. As far back as the 1980s, groups such as the National Science Board were warning the nations universities that they were driving as much as 60 percent of budding scientists, technological innovators, engineers and mathematicians into other fields. This in turn created a dearth in important and well-paying industries. The United States higher education system now needs to produce an additional 1 million students with degrees in STEM fields over the next decade to meet basic demand, according to a report from a panel of academics and industry leaders convened by President Barack Obama, who made that goal official U.S. policy. Other universities are now copying UTs approach. Meanwhile, the UT program is wrestling with financial pressures felt across higher education and the question of whether, in an era of cutbacks, the university should expand it to any interested student -- a goal that would require a major infusion of funding. As they make their pitch, program officials point to a recent study concluding that enrollment in the program raises the odds of a student graduating with a STEM degree by a third. UT has accomplished something remarkable, said James Gates, a lead author of the national report. The university has created an approach to solving one of our nations most difficult problems. --- Tim Riedel, now a UT professor, doesnt use the term math-science death march. But he describes his experience at UT navigating the traditional undergraduate training in similar terms. He was bored. He was impatient with simulating science, rather than doing it. He looked without success for community among students in the echoing lecture halls where tiny figures gave distant lessons basic enough to apply to numerous fields. I was miserable, Riedel said. I was really frustrated. I changed majors four times. UT isnt the first university to recognize that kind of frustration and use hands-on experience to try to allay it. In the 1970s, Worcester Polytechnic Institute rewrote its curriculum to emphasize practical research. In 2007, it added optional first-year projects, such as helping to cure hunger. But that kind of approach is still rare. And it rests on a gamble. Even medical students, who have already gone through the undergraduate slog, can look forward to years more of calculus and organic chemistry before they touch a patient. The slog is partly for the benefit of the patients. It winnows down to a field largely capable of doing the work. Can a lightly trained 18-year-old be trusted to accomplish meaningful science? Riedel said a traditional lab setting might be useful in teaching the basics. But he said traditional labs also have pernicious qualities that work against scientific principles. Many of those classes grade students relative to one another, thus encouraging students to compete against one another, rather than collaborate, as scientists almost always do. Riedel eventually did earn undergraduate degrees from UT, in physics and astronomy, and then a doctorate from the University of Southern California. But he said his career is due in no small part to luck: He was about to quit after knocking on 20-odd doors looking for actual research opportunities when a last-ditch attempt persuaded professor Andy Ellington to take him on. Fifteen years later, Riedel works for Ellington, overseeing more than 40 students in the Freshman Research Initiative in an unusual setup under which his mentorship role is given greater emphasis. Several times Riedel apologizes for reaching a near-preacherlike zeal about the program. He gets to that point in part, he said, because its 10 years in and its still a radical program, even though everyone considering going into science should get to have an experience like this. --- Ellington chuckles when he considers the origins of the Freshman Research Initiative. It wasnt so high-minded as some might think, Ellington said. He and several colleagues wanted a few more good minds in the labs they ran. Maybe getting a new program off the ground, Ellington reasoned, would give him first dibs. I want the best of the best. I want them to be researchers, said Ellington, whose lab conducts research into drugs and technology. This was a way for some of us to have a very polite cage match for those students. They started with 15 students. The next year, the program had already grown to 45. Want to see if you can make a drug that helps with Alzheimers? A professor (such as Riedel) shows a few students the basics of how to work in a lab, then lets them go at it. Usually, their experiments fail. Even so, the students receive training that makes them more appealing to people running the labs that are the key to unlocking careers in science. The thing that I think is worth emphasizing (with such programs) is that failing is OK, Ellington said. Failing is part of science. And students can say, I failed, I didnt get an F, and I can keep doing science. In a decade, the program has grown to more than 900 students. They usually start during their freshman year and continue on as sophomores, with some sticking with it as juniors or even seniors, moving into mentorship roles. Rachel Boaz, a neuroscience major, and Szu Yu Liu, a nutrition major, heard about the program during freshman orientation. They just finished their sophomore year, surpassing the point where the demands of a STEM degree tend to become apparent and attrition skyrockets. They work in Ellingtons lab as part of the research initiatives DIY Diagnostics stream. The lab is now working on a way to detect Zika virus. The idea is that, when finished, the lab will have modified pregnancy testers to allow people to test mosquitoes (or their own blood) for Zika. Many other labs are working on similar devices, which could be picked up by public health organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Boaz said that during her initial semester in the program every one of her experiments failed. She hadnt done anything wrong in a technical sense, her instructors say. But in science, a hypothesis often just doesnt work out, said Riedel, who oversees her work. Drawing the proper conclusions to form the next hypothesis is the key. Liu said simply getting outside of the huge, impersonal classroom settings helps allay the fear of failure. The (traditional) labs are more focused on having you finish than how much you remember, Liu said. The Freshman Research Initiative is different, she said, in that it helps us to be comfortable in this setting. --- Gates is a renowned theoretical physicist who ties the rise of the United States dominant economy to a step taken during the industrial revolution: requiring every child to attend school. He sees a similar transition happening today, with automation taking on a greater economic role and work increasingly moving to technology and service industries. He sees a greater emphasis on STEM education not just as a way to produce more scientists, but one that would produce more people with deep content mastery who could become teachers and mentors to pass along that fluency to the broader population. Today the industrial basis of our society must change if we are to be successful in a period where again the rules for creation of wealth have changed yet again, Gates told the Austin American-Statesman. STEM education must now play the role of preparing our country for this new innovation-based economy or we will lose the American Dream for future generations. --- Texas A&Ms College of Engineering, despite consistently ranking among the best in the country, has nonetheless suffered what its leaders consider an unacceptably high attrition rate. School officials want to increase the percentage of engineering students who stick with it from 55 percent now to 75 percent by 2025. Weve got work to do, said Katherine Banks, dean of the engineering school. Our retention rate concerns me a great deal. To get that retention rate up, A&M has launched an ambitious long-term initiative for the engineering school dubbed 25 by 25. The change already in place include capping all classes at 100 students, with most having no more than 50; encouraging students to participate in hands-on projects such as Aggie Invent, a weekend-long lab during which students work on real-world problems, such as how to create a sensor to that sends out Amber Alerts if the temperature puts a child in danger; urging students to sample several types of engineering before choosing, say, petroleum engineering; and generally classes that introduce a concept of engineering outside the traditional boundaries. The ultimate goal is to increase total enrollment in the engineering school from approximately 11,000 now to 25,000 in 2025 --- an initiative funded partly by increasing the tuition of engineering students. Like that of A&M, UTs approach requires money. The Freshman Research Initiative is propped up by $500,000 in private grants that will expire over the next few years. And program enrollment is growing. There is now a 200-student waiting list for the Freshman Research Initiative. Letting those additional students in would raise the amount of money the program needs to raise in the coming year to about $1 million, according to estimates from program managers. University officials say they are aggressively looking for funding. They have launched a campaign that included a soiree at the home of John Paul DeJoria, the businessman best known for founding Paul Mitchell and Patron Spirits. Students demonstrated how a drone works, explained research into the health of bees and analyzed water from the Colorado River for contaminants. UT President Gregory L. Fenves said he is placing an emphasis on the sort of experiential learning at the heart of the Freshman Research Initiative. But program officials say there is another group of students the program is barely reaching: engineers. The program started in UTs College of Natural Sciences. As a result, only two of the programs 29 streams are structured for engineers. Adding them would require a far larger influx of money -- after all, the Cockrell School of Engineering issues about 1,100 undergraduate diplomas a year. There are no firm estimates of how much more funding would be required for engineers, partly because officials havent determined how many would benefit or how much engineering-specific streams would cost. In assessing costs, backers emphasize that the average $2,500 three-semester cost per student is cheaper than the $5,000 to $10,000 cost of a standard research internship. But those officials are also clear that they are trying to raise millions of dollars, without increasing general tuition. That means securing money from the universitys general fund, from private donors or from lawmakers in one of the nations most fiscally conservative states. ---- Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Bringing together nearly 500 researchers from around the world, Michigan Technological University will be hosting this year's International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM). The conference focuses on the intersection of human and natural systems. Think Global, Act Local Embracing the complexity of those intersections is a key part of the ISSRM research community, says conference co-organizer Richelle Winkler, a Michigan Tech sociologist specializing in environment, population and rural community development. The conferencean initiative of the International Association for Society and Natural Resources (IASNR)occurs once a year and changes location each time. Winkler says she's excited to share a Copper Country experience with researchers from around the world. In particular, she thinks the conference's theme of Transitioning: Toward Sustainable Relationships in a Different World reflects the challenges and opportunities Keweenaw communities face. "The traditional natural resource base that drove the economies of these regions for a century is now long gone," she says. "Our communities have adapted and are continuing to find new pathways for how to live sustainable, happy and healthy lives in close relationships with the natural world." Through public keynote speakers, field trips, more than 300 research presentations, and local business sponsorships, Winkler and the ISSRM organizers hope to share insight from the Keweenaw microcosm for global thinkers. "The water, forests, rocks, and even the snow, are part of who we are and what makes us unique in the Copper Country." Richelle Winkler Environmental Social Science In addition to the locale, Michigan Tech's academic community is another draw for conference goers. Given the university's nimble size and emphasis on applied research, interdisciplinary research flourishes here. Co-organizer Kathleen Halvorsen, who has a joint appointment in social sciences as well as forestry and environmental sciences, says Michigan Tech has cultivated a community that encourages collaboration between natural science, social science and engineering. In those partnerships, she says environmental social scientists are key to solving so-called "wicked problems" like pollution and climate change. As society tries to solve environmental problems, we have to recognize that theyre often caused by people and affect people, so its important to have scientists involved who understand people, Halvorsen says. Many of the discussions to be held at ISSRM will hold people at their core. The emphasis is not on identifying issuesrather it is about building up researchers' problem-solving capacity. In particular, the keynote speakers seek to catalyze communities to come together to solve problems with local and global impacts. Nancy Langston, an environmental historian at Michigan Tech, will speak Friday morning on how an environmental history of Lake Superior provides lessons from the past that can inform a sustainable future. Riley Dunlap, a sociologist from Oklahoma State University, addresses on Saturday morning how climate change research can use sociological perspectives to inform current debates and potential solutions. "The theme of transitioning in the conference really focuses on bringing people together from across the world to tackle environmental challenges together." Kathleen Halvorsen Chad Pregracke Keynote On Thursday morning, starting at 8:30 a.m. in the Rozsa Center at Michigan Tech, Pregracke will talk about "industrial strength" river clean-ups. This is the only conference event open to the public Named the 2013 CNN Hero of the Year, Pregracke founded Living Lands and Watersa national river clean-up nonprofit that since 1998 has helped pull 8.4 million pounds of debris out of the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio Rivers. He is also the author of From the Bottom Up: One Mans Crusade to Clean Americas Rivers. In his talks, Pregracke tells a compelling story about growing up on the river and how his river experiences led to his unique vision to clean up the Mississippi River, which led him to start an internationally recognized not-for-profit. He takes the audience out on one of the worlds greatest riversa journey filled with endless challenges and gripping adventures. IASNR The International Association for Society and Natural Resources runs the annual ISSRM conference, bringing together hundreds of environmental social scientists from around the world. Learn more about the organization at www.iasnr.org Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigans flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure. Speaker is totally wrong in his ... It was an opportunity for teenage girls to learn what it takes to work in technology, and for one group to share a touching tribute to Pulse nightclub shooting victims. Camp teaches teens about coding and technology A similar camp will be held in August One group made a tribute to the Pulse nightclub victims We want to try to make the difference that we can," said Uma Menon, who participated in the weeklong coding camp. Its really important that we stop gun violence. The 12-year-old girl said she came to the camp, held at the Orlando Public Library, to learn about the language of code. It also involves girls, and how we can close the gender gap in the STEM field," she said, alluding to the bigger picture of teaching women to love technology. We started learning about the coding platforms, like Python." Twenty girls, ages 12-17, participated in the code school, sponsored by WeVenture of Central Florida. I want girls to have the opportunity to consider careers in technology, and I think I wanted to create a different picture for what they saw," said organizer Leslie Hielema, with The Orlando Center Florida Institute of Technology. In the male-dominated field, Hielema joined forces with other local women in tech and roped in volunteers to teach the girls. I was like, absolutely, I have to be a part of this," said Cassandra Wilcox, Co-Founder and President of Code Hangar. "This will bring women out of the woodwork. Each group, comprised of several teens, picked a topic they would work on over the course of the week. One group decided they wanted to do a tribute to Pulse nightclub shooting victims and created an animated tribute, filled with information. Throughout we showed facts about the shooting, and about gun violence in general and how it can be prevented," said Menon. Organizers said they were stunned by the girls' determination to tackle a tough topic, and overall dedication to the course. It represents how much it affected our community, that girls in this club who never met each other all connected," Wilcox said. Im so impressed by these young women," said Hielema. How they encouraged each other and supported each other, its been fantastic. A grant from AT&T helped organizers put on the camp for free. They will hold a similar camp in August, and in the future, want to teach women coding basics as well. For more information, visit: http://weventurecfl.org A prosecutor who came under fire two years ago for a controversial Facebook post has been suspended for a new post tied to the Pulse nightclub attack. Prosecutor Kenneth Lewis was suspended this week Accused of violating social media policy after comments he made after the Pulse attack Was not disciplined after making controversial comments on Mother's Day 2014 Kenneth Lewis, assistant state attorney for Orange and Osceola counties, was suspended for a Facebook post he wrote on Sunday after the attack happened: "Downtown Orlando has no bottom. The entire city should be leveled. It is void of a single redeeming quality. It is a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs. It is void of culture. If you live down there you do it at your own risk and at your own peril. If you go down there after dark there is seriously something wrong with you. Disney does everything in its power to shield visitors of Disney from its northern blight. That doesn't change reality. Disney may be the happiest place on Earth but Orlando is a national embarrassment. If this is an act of a domestic terrorist it is so very important that we don't publish the religion, name, or motive of the terrorist as not to offend anyone." Lewis then later added: "All Orlando nightclubs should be permanently closed. With or without random gunmen they are zoos, utter cesspools of debauchery." Lewis was suspended pending further review, according to State Attorney Jeff Ashton's office. The spokesperson said Lewis violated the office's social media policy, which was implemented in February 2015. In May 2014, Lewis was reassigned after he posted the following on Mother's Day on Facebook: "Happy Mothers day to all the crack hoes out there. It's never too late to turn it around, tie your tubes, clean up your life and make difference to someone out there that deserves a better mother." Lewis issued a public apology at the time, saying it was a wrong choice of words, but his message is the same. Lewis was not disciplined for the comments at the time though, even though Ashton called them "offensive and dehumanizing." You can now add Deltona to the list of cities paying tribute to the lives lost and all those injured inside the Pulse nightclub in Downtown Orlando. But this one was special to a man who feels the guilt of leaving before the shooting started and losing a close friend who stayed behind. And thats why he felt compelled to attend the Deltona vigil Friday night. Walderama Garcia left the Pulse nightclub just 10 minutes before gunman Omar Mateen started shooting his victims. "I regret sometimes, I thank God that I left, but in a way I regret sometimes because I lost my best friend in there," said Garcia. Garcia says he normally would stay until the Pulse closed, but that night he says he felt he had to leave. The guilt he feels comes from leaving Stanley Almadovar III behind. That night yes, we were together, we were laughing, like any other Saturday when we see each other. And to see that I will never see him again, it hurts," said a mournful Garcia. A single bell tolled each time one of the victims names were read off by people attending the vigil. And although there have been many vigils held throughout Central Florida honoring the 49 who died, and 53 wounded, Garcia says this is the first he has attended, because, he says, it was members of his community who's lives were taken last Sunday morning. "This is the first one that I come out to. I didn't want to step out, just being locked inside the house." added Garcia. Garcia's friend will be laid to rest Saturday. As many as 50,000 people are expected to gather for a vigil at Lake Eola Sunday night. And hundreds of people at that vigil will be coming from a prayer service just right around the corner at The Cathedral Church of Saint Luke Have you ever wondered what all the City does to try and minimize the impact of mosquitos ever year? City staff begins its mosquito program at the end of March with the following steps taken: --All licensed employees attend 7-8 hour courses to obtain the required annual continuing education to stay current on their licenses --Seven surveillance traps are set at primary stations throughout the City, normally around mid-April and remain in place until October --The traps are monitored and checked four times a week by emptying the traps into small containers and bringing them back into the office to count the male and female mosquitoes captured (the females are the ones that bite) Once the traps have a significant number of female mosquitos, City staff will start to focus on driving the fogger spray trucks in those areas. In order to use the fogger trucks, it is dependent upon the weather, temperature, wind, etc. before they can go out. Typically they will be driven in the early mornings or late evenings. In addition to the fogger trucks, City staff check public areas around town for standing water such as bar ditches, playa lakes, fields, drains, etc. These are areas mosquitos could be developing in. City staff will place products in the water to try and prevent the mosquito larvae from hatching. Other areas that mosquitos may breed are flowers pots, abandoned swimming pools, clogged roof gutters, unclean animal drinking containers, empty cans and tires. Residents can help keep the mosquito population down by making sure these are minimized. Residents can also help by keeping lawns cut as mosquitos tend to hide in tall grassy areas. One other important issue for citizens to be aware of is the Zika virus. As of June 16, the City of Lubbock had one reported case of Zika from a traveler who recently returned from outside the United States. At this time no mosquitos have tested positive for Zika virus. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is typically mild and resolves within one week. However, Zika infection in pregnant women is associated with congenital microcephaly and fetal loss. West Nile Virus is also a concern for residents of West Texas. The symptoms are generally mild, including fever, headache and rash but may cause neurological complications. Texas reports many cases each year, some resulting in hospitalization and death. To protect yourself, it helps to do the following: --Use an insect repellant with DEET --Cover up with long-sleeved shirts and long pants --Keep mosquitoes out of living areas by using air conditioning or intact window screens --Limit outdoor activities during peak mosquito times (dusk to dawn) For more information contact: Jimmie Collins, Streets Safety superintendent at 806-296-1168. A veteran Oakland police detective who has headed up some of the citys biggest murder cases is under investigation after his girlfriend told authorities she helped him write up some of his reports, two law enforcement sources familiar with the matter said Friday. The detective, Sgt. Mike Gantt, is on administrative leave. Efforts to reach him were not immediately successful. According to sources, Gantts girlfriend apparently got angry at him and made references to his homicide cases on social media. Its not clear what she said, or whether the investigation could damage the integrity of Gantts cases that are pending and heading toward jury trials. If these allegations are true ... that would in my mind call into question every investigation and every case this officer has conducted, said Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods, who was informed of the investigation Friday by the district attorneys office. It is now my duty to investigate and bring it to the attention of the courts, Woods said. This officers credibility is in question. What cases has he testified to and sworn under oath were authored by him, and actually were authored by his girlfriend? Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth said Thursday night that an investigation had been opened, though they did not identify the detective or provide other details. They did say it was unrelated to a probe of alleged sexual misconduct by a number of officers from Oakland and other police agencies, which involves a teenage sex worker and has put the Oakland force in disarray. Schaaf and Landreth said in a written statement that they became aware of the detectives alleged criminal misconduct on June 11. The next day, they said, they turned the criminal investigation over to the Alameda County district attorneys office, and retained an outside investigator to conduct the (police) internal affairs investigation. It was not clear, however, what laws Gantt may have broken in his handling of his case reports. Police officials did not respond to requests for comment. Among Gantts cases is the July 2013 slaying of Judy Salamon, 66, a self-described pet nanny who was shot in broad daylight in her Maxwell Park neighborhood. Two men, Stephon Lee and Mario Floyd, were charged with murder and face a jury trial next month. Floyds attorney, Anne Beles, called Gantts alleged conduct outrageous. She said she was also alarmed that as of Friday afternoon she had not been informed by either police or prosecutors of the matter. Deputy District Attorney Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman for the district attorneys office, said Friday, The mayors office referred a matter to us. We are actively looking into it, but I am not going to comment further until all the facts are known. Gantt has a long history with the Oakland Police Department, where he is known for his investigative work in drug and gang enforcement He won a medal of merit in 2000 for his role in rescuing a kidnapping victim. I think very highly of him. I have great respect for him as an investigative officer, said civil rights attorney John Burris, who has been working with Oakland police for more than a decade to institute court-ordered reforms. I dont know the facts of this situation, but I have respect for him. Im disappointed to hear about this. Erin Allday and Demian Bulwa are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com, dbulwa@sfchronicle.com Albany The grand sanctuary of the Mother Teresa Community Church was empty, save for the laundry carts filled with junk in the back. In the chapel one room over, around 15 parishioners gathered for the first Sunday service of April. The Rev. Peter Young began the introductory rites. Lacking the money to pay heating bills for the sanctuary of the church, he had moved Sunday services into the chapel two years ago. On June 19, Young will celebrate the last Mass at the church. After 15 years, he said, he can no longer afford to use the building, which is owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. "We're low on money," Young said Thursday night, "and that's basically the problem." Around 27 parishioners have been invited to the final service, Sister Phyllis Herbert said. Many of the church's members, she said, were former addicts. The service will include a liturgy traditionally used when a church closes. A city code inspector ordered the former church rectory closed April 27 after finding a leaky roof that threatened the building's electrical system appeared to be getting worse, said Dennis Gaffney, a spokesman for Mayor Kathy Sheehan. The roof had several volleyball-size holes and in the past was flagged for exposed wires, broken windows and a bed bug infestation, Gaffney told the Times Union in May. In addition to the church, the building housed ex-inmates just released from prison. Young said 986 former inmates had spent a night at the building. There was no money to repair the building, said Young, who once led Peter Young Housing, Industries and Treatment, which had hundreds of employees and holdings from Brooklyn to Buffalo. Young in recent years has seen his organization crumble after a 2010 embezzlement scandal. The charges ensnared five PYHIT executives. Young, who once drew upon strong personal connections to New York's most powerful politicians, found his organization's access to state money cut. "You can't pay the rent, you can't do the repairs, it's a domino game," Young said. Young admitted the program had "expanded beyond its financial means." "We saw the needs and we prayed for God to provide," Young said. The small group of heartbroken parishioners will now have to find another church, Herbert said. Young said the Sunday services were designed as social events, with an informal service followed by a free meal. "It's a sad day for all of us," Young said. "They were people who wanted to help. They just wanted to be part of something good, to see people recover." The ceremony will give closure to the building. Herbert said the liturgy will tell those present that "God loves them and we'll continue to love them and we're grateful for their presence." jlawrence@timesunion.com 518-454-5467 @jplawrence3 Albany A Florida woman cruised the Caribbean while bilking the New York state retirement system out of more than $148,000 the fund paid her father over five years unaware he was dead, state officials said Friday. Renee Kanas, 63, of Tamarac in Broward County, Fla., was sent to the Albany County jail Friday following her arraignment before state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Breslin on the charge of second-degree grand larceny, which carries up to 15 years in prison. Investigators for state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Kanas never informed the retirement system that her father, Jacob Yudenfreund, died in March 2010 at 85. From that period until January 2015, the retirement system kept depositing payments into an account shared by Kanas and her late father. State officials said Kanas accessed the money after her father's death and liquidated all but $1,207 of the benefits. She allegedly used the proceeds on two cruises, among other purchases. "As our investigation revealed, Renee Kanas cruised the Caribbean using her deceased father's stolen pension," DiNapoli said in a statement. Said Schneiderman: "Stealing from New York's pension system hurts hardworking taxpayers across the state, but lining one's own pockets with a deceased parent's pension is truly appalling." Kanas' father, who had a state pension, had elected to receive reduced monthly payments so his wife, Doris Yudenfreund, could keep getting benefits after he died. But his wife predeceased him, so when Yudenfreund died in March 2010, the pension payments were supposed to stop. Kanas is expected to return to court on June 28. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Baghdad Iraqi special forces swept into Fallujah on Friday, recapturing most of the city as the Islamic State group's grip crumbled after weeks of fighting. Thousands of trapped residents took advantage of the militants' retreat to flee, some swimming across the Euphrates River to safety. Residents described harrowing escapes even after IS fighters abandoned some checkpoints that had them bottled up in the city. On the river, some boats packed with people overturned in the water. Others picked their way down roads laced with hidden bombs that killed several. In some cases, IS allowed people to leave only if they took the jihadis' families with them. After weeks of heavy battles since the offensive began in late May, it appeared that IS defenses in much of the city collapsed abruptly. In the early morning Friday, Iraqi forces punched into the city center, meeting intense fighting. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate San Antonio-area couple Richard and Nancy Culpepper flew last week to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary, but within hours of their arrival the pair was killed when a massive wave engulfed them while they strolled the beach. A rogue wave came and washed them out to sea, Ben Culpepper, the couples oldest son, said in a telephone interview Saturday from Mexico. Richard Culpepper was 86, and his wife, Nancy, was 83 when they died Wednesday. The two, who met while attending Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio and later operated Culpepper Cleaners, would have marked their 66 years of marriage on Friday. RELATED: Travel warnings issued by the U.S. State Department Though they had traveled to Mexico often, this was their first visit to Cabo San Lucas. Ben Culpepper described it as kind of a compromise destination for his parents. He liked to fish and she liked to shop, and so they thought this was the place to go where they could do both, he said. Richard Culpepper had already died when rescuers pulled him from the water. Nancy Culpepper was rescued by a Mexican navy boat and a fire-rescue boat but she couldnt be revived, said Ben Culpepper, a San Antonio attorney. Ben Culpepper described the beach his parents were on as quite treacherous. The beach is beautiful but it drops off steeply, maybe 20 feet from the ocean, he said. Theres rogue waves that just come up higher than you are anticipating. So its just a dangerous place. There are signs posted. Theres no swimming or surfing at this beach. Ben Culpepper, his wife Joy, and his sister Terri Walker traveled to Cabo San Lucas on Friday. He said they met with rescuers to thank them. The family was planning to return to San Antonio with the bodies on Saturday. Richard and Nancy Culpepper were high-school sweethearts and married soon after she graduated. She was 17 and he was 20. They joined Culpepper Cleaners, a business Richards father had started in 1911. RELATED: Reports: Former Miss USA Ali Landry's relatives kidnapped, brutally killed in Mexico The couple took over the business around 1960 and expanded the number of locations, including adding a plant on Callaghan Road, Ben Culpepper said. They were very hard-working people and worked together long hours for many years to build up their business, he said. They sold the business to their son Jess Culpepper, his wife Jo Anne, their daughter Terri Culpepper Walker and her husband Mickey Walker in 2000. But it was about another five years before the couple completely stepped away from the business, Jess Culpepper said. Richard and Nancy Culpepper kept active, operating a ranch in Quihi in Medina County. They raised cattle and farmed, though they had leased the farm land in recent years. Richard loved the outdoors, Ben Culpepper said. He couldnt stand being indoors. It was either hunting, fishing or working outside with cattle. He also became an accomplished woodworker. Nancy Culpepper was a talented artist, who painted in oils and acrylics. She also made beaded jewelry that she enjoyed giving to family and friends, he said. Last month, the couple organized a family trip to Cedar Bayou on the Gulf Coast. Four generations of Culpeppers made the excursion. RELATED: Mexican authorities probe 'El Chapo' after prison guard found brutally killed near Texas border It was on her bucket list to take (us) to Cedar Bayou, Ben Culpepper said. It was a wonderful trip. Besides their three children, the Culpeppers are survived by six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. The couple will be buried in a cemetery across from the church they attended, the New Fountain Methodist Church near Hondo. Services have not been finalized. pdanner@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate At the Grand Hyatt on E. Market Street one of the first two San Antonio hotels to unionize Democrats from the state convention gathered early Saturday to celebrate workers, women in politics, and a Hillary Clinton-topped ticket at a breakfast named for another powerful former first lady: Lady Bird Johnson. It was Johnsons words that former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, invoked in a speech calling on the room to stand up to Donald Trump, whom she called a presidential candidate who wants to use fear. Lady Bird said the way to overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid, Van de Putte told a raptly listening room. RELATED: Caucuses for women, Hispanics, LGBT members headline Friday at Texas Democratic Convention A spirit of defiance towards Trump was a theme that ran through the remarks at breakfast. Attack me all you want. Make me a target. I dont give a damn, said state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston. Because Im going to work hard to make sure Hillary Clinton is elected the first woman president of the United States. At Garcias urging, breakfastgoers stood and joined hands, cheering on the prospect of a Clinton presidency. Several speeches highlighted the gulf between the Democrats and their colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, told the crowd. Responsible governemnt is not only good but necessary a world apart from Gov. Greg Abbotts remarks to the Republican convention in Dallas, in which he told the crowd,"we passed the fewest laws in 20 years, proving that better government doesnt have to be more government." Howard also castigated Republicans for recent cuts to aid to programs for disabled children, which she called an irresponsible assault. But it was Van de Putte who brought the sold-out room to their feet most enthusiastically, with a speech that started quiet and ramped up to the vigor of a sermon. She told the story of receiving a tearful phone call from her 7-year-old grandson. He was crying because he said, whats going to happen to Wella? thats what they call me, short for abueala whats going to happen to Wella and Mamo if Donald Trump gets elected, yall are Mexican, is he going to send you away? Van de Putte remembered. RELATED: Julian Castro denies being vetted for VP And I got to thinking, I will work every single day. I was going to work anyway, but I am not going to let fear seep into the hearts of my grandchildren, she said. Thats what Im going to fight against. So I need to ask you this morning are you in? Are you all in? The roar of the crowd was a clear answer. fioannou@express-news.net Twitter: @obioannoukenobi This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Pete Gallego, seeking to reclaim his seat in Congress, drew on his parents struggles against segregation and racism in a Saturday speech to the state Democratic convention in San Antonio, denouncing Donald Trumps rhetoric on minorities and Mexican-Americans. Gallego is running in a congressional rematch against U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, who defeated Gallego, D-Alpine, by a margin of just 2,422 votes in a rough-and-tumble 2014 election for the 23rdcongressional district seat. In remarks to the convention, Gallego drew connections between the segregation his parents experienced in the past and Trumps recent comments about a Mexican-American federal judge, immigrants from Mexico and other ethnic and religious minority groups. The Republican candidate for the highest office in the land - hes a bigot, Gallego said to cheers and applause. Some Republicans - my opponent comes to mind - are afraid to call him out. Justin Hollis, the Hurd campaign manager, said in a statement: Pete Gallego remains the former do nothing congressman who never passed a bill. He refuses to stand up for our active military, our veterans and our gun owners. A vote for him is another vote for four more years of Obama." Political analysts, including the non-partisan Rothenberg Gonzales Political Report, see the Gallego-Hurd race as the only real toss-up race in Texas, and one of only a dozen competitive House races nationwide. And some think sharing a ticket with Trump could hurt Hurd in the heavily Hispanic 23rd district, which stretches from San Antonio along the U.S.-Mexico border west to El Paso. Its kind of amazing in a state, the second biggest state with 36 House districts, that only one of those races is truly competitive, said Kyle Kondik with the University of Virginia Center for Politics. I think that if its the case that Hillary Clinton is doing well in the national polls, that could give Gallego a good chance to win in the district, particularly because its a district with a very big Hispanic population and Trumps favorability with Hispanics is notoriously very poor. If this race goes south for Republicans, Hurd will find himself in a bit of trouble, Kondik said. He speculated that the higher the turnout, the better Gallegos chances, but added, this is a low-turnout district. In 2014, the race was flooded with more than $5.5 million in outside spending. Kondik said spending this year might be comparable. Its hard to make a confident prediction, but I would certainly think outside spending would be comparable or not more. Both parties are super focused on this district. Gallego attacked the future that Trump promised, but he also shared stories from the past, recalling looking through a window on the Anglo-side of then-segregated Alpine as a child and knowing a view through the window is all I could ever get. Gallegos father, also named Pete Gallego, championed integration in Alpine school districts and became the first Mexican-American to serve on the Alpine ISD school board. He died in 2010. As a congressman, Gallego said he would fight as an elected leader against bigotry for his son, Nicolas, and future generations. The Texas that Nicolas knows is a better Texas than the one I grew up in and the one my parents and grandparents knew, he said. No one will steal my sons American Dream, Gallego said. finoannou@express-news.net An estimated 500 demonstrators both for and against Donald Trump gathered outside a private fundraiser at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio where the top VIPs paid $250,000 a ticket. Protesters took one side of the road and supporters took the other and for the most part remained peaceful, according to an earlier report on MySanAntonio.com John Richard Eichelberger, also known as Buckeye, which was the name of the East Side service station he owned and operated for more than 45 years, died June 10 at 90. Eichelberger joined his brother-in-law in the business in 1960 after moving with his wife and children from Ohio, where they lived with his parents. While in Ohio, Eichelberger drove big rigs, both short and long haul, moving to Texas when his wife, whom he met as a young sailor, was ready to return to her hometown after more than a decade. The couple met when Eichelberger, who was in training at Camp Bullis in the 1940s, went to the Catholic USO. He came in in his white Navy uniform, and I told my friend, Im going to marry him some day, his wife Marcella Eichelberger said. I was only 16 years old. After finishing his training, Eichelberger went to Chicago, keeping in touch with his future wife by letter and occasional phone calls. More Information John Richard "Buckeye" Eichelberger Born: Jan. 1, 1926, Altoona, Pennsylvania Died: June 10, 2016, San Antonio Preceded by: Parents Mary M. Bussard and John S. Eichelberger; a sister. Survived by: Wife Marcella Zuehl Eichelberger; daughters Linda Hunt and son-in-law Curtis, and Jeanette Hilbig and son-in-law Robert; son John Eichelberger Jr. and daughter-in-law Shirley; eight grandchildren, and 16 great grandchildren. Services: Visitation at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Mass at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, both at St. Gerard Catholic Church, 1523 Iowa St. Burial following Mass at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. See More Collapse In the summer of 1947 he called and said, Im getting a vacation and I want to get married, Marcella Eichelberger said. I was one month less than18 years old. Marrying in August of 1947, the couple began their 68-year marriage. The gas station, Buckeye Auto Service, became the center of the familys life. Gas stations were full service in those days, his son John Eichelberger Jr. said. I used to have a little step ladder, would wash windows and pump gas. Eichelbergers wife would come to the shop every day, John Eichelberger said. Shed bring lunch and do some bookkeeping, work on bills and invoices. A few years after joining the business, Eichelberger and his brother-in-law started building cars for stock car racing at the now-closed Pan American Speedway. Their most famous was a 1935 Chevrolet coupe with a straight six cylinder motor in it, John Eichelberger said. In one of their best years, they won 19 out of 23 events at the race track. During one memorable race their driver, Buddy Jenkins, won against almost impossible odds. The left front tire blew it was a 75 lap race, it blew on lap 15, John Eichelberger recalled. The driver kept the left front tire off of the ground for 60 laps managed to not only finish the race, but won it. Eichelberger also loved dancing, taking his wife out many Saturday nights to dance halls such as Lubianski's in St. Hedwig, Mann's Hoedown and the Farmers Daughter. He was very devoted to her, John Eichelberger said. He was always with her, always by her side. mheidbrink@express-news.net Whats so special about a grand jury? The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United State says, in part, No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury. The grand jury process must serve every resident in the community fairly; however, because it is not transparent and accountable, the grand jury system appears to have established two systems of justice one for the citizen and one for law enforcement personnel when a death occurs by a law enforcement officer. Before readers conclude this is an anti-police commentary, it should be made clear that I am very much supportive of law enforcement personnel, but foremost I am a proponent of justice and fairness. Having served on the Citizen Action Advisory Board for six years gave me a great appreciation for the dedication and commitment of police officers; however, reports that are now being revealed indicate the grand jury system is unresponsive to the community when a fatality occurs by a person sworn to protect the public. It is unfortunate the officers who have stellar records will be judged by those who may become overzealous in their duties to protect all residents. After the rash of police officer-involved shootings in which grand juries failed or refused to indict, the question Why a grand jury? begs an answer. Transparency and accountability are nonexistent. There should be no difference between a civilian and a police officer involved in an incident that should be questioned. In an article in Slate on Dec. 12, 2014, author LaDoris Hazzard Cordell wrote, State criminal grand juries serve no useful purpose and make a mockery of justice; they should be abolished. California has become the first state to ban grand juries from determining whether criminal charges should be filed when a fatality occurs at the hands of a law enforcement officer, and many cities around the country have ceased using the grand jury process in criminal matters. This is an effort for more transparency and accountability. When there is trust and transparency, the safety of officers and the community is better served. In New York City, legislation is being submitted to eliminate grand juries when the deaths of unarmed people occur at the hands of a peace officer. In Connecticut, the grand jury system was abolished in all criminal proceedings, thus bringing transparency and integrity to the justice system. Texas recently passed a law to eliminate the pick a pal process for selecting members of a grand jury, which is a step in the right direction. This law opens the process to all qualified citizens, not just to a select few. However, our Legislature should consider eliminating the grand jury process when fatalities of unarmed residents occur at the hands of police officers. Statistics show that the results in Texas on officer-caused deaths are the same as nationally the grand jury does not indict. Its time for more accountability, trust and integrity in the criminal justice system eliminate the grand jury in officer-involved deaths. Because of the current grand jury process, public trust has waned; the community and family members will never know the extent of any investigation, witnesses or evidence that would exonerate the law enforcement officers responsible for the deaths or whether they were culpable. Take the case of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was killed by an officer only moments after the officer left his vehicle, or the case of Eric Garner, who died in an illegal chokehold that had been abolished by the New York City Police Department. No officer was ever indicted or brought to trial in either case. Its time to put justice back into the justice system. Oliver Hill is president of the San Antonio branch of the NAACP. The astonishing spectacle of a speaker of the House not endorsing a presidential nominee of his own party has been supplanted by the astonishing spectacle of a speaker of the House declaring that the nominee he endorsed said something racist. Paul Ryan endorsed Donald Trump just in time for the Judge Gonzalo Curiel furor. Ryan unloaded on Trumps attack on the judges heritage the textbook definition of a racist comment while continuing to back the mogul, in either the most awkward denunciation or the most awkward support ever, or perhaps both. Naturally enough, Ryans slap at Trump came during, and overshadowed, an event rolling out the speakers thoughtful and creative anti-poverty agenda. In other words, Trumps heedlessness stepped all over Ryans earnestness. It may be an apt metaphor for how the rest of 2016 will play out. The Curiel flap is a window into what is the worst case for the GOP: Trump as a little bit of Todd Akin every day. Although this potential downside of a Trump nomination was obvious, the Republican establishment barely lifted a finger to stop him in the primaries, gripped by a faux sophisticated fatalism (even at the beginning, it was allegedly too late to stop him) and by an abiding hatred of Ted Cruz. It has reacted in shock and dismay at Trumps attacks on the judge hearing the Trump University case, as if it were unaware the party had nominated a man whose calling card has been out-of-bounds, highly charged personal attacks on his opponents. It must have missed it when he took shots at Ben Carsons Seventh-day Adventism. It wasnt watching TV that time when he doubted that Mitt Romney is a Mormon. It put it out of its mind that one of his main arguments against Cruz was that he was a Canadian ineligible for the presidency, and that Trump liked to sneeringly let it drop every now and then that Cruzs real name is Rafael. And Trumps birtherism? Hey, who hasnt harbored suspicions that the president might have been born in Kenya and covered up his secret with a fraudulent birth certificate? If Trump didnt call Curiel a Mexican unworthy of hearing his case, youd almost wonder what had knocked the candidate off his game. But the Republican establishment seems to have believed that it had an implicit pact (unbeknownst to Trump) that he could have the party so long as he didnt embarrass it too badly. The breach in this imaginary agreement has occasioned epic ducking and covering. The new equivalent of medieval scholastic philosophers are the Republican senators insisting on heretofore unnoticed distinctions between different levels of support for a presidential candidate. Sen. Kelly Ayotte is voting for Trump (at this point), but she isnt endorsing him. It would seem that saying she will vote for him constitutes an endorsement, but desperate times call for desperate evasions. Sen. Ron Johnson falls back on a similarly minute distinction: Hes supporting, but not endorsing, Trump. Somewhere there is a Ph.D. candidate in political science mulling a dissertation on when support is or is not an endorsement. The truth is that Trump is a wedge issue against his own party. Disavowing him means upsetting all those good Republicans who voted for him in the primaries, while supporting him means owning his irresponsible positions and statements. There is no good answer, which is why faith in a Trump pivot to a more disciplined, conventional candidate runs so deep in the establishment. Sen. Bob Corker, who will be a perfect running mate for Trump if he wants a wingman uncomfortable with much of what he says, is constantly talking about the pivot. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus applauded Trumps use of a teleprompter the other night as if the candidates wooden reading of the text was some sort of fundamental breakthrough. This is all misplaced. Donald Trump may have many talents. Not being Donald Trump isnt one of them. comments.lowry@nationalreview.com Ronald Reagan, the man who became the Republicans Republican, was once a Democrat. I didnt leave my party, my party left me, he declared. Today, many Republicans are feeling much as Reagan must have felt back in 1962 when he officially switched parties. I became a Republican more than 60 years ago as a teen after watching Dwight Eisenhower give his acceptance speech at the 1952 convention. His message touched me because he sounded like my dad. Republicans, he affirmed, believe in family. In God. In hard work. Patriotism. Low taxes. Small government. Freedom. Opportunity for all. Ike sounded just like my dad, who always voted Democrat even though he was a strict conservative, something I never understood. Dad and Mom remained Democrats as long as they lived. I became the black sheep in the family an oddity back then a Mexican American Republican. My belief in the Republican philosophy paid off many times over. They opened the doors of opportunity so wide, all I had to do was walk right through. In 78, Republican Sen. John Tower chose my ad agency to produce all re-election advertising even though we had no political experience. He and his staff just liked our ads and the fact that two of our four partners were Latino. When Tower won, he rewarded us with an introduction to Reagan, who hired us for his Hispanic outreach. When Reagan won, he introduced us to George H.W. Bush. After he won, he introduced us to his son, George W. Bush, and a young skinny kid with lots of hair by the name of Karl Rove. From 1978 until 2008, our team had the honor of working in the big arena of presidential politics. Five of the six campaigns were winners. And so were we. My wife, Kathy, and I were invited to lunch at the White House, several White House Christmas parties and, among many other things, a state dinner where, for one unforgettable night, we rubbed elbows with Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, movie stars, famous politicians and corporate giants. Yes, opportunity courtesy of the GOP abounded. In those days, the Grand Old Party was indeed grand. Reagan and Bush 41 brought down a wall. Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million hardworking Mexican immigrants who, through their strong work ethic, helped our economy grow stronger and our country more secure. Bush 41 promoted a kinder, gentler nation. His thousand points of light strengthened bonds between churches and communities across America. George W. was the compassionate conservative who believed family values dont stop at the Rio Grande. He was proud of the Latino blood that runs in the Bush family, referring to his Mexican sister-in-law, Columba Bush, and his nephews, including George P. Bush, Texas land commissioner. He also believed our president should be a unifier not a divider. Thats all gone. Instead of Tear down this wall, the party promotes a new and bigger wall. A thousand points of light has been replaced by a thousand points of anger. In place of compassionate conservatism, our nominee promotes callousness, extremism and racism. And instead of a unifier, the party now cheers the ultimate us against them proponent. Divisiveness incarnate. So, if my party winds up electing Donald Trump, Ill have to bid farewell, hoping that one day soon, it comes to its senses. Heres my thinking. This madness could be temporary because our nominee is not really a Republican. Nor a real conservative. Hes just a shark, a self-promoter out to see how far his out-of-control ego can take him. Heres my quandary. If my partys left me, where do I go? What should I do when there isnt a horse in the race that stands for the core values of the party that I loved? I may just go for the devil we know instead of the lunatic we dont know. In the words of Paul Ryan, I cant defend the indefensible. Youve seen them; you know them. Theyre soldiers, doctors, restauranteurs, vendors, teachers, custodians, and, yes, taxi drivers. Theyre our neighbors, friends, family and colleagues. Theyre refugees who came to the U.S. against great odds to build a better life and contribute to their new country. This year we are using the global observance of World Refugee Day on Monday to draw attention to the plight of the nearly 60 million refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide forced to flee their homeland due to war, conflict and persecution. This is the highest level of displacement since World War II, with 53 percent of these refugees fleeing the violent upheavals in recent years in Somalia, Afghanistan and Syria. This observance is not about what our government can do. It is about what every single one of us as a citizen, a company, or an organization can do to make sure that people who are displaced or impacted by war or violent conflict have what they need to survive and find a safe haven. The citizens of the United States have a proud tradition of being generous and resourceful in our support for those who are most vulnerable. Over 3 million refugees from more than 70 countries have been promised a safe haven and provided a clear path for resettlement in the U.S. since the Refugee Act of 1980 was signed into law. Last year alone Texas welcomed and resettled 7,479 refugees, with many coming particularly from Burma, Iraq, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States. Only after all checks are completed is a refugee applicant cleared to travel to the U.S. Once they arrive, the men, women and children forced to flee their homes and families, their schools and communities begin the difficult task of starting a new life in a new country. Just like most all of our families at some point in the past, the new arrivals are rising to the challenge. Today, the federal government supports a network of refugee-serving organizations located in communities across the country that provide initial vital services including: meeting refugees at the airport upon arrival; arranging for housing, food, and clothing; providing cultural orientation; and assisting with access to other social, medical, and employment related services focused on self-sufficiency and longer-term integration. Working in partnership with public and private sector organizations in Texas our goal is to help refugees quickly and successfully integrate into American life. Everyones help is welcome. Individuals interested in helping refugees start anew in your community can learn about volunteer opportunities at www.AidRefugees.gov. The assistance provided is a lifeline for refugees as they work to rebuild their lives in America. Until the world is free of conditions that force people to flee their homes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will continue to play our part in helping to welcome and integrate newcomers and their children into the fabric of our communities. In return, our economy and our nation will continue to be strengthened by diversity and the new talent contributing to welcoming communities across the U.S. Robert Carey is director, Office of Refugee Resettlement Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Despite all the posturing Texas state officials like to do about the great ways they are supporting public education, their actions tell a different story. This school year, Texas spent $9,561 per student, kindergarten through 12th grade, according to an analysis of average daily attendance data by the National Education Association. That is $2,690 below the national average and only $2 more per student than last year. Re: Rule-flouting by Clinton on server, emails inexcusable, Editorial, June 6: Thank you, Editorial Board, for your objective assessment of the Hillary Clinton server/email fiasco. As pointed out, Clintons willful disregard of proper protocol and respect for highly sensitive federal information is unacceptable. This is not just much ado about nothing and, sadly, it speaks to the integrity and judgment of a woman in the running to become president of the United States. Thank you again, Editorial Board, for taking a stand and critiquing this extremely disconcerting matter. Pat Wilson The glass ceiling Re: Women politicos sound off on Clintons victory, Metro, June 9: What a sad statement from former District Attorney Susan Reed, ending with, Im just sorry its Hillary. She would have sounded more honest if she had said, Im just jealous its Hillary. Having the courage to put yourself out there should merit some respect for Clinton. The people have spoken, and she is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, and, yes, she has cracked the glass ceiling. And for this reason alone, we as women should applaud her, whether we are Democrats or Republicans! I want to leave Ms. Reed with a quote from another great woman in politics, Madeleine Albright: There is a special place in hell for women who dont help other women. Yolanda Sonora Lack of leadership Re: Netiquette criticism results in apology, Bruce Leslie, Other Views, June 9: If Mr. Leslie, the chancellor of Alamo Colleges, cannot keep from using his phone during one of the most important days of his students lives, he no longer needs to be paid a salary from the tuition collected from those students and my taxes. This isnt the first failure of leadership during his tenure. He has no idea what leading by example means. C.K. Blackman, Helotes Success is eloquent Many years ago, during his heyday, boxer Jack Dempsey was having a drink with friends at a bar in New York. After a stranger repeatedly brushed up against him to get his attention, a friend encouraged him to slam the guy and put an end to his indiscretions. Dempsey replied, Ah, I know Im the champ. With the death of Muhammad Ali and the rise of Donald Trump, we are awash in a sea of self-promotion and grandstanding. Notables such as Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth and Dwight Eisenhower might have come off as rather pigheaded had they resorted to the antics we see among many celebrities today. Whenever a person, regardless of how famous or insignificant, seeks to show how great he or she is, one naturally backs off and wonders what the big deal is. Success speaks for itself. Do Bill Gates and Warren Buffett need to show the world they are among the wealthiest philanthropists in history? They know they are champs, as much as Jack Dempsey did. Jamie Blount Curse of technology After hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution, flab has become widespread only in the last 50 years. Obesity has become a national crisis. Technology, processed foods, lack of exercise and daily consumption of snack foods all point to a direct correlation with a reduced quality of life and health costs. Government has assured millions they will have more than enough free food for their nourishment needs. American lifestyle has changed, too. We now spend hundreds of hours using computers, playing video games and watching television while consuming large amounts of snack foods and sugary beverages. Bottom line: Technology is the main cause of all lifes problems. Leo Q. Gomez Recusal proper Re: Trump loves Latinos but just not judging him, Gilbert Garcia, June 8: Judge Gonzalo Curiel is a lifetime member of the Hispanic National Bar Association. This organization calls for a complete boycott of all Trump business ventures. There is no way this judge can render an impartial, unbiased ruling against an individual who has been singled out, by name, by an association that he (Curiel) belongs to. Judge Curiel should recuse himself. Donald Trump is correct in calling for his recusal. I admit Trump could have been more diplomatic when he commented about Curiel, but Trump is not a politician. Hes brusque, doesnt care about stepping on toes, and wont kowtow to political correctness. Don Ripley, Floresville Trump positives Re: Choose wisely, Your Turn, June 8: A recent letter writer lamented that no one is citing any reasons to vote for Donald Trump. Here are a few reasons to vote for him instead of Hillary Clinton: Trump knows how to create jobs and get things done. Hillary doesnt. Trump will secure the border and get illegal immigration under control. Hillary wont and wants amnesty for illegal immigrants. Trump will rebuild our military and go after ISIS. Hillary wont. Trump will appoint justices who follow the Constitution and the rule of law. Hillary wont. Trump will defend the right to keep and bear arms. Hillary wants to get rid of the Second Amendment. Trump is not the type of politician weve been electing for the past 25 years, will owe no favors to Wall Street and will shake up Washington. Trump, unlike Hillary, does not have the specter of multiple scandals hanging over his head and is not being investigated by the FBI for possible illegal activities. Liam Harvie Pointless journey Streetcars start from where you are not and take you to where you do not need to go. Streetcars are a political thrill ride, as in, Look what we have done for you, we are now a big city, as the tourists ride from A to B. Michael D. Gehri As the first and only town in the nation to officially declare themselves a "tiny home friendly city," the city of Spur, Texas, has become a haven for those looking to "order, build or park" their tiny homes in a welcoming place. Wild interpretations of the term "tiny home," however, have forced leaders of the Texas town to enact ordinances to protect the town's real estate landscape from those taking the tiny home trend to the extreme with plans to build yurts, straw homes and underground cellars according to The Wall Street Journal. 1 Syria fighting: Militants captured two villages from government forces and their allies in the northern province of Aleppo after days of heavy fighting that left scores of fighters dead, activists said Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the four-day offensive by different militant groups, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, killed 86 troops and pro-government gunmen, including 25 members of Lebanons Hezbollah group. The Observatory says militants now control the villages of Zeitan and Khalsa, south of Aleppo. Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to back President Bashar Assads forces. 2 Astronauts return: An International Space Station crew including an American, a Briton and a Russian landed safely Saturday in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASAs Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and the Russian agency Roscosmos Yuri Malenchenko touched down about 90 miles southeast of Zhezkazgan. The three spent 186 days in space since their launch in December 2015. They have conducted hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science. Im going to miss the view definitely, Peake said after landing. At Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) we hope that many visitors will take a look at the latest exhibit in its Gerhard Ens Gallery, also known as the Temporary Gallery. It shines a spotlight on the life and experiences of a group referred to as non-traditional Mennonite women. It refers, indirectly of course, to the fact that, in our past, certain traditions controlled the kind of work and life women in Mennonite communities could look forward to. According to tradition, most women in a Mennonite community would get married and have children, if all went well, and continue mothering those children as long as necessary. Those who did not get married might possibly find themselves working as housekeepers or in manual labour of other kinds, including simply giving assistance to their parents. By 1947, when I looked around at my high-school graduating class at the Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna, I sensed that women did have several not-unattractive options, not just one. Teaching and nursing were coming into their own as positions that could quite naturally be filled by women as well as men. Marriage was of course still an option, and not a few women managed to do their mothering and vocational work simultaneously, at least for a good portion of their lives. There were, however, other non-traditional vocations and careers that still stand out as exceptions to the rule. Among these exceptions were the midwives of various communities, quite anonymous among historical accounts until quite recently, coming to light through loose documents that have survived. When my colleague, Conrad Stoesz, originally from my home area in the former West Reserve, was casting about for topics to write on for his graduate-school courses, he came upon the subject of midwives and took it on, because (in his words) there was nothing written on it anywhere. He says he took on the challenge of plugging that gap, as it were, after he discovered this group of indispensable community workers and concluded that this silence needed to be ended. Here are some statements (paraphrased in spots) from Conrads conclusions in one of the papers he then published on the topic: The midwives who served the Manitoba Mennonites in the late 1800s and early 1900s were essential to the success of their communities. The large families common in these communities insured a high demand for their services. The Mennonite community used the midwife as a means of sustaining self-dependence to keep intact the cultural and religious boundaries, even for a time keeping foreign doctors at bay. (From Mennonites and the Control of Fertility, to be published in Journal of Mennonite Studies later this year.) My own field of studies had concentrated on other topics until I took note of something that our family story had never mentioned before. I learned that my great-grandmother Sarah Klippenstein had been a midwife for an unknown number of years in my home community in the West Reserve, and we began to locate artifacts to illustrate her work. They have encouraged me to look for more information. Conrad is standing by to help make that happen! The new MHV exhibit seeks to highlight the forgotten women, such as these midwives and other community workers, who did play a very significant role in many homes, particularly those where regular medical assistance was not easily accessible. California Condor Population Reaches New Heights in 2015 Yale (furzy) Shattered records show climate change is an emergency today, scientists warn Guardian (resilc) Digital currency Ethereum nose-dives after $50 million hack MarketWatch China? Neither terrorism nor football can stop the resistance in France failed evolution Brexit? Ukraine/Russia Syraqistan Imperial Collapse Watch A Nuclear Weapon That America Doesnt Need New York Times (David L) 2016 Obama Plan Eyes Debt Relief for Defrauded Students PBS Nine Lost Souls the FBI Charged as Terrorists While Letting the Orlando Shooter Go Intercept Noor Zahi Salman: Everything Youre Hearing About Me Is a Lie DownWithTyranny. Disturbing. Prosecutor: Pacific Gas ignored regulations to cut costs Los Angeles Times. Can someone from California explain to me how PG&E gets away with being a recidivist rogue institution? Kansas City asks, How little money is too little for schools? Christian Science Monitor (furzy) Is the nations third-largest school district in danger of collapse? Washington Post (furzy) Gunz A Brief History Of Lenders Frozen Bagels (And Their NYC Branding Lie) Gothamist Majority stake in MERSCORP Holdings acquired by NYSE parent company ICE HousingWire (martha r) Why are so many bankers committing suicide? New York Post Angelo Mozilo Will Not Face U.S. Charges for Mortgage Fraud New York Times (resilc) The US economy about to hit a brick wall Business Insider Theres something eerily familiar about the economy, and we might repeat a sad moment in US history Yahoo Hawkish Bullard turns ultra-dove on rates Financial Times Class Warfare Antidote du jour. Paul D: Spider ball, photo taken on our porch, Nova Scotia by Esther Methe: See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Collaboration with pharma will introduce nanotechnologies in early stage drug development (Nanowerk News) The Frederick National Lab has begun to assist several major pharmaceutical companies in adopting nanotechnologies in early stage drug development, when the approach is most efficient and cost-effective. For some time, the national labs Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL) has worked with pharmaceutical companies on reformulating cancer drugs that failed in human clinical trials because of toxicity or other issues. By reformulating the drugs using nanotechnologies, the drugs reentered clinical trials with success. Now NCL is working under Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with Amgen, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer on nanotechnology formulations to improve candidate cancer drugs early on, before they are used in first-in-human studies. The idea is to apply smart drug formulations early in the pipeline to increase the chance of success for these drugs, said Stephen Stern, Ph.D., senior principal scientist at NCL, which operates under a collaboration between NCI, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In its interagency agreement with the FDA, NCL will apply a filtration method invented by Stephan Stern, Ph.D., for measuring drug release from several nanomedicine products. The method allows for accurate determination of how much of the drug is bound to the nanoparticle, how much is free, and how much is bound to plasma proteins. This image is a cartoon illustration of a drug (middle) released from a nanoparticle (left) and binding a plasma protein (right), all in suspension above a filter, with the filtrate (lower) containing only the free drug. Image courtesy of Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory. The pharmaceutical industry has begun to recognize the benefits of nanotechnology in developing cancer drugs because nanoformulations can target drugs to tumor sites without harming the rest of the body, and thus reduce or eliminate side effects, said NCL scientist Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D. NCL is a pioneer in the medical application of nanotechnologies against cancer and operates as a shared national resource and knowledge base for all cancer researchers. NCL is a highly recognized resource for preclinical nanomaterials characterization and is also expanding to capabilities in nanoparticle-based formulations, said Piotr Grodzinski, Ph.D., director of the NCI Office of Nanotechnology Research. With nanomedicine maturing, more and more companies are being interested in this mode of treatment. They seek partnerships with experienced entities, and NCL is a natural choice. Since it began in 2004, NCL has characterized more than 350 nanoparticles for medical applications, helped set industry standards for nanoparticle characterization, and collaborated in advancing 10 nanomedicines into human clinical trials. We have the expertise in formulation characterization, among the best in the world, Grossman said. We have been able to link formulation parameters with biological performance and identify cases where we see a decrease in toxicity or an increase in the exposure to the tumor. The collaboration with AstraZeneca will focus on formulating pharmaceuticals for delivery to solid tumors. NCL will produce nano-formulations of small-molecule pharmaceuticals and return them to AstraZeneca for further evaluation both in vitro and in vivo. The aim is to improve how much drug can be delivered without causing toxicity and to increase the efficiency of drug delivery to solid tumors. With Amgen, NCL will build on an earlier collaboration to produce nano-formulations of a compound to enhance its ability to disperse throughout a tumor. Amgen will evaluate these new formulations. In the collaboration with Pfizer, NCL will characterize nanomaterials selected by Pfizer as potential drug delivery systems in oncology and immune modulation. In recent years, nanotechnology drug delivery systems have been developed for hard-to-treat solid tumors (e.g., breast, lung, pancreas). More recently, nanotech formulations are being targeted to blood cancers and metastases. Among the few nanomedicines approved by the FDA for use in patients are Doxil, a liposomal doxorubicin used to treat ovarian cancer, AIDS-related Kaposis sarcoma, and multiple myeloma; Abraxane, an albumin-bound form of paclitaxel that is less toxic than other formulations of the drug and is used in combination therapy for pancreatic cancer and to treat other cancers; and ONIVYDE, which is formulated from the chemotherapy drug irinotecan encapsulated in liposome nanoparticles. Finishing up Phase III clinical trials is VYXEOS, a co-formulation of cytarabine and daunorubicin encapsulated in a nanoscale liposome to maintain the desired ratio after administration for high-risk acute myeloid leukemia. In a separate endeavor, NCL has entered into an interagency agreement with the FDA for evaluating the bioequivalence of generic nanomedicines compared with their branded counterparts. The earliest nanomedicines are losing the patent protection that guarantees market exclusivity, but generic counterparts have been slow to emerge. FDA is looking to us to develop novel methods that will potentially help the regulatory process for approval of generic nanomedicines, Grossman said. Under the agreement, NCL will apply a method for measuring the active ingredients from several drug products, whether the drug is still bound with the nanoparticle or free in the bloodstream. It will also conduct in vitro and in vivo drug release studies relevant to establishing bioequivalence. NCL will coordinate with the FDA to select the most appropriate drug products for evaluation, as well as criteria for evaluating performance of the method. Money Talks SHARE By William F. Hague As if life here in paradise does not have enough to offer those lucky enough to call it home, we are yet again reminded with the pending annual beachfront July Fourth celebrations that there are plenty of additional benefits to living in paradise. Yes, as investors slowly come around to a new era of money management, they will be pleasantly surprised when they see the additional benefits that come from asset class diversification. Often we have touched on the value of avoiding market losses. Because the numbers never lie, we can see the power of avoiding market losses along the way, even while the trade-off may be only capturing a percentage of the gains. A recent portfolio review allowed us to see the big picture with a single glance at a particular performance chart whereby we saw side by side comparisons with a portfolio fully invested in the S&P 500 versus a portfolio fully invested in an insured index portfolio which only captured a percentage of the market gains during a 15 year time frame, of course while avoiding loss during the down years. The S&P 500 portfolio grew $100,000 to roughly $135,000 by the end of 2015, while the insured index portfolio grew the same $100,000 to roughly $175,000 over the same 15 years. You see, it is not how much we make in the up markets; rather it is very much how much we keep and do not give back in the down markets. Avoiding losses changes everything and the additional benefit of growing non-IRA assets tax deferred, much like an IRA grows, is a significant additional benefit lost on so many. Reducing the taxable events in our investing lives, such as the gains on non-IRA accounts, can also allow certain investors to minimize and even eliminate taxes on their Social Security benefits ... additional benefits indeed. Again, referencing the new era in money management, a time tested strategy is slowly making headlines in the form of enhanced returns for investors owning stock in their portfolios. The addition of managed futures has allowed those fortunate enough to actually look at the numbers, the benefit of enhanced returns by simply adding a small percentage to the overall portfolio mix. Simply adding futures for 20 to 30 percent of a portfolio allowed investors to significantly outperform a strictly stock and bond portfolio. The longer these returns go back and the more years we back test, the greater the significance in total return. However, this strategy can have impact over a three year window and certainly much more dramatically over a five, 10 and even 15 year window. The additional benefit here is not only a heck of a lot more money in the portfolio, but there is also an additional benefit on the taxation of the gains within the Commodity Trading Advisory universe. Taxation on all gains are spilled 60/40 as to their tax treatment. The additional benefit here is enjoying the majority of gains being taxed at the long term tax rate as opposed to all of the gains being taxed at the short term rate. Again, additional benefits indeed. By now, readers of this weekly diatribe for truth have become familiar with the recurring reminder that 100 percent ownership of stock is not, has not been nor will ever be suitable or appropriate for most investors, certainly even more so for the average retired investor. There are additional benefits to truly diversifying a portfolio among multiple asset classes with the addition of insured index strategies combined with managed futures as well. The additional benefit, which is as plain as day, is the simple fact that better performance means more money. Always has and always will. As retired investors continue to sit idle anxiously awaiting the next stock market move, prudent investors have been proactive and have embraced the strength and confidence that comes with true diversification versus the dead Wall Street strategy of trying to diversify among various stocks. True diversification can only be accomplished by owning different assets classes, versus the same old stocks, stocks and more stocks. Yes, the confidence that comes with true diversification certainly allows investors to enjoying the life of a SWAN, Sleep well At Night. William F. Hague is a managing partner of Hague Wealth Management; 239-389-1999 or WFHague@earthlink.net. Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, in shown in a scene from "Finding Dory." (Associated Press) SHARE 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. Although 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. Mark Sievers stands with his attorney, Michael Mummert during a court appearance in front of judge, Bruce Kyle on Wednesday. He was taking part in case management hearing. His case was continued. (Photo: Andrew West/The News-Press) SHARE Murder suspects Curtis Wayne Wright, left, and Mark Sievers appear in the a Lee County courtroom Friday, June 17, 2016, during a custody hearing in Fort Myers. (Sarah Coward/News-Press) By Melissa Montoya, The News-Press Curtis Wayne Wright calls Mark Sievers 'super dad,' pleads the fifth The man who could cost Mark Sievers his life also thinks he is a great father. Mark Sievers crossed paths in court Friday with his long-time friend Curtis Wayne Wright for the first time since at least February when he was charged with the murder of his wife, Dr. Teresa Sievers. Shackled and in a red jumpsuit, Wright made his way to the witness stand as Mark Sievers stared straight ahead. The friends, who once referred to one another as "brothers from different mothers," hardly looked at each other during a hearing deciding who would get custody of Sievers' two children. Wright was arrested in August along with another man, Jimmy Rodgers, after a months-long investigation took investigators to their homes in Missouri. Sievers and Rodgers were indicted for first-degree murder by a grand jury in May. The two men now face two possible sentences if theyre convicted by a jury: life in prison, or the death penalty. In February, Wright pleaded guilty in exchange for a 25-year sentence, with the promise of helping prosecutors convict his friend. But on Friday, a soft-spoken Wright said Mark Sievers was a "super dad" to his two girls. He told the courtroom he and Mark Sievers, who looked nearly identical in their red jumpsuits, shaved heads, facial hair and glasses, have been friends for about 30 years since the eighth or ninth grade. Mark Sievers' attorney Michael Mummert asked Wright about the relationship between the children and their mom. "I really didn't see a whole lot of interaction between the kids and Teresa. She was working a lot," Wright said. "I don't really have a feel for that." He added he believed the girls were more comfortable with Mark Sievers. Wright said Mark and Teresa Sievers "always seemed happy," until he found out about marital problems at his May wedding in Missouri. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right when asked if he spoke with Mark Sievers about the couple's marital problems. Mummert urged Judge Robert J. Branning to allow questions about the criminal accusations against Wright. The judge denied the request, but that didn't stop Mummert from bringing up the allegations anyway. Mummert asked Wright if he planned the murder of the Estero doctor and if he hit her with a hammer on her head three times. The attorney was overruled. Wright remained stone-faced during the questioning while Mark Sievers appeared emotional and wept. Wright's attorney, Elizabeth Parker, declined to comment after the hearing. Wright's testimony did not sway Branning, who granted their maternal grandmother Mary Ann Groves permanent custody of the girls, ages 9 and 11. The girls have been in Groves' custody since May 13. The allegations of abuse against Mark Sievers by the Department of Children and Families were dropped, but the state met the burden of proof that the girls would be neglected if they were left in his care because he does not have the financial means to sustain them from jail. The girls were made dependents of the state, but will remain in Groves' custody. That was a good decision by the state, said Antonio Faga, one of Mark Sievers' attorneys. "Once he's declared not guilty he will get his children back within an hour," Faga said. Investigators say Wright teamed up with Rodgers to commit the crime while Mark Sievers vacationed in Connecticut with his children. Wright promised to pay Rodgers if he helped commit the crime. Mark Sievers masterminded the plan and was going to use money from a $4.43 million insurance payout for his wife's death to pay Wright for his wife's homicide, according to detectives. Mark Sievers has not received the insurance money because he is a defendant in his wife's death. Most recently, Teresa Sievers' brother Patrick Tottenham has sued to be made the trustee of a $3 million family trust. Teresa Sievers was killed on June 28 after she returned to her Bonita Springs home from a family trip to Connecticut. She was bludgeoned to death. By Tim Patterson of the Naples Daily News The Florida black bear has new defenders in Naples. About 30 sign-waving protesters demonstrated in the bright sun and muggy heat Saturday morning to stop a proposed Florida black bear hunt in October. Drivers passing the corner of U.S. 41 and Pine Ridge Road honked their car horns in a show of support for the protesters. The group, officially called "Stop the Florida Bear Hunt," demonstrated and held signs that read, "Stop the hunt" and "Bear hunt = trophy hunt." A few protesters also carried stuffed animal bears. Henk Morelisse, 56, one of the local organizers, said that protesters in 28 Florida cities demonstrated simultaneously Saturday to prevent the second bear hunt in two years. Saturday's protest, he said, is aimed at both educating the public and influencing the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is set to vote Wednesday on the hunt. Opponents of the hunt say state biologists don't know enough about the effect of the hunt on Florida's bear population, which has rebounded from fewer than 500 bears to more than 4,300, biologists said. The FWC says hunting is a good way to manage bears, which are increasingly in conflict with humans. "This protest may not necessarily have an impact on the meeting, but it will definitely make people aware of what's going on. It's about awareness, local awareness, because a lot of people just don't know about the bear hunt," said Morelisse. "We need to really focus on the trash issue. Bears are attracted to trash in the neighborhoods. We need to look at special trash cans." Morelisse noted that the "Stop the Florida Bear Hunt" group has amassed 6.2 million supporters across the state of Florida. In 2015, Florida sold bear permits to nearly 3,800 hunters. The FWC set a "harvest objective" of 320 bears, but the weeklong hunt was stopped after only two days as the number of bears killed approached 300. The final tally was 304 bears. Hunters exceeded the maximum number of bears to be killed in two of the state's four bear hunting zones. At the next FWC meeting, which takes place on Wednesday, the commission will consider whether to conduct a 2016 bear hunt under rules similar to 2015, hold a bear hunt under stricter rules, or cancel the 2016 bear hunt altogether. Tom Mooney, another Naples protest organizer, said that the "Stop the Florida Bear Hunt" Naples chapter will send at least two representatives to attend the meeting. Jackie Morelisse, who described herself as an environmentalist and a conservationist, stood in the protest line and held a sign that read "I'm not your trophy" against the outline of a black bear. "I hope they will really listen," she said, indicating the FWC. "We're trying to help people understand. "We're passionate about our wildlife, and our wildlife is being destroyed rapidly." Pointing to one protester's car that bore a Donald Trump sign, Morelisse added: "There's liberals here. There's conservatives here. There's a mix of people. This issue is something for everybody to be concerned about." Protesters ranged in age from 4 to 85. Colton Pilarski, 5, of Naples, summed up his views easily. "I like the bears," he said. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, center, leaves the wake of Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, one of the victims killed in the Pulse nightclub mass shooting, Thursday, June 16, 2016, in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman) SHARE By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News ORLANDO Gov. Rick Scott visited Orlando's 911 call center Thursday night to offer his appreciation. The timing of Scott's visit put him face to face with the same people who fielded the 911 calls on Sunday morning, when a self-proclaimed jihadist fatally shot 49 people at a gay nightclub. "Something I learned in my business career is a lot of the people who are working never get a thank you from someone," Scott said. "You should show up and appreciate people, that's when people know you appreciate them." Scott said he wants to visit as many people as he can who were impacted by what is known as the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. But he will only go where he is welcome, and that means his staff has to sometimes ask for permission. This includes funerals. Scott's approach was too forward for Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who said family members should not feel obligated to invite someone as they grieve. Dyer only attends events where he receives an unsolicited invitation from family. "I don't know how you can pick and choose what funerals you attend, and I wouldn't want to go to one where I'm not welcome by everybody who is there," Dyer said. "I don't want them to have to tell me, 'no we don't want you there,' and make them feel bad about that." Scott had already attended two funeral viewings Thursday at the invitation of family. They kicked off the long line of memorial services for some of the 49 people who were killed early Sunday morning during last call at Pulse nightclub. Omar Mateen walked into the club about 2 a.m. and began spraying a crowd of up to 300 people with a high-powered assault rifle similar to the popular AR-15. Mateen was later shot by SWAT team members after they freed hostages by creating a hole in the wall of a club bathroom. The 29-year-old Mateen told the same Orlando 911 operators Scott visited on Thursday that he slaughtered all of those people in the name of the Islamic state. The call center serves as the nucleus for the city's emergency response network, monitoring communications between fire, police and paramedics, and taking calls from those who need help. Scott walked to each operator and handed them a shiny metal commemorative coin similar those traded by law enforcement agencies. "I realize what you've been through. Thank you for what you do," Scott said, handing over one of the medals to a 911 call taker. "Thank you for your help." Scott also gave coins on Thursday to Orlando police and Orange County sheriff's deputies who were the first to respond to the nightclub shooting. "I'm trying to show my appreciation in any way I can," he said. Scott said his presence at the funerals has also allowed him to help. The roommates of a man who Mateen killed were facing eviction because the lease on the apartment they shared was in his name. The roommates approached Scott with their dilemma and he put his office to work. "That's something that was just going to cost them a lot of money on top of all the grief they were facing," Scott said, adding that of his office staff, "Everyone has a role to take care of these things for people." Related stories: SHARE Ted Raia, Naples Hard to believe Why is it difficult to believe the Clewiston-based director of public affairs for U.S. Sugar? One word, money. Money pays directors and buys influence and even "facts." Sugar makes up less than 2 percent of the total U.S. crops, yet it spends more than a third of U.S. crop lobbying and sugar PAC donations are more than 55 percent of all other U. S. crops combined (The Heritage Foundation). This influence keeps the price of sugar more than twice the market, making it a very profitable business. But that's not all. The government, yours and mine, subsidize the industry to the tune of $68 million a year for one family owner alone, making it one of the richest in the country (CNN). Federal law prohibits the sugar industry from discharging its water, continuing the natural flow into the Everglades, because it is too polluted, starving the Everglades for water. Yes, they do reduce the pollutants but that reduction is not enough to permit the discharge. The South Florida Water Management District then back-pumps the water into Lake Okeechobee. The commission members that oversee the water district are appointed by a governor and are not above making decisions that support industry. The Everglades are now on UNESCO's endangered list, along with sites in Third World countries. The industries causing the pollution should be required to clean up their own mess, the same as required of citizens. It will cut the profit and increase the cost, but that will be something we all must contribute. SHARE Bernice Richmond, Naples My long gun Hey, pilgrims: I used to carry a lot. I used to tarry a lot. I used to practice at the break of day. Often when I concealed it, I knew that I could wield it. If I had to, I could blow 'em away. I can really do some shootin', you know it's true. But, I didn't have a weapon, babe, till I found, you. If the target's in the distance, I'll shoot it up, with my long gun. That's my long gun. I can manage with persistence because my heart is true. It's a strong one, not a wrong one. Oh, the bad guys all around me, they know they shouldn't trifle. If it all goes down, I know I'll have my rifle. It's my long gun, Oh, I want to tell you. It's my long gun. Can you say, NRA? You know, they don't understand why a woman wants a rifle, think my bonnet's got a really big bee. But all the crazies in their attics, mother monsters and fanatics can never hold a candle to me. I just shoot it for love, 'cause, it's not about the money. I don't shoot it for spite; just to hit the target, honey. No one's gonna take it, cause I will fight for my long gun. For my long gun. My Amendment's gonna make it. That is true. It's a strong one. It's a strong one. I ain't scared, and I ain't shakin.' I ain't bent, and I ain't breakin', for my long gun. Oh, I want to tell you, It's my long gun. Oh, I love you, baby. You're my long gun. SHARE Stephen R. McLean, Naples The Cherokee There is no doubt the Sunday mass shooting in Orlando was the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history. However, there are many much worse mass shootings in our history. One was known as Rutherford's Campaign or the 2nd Cherokee War of 1776 in western North Carolina in retaliation for several Cherokee attacks on white settlers. The settlers amassed a militia of more than 5,000 whites. Under Gen. Griffith Rutherford, Col. William Christian and Major Andrew Williamson, 53 Cherokee towns were attacked, burned to the ground. Cherokee stores of food, crops in the fields, and livestock were destroyed. Many of the Cherokee fled to Kaintuck, but many men, women and children were killed and scalped. This campaign of total destruction against the Cherokee makes the My Lai massacre look like romper room. Details can be found in the book by Nadia Dean, "A Demand of Blood." (NaturalNews) Following an eight-year hiatus, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality employees are back in the Atchafalaya River Basin looking for fish that contain unsafe levels of mercury The department's mission is to catch fish randomly and test them for mercury contamination, which will then be formulated into data that the state Department of Health will use to issue fish consumption advisories, according to a report by. At present the advisories are outdated, as DEQ ceased regular mercury testing of fish a program that cost state taxpayers $500,000 a year in 2008 as part of budget cuts to most state agencies under the administration of then-Gov. Bobby Jindal.Late in 2015, however, the Jindal administration announced that it would resume the testing, and that is now beginning to occur, say officials, who added that workers will begin in southwest Louisiana. That said, environmentalists and other state officials are hopeful that lawmakers and current Gov. John Bel Edwards will be able to come up with more funding to also revive additional aspects of the mercury testing program.In recent days, and for the first time since 2008, a group of environmental organizations met with state DEQ officials and others with an interest in the project to discuss the mercury program of the past and how it could be revived in the present day."We're hoping to get everything geared up and keep it running this time," Al Hindrichs, a DEQ environmental scientist in the water permits division, toldBarry Kohl, who heads up the Louisiana Audubon Council and is a longtime proponent of the mercury program, told the news site that staffers and Secretary Chuck Carr Brown, a onetime DEQ employee until he was appointed this year to head up the agency by Edwards, are all supportive of revitalizing the mercury testing program. Besides examining fish , the groups noted that there ought to be more public awareness campaigns to education state residents about the dangers of consuming fish with higher levels of mercury."If the public doesn't understand the problem and don't understand the fish they're eating is contaminated, then we really have a problem," Kohl said.Adequate public awareness can be as easy as putting cautionary warning signs back in waterways that direct people to the state's guidelines regarding what fish species are safe to consume, as well as obtaining additional information about the annual fishing guide that is published by the state's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said Kohl.reported further:Other aspects of the program include locating and cleaning up mercury-containing gas meter sites and enforcement of mercury-reduction regulations, Kohl said. But, he added, it all comes down to money and finding a way to pay for the additional work in a department that has seen staffing cuts during the past eight years.The program's reimplementation comes from a four-year. $1.5 million consent agreement between the DEQ and NRG Louisiana Gathering, which earmarked the money for a beneficial environmental project. And while that level of funding doesn't match the previous level of $500,000 a year before the program was cut a dollar amount that enabled officials to collect fish samples at 100 sites a year it is nevertheless a start, officials have noted.At current funding levels staff will be able to visit about 36 sites in 2016 in the southwestern portion of the state, with at least seven already done, said Hindrichs."But we're hitting it where it's important," he toldOfficials said that DEQ was first revisiting sites that were on the state's advisory list before, and if there are enough funds left over at year's end, they will next test areas with readings high enough they were close to making the advisory list. Officials have so far not determined which region of the state will be tested next year.Sources: Doctor's license could be at stake Doctor's concerns are backed by science (NaturalNews) The announcement by a medical practice in Cool Springs, Tennessee, that it will stop administering vaccines out of concerns over autism could see the doctor at the heart of the scandal losing his license.In a statement posted on the website of Cool Springs Family Medicine that has since been removed, the clinic's only physician, Dr. Daniel Kalb, outlines eight points of contention, including links to autism and the dangerous ingredients found in vaccines such as aluminum , formaldehyde, and animal DNA that contains viruses. The statement also singles out Gardasil for being unsafe and possibly leading to neuroimmune disorders and cervical cancer.Kalb wrote: "I've had 15 years experience in taking care of ASD kids. That's a lot of vaccine injury stories from moms. Don't tell me that they are making it up or they are just reaching for an explanation. All of those arguments are stupid."Dr. Kalb earned his medical degree at SUNY/Stony Brook and also holds a Master's in Public Health. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is board-certified.While officials from the Tennessee Department of Health were not willing to comment specifically about the case, they voiced their support for the CDC's recommendations regarding routine immunizations. When asked by the media if Dr. Kalb could lose his license over this, they refused to speculate on what action the Board of Medical Examiners might take.It comes as no surprise that many parties are quick to speak out against the doctor's brave stance. There have long been calls for doctors who are opposed to vaccines to lose their license. For example, in a hateful Forbes piece, Contributor Dr. Peter Lipson calls out several doctors who have gone on the record as being opposed to vaccines.Lipson says that " doctors speaking out against vaccination in the midst of an ongoing outbreak should be investigated, warned, and censured. They should have their licenses suspended until undergoing 150 hours of continuing medical education on public health and infectious diseases..."He closes by adding that a cardiologist who actively encourages people to avoid vaccines and says there is no need inject chemicals into children to boost their immune systems should lose his license outright.A 2015 article in theby medical ethics expert Arthur L. Caplan is even less kind. He said of doctors who are opposed to vaccines: "They shouldn't be allowed near patients, let alone TV cameras.""Doctors who purvey views based on anecdote, myth, hearsay, rumor, ideology, fraud or some combination of all of these, particularly during an epidemic, should have their medical licenses revoked. Thankfully, states have the right tools to do so. It's time to use them."He points out that many states' licensing boards have provisions in place for the removal of a doctor's license if he or she is deemed to be unprofessional or incompetent or to endanger public health. Fox 17 News Nashville reported : "According to the Tennessee Department of Health's website, Kalb has had no disciplinary actions taken against him. It is not clear if his stance on autism and vaccines will provoke to board to take any actions against him."It is more than a little unsettling to think that a doctor could lose his license simply for raising concerns about the vaccines he must administer to patients. He raises some valid points. For example, the MMR vaccine has indeed been linked to autism and a host of other health problems. Gardasil has been linked with seizures, cervical cancer, autoimmune disorders, short-term memory loss, paralysis, and blindness. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, and the list goes on.While Kalb's post outlining the reasoning behind his position on the clinic's website garnered a steady stream of supportive comments, it remains to be seen how welcoming the licensing board will be of his public stance It could take 1,500 years before humans could make contact with alien species, scientists said. "We haven't heard from aliens yet, as space is a big place. But that doesn't mean no one is out there," Evan Solomonides, a student from Cornell University who will be presenting the research paper, said in a news release. "It's possible to hear any time at all, but it becomes likely we will have heard around 1,500 years from now," Solomonides said. "Until then, it is possible that we appear to be alone - even if we are not." The research, which will be presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego, California, is based on the Fermi Paradox described by physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950, which states that while billions of Earth-like planets exist in our galaxy, not one has made contact with Earth yet. The Cornell researchers also paired their analysis with Copernicus' principle of mediocrity, which states that there is nothing special about the Earth's physical attributes, and so it could take a while before our planet could attract alien species. Humans have been sending out broadcast signals into space for the past 80 years in hopes of finding life in another planet. According to NASA, signals have reached 2,326 confirmed exoplanets. According to Solomonides, extraterrestrials could have received the signals from Earth. However, aliens would have found these signals undecipherable, and so they would need to decode the light waves into sounds and parse 3,000 human languages to understand the message. However, according to David Kipping, assistant professor of astronomy at Colombia University who was not involved in the research, alien life is much broader than just radio and TV broadcast signals, and should include search for extraterrestrial artifacts. "We don't have any evidence right now for extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy," he told FoxNews.com. Kipping used the dimming star in the constellation Cygnus, which was initially believed to be an "alien megastructure," but only proved to be a result of camera and telescope changes. While no one has tried to make contact with Earth yet, the scientists said that broadcast signals have reached every star within about 80 light years from the Sun - about 8,531 stars and 3,555 Earthlike planets, given that the Milky Way galaxy alone contains 200 billion stars. "If we stop listening or looking, we may miss the signals. So we should keep looking," Solomonides said. Researchers have released zombie turtles or "Frankenturtles" into Chesapeake Bay on Monday to find out the cause of death of turtles in the area. Hundreds of dead loggerhead turtles are being washed up on the shores of Chesapeake Bay every summer. Using the zombie turtles, the researchers were trying to find out the cause of the demise. The research team from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science led by assistant professor David Kaplan devised a "turtle carcass drift" model using two dead turtles. Researchers recreated the classic tale of Dr. Frankenstein, replacing the dead turtles' inner organs with buoyant Styrofoam and sewing their shells back using zip ties. GPS units were also attached to the turtles to make sure they don't get washed away by the currents. Orange turtle models made of wood and Styrofoam and bucket drifters were also used in the research. "It might seem sort of gross, but it's a good way to reuse a dead turtle that would otherwise be buried," Kaplan said in a statement published in FoxNews.com. "And hopefully, the deployment of our two Frankenturtles will ultimately help lower the number of turtle deaths in the future." The dead turtles both came from the Virginia Aquarium's Stranding Response Program. One weighed 150 pounds and the other was 70 pounds. According to the researchers, one of these turtles is a 15- to 20-year-old loggerhead killed by a boat strike. According to the researchers, the drifters were deployed in open Bay waters, halfway between the mouth of the York River and Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore of the Virginia bayside. Data gathered from the drifters will help researchers figure out how the dead loggerhead turtles drift. But the researchers also noted that they may not travel through the water the same way the artificial drifters do. "If our model can accurately simulate how winds and currents act on a dead sea turtle, we should be able to backtrack from a standing site to the place where the turtle likely died," Bianca Santos, a graduate student and member of the research team, said in a news release. "By knowing the 'where,' we can better look at the 'why,'" she added. An estimated 100 to 300 loggerhead turtles are washed ashore in Chesapeake Bay each year. The Endangered Species Act listed them as "threatened species" due to the perils they face, such as loss of nesting habitat, disorientation of hatchlings by beachfront lighting, nest predation, and incidental capture in dredges and coastal fisheries. The New Jersey couple whose house was found with over 270 dogs earlier this month now face over 500 animal cruelty charges, according to authorities. Asbury Park Press reported that the couple, Joseph and Charlene Handrik, are charged with 552 counts-two for each dog rescued from what workers found as "deplorable" conditions. The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office charged the Handriks with 276 counts of inflicting unnecessary cruelty to a living animal by providing inhumane living conditions, and another 276 counts for failing to provide veterinary care for the canines. Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals chief Ross Licitra said the couple have been cooperative and knew that the charges were going to be pressed against them. The Howell couple could go to jail for animal cruelty. They could also be fined between $250 and $1,000 for every charge they will be convicted of. The incident has been dubbed the worst case of animal hoarding in the county's history. It took rescuers half a day to rescue all of the dogs from the home which was filled with urine and feces. The dogs are composed of different breeds, and some are still puppies. The pregnant dogs have since given birth, raising the total number of rescued pups to more than 300. For the rescued dogs, a second chance Now that charges are to be pressed, what will happen to these dogs? On June 8, a brindle French Bulldog mix became the first to be adopted. The others have been marked for adoption, but the SPCA said they are still taking care of almost 100 rescued dogs, as per Examiner. The rescue organization said the dogs will need extra care and understanding, since they are very traumatized and undersocialized. An adoption will give them a chance for another home and a caring family. Those who want to help but are unable to adopt can go to this website to make a donation for the continuous care of the dogs. Animal cruelty laws are present in all 50 states in the country with provisions stating minimal care standards required for the animal. Chelsea Clinton has given birth to a baby boy, the former first daughter announced on Twitter. Clinton tweeted the news on Saturday morning, writing that she and husband Marc Mevinsky were "overwhelmed with gratitude and love as we celebrate the birth of our son, Aidan Clinton Mevinsky." [[383514031, C]] In a statement, former President Bill Clinton and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said they are "overjoyed" to be grandparents again," adding that Chelsea and the baby "are both doing well and enjoying this very special time together." The 35-year-old announced in December 2015 she was expecting her second child. "Charlotte is going to be a big sister! Feeling very blessed & grateful this holiday season," Clinton wrote on Twitter at the time, keeping the baby's gender under wraps. While campaigning for her mother's White House bid in New Hampshire earlier this year, Clinton said she has tried to follow her parents' example in raising her 21-month-old daughter, describing her own upbringing. [[289629031, C]] "I know she doesn't really understand what's happening, but I talk to her about the news every day," Chelsea Clinton said. "I talked to her on Sunday evening about why I had to be gone for a few days to support her grandmother because it's really important for her future." The younger Clinton is married to hedge fund manager Marc Mezvinsky, the son of former U.S. congressman Edward Mezvinsky and former U.S. congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky. Gao Gao, San Diego Zoos eldest panda, has a heart disease that is rapidly worsening, zoo officials said Friday in a statement. The panda underwent a medical checkup on Tuesday, where animal care staffers found that he had pulmonic stenosis, a narrowing of the pulmonary valve opening. The 26-year-old panda was diagnosed with a heart murmur three years ago, but Tuesdays checkup showed his new, progressive condition. Hes been put on medication and animal care staffers will continue to perform cardiac ultrasounds. Resident Veterinarian Ryan Sadler said in a statement that Gao Gaos heart disease will continue to progress and cant be cured. He is responding very well to his treatment, and we will continue to monitor the progression of his disease, so we can keep him as healthy and content as possible, Sadler said in a statement. Further details on the pandas prognosis werent immediately revealed. Gao Gao is on loan at the San Diego Zoo from the Peoples Republic of China. He lives at the zoo with two other pandas, 24-year-old Bai Yun, and their 3-year-old offspring, Xiao Liwu. Only four zoos in the nation are home to giant pandas, including the San Diego Zoo, the Washington D.C. Zoo Park, Zoo Atlanta and the Memphis Zoo. In the wild, zoologists estimate there are about 1,600 worldwide. With San Francisco traffic becoming significantly worse over the past five years, the 35 mile-long commute to Menlo Park is becoming a constant complaint for Facebook employees, according to reports. In an annual survey given to the employees to gauge their happiness level at the company, one request that consistently ranks at the top is for an office in San Francisco, newsite The Information reported on Friday. Facebooks choice to expand to a San Francisco or East Bay location might be prompted by Ubers decision to open a new, 330,000 square foot office in Oakland, following their new San Francisco location that opened last fall. The East Bay location is set to open in 2017. However, with the rising cost of living in both San Francisco and the East Bay, a shorter commute time might not be a huge benefit to employees who are trying to cut costs. According to Zillow, the current median home price in San Francisco is $1,135,900, a value that has increased 9.9% in the past year, and is predicted to continue rising about 1.5% within the next year. Facebook is known for recruiting employees from across the country and around the world, and these new hires might be forced to pay inflated prices in the city. Facebook offered its employees at least $10,000 to move closer to the Silicon Valley headquarters, according to a 2015 study conducted by Fortune. The relocation stipend was offered in part to relieve the housing pressure on long-time residents of San Francisco, many of whom complained that they were being pushed out due to rising home costs. If a San Francisco office opens, employees might be even more incentivized to purchase a home in the city. As many have noted, it would likely do little to reduce renting costs in a city that has the highest median home price in the nation. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is hesitant for other reasons, as well: Proximity, he apparently suggested, builds a stronger company experience. At one recent meeting, Zuckerberg told employees that he believes employees should be clustered together and near the executive team for cultural reasons, according to people who were present at the meeting," The Information reported. One things for sure: With either decision, consequences abound. Opening statements in the federal pipeline safety case against PG&E on Friday had government lawyers slamming the company as choosing profits over safety before the deadly San Bruno blast in 2010. The company's lead attorney countered by characterizing the government's case as overblown and saying company engineers were just doing their best in the face of complex regulations imposed before the explosion. Eight people were killed and an entire neighborhood was destroyed from the blast on Sept. 9, 2010. Outside court, Sue Bullis, who lost her 17-year-old son, her husband and his mother in the blast, said she hopes for justice out of the federal case. "I have faith that the justice system and the jury will do right by our families," she said. Rene Morales lost her daughter, Jessica. "We grieve every day," she said. "There's no taking that away." In her opening statement, federal prosecutor Hallie Hoffman portrayed PG&E as a company that valued profits over safety. She said the company simply ignored federal regulations that required inspections of older, untested pipelines. "PG&E knew exactly what it had to do," she told the jury. "It just didn't want to do it." The company, she said, "did not want" to perform expensive high pressure water tests that regulations call for when operators lack key records or in the event of pressure surges beyond allowable levels. Instead, she said, the company relied on a method that can only check its lines for rust, not damage from pressure surges. "This is a case about these deliberate and illegal choices and the cover up of those choices," she said. That coverup, she told the panel, involved the company telling federal accident investigators it did not have a policy in place to allow it to avoid costly inspections otherwise called for by law. The company's attorney, Steven Bauer, countered that PG&E engineers were simply doing their best to serve customers and keep gas flowing in the face of complex regulatory mandates. "These people were doing their level best -- they are not criminals, they did not commit crimes," he told the jury. Bauer stressed that none of the alleged violations had anything to do with the blast. Bauer repeatedly drew the ire of U.S. Judge Thelton Henderson for making arguments to the jury instead of sticking to the evidence. "It's a fine line and you've crossed it," Henderson warned. Bullis said outside court that she could not stomach the company's legal arguments. "It made me sick to hear how their employees were trying to do their best -- well they didn't do their best six years ago." Court testimony continues Tuesday. A Sacramento woman is hoping the Santa Cruz community and the power of Facebook will help her recover the engagement ring she lost Wednesday at Rio del Mar State Beach. Tiffany Holland Tiffany Holland lost her ring while vacationing in Santa Cruz for the weekend with her husband, Nathan, and two children. The couple has spent hours searching for the ring to no avail. The Holland family had stopped at the beach to look for tidepools for their children to play in and snap some photos of nearby monuments. When they got back to their car, it was clear that something was missing. "My husband and I both looked down at my hand and knew," Holland said. "My stomach just dropped." The family then attempted to retrace its steps, but by then the sand had blown over the footprints. Holland believes she may have lost the ring when she kept going in and out of her pockets trying to keep her hands warm. On the way home, Holland sent a message to the Santa Cruz County Facebook page, which then posted her message and shared it with all of their followers. "We are so thankful for the communitys support," Holland said. Holland has had the ring for 16 years. "That ring symbolizes a bridge from a troubled past to a really promising future," she said. "This is also the message that we want to share with our kids -- that even in the toughest of times, there can be hope." Tiffany Holland She emphasizes that although the ring is currently priced at around $700, the monetary value pales in comparison to the sentimental meaning it holds for her family. "This is the ring that started our love," Holland said. "To have that back would be priceless for us." The couple is offering a $300 reward for the rings return. Tiffany and Nathan Holland can be reached at ntholland@hotmail.com. Meriden police are still investigating the unfounded reports of a shooting at the Westfield-Meriden Mall on Thursday night. Police still want to talk with the woman who alerted a store employee someone was shooting and investigators are trying to figure out if the shopper may have mistaken an electrical malfunction, confirmed by Eversource, for the sound of gunshots. A gear or switch malfunction that can cause loud banging when that does malfunction, Meriden Mayor Kevin Scarpati said. There is uncertainty at this point as to whether they are directly related. Westfield Meriden released a statement to NBC Connecticut Friday afternoon saying: "The safety of customers, employees and property is always a top priority for Westfield. Out of an abundance of caution following the notification of a possible gunshots heard on property yesterday evening, Westfield Meriden fully cooperated with local law enforcement to implement precautionary measures in investigating this report, which has since been confirmed as unfounded. We thank local law enforcement and city officials for their cooperation, and recommend that you contact the Meriden Police Department to receive the most current and accurate information regarding this incident." While, the mall in Meriden reopened Friday morning, Kristal Martinez said she is very concerned about this false alarm close to her home. I used to go there with my kids, she said. I dont even want to go there anymore. Martinez said a friend of hers was shopping when the panic started to spread inside the mall and on social media. She said everybody was running, screaming, it was crazy, Martinez said. A Westfield-Meriden spokesperson said the malls security includes uniformed and plain clothed security, foot and vehicle patrols, electronic surveillance and their staff works with local and regional law enforcement. This isnt solely something that can happen in Orlando, this isnt solely something that can happen in Newtown, Mayor Scarpati said. This can happen anywhere. The mayor says he is satisfied with the response from his citys first responders. Meriden was ready, he said. Meriden is well equipped and well trained to handle something like this, adding the SWAT team responded right away as they wrapped up a training exercise. From evacuation drills to active shooter training exercises, preparing for a worst case scenario is now a top of mind issue for both first responders and mall officials. This is a ballistic vest, its not quite to the level a police officer would use, said West Hartford Assistant Fire Chief Richard Winn, showing his departments new investment. In the event of an active shooter at a public place or Westfarms Mall, West Hartford firefighters will soon have an added layer of protection. We take a secondary role because this is a police incident, but we do assist them, Asst. Chief Winn said. We stand back and wait for them to secure an area for us where we can set up a medical triage area. Karli Gilbertson-Spinella from Chester said she is worried about another mass shooting happening close to home. Ive actually written to our legislature about this issue, she said, The fact guns are so easily available and I have to worry about my kids going to the movies, going to the mall. Winn said recently he witnessed Westfarms run through an evacuation drill. Quite honestly, he said. They did a pretty good job of evacuating the mall that morning. Agencies from West Hartford and Farmington train together and would both respond to an emergency at Westfarms because the mall sits on the town line. They learn the back corridors and the layout of the mall, Winn said. "So, theyre pretty familiar with it, especially the companies that are assigned over there. Evidence collected from the crime scenes in the Molly Bish murder will be submitted for enhanced DNA testing. "The science is always getting better, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D Early Jr. said. "We feel that the improved testing will help us in our efforts to identify Molly's killer or killers." The upgraded tests will become available in September, and the improvement in DNA testing could make degraded samples usable for determining DNA. Early made the announcement in advance of the 16th anniversary of Molly's disappearance from Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts, on June 27, 2000. Molly, 16, and a resident of Warren, was a lifeguard at the pond. Her disappearance set off a massive search. Bish's remains were found nearly three years later in the woods of Whiskey Hill in nearby Palmer, Massachusetts. Soon after taking office, Early formed a cold case squad to look at older cases such as Molly's. After meeting with Molly's parents, John and Maggie Bish, he changed the name of the unit to the Unresolved Case Squad. "John Bish had asked me not to call it a cold case squad because he felt it made it seem the cases were on a shelf somewhere collecting dust, so I changed it," Early said. "These cases are not forgotten and they are being worked on continuously. We get tips on Molly's case every week and we track down every lead." A man is recovering in the hospital after being shot twice in New Haven early Saturday morning. According to police, a 25-year-old male was riding his bike in front of the Casa Familia Shelter on Sylvan Street around 2:30 a.m. when he was shot twice in the stomach. The suspect fled the scene in a car. The victim was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital where he underwent surgery and is listed in stable condition. Police are still searching for a suspect. The victim was uncooperative at the scene and police have no description of the fleeing vehicle. More than 36 hours after the ninth longest filibuster in U.S. Senate history, Senator Chris Murphy returned to Connecticut to attend a vigil in Torrington for the sole victim of the Orlando nightclub shooting from Connecticut. "It pains me that Im going to another vigil and Im sure there will be lots more," Murphy said as he arrived at Bradley International Airport. During the Senate delay started by Murphy, he said negotiations took place with Senate Republican leaders who hold the majority to schedule votes on measures aimed at expanding background checks and barring anyone on a terror watch list from purchasing guns. According to the New York Times, some senators are expecting a party-line vote on the measures, slated for votes next Monday. Murphy said he's not sold that the amendments and bills are dead before they even reach the Senate floor. "I just dont buy this defeatist attitude that just because this is a controversial issue we should stop working on it, that we should stop voting on it," he said. "The fact is every great change movement has had a lot of obstacles and have occasionally had a lot of failures along the way, but to the people who say that you shouldnt even try, you shouldnt even have a debate because there are a lot of people opposed to what youre doing, thats ridiculous. You cant give up. Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, sharply responded to the filibuster that at one point or another included 40 different senators. He said the effort is an unvarnished effort at restricting gun rights. "We shouldnt be engaging in a side show of gun control," Cruz said. "It wasnt the NRA who set up pressure cookers in the Boston bombing. It wasnt the NRA who murder 14 innocent soldiers in Fort Hoodand it is offensive to play a political game." On Friday people in Torrington held a vigil and prayed for those who died in Orlando. Of the 49 shooting victims, it was Kimberly Morris that hits home for people here. KJ, as she was known, was a bouncer at the gay nightclub and grew up in Torrington. It was her energy. She had such a likeness about her. She was always happy. She was always willing to help everybody, says Shawn Brighenti, one of the event organizers. Among those who spoke at the vigil was Senator Chris Murphy. He was just back from Washington D.C, where he launched a nearly 15 hour filibuster about gun control earlier this week. I want to make sure that people here know how much love we have for KJs friends and how were not going to rest until we make changes that make sure this doesnt happen again, says Senator Murphy. The senator and others admit it will not be easy to change gun laws including expanding background checks and preventing those on the terror watch list from getting a gun license. We have now an agenda, a mandate, and an obligation to do the right thing and act, says Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut. They are not giving up with votes on those measures scheduled next week in the U.S. Senate. I thought if Sandy Hook doesnt change us what will? So here we are three and a half, four years later. Maybe this is the tipping point. I hope, says Robin Turpin of Harwinton. As for the gun-related votes in Washington next week, Senator Murphy says hes planning for victory, though realizes many people consider it a long shot. Theres fierce opposition from gun supporters who consider the measures an attack on the second amendment and say there are better ways to fight terrorism. The Dallas Love Field Airport was evacuated due to multiple, audible fire alarms, according to an airport manager. Dallas Fire Rescue determined there was no fire. @DallasFireRes_q confirms no @DallasLoveField. People being let back inside. #DFREMS reported no heat-related issues among those outside. DALLAS FIRE-RESCUE (@DallasFireRes_q) June 18, 2016 As of 11:20 a.m., firefighters said the site was clear and people have been allowed back in the airport. An airport manager said it's believed the alarm system malfunctioned. The system operator is investigating. About 20 flights were delayed. According to airport officals, the Transportation Security Agency has made their way back to security and all TSA Security Checkpoints have reopened. Dallas Love Field Airport has not issued a statement regarding the incident, but tweeted updates about the status of the airport regularly. Baggage claim carousels are back up. Patience needed. Many delays due to fire alarm. Check with airlines. Will post flight delays soon. Dallas Love Field (@DallasLoveField) June 18, 2016 Southwest Airlines released the following statement regarding the evacuation at Love Field: "Initial reports indicate that fire alarms sounded at Dallas Love Field and local authorities evacuated the terminal. We will experience some flight delays as we wait for the airport to be assessed and then work to accommodate Customers who are affected by the evacuation. Arriving Customers will also experience delays as a result of the situation. We appreciate passenger patience as we work through the event. Customers traveling to and from Dallas Love Field should consult Southwest.com for the latest information regarding specific flights." NBC 5's Meredith Yeomans contributed to this report. A Dallas police officer is being praised for helping deliver a baby on the side of the road. Senior Corporal Rocky Munster was driving along Interstate 35E Friday morning when he was flagged down by a woman who said her sister was about to give birth. Munster looked into the car and realized the baby was coming right away and quickly prepared. Munster safely delivered the baby in the backseat of the car. Mom and baby are doing well. With nearly two dozen heat-related incidents having been recorded before Monday's official start to summer, the Salvation Army will soon open 14 cooling stations across the Metroplex. The cooling stations will open on June 20 and are designed to provide people without air conditioning, without homes or with jobs that require working outdoors, a place to catch their breath and cool off. The Salvation Army said their cooling stations provide two necessary things for those at risk of heat exposure: Hydration - People should drink plenty of water when it's excessively hot. Cold water will be available each day throughout the summer. With such scorching temperatures it's important for people to drink water before they get thirsty and to continue drinking throughout the day. A cool environment - Increasing the amount of time spent in air-conditioned environments helps the body cool off and lessens the likelihood of getting overheated. The Salvation Army's Cooling Stations provide a cool environment where people can cool off for a brief time or stay all day. These Cooling Stations will be open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and are located at: The Salvation Army Homeless Shelter Dallas 5302 Harry Hines Boulevard 5302 Harry Hines Boulevard The Salvation Army Homeless Shelter Fort Worth 1855 E. Lancaster Avenue Cooling Stations will also be at The Salvation Army's 12 community centers from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays only at these locations: More than three-dozen superintendents in the Houston area are asking Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath not to issue academic ratings of campuses this year because state standardized test results cannot be trusted. The Houston Chronicle reports that a joint letter from 45 superintendents expresses a series of concerns, including that test results for some students are missing. Morath's office says he still intends to issue school ratings in August. Morath has apologized for the problems, blaming the state's new exam administrator, New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service. Last week he granted some relief by waiving promotion requirements tied to the tests for fifth- and eighth-graders. The ratings tell the public whether each school and district met or failed the state's academic standards. Those that repeatedly fail face takeover or closure. U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro said Friday he isn't being vetted as a potential running mate for Democrat Hillary Clinton and continued to maintain that he is unlikely to be offered the job. But the 41-year-old rising star among Democrats wouldn't say one way or the other whether he would accept if Clinton asked him to join the ticket as her vice presidential candidate. "I'm not going to get into that. Number one, I've said for a long time, I don't believe that's going to happen," Castro said. "This is a decision that she's going to make and I'm going to be happy to support whatever the ticket is." The former San Antonio mayor was back in his hometown for the Texas Democratic Convention, which kicked off Friday around the same time that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was across town at a fundraiser. The guests included former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Trump's onetime 2016 rival who is now one of his most vocal backers. Hundreds of protesters, and some Trump supporters, crowded near the country club where Trump raised money before the billionaire businessman headed to Houston for another fundraiser and an evening rally. His swing through Texas was rebuked by Democrats at the state convention, where "Clinton/Castro 2016" stickers could be found on cars in the Alamodome parking lot. So persistent are rumors about Castro's future that Congressman Joaquin Castro, his identical twin brother, was called "Mr. Vice President" in jest by a state senator at a press conference denouncing Trump. A coalition of progressive groups, some of which have backed Democrat Bernie Sanders, have also taken note of Julian Castro's prospects: In April they launched a campaign in April that criticized his Housing and Urban Development office for selling mortgages to Wall Street in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis. Democrats in Congress and Latino groups rallied to his defense, with some accusing the groups of trying to mar Castro's vice presidential prospects. "I do believe that in some quarters there were politics involved," Castro said. "I give credit to a couple of the groups for bringing that issue up that they have brought up before. But I think that there's a way for folks to work together in a positive direction." Many delegates at the Texas convention would like to see Castro run for governor if he doesn't wind up a vice president. But Castro said "it's extremely unlikely that I'm going to run in 2018." Other rumored vice presidential contenders include Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's name has also surfaced as a potential running mate and met last week at Clinton's Washington home, adding to speculation that she could be under consideration. Lawmakers, including Castro's twin brother, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, gathered for a news conference Friday at the convention. Joaquin Castro called Donald Trump dangerous, and that lawmakers stress the importance of defeating him in November. A community in the Athens neighborhood of South Los Angeles held a candlelight vigil Friday night for a mother and her 3-year-old daughter killed in car fire. The woman, who was not identified, killed herself and the toddler in an SUV fire, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The incident occurred Thursday around 9:45 p.m. in the 300 block of W. 124th Street near Athens Park, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The initial reports came in as a car fire at Athens Park, with Los Angeles County firefighters dousing the blaze and discovering the two victims, according to the LASD. Witnesses said the woman was standing near the SUV as it burned, and the woman kept getting in and out of the flaming vehicle. The woman then placed the child into the SUV and got in herself, ignoring the pleas of bystanders aghast at the unfolding situation. Both were overcome by the flames and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the LASD. Homicide detectives and arson investigators are probing why the woman killed herself and the child, and how the fire to the SUV began, according to the LASD. City News Service contributed to this report. To honor the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, Uber is offering free rides this weekend to and from local LGBT communities, bars and restaurants. The free rides will be available by the ride-hailing service from Friday to midnight Monday in a number of cities across the nation. In Southern California, 22 spots including nightclubs, museums, beaches and more in the Los Angeles, Orange County and Palm Springs areas are part of the fare waiver. (See a full list below). The offer is limited to two rides per person. On its website, Uber explained the reason for the free rides: The world is a brighter and better place when we are all free to be ourselves. And we want to bring people together, no matter who you are or where youre from. Uber also encourages people to donate to Orlando victims here. Los Angeles Hollywood LGBT Center WeHo LGBT Center The Abbey Prescint Fubar Faultline LACMA Winward Circle Will Rogers Beach - Between Sunset Blvd and San Vicente Blvd Orange County Velvet Lounge The Frat House West Street Beach Main Street Bar The LGBT Center Orange County Tin Lizzie Saloon WTF Fridays at Yost Theater The Brad Brafford LGBT Center Palm Springs Hunters Toucans Tiki Lounge Chill Bar Spurline The LGBT Community Center of the Desert West Hollywood is on edge following a series of threats made against the LGBT community -- including a bomb threat at the offices of Grindr, a gay dating app, and online threats made against a popular drag performer. Misty Violet, one of LA's top drag performers, hosted a fundraising event Tuesday at The Abbey to raise money for the victims of the Orlando shootings. As the event was broadcast online over Periscope, several threats were made, including one that said "You guys are next" followed by six gun emojis, and another that said "I wish you were in Orlando." "It gets you in your gut," Misty said. Misty said the threats shine a light on the hatred many in the LGBT community have faced for years. "I need everybody to see this, and everybody to see that this is real. And whether it was a joke or not, that people still think it's OK to talk to our community like that," Misty said. The FBI is reviewing the threats and the LA County Sheriff's Department has stepped up patrols in West Hollywood. The community has been on edge all week following the Orlando attacks and the arrest of James Howell in Santa Monica. The Indiana man was caught on his way to the pride parade with weapons and explosive materials in his car. Then this week, somebody posted signs around West Hollywood that say "shoot back." Misty said the threats have cast a dark cloud over WeHo's nightlife. "I mean, I work in clubs every night So really my behavior has changed since last week. That's what it is, you're just more aware. Always knowing where your exits are, which is sad. But I think we're all doing it," Misty said. The LGBT Center has increased security and made counselors available for anybody who might be afraid. "It's not surprising -- we want people to if they see something, say something. If anything looks suspicious, you know, be vigilant. But don't let it paralyze you," said Dave Garcia, the LA LGBT Center director. Misty Violet will host another event on Friday at midnight. Members of the LGBT community will gather at the Penthouse Nightclub - across the street to The Abbey - for a vigil to honor the Orlando victims. Add Paul Figueroa to the growing list of former Oakland police chiefs. Figueroa, who served two days as the city's sixth police chief since 2011, stepped down from his position as acting chief and assistant chief, Mayor Libby Schaaf announced late Friday during a press conference. Schaaf also addressed another controversy involving alleged racist text messages sent by Police Commander Tony Jones to four other officers in the department. The mayor said an investigation is ongoing. As a Mayor of Oakland I am here to run a police department, not a frat house, Schaaf said. The mayor also called the culture at the police department "toxic" and "macho." NBC Bay Area has obtained exclusive details on the text messages, which depict images of the Ku Klux Klan and use the N-word. Schaaf called the text messages "unacceptable hate speech," and said both sending and receiving, but saying nothing are serious offenses. The text messages were apparently written in 2014. The mayor thought it was important to note the text messages were sent by African American officers. "But they are wholly inappropriate and not acceptable from anyone who wears the badge of the Oakland Police Department," Schaaf said. Meanwhile, Figueroa is now on leave and has asked to return as a captain, according to Schaaf. Oakland Police Department Figueroa was replacing Interim Chief Ben Fairow, who was removed from his position earlier this week and just five days after he filled the vacancy after Chief Sean Whent left the police force. City Administrator Sabrina Landreth, who previously served as Emeryville's city manager, will temporarily take over control of the department, Schaaf said. "I will not appoint another acting chief," Schaaf said, adding that it is now an "appropriate time to place the department under civilian oversight." Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Friday held a news conference to address alleged police racist texts and losing another police chief. The shakeup comes amid a growing sex scandal. At the center of it is 18-year-old Celeste Guap, a prostitute who said she has had sex with as many as 28 police officers stretching across several counties and agencies, sometimes when she was a minor, sometimes for money and sometimes in exchange for information that would keep her from being arrested. Two deputies were injured in a crash that occurred during the funeral procession for a victim of the Orlando nightclub shooting. According to WESH, Florida Highway Patrol said a woman pulled out at the end of the procession and struck two Osceola County motorcycle deputies. Both deputies were taken to the hospital. One deputy is listed as stable and one is listed in critical. Troopers say the driver who struck the deputies will likely be cited. A baby is heading home from the hospital Friday, thanks to South Florida doctors who performed a rare life-saving procedure. Nicole Hannah-Edgecomb was 24 weeks into her pregnancy when doctors spotted a large tumor covering the heart of her unborn baby named Symphony. Doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital were able to remove the plum-sized tumor before completing a C-section to deliver the baby. Amazingly, Symphony was still attached to her mother's placenta during the procedure. When she was able to leave the hospital, Symphony went home to meet her 18-month-old big brother Jeremiah for the first time. Police have arrested a man for the alleged sexual assault of two sisters during a home invasion in northeast Miami-Dade. Schadrack Jean, 31, of Miami has been charged with armed sexual battery, aggravated assault with a firearm, home invasion robbery and battery. The incident happened on May 21 early in the morning near Northeast 195th Street and 2nd Avenue. Police said Jean was seen on surveillance video leaving the apartment following the assaults. According to investigators, Jean followed one of the sisters home, then forced them and their brother to undress at gunpoint. He's then accused of sexually assaulting both women. The brother was not hurt. The victims are in their 20's. The Swedish student who was ambushed and robbed in Wynwood was released from the hospital Friday. A tight embrace between father and son showed the sense of relief felt by family members of 28-year-old Frank Hammar, who is now out of the hospital. They couldn't help but smile as they walked away, two weeks after Hammar was robbed at gunpoint and shot twice. "Absolutely insane, the moment when they told me I could put support on the other leg, I got up and they gave me the support chair and I felt it and told them right away I don't think I need this," Hammar explained. He was shot outside Wynwood Diner near Northeast 2nd Avenue on June 9. He had just eaten dinner with his parents and got them into an Uber. Surveillance video shows two men approaching him and demanding his wallet. They stole his phone and then fired. "Every day I understood better and better how lucky I was that the bullets missed everything. Absolutely everything," Hammar said. His parents attended his graduation from the Miami Ad School last week, and even brought a video message from him to the ceremony. As for what's next, Hammar said he wants to apply for jobs and thank everyone who has supported him through this ordeal. He has a good sense of humor despite what happened, "Yeah, I'll go back to Wynwood, of course. I'll go back to the diner and have the steak fries." Hammar's message to the men who hurt him: Find a way of life that doesn't hurt others because in the end you'll only hurt yourself. Anyone with information on this crime is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS. People across the country are showing their support for the victims who lost their lives or were injured in the terror and hate attack in Orlando. Hundreds gathered at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale Friday for a moving tribute, bringing light to one of the darkest days in our nation's history. The City of Fort Lauderdale proclaimed it's united with Orlando, as it stands for equality. "America's about equality, America's about fairness, America's about equal opportunity," Vice Mayor Dean Trantalis said during the program. Hundreds took time out of their day to listen to a number of public speakers champion for the LGBTQ community, and the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. "We will not allow a crazy individual to define who we are as Floridians, who we are as South Floridians or who we are as members of our human race," Mayor Jack Seiler expressed. As the city came together to heal from this massacre, elected officials like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz rallied the crowd to turn moments of silence into action. Her speech received a thunderous applause when talking about banning assault weapons. "They should not be able commit the carnage that happened on Sunday with a weapon of mass destruction," she said. To donate to the OneOrlando Fund established by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, click here. There has also been a GoFundMe page put in place for the victims, which has raised more than $5 million. An International Space Station crew including an American, a Briton and a Russian landed safely Saturday in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA's Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and the Russian agency Roscosmos' Yuri Malenchenko touched down as scheduled at 3:15 p.m. local time about 90 miles southeast of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. All descent maneuvers were performed without any hitches and the crew reported feeling fine as their ship slid off the orbit and headed down to Earth. Helicopters carrying recovery teams were circling the area as the capsule was descending slowly under a massive orange-and-white parachute. Support crew helped the trio get out of the capsule, charred by a fiery descent through the atmosphere, and placed them in reclining chairs for a quick check-up. Squinting at the sun, Peake said he felt "elated," adding that "the smells of Earth are just so strong." "I'd love some cool rain right now!" he said with a smile as he sat in scorching heat in his balky spacesuit. After a medical check-up, the crew will change their spacesuits for regular clothing and be flown separately to their respective bases. Maj. Peake, a 44-year-old former army helicopter pilot, has become a hero at home, helping rekindle an interest in space exploration. He was not the first Briton in space. Helen Sharman visited Russia's Mir space station in 1991 on a privately backed mission and several British-born American citizens flew with NASA's space shuttle program. But Peake is Britain's first publicly funded British astronaut and the first Briton to visit the International Space Station. He performed the first British space walk and was honored by Queen Elizabeth II in her annual Birthday Honors List. He excited many at home by joining the 26.2-mile (42-kilometer) London Marathon from 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth, harnessed to a treadmill aboard the ISS with a simulation of the route through London's streets playing on an iPad. Peake finished the race in 3 hours and 35 minutes, a record for the fastest marathon in orbit, according to Guinness World Records. The trio spent 186 days in space since their launch in December 2015. They have conducted hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science. "I'm going to miss the view definitely," Peake said after landing. NASA said the data received would help in the potential development of vaccines and could be relevant in the treatment of patients suffering from ocular diseases, such as glaucoma. For Malenchenko, it was a sixth mission, and he logged up a total of 828 days in space, the second-longest accumulated time in space after Russian Gennady Padalka. Kopra has logged up 244 days in space on two flights. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams along with Russians Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will operate the station for three weeks until the arrival of three new crew members. A panhandler got into a confrontation with a Bronx teenager and then fatally stabbed him and ran away, investigators said Saturday. The victim, 17-year-old Carl Ducasse had just bought a milkshake a block from his Bronx apartment on Friday night when he was approached by two panhandlers, his family told NBC 4 New York. Carlo Ducasse said his son refused to give them any money and that's when they grabbed him and tried to steal his cellphone. During the struggle, one of the panhandlers stabbed the teen in the chest. Ducasse was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital where he died. The panhandlers fled and no arrests have been reported. Carl Ducasse was just weeks away from his high school graduation, his father said. Panhandling has been a problem in the Mount Hope neighborhood where the Ducasses live, the family said. One of the two Long Island brothers arrested after authorities found a cache of weapons, drugs and Nazi paraphernalia in their home turned his anger toward reporters as he was led to court Friday. "You want a Nazi salute?" Edward Perkowski said sarcastically. "Sorry." Edward and his younger brother Sean were arrested Thursday after authorities said they found bomb-making instructions, drugs, weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines and $50,000 in cash in a raid on their Mount Sinai home in Suffolk. Nazi paraphernalia was also found in the home, including portraits of Adolf Hitler. At his arraigment at First District Court in Central Islip Friday, Edward's lawyer denied his client owned the guns and drugs. "They just kind of pinned it on him," said Matt Tuohy. "There are several people living there and he's saying those items aren't his." Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini had said Thursday, "These are two individuals who subscribe to this ideology and had an arsenal." Prosecutors made no mention of any planned attacks in court Friday. Edward was ordered held on $200,000 bond or $100,000 cash bail and is due back in court June 21. Sean walked free without bail. The only charge against him: an unrelated citation for public urination. Edward told reporters that the weapons were "legally owned when I had them" and claimed to have run a military surplus business out of his home. The town of Brookhaven has now condemned the home. A spokesman said there was a foreclosure judgment on the property last year, making it unclear if the Perkowskis were squatting at the home or renting there. Tuohy said, "There's a lot of strife on that block with the neighbors. I don't know what that plays in this investigation or this case, but there's certainly some bad blood between the neighbors and the Perkowskis." A neighbor told NBC 4 New York Thursday they were happy the house was condemned "and we can go back to being a peaceful community." As Seen On As seen on News 4 A registered sex offender from New York is accused of groping a passenger on board a plane bound for Newark Airport, prosecutors say. Rockland County resident Yoel Oberlander, 35, was sitting next to a woman on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Newark when he touched her breast as she was trying to sleep, according to a criminal complaint. She said she tried to turn away in her seat but he kept grabbing her, prosecutors say. Finally, she switched seats when her mother, also seated next to her, awoke. They then called for help. This is Oberlander's third sex offense arrest. He was convicted of abusing an 11-year-old girl in 2002 and was arrested for trespassing at a children's sleepaway camp in 2012. No one would speak with NBC 4 New York at Oberlander's home in Monsey Friday. He faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the latest federal sex abuse charge. Anti-Donald Trump forces are launching a "multi-pronged" approach to stop the presumptive nominee at the Republican National Convention, which could lead to chaos on the floor, NBC News reported. Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate, is the leader of the effort, which centers around changing convention rules to include a "conscience clause" that would allow delegates bound to Trump to vote against him -- even on the first ballot in July. According to Unruh, there's been growing interest in her proposal since last week, and many delegates she's hearing from already believe they aren't bound under RNC rules to back Trump. Trump's strategists involved with delegate operations have downplayed the prospect, with one adviser telling NBC News they believe they have the "overwhelming majority" of delegates on the Rules Committee supporting Trump. An NBC 10 Investigation has revealed a basic safety device called a shunt missing at the site of Amtraks most recent deadly accident on the Northeast corridor. Amtrak 89 was traveling 106 miles per hour when it collided with a maintenance crew in Chester, PA on April 3, 2016. The accident killed two maintenance workers. The NBC 10 Investigators found Amtrak dispatch records show other railroads notified of the maintenance work. Dispatch logs show the track in Chester was occupied or fouled between Friday April 1 and Monday April 4. Unfortunately, youre always going to have some kind of human error and nobodys life should be one step away, Jedd Dodd, the General Chairman of the union representing Amtrak maintenance workers said. Dodd, who worked on Amtrak maintenance crews for seven years, said a simple electrical cable put on the track called a shunt would have turned the oncoming railroad traffic signal red telling trains to stop. There were no shunting devices and Amtrak had routinely stopped using shunting devices out on the track from what we can see, Dodd said. Theres no doubt in my mind that there was no shunt on that track, Railroad engineer and professor at the University of Delaware Allan Zarembski said. Zarembski demonstrated how a shunt mimics a train on the tracks. An electrical cable connects the two tracks to complete an electrical circuit and show oncoming trains the track is occupied. The NBC 10 investigation found Amtrak changed its training manual in 2015 omitting a section dedicated to the use of a supplemental shunting device. The manuals 2000 version reads in part, This instruction requires the employee in charge of covered fouling activities to apply an approved supplemental shunting device to the tracks That section is removed in the latest version. "I do know the shunting devices would have prevented it," Dodd said of the train 89 accident. If Amtrak had properly trained and qualified their employees the shunting device would have been there. Amtrak officials would not say why the supplemental shunting device section was removed from its current training manual. The NBC 10 investigators did find it would have been redundant. The North American Railroad Operating rules, which govern all railroads, do include the shunting device section. I really cant talk about that because that whole thing with the maintenance workers because it involves the NTSB, Amtrak vice president of operations Chris Jagodzinski said at a public event in May when asked about how the railroad protects and trains maintenance workers. The Amtrak 89 accident is the railroads second deadly accident in the Philadelphia area since May 2015. Amtrak 188 killed eight passengers when it derailed in Philadelphia. The NTSB determined the engineer lost situational awareness and didnt realize the train was traveling too fast for the track. The federal investigation also concluded that a train safety system called positive train control would have slowed Amtrak 188 and prevented the accident. The NBC 10 Investigators first reported that safety system missing on the section of track where train 188 derailed. A man was killed while another is fighting for his life after a double shooting in Philadelphia Saturday afternoon. The two men, both 26-years-old, were on the 1000 block of Edgemore Road at 2:55 p.m. when an unidentified gunman opened fire. One of the victims was struck once in the back. He was taken to Presbyterian Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3:28 p.m. The second victim was struck once in the left shoulder and once in the left hip. He was taken to the hospital where he is currently in critical condition. No arrests have been made and a weapon has not been recovered. Lil Dicky, a controversial rapper and Cheltenham native known for satirical songs like White Dude and "Classic Male Pregame" appeared on this years XXL Magazine Hip-hop Freshmen List. His inclusion on the list in the magazine published Monday sparked outrage from many hip-hop fans who take issue with Dicky's brand of comedy. I can think of a quintillion rappers that deserve a look more than a privileged snarkster named Lil Dicky, please don't @ me Mourning Dude (@broazay) June 13, 2016 https://twitter.com/laurennostro/status/742381840842039296 https://twitter.com/SellCrackToKids/status/742393523211800576 Lil Dicky, whose real name is David Burd, worked at a San Francisco advertising agency before breaking into the scene in 2013 with his first music video "Ex-Boyfriend". The self-funded video tallied one million views the first day it was posted. After steadily releasing more music and videos, Dicky raised over $100K through a Kickstarter campaign and relocated to Los Angeles to tour and rap full-time. He released his first album Professional Rapper in July 2015, which featured appearances from big names like Snoop Dogg and Fetty Wap, as well as its share of viral music videos. The video for "Save Dat Money", which follows Lil Dicky as he shoots a lavish music video without spending a cent, has amassed over 44 million views. Most recently, the rapper performed at Penn's Landing earlier this month for the 9th annual Roots Picnic. This week he became one of two Philadelphia natives featured on the XXL Magazine cover, along with trap rapper Lil Uzi Vert of North Philly. Lil Dicky's proudly suburban, middle-class "white dude" persona has simultaneously endeared him to his fans - known as "Dickheads"- and has fueled his detractors, many of whom found his presence on the XXL Magazine cover photo insulting and took to social media to express their frustration. Despite the continuing controversy, Lil Dicky has shown no sign of slowing down his rapid ascent as a major viral rap sensation. Two police officers won't face criminal charges in the death of a Vineland man who died last year of respiratory distress on his way to the hospital while in police custody. Cumberland County prosecutors say a grand jury declined to indict the two Vineland officers in the March 2015 death of Phillip White. The officers' names have not been released. White, 32, died on March 31, 2015. Officials say the ordeal began that day shortly before 11 a.m. when officers responded to a call for service for White on the 100 block of Grape Street in Vineland, New Jersey. NBC10 has obtained the 911 calls behind the high profile death of a man in police custody in Vineland, NJ. Investigative Reporter Harry Hairston has more, including cell phone videos from a witness. In a 911 recording, a caller tells the dispatcher that White is freaking out, going crazy, and screaming. Hes screaming up there, the caller says. I dont know what the h*** is wrong with him. Officials said responding officers called for medical assistance for White who appeared to be in respiratory distress. White was also handcuffed, restrained and then placed in an emergency vehicle that traveled to the hospital while an officer was inside, according to officials. At some point, White became unresponsive and medical personnel instituted CPR, according to investigators. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital. What remained in dispute were the events that occurred immediately before Whites death. Witnesses told NBC10 the responding officers were extremely physical with White after he was already restrained and unconscious on the street. They punched him, stomped him, kicked him and then they let the dog out of the car," said Ricardo Garcia. "The dog bit him on his face and around his body. There's no call for that. Law enforcement sources disputed witness accounts however, telling NBC10 White engaged in a violent struggle with one of the officers after they called an ambulance for him. They also said at times White was combative and that he never lost consciousness while he was apprehended. NBC10 obtained cellphone videos taken after police responded to the disorderly persons call. The videos show White lying on the ground surrounded by three officers as well as a barking police dog. It appears to show the dog biting White in the upper body. Vineland Police Chief Timothy Codispoti told NBC10 the cellphone videos didn't tell the entire story however. Theyre a part of an incident that is minutes long and those are seconds long, those videos, Codispoti said. Clearly what they show is what we hear on the radio. A violent struggle. Codispoti told NBC10 White asked for medical attention prior to any struggle with police. He also said Whites hand was on an officers gun, reaching for the locking mechanism, at the time of his arrest. White's relatives and their attorney could not be reached for comment. For those of you who may be wondering, the San Diego Music Awards are indeed happening in 2016 -- although details are still being worked out. The annual event, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015, is typically held in September/October at the scenic waterfront venue Humphreys By the Bay. However, when both San Diego Music Foundation president Kevin Hellman and Executive Director Marjy Taylor stepped down to pursue other projects earlier this year, rumors ran rampant that the SDMAs were in danger of being kaput. The awards official website hasnt been updated at any point this year, and in an unusual move, the announcement that the show would go on came in a personal Facebook post by SDMA academy member Bart Mendoza on Thursday night. SoundDiego reached out to San Diego Music Foundation President Scott Richison, who confirmed the information on Friday and said the event will be different in scope than years prior. Itll be held on Nov. 10 as part of the San Diego Music Thing, Richison said. Were still putting the details together, but it will not be at at Humphreys. Itll be scaled down a bit but were trying to make it the best we possibly can. Well also be making a few small tweaks here and there -- but there will be two different categories of awards like usual, the ones that people can vote on, and the awards that the academy decides. Were looking to shake it up a little bit and have a little bit more fun -- but overall, were excited to keep the spirit alive. The 2016 Music Thing is scheduled Nov. 10-12, with venues and acts TBA. A call for music submissions also came in Mendozas Facebook post. In years prior, the submission process usually had a deadline in July (last years deadline was July 15) but no clear deadline for this years ceremony was specified. In the post, Mendozas said submissions could be mailed to: SDMA, attn Bart Mendoza, PO Box 13801, San Diego, CA 92170. Locals can also drop off submissions in person at Bar Pink (3829 30th St., San Diego, CA 92104), addressed to Dang Nyugen. There is no submission process for digital entries at this time. SoundDiego.com will be updating this story as more information becomes available. Dustin Lothspeich is the talent buyer for The Merrow, plays in Diamond Lakes and Boy King, and runs his own music equipment-loving blog Gear and Loathing in San Diego. Follow his updates on Twitter or contact him directly. TREE TREK: Planning a vacation solely around visiting a magnificent and stately shrub isn't unheard of; in fact, many an adventurer regularly plots to call upon the General Sherman, that superstar sequoia, or the Torrey Pines near La Jolla. And, yes, even trees that have been gussied up, as in the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, make it onto some vacationers' travel itineraries. But few leafy living things garner the attention of California's very (very very) old trees. For sure, the General Sherman and the Torrey Pines do qualify when it comes to being of an esteemed age, as do the redwoods and those Bristlecone Pines of the Inyo National Forest. One of the oldest trees around, however, in the Golden State or anywhere, can't be admired for much of the year, at least not in person. If you're patient, and you plan, you can call upon the Bennett Juniper when the time is right (in other words, when the road in is accessible). And the time is getting righter, for... THE MIDDLE OF JUNE... is generally when Bennett buffs may visit the protected tree, a tree of some age. The beautiful juniper is "believed by some to be 4,000 years old," says the Save the Redwoods League, which oversees the Bennett Juniper Stewardship Project. Standing at some 8,400 feet, the Bennett Juniper was named for naturalist Clarence Bennett, and is only accessible by the public for just a little less than half the year. Best call first to make sure the route is open and read all the to-knows before packing the car (of course there's no climbing on the tree, which almost can go without saying, but we're repeating it). THE BENNETT... isn't alone, as there are other ancient junipers in the area, and its ability to weather the weather, whether that means freeze or breeze, is impressive. It's a fine tree to know, or at least make the acquaintance of, and your window to do so is just ahead. The Bennett Juniper is patient; after all, it has grown, and thrived, in the Sierra about four millennia, which is nothing to shake a branch at, no sirree. A massive wildfire, fueled by strong winds, rising temperatures and an extended drought, has charred 7,811 acres in Santa Barbara County as firefighters brace for an extreme heatwave threatening to roast the Southwest. The blaze, dubbed the Sherpa Fire, was 45 percent contained as of 11:30 a.m. Saturday, county officials said. The weekend forecast suggests firefighters face a tough battle with the warmest weather so far this year. Temperatures in the triple-digits are likely across much of Southern California. The South Coast Air Quality Management District declared a local emergency and issued a smoke advisory for Los Angeles and Orange counties in effect through Saturday in response to the fire, over fears that winds could push smoke from the blaze across the area. About 270 structures remained threatened and at least 300 people were evacuated. One building has already been damaged, and two firefighters suffered minor injuries, fire officials said. The Sherpa Fire, which is feeding off of brush and tall grass chaparral, began at the top of Refugio Road Wednesday afternoon, 25 miles north of Santa Barbara, near Refugio State Beach and Reagan Ranch. A nearby ExxonMobil processing facility evacuated some employees Thursday, and those that remained, helped protect the plant against the flames, company spokesman Todd Spitler told The Associated Press. Capt. Dave Zaniboni said the crude refinery has a cleared buffer zone. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for the areas of Refugio Canyon, Canada del Venadito Canyon, Las Flores Canyon, El Capitan Canyon, El Capitan Ranch, El Capitan State Beach and Canada de la Destiladera. Evacuation warnings are in effect for Las Llagas Canyon, Gato Canyon, Las Varas Canyon, Dos Pueblos Canyon and Eagle Canyon. An evacuation center has been set up at the Wake Center, 300 N. Turnpike Road in Goleta and for large animals at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. County officials said crews will continue to work on reinforcing containment lines along the 101 Freeway, which may be closed again if the fire is determined to be a hazard to motorists. Calle Real from El Cap to Refugio Road remained closed. More than 1,900 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service, Cal-Fire and Santa Barbara County Fire continue to battle the blaze. Residents can monitor the status of the fire and any guidance on the County of Santa Barbara website at www.countyofsb.org or sign up for alerts at www.awareandprepare.org. Anyone in the evacuation area needing assistance with animals, including livestock, should call (805) 681-4332. If you've been to Pacific Beach, you have probably seen people riding bicycles all over the neighborhood. But have you ever noticed there are many bicycles that are permanently parked? NBC 7 learned recently that its an eyesore in the area and now police are running surveillance. While pedals are pumping in Pacific Beach, others are in long-term parking with grass growing in-between the spokes. Residents Kyle Martin and Azia Moreno think back to the time two bikes popped up outside their place on Reed Avenue. Yeah, its been about four of five months. Every time I drive by, I see them and think Oh thats cute. Ive never seen them actually move, said the couple. One bike is now missing a seat and the other bike is rusting with a flat tire. Both are chained up and leaning against a City Street Sweeping sign. "Well what happened? Did this person just forget they had their bike there or get abducted or something? It boggles the mind. Why would you leave your bike? asked Adrian Grayson, who has seen abandoned bikes locked to palm trees and a Stop sign at Grand Avenue & Everts. Andrew Triplett, a neighbor, says that a bike was finally cut off Thursday. Every time I came to the Stop sign over here, I saw that bike, for two weeks. You see them all over the place tied to stuff. I found my bike right here, the one I ride today. It was in perfect condition, laying in front of the house, Triplett said. Police told NBC 7 there are two main reasons for the abandoned bikes. Some people buy cheap bikes, have too much to drink and forget where they chained it. Nicer bikes are stolen then tied up quickly in another spot. The thief waits for the heat to be off him or her before picking it back up and selling the bike. As for Kyle and Azia, they have mixed emotions about the two abandoned bikes outside their place finding a new home. Ill be kind of sad honestly. Ive gotten used to them, like a part of the family, the couple joked. To get rid of an abandoned bike in your neighborhood it must meet certain qualifications: it has to be tied to a city sign, missing a part, or seen in one spot for a few weeks. You can download the City of San Diego's new app "Get it Done" to send in a picture of an abandoned bike. In the wake of last week's state Presidential Primary Election, there have been accusations of procedural "irregularities" in the Registrar of Voters office. On Friday, they became the basis of a lawsuit filed against the County of San Diego and its registrar of voters. Neither the Registrar Michael Vu nor attorneys from the County Counsel's office are directly addressing details of the litigation. Among the allegations is that a box that should have contained mail-ballot votes was found to be empty and that a so-called "supplemental random draw" replaced them without public notice. "If we had the one percent manual tally done properly, then we can detect funny business inside the Registrar of Voters, Raymond Lutz told a scrum of reporters and photojournalists outside the registrars Kearny Mesa office complex. If they don't let us do that, it's hard to detect it -- and that's why the lawsuit has been filed," he said. Lutz, a one-time Congressional candidate, claims 285,000 ballots went missing from a post-election sample audit mandated under state law. He believes the uncounted batch of ballots included an unusually large number of provisional votes a sample potentially ten times the average of past elections. Lutz said Vu refused to accept copies of the legal documents when he tried to serve Vu with them, and told Lutz to throw the paperwork on the floor. Lutz was accompanied at the news conference by "concerned voters from a group called Citizens Oversight. A media advisory released on his behalf included a line saying: Bernie Sanders supporters wonder if election officials are pulling a fast one. The gathering of voters nodded when Lutz, asked whether he thinks American election systems are Third World, replied in the affirmative. "In other countries, they count the vote right where you cast it, said Patricia Gracian. So there is none of this moving boxes from one hidden storage space to another hidden storage space." In response to a request for comment, the county's chief spokesman sent NBC 7 the following, pithy statement: "We look forward to our day in court." Students protested outside of the Evangeline Roberts Institute of Learning Charter School in Skyline Friday. The school, operating under its charter for the last five years, is not being renewed by the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). There are 172 children at the school, which must close by the end of June, the district says. 87 percent of the students, who come mostly from Encanto and Skyline, are low income and some are socially and emotionally challenged. Last year during its renewal process the school was told it would not be renewed unless it met certain conditions, including updating its nonprofit status and showing the students are making academic progress. The schools principal says their nonprofit status was not updated by the deadline, but it has been corrected. She also says they have met the academic growth condition, something the district disputes. Im going to stand firm, and I know what my kids did this year. So we're going to keep pushing back and forth until the fight cant fight no more, principal Shelia Malveaux said. The California Association of Charter Schools says it is rare that a charter is not renewed or is revoked, but it does happen. In California, 43 of the 1228 charter schools were closed in 2014 and 2015. A charter might not be renewed for financial reasons, academic standards or bad management. The district is not commenting due to pending litigation, as its decision could be appealed. Im hoping for the best that theyll be able to come back here, Principal Malveaux said. To honor the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, Uber is offering free rides this weekend to and from local LGBT communities, bars and restaurants. The free rides will be available by the ride-hailing service from Friday to midnight Monday in a number of cities across the nation. In San Diego, 10 spots are included in the fare waiver. They include Blacks Beach in Del Mar, Balboa Park, the San Diego LGBT Center, and Hillcrest bars Urban Mos, Richs, Flicks, Martinis Above 4th, Baja Bettys, Numbers and Gossip Grill. The offer is limited to two rides per person. On its website, Uber explained the reason for the free rides: The world is a brighter and better place when we are all free to be ourselves. And we want to bring people together, no matter who you are or where youre from. Uber also encourages people to donate to Orlando victims here. Authorities searched through the home of a Pennsylvania man accused of sexually assaulting a teenager whose parents allegedly gave her to him when she was 14 because he helped them financially. She was one of a dozen girls living in the residence. Neighbors are opening up after police found 12 girls aged 6 months to 18 years old living secretly in a Bucks County Mans Home. NBC10s Aundrea Cline-Thomas talked to the woman who made the tip call that brought officials to the home. Officials in Bucks County acting on a tip Thursday found Lee Kaplan, 51, at his Feasterville home, along with 12 girls ranging in age from six months to 18 years, police said. One girl, now 18, told police that she and Kaplan have a 3-year-old child and a six-month-old child, according to investigators. UPDATE: What did authorities do about neighbor's warnings of something wrong at Kaplan's home? "This child gave birth to two other children through an inappropriate relationship," Lower Southampton Police Lt. John Krimmel said. Kaplan faces charges including statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and aggravated indecent assault. When police entered Kaplan's home Thursday, "all the children were running around," Lt. Krimmel said. "Some were hiding. They were well-behaved, but scared." Krimmel said officials are trying to verify who the parents of the other children found at the home are. The teenager's parents told police the other nine girls in the house were their children, but no birth certificates or Social Security cards could be located to confirm that, officials said. "They purport to be the parents of all the children, but I don't know if we believe them," Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said. Heckler said he could not say how long the children had been at Kaplan's house.[[238427591, C]] "It will be until into next week before I can stand in front of cameras and say X, Y, Z happened," Heckler said. "We have miles to go." Lower Southampton police said they did not find any identifying documents for any of the girls. "We are still investigating that. Bucks County is investigating that along with other agencies to help identify their genealogy and who their parents actually are," Krimmel said. On Saturday, police and dogs scoured the home's backyard for evidence after officials obtained a search warrant. Krimmel said authorities waited until dawn so they would be able to search the property in daylight. "We have a search warrant for the entire property," he said. "There are dogs searching for evidence." Twelve girls are in protective custody after an anonymous tip led to a disturbing discovery inside a Bucks County home. Police say the homeowner was abusing at least one of the girls, and are investigating whether or not the other girls are victims, too. According to an affidavit, the girl's father told an officer he gave his daughter, who was 14 at the time, to Kaplan after he helped the family out of financial ruin. The father allegedly admitted he gave Kaplan his daughter after researching the legality of such an action online. The father is charged with conspiracy of statutory sexual assault and child endangerment. His wife is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. The parents, who live in Lancaster County, as well as Kaplan, are all in custody on $1 million bail, police said. It is unclear if any of them have attorneys. NBC10.com is not identifying the parents to protect the identity of the young girls. PHOTOS: 12 Girls Found in Feasterville Home Kaplan, 51, lives in the 400 block of Old Street Road in Feasterville, where he and the children were found, according to the complaint. He bought the home, which was built in 1926, back in 1988 according to county real estate records. Neighbor Jen Bets said she made the tip call to authorities, bringing them to the home. "It's never the wrong time to do the right thing," Bets told NBC10's Christian Cazares. "There were signs."[[383468571, C]] "(She was) too young to be the wife, too old to be holding his hand," Bets said. She would often see Kaplan walking down the street with girls, holding hands with one of them. "It took too long," Bets said of response to the home, which she said she had spoken with neighbors and police in the past about. "I just want them to get help and get back and be happy. They're so sad and fearful every time I see them. That's what made me call." Robert Hoopes, the Director of Public Safety for Lower Southampton Township, told NBC10 police received several calls over the years about the house from concerned neighbors yet none of them suggested child abuse. "We didn't get the child abuse calls," he said. "If it was a child abuse call we would've responded naturally." The police complaint said Kaplan "had told other neighbors that no children live there." But one nearby resident, Denise Horst, said she saw the girls often. "I've ridden by this house (and) I've seen young girls, various ages of children, dressed mostly in Amish clothing," Horst said. "Often afraid, like they would once he'd come out of the house, the male would come out, they'd go running into the house." She said she also saw one of the young girls pregnant. "I was wondering what was going on," Horst said. "It looked like these girls were scared." Police say they found homework and instruments in the basement of the home, suggesting that the children were home schooled. Heckler said the children apparently did not attend school and it was unclear if they had ever been to a doctor, but they didn't appear to be in bad health and showed no visible signs of trauma. "They were living down in the basement," said Hoopes. "They were hiding in the chicken coop. In the basement there's an elaborate train set up. By elaborate I mean tens of thousands of dollars worth of trains on platforms." NBC10 discovered that Kaplan made thousands of dollars selling model trains through an eBay business he ran out of his home called "The Brass Caboose." Authorities say cases of canned food, a chicken coop, garden and a green house at the property also suggested a self-sufficient lifestyle not uncommon to the Amish. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the 18-year-old girl's parents were born into the Amish faith, but renounced it amid a long fight with community elders, according to a federal lawsuit they filed in 2009 against their former church. The lawsuit, which was dismissed later that year, said they operated a metalworking business on their property. Kaplan and the girl's parents are due in court on June 28th. All 12 of the children are together in protective custody, according to Heckler. A New Jersey couple faces more than 550 counts of animal cruelty after 276 small dogs were rescued earlier this month from what one official described as "the worst hoarding situation" they had seen in Monmouth County. Charlene and Joseph Handrik, of Howell Township, were charged Friday with 276 counts of animal cruelty for providing inhumane living conditions to the animals and another 276 counts for failing to provide their dogs proper care. All of the charges are disorderly persons offenses. Ross Licitra, interim president, chief executive officer and chief law enforcement officer at the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said his group and prosecutors opted for disorderly persons animal cruelty charges rather than indictable counts because the dogs rescued from the couple's home were in relatively good health despite the deplorable conditions and neglect. The house raised suspicions from an Associated Humane Society official as he investigated a report of a dog on the loose by Bennett Road in Howell on June 2, authorities said. He was knocking on doors in the area when he came across the home, where a foul odor was emanating. No one answered the door there, but he heard dogs barking inside and notified SPCA. Officers responded and investigated, then launched the rescue operation the next day. Inside the home, officers found hundreds of Chihuahuas, Yorkies, pugs and mixed-breed dogs inside. Many were sitting on bookshelves. One shelf was specially built near the ceiling of the living room, "like a hamster cage for dogs," according to Tierney Park, a Monmouth Sheriff's deputy. "They have steps that go up to the shelf and there were dogs looking down and barking." There were others living under beds and even between walls. Many appeared petrified as they were brought out, having never been exposed to the outdoors. The Handriks declined to speak with NBC 4 New York outside their home after the dogs were rescued. Additional charges are expected to be filed against them, including charges for not properly licensing and vaccinating their animals. Information on attorneys for them wasn't immediately available. More than 40 of the dogs rescued from the Handricks' home were adopted from a New Jersey animal shelter last weekend. Some dogs are still in foster care, and some mother dogs are currently caring for their babies. About 25 of the dogs taken from the home were pregnant. A free shuttle will take visitors from Baltimore's Inner Harbor to the Maryland Zoo this summer. Each Saturday through Sept. 3, visitors can take a free shuttle from the Inner Harbor to the Baltimore zoo and back. The first shuttle leaves the Baltimore Visitor Center for the zoo at 9:30 a.m. and the last shuttle will leave at 2 p.m. Shuttles going from the zoo to the harbor will start leaving at 11:30 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. A Loudoun County Sheriff's deputy embezzled more than $200,000 in money seized in 80 cases from February 2010 through October 2013. Frank Pearson, 45, was sentenced Friday to 36 months in prison for embezzlement. He was found guilty March 31 of taking $229,381.01 from the asset forfeiture fund he was responsible for managing. He was ordered to pay back the same amount of money back to the Sheriffs Office and complete three years of supervised release following his time in prison. According to the Department of Justice, Pearson made false statements to his coworkers and concealed his embezzlement. The evening of Oct. 30, 2013, Pearson's superior confronted him about the money missing from the fund. According to the Department of Justice, Pearson left his office with several boxes of money and never returned to work. According to the Washington Post, Pearson attributed his crimes to memory loss. Prosecutors said he claimed not to recognize either of his now grown children. His defense attorneys said Pearsons memory loss serves as probable cause to believe that Mr. Pearson is suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him unable to properly assist in his defense, the Post reported. Pearsons mother wrote a letter to the judge, detailing her sons memory troubles, according to The Loudon Times Mirror. From the time Frank Michael Pearson was 15 years old and the surgeons told him and his parents that he probably would not live through the surgeries they had to do to cure his birth defects from agent orange, Mike never wavered, his mother wrote, He fought silently, quietly. Michael has always had blackouts and severe memory loss. A former police captain is facing sex offense charges after he was accused of inappropriately touching a 10-year-old girl. Fairfax County Police say Joseph Patrick Gamerl, 53, was arrested Friday after an investigation that began May 9, when the girl told a family member that Gamerl had touched her inappropriately. Gamerl now lives in Fairfax, Virginia, but NBC Miami confirmed he used to be a police captain in North Miami Beach. He retired about three and a half years ago. Gamerl has been charged with aggravated sexual battery and taking indecent liberties with a child. Detectives would like to speak with anyone who has information that may help in the investigation or who may have had a similar encounter with Gamerl. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers online here; text "TIP187" plus the information to CRIMES (274637); call Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS (8477), or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131. A man who worked with criminals at a Fairfax County probation office is now behind bars himself after police say he attacked women in Arlington, Virginia. Arlington County Police arrested 34-year-old Justin Wingate-Poe, of Woodbridge, on Friday and charged him with two counts of attempted abduction for attacks that happened in 2007. Police said a sexual assault last month connected him to the crimes. On May 15, a woman reported she woke up to find a man sexually assaulting her in her home in the 700 block of North Edgewood Street. DNA evidence from the assault was linked to a fingerprint on a plastic bag from an unsolved attempted abduction on May 28, 2007 in which a man put the plastic bag over a woman's head in the 1100 block of North Vermont Street, police said. The evidence was also connected to a similar attack that happened on June 7, 2007 when a woman heard a knock at her door in the 2600 block of Lee Highway. When she opened the door, a man tried to put a plastic bag over her head, police said. Detectives identified Wingate-Poe as a suspect after linking the 2007 cases to the recent sexual assault. A total of four attacks were reported that year. Police are encouraging Arlington women to take a good look at Wingate-Poe's mugshot in case there were any other incidents involving him in 2007 or in the nine years since. "We believe that there are additional cases that he's most likely the suspect in, so we want people to take a look at him," said Ashley Savage, spokeswoman for the Arlington County Police Department. Police anticipate Wingate-Poe will face additional charges in connection to the 2016 case. Wingate-Poe has worked for Fairfax County since 2004 and underwent a criminal background check in 2013, county officials said. He was placed on administrative leave when the county learned of the charges, officials said. According to Wingate-Poe's LinkedIn page, he also works for Access Youth Inc., a D.C. organization that helps at-risk teenagers. He is currently being held without bond at the Arlington County Detention Facility. A man who was randomly beaten with a brick as he left work two years ago has taught himself to walk and talk since surviving the brutal attack. Jeff Alvarez was ambushed in Rockville, Maryland, in June 2014. The 23-year-old had just left work at the Sam DeSanto Company, Inc., when a man appeared in the parking lot and started repeatedly hitting Alvarez in the head with a brick. Employees at a business next door witnessed the attack and chased down the suspect until police caught him on Avery Road. Police said Clayton Mollenhoff, now 30 years old, was Alvarez's attacker. Mollenhoff was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison. Ramon Korionoff, a spokesperson for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office, said it was important for prosecutors to send a message to the community when Mollenoff was sentenced last month. "It's so troubling that someone would get hit over the head with a big rock just innocently walking from work," Korionoff said. Alvarez said he feels justice was served, but his life has been forever changed. "Everything you could name I had to go through and relearn it," Alvarez said. "It's hard to remember a lot of stuff." Now, Alvarez is trying to go back to school, but he said he doesn't expect an easy road ahead. "Mentally handicapped is not something you can change. You have to adapt to it," Alvarez said. Alvarez has established a GoFundMe page to try to pay for his hospital bills. Fairfax County police say the Commonwealth's Attorney has found that a police officer bears no responsibility for a crash in Alexandria in which a pedestrian was killed. The department said in a news release Friday that the officer who was driving the cruiser when it struck and killed 26-year-old Jeffrey Ponce Aguilar has been returned to full duty. The officer was put on administrative after the incident on April 2. Police say Aguilar walked into the street against a green light and was struck by the cruiser. Aguilar died at a hospital. What to Know Student told police she was raped by another student in March. Police presented the case to prosecutors, but no charges were filed. The school is reviewing an expert's recommendations for the school's policies, procedures and discipline. A prestigious Washington, D.C., Quaker school is revising its polices and procedures following allegations of a sexual assault in March. A student told police she was raped on the northwest D.C. campus of Sidwell Friends School by another student. The students had a previous sexual relationship, according to a police report. The Metropolitan Police Department presented the case to prosecutors, but no charges were filed, WTOP reported. The Office of the Attorney General declined to acknowledge or comment to WTOP about the case due to privacy laws. A June 9 email to Sidwell Friends parents obtained by WTOP says an expert recently completed a review of the school's policies, procedures and discipline regarding consent, harassment, bullying and the use of social media. "Preliminary recommendations call for the School to develop more explicit policies addressing student sexual misconduct and technology use," the email from Head of School Bryan Garman said. The Board of Trustees and school administration is reviewing the recommendations and will revise the student and parent handbook, the email said. Already in response to the rape accusation, the school installed more security cameras and improved lighting and conducted a security survey of the campus. The school already is considering programming to help students prevent sexual assault, according to the email. The email did not say whether any student was disciplined, citing privacy of students. President Barack Obama's oldest daughter, Malia, graduated from Sidwell Friends a week ago. Sasah Obama attends Sidwell, too. D.C. police have arrested a suspect they say shot and killed a man on Southern Avenue near United Medical Center. Police arrested 34-year-old Quincy Green of Southeast D.C. on Friday evening. Green is facing a charge of second-degree murder while armed in the death of 44-year-old Dana Hamilton, of Oxon Hill, Maryland. Hamilton was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds about 2:40 a.m. Thursday, when police were called to the 800 block of Southern Avenue SE shortly. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died. It's like 2012 all over again. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's speech at Bedford High School felt like a roast, not on Donald Trump, but on her former rival former Sen. Scott Brown. "I'm here to apologize, back when I beat Scott Brown in 2012, I never expected him to pack up his truck and move to NH and become your problem," said Sen. Warren. Speculation is that Warren could be Hillary Clinton's pick for vice president and Senator Brown has been a rumored potential Trump running mate for months. "When I heard Donald Trump was floating Scott Brown as a potential running mate, I thought ohhhh Donald Trump really does have a plan to help the unemployed," said Sen. Warren. At the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention, Warren took shot after shot at Brown. "Let's face it, no one knows more about losing to a woman than Scott Brown," she said. "Think of it as the perfect reality show, Celebrity Apprentice meets The Biggest Loser." Sen. Brown is in Washington, D.C., but he told necn over the phone he doesn't understand the attacks. "I find her obsession with me starting to get a little weird, every time she speaks she seems to bring me in somehow last I heard, we aren't running against each other." With a little humor, both say they're hoping the other makes it onto the ticket. "Scott Brown for vice president makes sense, I mean that, I think of all the expert advice he could offer... Making up lies about me and my family, saying weird stuff about his beautiful daughter," said Sen. Warren. Sen. Brown also made a jab. "I hope Hillary picks her because Hillary will not only have to answer about her failings in Benghazi but also her checking of the box or representing big corporations against the little guy basically it's going to be fun to watch," he said. Brown says he won't comment on his place in Trump's campaign. Warren has also not commented. Twelve people were taken into custody Saturday morning and charged with obstructing a public way. Those arrested were part of a group protesting the Christening of the USS Monsoor, a Zumwalt Class Naval Ship, being built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The protesters were from Maine Veterans for Peace and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. During their organized protest, the group went onto Washington Street and blocked pedestrian and vehicular traffic in front of Bath Iron Work's South gate. The protesters were given a lawful order to leave the roadway, but they remained. The group sat down in the roadway and remained there until they were taken into custody one at a time by Bath Police Officers as well as Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Deputies. All persons arrested were transported to the Bath Police and booked.They were released on personal recognizance bail. They were all given a court date of Aug. 2, 2016. All were cooperative throughout arrest and booking process. A small helicopter crashed into a pond Friday afternoon on Cape Cod, leaving two people with life-threatening injuries. The crash occurred shortly before 1 p.m. at Crows Pond in Chatham, Massachusetts, according to police. Two people were on board at the time officials say pilot John Ryan of Scituate and passenger Tyra Pacheco of Acushnet, both 48, were trapped in the helicopter, partially submerged in the pond. Ryan and Pacheco took off for the Cape from Plymouth Airport, where the flying community is still in shock that they never returned. Both victims were conscious when crews responded, but both sustained life-threatening injuries, according to Chatham Fire.The Ryan is still in the hospital in serious condition. Pacheco is in critical condition. Federal Investigators are looking into the crash at this time. A small helicopter crashed into a pond Friday afternoon on Cape Cod, leaving two people with life-threatening injuries. The crash occurred shortly before 1 p.m. at Crows Pond in Chatham, Massachusetts, according to police. Two people were on board at the time officials say pilot John Ryan of Scituate and passenger Tyra Pacheco of Acushnet, both 48, were trapped in the helicopter, partially submerged in the pond. Ryan and Pacheco took off for the Cape from Plymouth Airport, where the flying community is still in shock that they never returned. Both victims were conscious when crews responded, but both sustained life-threatening injuries, according to Chatham Fire.The Ryan is still in the hospital in serious condition. Pacheco is in critical condition. Federal Investigators are looking into the crash at this time. An Everett, Massachusetts, man was convicted of human trafficking at Everett Superior Court and sentenced Friday. Thirty-four-year-old Steven Diaz was arrested in 2014 after police stopped his vehicle. A woman sitting in the backseat asked for help. Marquis Campbell was also arrested was also in the car with Diaz and was arrested. Diaz is accused of picking the woman up days before he was arrested, and forced her into prostitution throughout the Massachusetts area during a three day period. Campbell's trial is set for September 12 and is accused of raping the victim and threatening her with violence. Campbell and Diaz allegedly took photos of the woman and subsequently used them to post advertisements for sexual services on websites known to advertise prostitution. They transported the victim to hotels and to outcalls, coerced her to engage in sexual acts with multiple men, monitored the money being earned and ultimately collected all of the proceeds. Judge John Lu Diaz was sentenced to five to eight years in state prison. "Pimps and traffickers, like this one, prey on our most vulnerable residents and profit off of their exploitation," Attorney General Maura Healey said. "Human trafficking is not a victimless crime. We will continue to prosecute those committing these egregious crimes and to help prevent more victims from being brought into this horrible life." A man is dead Friday after falling from a window at an assisted living home in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, authorities confirm. The Penny Lane Seniors Residence on South Street was quiet Friday night, but earlier in the afternoon, a resident at the senior living facility fell out a second-floor window onto a concrete walkout basement entry down below. First responders attempted CPR on the 67-year-old man. He was rushed to a hospital. The Worcester County District Attorney's Office confirmed Friday night that the man had passed away. Neighbors are now baffled, wondering exactly what happened and how he could fall out. "Nobody has seen anything, just heard the sirens in the area," said neighbor Mari Berube. "It's a relatively quiet neighborhood." State police assigned to the DA's office are leading the investigation. Authorities do not believe foul play is involved and say the death does not appear to be suspicious. Attorneys general from around the country will gather in Vermont for their national summer meeting. The meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General begins Tuesday in Burlington and runs through Thursday. Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith is the keynote speaker. The meeting will include presentations on privacy and data security regulation, civil rights issues, and law enforcement. Other talks scheduled focus on the opioid epidemic, sexual violence on campus, police use of force investigations and media relations. About 20 attorneys general are expected to attend, as well as representatives from law firms, corporations and nonprofit organizations. Police in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, are looking for a man suspected of stealing wallets, identification cards and the social security card of a disabled Marine Wednesday. Officers responded to the Cape Cod Inflatable Park and met with United States Marine combat veteran Robert M. Watson and his wife, who live in North Carolina. They were staying at a hotel in Plymouth and visited Yarmouth for the day with their two children. While at the Cape Cod Inflatable Park they met a man and his young son, who befriended them and thanked Watson for his service. They went to take their kids on a slide and when they returned all of their belongings were gone, which included wallets, cash, bank cards, Watson's military identification cards veterans' affairs card, health care card, and social security card. The family could not locate the man, but one of the workers reported seeing a man who matched the description leaving with a beach bag that matched the description of Watson's Cape Cod Inflatable Park gave the family $100 and food and gas. Additional customers and employees gave them donations as well. The family is expected to return to North Carolina within the next few days. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 508-775-0445. Anyone who wants to donate can send a check to The United States Marine Corporal Nicholas G. Xiarhos Memorial Fund C/O Citizens Bank 1116 Route 28 South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, 02664 or drop off donations at Yarmouth Police Department Headquarters. Days after the Orlando massacre, U.S. Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats in holding a 15-hour filibuster advocating for new gun laws. "I think everything changed in Orlando," Markey said. "We are in a new era." The senators are hoping to pass a measure that would ban anyone on the no-fly list or terrorist watch list from buying assault weapons it would also require background checks on all purchases. "It's time for us to have a showdown on the floor of the floor of the Senate," Markey said. Democrats say they are common sense measures, but gun rights advocates say there are civil rights issues. "What's the due process? If you're suddenly put on a list, who makes that decision? What's the criteria for that decision?" asked Jim Wallace of the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League. The gunman in the Orlando massacre was not on a terrorist watch list when he opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle and a pistol, killing 49 people he was on the list for 10 months, then removed. He purchased the weapons legally. "Tell us how you are going to handle the huge mental health problem in this country and how you're going to handle terrorists on U.S. soil. Because those are the two main issues with all of the mass murders," Wallace said. But Republicans who have vocally opposed gun control laws are opening themselves up to debate. U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire was called out for preventing a terror watch list ban in the past Friday, she said she was open to discussing new measures. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that he would do the same. Ayotte is working with Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona on legislation aimed at preventing suspected terrorists from being able to purchase guns. Two people were taken to area hospitals after an accident on Route 9 in Leicester, Massachusetts, late Friday night. Authorities believe a Jeep crossed into the Eastbound lane and struck a Chevrolet. The drivers involved in the crash have non life-threatening injuries. The accident remains under investigation by the Leicester Police Department. Vermont law enforcement agencies are going to be soon operating under a new bias-free policing policy. The creation of the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy that will take effect July 1 was mandated by the Vermont Legislature. Vermont Public Radio reports the idea is to consolidate existing sets of guidelines, and address any shortcomings, into a single policy. The policy was established by a number of social justice groups whose members worked with the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council. It was motivated in part by the 2015 detention of a Mexican citizen who was a passenger in a car pulled over for a routine traffic stop. Seeking performers for Norfolk saint theatre Seeking performers for Norfolk saint theatre A theatre company is seeking performers, musicians and a musical director for a new and exciting piece of theatre commemorating the life of Norfolk saint, St Walstan, to be performed in September in Bowthorpe. Museum open house slated ALBION -- The Boone County Historical Society will hold an open house at the Boone County Museum today and Sunday. The open house at the museum, located at the entrance to the Boone County Fairgrounds, will run from 1-5 p.m. each day. Refreshments will be provided and door prizes available. Cemetery group set to meet COLUMBUS -- The Beulah Cemetery Society Association will hold its annual meeting at 2 p.m. today at Columbus Public Library. Arrests made during campaign COLUMBUS -- Columbus Police made 16 arrests and issued 68 citations during the department's recently completed Click it or Ticket seat belt special enforcement campaign. The enforcement included arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol, DUI with a child in the vehicle, driving under suspension, drug violations and outstanding arrest warrants. The local enforcement's goal was to help boost the statewide seat belt usage rate to 81 percent. The local usage rate increased from 70 percent to 76 percent during the campaign, according to local surveys. The department was awarded a $4,500 grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety to pay for overtime during campaign enforcement activity. Access class at Central CC COLUMBUS -- An advanced Access 2010 class will be offered from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. July 13 in the Student Center, Room 179, at Central Community College-Columbus. Preregistration is required at least a week in advance. The cost, which includes a book, is $105 per class. For more information or to register, contact Sue Mahlin at 402-562-1409; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1409; or email smahlin@cccneb.edu. Forklift course slated July 14 COLUMBUS -- A forklift certification training course will be offered from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. July 14 in the West Education Center, Room 179, at Central Community College-Columbus. The class meets Occupational Safety and Health Administration for powered industrial trucks. It will cover prestart inspections, safety procedures, handling and transporting hazardous materials, and federal regulations. Participants also will gain driving experience by using the colleges forklift and then will take a driving test. Class size is limited, so preregistration is required by July 7 to reserve a space. The cost is $70. Students must be at least 18 years old and have a valid drivers license. For more information or to preregister, contact Susan Baer at 402-562-1425; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1425; or email sbaer@cccneb.edu. Water operators class at Central COLUMBUS -- A water operators training session, Chlorination and Disinfection, will be offered from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. July 14 in the North Education Center, Room 911, at Central Community College-Columbus. Registration will be held from 8:30-9 a.m. The training is designed for water operators and other individuals in the water industry who want to learn about water system chlorination and related issues. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has approved the course for recertification continuing education units. Class size is limited, so preregistration is required by July 7 to reserve a space. The cost is $55. For more information or to preregister, contact Sue Baer at 402-562-1425; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1425; or email sbaer@cccneb.edu. Jarosz reunion planned July 16 TARNOV -- The Jarosz Family Reunion will be held July 16 at St. Michaels Social Hall. A potluck dinner will begin at 12:30 p.m. Youth theater program set DAVID CITY -- The Butler County Arts Council will offer a one-day youth theater on June 30 with final registration at 10 a.m. and sessions starting at 10:30 a.m. The day will conclude with a 6:30 p.m. performance to be held in the north gym of Aquinas, 3420 MN Rd. The theater is for kids in grades three through nine. Jarod Ockander and his trained assistants will be conducting the theater. Meals and snacks will be provided to those who are registered. For more information, email ockander@dcscouts.org or call 402-367-6271. Registration forms can be picked up at David City Public Library the week of the camp. Pals fundraiser at Dairy Queen COLUMBUS -- A Big Pals-Little Pals fundraiser is scheduled from 5-8 p.m. June 30 at Dairy Queen, 665 33rd Ave. Ten percent of all sales during this time at Dairy Queen will go to Big Pals-Little Pals. Big Pals-Little Pals is a mentoring program that matches adult volunteers ages 17 and up with children ages 6-19 from single parent homes in order to provide them an adult friend and role model. Currently there are 14 children waiting for a Big Pal. For more information, contact Big Pals-Little Pals at 402-563-1081 or online at www.bigpals.org. Cemetery closed July 3 COLUMBUS -- Roselawn Cemetery will be closed the evening of July 3 beginning at 5 p.m. The cemetery will be open on July 4 during regular hours. Med aide class at Central CC COLUMBUS -- A medication aide course will be offered from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays from July 7 through Aug. 2 in the West Education Center, Room 209, at Central Community College-Columbus. The class is offered in a lecture/lab format, and students must attend eight mandatory class sessions. Class size is limited to 12 students, so registration is required to reserve a space. The cost is $354, which includes in-state tuition, textbook and supplies. For more information or to register, contact the CCC Extended Learning Services Office at 402-562-1225; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1225: or email cwagner@cccneb.edu. Columbus Cruise July 9 COLUMBUS -- Columbus Cruise 2016, a benefit fundraiser for Children's Hospital and Medical Center, will be held July 9. The Auto and Bike Shine and Show with trophies awarded to classes will be from 1-5 p.m. There will be a cruise that night. Details can be seen on Facebook by searching Columbus Cruise or go to www.columbuscruise2016.com for early registration and classes. Many family oriented events will be held throughout the day. Valley Hope alums to meet COLUMBUS -- A meeting of AA Valley Hope alumni is scheduled for 1 p.m. July 9 at Westbrook Lanes. Library hosting crochet class COLUMBUS -- Columbus Public Library will hold a crochet class at 2 p.m. July 16 for the summer reading adult program. The granny square is one requested stitch that will be taught. It helps if you have a basic understanding of crochet and can do the chain stitch and single crochet for learning these new stitches. Beginners are welcome and extra teachers will be on hand to get you started. Crochet hooks and yarn will be provided, but if you have your own please bring them. Who is The Daily News Athlete of the Week? Here are the 7 nominees. New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday accused the government of driving out the "only sensible person in the economic administration of the country" after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said no to a second term in the post. "It is a sad thing. He was the only sensible person in the economic administration of the country. While no person is irreplaceable, he was a man of immense wisdom and knowledge," party spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said. He claimed the development showed that there is "no place" in government for people who are bright and hold their own opinion and who say what is good for the nation above political and personal bias. Buffeted by political attacks coupled with unending speculation over his continuance, Rajan today said no to a second term in the post, a surprise decision the industry and opposition parties termed as nation's loss. "On due reflection, and after consultation with the government, I want to share with you that I will be returning to academia when my term as Governor ends on September 4, 2016," Rajan said in a message to the RBI staff. A Maharashtra police officer who was in service in 2013 had provided training to the two shooters who are accused of killing rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune. Sources say the shooters Sarang Akolkar and Rudra Patil were trained for a week in Goa and Sangli. The training is alleged to have taken place in Maharashtra's Jat town in Sangli and Goa's Ponda. Akolkar and Patil were also accused of being involved in the 2009 Madgaon blast case. The sketch of the shooters released by the police matches with Akolkar. Meanwhile, Sanatan Sanstha member Virendra Tawade who is believed to be the mastermind behind Dabholkar's murder, is not cooperating with the CBI. Tawde who was receiving Rs 6000 as honorarium from Sanatan Sanstha may be subjected to narco analysis, brain mapping and polygraph test to ascertain his role in the crime. CBI is also likely to question Tawde's wife, a Sanatan Sanstha member who is currently in London and will return on June 20. CBI has also examined witnesses in the murder case of another rationalist Govind Pansare for the Dabholkar investigation. Samir Gaikwad who was earlier arrested in the Pansare murder case was one of the accused examined by the CBI. Dabholkar was murdered on 20 August, 2013 while taking a morning walk in Pune by two unidentified gunmen. Pansare and Kalburgi were also shot at in a similar way outside their homes on 16 February and 30 August, 2015 respectively. New Delhi: To encourage indigenous artisans, unique yoga mats made with water hyacinth, an aquatic weed, have been procured by the government for International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21, AYUSH minister Shripad Yesso Naik said. With the government in 2015 facing flak for procuring some 'Made in China' mats for the maiden IYD celebrations, Naik had last week requested state governments "to encourage use of locally-made yoga mats and apparels, preferably with the locally-available raw material to provide employment opportunities to local artisans and small entrepreneurs." Naik said 500 water hyacinth mats have been purchased from North Eastern Handicrafts and Handloom Development Corporation Limited (NEHHDC), which is the marketing channel for North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi). 4,500 artisans from Assam and Manipur have been trained by NEDFi over a period of six years in the art of making products from water hyacinth. This was part of the efforts to help craftsmen from the region to replace traditional raw materials like cane and bamboo used for making furniture and other accessories. "Irregular supply of cane and high cost of procurement of bamboo have been a major cause of concern for the artisans associated with the Cane and Bamboo Craft. Hence, effort was made to identify alternative low cost raw materials where the existing skill of the craftsperson can be used to make products suitable for the contemporary market," a statement issued by NEDFi said. Water hyacinth grows abundantly in the region and is a weed that destroys local eco-system by blocking sunlight, preventing oxygen exchange by other aquatic plants and affecting pisciculture. In fact, during the British rule, Assam Water Hyacinth Act, 1926 was enacted to restrict the growth of the weed. The act is still in force. High quality bags and baskets made of water hyacinth in Thailand had originally served as an inspiration for this project, according to NEDFi. With the help of Ministry of Development of North East Region and NEDFi, as many as 4,500 artisans were trained in the craft of designing and weaving articles from this aquatic weed. Technological assistance was also sought from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Philadelphia on Thursday became the first major US city to vote to tax sugary drinks, fighting off a multi-million dollar challenge from the beverage industry. At about 50 cents a liter, the tax will apply to sweetened drinks, including those with artificial sweetener. It covers not only sodas but also sports drinks, flavored water, energy drinks and pre-sweetened coffee and tea, the mayor's office said. The only exceptions are for drinks comprised of at least 50 percent milk, fresh fruit or fresh vegetables. Berkeley, California, with a population of about 120,000 residents, is the only other city in America to tax soft drinks. Philadelphia's city council approved the tax by 13 to four votes on Thursday, after months of deliberation. It is set to go into effect in January. Supporters say the measure will improve the health of the 1.5 million people who live in Philadelphia, America's fifth-largest city. More than 68 percent of the city's adults and 41 percent of children are overweight or obese. Opponents predict it will spell catastrophe for small businesses, forcing some to go under if their customers leave town to stock up elsewhere. Dozens of attempts to pass similar legislation in other US cities have failed and it was the third attempt to get the tax imposed in Philadelphia, where city council members threw it out twice under pressure from the drinks industry. Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney this time sought to win support by saying the tax would raise $91 million a year to help fund prekindergarten education, community schools and recreation centers. "Today was a big win," Kenney tweeted after the vote. "It'll be an even bigger victory for our kids who get pre-K, community schools and rebuilt parks, rec centers and libraries," he added. There was a lively debate before the City Council voted in favor of the measure. Several people complained about the financial burden on poorer families in a city where 26.7 percent of the population live below the poverty line. The tax would "create the worst black market for non-alcoholic beverages since prohibition" in the 1920s and 1930s, said a man identified by the local ABC television channel as Coca-Cola employee Chris Hunter. But cardiologist Ken Margulies praised the council's courage, saying they were doing the right thing to help reduce diabetes, heart disease and obesity. "You are acting boldly to deal with very real concerns and needs of Philadelphians and our country as a whole. Thank you," he said. The soft drink industry spent millions of dollars in a bid to head off the legislation. "Discriminatory taxes send the wrong message to consumers," said the American Beverage Association, which includes Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. "The government shouldn't be focused on demonizing certain products," it added, insisting it was "doing its part" in tackling obesity by providing "more beverage options with fewer calories and in smaller portion sizes." The consumption of sugary and fizzy drinks has steadily fallen in the United States for the last 11 years. SCHUYLER Two people were taken into custody Friday in Colfax County following a suspicious vehicle report that turned into a felony manhunt. According to the Colfax County Attorneys Office, 31-year-old Megan Andersen of Columbus and 29-year-old Chaz Wright of Norfolk both face felony charges stemming from the investigation that started shortly after 2:30 p.m. Deputies were dispatched to a farmhouse along County Road G to check on a suspicious vehicle, a 2004 Honda Accord without license plates. Andersen was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant from Jefferson County for driving under suspension. Wright, who also has a suspended drivers license, was allowed to walk away from the scene. About two hours later deputies learned a warrant was issued Friday in Platte County for Wrights arrest for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The warrant, which did not appear in the law enforcement system during the initial contact with Wright, was discovered during the subsequent investigation. Deputies also found methamphetamine while searching the vehicle, according to the county attorneys office. The Colfax County Sheriffs Office, Schuyler Police and Nebraska State Patrol, including a canine unit, initiated a search for Wright that lasted until around 8:30 p.m., when he was located along a fence line just south of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks off County Road 13. Wright was arrested for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. Andersen is accused of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, possession of a weapon by a prohibited person and driving under suspension. The Columbus woman, who is already a convicted felon, had a switchblade knife in her possession when deputies arrived, according to the county attorneys office, which has not filed formal charges against either suspect. Patna: BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday once again floated the name of Varun Gandhi as the party's face in Uttar Pradesh, where elections are scheduled for next year. "It is my personal opinion and not that of the party. He (Varun Gandhi) is a young, good and committed party leader," he told reporters on the sidelines of a book launch here. The Patna Saheb MP, however, said it would be the party's parliamentary board which would decide whether anyone has to be projected (as the CM face for UP polls). "The Parliamentary board's decision would be final for me," he said when asked about his take on Varun's projection for UP Assembly polls. Sinha, who has often supported the name of Varun Gandhi as the party's face in politically sensitive Uttar Pradesh, said he was not comparing him (Varun) with any other BJP leader as there were many other leaders in the party capable of holding the CM's post. Sinha named Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh as equally capable of being projected as the face of party in UP. "Rajnath Singh is my close friend. He has held every important post. He is the man who worked as a party worker to become national president. Who else can be better than Rajnath Singh," Sinha asked. He also named UP party chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath among several others who could steer the party in the state. The BJP leader was speaking on the sidelines of a function organised for the release of a book titled 'Suicide? There is tomorrow' written by senior journalist Sanjay Kumar Sinha. Asked if there should be a change in party leadership in Bihar in the wake of the severe drubbing in the recent state Assembly polls, he said cryptically, "So it is still being discussed (change in state party leadership)...the change has not taken place so far?" Sinha who was reportedly sidelined in the state elections had made many statements which put the party in a tight spot. While many of you must have bought gifts or planned surprises for your favourite man, some may still be wondering about how to make this Father's Day even more memorable. So, if you are yet to buy that one special gift for your dad but are still unable to finalise one, here's some help.While there are so many gift options to choose from, we suggest you to introduce your father to some new technology this Father's Day and help him keep up with the new generation. We bring you 5 tech gift ideas:If you think your your dad is an avid movie and/or TV series buff, what else could be better than gifting him something like an online streaming subscription (such as Netflix or HotStar)? He can have his own personally curated profile with a series of new movies/TV series that he can watch at his convenience. Netflix, for example, offers three plans - Basic, Standard, Premium - to choose from. You can pick any of them based on your dad's needs and your budget.Is your dad already tech-savvy? If yes, then it's time for you to upgrade him to a next level. Surprise him with a smartwatch and let him fiddle with it for hours. While there are so many smartwatches available, we recommend a Pebble.A fitness band is not only an ideal gift for health-conscious dads, but is also a right gift option for those fathers who ignore health issues. If you think your dad is failing to pay attention to his health, make him wear this lightweight bracelet this Father's Day and let it do the rest. You can go for a Fitbit or a Jawbone.If your father is a health fanatic and the polluted city air is something that he is not very happy with, how about giving him an air purifier that can help combat the polluted air indoors? Air purifiers are available from many companies including Panasonic, Kent, Philips, and Atlanta Healthcare.If you find your dad comfortable with smartphones, it's time to help him take the smartphone experience to another level. Introduce him to a wireless streaming device such as Google Chromecast this Father's Day and let him learn this new-age tech. This can also topped up with a streaming subscription for better results. New Delhi: US-based Amazon said it has witnessed a 250 per cent year-on-year growth in bringing new sellers on board as it looks to tap into the booming e-commerce market in India. The company, which is making multi-billion dollar investments in India, has over 85,000 sellers on board. "We started with 100 sellers three years ago and now we have over 85,000 sellers growing at 250 per cent year-on-year and adding over 90,000 products a day," an Amazon India spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Amazon, which competes with the likes of Flipkart and Snapdeal, has cut its commissions by 25-30 per cent across categories like mobile phones, PCs, electronic devices and personal care appliances. "We think these revised rates can significantly help sellers to perform even better and succeed in their business. In addition, we continue to innovate and offer best in class services such as Fulfilment by Amazon, Easy Ship, Seller Flex, etc to help them with fulfilment/logistics so that they can focus on their business," the Amazon spokesperson said. Flipkart, on the contrary, had recently increased its commissions across key segments and asked sellers to bear the costs of logistics in case of returns. Recently, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had said the company will invest $3 billion in India. This is in addition to the American e-commerce giant's $2 billion infusion in 2014, taking its total investments here to over $5 billion. The funds will be channelled towards enhancing customer and seller experience, Amazon India managing director Amit Agarwal had told PTI. "India is a key market for Amazon and we will work towards continuing to reduce operating costs for sellers backed by good logistics and fulfilment capabilities," he had added. New York: Donald Trump chipped away at Hillary Clinton's lead in the presidential race this week, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday, as the candidates clashed over how to respond to the worst mass shooting in modern US history. The poll, conducted from Monday to Friday, showed Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, with a 10.7 point lead among likely voters over Trump, her likely Republican rival in the November presidential election. That's down from a lead of 14.3 points for Clinton on Sunday, the day an American-born shooter who declared allegiance to terror group Islamic State killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Trump seized on the attack to sharpen his security proposals, saying he would block immigration to the United States from any country with a "proven history of terrorism" against America and its allies if elected. The pledge fine-tuned an earlier vow, made after the attacks last year in Paris and California, to ban the entry of all Muslims into the United States. He also called for measures to make it more difficult for suspected terrorists to obtain firearms, veering from the Republican Party's general opposition to gun control. While Trump's comments on both Muslims and guns dismayed some Republican elites, they may have cheered some voters. Some 45% Americans said they supported Trump's idea to suspend Muslim immigration, up from 41.9% at the start of the month, according to the poll. Meanwhile, about 70% Americans, including a majority of Democrats and Republicans, said they wanted to see at least moderate regulations and restrictions on guns, up from 60% in similar polls in 2013 and 2014. Clinton focussed her response to the Orlando attack on the need to boost intelligence gathering and defeat Islamic State and what she called "radical jihadist terrorism," while warning against demonising Muslim-Americans. She also repeated her calls for tougher gun control measures, including a ban on assault weapons. As usual after a major attack, "terrorism" jumped to the top concern among all adults in the poll - rising above the economy, health care and other major issues. The poll's five-day average showed that 45.5% of likely American voters supported Clinton, while 34.8% supported Trump, and another 19.7% did not support either candidate. On Sunday, Clinton's support was at 46.6% , versus Trump's 32.3%. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online with adults living in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. The political horserace poll included 1,133 likely voters and has a credibility interval, a measure of the poll's accuracy, of 3.4 percentage points. Firm buttocks held in flared jeans, her back caressed by deep black hair, the navel-length flowery shirt dressed the torso and a slender arm stretched out to buy a cup of coffee at the Abu Dhabi airport.Sipping tea, whiling away the time, as I waited to board the flight to Tehran, I started guessing nationalities, a habit you develop if you are frequently in transit. I observed the lady as the Filipino barista handed her the cuppa and wondered where she could be from.Gate number 43 was in a dingy basement and I reached just in time to board. There she was again - the Persian beauty.Flying over the Arabian sea I remembered reading Sherin Ebadi's Iran Awakening, the story of a woman through different phases of Iran's history. More than three decades after the Islamic revolution, has anything changed? what was it like for women to live in Iran in 2016?As the plane started descent, the girl had donned a longer shirt almost touching the ankle and a shawl to cover her head.A few days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Tehran, the purpose of my travel, the moral police had incarcerated eight models for posing without a head scarf.The Ministry of External Affairs in India sent us all an advisory in advance cautioning us to cover the head, wear knee-length shirts and 3/4th sleeves.A few days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Tehran, the moral police had incarcerated eight models for posing without a head scarf.In Tehran, I hit the bazaar.It's a sea of scarves, a city where a woman can't even shake hands with a man unless he is family.Thanks to the moral police, virtues in Iran are not a personal but a police affair.The moral police of Iran is infamous for oppressing women and the whispers tell you that they are never too far from scarf-less women. A bunch or two is always lurking around in crowded areas to find a prey.I don't find the moral police or rather they don't find me, but I spotted several shoe stores.In the world of fashion in Iran, it seems, shoes are the most experimented with. As I picked several pairs of 'Made in Iran' sandals, I started chatting with the Iranian women in the store.Both in India and in Iran, women are suppressed in the garb of societal norms.In India, in many households women are expected to cover their head when meeting an elder.In states like Haryana, in many villages, a social restriction called 'ghoonghat' continues to be in play, under which the women are to cover not just the head, but at times the entire face.They say it is giving respect to the elderly, but in reality it's just another sign of how a woman, her face, her looks are treated as a prized possession of the men in her life.And the admission that other men are perverts. The best way to protect yourself, is to hide yourself.The only relief is that in India it isn't legally imposed.We headed to meet a few students in American studies at Tehran university. Three scholars in black emerged.Zeinab tells me wearing a long hijab makes her feel safe. "I don't want to be seen as a woman ; just a human being, not too feminine."It worries me to hear Zeinab speak of her gender, her sexuality as a trouble maker. She wants to hide it.A colourless box, she believes guarantees her safety. Zeinab and Marzeih emphasise covering up provides them with the mobility and access denied to the generation before them.Unwittingly, the dress code imposed by the clerics post the 79 revolution, encouraged the patriarchs to send their girls to school. Wearing the veil, the girls attended religious schools and over time the number of girls attending university surpassed that of the boys.Zeinab and Marzeih come from religious families with deeply ingrained Islamic values.Now they are armed with a PhD. Is it a matter of time before they question more?Interestingly, Zeinab does not endorse the moral police arresting the models who dared to drop the head scarf and shows me pictures of several of her friends without the head scarf on the social messaging service Telegram.At a cafe in the heart of Tehran, I meet Salma, Zahra and Sanaz.In the 80's, these girls would have been arrested for wearing lipstick, missing socks or even if a strand of hair was visible.This would be committing 'bad hijabi'. Backed by the mullahs, the system was much harsher. Interpretation of modesty was left entirely to the men in the morality police.But since then, things have changed. The morality police has been forced to make concessions. The scarf is slipping.You can travel without a male family member accompanying. Some girls are rebellious enough to frequent the hukkah bars.Public display of affection between young lovers is becoming the new normal at least in the urban areas.Navigating the streets of Tehran, often you would find young boys and girls expressing a mixed bag of political views; sometimes out in the open and sometimes in a vibrant underground Tehran.From the time the Shah banned the wearing of hijab to the time Khomeini unleashed his moral police, the women of Iran and what they wear has been at the heart of Iran's politics.For the women it has been a daily battle to win the right to reveal an inch of hair, paint a toenail, gift a smile. As for me, by the time my visit ended I had had enough of the scarf.While leaving Tehran I bumped into an Indian politician also visiting Iran, he remarked, "I can't believe I am looking at you in this avatar." I responded ,"Yes, I intend on taking it off the moment I cross immigration."And I did only to be rudely ordered by the guards at the security check point to rewear it.You see this isn't a fashion accessory or a harmless tradition. I see it as a tool meant to subjugate, and I don't like being told what to wear or not. 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. One Theory on the Big Jump in Workers With Disabilities (Newser) One sip of Preservation Ale and you'll be transported to a time long pastkind of. Researchers at an Australian museum have brewed what might be the "world's oldest beer," using yeast salvaged from a bottle that spent nearly two centuries on the seafloor, they say in a press release. The bottle came from the Sydney Cove, which sank off the Australian mainland in 1790 and was salvaged in the 1990s, reports CTV News. Samples of the beer were decanted at the time of the salvaging, and they sat mostly forgotten until David Thurrowgood began working at Tasmania's Queen Victoria Museum a year-and-a-half ago. He and his team say they were able to isolate live yeast in the old beer, one they say is genetically distinct from more modern yeast species. "I thought we might be able to culture that yeast and recreate beer that hasn't been on the planet for 220 years," he tells the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The result, brewed in accordance with an 18th-century recipe, is Preservation Ale. The discovery isn't a slam dunk: Some scientists are skeptical that yeast could live that long and suggest it might have been contaminated, perhaps in the last 20 years or so after the bottle was decanted. Researchers hope to disprove the naysayers by retrieving more bottles from the wreck and repeating the results. So how does the new-old beer taste? It has a "distinctly light and fresh flavor," say the researchers. "I f I was trying to craft beer at a pub, I'd be very happy with it," one tells Mashable. (Elsewhere, the "Everest of shipwrecks" is in bad shape.) (Newser) The "happiness penalty" between parents and nonparents in the USthat is, in which nonparents report being happier than their counterpartsis wider than in any of the other 21 countries researchers have analyzed. Now those researchers say they've managed to pinpoint exactly why, and it all boils down to family support policies. "As social scientists we rarely completely explain anything, but in this case we completely" do, lead researcher Jennifer Glass tells Quartz. The researchers write that what they found "was astonishing": When there are good family support policies such as parental leave and paid vacation in place, "the parental deficit in happiness was completely eliminated, accomplished by raising parents happiness rather than lowering nonparents' happiness." The Chicago Tribune reports a slew of factors were considered: unplanned parenthood, guaranteed paid sick days, the flexibility of work schedules, and a country's GDP, things that allowed researchers to confirm that more unexpected pregnancies, bigger families, or living in a richer country weren't the drivers. "The negative effects of parenthood on happiness were entirely explained by the presence or absence of social policies allowing parents to better combine paid work with family obligations." Further, those countries with the best policy "packages had no happiness gap between parents and non-parents. Quips the Tribune, "It's almost like trying to raise children and earn a living in a country with zero weeks of guaranteed paid leave and child care that costs as much as college is draining. Who knew?" The peer-reviewed findings will appear in the American Journal of Sociology in September. (Read more parents stories.) (Newser) A man on death row in Texas has been granted a last-minute reprieve after his lawyers successfully argued he was convicted on "junk science" regarding shaken baby syndrome, Reuters reports. Robert Roberson, who had been scheduled to be executed June 21, was convicted in 2002 of murdering his 2-year-old daughter. According to the AP, Roberson's girlfriend says he was angry when he became the sole caregiver of his daughter, Nikki. That same day, Roberson brought Nikki to the hospital with serious head injuries. Doctors thought they looked intentional and called police. Nikki died the following day. While Roberson maintains Nikki was hurt falling off her bed or from a fever, experts during his trial testified that she died of shaken baby syndrome and that Roberson planned to sexually abuse her. But new research shows that what used to be taken as signs of shaken baby syndromebrain swelling and bleeding behind the eyes and on the brains surfacecan also be caused by short falls or undiagnosed medical conditions. Roberson's lawyers successfully convinced eight of the nine members on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that Roberson had been convicted on "false, misleading, and scientifically invalid testimony." Nikki never showed any outward signs, such as an injured neck, of shaken baby syndrome. Roberson's case will now go back to trial. (This boy died 12 years after being shaken as a baby.) (Newser) Oakland has gone through three top cops in nine days and the revolving door at police headquarters is now closed. When Acting Chief Paul Figueroa stepped down on Friday after just two days in the job, Mayor Libby Schaff said the department is going to be put under civilian control and she is "hoping to not have to fire anyone else anytime soon," the Los Angeles Times reports. Figueroa's predecessor, Ben Fairow, was fired after six days. Schaaf told reporters that putting the department under civilian oversight will "send a clear message about not tolerating misconduct, and to root out what is clearly a toxic, macho culture." "I am here to run a police department, not a frat house," she said. The mayor said Figueroa's departure was not connected to a growing scandal involving underage sex and murder, or to an emerging scandal involving racist text messages. Schaff said the text messagessent by African-American officerswere "wholly inappropriate and not acceptable from anyone who wears the badge of the Oakland Police Department." The San Francisco Chronicle reports that yet another Oakland police scandal emerged earlier Friday, when veteran officer Mike Gantt was accused of letting his girlfriend write some of his reports. She allegedly shared confidential information about the cases on social media. (Read more Oakland stories.) (Newser) There's still hope that the Republican National Convention might reject Donald Trump and nominate somebodyanybodyelse, according to a group of delegates. The Washington Post reports that dozens of delegates, many of them Ted Cruz supporters, are trying to get momentum behind a plan to alter convention rules and allow delegates to vote for anybody they want instead of being bound by primary or caucus results. They will need to get their proposal past the conventions rules committee when it meets in mid-July, and then have it ratified by a majority of the 2,400 delegates. That could be tough, since many delegates fear they could face retribution, and the RNC has yet to even release a full list of delegates to the July 18-21 convention, which will be held in Cleveland. The anti-Trump campaign is being led by Colorado GOP delegate Kendal Unrah. "This literally is an 'Anybody but Trump' movement," he tells the Post. "Nobody has any idea who is going to step in and be the nominee, but were not worried about that. We're just doing that job to make sure that he's not the face of our party." Sources say Cruz has already ruled himself out. Former Cruz convention adviser Saul Anuzis says that if Trump's poll numbers remain terrible, the anti-Trump delegates could be a "serious threat" to his candidacy if they are able to organize and agree on a goal. "The key is to convince the delegates that they have an option and that it's not over," he tells Politico. "If they are successful in doing that, we have a ball game." (Some sources claim Trump is only running in order to launch his own cable news channel.) (Newser) The accused killer of British lawmaker Jo Cox gave his name as "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain" in his first court appearance. Thomas Mair, 52, made his defiant statement Saturday in Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. West Yorkshire Police charged Mair overnight with murder, inflicting grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit a crime, and other gun charges, the AP reports. Labour Party lawmaker Cox was killed Thursday after getting out of her car in the town of Birstall in her home constituency. She was 41. Vigils have been held across the country in her memory and Parliament has been recalled Monday to honor her. President Obama called her husband and "offered his sincere condolences on behalf of the American people to Mr Cox and his two young children, as well as to her friends, colleagues and constituents," a White House statement said. "The president noted that the world is a better place because of her selfless service to others, and that there can be no justification for this heinous crime, which robbed a family, a community, and a nation of a dedicated wife, mother and public servant." Campaigning ahead of Thursday's referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union has been suspended since the shooting. (Mair is believed to have connections to a white supremacy group in the US.) (Newser) Iraqi special forces swept into Fallujah on Friday, recapturing most of the city as ISIS' grip crumbled after weeks of fighting. Thousands of trapped residents took advantage of the militants' retreat to flee, some swimming across the Euphrates River to safety, the AP reports. Residents described harrowing escapes even after ISIS fighters abandoned some checkpoints that had them bottled up in the city. On the river, some boats packed with people overturned in the water. Others picked their way down roads laced with hidden bombs. In some cases, ISIS allowed people to leave only if they took the jihadis' families with them. After weeks of heavy battles since the offensive began in late May, it appeared that ISIS defenses in much of the city collapsed abruptly. Aid groups estimated that 50,000 civilians were trapped inside Fallujah when the assault began several weeks ago, and they say that 30,000 to 42,000 of those have fled since then. The majority have been staying in camps in areas around the city. Iraqi government forces are now clearing mines and explosives left behind by ISIS in recently recaptured areas of Fallujah, as fighting continues in other parts of the city, an Iraqi military official says. The air force is hitting targets in the city including ISIS snipers positioned near the main hospital, Brig. Haider al-Obeidi tells the AP. Troops are advancing toward the hospital cautiously, concerned that militants stationed there may use patients as human shields, he says. (Earlier in the offensive, ISIS targeted fleeing civilians.) (Newser) A 51-year-old city worker is in jail after his wife told police he kept her locked up in their Maryland apartment for nearly three months, the Daily Times reports. According to WMDT, the unnamed woman says her imprisonment started March 26, the day they moved into the apartment in Salisbury. Her husband, Michael Austin, would allegedly lock the apartment's door with an exterior combination lock when he went to work the graveyard shift at a water treatment plant. The victim says he used a padlock on the inside of the door when he was home. The apartment's windows were locked and glued shut and a floor too high for escape anyway. While the victim was unable to leave the apartment on her own, she and Austin were seen walking together around the neighborhood. "They seemed fine, just a normal couple," an employee at a nearby coffeeshop tells the Times. "There was nothing unusual or weird about them." On Wednesday, the victim burst into that coffeeshop looking for help. She told two police officers getting coffee that she escaped when Austin fell asleep on the couch but forgot to lock the door. She was "distraught and nervous." Austin has been charged with false imprisonment and reckless endangerment. Police note the victim wouldn't be able to get out of the apartment if there was a fire or other emergency; she didn't even have access to a phone. Austin faces up to five years in prison if convicted. (Read more false imprisonment stories.) (Newser) A Colorado mom whose 5-year-old son was being attacked by a mountain lion leapt into action Friday, fighting off the animal and potentially saving the boy's life, NBC News reports. The boy was playing with his older brother in their yard about 10 miles outside of Aspen when his mother heard screaming. She ran outside to see a mountain lion attacking her young son. According to a police statement quoted by CNN, the boy's mom "physically removed her son from the mountain lion." The boy was rushed to the hospital, where he is in fair condition with injuries to his head, face, and neck. His mom suffered minor injuries to her hands and legs. Pitkin County sheriff's deputies and a US Forest Service officer found the mountain lion under some trees in the family's yard and killed it, the Aspen Times reports. Since it was still there, it was either injured or very ill, so they dispatched it, Undersheriff Ron Ryan says. They were also looking for a second mountain lion spotted in the area on Friday. Experts say it's rare to even see a mountain lion in Colorado, let alone be attacked by one. Not even a dozen people have been killed by mountain lions over the past 100 years in North America. (Read more mountain lion stories.) (Newser) An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, to death for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, the AP reports. The two Al-Jazeera employeesidentified by the judge as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilalwere sentenced to death in absentia along with Asmaa al-Khateib, who worked for Rasd, a media network widely suspected of links to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. There was no immediate comment from Al-Jazeera on Saturday's verdicts. The three other defendants sentenced to death Saturday are documentary producer Ahmed Afify, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohammed Keilany, and academic Ahmed Ismail. All six were found guilty of passing details of the army's deployment and other reports to foreign nations. "They are more dangerous than spies, because spies are usually foreigners, but these are, regrettably, Egyptians who betrayed the trust," the judge said. "No ideology can ever justify the betrayal of one's country." All of Saturday's verdicts can be appealed. (Read more Egypt stories.) / Scott Baio: Obama Might Be a Muslim Who Wants to 'Eliminate' US This is what happens when you have Chachi on Fox Business (Newser) Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is a grandmother twice over, the AP reports. Chelsea Clinton announced Saturday that she has given birth to her second child, son Aidan. The 36-year-old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and current presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her hedge fund manager husband Marc Mezvinsky have a 20-month-old daughter, Charlotte. Both Charlotte and Aidan were born at Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital. On Twitter, Chelsea Clinton said the couple is "overwhelmed with gratitude and love." Aidan is the second baby to be born to the child of a presidential candidate this year. In March, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka gave birth to her third child, son Theodore James. (Read more Chelsea Clinton stories.) (Newser) An "impatient driver" drove through the funeral procession for one of the Orlando massacre victims Saturday in Florida, injuring two sheriff's deputies, NBC News reports. The female driver "for whatever reason, refused to wait," WFTV quotes an Osceola County Sheriff's Office release as saying. ABC News reports the procession was traveling through Kissimmee, about 20 miles outside Orlando, with a full police escort. The driver was pulling out of a side street when she hit two deputies riding motorcycles, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The deputies were both hospitalized in stable condition. The woman driving the car was "distraught" and asked to be taken to the hospital though she didn't appear injured. The sheriff's office believes the crash wasn't intentional, and the driver likely wasn't paying attention. Charges against her are pending. Officials did not name which of the 49 victims of last Saturday's shooting at Pulse nightclub was being memorialized with the funeral procession. (Read more Pulse Orlando shooting stories.) An advisory group in the United States has a recommendation to make to the patients at an increased risk of colon cancer. According to the advisory group, regular colon cancer screening should begin at 50 and continue until the person has reached the age of 75. The panel of health experts has actually reiterated the recommendation last made in 2008. However, according to reports, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force stopped short of saying any one method of screening colon cancer was better than another. Former Task Force member Dr. Douglas Owens says that there are multiple methods for screening available for patients at an increased risk of colorectal cancer. They should choose any one of the available methods in consultation with their doctor and get screened regularly after they reach 50 years of age. The panel's recommendation to choose any one method of screening goes against the recommendation made by a majority of doctors who advise to get a colonoscopy done. According to physicians, colonoscopy is one of the "gold standard" test. Dr. Arun Swaminath of the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City says that there is only one test that can both diagnose polyp or cancer of the colon and sample or remove it at the same time. Swaminath believes that getting a colonoscopy done is the key because any other screening method would anyways require a colonoscopy to be done later for confirmation of cancer. For example, DNA test and CT colonoscopy eventually require a colonoscopy to confirm the problem and treat it. The American Cancer Society recommends colonoscopy to be done once every 10 years, starting at the age of 50. Or, the patient may decide to undergo other screening tests that are required to be conducted at more frequent intervals. Hyderabad: Flying cadets Bhawana Kath, Avani Chatuvedi and Mohana Singh created history today after they were commissioned as the first women fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who reviewed the passing out parade at the Indian Air Force Academy in Dundigal, formally commissioned them along with flight cadets of various branches of the IAF. The three flight cadets are all in their early 20s. Avani Chaturvedi belongs to Madhya Pradesh, Mohana Singh is from Rajasthan, while Bhawana Kanth hails from Bihar. With the Indian defence forces long opposing the induction of women in combat roles, these three women have ushered in a new chapter. "I wanted to carry on the family legacy of serving the nation by being in defence and what better way than fighter-flying," said Mohana. "I dream of being a part of future combat missions, and fight for the nation when duty calls," she added. The three women fighter pilots have cleared the first stage of training and have around 150 hours of flying. They will now get trained for six months on the Advanced Jet Fighter - the British-built Hawk. They will be be assigned fighters and their squadrons. The woman fighters will be assigned as per requirements of the force and will not get preference, Air Chief Arup Raha had said earlier. President Pranab Mukherjee had announced in February 2016 that all military combat roles will be opened to women in the future. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Return journey for a Kashmiri girl, a medical student in Bangladesh, turned horrible as she was detained at the Indira Gandhi Airport here today after security staff saw carrying bomb written on her check-in luggage. The girl, a resident of Rajbagh in Srinagar city, was taken for questioning after the security staff at the airport informed the police. She was travelling from Dhaka to Delhi via Kolkata. Officials said the incident took place when the girl and her three friends, bound for Srinagar, landed at the airport from Dhaka via Kolkata about 11:00 AM. She was questioned while security agencies carried out background check at Bangladesh and Srinagar. The girl was released after everything was found in order by the police, the officials said. The incident was flagged by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who took to Twitter and sought help from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in this regard. detention of two Kashmiri girls at Delhi airport. Their parents are very concerned. @HMOIndia @PMOIndia Any assistance and information will be greatly appreciated by their families & loved ones. Thank you in anticipation, Omar tweeted. @HMOIndia @PMOIndia The grounds, as explained to me seem rather flimsy given that they flew from Dhaka to Delhi via Kolkata & then detained, he said in another tweet. The Home Minister promptly responded with the tweet @abdullah_omar please send the details to pstohm@nic.in. Bilal Ahmad, the father of one of the girls, said that he attempted to seek the help of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti but was refused an audience with her. There were four girls who were returning from Bangladesh. They flew from Dhaka to Kolkata and then to Delhi. Their luggage was checked and cleared at all the airports, Ahmad said in Srinagar. After they were detained, the airport authorities or the police did not inform their families. We fear for their safety. We have only talked to them once so far, he said. The three other girls decided to stay put with their friend and did not board the flight to Srinagar and waited till she was released. Delhi Police released her after a few hours of questioning. However, between all this, the girls missed their connecting flight to Srinagar from Delhi and will now take a flight tomorrow, the official said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: Sole suspect Thomas Mair has been charged with murdering British MP Jo Cox and will appear in court later today, police said. Cox was attacked with a knife and a firearm outside her constituency surgery in the village of Birstall, northern England, on Thursday. Mair, 52, who is from the Yorkshire village, was arrested close to the scene. West Yorkshire Polices Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen, who is leading the investigation, said in a brief statement that Mair had been charged with a string of crimes related to Coxs death. Mair is due to appear in a central London court later Saturday. We have now charged a man with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon, he said. Thomas Mair, 52, of Birstall, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court today. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Baghdad: Iraqi forces raised the national flag over the government compound in Fallujah today, top commanders said, a breakthrough in the nearly four-week-old offensive against the Islamic State groups bastion. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi went on state television to announce that his forces were in control of the city except for a few small pockets of jihadists. They met limited resistance from IS fighters, who were fleeing the city, the commanders told AFP, leaving the organisation on the brink of losing one of the most emblematic strongholds in its two-year-old caliphate. It is the latest setback for the jihadists who have also lost territory in neighbouring Syria and in Libya in recent weeks. We promised you the liberation of Fallujah and we retook it. Our security forces control the city except for small pockets that need to be cleared within the coming hours, Abadi said. Military commanders explained that the forces had raised the flag over the government compound in the centre of the city. The liberation of the government compound, which is the main landmark in the city, symbolises the restoration of the states authority in Fallujah, federal police chief Raed Shaker Jawdat told AFP.The overall commander of the operation, Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, said that Iraqi forces have now liberated 70 percent of the city. Significant parts of northern Fallujah, where thousands of civilians are believed to remain, have yet to be retaken. In December 2015, Abadi announced the liberation of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province where Fallujah lies, but it took several more weeks of fighting to establish full control. In the deserted, recently reconquered neighbourhoods of the insurgent bastion known in Iraq as the City of Mosques, elite forces were consolidating positions, stocking up on food and weapons. Dozens of bodies of dead IS fighters were left to rot under blankets amid the rubble of homes destroyed by air strikes, rockets or controlled explosions of the hundreds of bombs the jihadists themselves laid across the city. Fallujah, just 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad, is one of ISs key historical bastions and its loss would leave Mosul as the only major Iraqi city under its control. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Sushant Singh Rajput remains in news more for his personal life than professional. There were rumours about his linkup with his Raabta co-star Kriti Sanon soon after he broke up with long-time girlfriend Ankita Lokhande. However, Sushant and Kriti remained mum about their relationship status. But now pictures from the film sets in Budapest have created speculation about their possible relationship. The PK actor has shared a selfie with Kriti on Instagram. Notably, the actor had deleted his Instagram his account after his split with Ankita. And now, he has made a comeback on Instagram with a selfie with his Raabta co-star. This has added fuel to the fire. According to reports, there is not just a friendship between the two stars and that the rumoured couples may soon declare their relationship. "Kriti has also been going around telling everyone how she is in her happiest phase right now," a source close to Raabta told Bollywoodlife. Sushant has earlier told PTI in an interview that there is some spark in her and Sushants chemistry. "There was something special, something you can't describe in words. There was a connect, a spark, some chemistry between me and Sushant even though that was the first time we met," she said. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : The perfectionist Aamir Khan has done it again. The superstar has shed a few kilos to slip into his role as a young wrestler for his upcoming film Dangal. The 51-year-old who had put on 25 kgs to play wrestler Mahavir Phogat, is now losing the same amount of weight to play the young Phogat in the movie. For the movie Dangal, Aamir had to shed 25 kgs in 25 weeks. He has been investing a lot of time and energy in this highly anticipated movie. Aamir will be seen playing different ages of his character in the film which is likely to release around Christmas in December. The actors spokesperson said, Aamir Khan has gone through series of sizes as he had to put on 25 kgs and again he will be going through series of sizes. The movie has been directed by Nitesh Tiwari, who has directed films like Bhootnath Returns, Kill Dil etc. Besides, during the course of making of the film, Aamirs body has endured transitions due to which he has plenty of oversized clothes. The actor has now decided to donate his clothes to charity. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: The conversion to Islam of a 14-year-old girl from Kalasha community, Pakistans smallest religious minority, has sparked clashes between majority Muslims and a few thousand remaining members of the animist tribe. Nestled in the picturesque Chitral valley, the Kalasha people, who follow an ancient animistic religion and number only around 3,000, had claimed that the teenage girl was lured to convert to Islam. However, a district official today said that the girl has recorded her statement before the court that she converted out of her own free will. Yesterday, clashes were reported between Muslims and the Kalasha people after the girl returned back to her family amid reports that she was lured and coerced to convert to Islam. According to eye witnesses, a mob of few hundred Muslim men attacked a house in the Kalash tribes valley of Bumburate in the northern district of Chitral after the girl returned and police had to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd. Chitral Deputy Commissioner Usama Waraich said that the situation was now under control and the issue has been resolved as both local Muslims and Kalasha people have agreed to respect the girls decision. However, some elders of the Kalasha community still claim that the girl was forcefully converted and demand an impartial probe into the matter. Kalasha people mostly live in Bamburate, Birir and Rambur regions of Chitral, a northern district in the troubled Khyber-Pukhtunkwa province. The closely-knit community with its distinctive language, colourful dresses, songs and dances and elaborate rituals, has long been an anomaly in the Muslim-majority Pakistan and are under increased threat from militants who want to convert them to Islam. Local legends also connect Kalasha people to the descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great, who passed this area in 326 BC during Alexanders India campaign. Some of the soldiers settled in the cold climes of the scenic Chitral valley after Alexander abruptly ended his India campaign and decided to return back to Greece, local folk-lore say. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Los Angeles: The release of the sequel of The Lego Movie has been postponed to February 8, 2019. Earlier, the Warner Bros movie was set to release in 2017 before being moved to May 18, 2018, reported Us magazine. However, The Lego Movie franchise will release Ninjago on September 23 this year and The Lego Batman Movie on February 10, 2017 in US theatres. Warner Bros Pictures has also pushed Gerard Butlers Geostorm to October 20, 2017 initially scheduled to release on March 25, 2016. The sci-fi adventure film, which marks Dean Devlins directorial debut, has rescheduled its release date twice. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: India's proclaimed offender in a money laundering case Vijay Mallya was on Saturday spotted at a book launch event in UK. The event was organised by London School of Economics this week, which was attended by Indian High Commissioner Navtej Sarna. Social media was in a frenzy after it emerged that Sarna, who was one of the special guests at the event on Thursday evening to mark the launch of socialite Suhel Seths new book, was also present at the event when the business tycoon arrived. As television news channels showed pictures of Sarna and Mallya in the hall where the event was held, questions were raised over the presence of the high commissioner at an event where a personality wanted by enforcement agencies in India was also present. Suhel Seth contended that it was an open event at the LSE, where anyone could come because of the open invitation, Mallya was not invited and he probably came on his own. And to the subsequent event at the high commission reception neither was he invited nor was he present. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also got into the act when it issued a statement, saying Sarna left the event without waiting for the interactive session after he spotted Mallya. When the High Commissioner spotted Mallya in the audience he left the stage and venue immediately after making his comments and without waiting for the interactive session, the MEA said in the statement. The MEA said, there were two clear segments the book launch by UK Minister Jo Johnson and discussion at LSE and later a reception at the High Commission for select guests. The list of invitations for the LSE event was determined by LSE. They have written to the High Commissioner that Mallya was not on their list. They have also said that the event was advertised widely through social media and attendees were not required to register in advance. Mallya was certainly not an invitee to the reception at the High Commission for which the invitations were issued by the High Commission, and was not present. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Beirut: Islamic State group jihadists have launched a wave of suicide and car bombings to defend a besieged stronghold in northern Syria against US-backed fighters, a monitor said today. A Kurdish-Arab alliance last week encircled the city of Manbij and severed a key supply route used by IS from the Turkish border to the jihadists de facto Syrian capital, Raqa. But since then the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by US air strikes, have been slowed by almost daily suicide bombings by IS, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Yesterday, IS carried out two suicide attacks and five car bombings in the southwestern suburbs of Manbij, according to the British-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground. The number of casualties was unknown. The operation has also been complicated by the presence of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the city, although more than 1,000 have managed to escape with the help of the SDF. On Friday, six members of the same family were killed when they were targeted by jihadists while fleeing, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. SDF commanders have accused IS of using civilians as human shields. Southeast of Manbij, regime forces backed by Russian air strikes have also faced IS counterattacks after advancing towards another jihadist bastion, Tabqa. The town lies around 50 kilometres west of Raqa city, and recapturing it would cut a key supply route. The army is now reported to be 15 kilometres away from Tabqas military airport. The Syrian conflict has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government demonstrations. It has evolved into a multi-sided civil war involving a range of combatants including Western- and Gulf-backed rebels, jihadists, Kurds and pro-regime forces supported by Russia and Iran. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Ahmedabad: Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party is all set to try its luck in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home turf Gujarat. Reliable sources have confirmed that Arvind Kejriwal-led party will be contesting Assembly Elections in Gujarat in 2017. Making his first mark, Arvind Kejriwal would embark on a two-day visit to Gujarat on July 8. He is also scheduled to hold a rally on July 9. In a bid to gain strong foothold in the state, Aam Aadmi Party has also appointed Delhi's Gulab Singh as the central in-charge of Gujarat affairs. The move comes as an open challenge from Kejriwal to PM Modi. There have been several occasions where Kejriwal has compared his Delhi model of development to Modi's Gujarat model and called the latter a "myth". Earlier, he had locked horns with PM in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in Varanasi constituency. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : An interesting study has revealed that it is possible for Aliens to contact us on Earth. Researchers say that aliens may take another 1,500 years to contact us as Earths physical attributes are not unique making it difficult for the extra-terrestrials to locate us. We havent heard from aliens yet, as space is a big place but that doesnt mean no one is out there, said Evan Solomonides, from the Cornell University in the US. Its possible to hear any time at all, but it becomes likely we will have heard around 1,500 years from now, said Solomonides. Until then, it is possible that we appear to be alone - even if we are not. But if we stop listening or looking, we may miss the signals. So we should keep looking, he said. Astronomers from Cornell University deconstructed the Fermi Paradox and paired it with the Mediocrity Principle into a fresh equation. According to the Fermi Paradox, billions of Earth-like planets exist in our galaxy, yet no aliens have contacted or visited us. Thus the paradox: the cosmos teems with possibility. The mediocrity principle - proposed by 16th-century mathematician Copernicus - states that the Earths physical attributes are not unique, as natural processes are likely common throughout the cosmos, and therefore aliens would not discover us for a while. Hunting for extraterrestrials means sending out signals like television broadcasts, for example. As Earths electronic ambassador, TV and radio signals are sent into space as a byproduct of broadcasting.These signals have been travelling from Earth for 80 years at the speed of light. For aliens receiving these transmissions, they would likely be indecipherable, said Solomonides, as the extraterrestrials would need to decode light waves into sounds, then parse 3,000 human languages to grasp the message. Earths broadcast signals have reached every star within about 80 light years from the Sun - about 8,531 stars and 3,555 Earth-like planets, as our Milky Way galaxy alone contains 200 billion stars, researchers said. Combining the equations for the Fermi Paradox and the mediocrity principle, the researchers suggest that the Earth might hear from an alien civilisation when about half of the Milky Way Galaxy has been signalled in about 1,500 years. (With inputs from PTI) For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bhopal: A cub was killed by a tiger in Madhya Pradeshs Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) taking toll of big cat deaths in the state to 19 since January this year. The cub, 3 to 4 month-old cub was killed yesterday by a tiger in the reserve, acting BTR field director Sunil Kumar Agrawal told PTI. With this, three tigers have been reported dead in the state in the last six days. Earlier this month, two big cats died on June 11 and June 16 at Panna Tiger Reserve and Kanha Tiger Reserve, respectively. Since January this year, a total of 19 tigers have died in the wild, according to figures on National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) website. On January 2, a tiger death was reported at the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR). Three big cats comprising a tigress and its two cubs were poisoned to death in the core area of Pench Tiger Reserve on March 28. A maximum of seven deaths were reported from Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR), followed by five and three in PTR and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, respectively. Two deaths were reported from Chhindwara district separately where in one case, carcass of the tiger was recovered on April 5. One death was reported from the wild of Shahdol on February 22. Meanwhile, Ajay Dubey, founder secretary of NGO Paryatna, which works for tiger conservation, demanded a judicial inquiry into the 19 deaths of big cats in last six months. Dubey claimed that out of at least 49 deaths of big cats in the country since January this year, 19 have been reported from MP, which is alarming. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: After Raghuram Rajan made clear that he is not looking forward for a second term as RBI Governor, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi loaded his guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows everything. He has no need for experts like Raghuram Rajan," said Gandhi in a tweet. In another tweet, he thanked Rajan for his role in steering the country's economy in "difficult times". "Thank you Dr Rajan for steering the economy in difficult times. People like you make India great," another post on his twitter handle @OfficeOfRG said. Earlier, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said no to a second term, in a surprise announcement putting at rest all speculation over his continuance. "On due reflection, and after consultation with the government, I want to share with you that I will be returning to academia when my term as Governor ends on September 4, 2016," Rajan said in a message to the RBI staff. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir government has warned that Amarnath Yatra that starts from July 2 may face disruption from militants and Pakistan sympathizers. Pakistan, anti-national elements and terrorists would not like this (Amarnath) yatra to go on smoothly. They will definitely try to create disturbances but we are prepared and have taken all the aspects into consideration. The army and other security agencies have be put on high alert, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh told reporters after holding a high-level meeting to review law and order situation in Jammu region. Singh said the elements behind the desecration of two temples in Jammu city may try to vitiate the atmosphere and cautioned people to remain vigilant as such incidents could happen in future as well. As the yatra is going to begin and tourist season is on, such elements are trying to vitiate the atmosphere, Singh said. He said the government will not allow anybody to communalise the situation to disturb peace in the state. Various agencies are investigating the matter and the government was monitoring the situation closely, he said. Asked whether the incidents could have been sponsored from across the border, he said such a thing cannot be ruled out. Pakistan, ISI or the people who are working here on their behest may try to fuel communalism in Jammu province as the region comparatively remained peaceful in all these years. However, till now we have not found any such lead. The police is working on it, he said. Responding to a question regarding the establishment of separate colonies for Kashmiri Pandits and the ex-servicemen, he said there was nothing unethical in setting up of such colonies. This is a much debated issue and I should say it is no issue at all, Singh said. Some people are trying to create a mountain out of a mole. The colony is not only for KPs but for all displaced people, including KPs, Muslim migrants, Sikhs and others. We cannot push them to the areas where they will have to face the same situation as was seen 25 years ago, he said, adding the people can go back to their places once they feel it safe. He said setting up the Sainak colony was in no way illegal as it was exclusively for ex-servicemen from the state. As far as the Sainik colony is concerned, this demand is not coming from ex-servicemen from other parts of the country. I am told that about 5,000 ex-servicemen are living in Kashmir and if people from media, teachers, bureaucrats can ask colonies, I think it is not illegal or unethical on part of the ex-servicemen to demand such a colony, he said, however, he was quick to add that the government is yet to identify the land for the colony. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Because Congress is AWOL, state and local governments are moving to limit drone use amid rising privacy complaints (BigGovernment.news) By now youve probably seen one of those obnoxious little drones buzzing over your neighborhood and have wondered why it is that an equally obnoxious neighbor gets to violate your privacy at will. Well, youre not alone. Thing is, lots of people have been wondering the same thing. Also, they have been wondering when Congress was going to take up the issue and do what should have been done a long time ago: Put some limitations on when and where these things can be used. Maybe Washington is waiting for one of them to bring down an airliner first. Or maybe a medical helicopter. Well, some state and local officials are tired of fielding complaints from ticked off residents and airline captains and they are also tired of waiting for Congress to something. So, as reported by AMI News, in a bid to shield citizens from privacy invasions by rapidly advancing surveillance technologies, state and local lawmakers are updating antiquated laws to help ensure that Fourth Amendment protections are not discarded like e-waste in the digital age. In the New York Assembly last week, a bill requiring law enforcement to obtain a warrant before gaining access to information in cellphones, computers and other digital devices advanced to the Rules Committee. And in New Hampshire, a conference committee is currently working to iron out differences among state lawmakers on a plan to regulate the use of drones in surveillance activities Rashida Richardson, legislative counsel for the New York Civil Liberties Union, told AMI Newswire Monday that the New York privacy bill likely will not pass this year because the states legislative session ends this week. Supporters, however, are moving to position the bill for passage next year. Our greatest hope is that it moves to the floor this week, which is still possible, Richardson said, adding that other states, including New Jersey and Virginia, have introduced similar privacy bills. The advance of privacy legislation comes as tech companies, civil liberties groups and libertarian-leaning advocacy groups form coalitions in support of such bills, and as local and state lawmakers seem uncertain about the prospect of Congress taking up surveillance protections. Recently, one federal privacy protection measure hit a roadblock in the U.S. Senate after sailing through the House of Representatives with unanimous support. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) decided to withdraw the Email Privacy Act from consideration after senators on the Judiciary Committee attempted to add an amendment allowing the FBI access to electronic communications data without a judges intervention. The original bill would have eliminated the current federal rule allowing warrantless searches of emails older than six months. Unfortunately, some senators on the committee have decided late in the day that this bill should be a vehicle to move an unrelated and controversial expansion of the use of national security letters by the FBI, Lee told the committee. Such an expansion would swallow up the protections this bill offers to the American people. In the wake of the bills withdrawal, the chief executive officer of the free market-oriented advocacy group FreedomWorks, Adam Brandon, said in a prepared statement: The House overwhelmingly approved these reforms, 419-0, to modernize the Fourth Amendment. Its unfortunate that these popular reforms have been jeopardized by those who are seeking to expand the reach of government rather than protect the constitutionally protected rights of Americans. Some local governments, meanwhile, have had more success at placing limitations on government investigative powers. In Santa Clara, California, the board of supervisors last week unanimously approved provisions that will limit criminal justice agencies such as the sheriffs department and district attorneys office from acquiring surveillance technologies without first justifying their use to the elected board. The new ordinance is aimed at ensuring privacy rights are protected from technologies, such as drones, cellphone trackers and car license plate readers. Among the technologies that have generated concern among civil liberties groups are so-called stingrays, which track suspects cellphones but also have the ability to gather information about nearby cellphone users. Such policies, however, have received a cool reception from some law enforcement officials. Santa Clara Sheriff Laurie Smith told the board of supervisors prior to their vote on the surveillance technology ordinance that, the policy is very, very broad and I think its onerous. I hope it doesnt hurt our ability to get technology and utilize technology and share and communicate with other law enforcement entities, including getting their assistance on investigations. The senator who authored the controversial amendment to the federal Email Privacy Act, John Cornyn (R-Texas), argued that FBI Director James Comeys No. 1 legislative priority has been to ensure that the agency continues to have the ability to secure national security letters, which are federal subpoenas issued without judicial approval to deal with national security threats. Cornyn told the Senate Judiciary Committee that his amendment would only apply to access to metadata, such as email addresses, and not content. The amendment enjoys the support of the majority of members of this committee, he said. One reason that local and state lawmakers are moving to strengthen privacy rights is that, historically, federal laws in the area of privacy and consumer protection have not stopped states from raising the bar. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., federal privacy laws have not pre-empted stronger state protections or enforcement efforts. Federal consumer protection and privacy laws, as a general matter, operate as regulatory baselines and do not prevent states from enacting and enforcing stronger state statutes. In New York, the Assembly Codes Committee on Wednesday passed the bill by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) on a 13-6 vote, advancing it to the Rules Committee. Im proud to be standing up for the fundamental constitutional rights of New Yorkers, Dinowitz said in a prepared statement. Waiting for Congress to take action is simply not an option. The bill, which has the support of the New York Civil Liberties Union, would require that warrants be specific in describing the electronic data being sought and that law enforcement give notice to the target of the issued warrant. Richardson, of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said during an online discussion on the Reddit website that a coalition of interests, including technology companies, was behind such privacy bills. Consumer interest in privacy has definitely fueled this, but I also think tech companies understand that innovation will not be stunted by adequate privacy and civil liberties protections. The New Hampshire bill would require that public agencies within the state obtain a court order before using drones for surveillance activities and to gather evidence against suspected law breakers. Drones could be deployed without warrants by agencies during emergency situations, however, such as to help prevent the escape of a criminal suspect. This issue should not be difficult to fix, and yet it is for some reason, at least at the federal level. While generally speaking less government is better, in this case there certainly is a role for governments to play in regulating the use of these privacy-stealing and potentially dangerous objects because obviously, many of their owners are not mature or capable enough to police themselves. More: Submit a correction >> This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Contributed photo / New York State Police Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Contributed photo / New York State Police Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Contributed photo / New York State Police Show More Show Less 5 of 5 Three Connecticut teens face a slew of drug charges after New York Police caught them with marijuana, mushrooms, LSD, ecstasy, alcohol and fake IDs, police said. Police stopped a blue jeep driven by Matthew M. Dinucci, 19 of Ridgefield, on the Taconic State Parkway in New York for speeding at 75 m.p.h., police said. Troopers smelled marijuana and then searched the car after finding out that the registration was expired. Its got to feel pretty good when you have a vote of confidence from Mark Zuckerberg. This week, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the fund currently worth $48 billion overseen by the Facebook co-founder and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan, made its first investment, leading a $24 million funding round for Andela, a 2-year-old startup that trains software developers in Nigeria and Kenya and places them with big name tech companies that include Microsoft, Google and yes, Facebook. Jeremy Johnson, the co-founder and CEO of the company, says that the missions of Andela and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative are closely aligned. "I was impressed by their dedication to wanting to unlock human potential around the world," he told Entrepreneur. "We care about the same things." Related: 5 Steps You Should Take to Prepare for Facebook's 'All Video' Future "We're operating on a continent with 1.1 billion people, [a population] that's also the youngest and fastest growing in the world. We have a lot of work to do," Johnson says. "We're going to continue expanding the pipeline in our existing countries, which means growth in Nigeria and Kenya." Johnson says Andela plans to launch in a third country, with an announcement to come sometime this fall. The 31-year-old founder's previous company, 2U, an online degree platform that partners with institutions such as Georgetown and University of Southern California, went public in 2014. The idea for Andela first came into view before 2U's initial public offering when Johnson was invited to Nairobi to give a talk on the state of online education around the world. Related: Facebook Will Start Scanning 10,000 Posts a Second to Make Comments Less Terrible Upon seeing the tech talent there, Johnson was inspired. He says that his initial thought was that he would help fund the company that ultimately became Andela, but not be a part of the company's day-to-day growth. "After my first trip to Lagos, I spent a day interviewing the finalists for our first pilot class," he says. "I realized I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I had to do it." Johnson has high hopes for the company's future. "Ten years down the road is how we think of it. I think people overestimate what is possible in a year and tragically underestimate what can be done in 10," he says. "I think we have the ability to literally launch 100,000 amazing developers across the continent. And the process changed the way the tech world thinks about where engineers come from and what they look like." Related: Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Prepare yourself: The Trump train is rolling through Texas. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee arrived in Dallas on Thursday evening for a fundraiser at Gilleys nightclub. The following day hell make his way to the Bayou City. On Friday, Donald Trump heads to Houston for an afternoon fundraiser hosted by lawyer Tony Buzbee in River Oaks, one of the richest neighborhoods in the metro area. The tickets for the event cost between $5,400 and $250,000. When that wraps up, Trump will boogey on up to The Woodlands for a rally at the Waterway Marriot Hotel and Convention Center. SEE THIS: Who is Tony Buzbee, the mysterious man who is hosting Donald Trumps Houston fundraiser What to expect? Well, youve seen the news. Trump and his rowdy rallies have been ubiquitous since he skyrocketed toward the top of GOP polls last summer. His campaign events have been marked by chaos, Trumps theatricality and on occasion violence. At the least, one should expect brash protests, intense security, profanity-laced slurs from supporters (and perhaps bigoted remarks from the candidate himself), yuuuuuge traffic jams and, really, a political event unlike anyone has ever seen before. One hopes the city is prepared to keep everything under control. Theres no better way to prepare for whats about to become than by taking a glimpse at Trumps past rallies throughout the country- and the surreal scenes that accompany this historic campaign. See 30 of the craziest and most bizarre rally moments from the Trump presidential campaign. Moto G4 Plus to be released in Canada on June 22 New Delhi, Sat, 18 Jun 2016 NI Wire Moto G4 Plus All Set For A Grand Release In Canada on June 22. Itss price is expected to be $450 Moto G4 Plus has been in news since long and people have been eagerly waiting for the makers to give some hint about G4 Plus release. And now, after so much of wait, Motorola finally set out the word regarding G4 Plus release in Canada. The Lenovo-owned Motorola had earlier revealed during the launch of the device that G4 Plus, which is a budget smartphone, would come to Canada but they had not revealed the date of release. In India, Moto G4 Plus was released along with its lower-end sibling, the Moto G, in May. It has sought the attention of smartphone lovers with its imposing specifications, particularly the camera Reports state that Moto G4 Plus will be launched in Canada on Wednesday (June 22, 2016). The mid-range device is predictable to come to Canada through carriers like Bell, Virgin, Koodo, Telus, Rogers, Wind Mobile and Sasktel. Moto G4 Plus: What It Has In Store? Moto G4 Plus has got good reviews in India which had made everyone to predict that it will find a good customer base in Canada pertaining to many reasons. So let us here check out the impressive specifications Moto G4 Plus has to offer which will lure the customers. Firstly, if we talk of the display then G4 Plus wins heart with its beautifully designed body featuring 5.5-inch display with 1,080x1,920 pixels (401 ppi pixel density). At the software part, the device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor. It runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and is available in two different models based on storage size. One of its variant has 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM while the other model comes with 32GB internal memory and 3GB RAM. Talking of the battery, G4 Plus houses a 3,000mAh battery which comes with the Turbo charger. Camera: The Most Eye Catching Feature in G4 Plus Next we have the camera which has already won many praises from users. It is truly a photographers delight as the picture quality and camera are superb. The device comes with a 16MP camera with OmniVision Pure Cel Plus sensor, PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus) and dual-LED flash. For selfies it has a 5MP camera with wide-angle lens. Fascinatingly, DxOMark, a website that is known for mobile phone camera review, gave the Moto G4 Plus a rating of 84 for exposure and contrast, 85 for colour, 91 for autofocus, 85 for texture, 86 for noise, 85 for artifacts and 77 for flash, which took its total still image score to 85. This score of G4 Plus is said to be pretty higher than that of more popular smartphones like the iPhone 6s (83), iPhone 6s Plus (84), Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (84), and Samsung Galaxy S5 (80). The device has certainly all features and a specification one looks for in a good smartphone and the price is also justified to the features it has. G4 Plus has made us happy and we hope that it will succeed in Canada too! Media Statement by The President of India upon the conclusion of his state visit to Ghana New Delhi, Sat, 18 Jun 2016 NI Wire Media Statement by The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee upon the conclusion of his state visit to Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire And Namibia en route from Windhoek To New Delhi Following is the full text of the statement to media by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee upon the conclusion of his State visit to Ghana, Cote dIvoire and Namibia (June 12 to 18, 2016). The statement was made on board the aircraft during the Presidents return to New Delhi from Windhoek yesterday (June 17, 2016): I have concluded successful State visits to Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Namibia from June 12-18, 2016. My delegation included Shri Jitendra Singh, Minister of State and two Members of Parliament, Shri SS Ahluwalia and Shri Mansukh Lal Mandaviya. Senior officials of Rashtrapati Bhavan and MEA were also part of my delegation. My visits to Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire were the first ever by an Indian President. The visit to Namibia was the second by an Indian President and after a gap of 21 years. These visits reflect the importance that India attaches to enhancing our bilateral relations with these important countries of Africa. They also indicate our determination to provide fresh momentum to India's engagement with Africa in follow up to the successful organization of the Third India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-III) in New Delhi in October, 2015. The warmth with which I was received in all these three countries is testament to the unparalleled and historic bonds of friendship that exist between India and Africa. We seek today to build on this strong foundation and forge new relationships based on shared values for mutual benefit. The visits were an opportunity for me to reiterate that India will always stand by Africa. I was happy to note the good utilization of past assistance from India. I urged the governments of the three countries to take maximum advantage of announcements made by India for Africa during IAFS-III, especially the US $ 10 billion additional concessional lines of credit, enhanced ITEC and ICCR scholarships as well as US $ 600 million grant assistance. I briefed the leaderships of these countries on the initiatives of our Government in various fields and explored avenues for enhanced cooperation in the bilateral, regional and international context. I raised the need for reforms of the United Nations, particularly the UN Security Council. There was agreement that the present structure, does not reflect current realities and that reforms have been delayed for too long. The leaders of all three countries expressed the view that there is need for urgent reform of the UN. India, with one-sixth of worlds population as well as the African continent must be represented in the UN Security Council. In my interaction, I highlighted the danger posed by terrorism to the entire civilized world. I conveyed that the scourge of terrorism must be fought jointly, without any distinction between good and bad terrorism. I called for an early conclusion of negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT). My views were fully endorsed by all interlocutors. All three countries sought increased investments from India to tap the full potential of trade and economic relations. I assured them that both public and private sector companies in India are enthusiastic about the opportunities in their countries. I requested them to create a conducive environment for investment and initiate a dialogue with our industry. I interacted with the Indian community in all three countries complimented them on the goodwill and high reputation they enjoy in their host countries. I urged them to continue to serve as an important bridge between the people of India and their host countries. Ghana India shares a long historical relationship with Ghana that goes back to its pre-independence days. Our relations are rooted in the shared global vision of our founding fathers, the mutual goodwill between our peoples and the values of democracy, pluralism and inclusiveness. I met President John Dramani Mahama, as well as all his key ministers. I found tremendous goodwill and strong desire to further strengthen relations with India. Three agreements/ MOUs were signed on exemption from visa requirement for holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports, on the establishment of a Joint Commission and between the Foreign Service Institutes of the two countries. We decided that current level of trade does not reflect the potential of bilateral trade and should be increased to at least US $ 5 billion by 2020. I paid floral tributes at the mausoleum of Ghana's founding President and father of the nation, late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who along with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and others, founded the Non-Aligned Movement. I unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in the University of Ghana. I also planted a sapling at the Flagstaff House, the Ghanaian Presidential Complex which is an iconic building constructed with Indian assistance. I addressed a Joint Business Forum where I highlighted the fact that Brand India is a trusted name across countries as it adds value to local resources while rejuvenating and invigorating local companies. It brings appropriate technologies and has the adaptability to absorb local talent. I also addressed the students and faculty of the University of Ghana where I pointed out that the quest for innovation and yearning for positive change of young minds are the critical mass around which nations hopes and aspirations are built. I called for a brighter, innovative and updated narrative of India-Ghana relations. My itinerary included an interaction with the students, faculty and alumni of India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of IT excellence, a wonderful example of what India Africa collaboration can achieve. I was happy to learn that the Centre is focused on research and application of science & ICT for finding local solutions to national issues. I told them India is committed to working with partners in Africa in all areas where we can help them use and adopt relevant, cost effective technologies, share best practices and realize their goals of technological development. Leaders of Ghana expressed interest in expanding cooperation across the board, including in new areas like civil nuclear energy, renewable energy, SME sector, railways and sustainable agriculture. In view of the good utilization of our capacity building programmes and their popularity, I announced an increase in ITEC slots from 250 to 300 and ICCR scholarships from 16 to 40. I also announced further assistance of US $ 1 million for the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre for IT excellence. The Government of Ghana expressed deep appreciation for India's generous developmental assistance which amounts to approximately US $ 450 million in the last 5-6 years. India enjoys excellent relations with the entire political leadership of Ghana. I wished its people the very best for a peaceful and successful conduct of elections in Ghana in November, 2016. Cote d'Ivoire I was received in Cote d'Ivoire, with great warmth and affection by President Alassane Ouattara. The entire cabinet was also present at the airport to receive me. President Ouattara conferred on me the highest national honour, the Grande Croix Commandeur in the National Merit Order. I accepted, the same with humility, on behalf of the people of India. I was accorded a civic reception by the Governor of Abidjan in the presence of distinguished citizens and traditional chiefs of the city. They presented me a symbolic key to the city of Abidjan, conferred honorary citizenship and made me an Advisor to the traditional chiefs, with the name Assito which means The Example. I addressed a Joint Business Forum where agreements were signed between the CII and CEPICI as well as between Tata Motors and SUTRA for supply of 500 buses. A Headquarters agreement for opening of a regional office of EXIM Bank of India in Abidjan was signed during the visit. The Cote d'Ivoire leadership acknowledged and appreciated India's developmental assistance. India has till date extended lines of credit amounting to US $ 136.2 million in diverse fields such as agriculture processing, transport, rural electrification and transmission, fisheries etc. We agreed during the visit to work to double current bilateral trade by 2020, taking it to around US $ 2 billion. It was decided to organize a meeting of the Joint Commission later this year to follow up on discussions held during the visit and to identify new areas to further strengthen bilateral ties between our two countries, especially trade and economic relations. We agreed to deepen cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism. I extended an invitation to President Ouattara to pay a State visit to India which he happily accepted. Namibia I interacted with President Dr. Hage Geingob, Prime Minister Dr Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, and a large number of senior Ministers in Namibia. It was a particular privilege to renew my acquaintance with founding President and father of the nation, Sam Nujoma and to meet former President Hifikepunye Pohamba. I was deeply honoured to be invited to address a Joint Session of the Namibian Parliament. I pointed out in my speech that the India-Namibia relationship has been built on the firm foundation of mutual trust and understanding. I called for increased parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. I found in all my meetings with the Namibian leadership gratitude towards India for the diplomatic and moral support given during its independence struggle. I briefed the Namibian leadership on the initiatives of our Government in various fields. We explored possibilities of new synergy in areas such as defence, energy, minerals and IT. We also discussed the need to expand cooperation in renewable energy, agriculture, capacity building, development cooperation and multilateral issues such as UN reforms, terrorism, climate change and sustainable development. I raised the issue of supply of Uranium to India and was assured by President Geingob that Namibia would explore ways to supply the same. It was agreed that a technical team from both sides would meet at the earliest to discuss the way forward. I laid a wreath at Heroes' Acre, a memorial to Namibian men and women who fought for its independence and visited the Independence Memorial Museum. I also addressed the Namibia University of Science & Technology where I highlighted Indias achievements in the field of education, economy, agriculture and science & technology. I called on students to create a vibrant new landscape of innovation and technological development in Namibia. I announced an increase of ITEC slots from 125 to 200, a grant of US$ 20,000 for the Indira Gandhi Maternity Clinic, assistance of 1000 tonnes of rice for mitigating the drought situation as well as 100 tonnes of essential medicines. Two MOUs were signed in my presence between the Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management (NIPAM) and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) and on the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology in Namibia. Conclusion I believe my visits to these three countries have helped reinvigorate our already strong and time-tested bilateral relations. They provide fresh momentum to our overall relations with Africa. We have through these visits conveyed the message that India takes its engagement with Africa seriously and intends to follow up with determination on the announcements made at IAFS III. India is committed to further consolidate our cooperation with all African countries. Drawing lessons from our own colonial experience, we will continue to focus on capacity building, with a view to strengthening their self-reliance. We will remain an active partner in Africas nation building efforts even as we strengthen our political, economic and trade relations with all 54 countries of the continent. Source: PIB One Chizoba Maduegbunam, a 17-year-old girl, Chizoba Maduegbunam, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly abduct... One Chizoba Maduegbunam, a 17-year-old girl, Chizoba Maduegbunam, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly abducting a little child in the Oto-Awori area of the State.The suspect was nabbed by community members on Thursday while attempting to abduct the child and handed over to the police.According to a resident, Maduegbunam was first taken to the palace of the traditional ruler of the area, the Oni-Ijanikin, who invited the police and handed her over to the law enforcement officers from the Ijanikin Division of the State Police Command.The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Supol Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident, saying the case is currently under investigation. A Somalia court on Saturday sentenced 43 Islamist militants to death in the north-eastern city of Garowe in Puntland region for their ro... A Somalia court on Saturday sentenced 43 Islamist militants to death in the north-eastern city of Garowe in Puntland region for their role in recent attacks on the region.Abdullahi Hersi Eed, Puntlands Regional Attorney General, said the court sentenced the militants to death for their role in the attack, which left 24 soldiers dead and another 73 wounded in the region.The militants were members of al-Shabaab, an organisation of Sunni extremists that has been fighting for the domination of Somalia for years, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.The Islamist insurgents want to set up a theocracy in the country.Al The defendants were given one month to appeal the verdict.All of the defendants admitted their guilt, insisting they took part in the recent attacks, Hersi Eed said.The court delayed the hearings of two militants, who were under 16 years old.(NAN) Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday donated relief materials to 500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Maidu... Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday donated relief materials to 500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri to enable them observe the ongoing Ramadan Fast with ease.The distribution was carried out on her behalf by Nana Shettima, wife of Borno state governor and chairperson of the committee on distribution of relief materials.Buhari said that the gesture was to ease the pains of IDPs taking refuge in host communities.It is very heartwarming that the committee is reaching out to victims affected by the Boko Haram insurgency across the state, Shettima said.We have also assisted victims of the insurgency in various hospitals and healthcare centres across the state, to ease their hardship,.She urged wealthy individuals to assist the less-privileged in the society. By now, you probably have watched the viral video of the town hall meeting organized by the ministry of masquerade dressing (otherwise k... By now, you probably have watched the viral video of the town hall meeting organized by the ministry of masquerade dressing (otherwise known as ministry of information) in Uyo the Akwa Ibom state capital. At that event, the mild mannered minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, proved that you should not judge a book by its cover as he publicly took on the minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi and gave him an answer that could not be responded to.Amaechi, in response to a question on why he appears to want to consign the maritime university Okerenkoko to history, responded thus:"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. 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. I believe the Federal government has no money to continue. When we have money we would continue. The Minister of state for Petroleum has whispered to me that he would look for the money to continue...Minister, bring it to me and I will continue"In response to this, Mr. Kachikwu said:"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 it. I dont care the circumstances under which we are placed It is not my position to determine whether land was valued at N19 million or N10 million or N3 million. The appropriate institutions which are the court systems will determine that. That has nothing to do with the development of the infrastructure. As far as I know, so much has gone into that property. So much fiscal assets are being developed. We are not going to throw the baby with the bath water. We will deal with the issues but the University will be developed. If he doesn't want it in maritime, I will take it to petroleum"Seated with the duo was the minister for budget and planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma. The cameras actually caught his smile as he listened to Kachikwu and I tell you, that smile was worth 13 billion.It was the type of smile you get when you watch an Uncle Tom being given a lecture he so badly needed.An Uncle Tom is defined as an individual who is excessively apathetic to the group interests of his community while at the same time rabidly crying more than the bereaved in support of the group interest of another community with competing interests to his own community within a state or a nation.I will leave it to my readers to determine whether this definition defines Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi or not.But since the minister of state aptly chided Amaechi for attempting to throw away the baby with the bath water, it might be expedient of me to bring my readers up to speed about the origin of the term 'throw away the baby with the bath water'.In medieval Europe up until the Industrial Revolution, water was scarce. You could hardly get enough to drink, let alone bath with, so people did not have their bath regularly as they do today.What would happen is that a family would obtain a bath tub's worth of water at great expense and then the man of the house would have his bath right in the bath tub. When he was done, the next ranking male member of the family would have his bath. This would continue until all the men in that household had had their baths according to their pecking order.Next in line would be the females who, believe it or not, would all have their baths in that very same water, according to their standing in the family.Finally, the minor children of the household would then have their baths in that same water and bath tub.As you can imagine, by this time, the water would have become dirty and almost muddy and by the time the matron of the family came to throw away the water, she may not notice that a young child or baby was in the water and in many cases they threw the water into the sewers along with any unfortunate child that was hidden in the water by the dirt.This historical occurrence is a metaphor for Nigeria.The precious water in the bath tub represents the wealth of Nigeria, which in this case is largely centered around the oil industry which is domiciled in the Niger Delta.The bath tub itself is Nigeria.The men, women and children who bath with the water in the bath tub are the various ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria.The man who first enters the bath tub is the Northern gentleman. He is followed in quick session by the Westerner and then the Easterner and the women are the larger minorities.Finally, the children and babies are the smaller minorities that largely make up the Niger Delta.The matron who attempts to throw the baby away with the bath water are those people close to power and who rather than serve the people from whence they came, prefer to serve the powers that be.By that standard, Rotimi Amaechi is a matron who must realize that he was not sent to the Niger Delta by President Muhammadu Buhari. Rather, he was sent by the Niger Delta to President Buhari.Ibe Kachikwu gets this and I wish more people around President Muhammadu Buhari would get this.In recent years, there has been an attempt by many pseudo intellectuals to try and revise Nigerian history by peddling the false narrative that prior to the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the Niger Delta, other regions shared their wealth equally within the Nigeria project.This is simply a lie.The fact is that until the infamous Decree 34 (Unification of Assets) was passed by the Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi administration after the aborted Nzeogwu/Ifeajuna (or Ifeajuna/Nzeogwu depending on who you believe) coup of January 15th, 1966, Nigeria practiced a brand of True Federalism known as regionalism.The 1960 Independence Constitution arising from the 1957 Lancaster House Conference provided that each of the three regions (a fourth region, Midwest Region, was created in 1963) kept 50% of its income and paid 25% to the central government and 25% to a central pool that was then shared amongst the regions.So in essence, what Nigerians freely agreed was that each region should keep at least 50% of its income (it could go as high as 75% when the central pool was shared amongst the regions).Now without consulting the minorities, Nigeria's majority ethnic nationalities, through force of military might, stripped the regions off control over their own resources and vested it in the newly created Federal Government and the minorities have been overruled at every constitutional conference since that time as they tried to reclaim their God given heritage.On my first ever visit to Bayelsa state in 2012, I saw tens of human bodies that had been burned as if in a nuclear incineration. They had been scooping petrol from a fallen petrol tanker which eventually burst into flames and took them with it to other world.Why did they do this? Because of poverty.These people are so poor, yet Lt. General (rtd) T.Y Danjuma publicly declared that after he sold an oil block given to him by General Abacha, he made $1.5 billion (yes, you heard me right, $1.5 billion not Naira!) and had so much money that 'I did not know what to do with it'!Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija is the richest woman in Africa with a net worth of over $2 billion. She can afford to dole out millions of dollars through her charitable foundations because, like Mr. Danjuma, she also got an oil block from a military regime.Not only has the Nigerian state stripped the Niger Delta of its own resources, the state has also used those resources to enrich a selected few individuals to the exclusion of the region that lays the golden egg.So if Niger Delta oil has made well connected Nigerians over $13 billion in personal wealth, then Mr. Amaechi, what is the big deal if 13 billion is spent on the maritime university at Okerenkoko?Right in Maitama and Asokoro, there are lands and properties that you can buy for 13 billion, yet there is not a single drop of oil in the Federal Capital Territory. As a matter of fact, the infrastructure that has made Abuja one of the most developed cities in Africa was funded by petrodollars from the Niger Delta.So as my Yoruba brothers would say, kini big deal?Ibe Kachikwu gets this. One wonders why Amaechi doesn't? The two of them are very unique in that both Amaechi and Kachikwu straddle the world of both the Niger Delta and the Southeast where the Biafra agitation is currently very strong.They should be telling President Buhari how to resolve both the Biafra agitation and the Niger Delta militancy.I am not in support of violence and I urge both the Biafran agitators and the Niger Delta militants to advocate for their cause through non violent means.I do not think secession is the answer. If I had the ear of the President, I would tell him that the federal government's approach to Biafra agitators and Niger Delta militants is wrong. We should do what the United Kingdom did to Scotland. Pet them. Develop their region. Persuade them they are better off in Nigeria.But I do not have the President's ears so I count on Amaechi and Kachikwu to tell him for me.Someone like Amaechi should know that abandoning a project like the Maritime University Okerenkoko will only serve to deepen the unrest in an already restive region.The state that contributes the highest resources to the federal government is Akwa Ibom where Kachikwu confronted Amaechi. That state did not even have an airport until the state government built one with their own money!Delta state had to build its own airport. The airport in Amaechi's home state of Rivers was named by CNN as the worst airport in Africa in a broadcast on February 1, 2016.Is this then the region that Amaechi wants to strip of whatever little infrastructure that she has?Amaechi has this all wrong. He will serve Buhari better by explaining the Niger Delta to him than by explaining Buhari to the Niger Delta.Amaechi should not get too carried away. Let him ask himself two questions. Where was President Buhari living before he became President? Was it not Daura and Katsina both in the Northwest? Where has former President Jonathan lived since he left power? Is it not Otuoke in the Niger Delta? Where has former President Obasanjo lived since 2007? Is it not at Ota and Abeokuta in the Southwest?Abuja is sweet to call home when you are in power but when power leaves you (as it does to even the best of us) you will have no choice but to return to your mother's house.But one thing is clear going forward. Ibe Kachikwu has turned out to be the star in an otherwise lackluster cabinet. He had taught us the difference between a MINISTER and a ME-nister. A minister ministers to Nigerians while a me-nister ministers to his ego! Former President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to all Nigerians to support the Federal government in its fight against terrorism. Jonat... I condole with the families of those killed in Adamawa by terrorists. I urge all Nigerians to support the FG in its fight against terrorism Goodluck E. Jonathan (@GEJonathan) June 17, 2016 Wherever it occurs, terrorism affects all because none of us are safe until all of us are safe. As such we must unite against global terror Goodluck E. Jonathan (@GEJonathan) June 17, 2016 I also salute our security forces who are doing so much to protect us. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude. May God bless Nigeria Goodluck E. Jonathan (@GEJonathan) June 17, 2016 Former President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to all Nigerians to support the Federal government in its fight against terrorism. Jonathan stated this via his twitter handle while condoling with families of the victims of Boko Haram attack in Adamawa state on Thursday June 17th.recalls that suspected Boko Haram members stormed a funeral service in Kuda village, Adamawa state yesterday and gunned down 20 people.Tweets below... Officials of the Borno State government in charge of administering foods and other relief materials for Internally Displaced Persons (ID... (Premium Times) Thousands of IDPs in over 20 camps around Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, are left hungry as officials enrich selves from the sales of diverted food meant for IDPs.Many others have died of starvation while hundreds have been hospitalised.Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Friday directed the police and the State Security Services to go after officials involved in the act.The governors spokesperson, Isa Gusau, said Mr. Shettimas directive followed the circulation of video clips and still pictures on the social media showing bags of rice purportedly from NEMA being re-bagged by officials of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency.Mr. Shettima spoke at a meeting with heads of all security and para-military organisations in Borno State shortly after he held the traditional iftar (breaking of fast) with them at the Government House on Friday night.Mr. Isa added that the governor described those who circulated the video as a group of Abuja-based politicians from Borno State bent on bringing down his administration.But critics said the governors directive came a bit late because the action of thieving officials had already led to the death of several IDPs, some of whom perished from starvation and malnutrition.In Bama town, 75km away from Maiduguri, hungry and malnourished IDPs die on daily basis because of inadequate food supply, those familiar with the matter said.Governor Shettima had to visit Bama camp after receiving report that IDPs were dying rapidly due to lack of care and proper nutrition.At the camp, the governor saw how hungry IDPs were left unattended to even as fresh corpses of persons killed by hunger were being buried, his aides said.The governor had to quickly direct officials of the state ministry of health to move 61 persons with acute condition of malnutrition to the intensive care unit of the Umaru Shehu Ultramodern Hospital, Maiduguri, to save them from dying.Another set of 478 children, alongside 219 adults with lesser cases of malnutrition, were also moved to a special care unit for proper feeding and medication, officials said.Sources in Bama said before the governors visit on Wednesday, bodies wrapped in mats and being moved for burial were common sights at the camp almost on daily basis.We have lost count of people that have died so far in this camp, said a concerned local camp official. It was really a messy situation when you have to pick corpses of malnourished persons everyday; sometimes some of the dead ones may not even be discovered on time.The theft is not restricted to food items alone, medical drugs, toiletries, beddings and wrappers have been diverted to the market and sold by greedy officials.Meanwhile, the Borno State Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Ahmed Satomi, has been summoned by the states House of Assembly to explain why Internally Displaced Persons are dying of malnutrition everyday in various camps managed by the state government.Mr Satomi is also to answer questions on the alleged diversion of relief materials.The Assembly had on Thursday issued a 24-hour ultimatum for the SEMA boss to appear before a seven-man ad hoc committee on the alleged diversion and repackaging of relief items donated by Dangote Foundation and other humanitarian agencies for feeding the about 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.The lawmakers are also seeking explanation regarding the multiple deaths at the camps, especially in Bama.The Chairman, House Committee Verification on the plight of IDPs, Mustapha Ngala, who led other members to the office of SEMA Friday told journalists that his committee was mandated to go round IDP camps to see if there were any gap in feeding and welfare need of victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.We have gone round most of the camps to see things for ourself and report back appropriately to the House and the authorities, we have been to Dalori Camp I & II, Bakassi Camp, Shettima Ali Monguno Camp among other resettlement camps, Mr. Ngala said.We have had discussions with those managing these camps and the victims themselves (IDPs). We have not concluded our findings to tell you what we have gathered yet, but very soon, when we are through with our findings, we are going to tell the public.Mr. Ngala however said the state assembly was displeased with the series of allegations bothering on corruptions and lapses in SEMA.Efforts by this newspaper to track down the SEMA chief executive for comments on the allegations against his agency and staff were unsuccessful.Mr Satomi failed to keep a promise to revert as soon as he was done with an assignment he was handling. The acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, has assured that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is committed to improving the liv... The acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, has assured that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is committed to improving the lives of Nigerians.A statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, reports that Osinbajo gave the assurance when he received a delegation from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.According to him, The critical thing is improving the life of the people generally and we are working as hard as possible to ensure that.It is a lot of work, especially at a time when the economy is not doing as well as it could.The acting President also lauded the commitment of JICA for collaborating extensively with the Buhari administration and acknowledged the Agencys support to Nigeria.He stated that the government is also focused on the Northeast, stressing that rebuilding the region is of paramount concern and Japanese support would be welcomed alongside other local and international contributions in the effort.Osinbajo particularly observed that the fallout of the insurgency in the area has created such humanitarian concerns including 49,000 orphans in Borno State.These are young children, some of them saw their parents killed, he said. Fiery cleric and the Spiritual Director, Adoration Ministry, Enugu Nigeria, AMEN, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka has disclosed of his recent vision... Mbaka, who made the revelation in one of his Adoration programmes, stated that several efforts he made to reach people close to Buhari over the vision had remained unsuccessful as they refused picking his calls.It can be recalled that before the 2015 presidential election, Mbaka had also complained of how he was denied access to former President Goodluck Jonathan.The controversial priest later gave a New Year message, which was widely believed to have contributed to Jonathans defeat in the election.On Buharis ailment, he declared that his chances of recovery may be slim but that with the prayer of the members of the congregation, he would receive healing.He equally declared that there were some people who were not happy that Buhari was alive.Such people hate everything about the President, he stated, while narrating the vision which he saw before the Presidents present trip to London.According to him, in the vision, the President was critically sick and was being flown abroad for treatment.His health was in a bad shape and he was asking that (Fr Mbaka) should pray for him. None among the people I have called, picked my calls.People think I speak with Buhari everyday. When people climb into power, they are dazed. It is a long dream. Our job is to pray for him but there are things that he must do and there is no way to communicate it to him, Fr. Mbaka said.He, therefore, asked the congregation to stand up and lift their hands up as he began to pray for the health and healing of President Buhari.The prayer went thus: We call on Michael the arch angel, Uriel the archangel, Gabriel the archangel to carry you in their wings back to life. They angels are bringing you back in their wings. In Psalm 79:11 the Lord restores those who have already being appointed to die. Are you the one that has been appointed to die? God himself will bring you back to life. Remember His word that when the thief comes to steal, kill you and destroy you, I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Have life now more abundantly in Jesus name Amen.We pray for our President and anyone that is suffering such a dangerous disease. We lift our healing hands for divine healing upon our president. Wherever he is, may he be healed in Jesus name Amen.The doctors in Nigeria are nursing fear that he may not survive but we have a healing God. His name is specialist in impossibilities. In Mathew 19:26, He can make the impossible, possible. In Mark 10:27 He can make the impossible, possible. In Luke 1:37, He can make the impossible, possible. In Jeremiah 32:17, He can make the impossible, possible. In Job 42:2, He can do all things and no purpose of His can be thwarted. Hallelujah.We stretch our hands of healing upon our President and you that may be sick here. I take you as somebody who is as if to say he is dead already. Have they said that you are dead and there is nothing that can be done in your situation? Have your kidney died? Have your liver died? Have your heart or any organ of your body been confirmed dead? Look at what happened in John 11:39. When Jesus asked them to open the tomb of Lazarus, they told him that by now he must be smelling for he was dead for about four days now. After all this, I heard Jesus talking in verse 43 telling Lazarus to come out. Let that thing that is dead come back to life in Jesus name Amen. Let your dead vision come back to life. Let your dead destiny come back to life. Let your dead passion come back to life in Jesus name Amen.Whatever is dead in your body should come back to life in Jesus name Amen. Your dead success, come back to life. Your dead business, come back to life. Your dead vocation, come back to life. Your dead gifts come back to life. God will show you the path to life.We stand in in Psalm 110:1 where the Lord said to my lord to sit at His right hand and I decree that You shall be the child of the right hand of God of Psalm 17:7, Psalm 31:15, psalm 31:5 and psalm 98:1.In the book of Mathew 27 the Bible says that when the blood Jesus dropped and he cried with a loud voice, the veils were torn. As this was happening the tombs opened. I stand in Matthew 27 and minister in verse 53 and 54. When the tomb opened, those who were dead in the tomb came back to life and move about the city. This was because the blood of Jesus dropped on the ground.As the blood of Jesus drops on the ground now, anybody here who has been killed and buried in the spirit and is just a moving corpse, let him or her come back to life now in Jesus name Amen. Let your spirit come back to life in Jesus name Amen. Is there any good thing or virtue in our country that has died or occultically being held bounds? I send the Holy Ghost fire upon every temple of Satan that is accommodating any name of the Child of God in Jesus name; Holy Ghost fire. Holy Ghost Fire!!!While concluding the prayer, he said I want the enemies to see our President shining, prospering and moving majestically in glory. The chances of his healing may be little but now with our prayers and faith, the chances of his coming out is high.The spiritual energy with which we make this prayer is enormous that it shall do this for us. If you are ready for testimony, my God is ready with miracles.Nigerians are expecting the President, who has been away on a medical vacation, back to the country, tomorrow (Sunday). Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday blamed former President Goodluck Jonathan for the failure of the fourth const... Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday blamed former President Goodluck Jonathan for the failure of the fourth constitution review to sail through.There are also indications that the National Assembly may remove the power of the President to assent to constitution amendment for it to become law.Ekweremadu, who is also Chairman, Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, spoke at the opening of the committees retreat in Lagos.He noted that although the National Assembly was informed the former President Jonathan assented to the last constitution amendment (Fourth Alteration Bill), it was a rude shock to them to receive a letter from him stating clearly that he was returning the Bill.Ekweremadu noted that when the Bill was returned, Jonathan failed to attach the original Bill being returned.He said, Although the National Assembly reliably gathered that former President Goodluck Jonathan assented to the Fourth Alteration Bill, we were surprised to get a letter from the President stating clearly that he was returning the Bill, but failing to attach the original Bill being returned.The National Assembly was dragged to the Supreme Court by the Attorney-General of the Federation to prevent us from overriding the presidential veto.The Supreme Court later asked us to meet and resolve our differences out of court, which we did and returned the Bill to the Presidency for approval, but only for it to renege on signing the Bill before the expiration of Presidents tenure.While we carried on with all patriotic considerations, little did we know they were buying time.So, it can be clearly seen that the inability of the Fourth Alteration to become part of our constitution was not in any way the fault of the National Assembly. The rest is history.He added that in keeping with the matching orders issued by the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, at the inauguration of this committee, the committee planned to conclude the present constitution amendment exercise by December 2016.On the need for the exercise, Ekweremadu noted that no constitution anywhere in the world is cast in iron, for constitutions are made for the good of the citizens, not citizens for the constitutions.He said it has always been a tradition to retouch or overhaul or even change a constitution entirely to reflect new imperatives and serve the nation better.Efforts to amend the 1999 Constitution, he said, have been informed by agitations for its amendment, which started almost immediately after the birth of the current democratic dispensation. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has taken the former acting governor of Adamawa state, James Bala Ngilari, to the Fed... The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has taken the former acting governor of Adamawa state, James Bala Ngilari, to the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe for medical treatment.A source in the commission told our correspondent that Ngilari was taken to the hospital in an ambulance on Friday around 6pm after he complained of ill health.Mr. Ngilari was detain at the Gombe zonal office of the commission on Thursday in connection with the on going investigation of N450 million campaign fund sent to Adamawa state from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headquarters.A source at the hospital told Daily Trust that the former acting governor was admitted at the emergency ward and was quickly attended by two medical doctors.It was learnt that the former governor had problems with blood pressure that had shot up yesterday after he was grilled by the anti-graft detectives.The doctors battled to reduce the pressure to normal level, stabilize it and watch his response to the treatment so far given to him.Mr. Ngilari had been complaining of health challenges especially his high blood pressure and pile. He could barely sit for a long time without complaining of pain, the source in the commission said. Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, has accused associates of former President, Goodluck Jonathan of using Niger Delta Ave... Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, has accused associates of former President, Goodluck Jonathan of using Niger Delta Avengers to destabilise the President Muhammadu Buhars led administration.The defunct militant group made the accusation in a statement signed by Tinipa Jenkins Okponipere.The statement reads, The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), is the vehicle currently being used by Niger Delta political elite and associates of former President Goodluck Jonathan to destabilize President Buharis Government. It was these political juggernauts who are loathe to see President Buhari gain a foothold in the region.Recall that the Niger Delta Avengers had recently reawakened militant activity in the South South region of the country.The separatist which has claimed responsibility for several attacks on pipeline installations in the region had said its struggle was aimed at librating the region. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says due to the current anti-corruption war, looters have stopped keeping money in banks an... The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says due to the current anti-corruption war, looters have stopped keeping money in banks and have resorted to storing cash in their abandoned properties.The acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, said this at a workshop titled, the Role of Professionals in the Fight Against Corruption in Abuja on Friday.Magu said, People are now scared of keeping monies in banks, as it can be traced easily. Monies are now kept in abandoned houses in the country.He also charged bureau de change operators and financial institutions to desist from being used as conduit pipes to launder money.According to him, BDCs move billions of naira in a day and there is no proper documentation of money laundered. I appeal to the BDCs to stop that, as we will begin to prosecute bureau de change operators to serve as deterrent. Bankers are also involved in corrupt acts, as they dont carry out due diligence.Magu charged professional bodies in the country to join hands with the anti-graft agency in the fight against corruption and economic crimes.He added, Instead of conniving with people to launder the proceeds of corruption, I beg you to join hands with the EFCC to fight corruption.Many professionals celebrate criminality by doing a lot to foster corruption, which adds more to money laundering. I dont intend to criticise the work of professionals, but to solicit their support in order to make Nigeria better for the younger generation.The EFCC boss further revealed that the commission would soon be going after accounting firms that collaborate with bankers to steal government funds.Meanwhile, Justice Fatun Riman of a Federal High Court, Kano, has granted the application of the EFCC, to try a former Skye Bank staff, Yagana Bukar, in absentia on 10 charges bordering on money laundering.Bukar was first arraigned in October 2013 and was granted bail. The accused person, however, absconded shortly after the commencement of trial.Prosecuting counsel, M. S. Abubakar, had applied to the court, pursuant to Section 352(4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, to continue with the trial despite the absence of the defendant.Abubakar told the court that the defendant failed to appear during eight consecutive adjournments without any explanation.The trial judge then granted the application of the prosecution, and directed the first prosecution witness, Barnabas Okakwu, a staff of Skye Bank to continue his evidence-in-chief.Further hearing in the case has been adjourned to June 27, 2016. The 243 Battalion of the Nigerian Army said on Friday it will hold a field shooting exercise in Badagry area of Lagos State. The Deputy... The 243 Battalion of the Nigerian Army said on Friday it will hold a field shooting exercise in Badagry area of Lagos State.The Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Lt.-Col. Kingsley Samuel, said this in a statement issued in Lagos.According to the statement, the exercise will take place from June 20 to 24 at Ibereko, Badagry.The general public, particularly locals as well as farmers around Badagry to Kakon general area, are please requested to keep off the entire exercise area.They are not to panic on hearing gunshots while the field exercise lasts. The exercise is part of the training to keep the soldiers in shape.It is a routine exercise designed to keep the soldiers physically and mentally ready, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the army spokesman as saying in the statement. The Federal Government has formally accused the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, of forging th... (Premium Times) The Federal Government has formally accused the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, of forging the 2015 Senate Standing Rules used in electing them to office.Both presiding officers have been charged to court accordingly.Also charged alongside Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu are the immediate past Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, and his deputy Benedict Efeturi.The charges were filed more than a year after the controversial election and inauguration of the two principal officers on June 9, 2016.Days after the elections, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi (APC-Kaduna North) petitioned the Inspector General of Police, alleging that the Standing Rules used for the exercise was forged.He accused the four officials of conspiracy, and demanded criminal investigation of the matter.The police later launched an investigation, submitting a detailed report to the nations Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.Mr. Hunkuyi is the secretary of Unity Forum, a group of All Progressives Congress Senators opposed to the emergence of Mr. Saraki, preferring his opponent, Senator Ahmed Lawan instead.The federal government has now taken steps to press criminal charges against the Senate president and the three other officials.The case, with reference number, CR/219/16, was filed on June 10, 2015 at the Federal High Court in Abuja. It has been assigned to Justice Yusuf Haliru.The case bothers on two-count charge, including offence of conspiracy punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code Law; and offence of forgery with fraudulent intent punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Law.Count one reads, That you Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu on or about the 9th of June, 2015, at the National Assembly Complex, Three Arm Zone, Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves, to forge the Senate Standing Order, 2011 (as amended) and you thereby committed the offence of Conspiracy, punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code Law.Count Two reads, That you Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu on or about the 9th of June, 2015, at the National Assembly Complex, Three Arm Zone, Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with fraudulent intent forged the Senate Standing Order 2011 (as amended) causing it to be believed as the genuine Standing Order, 2015 and circulated same for use during the inauguration of the 8th Senate of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, when you knew that the said Order was not made in compliance the procedure for amendment of the Senate Order, you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Law.The Special Adviser to Mr. Saraki, Yusuph Olaniyonu, revealed that the new case against the Senate president was just unravelling.Its a curious and very very recent development, Mr. Olaniyonu said. We are watching.Mr. Ekweremadus spokesperson, Uche Anichukwu, neither answered calls nor replied a text message.Mr. Saraki is currently facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false and anticipatory declaration of assets. For peace to reign in the Niger Delta, popular Nigerian musicians have been scheduled to participate at a concert in the region on 31 Jul... For peace to reign in the Niger Delta, popular Nigerian musicians have been scheduled to participate at a concert in the region on 31 July.They include Olamide, Patoranking, Harrysong, Sheyi Shay, Timaya, Orezi, K-Cee, and many more.Disclosing this in Abuja on Friday, Nigerian music star and Gala Ambassador, Harrison Tare Okiri, popularly known as Harrysong says he has concluded arrangements to hold a peace concert in Asaba.Harrysong revealed that the concert titled: One Delta Harrysong Peace concert was part of efforts to restore peace to the Niger Delta region.I suspended the release of my album to do this concert because of what is happening in the Niger Delta right now.I plan to use this concert to restore peace to Niger Delta amidst the recent happenings in that part of the country, he said.He also stated that he would not be performing alone as some of his colleagues in the musical industry would be supporting the peace movement.I wont be performing alone, but alongside some of my colleagues in the likes of Patoranking, Sheyi Shay, Timaya, Olamide, Orezi, K-Cee, and many more.The concert promises to be a unique one as we plan to use our talents to restore peace to our dear country. So fans, I cant wait to see you all.Thanks for your endless support! God bless Niger Delta and God bless our country Nigeria, Harrysong said.He also encouraged the youth to think carefully before taking any action, rather than the other way round.The concert is scheduled to hold on July 31. Oprah Winfrey, popular TV host and American celebrity, has rejected Republican Donald Trumps offer to be his running mate, saying Trump m... Oprah Winfrey, popular TV host and American celebrity, has rejected Republican Donald Trumps offer to be his running mate, saying Trump makes her feel qualified to be president.Trump, who recently clinched all the votes necessary to be the Republican candidate for 2016 presidential election, had earlier said he would win easily if he ran with Oprah as his vice president.Oprah will be having none of that, as she says she will reject a formal invitation to be on the Trump ticket, affirming: Im with her (Hilary Clinton).When asked by ET if she saw America electing the first female president, she said: I really believe that is going to happen. Its about time that we made that decision.Regardless of your politics, its a seminal moment for women. What this says is, there is no ceiling; that ceiling just went boom! It says anything is possible when you can be leader of the free world. Im with herSpeaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live, she said she would never run for president but with what happened in this election year, she felt qualified to run.For many years, I used to think until this election year, I thought Wow, I have no Why do people say that? I have no qualifications to run. Im feeling pretty qualified. After this year, Im feeling really qualified.Meanwhile, Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, expressed some sort of support for Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump respectively.Speaking at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia on Friday, Putin said there was nothing wrong in Donald Trumps plan to support repair of US-Russia ties.Putin added that Trump is a bright person, while Renzi expressed hope that he would address the next American president as madam president. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on it twitter handle (@PdpNigeria) has said that the All Progressive Congress (APC) must apologies to ... The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on it twitter handle (@PdpNigeria) has said that the All Progressive Congress (APC) must apologies to former President Goodluck Jonathan for the lies they told against him.The PDP on Saturday in a series of tweets @PdpNigeria also demanded that APC should apologies to Nigerians for lies and propaganda they dished out during the the 2015 election campaign.These came as it also accused the APC of not fighting corruption but rather sharing dollars in Central Bank of Nigeria and doing illegal forex deals.Moreso the PDP tweeted that the APC government has successfully done nothing in 1year and that they have shut down the economy, ruin businesses, drive away investors then give excuses.The PDP further tweeted that the APC is giving job opportunities to the partys cronies as it decried the APC-lead government of President Buharis silence on the killing of 18 women during a funeral service in Adamawa by Boko Haram insurgents.Some of the tweet reads thus Although Lai Mohd has openly admitted to talking too much during the campaign, they must also apologize for the lies they told against GEJ. The APC and its members should become sober and apologize to Nigerians for all the lies and propaganda they dished out during the campaign.PDP Nigeria @PdpNigeria 2h2 hours ago FYI: Boko Haram Slaughtered 18 women during a funeral service in Adamawa, the government is yet to acknowledge or issue a statement on it. They said they are fighting corruption, has the employment offer given to their children to NNPC, CBN, PTDF, FIRS, HOS been terminated?They tell you they are fighting corruption but they are sharing dollars in Central Bank of Nigeria & doing illegal forex deals.They tell you they are fighting corruption, they give their children CBN, NNPC, PTDF, FIRS, HOS jobs while you defend them here for crumbs. FYI: the 350 people illegally recruited into Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) are all children of president Buharis friends in APC.All the government has successfully done nothing in 1year is to shut down the economy, ruin businesses, drive away investors then give excuses.It is important to remind Nigerians that this Govt has not awarded a N10m contract since its inception 1year ago except, helipad in Daura.When president Jonathan started the Abuja-Kaduna Fast Rail in 2011, @APCNigeria & its members said it was a colonial LOCOMOTIVE.Is it not ironic that Buhari who cancelled Lagos Rail Project initiated by Jakande 3 decades ago will now commission Abuja-KD Fast Rail. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on it twitter handle (@PdpNigeria) has attacked the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Abuja-Kaduna spe... The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on it twitter handle (@PdpNigeria) has attacked the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Abuja-Kaduna speed train.PDP in a tweet said is it not ironic that Buhari who cancelled Lagos Rail Project initiated by Jakande 3 decades ago will now commission Abuja-KD Fast Rail?The Abuja-Kaduna rail line is one of the first standard gauge railway modernisation projects (SGRMP) undertaken in Nigeria. The standard gauge line links Abuja (Federal Capital Territory) with the commercial capital Kaduna, enabling faster movement of goods and people between the two cities. The rail project is expected to create over 10,000 jobs when fully operational.The PDP in it tweets also said that it does not believe in the 97% vs 5% ideology of President Buhari and that those who said that the Abuja-Kaduna speed train was a locomotive train are now struggling to be associated with the the rail project.The party further accused the APC-lead government of President Buhari of building an helipad in Daura . Our party does not believe in the 97% vs 5% ideology of president Buhari. Same people who said the Abuja-Kaduna Fast Rail was a colonial LOCOMOTIVE now struggling to associate with it and even commission it. Is it not ironic that Buhari who cancelled Lagos Rail Project initiated by Jakande 3 decades ago will now commission Abuja-KD Fast RailPDP Nigeria @PdpNigeria 4h4 hours agoIt is important to remind Nigerians that this Govt has not awarded a N10m contract since its inception 1year ago except, helipad in Daura.The APC also tweeted that the rail line Abuja-Kaduna high speed train project would start operations once inaugurated by President Buhari in July. @APCNigeria The official test-run of Abuja-Kaduna rail line took place yesterday. To begin full commercial operations in July.Abuja-Kaduna high speed train project ready to start operations once inaugurated by President Buhari in July. As the allegation of sexual misconduct against three Nigerian lawmakers by the United States Government continues to draw public fury, t... Dogara A lawmaker, Mohammed Gololo (APC-Bauchi State) was accused of grabbing a hotel maid and soliciting sex, while two others, Samuel Ikon (PDP-Akwa Ibom) and Mark Gbillah (APC-Benue State) allegedly requested a car park attendant to help them arrange the services of prostitutes during a visit to Cleveland for the International Visitor Leadership Programme.The allegations were contained in a June 9 petition to Mr. Dogara by American Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle.The three lawmakers denied the allegations separately describing them as totally false, calculated attempt to rubbish the National Assembly and a case of mistaken identity.In a series of tweets on Saturday, Mr. Dogara commented on the allegations, as he responded to questions thrown at him by Nigerians.He who alleges must prove, he said via his Twitter handle @speakerdogara. Thats the law.As we speak no evidence has been put forward other than the letter sent to my office and copied to many others.Together with the US Embassy in Nigeria we will get to the bottom of this matter and until then lets not be judgemental.Under our laws an accused person is deemed innocent until proven guilty and he enjoys the benefit of any doubt.Social media trial and conviction of members alleged to have committed the offence is taking up arms against our laws, tweeted an awfully embarrassed Mr. Dogara.Charged by Twitter user @saintyMartins for being more defensive than the accused lawmakers, Mr. Dogara replied, whats more offensive, to be defensive or convict people based on an allegation? Is that the standard in the US.Another Twitter user @akorive001 asked Mr. Dogara what his response was to allegation by activist Kayode Ogundamisi that he was shielding the accused lawmakers.Interesting, the Speaker replied, He (@ogundamisi) can convict if he likes but for us we must see the evidence (be)cos(cause) thats what the law says.My position is very neutral.On the alleged attempted rape of hotel room keeper by Mr. Gololo, Mr. Dogara said the US Ambassador did make reference to that in his letter. Thats a social media creation.Mr. Gololo was actually accused of grabbing the room keeper and soliciting sex from her.He said the concerned lawmakers had indicated they were ready to stand trial in the US.They are ready to do that at their own cost.In further tweets, the Speaker, however, warned of consequences for the lawmakers if proven guilty.No ambassador brings dishonour to his home country without some dire consequences. This all members know.The members are ambassadors of the House and indeed Nigeria when they were in the US, they mustnt bring dishonour to us.The spokesperson for the House, Abdulrazaq Namdas, on Thursday said that the House leadership was investigating the matter.He did not say how the investigation was being conducted. The Senate yesterday explained why President Muhammadu Buhari should not have the powers to assent the ongoing constitution amendment, ar... The Senate yesterday explained why President Muhammadu Buhari should not have the powers to assent the ongoing constitution amendment, arguing that presidential veto of a bill to amend the Constitution makes jest of the philosophy of sovereignty, which is that power belongs to the people.The Deputy Senate President and chairman, Senate committee on constitution review, Chief Ike Ekweremadu stated this at the ongoing retreat by the committee, holding in Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.He declared that since former President, Goodluck Jonathan failed to sign the Fourth Alteration Bill into law, which strips the president of powers to veto any bill, it will be reconsidered with fresh inputs.According to the lawmaker, A bill to amend any portion of the constitution is not an ordinary bill. It is the only bill that requires the two-thirds majority of each Chamber of the National Assembly to pass in the first instance. It is also the only bill that requires the approval of two-thirds of the States Assembly to pass.Presidential veto of a bill to amend the constitution makes jest of the philosophy of sovereignty, which is that power belongs to the people, and that the people exercise this sovereignty through their representatives in parliament.Nigerians have argued, and rightly so, that the Constitution would have made explicit prescriptions on how such veto could be reversed, if it were the expectation of the framers of the Constitution for one man or woman to veto a constitution amendment. -- A 70-year-old acupuncturist is accused of molesting a client and practicing without a license in Fort Lee, authorities said Saturday. Myung Ho Lee, of Englewood Cliffs, faces charges of criminal sexual contact and unlicensed practice of acupuncture, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal announced in a statement. The allegations surfaced May 4 when a woman told Fort Lee police Lee "inappropriately touched" her during an acupuncture treatment, Grewal said. Local police and the prosecutor's Special Victims Unit launched a joint investigation. Detectives served a search warrant Friday at Fort Lee Acupuncture and Physical Therapy on Whiteman Road, Grewal added. Authorities did release further information about the search. A woman who answered the phone at Fort Lee Acupuncture on Saturday said no one was immediately available to comment. According to officials, Lee was ordered held at the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail, with no 10 percent option. Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook. BRIDGETON -- The family of a man found hanging in the showers of Cumberland County Jail in an apparent suicide have filed a lawsuit against the county, claiming that the jail failed to keep the man safe. The Cumberland County Jail, in Bridgeton. (Times file photo) Robert Lewis was pronounced dead on Oct. 30, 2015, after being taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in United States District Court and names the county, Warden Bob Balicki and unidentified corrections officers. According to a statement released by Tammy Willson, Lewis' mother, she hopes that her efforts to seek justice for her son could lead to future jail practices that could prevent a future death. Balicki could not be reached for comment by telephone Friday evening. Vineland Police Department arrested on Oct. 26 for a robbery charge and was held in the Cumberland County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. At the time, authorities said Lewis gave no indication that he was suicidal. On Oct. 29, another prisoner went to the showers in the maximum-security section of the jail and discovered Lewis. Lewis used a bed sheet to hang himself from a sprinkler head. He was found at 10:30 p.m. and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:30 a.m. According to the lawsuit, the corrections officers failed in their responsibility to screen Lewis of suicidal tendencies and to "maintain a safe and suitable environment where Robert Wayne Lewis could be kept free from injury, harm and death." Lewis' family is represented by Philadelphia-based attorney Conrad Benedetto, who is also representing two other families who had someone die in apparent suicides in the Cumberland County Jail. Benedetto filed a lawsuit in August on behalf of Alissa Allen's family after Allen was found hanging in her jail cell on March 23, 2015. He is also calling for an investigation into the death of Jon Watson, who was found unresponsive in his jail cell on June 3, on behalf of the Watson family. Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Screen Shot 2016-06-17 at 5.16.39 PM.png Interior of an ALDI store. (Courtesy ALDI) BLOOMFIELD -- ALDI, the discount grocery giant with more than 10,000 locations around the world, is expanding in New Jersey. The supermarket chain Friday opened a store on Bloomfield Avenue in Bloomfield, its 37th location in the state. Bob Grammer, ALDI's Center Valley Division Vice President, said there are more stores in New Jersey to come, several of which will open later this year. "ALDI has been part of the New Jersey community for 20 years and we're excited to expand our presence in New Jersey and provide high-quality, affordable groceries to more families," he said. Grammer did not have specific details on when and where the other locations would be opening. "We're excited to bring our Simply Smarter Shopping experience to Bloomfield and help customers stretch their dollars with our exclusive brand products - including fresh meats, fruits, vegetables and bakery items," he said. The supermarket chain, which sells a majority of its own brands, is known for its discounted prices on food, toiletries, and other basic products. The international company has more than 1,500 stores in 34 states across the U.S. It is expanding, and plans to open about 130 new stores each year in the future, officials said. Last year, the chain purchased three former Bottom Dollar sites and reopened them as ALDIs. It was also named in a Market Force study as one of the best grocery stores in the U.S. In Bloomfield, locals already took to social media to express their excitement about the new store. Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook. CALDWELL -- Graduating Verona High School students were treated to two rap songs Friday night. One came from math and computer science teacher Richard Wertz, who was the guest speaker at their commencement at Caldwell University. In a performance inspired by the Broadway hit "Hamilton," Wertz rapped about the many things Verona High School students will accomplish. Valedictorian and student council president Anthony Giuliano delivered the other rap, which expressed admiration for his parents' choice to follow life paths that they love. He told the crowd his parents had taught him that success is defined not by wealth or possessions, but by the passion a person with which someone lives. "It isn't about where you live, but living wherever you are," he said. Check out our photo gallery of the high school's graduating seniors above and another photo gallery here. Be sure to check out our complete graduation coverage at nj.com/graduation. BUY THESE PHOTOS Are you one of the people pictured at this graduation? Want to buy the photo and keep it forever? View the photo gallery on desktop and look for a link in the photo caption to purchase the picture: Click on it, and you'll have the ability to order prints in a variety of sizes, or products like magnets, keychains, coffee mugs and more. The link won't be viewable on mobile. SHARE YOUR GRADUATION PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA Follow us on Twitter @njdotcom and tag your photos #njgrads. Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Catherine Brady (Photo courtesy the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office) The former treasurer of the Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association was sentenced to five years of probation for the theft of the organization's funds. On June 17 in Superior Court in Flemington, Judge Angela Borkowski also ordered Catherine L. Brady, 47, of Lebanon Township to repay more than $65,000. Two executive board members along with association president, Sue Haydu-Bok presented a letter to the court at the sentencing. According to the letter, the Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association (DVHA) was founded in 1949. "Our founder Dr. Welling C. Howell started DVHA with the philosophy that 'The Spirit of Belonging' would be the key to DVHA. While our membership is large we still are a close knit family. "Ms. Brady was one of our family. "Not only did Ms. Brady take and use money from the association that took us many years to save for her own personal use, but she also betrayed the trust of her DVHA family. She also left the association with a large number of unpaid bills. The association owed back taxes on the property, our phones were already shut off, the power was about to be shut off and we had no insurance due to lack of payment." According to the letter, Brady took all of the money the club had saved, including what was raised for the "Riding for Cancer Care" donation to Hunterdon Medical Center's Regional Cancer Center. Over the last decade DVHA has donated more than $75,000 to help cancer patients with non-treatment expenses not covered by insurance. "It has been a little over two years since we discovered what Ms. Brady had done, and with hard a lot of work the association is finally out of debit and back on our feet," the letter said, "We at DVHA are survivors and we will continue to grow and be there to run horse shows and also be there to support both the Horse community and the local community in general," the letter said. The financial discrepancies were discovered shortly after the annual awards dinner in January, 2014. At that dinner, Brady and her family had been lauded as volunteers of the year. Unbeknownst to the club members, Brady had been taking money for nearly a year at that point. Brady was arrested in April, 2015 after a grand jury returned an indictment on one count of third-degree theft. Then a warrant was issued and Brady was arrested. Brady was taken to the Hunterdon County Jail and subsequently released after posting $20,000 bail set by Judge Bradford M. Bury. Brady paid $10,000 to DVHA on June 17 and will have to pay the rest back over the five-year probation period. "We are grateful to have received this amount today and hope that we will actually receive the full amount of the balance," Haydu-Bok said. Meanwhile, the DVHA show season is well underway. June shows are dedicated to Riding for Cancer Care. The next show is Sunday, June 19. For current equestrian news see Horse News or check out the online version of the print edition. Description: Bassmaster's Tundra Explore MORE Sweepstakes is giving away great prizes for people who love to go exploring. Enter and you could win a Toyota Tundra truck and free fuel for a year awarded as $1,200 in Marathon Gas gift cards. Sweepstakes Links: Click Here to Enter this Sweepstakes Click Here for the Official Sweepstakes Rules Click Here for the Sweepstakes' Home Page Note: If the sweepstakes entry link doesn't work for you, try entering through the home page and looking for a link to the sweepstakes. Category: Car Sweepstakes, Gift Certificates Sweepstakes, Sports Sweepstakes, Mega Sweepstakes, Daily Sweepstakes, Canadian Sweepstakes Eligibility: Contiguous US (-HI, AK) and Canada (-PQ), 21+ Start Date: October 04, 2021 End Date: December 04, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET Entry Frequency: 1 x daily per person Sweepstakes Prizes: Grand Prize: A 2022 Toyota Tundra Limited TRD Off Road truck and $1,200 in Marathon Gas gift cards. (ARV: $56,200) FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) Survivors of Hurricane Ian face a long emotional road to recover from one of the most damaging storms to hit the U.S. mainland. For those who lost everything to disaster, the anguish can be crushing to return home to find so much gone. Grief can run the gamut from frequent tears to utter despair. The Lee County medical examiner says two men in their 70s even took their own lives a day apart after viewing their losses. Experts say suicides climb after disasters and more funding for mental health should be provided as climate change makes storms and fires more frequent and devastating. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close 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 Parramatta Eels confirmed on Saturday night that Semi Radradra has been granted permission to return to Fiji for a short family visit during the bye round. He is expected to return to Sydney in time to prepare for the club's next NRL game against Cronulla. Semi Radradra is contracted to play for the Parramatta Eels until the end of the 2017 season, and has given no indication that the contract will not be honoured. Methodist Hospitals top executive said Friday a decision on the hospital systems future could be known by the fall. But he noted a merger is not inevitable. Methodist is in a strong enough financial position where it could remain independent for several more years, he said. The logical business question for any board to ask in this changing environment is whether its better to navigate as an independent or in a partnership with another organization, said Ray Grady, president and CEO of Methodist Hospitals. Methodist, which has campuses in Gary and Merrillville, announced this week it is exploring partnerships with other hospital systems to better position itself in the shifting health care landscape. Hospitals have been rapidly consolidating to prepare for a changing reimbursement structure based more on quality and cost-efficiency than the quantity of services provided. Options for Methodist include an outright sale, a joint venture or an affiliation agreement. Whatever decision-making process we go through, were committed to serve this community in perpetuity, Grady said. We want to determine what best allows us to meet the needs of the patients we serve and to promote and protect the interests of our employees and our physicians. Methodist is currently renovating the emergency department and intensive care unit at its Northlake Campus in Gary to the tune of $10 million. State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said hes excited by Methodists announcement. If its a partner like the University of Chicago or the University of Illinois, that would give a tremendous boost to health care in Gary and Merrillville, he said. Im hoping the new partner would have the the foresight to build a new facility out by (Indiana University Northwest) and look at becoming a Level I trauma center. While Methodist is currently designated by the state as a Level III trauma center, patients who need higher levels of care have to be transferred to Level I facilities in Oak Lawn or Chicago. Methodist Hospitals had $355.8 million in revenues in 2014 on $345.5 million in expenses, according to its IRS 990 filing. The hospital system has a BBB bond rating and stable outlook moving forward, according to Fitch Ratings. CHICAGO The managing partner of Great Lakes Basin Transportation was in familiar surroundings Wednesday as he promoted his idea to build a freight railroad from the LaPorte area to southeast Wisconsin, circling Chicago to serve as a bypass around that congested city. The 2016 Rail Summit brought professionals from across the country and throughout the supply chain to the Urban League Club of Chicago, where Patton was once president, for a day-long series of seminars on railroads, ports, waterways and long-haul trucking. Patton and Great Lakes Basin President Jim Wilson argued during afternoon breakout sessions that the proposed railroad would provide valuable service to cargo haulers throughout the country. "We could give connectivity to the entire North American rail network," Wilson said. The $8 billion railroad plan is currently subject to public comment through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Surface Transportation Board. The controversial plan has met strong opposition from some property owners in south Porter and Lake counties, as well as other places along its 281-mile route. Porter County government already has expressed its opposition to the plan, arguing it presents no economic benefit to the county. At the rail summit, Patton focused on several areas he argued would promote significant economic activity. "We wanted three large potential industrial areas within the 281 miles," he said. The three "we've really zoned in on" are Rockford, Illinois, to take advantage of its airport; Manteno, Illinois, where Great Lakes Basin would build a "railport" to provide switching and maintainence services; and Kingsbury in the LaPorte area, where an industrial park is seeking to grow. "There's a whole slew of opportunities for anyone with that industrial park," Patton said of Kingsbury. LaPorte County officials were at the summit to promote the industrial park, though David Christian, executive director of economic development for LaPorte County, noted the county hasn't taken a position on the railroad. "We're waiting for more information," he said. Economic development professionals from Lake and Porter counties also led breakout sessions at the Rail Summit. Gulf Coast, Panama Canal offer opportunity The summit had a significant southern orientation with presentations by Louisiana port officials, and with talk of the expanded Panama Canal's potential impact on the flow of goods. Gary LaGrange, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans, talked about New Orleans as a gateway to the Midwest. In the course of his presentation, he showed a graphic with the time a train takes to get to various cities that illustrated Chicago's impact: New Orleans to Chicago was next-day service; New Orleans to Detroit was fourth-day service. Those extra days are part of the Great Lakes Basin developers' argument. As much as 25 percent of the train traffic arriving in Chicago is simply passing through, Wilson said. The Panama Canal's ability to accept much larger ships than in the past will shift the economics of shipping throughout the country, affecting middle America the most, according to several presenters. The expanded canal is set to open June 26. John Vickerman, a planner and designer of logistics facilities, said "the Midwest and the Mississippi (River area) could be the real beneficiaries" of the canal project. Vickerman displayed a map with a line running roughly north-south through the country. To the east of the line, it's cheaper to move cargo from the eastern seaboard or gulf coast; to the west of the line, it's more economical to transit from the western seaboard. The canal's expansion shifts that line westward to include the gulf ports of Texas and to include Northwest Indiana and much of the Chicago area. "The Panama Canal will prove to be a strong contender for Asian cargo," Vickerman said. Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soybean Transportation Coalition, said the canal will grow business for inland waterways, widening the area that will use the Mississippi River for transportation. "We think we really stand to benefit," Steenhoek said. MERRILLVILLE A firearms retail facility and indoor gun range business has the Town Council's support to open at 8600 Louisiana St. The council unanimously approved variance of use and special exception requests for the Point Blank Range and Gun Shop. Sheila Shine, of the town's planning and building department, said the single-story facility will have 6,000 square feet for firearms retail. The building also will house a classroom area that will be used for training purposes. Shine said National Rifle Association certified instructors will teach courses there. They will include sessions explaining gun safety and certification classes. The indoor gun range will occupy about 9,000 square feet. It will have 20 lanes that will be separated into two bays. Shine said there will be a soundproof barrier wall, so noise shouldn't be an issue outside of the facility. The new business will create about 35 jobs, town officials said. Councilman Shawn Pettit said when representatives for the project first met with town officials, he was opposed to an initial site proposed for the facility because it was in a commercial area. Pettit said he suggested the facility should be in an industrial portion of Merrillville. He said representatives for the project listened to the town's concerns and later selected the Louisiana Street property, which has an industrial zoning. Pettit said that location is better suited for the business. HOBART The intersection of County Line Road and Ind. 130 will be closed for about three months for an Indiana Department of Transportation intersection modernization project. Bruno Dravininkas, an INDOT project engineer, told the citys Board of Public Works and Safety turn lanes will be added to the intersection. New traffic signal technology will be installed and the area will be resurfaced, Dravininkas said. The project will close that intersection from Monday to Sept. 26, he said. A railroad crossing south of the project area also will be updated while INDOT completes the road work, Dravininkas said. The railroad work will include a new crossing, signal and gates. Dravininkas said the new traffic signal will be connected to the railroad signal that will be installed. Board member Thomas Ehrhardt said the intersection work will cause inconveniences for motorists, but the project will bring many benefits to that area. He said there are regular backups at the intersection, but traffic should flow better after the work is finished. The official INDOT detour calls for drivers to use Ind. 149 and U.S. 6 to travel around the construction area when the intersection is closed, Dravininkas said. He said Portage officials requested an unofficial detour in which drivers can use County Roads 600 North, 700 West and 700 North to provide a shorter path to get around the closure. Hobart City Council President Matt Claussen asked INDOT cut back trees on County Road 600 North to improve visibility in that area. He said traffic there is expected to increase because of the upcoming closure, and cutting back the trees could prevent accidents in that area. GARY A steady stream of hands shot in the air outside First African Methodist Episcopal Church Friday night as the Rev. E. Anne Henning Byfield asked who had been shaken by gun violence. Lord, we speak not just for the families of the Emanuel 9, or the families of the Orlando 49, but those who are standing right here, said Byfield, who presides over 24 AME churches in Indiana.(We pray) that they may have peace, peace in their rest and peace in their waking and that they would know that you are always there with them to bring them through tragedy. Byfield and about 50 others gathered Friday to pray for nine churchgoers known as the Emanuel 9 who were shot to death June 17, 2015, within the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Police later learned that a 21-year-old white man, Dylann Roof, was behind the massacre. He told police it was because of their skin color. Those in Gary on Friday also remembered the 49 lives lost in Sundays Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub massacre considered the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. All of us have the opportunity to make a commitment to continue to ensure our lives matter, and that these lives that have passed away have not passed in vain, Rev. Dalrey Trotter, superintendent with the North District Sunday School, said to the crowd. Everyone formed a circle near a young Japanese fern, planted last year in honor of the Charleston shooting victims. Then, 10 candles were lit for each of the nine victims, and a single candle for the 49 victims in Orlando. Father, we ask that we see neither black nor white in these situations, that we see humans. God, we cry out for the justice of the oppressed, justice for the unprivileged, and justice for those who dont have a voice, Byfield said. (We ask that) we love each other conditionally regardless of who we are, by color, by gender, or by our life. Claude Powers, superintendent at First AME Churchs Sunday School, said he sees both shooting tragedies in similar light. The obvious commonality is hate, Powers said. On both occasions, perverted thoughts led to murder and destruction. VALPARAISO Teaching kids to appreciate and coexist peacefully with native wildlife is the goal of the first Moraine Ridge Wildlife Rehabilitation Center Discover Wildlife summer camps for kids ages 5 through 12. Nicole Harmon, the centers wildlife educator, will host the three camps, which start Monday with Ecosystem Services for youngsters 10 to 12. We want to reunite children with nature and get them excited about native species that a lot of them dont even know exist, Harmon said. Harmon will use nature-themed activities, crafts, experiments and videos to inspire children to appreciate mammals, birds, and reptiles found in Northwest Indiana. Campers will take a short hike each day and focus on finding animal tracks and listening to and identifying birds. Well spend a lot of time outside, said Harmon. The hikes will be centered around what we are learning. Kids will explore everything the environment provides at Monday's camp, Harmon said, from the clean air we breathe to different ways water is purified in nature. Harmon said the camp will help kids realize the benefits to humans of a healthy environment. Science experiments that week will replicate water purification and water absorption in plants. The Animal Habitats camp on July 11-15 for ages 5 to 9 will highlight native mammals, reptiles, and birds where they live, how they adapt to urban environments, and how living with them benefits humans. Well discuss the importance of protecting animals we have right in our backyard, Harmon said. Participants will get a chance to replicate beaver dams and birds nests to see how their creation stacks up against the animals. Can we do it just as well as they can, even though we have thumbs? Harmon asked. The last camp, July 25-29 for ages 10-12, will focus on Predators and Prey. Youngsters will learn about the food chain and how it differs in various parts of the United States, and theyll compare the body structure and behavior of predatory animals and their prey and their importance in the ecosystem. Harmon plans to register 25 students per camp. Camp hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Children should bring a bag lunch, but snacks and drinks will be provided. Camp sessions are $150 each, or two sessions for $275. VALPARAISO Jennifer Murtoff, who bills herself as the Midwests only chicken consultant, was happy to hear Valparaiso will consider allowing more city residents to own backyard chickens. Chesterton recently passed a similar ordinance and other Region cities and towns already allow urban chickens. The Valparaiso City Council will vote on the ordinance at its next meeting at 7 p.m. June 27 at City Hall. If adopted, residents could have up to four chickens that must be kept securely enclosed on the owners property at all times. The ordinance has several other requirements, including that a chicken coop, or enclosed structure, to shelter the chickens must be provided. Murtoff, who lives in Chicago and provides compassionate and homespun consulting and emergency care for backyard chickens, recommends that anyone in Valparaiso or anywhere else in the Region where urban chickens are allowed make sure they educate themselves before making a purchase. Ive had a number of people get chickens and theyre just making errors left and right, she said. I dont recommend you just go out and buy chicks and say, OK, were going to have chickens. As far as getting chicks vs. older hens, Murtoff said while the hens are ready to lay eggs, chicks can bond to their owner quite readily. But also, Murtoff said a lot goes into raising chicks. Liz Welter, who lives just blocks from downtown Valparaiso, brought her four chickens with her four years ago after moving to the city from Michigan. It was her chickens that prompted city officials to think about changing the ordinance, which currently allows backyard chickens only on properties 5 acres or more. Welter, whose two young daughters help raise them, said each chicken lays about one egg a day and they share those eggs with neighbors. The Welters compost their food for the chickens and treat them like pets (they have names Rosie, Petunia, Daffodil and Honeysuckle). We take great care of them, Welter said. Almost two years ago, Chesterton adopted an ordinance allowing backyard chickens on properties under 5 acres. There havent been any issues that I know of since then, Town Manager Bernie Doyle said. I remember sitting at the meeting and I dont recall anyone challenging it. We had some people in favor of it. Police Chief David Cincoski concurred, saying there have been no nuisance complaints or issues town-wide. Lina Rollins, of South Haven, spoke in favor of chickens at the Valparaiso City Council meeting Monday when the ordinance was introduced. She owns chickens that dont bother anybody. My neighbors love them, she said. Rollins said she gives some of the eggs they lay to neighbors and people who have less income. She said her grandkids love them. Mine have attitudes, she said. Mine have names. They are your pets. Also speaking in favor of chickens at the council meeting was Joshua Sutton, of Valparaiso, who said he owned chickens when he lived in Arizona. Just as any pet, you dont want to get them as a spur-of-the-moment idea, he said. But its a great thing from an educational standpoint as well as a healthy eating standpoint. In Hobart, Bob Fulton, assistant to Mayor Brian Snedecor, said residents are allowed to have chickens as long as they adhere to their city ordinance, which among other things states that the chickens must be kept in a coop at least 200 feet away from any building other than the owners. Fulton said they get calls about chickens every month or so, usually from someone who has seen chickens and is not sure if they are allowed. There is still a significant part of Hobart that is agricultural, so we have to make allowances, he said. Fulton recommends people take caution, that there is always the possibility of an avian flu going around. Murtoff, who also, with the assistance of a veterinarian, will come out and investigate when a backyard chicken dies, said the H5N1 avian bird flu virus that can harm people has not been found in North America. She said chickens can catch a bird flu, but it depends on the strain and how well the chickens immune system is as far as its affects. As far as what areas of Chicago have the most chickens, Murtoff said there are a lot in the Logan Square and Humboldt Park neighborhoods. She also has clients as far north as Wilmette and Evanston. It looks like she might be gaining some clients in Northwest Indiana if the Regions interest in backyard chickens continues. The New York Public Library played host to a special night out for city teens. The 13th annual "Anti-Prom" was held for LGBT students. The event started in 2004 with the goal of creating a safe space for students who did not feel welcome at their school's official prom because of their sexuality or gender identity. Students look forward to the event. "This is amazing because it provides such a great opportunity for all the students that want to express themselves that can't really express themselves at regular prom, especially because this dress was made by a regular student in the high school fashion industries," said one attendee. "Anyone can dress how they like. I think that's the coolest part of all," said another. "And that anyone's that invited, it's free. You know, usually prom, you have to pay for. Not everyone can go, And it's free, and I like that." The dance also featured a fashion show with dresses designed by fellow students. Friends and family say goodbye to the Brooklyn soldier who died in a training accident in Fort Hood, Texas, earlier this month. Staff Sergeant Miguel Angel Colon-Vasquez was one of nine soldiers who was killed after their vehicle was swept away by floodwaters. Fort Hood officials say it will be a while before they can release any information on the accident. The 38-year-old was laid to rest at the Texas State Veterans cemetery in Killeen, Texas. "He'd give his shirt off his back," said Staff Sergeant Perrin Gori. "I've seen him do it, he'd give his last couple of dollars in his wallet to a homeless veteran. He loved his family. He loved everybody he met. He never made enemies and he was just a good honest man." Sergeant Colon-Vasquez leaves behind a wife and four children. In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Tina Fey transports her nerdy workaholic screen persona to the war in Afghanistan. In Sleeping With Other People, Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie play sexaholics trying to keep it in the friend zone. And if you dont want to brave the lines for Finding Dory, watch Finding Nemo instead. Whats Streaming WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT (2016) on Amazon and iTunes. A television journalist turned war correspondent embarks on her first tour of duty in Afghanistan, where she dashes into shootouts, wards off the advances of a government official, parties with the expats like theres no tomorrow and finds herself along the way in this dark comedy starring Tina Fey. Robert Carlock wrote the screenplay, based on The Taliban Shuffle, the memoir by Kim Barker, now an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Margot Robbie plays Kims frenemy news colleague; Martin Freeman is her foul-mouthed British hookup; and Alfred Molina is that handsy Afghan. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot suggests a serious extension of Ms. Feys best-known comedic persona that of the self-deprecating, nerdy workaholic on more treacherous terrain and with an Afghan culture clash, Nicolas Rapold wrote in The New York Times. Whats on TV MOTHER, MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER? (2016) 8 p.m. on Lifetime. Tori Spelling returns in this update of her trashy 1996 cult film only this time shes the worried mother who senses the danger lurking in Pearl (Emily Meade), the lesbian vampire enamored of her daughter, Leah (Leila George). James Franco, who came up with the films story line, plays a college theater director who finds his production of Macbeth taking an erotic turn he hadnt anticipated. Visium Asset Management, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund that is the focus of an insider trading case, will wind itself down. The firm will sell one of its funds to the money management firm AllianceBernstein and return money from its remaining three funds to investors, many of which are state pension funds, according to a letter sent to investors on Friday. Two days earlier, federal authorities filed criminal and civil securities charges against three traders at the firm, including Sanjay Valvani, a top lieutenant to the founder. The charges included insider trading and mismarking securities. Citing the government investigation, negative publicity and requests from investors to redeem their money, Jacob Gottlieb, the firms founder, told investors that it became clear that maintaining the status quo was increasingly untenable for the firm. The photo was featured on the cover of New York Citys tabloids: a man in shorts and sunglasses sitting on a water scooter, a smile on his face, middle fingers extended to the sky. The man, Glenn Lieberman, was among more than 130 people who were charged as part of a scheme in which people collected disability payments based on fraudulent health claims. More than 85 of them, like Mr. Lieberman, were former police officers. Prosecutors highlighted the picture at a news conference in January 2014 and said that it had been taken when Mr. Lieberman claimed he was too mentally incapacitated to leave his house. Then Mr. Lieberman became somewhat of a symbol of the abuses that prosecutors attributed to the scheme. On Friday, Mr. Lieberman, 50, pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny. As part of a plea bargain, he was expected to be sentenced to 250 hours of community service and had already paid the $250,000 he owes in restitution and fines, said Gerald J. McMahon, his lawyer. The State Senate has confirmed two people recommended by Mayor Bill de Blasio to serve on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, strengthening New York Citys voice at the state-run agency that oversees subways and buses. As the legislative session wound down on Friday evening, the Senate confirmed several people to serve on the board, including David R. Jones, the president of the Community Service Society, whom Mr. de Blasio recommended. Another mayoral choice, Veronica Vanterpool, the executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, was confirmed on Thursday. Over the past year, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, has had only one representative on the board Polly Trottenberg, the citys transportation commissioner even though the mayor is allowed to select four members. He recommended Ms. Vanterpool and Mr. Jones more than a year ago, but the legislative session in 2015 ended without the Republican-led Senates confirming his choices. At a time when the subways are increasingly overcrowded and the authority is weighing the closing of the L subway tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn for repairs, city officials and transit advocates had argued that the city needed a full voice on the board. A third person Mr. de Blasio nominated, Ydanis Rodriguez, a member of the City Council, had not been confirmed by the Senate on Friday night. PRESIDENT OBAMA spoke last month in Hiroshima about charting a course to a future free of nuclear weapons. He discussed the persistent effort necessary to eliminate the threat of nuclear war. To advance that goal, the president should reconsider the Defense Departments effort to develop a new nuclear weapon called the Long-Range Standoff Weapon. The Air Force is set next year to accelerate the development of this new nuclear cruise missile. It would carry an upgraded W-80 nuclear warhead and be able to penetrate the worlds most advanced air-defense systems. We agree that a safe, reliable nuclear stockpile is needed. Our backgrounds, voting records and entire careers show that we understand and value the deterrent effect of our nuclear stockpile. However, building new nuclear weapons like this one could be unnecessary, costly and dangerous. Nine candidates are running for the seat held for 45 years by one man, Charles Rangel, who was censured by Congress for ethics violations and is finally doing what he should have done years ago: leaving. If any district needs political rebooting, its the heavily Democratic 13th, which covers Upper Manhattan, including Harlem and Washington Heights, and parts of the Bronx. But it will be hard to make a true break with the Rangel era by electing either of the two veteran Albany politicians in the race, Assemblyman Keith Wright or State Senator Adriano Espaillat. Mr. Wright is, in fact, Mr. Rangels chosen successor, an affable pol deeply rooted in Harlems political and business establishment. In 23 years in the Legislature, Mr. Wright has not been tainted by that bodys infamous corruption, but neither has he stood out as a reformer or a particularly creative lawmaker. His sponsorship of a nation-leading bill of rights for domestic workers is an exception. President Obamas visits this weekend to Carlsbad Caverns and Yosemite national parks give him a timely opportunity to think about how, in the twilight of his presidency, he can add to what has already been an admirable record of protecting Americas public lands and marine reserves. The parks themselves are in a celebratory moment, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service. But given Congresss preference for partisan infighting over environmental stewardship, it is unlikely to approve any additions to the park system. Still, there is much that Mr. Obama can do on his own using the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows a president to unilaterally protect areas of great natural or historical value as monuments when Congress is unlikely to act. Of the proposals now circulating at the White House, four potential monument designations are particularly compelling. The most controversial consists of 1.9 million acres in southeastern Utah known as Bears Ears because of two buttes that loom over the landscape. Bears Ears is rich in natural beauty and priceless Native American artifacts that are increasingly at risk from the pillaging and looting that inspired the Antiquities Act in the first place. A monument designation would earn Mr. Obama the admiration of conservationists and the many Indian tribes that support the idea. It would also arouse the fury of the political establishment in a state where the federal government already owns nearly two-thirds of the land and where powerful interests would resent the restrictions on off-road vehicles, oil and gas drilling, and other development that the designation would bring. But so what? Mr. Obama has nothing to lose politically, and everything to gain in terms of the environmental accomplishment. Two other obvious candidates lie underwater. One would involve a fourfold expansion of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, created by President George W. Bush in 2006. The area surrounds the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and is home to an estimated 7,000 marine and terrestrial species, a quarter of which are found nowhere else on earth. Trump apparently was at his apartment in Midtown Manhattan during the attacks and their aftermath. However, he has occasionally relocated himself to ground zero. He told people at a rally in Buffalo this spring that I was down there and I watched our police and our firemen down at 7/11. It was probably the only time in history that a presidential candidate confused an epic disaster with a convenience store. People, do you think its unfair to make fun of Trumps verbal pratfalls? This week he told the crowd at another rally that Belgium is a beautiful city. Could be an endearing foible. Could be a symptom of a supreme indifference to reality in all its forms. Trump also claimed that on 9/11 he saw thousands and thousands of people in a New Jersey area with a heavy Arab population cheering as that building was coming down. When ABCs George Stephanopoulos pointed out that nothing like that happened, Trump said: It was on television. I saw it. Nobody else did. But we can be confident that if a disaster fell upon us during a Trump presidency, he would somehow blame it on American Muslims. If there was a hurricane, itd be their fault for not issuing advance warning. I asked the Trump campaign what the candidate had done to be helpful in the wake of 9/11, and this is the list: Allowed people to use 40 Wall Street to store equipment, stay in the building, etc. This is a 72-story skyscraper that Trump owns. When the government began a program to encourage businesses to stay in Lower Manhattan after the attack, he managed to milk $150,000 for 40 Wall Street, which was not going anywhere. NEW YORK A map on Thursday with an article about a proposed expansion of ferry service in New York City omitted one of the proposed ferry terminals. One is planned for Roosevelt Island. The map also misidentified two proposed terminals in Manhattan and failed to label an existing one. The third stop from the bottom of the map, a planned stop, is Grand Avenue, not Stuyvesant Cove; the planned stop above that is Stuyvesant Cove, not East 34th Street; and the existing stop above that is East 34th Street. A corrected map can be found at nytimes.com/nyregion. An article in some editions on Tuesday about an outing on Long Island Sound that left two people dead after a kayak and paddleboard were swept far from shore transposed the given names of the two survivors, using information from the authorities. The mother is Delfina Reynoso of Hartford, and her daughter is Damaris. Because of an editing error, an article on Tuesday about a second vigil at the Stonewall Inn in New York for the 49 people who died in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., misstated, in some editions, the surname of a 25-year-old man from Brooklyn who was one of those killed. He was Enrique Rios, not Ross. BUSINESS DAY A headline on Friday with an article about the appointment of Stacey Snider as chairman and chief executive at 21st Century Fox misstated Ms. Sniders current job. As the article correctly noted, she is co-chairwoman of 20th Century Fox, the film studio not its parent, 21st Century Fox. Robert Paine, a groundbreaking, hands-on ecologist who found that removing what he called a keystone species from an environment could profoundly affect the fortunes of neighboring species, died on Monday in Seattle. He was 83. The cause was acute myeloid leukemia, his daughter Anne Paine said. Dr. Paine demonstrated in his field work that certain species exert a disproportionate impact on their ecosystems and that their elimination as a result of climate change, pollution or some other natural or man-made factors can produce unexpected and far-reaching consequences for the local environment. A teacher and researcher at the University of Washington for 36 years, Dr. Paine propounded his keystone theory in 1966 after studying ochre starfish, or sea stars, as they preyed on the mussel population along the rocky shore of Makah Bay, on the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. After he pried the starfish from rocks with a crowbar and hurled them into the sea, the mussels proliferated along the shore, displacing algae and limpets. In Colfax, La., in 1873; in East St. Louis, Ill., in 1917; and in Tulsa, Okla., in 1921; mobs of white people attacked and killed large numbers of black people. In 1857, a Mormon militia attacked settlers in a wagon train at Mountain Meadows in the Territory of Utah. In 1890, a cavalry regiment gunned down Lakota men, women and children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. In each case, there is disagreement over how many people died, and no certainty about how many were shot, but by most estimates, the death toll was higher than in the Orlando attack. As a result, some have objected to calling the Orlando mass shooting the worst. The National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, for example, issued a joint statement asking reporters to stop using the superlative, which negates several other incidents in U.S. history, many involving minority victims. You can probably point to some incidents where more people were shot than in Orlando, said J. Pete Blair, the executive director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University, and an author of an F.B.I. study of active-shooter attacks. But for our purposes, theyre in a different category. We would consider this to be the worst mass shooting in the United States. Disputes over how to define mass shootings are serious enough that experts disagree about whether they are on the rise. Some researchers exclude domestic attacks, but not others. Some say that only the acts of lone gunmen can qualify; others say that a small group of people can carry out a mass shooting if they prepare and act together. RIO DE JANEIRO The police in Rio de Janeiro said Friday that they had asked for charges to be filed against seven people in the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl. The case attracted international attention after videos showing men posing with the unconscious victim were posted on social media. The attack took place on May 21 in an abandoned building in the Morro do Borao district of Rio de Janeiro. The officer overseeing the investigation, Cristiana Bento, said evidence collected so far showed that three men and a minor took part in the rape, not 33 people as the victim initially suggested. Ms. Bento said she believed that the victims statement was a false memory, perhaps the result of her drugged state during the attack or the trauma she suffered. The victim is now in a witness protection program. Ms. Bento said a video that circulated online might have confused the victim. In the video, a suspect says, This one here, she got pregnant by more than 30, gesturing toward the naked and unconscious teenager. The shooting and stabbing death of Ms. Cox, 41, a member of the opposition Labour Party, left Britain stunned and set off a debate about the tone of Britains increasingly fractious politics ahead of the plebiscite regarding the European bloc. Ms. Cox was killed early Thursday afternoon after getting out of her car outside the public library in Birstall where she had been scheduled to hold a meeting with constituents, the police said on Friday in their most detailed description of the attack. Some media accounts, citing witnesses, said on Thursday that Ms. Cox had been coming out of the library after the meeting when she was attacked. Issues of immigration and national identity have been central to the occasionally bitter clashes over the referendum on European Union membership and have resulted in a tone that critics say verges on racism and xenophobia. Ms. Coxs death was the first killing of a sitting member of Parliament since 1990. Her death brought Prime Minister David Cameron, a Conservative, and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, together to the site of the killing to honor her. Both sides in the European Union debate suspended campaigning on Thursday out of respect for Ms. Cox, though Vote Leave, which supports departure from the 28-nation bloc, said Friday that it would resume campaigning over the weekend. UNITED NATIONS The Middle East peace process is stalemated in part because of disagreement over the appropriate land borders for Israel and a future state of Palestine. Now the Palestinians are taking the first steps toward establishing what their state would claim at sea. The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad H. Mansour, said Friday that his government had begun preliminary negotiations with Egypt to define the extent of Palestinian-claimed territory in the Mediterranean off the roughly 25-mile-long coast of Gaza, the strip bordering Israel and Egypt where roughly 1.8 million Palestinians live. Mr. Mansour said the negotiations, which he described as having begun recently, were possible because of the Palestinian territories United Nations status as a nonmember observer state, which the General Assembly recognized in November 2012. That status empowered the Palestinians to achieve membership in United Nations bodies and treaties, like the convention that created the International Criminal Court, much to the irritation of Israel and the United States, its most important ally. Michelle Cliff, a Jamaican-American writer whose novels, stories and nonfiction essays drew on her multicultural identity to probe the psychic disruptions and historical distortions wrought by colonialism and racism, died on June 12 at her home in Santa Cruz, Calif. She was 69. The cause was liver failure, according to the Adrienne Rich Literary Trust. Ms. Cliff and Ms. Rich, the poet, were longtime partners. Ms. Cliffs entire creative life was a quest to give voice to suppressed histories, starting with her own. Her first essay, Notes on Speechlessness, written for a womens writing group in 1978, can be read as the keynote for her subsequent work, which navigated the complexities of her life situation she was a light-skinned black lesbian raised partly in Jamaica and partly in New York, and educated in Britain against the broader background of the Caribbean experience. Her aim, she wrote in the 1991 essay Calibans Daughter, was to reject speechlessness, a process which has taken years, and to invent my own peculiar speech with which to describe my own peculiar self, to draw together everything I am and have been. Back in 2007, during a weekly check-in, my wifes manager delivered some unexpected good news: You dont have to be in the office to do this job, she said. You could work from wherever you want. A fast six months later, we left hot, crowded Austin, Tex., and moved into an apartment on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Me., with a commanding view of Casco Bay only steps away. My wife managed a geographically dispersed web services team, and I worked as a researcher at a think tank in Washington. The separate rooms where we worked seemed like extensions of offices elsewhere, not places in our house. I had to laugh when I overheard our new downstairs neighbors refer to us as trust funders because they never saw us leave the house to go to work. We did not know many people and accepted any invitation we received, which is how we ended up at a barbecue, given for a candidate for governor, in a suburban backyard. That was when I fully realized that I belonged to a nascent class of worker that no one knew much about. The candidate raising campaign funds was a hard-working lawyer who seemed genuinely well meaning, but no one had told him that his economic platform of protecting manufacturing jobs and Maines traditional industries wasnt going to fly with an audience of health care professionals, programmers, web designers and researchers. With plates of potato salad in our hands, we muttered to each other that this guy didnt have a place in his platform for people like us, many of whom worked for employers in other states. Our checkbooks stayed in our pockets. The archivist stumbled across the file in a stack of boxes on the second floor of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The yellowing letters inside dated back more than half a century, chronicling the dreams and struggles of a young man in Kenya. He was ambitious and impetuous, a 22-year-old clerk who could type 75 words a minute and translate English into Swahili. But he had no money for college. So he pounded away on a typewriter in Nairobi, pleading for financial aid from universities and foundations across the Atlantic. His letters would help change the course of American history. It has been my long cherished ambition to further my studies in America, he wrote in 1958. His name was Barack Hussein Obama, and his dispatches helped unleash a stream of scholarship money that carried him from Kenya to the United States. There, he fathered the child who would become the nations first black president, only to vanish from his sons life a few years after his birth. In 2013, the Schomburg Center invited President Obama to see the newly discovered documents, which included nearly two dozen of his fathers letters, his transcripts from the University of Hawaii and Harvard University, and references from professors, advisers and supporters. Nearly three years later, as Mr. Obama celebrates his last Fathers Day in the White House, the center is still waiting for a response. Its not true. Donald Trump, as Frank Rich put it in New York magazine, lacks the discipline and zeal to be a successful fascist. He has espoused a repugnant racism and xenophobia from the first moments of his presidential campaign, which began a year ago last Thursday, when he castigated Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, and he has a fascists instincts to smash up convention, to shock and unsettle opponents with his cutting, personal insults weak, sad, low-energy, stupid, lyin, little, crooked, Pocahontas. But for all that he likes to stoke the dangerous theater of violence at his rallies, Mr. Trump doesnt hail from Europes far-right traditions of blood and soil. He has no elaborate theories of race or economics. Unlike countless Latin American dictators, he has no connection to the military (even if he does think being shipped off to a military high school is the equivalent of serving in the armed forces). He would be the most irreverent individual ever nominated by a major American political party, barely cognizant of the most basic tenets of Christianity, forgiveness and grace, or the rite of communion. He likes to portray himself as a major player as a developer, which must serve as a source of constant amusement to New Yorks actual real estate dynasties, all those Dursts and Rudins, LeFraks and Zeckendorfs. Contrary to what many of his followers insist on believing, he is not a self-made man. Over the course of his career, Mr. Trump appears to have been more of a grifter than a businessman, as recent investigations by The Times and USA Today have shown, racking up four corporate bankruptcies while continually enriching himself at the expense of stockholders, contractors, employees and customers. For that matter, he doesnt seem to even come from anywhere very specific. Mr. Trumps mannerisms and patois are ineluctably those of New York, something he plays up at times, but he came of age on the mean streets of Jamaica Estates, a wealthy, exclusive, lily-white enclave in Queens, and seems to most enjoy the ambience of his Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago. All of which is working fine for him so far. The lack of any deeper ties allows Mr. Trump to move free and easy in our fissured political world, in this year of our unease. He has been able to run down one taboo after another with impunity, mocking Senator John McCain for having been captured by the North Vietnamese, shrugging off his complete irreligiosity, flaunting his womanizing and libertinage while seducing a party that claims to hold nothing in higher esteem than our veterans and family values. He has succeeded brilliantly in overcoming Republicans ideological objections with what Reggie Jackson used to call the magnitude of me, making a visceral, emotional appeal to win over voters justifiably enraged by the collapse of the working class, by the wholesale corruption of our financial elite, with assurances that, through the sheer audacity that has always served him well, he will make America great again. If Donald Trump comes from anywhere it is the recent past, the go-go, out-of-control, disco Manhattan past of the 1980s, where champagne wishes and caviar dreams are always on the menu. Its the same appeal behind Trump University and the general, relentless flogging of his name: You, too, can have all this, whatever this is. As it happens there is social science on this question, too, and it finds that conservatives are more alert to threats than liberals are. One 2012 study by researchers at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, showed liberals and conservatives a collage of photographs, and conservatives lingered longer on dangerous or repulsive images car crashes, excrement than liberals did. Which brings us to Orlando, Fla. Lets acknowledge two plain and straightforward truths. One, Mr. Trump handled the situation shockingly, embarrassingly. From that tweet in which he accepted congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism to his big post-attack speech, which was somehow at once offensive and plodding, he made it about him. When he did try to sound vaguely like a leader, spooning out kind words for the L.G.B.T. community (which he of course cherishes), he sounded ridiculous, about as genuine as some of those Southern congressmen did expressing their solidarity with New Jerseyans after Hurricane Sandy before they voted against the emergency funding. Two and this is important the Orlando tragedy wasnt just a straightforward terrorist attack. It was also a hate crime, since it was directed at one community (or two Latino and L.G.B.T.). According to a CBS News poll, 57 percent of Americans thought it was both, but among those who chose one or the other, more saw it as a hate crime (25 percent) than an act of terror (14 percent). That the act didnt read to people as a strictly terrorist act may mean it didnt fire the same set of synapses in most people that an attack that just killed Americans randomly might have. And the fact that Congress is preparing to take a couple of ritualistic gun-control votes nudges the psychic needle even further in the hate-crime direction. But acknowledging those caveats, I want to advance a theory: Americans in 2016 may have a less reactive response to terrorism than they had 15 years ago. When 9/11 happened, it was so shocking and new; most people had simply thought that something like that could never happen in the United States. A decade and a half later, we have joined the world, the weary and beleaguered world, and learned that anything can happen anywhere, anytime. We may also have figured out, or most of us may have, that the bluster and gasconade of the fear-mongers hasnt really done us much good. George W. Bush said bring em on; and bring it on they did, pitching us into hell. Maybe after these last 15 years of war, a lot of Americans hear Mr. Trumps rhetoric and plans and think, Thats the last thing we need. Its also the case that Hillary Clinton, by contrast, looked and sounded like a president ought to. The reputation for hawkishness that she spent her Senate years cultivating didnt hurt, as backdrop. And while she may not have said anything terribly memorable, in a week such as the one past, maybe thats the point: Just say the obvious and comforting things a president is supposed to say. Observing her comportment last week, one could easily picture her representing the nation at grave moments. The same could hardly be said of Mr. Trump. The cavalry horses appear in columns of two, mostly bluish-gray in the front row and sorrel in the back. This color coordination was not a figment of Red Horses imagination. Custer had issued a coloring of the horses order, forcing cavalrymen to trade horses with one another so that each troop company rode mounts of a uniform color. In giving this order, Custer was, like many soldiers before and since, fighting the last war. Coloring the horses had improved command and control on sprawling Civil War battlefields, but served little purpose when attacking native villages. It was, however, aesthetically pleasing. It was surprising to witness what a great improvement in the handsome appearance of the command was effected by this measure, Custer wrote in his book, My Life on the Plains. Red Horse, in his sign-language account, expressed puzzlement that among the soldiers were white men who were not soldiers. On the lower right of the drawing is a body wearing a plaid shirt and lacking a stripe on his trousers. This is likely either Boston Custer, George Custers youngest brother, or Henry Armstrong Reed, Georges teenage nephew, who came along for the ride. Notice also how the flags are inverted. Red Horse saw himself as a prisoner of war, drawing for his captors. These inverted flags are a coded sign of disrespect, a covert act of defiance, subtle enough that white men wouldnt notice it or perhaps would chalk it up to the primitive understanding of a savage Indian. Displaying United States flags upside down as a protest was soon practiced at other reservations and became a tradition, witnessed in the 1970s at American Indian Movements takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building and at the Wounded Knee massacre site. THE first time I was ever called a nigger was also the first time I was not called a nigger. I was 8 years old, living in an apartment complex in Jackson, Tenn. I had two friends who also lived in this complex, both black. We were playing in a stairwell when two white boys came by and sprayed us with water guns, shouting, Niggers! The other two girls flew into a rage. I said nothing. I had been brought up to see myself as set apart from what my family called black Americans, who stood a rung below what my family called white Americans. Neither group was something you wanted to be. In our hierarchy of goodness, Ghanaians were at the top, and nothing else came close. Those boys couldnt possibly be referring to me, and as though they knew I was thinking this, one of them looked at me and said, Not you. In my 8-year-olds logic, I believed that the boy had taken the word back as a reward for my good behavior. The lesson in all of this, it seemed, was that as long as I was good, I would never be a nigger. We moved to Alabama the summer I turned 10. No one was happy about this move, our fourth state in our second country, but my father had found a tenure-track position at the university in Huntsville and assured us that we were there to stay. There were no black Americans, let alone West Africans, in the neighborhood. Because the Huntsville schools were, and still are, extremely segregated, and because my family lived on the white side of town, I was the sole black student in almost all of my classes. This city was the perfect place to put my goodness to the test. House Speaker Paul Ryan presented his economic agenda last week, but it does not deal with the countrys problems with jobs, wages, investment, trade, inequality or other pressing economic issues. Rather, its 57 pages boil down to one idea: Roll back hundreds of federal regulations that protect consumers, investors, employees, borrowers, students and the environment. The plan bases its case for deregulation on the claim that the American people now spend $1.89 trillion every year, just to comply with Washingtons rules approximately $15,000 per household. That estimate, from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market group formed in 1984, has been debunked. Its fatal flaw is that it assumes regulations have only costs and no benefits. The Ryan plan recycles that absurdity. It harps on corporate compliance costs while ignoring the social and economic benefits of, say, clean air, clean water, time-and-a-half for overtime, properly underwritten loans and adequate bank capital, to name just a few of the regulatory targets. Mr. Ryan seems to think his ideas would become reality in a Donald Trump administration. We feel very confident that our presumptive nominee is comfortable with this agenda, he said in announcing the plan. That may be, but the American people are unlikely to be comfortable with it. One of the bills promoted in the plan would repeal all climate-change regulations under the Clean Air Act. Others promote coal mining and offshore oil drilling. These proposals are consistent with statements by Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, that he would eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, but they do not reflect public opinion. His obnoxious use of ethnicity only exposed the fact that Republicans had been using bigotry against minorities and gays to whip up voters for decades. The G.O.P. would love to drop Trump now because it prefers a candidate in the partys more subtle racist traditions. (Or even a candidate savvy enough to heap disdain on the 47 percent of government freeloaders at a ritzy fund-raiser without having a bartender tape it and leak it.) The neocons calling Trump a fascist would certainly prefer a more militaristic candidate. Trump realized the Iraq war was misbegotten long before much of the media cognoscenti in New York, and he was willing to hold W. accountable for being asleep at the switch before 9/11 and using a bait-and-switch on Iraq. Even though he ranted about the press, he was also far more available to the media than the cloaked Hillary Clinton, who has yet to give a news conference this year. But he undermines his accessibility when he incites nastiness against reporters at his rallies and revokes The Washington Posts credentials for a headline he doesnt like. Before his campaign became infused with racial grievance, victimhood and violence, Trump told me, I have fun with life and I understand life and I want to make life better for people. If he had those better angels, he didnt listen to them. Seduced by the roar of the angry crowd, Trump kept dishing out racially offensive comments about my African-American, a black man he spotted at a California rally; the Mexican judge on the Trump University case; and the Afghan who committed the atrocities in Orlando. Mitt Romney is right that Trumps rhetoric causes trickle-down racism and misogyny. The Washington Post had a front-page story on Friday about the vulgarities freely directed at Hillary Clinton by men and women at Trump rallies. Trump told me he could act like the toniest member of high society when he wanted, and he would as soon as he dispatched his G.O.P. rivals. He said his narcissism would not hinder him as he morphed into a leader. But he cant stop lashing out and doesnt get why that turns people against him. Everything is filtered through his ego. He reacted to Orlando not as a tragedy so much as a chance to brag about the congrats he got for being right on radical Islamic terrorism. The presumptive but now tenuous nominee seemed bereft at a Dallas rally on Thursday night when he could no longer brag about his polls, which are shattering records for negativity. Finally, on Friday, Trump couldnt stop himself from tweeting out a poll, even though it was one that showed him behind Hillary. Roof Access My co-op board just blocked access to the roof except for emergencies, saying the roofing company required it in order for the building to get a warranty on the new roof. Before, all residents had unlimited roof access. Does this change have any effect on the resale value of my apartment? My one-bedroom is valued at around $1 million; even a 1 percent drop in value would mean a $10,000 loss. Chelsea, Manhattan Access to the great outdoors comes at a premium in New York. Many buyers are willing to pay more for an apartment if it has a slice of the sky attached. So now that your building does not come with that coveted feature, your apartment will not appeal to some buyers. It is simply one less thing that can be offered, said Kathy Braddock, a managing director at William Raveis New York. You no longer will attract a buyer interested in outdoor space. How much less will your apartment fetch now that the roof is off limits? That is hard to say. Not all roofs are created equal. A landscaped roof deck furnished with planters and lounge chairs would be far more attractive than a bare-bones slab of tar and felt. ORLANDO, Fla. They came for the flashing neon lights, hip-swiveling tunes, cocktails and glitzy drag queens. Some arrived with a sense of purpose and defiance, to show that everything is going to be all right, to remember the loved ones they lost. Others just wanted to move on. This city of fun and fantasy is gingerly plodding back into its night life scene this weekend, the first since 49 people were killed on Latin night at Pulse a week ago. The mass shooting rocked the gay and Latino communities here, and has left the entire city grappling with the odd emotion of doing the exact thing that the victims were doing before the carnage began in the early hours of last Sunday. But they did not come in their usual numbers, and many of those who did turned out with a newfound wariness. Where are the emergency exits? Who is that coming through the door? What is in that backpack? Eerie, Jonathan Arroyo said Friday night as neon lights bounced off his face next to the white banquettes at Southern Nights, a popular gay club. Mr. Arroyo unfolded a receipt from his jean shorts: a $26.75 tab from Pulse, timestamped only about 30 minutes before the shooting began about 2 a.m. It reminds him to appreciate life, and on his first time at a club since the shooting, he took in the light, playful atmosphere people drinking, dancing, having fun. How it felt that night, he said, clutching a plastic cup of Hennessy, Im not going to let something like that mess up my routine. The truth, however, is that nothing is back to normal for the emotionally worn population here. Mr. Arroyo, 29, and several others said they had taken note of the exit signs in the bars and clubs for the first time. They had discussed emergency plans with friends. In an address after the Orlando massacre punctuated with dire warnings of impending violence, Donald J. Trump said he would suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States or its allies. Mr. Trump promised fixes to the immigration system that would be tough and smart and fast. It sounded much like his provocative proposal to keep Muslims from entering the country, but those listening closely noticed an important change. By proposing to bar people from certain regions rather than religions, Mr. Trump had avoided the sticky issue of testing someones faith. Mr. Trumps plan, lawyers and legal scholars agree, is one that the president has the power to carry out. But they said that putting it in place would take an ambitious bureaucratic effort not likely to move nearly as quickly as the candidate envisions. And it would make sweeping use of executive authority to enact the sharpest restrictions on immigration since 1965, when the United States abandoned longstanding quotas designed to exclude people from much of Asia and from southern and Eastern Europe. ORLANDO, Fla. Hundreds of partyers were bringing their best to the dance floor as the reggaeton beats emanated from the D.J. booth to the main floor at Pulse, where the revelers swayed to the music, which has roots in Jamaican dance hall, Trinidadian soca and Panamanian Spanish reggae. Around 2 a.m., with closing time approaching, D.J.s Simon2001 and Infinite working the main floor and the patio were looking to bring the crowd down from the heights reached earlier in the evening. A third D.J. Flawless, whose real name is Kraig Matthews was working in a different room at the club that night. He did not want to be interviewed for this article because of the trauma he endured, he said. Some people were smoking cigarettes on the patio. Others were saying goodbye as they prepared to leave, hugging and sipping the last remnants of their cocktails. Everything was normal, Infinite, whose real name is Ray Rivera, said in an interview Friday. It was a normal night. People were getting their last drinks because last call was at 2:25. Everyone was chilling. By 2:05, all of that had changed. In the early hours last Sunday, as a gunman stormed through the door of the popular gay nightclub in a city considered the Theme Park Capital of the World, the disc jockeys lives were flipped upside down. As Mr. Rivera played traditional reggae tunes on the patio, Simon2001, whose real name is Simeon Alberto Roman Barria, was in another booth in the main dance room. When the gunman, later identified as Omar Mateen, began his shooting spree, each D.J. cut the volume, trying to figure out what was going on. Mr. Rivera said he was only four feet from the clubs main exit on the patio, but he helped people get out before he fled. Mr. Romans experience was different: He found himself cornered. His D.J. booth was eight to 10 feet above the dance floor and only accessible by a ladder in a small room visible behind the bar. Behind the booth, in a loftlike area, was the managers office and a room used for storage. As soon as I heard the gunshots, I lowered the volume and ducked down, Mr. Roman said during an interview at Mr. Riveras home. After that, he said: I crawled to hide behind an amplifier in the other room. I was there the entire three hours. Mr. Roman said he encountered the clubs lighting technician in the loft area; as they sought a haven, they were joined by a third man, who had been shot in the arm but managed to scramble up the ladder to relative safety. Mr. Roman said the three huddled together, trying to get out texts and calls on a cellphone belonging to the injured man, who did not want to be named. Seconds after the injured man got up to the small storage room, five to six other people managed to reach the managers office and hide there. Out on the patio, separated from the main floor in the club, partygoers poured out as they tried to escape. At first everybody on the patio just stood there for a second as the first rounds went off then more rounds went off, then more, Mr. Rivera said. Then people were everywhere, running out, climbing over the patio fence, jumping over each other, just trying to get out. QIUNATONG, China Three great rivers rush through parallel canyons in the mountains of southwest China on their way to the coastal plains of Asia. At least 10 dams have been built on two of them, the Mekong and the Yangtze. The third remains wild: the remote, raging Nu, known as the Salween in Myanmar, where it empties into the Andaman Sea. No dam stands in the path of its turquoise waters. It is the last free-flowing river in China. Environmentalists have waged a passionate defense of the Nu for more than a decade, battling state hydropower firms determined to build dams to harness the river, whose name in Chinese means angry. It is an epic struggle that has veered from victory to defeat and back again several times and has recently taken on new significance: With global temperatures rising, can China afford to protect its rivers and forgo an alternative to the coal-fired plants responsible for much of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions? Green advocates across the country have argued that dams on the Nu would force the relocation of tens of thousands of people, destroy spawning grounds for fish and threaten the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen downstream, especially across the border in Myanmar and Thailand. But China, the worlds biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has promised to begin scaling back its use of coal even as its power needs continue to rise. The government pledged that one-fifth of the nations energy use will come from non-fossil sources by 2030, and it intends to reach that goal in large part by building more dams. Like the United States, China considers hydropower its biggest source of clean energy. DHAKA, Bangladesh A man suspected of being an Islamist militant was killed in crossfire on Saturday while in police custody, a police chief said, just days after he was accused of critically wounding a Hindu college teacher in the latest in a series of attacks in Bangladesh. The man, Ghulam Faijullaha Fahim, 19, was shot when police officers took him with them to help capture his associates, said Sarwar Hossain, the police chief in Madaripur, 44 miles south of the capital, Dhaka. He was caught in crossfire that erupted after miscreants started shooting at the police, Mr. Hossain said. He added that Mr. Fahim had been pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital. The college teacher, Ripon Chakraborty, was attacked on Wednesday by Mr. Fahim and two other knife-wielding assailants when Mr. Chakraborty answered the doorbell at his home in Madaripur, according to the police account. ROME Among the well-heeled bureaucrats of the European Union, it is an article of faith that the bloc always emerges stronger from a crisis. The idealistic founders who six decades ago dreamed of stitching warring nations into a peaceful whole knew the path would be bumpy. But always, the union wobbled forward. Now the dream of an integrated and ever-stronger Europe could sink into the English Channel on Thursday, when British voters decide whether to abandon the bloc. To the pro-Europe establishment, this latest crisis is considered a peculiarly British affair, in which the villains are opportunistic politicians steering voters toward a delusional, self-inflicted mistake. That may be. But if Britain does leave, the European Union can also blame its own handling of the crises of the past decade the tribulations of the euro, the debt standoff with Greece and a flawed approach to migration. Each time, the bloc rammed through ugly, short-term fixes that only inflamed the angry nationalism now spreading across the Continent and Britain. The result was almost a decade of ad hoc crisis management that even many admirers agree has left the European Union badly wounded and its reputation badly damaged. Idealism has given way to disillusionment. The blocs elite technocrats are often perceived as out of touch, while European institutions are not fully equipped to address problems like unemployment and economic stagnation. Political solidarity is dissolving into regional divisions of east and west, north and south. LONDON The man charged with murdering the British lawmaker Jo Cox made his first court appearance on Saturday, telling the court when asked his name, My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain. Thomas Mair, 52, had been charged earlier Saturday with murder and several other offenses, including inflicting grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm. Mr. Mair, of the town of Birstall, appeared briefly at Westminster Magistrates Court in London. Once charges have been brought, British media law prohibits any reporting about the case that might prejudice a trial. Ms. Cox, 41, a member of Parliament who advocated for immigrants causes, was gunned down on Thursday outside a library in Birstall, a town near the city of Leeds in northern England, as she was wrapping up a meeting with constituents. A 77-year-old man was also slightly injured in the attack. FALLUJA, Iraq In the days leading up to the storming of Falluja by Iraqi forces, Brig. Gen. Hadi Razaij, the leading Sunni police commander in the campaign, sat on a cot in an abandoned house near the front line. He described the resistance that lay ahead: a determined force of hundreds of jihadists that had months to prepare. General Razaijs presence on the battlefield shows that local Sunnis, and not just the Shiite forces that now dominate Iraqi politics, are fighting to liberate their own communities, and has helped tamp down fears that the battle for Falluja would heighten sectarian tensions. He was dispassionate as he described the challenges, but for him the fight was personal, too. General Razaijs brother stands accused of being a member of the Islamic State and is in a prison cell after being arrested at a checkpoint with a car full of explosives. In northern Iraq, Nofal Hammadi, the governor-in-exile of Mosul, is working with the United States to plan for that citys liberation from the Islamic State. He, too, has family in the fight: Mr. Hammadis brother is an Islamic State official, having appeared in a video pledging his allegiance to the terror group and disowning his brother. As you read this episode, dear readers, keep in mind: The Haggler does not set out to annoy anyone. He does not hope that people will shout at him. Honest. Q. My husband ordered a pet door from a company in California called SureGuard. He paid $419 plus $45 for UPS shipping. The door arrived damaged in a damaged box. We called SureGuard, and a representative there told us to call UPS. The box was picked up and presumably sent back to SureGuard. SureGuard said it never arrived. UPS said it had reached a resolution with the company, which it would not discuss. At one point, a guy at SureGuard said he would just take the loss and credit our PayPal account, but that was months ago and he never did. Now he wont return calls or emails. I have been trying to get my money back, or a pet door, for more than a year. Can you help? JOY COHEN, NEW ORLEANS A. The Haggler left a few messages for SureGuard, which is in Rancho Dominguez, Calif. Three days later, a man named Jason said he would be happy to take care of Ms. Cohens issue, though he hastened to add that SureGuard was not the company that manufactured the door. NYTimes.com no longer supports Internet Explorer 9 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser. Omar Mateen was born in Queens in 1986 to Afghan parents. He moved to Florida with his family in 1991 and spent his early years in the Port St. Lucie area on the states east coast. In both elementary and middle school, his teachers described him as often being unable to focus or control himself in class. As a young man, Mr. Mateen became interested in a career in law enforcement and earned an associate degree in criminal justice technology from Indian River State College in 2006. As investigators comb through his past to glean an understanding of the young man whose attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando killed 49 people and wounded 53 others, a portrait of a complicated childhood and young adulthood is emerging. These documents offer a glimpse into Mr. Mateens life. Related Article Recent offensives against Mosul and Raqqa threaten to remove the Islamic State from its two largest strongholds. The Islamic State was able to carve out a sprawling territory across Iraq and Syria through military dominance over 126 key places. But the groups momentum has slowed over the past year, and it has lost its hold on half of those locations. As the militant group has been squeezed in Iraq and Syria, there are signs that it has been shifting its focus from controlling territory to executing terror attacks in Iraq and abroad. Out of 10 Cities, the Islamic State Remains in Four The group has been forced out of about 63 places where it once had control, including six major cities, since it made rapid advances across the two countries in 2014. Three miles Abu Ghraib Lost by ISIS in February 2016 Half mile Lost by ISIS in February 2016 Feb. 2016 Baquba Lost by ISIS in September 2014 Half mile Lost by ISIS in September 2014 Sept. 2014 Deir al-Zour Captured by ISIS in July 2014 Half mile Falluja Lost by ISIS in June 2016 Half mile Lost by ISIS in June 2016 June 2016 Manbij Lost by ISIS in August 2016 Half mile Lost by ISIS in August 2016 Aug. 2016 Mosul Captured by ISIS in June 2014 Half mile Ramadi Lost by ISIS in January 2016 Half mile Lost by ISIS in January 2016 Jan. 2016 Raqqa Captured by ISIS in January 2014 Half mile Tikrit Lost by ISIS in March 2015 Half mile Lost by ISIS in March 2015 March 2015 Tal Afar Captured by ISIS in June 2014 Half mile In June 2014, the Islamic State stunned the world when it seized Mosul, by far the largest city it controls, from Iraqi soldiers who dropped their weapons and fled. But the groups momentum has shifted. The caliphate has been crumbling at the edges, said Columb Strack, a senior analyst at IHS Conflict Monitor, an organization that has been tracking which cities and towns make up the militant groups territory. Iraqi security forces regained control of Ramadi in January after months of battling Islamic State fighters there. Many homes in the city were destroyed or rigged with explosives during the fighting, and most residents have yet to return. The Syrian government is fighting to remove the Islamic State from parts of Deir al-Zour. If the government succeeds, the militants will lose a crucial connection between their strongholds in Raqqa and Mosul, making it more difficult for them to move quickly to defend territory, Mr. Strack said. The Militants Capture Infrastructure and Resources to Generate Revenue As they seized cities, Islamic State militants also captured valuable resources like oil fields and hydroelectric dams, which have helped them generate income. The groups oil and gas revenue is down 26 percent since last year but still adds up to about $23 million a month, according to IHS. Half mile Kabiba Oil Field Lost by ISIS in February 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in February 2016 Feb. 2016 Ajeel Oil Field Lost by ISIS in May 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in May 2015 May 2015 Al-Badia Cement Plant Lost by ISIS in April 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in April 2016 April 2016 Tanak Oil Field Captured by ISIS in July 2014 500 feet Al-Ward Oil Field Captured by ISIS in July 2014 500 feet Alas Oil Field Lost by ISIS in May 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in May 2015 May 2015 Baath Dam Captured by ISIS in January 2014 500 feet Baiji Refinery Lost by ISIS in October 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in October 2015 Oct. 2015 Deiro Oil Field Captured by ISIS in June 2014 500 feet Shula Oil Field Captured by ISIS in June 2014 500 feet Akashat Phosphate Mine Lost by ISIS in May 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in May 2016 May 2016 Mosul Dam Lost by ISIS in August 2014 500 feet Lost by ISIS in August 2014 Aug. 2014 Omar Oil Field Captured by ISIS in July 2014 500 feet Furat Dam Captured by ISIS in January 2014 500 feet Al-Taim Oil Field Captured by ISIS in June 2014 500 feet Qayara Oil Field Lost by ISIS in August 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in August 2016 Aug. 2016 Shaer Gas Field Captured by ISIS in November 2014 500 feet T1 Pumping Station Captured by ISIS in June 2014 500 feet T2 Pumping Station Captured by ISIS in July 2014 500 feet T3 Pumping Station Captured by ISIS in May 2015 500 feet Tishreen Dam Lost by ISIS in December 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in December 2015 Dec. 2015 The Islamic States three largest oil fields Omar, Tanak and Al Taim are all in Syria and together produce an estimated 13,500 barrels of oil per day. The militants captured Mosul Dam in August 2014. American officials had expressed fears that the militants might intentionally damage the structure, flooding several cities and endangering more than a million people. But Iraqi and Kurdish forces retook the dam after two weeks. The Group Has Maintained a Nearly Continuous Hold Along the Euphrates River North Rawah Deir al-Zour Hit LOST Al-Baghdadi LOST Mayadin Asiriyah LOST Tabqa Al-Qaim Baghdad IRAQ SYRIA 25 MI North Rawah Deir al-Zour Hit LOST Al-Baghdadi LOST Mayadin Asiriyah LOST Tabqa Al-Qaim Baghdad IRAQ SYRIA 25 MI North Rawah Hit LOST Deir al-Zour Al-Baghdadi LOST Mayadin Tabqa Al-Qaim Baghdad SYRIA IRAQ 25 MI North Rawah Deir al-Zour Al-Baghdadi LOST Mayadin Tabqa Hit LOST Al-Qaim Baghdad SYRIA IRAQ 25 MI North LOST LOST Baghdad SYRIA IRAQ 50 MI The Islamic State has contested or controlled many towns along the Euphrates River since as early as January 2014, giving them access to important roads and infrastructure that connect their territory across Syria and Iraq. The town of Mayadin, which in 2004 had a population of about 44,000, is important to the Islamic State as an uncontested administrative center that is close to one of its major oil fields. Half mile Kasra Captured by ISIS in June 2014 500 feet Maskana Captured by ISIS in January 2014 500 feet Ayyash Captured by ISIS in January 2016 500 feet Asiriya Lost by ISIS in March 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in March 2016 March 2016 Ashara Captured by ISIS in July 2014 500 feet Maadan Captured by ISIS in June 2014 500 feet Saqra Captured by ISIS in June 2014 500 feet One mile Al-Bu Kamal Captured by ISIS in June 2014 Quarter mile Hit Lost by ISIS in April 2016 Quarter mile Lost by ISIS in April 2016 April 2016 Karama Captured by ISIS in June 2014 Quarter mile Tabqa Captured by ISIS in August 2014 Quarter mile Baghdadi Lost by ISIS in March 2015 Quarter mile Lost by ISIS in March 2015 March 2015 Rawa Captured by ISIS in June 2014 Quarter mile Mayadin Captured by ISIS in July 2014 Quarter mile Qaim Captured by ISIS in June 2014 Quarter mile The Islamic State Has Lost Its Key Corridor to Turkey 10 MI Kobane LOST TURKEY Jarabulus LOST Tal Abyad LOST Tal Khanzir LOST Ghabsha LOST Kafr Ghan Tel Hamees LOST Al-Ra'i LOST Sarrin LOST Dabiq Suluk LOST Mabrouka LOST Manbij LOST Harbul LOST Al-Bab Ayn Issa LOST SYRIA Aleppo 10 MI Kobane LOST TURKEY Jarabulus LOST Tal Abyad LOST Tal Khanzir LOST Ghabsha LOST Kafr Ghan Tel Hamees LOST Al-Ra'i LOST Sarrin LOST Dabiq Suluk LOST Mabrouka LOST Manbij LOST Harbul LOST Al-Bab Ayn Issa LOST SYRIA Aleppo 25 MI TURKEY Kobane LOST Jarabulus LOST Tal Khanzir LOST Tal Abyad LOST Kafr Ghan Tel Hamees LOST Sarrin LOST Suluk LOST Mabrouka LOST Al-Bab Manbij LOST Ayn Issa LOST SYRIA Aleppo 25 MI Kobane LOST Jarabulus LOST TURKEY Tel Hamees LOST Sarrin LOST Ghabsha LOST Suluk LOST Al-Bab Manbij LOST SYRIA Aleppo Kobane LOST 25 MI TURKEY Tel Hamees LOST Hasakah Suluk LOST Manbij LOST SYRIA Aleppo After losing a monthslong battle with Kurdish forces for control of Kobani, a key Syrian town on the border with Turkey, the Islamic State was quickly pushed out of a large stretch of northern Syria. Now, the Islamic State is fighting to hold onto a strategic corridor at the Turkish border that allows their people and goods to move between the two countries. Half mile Kafr Ghan Lost by ISIS in October 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in October 2016 Oct. 2016 Ayn Issa Lost by ISIS in June 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in June 2015 June 2015 Al-Ra'i Lost by ISIS in August 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in August 2016 Aug. 2016 Dabiq Lost by ISIS in October 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in October 2016 Oct. 2016 Ghabsha Lost by ISIS in May 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in May 2015 May 2015 Harbul Lost by ISIS in August 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in August 2016 Aug. 2016 Mabrouka Lost by ISIS in May 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in May 2015 May 2015 Suluk Lost by ISIS in June 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in June 2015 June 2015 Tal Abyad Lost by ISIS in June 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in June 2015 June 2015 Tal Khanzir Lost by ISIS in May 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in May 2015 May 2015 Tel Hamees Lost by ISIS in February 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in February 2015 Feb. 2015 One mile Al-Bab Captured by ISIS in June 2014 Quarter mile Kobani Lost by ISIS in January 2015 Quarter mile Lost by ISIS in January 2015 Jan. 2015 Jarabulus Lost by ISIS in August 2016 Quarter mile Lost by ISIS in August 2016 Aug. 2016 Sarrin Lost by ISIS in August 2015 Quarter mile Lost by ISIS in August 2015 Aug. 2015 The Militants Often Capture Weapons Along With Military Bases Many of the weapons used by Islamic State fighters have come from military facilities that the group has seized from the Iraqi and Syrian governments. In January, the Islamic State had its largest weapons windfall when it took control of the Ayyash Arms Depot in Syria, capturing an estimated two million rounds of ammunition, 9,000 grenades and 100 antitank missiles. But the group has not always taken full advantage of military seizures. Despite capturing a number of air bases, there is no evidence that they have flown any planes. Half mile Kisik Military Base Lost by ISIS in January 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in January 2015 Jan. 2015 121st Regiment Artillery Base Lost by ISIS in November 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in November 2015 Nov. 2015 Kweiris Air Base Lost by ISIS in November 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in November 2015 Nov. 2015 Abu Allaj Checkpoint Captured by ISIS in August 2014 500 feet 17th Division Army Base Lost by ISIS in June 2017 500 feet Lost by ISIS in June 2017 June 2017 Mheen Arms Depot Lost by ISIS in December 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in December 2015 Dec. 2015 Camp Ashraf Lost by ISIS in July 2014 500 feet Lost by ISIS in July 2014 July 2014 Ayyash Arms Depot Captured by ISIS in January 2016 500 feet Durayhib Military Base Captured by ISIS in 2014 500 feet Kilo 160 Checkpoint Lost by ISIS in April 2015 500 feet Lost by ISIS in April 2015 April 2015 Al-Muthanna Chemical Weapons Facility Lost by ISIS in October 2014 500 feet Lost by ISIS in October 2014 Oct. 2014 Samarra East Air Base Lost by ISIS in December 2014 500 feet Lost by ISIS in December 2014 Dec. 2014 Tabqa Air Base Captured by ISIS in August 2014 500 feet Tal Dakwa Outpost Captured by ISIS in February 2015 500 feet Tallat Na'imat Captured by ISIS in July 2015 500 feet Waleed Border Crossing Lost by ISIS in August 2016 500 feet Lost by ISIS in August 2016 Aug. 2016 Territorial Losses Mean that the Islamic State Is Making Less Money The Islamic State has lost about 45 percent of its territory in Syria and 20 percent in Iraq since the peak of its control in August 2014, according to estimates by American officials. With every town and village that is lost, the group also loses income that comes from taxes and fines. After years of conflict, there are no current population figures for these places. But based on preconflict census data and government estimates, the places that the group has contested or controlled once had a combined population of at least 3.7 million people. 3 of 5 After Hurricane Katrina, the monks of St. Joseph Abbey in southern Louisiana raised money by selling a product that they had made for themselves for years. Before long a state professional board told them to stop because they were not licensed to sell this product. The monks sued, and won in federal court in 2011. After the board appealed, a three-judge panel affirmed the lower court ruling, saying that mere economic protection of a particular industry was not a legitimate government purpose. What product were the monks selling? Its breakfast time. Youre sitting across from me. In one hand, youre holding a spoon. In the other, a remote. A camera sits on a tripod across from us. Youre tense. You stir your coffee. Then raise your hand to press down on the remote. The camera flashes. You press the button again. And again. You hand the remote to me. We laugh. The heat is on, and Orange County agencies are stepping up their game. The warm up starts Saturday with inland temperatures expected to reach 87 degrees and coastal areas around 75. Temperatures should enter the triple digits on Sunday and Monday, topping 102 degrees in Fullerton and Yorba Linda on the first day of the work week. It could be worse: Palm Springs could break records set in 1957 with 116 degrees on Sunday and 120 degrees on Monday. Southern California hasnt seen numbers like this so early in summer since 2006, Mark Moede of the National Weather Services San Diego office said. Even the coastal areas are going to feel really hot, he said. Expecting an onslaught of visitors wanting to cool off in the ocean this weekend, all the towers will be open and beaches will be 100 percent staffed, OC Lifeguard Chief Brad Herzog said. Jet Skis will be patrolling the shores. Given recent swells, high tides and rip currents, swimmers are advised stay away from rocky areas. The Orange County Fire Authority is also upping its staffing this weekend and will have two helicopters at the ready along with bulldozers that would be needed if a fire breaks out, Capt. Larry Kurtz said. OCFA is also helping with the Sherpa fire in Santa Barbara, which prompted a smoke advisory from the South Coast Air Quality Management District through Saturday. The AQMD said that winds from the northwest may send smoke into Orange and Los Angeles counties. If smoke is visible or can be smelled, people should limit their activity outdoors, the agency said. With Southern California Gas Co.s underground reservoir at Aliso Canyon hampered by testing of repairs to a blown well, the availability of natural gas used to generate electricity is limited. It is important for Southern California Edison customers to conserve as much energy as they can during the heat wave, spokesman David Song said. People cranking air conditioners higher and higher as the heat rises over several days taxes the electrical grid without giving it a break, Song said. Transformers on the grid do need time to rest, when it doesnt get the rest there could be power outages. Try to use big appliances, such as the air conditioner and washing machine, before noon or after 9 p.m. Its also suggested thermostats be set to 78 degrees or higher. Additional Southern California Edison personnel, including restoration and repair crews, will be on call. Residents are advised to stay cool and hydrated and not spend too much time outdoors. For those without air conditioning, a map of cooling stations (community facilities that open so people can get into air conditioning) can be found by searching cooling center locator on sce.com. Contact the writer: aratzlaff@ocregister.com 714-796-7831 Police have arrested a 38-year-old man in connection with a fatal stabbing and kidnapping in Santa Ana early Saturday. Officers responded to an incident in the 1200 block of S. Oak Street around 1:30 a.m., where authorities found a 27-year-old man who had been stabbed lying on a front lawn, Santa Ana police said in a news release. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. A witness told police a woman also was stabbed and kidnapped. The suspects SUV was located by Brea police in that city. The woman, who had a stab wound in the chest, was taken to a local hospital. The suspect, identified by police as Teodoro Bernal Nunez, will be booked for murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and violation of a court order, according to the news release. Police said Nunez and the woman had previously dated, and that a court order restraining him from contacting the victim had been issued. Contact the writer: lleung@ocregister.com U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, stopped by Mineral Area College on Friday afternoon to announce that year-round Pell Grants have been restored as part of the Fiscal Year 2017 appropriations bill, making college more affordable for students. The bipartisan deal expands Pell Grant eligibility to low-income students attending classes year-round. According to Blunt, the change will benefit approximately one million students who could see, on average, a roughly $1,650 boost to their Pell award. "In our state where we have a significant community college system, if you qualify for full Pell on all of our community campuses and at least one four-year campus tuition fees and books are essentially covered," Blunt said. "Pell Grants are a vital tool for making college more affordable for students in Missouri and across the nation. By allowing full and part-time students to receive an additional Pell Grant during the year usually for a summer session were helping them stay on track for graduation, enter or re-enter the workforce sooner, and graduate with less debt. As the former president of Southwest Baptist University, I couldnt be more pleased that we were able to work in a bipartisan way to expand access to higher education. Congress cut the benefit in 2011 to shore up the costs of the Pell Grant program and avoid having to lower the maximum award amount. The Obama administration suggested making that cut at the time, arguing that the programs costs didnt justify its benefit. But the White House has since reversed course. Earlier this year, the administration included year-round eligibility as part of an overall $2 billion proposal to expand the Pell Grant program. According to MAC Dean of Student Services Jean Merrill-Doss, approximately 60 percent of the community college's student body is financially dependent upon a Pell Grant to attend school. In response to Blunt's announcement, MAC President Dr. Steve Kurtz said, "We're very thrilled with this, of course. When you talk about affordability and accessibility those two things stick out when you hear about the legislation as the senator said, that is a big deal. Most of our students, if they have to take summer school, have to resort to loans to get done, so that's an extra burden. Not only that but once you take time off, there's a chance you're going to lose them in the fall. "We have a lot of non-traditional students, as well. If you think about a single mom who qualifies for the Pell and she completed a year and she has a few months where she's not doing anything sometimes other things take precedence. Having a full-time Pell will help our completion rates so, on behalf of Missouri's 100,000 community college students, we appreciate your efforts so far. We especially like the part-time provision that's also included in the legislation. We have a lot of our students who are not full-time, so this will also benefit them as well." Dear California Legislature: Each year you address HOA bills that often respond to narrow issues or complaints. Except for the California Law Revision Commissions 2014 revision of the Davis-Stirling Act, significantly helpful changes in the act have been rare in recent years. May I suggest some ways you could help California HOAs? Reduced quorum: Larger associations often struggle to make membership decisions due to low participation. Associations could govern themselves more successfully with an automatic reduction of quorum to 25 percent when the first attempted director election failed for lack of participation. Eliminating proxies: Proxies are a frequent dispute issue and are unnecessary, since members can vote in advance and by mail. Banning proxies, except to help attain quorum, would help. Allow electronic HOA voting: HOAs are the only variety of California corporation that cannot vote electronically. In an age when we buy airplane tickets on smartphones, why cant HOA members participate by voting online? Require sellers to provide governing documents to HOA buyers within 5 days of contract without buyers requesting it. Most buyers do not review CC&Rs, bylaws, and rules until long after taking ownership. Associations can easily provide the governing documents (which increasingly are on HOA websites). Better informed new members make for better neighbors. Penalize managers who do not reveal they are not certified. Managers must under Business and Professions Code 11504 disclose if they are not certified under Section 11502. However, many managers fail to comply, and there is no penalty. Require minimal board education: Florida requires directors to commit to some minimal level of education. California should require some minimal (maybe three hours?) board education. A small associations act: It is unreasonable that the Davis-Stirling Act applies equally to a five-unit association as it does a 5,000-unit HOA. The small ones need simpler laws. Eliminate cumulative voting: Cumulative voting is allowed in the law and typically in older governing documents. It is confusing, allows election game playing, and should be eliminated. Disqualify directors or candidates if they are 90 days late on assessments. Delinquent members should not serve on or run for the board. Adding a new subpart g to Civil 5100 would stop this. Preserving part of HOAs assessment lien from bank foreclosure: Why is it fair that a bank can wait a year or more to foreclose, then wipe out the associations assessment lien? Many states protect six to nine months of assessments from foreclosure. California lags behind on this issue. Make the priority of delinquent assessment payments non-waivable. Some collection companies insist that as part of a delinquency payment plan, the member must waive the rule that payments must first be applied to the assessments and last to the collection vendors fees. This is wrong, and should be stopped. Deny attorney fees to a party that refuses to mediate. California Association of Realtors contracts state that a party not offering or accepting mediation cannot recover attorney fees if they win the lawsuit. Applying this concept to association disputes would encourage efforts to settle. Expand the conflicts of interest listed in Civil 5350. Some directors demand to review confidential or privileged documents concerning their past or present dispute with the association. This abuse of the directors position should be banned. Kelly G. Richardson is a Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and senior shareholder of Richardson Harman Ober PC, a law firm known for community association advice. Submit questions to KRichardson@RHOpc.com. Past columns at www.HOAHomefront.com. WESTMINSTER The Dalai Lama told thousands of people here on Saturday that kindness, compassion and religious harmony are essential at a time of violence and strife. Speaking at the dedication of the new Chua Dieu Ngu Buddhist Temple in Westminster, the Tibetan leader called on the crowd to make a resolution to be kind and compassionate, starting today. If we do that, there is hope that the later part of this century will be peaceful, he said. Violence is not created by weapons, but it comes from in here, the heart. External disarmament can come only through internal disarmament. The Dalai Lama was in Orange County for the second consecutive year. Last year, he celebrated his 80th birthday at the Honda Center and led a two-day Global Compassion Summit at UC Irvine. State Sen. Janet Nguyen said the Dalai Lamas visit to Little Saigon, which is largely Buddhist, was as special as the Popes visit would be to Catholics. He is scheduled to speak before the State Legislature Monday. Spectators on Saturday got the chance to witness the monks compassion. He called on those sitting in the oppressive heat to cover their heads with hats or towels. He stopped security personnel from pushing away those who wanted to get closer to him and snap photos on their cell phones. He even invited an elderly man with a walker to come up on stage to receive his blessings. As long as you dont create trouble or make noise, its all good, he said, as he pointed his finger jovially at the crowd and broke into a guffaw. The Dalai Lama talked about the responsibility everyone has to spread the message of religious harmony. All major religious traditions have their own philosophies and teachings, he said. But the main practice is the same love, forgiveness, tolerance and self-discipline. The teachings may be different, but the goals are the same. He followed his speech about compassion with a traditional Buddhist teaching in Tibetan, which was translated to Vietnamese for the audience. Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen said he was struck the Dalai Lamas genuine love and compassion for people. I feel a sense of renewal for the path of peace and love, he said. His is a universal teaching. He has so much humor, hes just so adorable. You can feel his compassion because he shows it. Kathy Le of Westminster said she appreciated his advice to rise above everyday emotions such as hatred, competition and jealousy. We are all just so wrapped up in our everyday lives, our jobs and making money, she said. His teaching that we should find happiness within ourselves is powerful. Its so humbling to be in his presence. Eleven-year-old Tamy Van of Westminster sat with her friends in the shade. He is great, she said. I just love everything he said. Earlier in the day, thousands lined up outside the temple early as 2 a.m. to catch a glimpse of the 14th Dalai Lama. People waited for up to five hours to clear security checks. But, it would all be worth it, said Teri Chen of Fountain Valley, who took her pl;ace in the line at 5:30 this morning. Ive seen (the Dalai Lama) many times, she said. He has a special connecting power to connect with your heart. When you look at him you get a sense of peace and compassion. Hes a living Buddha. Alejandra Paez said she came all the way from Miami Beach, Fla., just to hear the Dalai Lama speak about compassion. My mother passed away just a week ago, said Paez, who is a Tibetan Buddhist. Im here so I can pray for her and get the Dalai Lamas blessings on her soul. She said the Dalai Lama is a human being who cares and has compassion for everyone, regardless of who they are and what their social status is. Nhat My Thien, a member of the Westminster temple, said she was thrilled the Dalai Lama was here for the dedication of the temple where she prays and meditates. The 20,000-square-foot, $6 million traditional temple building, built under the leadership of its abbot Thich Vien Ly, has pagodas, a red brick tile roof, a giant statue of Buddha gracing the temple front and living quarters for the monks. Thien said the exiled Tibetan leader who rebelled against the communist Chinese regime is a symbol of hope and human rights for the Vietnamese community. Were just very, very happy hes here, she said. http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]); Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com A two-alarm fire started in a Newport Beach garage as the homes new owners moved in, officials said. Around 4:15 p.m. Friday, firefighters were dispatched to the 900 block of Aleppo Street where visible flames and smoke were seen from the garage of a single-family home, said Battalion Chief Brian McDonough. Twenty-five firefighters fought back the fire and kept it from spreading to the living quarters, McDonough said. Firefighters got the blaze under control in 20 minutes. No other structures were damaged, and no one was injured. The cause of the fire was under investigation. Contact the writer: lwilliams@ocregister.com, 714-796-2286 DETMOLD, Germany A 94-year-old former SS sergeant was found guilty Friday of 170,000 counts of accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison for serving as an Auschwitz guard, in a verdict that survivors from the Nazi death camp hailed as a long overdue victory. Reinhold Hanning, sitting in a wheelchair, listened attentively but showed no reaction as Presiding Judge Anke Grudda read the ruling in state court in Detmold, Germany. She said Hanning was a cog in a perfectly functioning machinery of destruction, helping operate the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland where some 1.1 million people, primarily Jews, were killed. You were in Auschwitz for two and a half years and performed an important function, she said. You were part of a criminal organization and took part in criminal activity in Auschwitz, she said. Auschwitz survivor Hedy Bohm, who came from Toronto to testify at the trial and for the verdict, said she was grateful and pleased by this justice finally after 70 years. It is my dream to be in Germany, in a German court, with German judges acknowledging the Holocaust, the 88-year-old said. Bohm was one of four survivors present for the verdict, who also joined the trial as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law. Overall, about a dozen survivors testified during the four- month trial, and 58 survivors or their relatives joined as co-plaintiffs. In her ruling, Grudda said much of their testimony put to rest any criticism that the crimes of the Nazis were too far in the past to prosecute today. Anyone who had the opportunity to hear the testimony of the co-plaintiffs can answer the question of importance of such a trial, she said. Hannings attorney, Andreas Scharmer, suggested an appeal was likely, and Hanning wont have to serve any prison time until his appeals are exhausted. He had faced a maximum of 15 years. Hannings defense had called for an acquittal, saying there is no evidence he killed or beat anyone, while prosecutors sought a six-year sentence. Scharmer said he was not surprised by the verdict. I didnt expect the court to have the courage for an acquittal, he said. In sentencing Hanning, Grudda said there is no appropriate punishment for his crimes, but that the court had to follow guidelines and also take into account his age, his statement of remorse, and the length of time that had elapsed since the crimes. We cannot, and should not punish him symbolically for all the perpetrators of the Holocaust, she said. Hanning had testified that he volunteered for the SS at age 18 and served in Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944, but said he was not involved in the killings. It disturbs me deeply that I was part of such a criminal organization, he told the court in April. I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologize for my actions. Following the verdict, Leon Schwarzbaum, a 95-year-old Auschwitz survivor from Berlin, said he had slipped Hannings attorney a letter urging him to have his client detail more about what he knew about the death camps operations for the sake of educating younger generations. Mr. Hanning should have said more about what he saw in Auschwitz and what he did in Auschwitz he did not tell what Auschwitz was, Schwarzbaum said. It was a hell on earth. Hanning joined the Hitler Youth with his class in 1935 at age 13, then volunteered at 18 for the Waffen SS in 1940 at the urging of his stepmother. He fought in several battles in World War II before being hit by grenade splinters in his head and leg during close combat in Kiev in 1941. He told the court that as he was recovering from his wounds he asked to be sent back but his commander decided he was no longer fit for front-line duty, and so sent him to Auschwitz, without his knowing what it was. Though there was no evidence Hanning was responsible for a specific crime, he was tried under new legal reasoning that as a guard he helped the death camp operate, and thus could be tried for accessory to murder. The same argument was used last year against SS sergeant Oskar Groening, to convict him of 300,000 counts of accessory to murder for serving in Auschwitz. Germanys highest appeals court is expected to rule on the validity of the Groening verdict sometime this summer. The precedent for both the Groening and Hanning cases was set in 2011, with the conviction in Munich of former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk on allegations he served as a Sobibor death camp guard. Although Demjanjuk always denied serving at the death camp and died before his appeal could be heard, it opened a wave of new investigations by the special prosecutors office in Ludwigsburg responsible for Nazi war crime probes. The head of the office, Jens Rommel, said two other Auschwitz cases are still pending trial another guard and also the commandants radio operator contingent on their health, and a third is still being investigated by Frankfurt prosecutors. Rommels office, which has no power to bring charges itself, has also recommended charges in three Majdanek death camp cases, and has sent them on to prosecutors who are now investigating. Meantime, the office is still poring through documents for both death camps, and is also looking into former members of the so-called Einsatzgruppen mobile death squads, and guards at several concentration camps. Efraim Zuroff, the head Nazi-hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said he hoped the Hanning verdict would give German authorities the impetus to expedite the remaining cases. The Hanning verdict highlights the important role played by all those who served in the death camps, he said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem. Without them the crimes of the Nazis could never have reached the levels that they did. Could the U.S.-Japan alliance founder as a result of alcohol? Apparently. At least, thats the implication of the U.S. Navys ban on drinking by personnel stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa. It would be far better to phase out Americas military presence on Okinawa, turning U.S. bases back to the Japanese government. More than seven decades after the end of World War II, Tokyo should take over responsibility for Japans defense. Washington currently maintains 85 military bases and some 53,000 troops in Japan. Roughly 40 percent of those facilities, half the people, and three-quarters of the base area are located on Okinawa, with just .6 percent of Japans land mass, in the southernmost and poorest prefecture. Local anger exploded in 1995 after three American service members raped a 12-year-old girl. The Japanese government sought to placate islanders with financial transfers and plans to move Futenma airbase and relocate Marines to Guam. These schemes failed to satisfy, however. Base opponents, bolstered by the 2014 gubernatorial victory of Takeshi Onaga, continued to resist. Although the national government pushed ahead, Onaga attempted to revoke the necessary building permits. Fueling popular anger has been a seeming spate of high-profile offenses committed by U.S. military personnel (who, in fact, have a lower crime rate than locals). Last month a sailor pled guilty to rape. Also last month a contractor and former Marine was detained in a murder case. Then an apparently intoxicated sailor crashed, injuring two Okinawans. The navy confined all personnel to base except for essential travel and banned drinking on or off U.S. facilities. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe largely ignored the Okinawa question as he sought to bolster Tokyos military capabilities. He pushed to revise the so-called peace constitution, Article 9 of which technically forbids Tokyo from maintaining any military; update the so-called Self-Defense Forces 1997 Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Cooperation, which barred the SDF aiding U.S. forces even if the latter were coming to Japans aid; and increase military outlays, which never got much above 1 percent of GDP. The U.S. has applauded his efforts, but progress has been minimal. Less than a quarter of Japanese want their government to do more militarily. Last year large demonstrations targeted even modest legislative measures. The constitution remains unchanged, so Abe simply interpreted the law as he wished it had been written. Military outlays have risen only modestly since Abe took power, up just 2 percent in 2015. Japan then devoted about $41 billion to defense, compared to roughly $180 billion by China, Tokyos main potential nemesis. Last year Tokyo adjusted the defense guidelines so that its forces could join collective security operations and assist the U.S. when the latter aided Japan. But Tokyos international activities will be non-combat and do little to reduce Americas military duties. Moreover, the revised standards merely allow Japan to better defend Japan, not assist the U.S. Now a Japanese ship on patrol with an American vessel can assist if the latter is attacked so long the Japanese vessel too is threatened. And Japanese analysts warn against expecting Tokyo to allow such situations to occur. Yet the new guidelines appear to envision an even stronger U.S. guarantee for Japan and deployment of additional weapons. Under the bilateral treaty Washingtons obligations apparently only increase. The U.S. has an obvious interest in Japans continued independence, but Japans interest in its own security is even greater. Tokyo should do more to defend itself. In fact, no one expects a Chinese armada to show up in Tokyo Bay. If conflict erupts, it likely will be over disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Of course, Beijing is not justified in using force there or elsewhere, but nothing at stake is worth war, at least for America. A serious Japanese military build-up is opposed by some of its neighbors, but no one seriously suggests that Japan is about to embark upon a new round of imperial conquests. More than seven decades after World War II, Japan should finally act like a normal country defending itself, guarding its region and ending its dependence on America. The U.S. should turn its security guarantee to Japan into a framework for future cooperation. That should include potential assistance if a genuine hegemonic threat arises in Asia. But Tokyo should take the lead in confronting day-to-day security challenges. Which means Washington should leave Japan to decide on its own defense and foreign policies. As American forces returned home, Okinawas bases would empty. What came next would be up to the Japanese. And American military personnel could continue to enjoy a drink back home in their own country. Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Reagan. He is the author of Foreign Follies: Americas New Global Empire. Re: Dont recall Judge Aaron Persky [Opinion, June 16]: Erwin Chemerinsky wrote an article about not recalling Judge Aaron Persky for the light six- month sentence he gave Brock Turner, a student at Stanford University, for raping an unconscious woman. There has been a petition online signed by more than 1 million people hoping to recall the judge. Chemerinsky specified that the judge has been well received for his previous judgments and one glaring mistake shouldnt be grounds to remove him from the bench. Of course, the victim would be of a different opinion. The student also happens to be a star swimmer for the university. It didnt help matters when the boys father stated a prison sentence would ruin his sons life, not acknowledging the horrific lifelong memories the woman has to bear. But the fallout of a recall would put every judge on notice that the Sword of Damocles would be hanging over their heads for a singular judgment deemed to fall out of favor with the general public. In this he is correct. The way to remedy bad decisions is for the prosecutor to appeal, then the Court of Appeals can overturn a sentence if it finds that it was an abuse of discretion, the article states. Nothing has been heard from the presiding judge or if he is remorseful for giving such a light sentence. But Chemerinsky also notes that there is never an effort to remove a judge for imposing an outrageously long sentence. He adds, I have represented a criminal defendant who received a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years for stealing $53.00 worth of video tapes. Why he didnt further the appeal of his clients sentence was not stated. But sometimes there is a get even policy among judges. O.J. Simpson got away with the crime of the century, murdering his wife and a close friend, and most people in this country felt he was guilty. But in Nevada, he confronted a few men in a hotel room he felt had his personal possessions that were going to be sold and pulled a gun on them. The judge threw the book at him and incarcerated him with a long prison sentence. Impartiality is sometimes overlooked when there is a bigger picture involved. Judges are also human and have sympathies as do the rest of us. But far and away they are respected for carrying out the laws of the land every day in court and doing as fine a job as is humanly possible. Barry Wasserman Huntington Beach Dean Chemerinskys op-ed of June 16, 2016, regarding Judge Perskys sentence of Brock Turner is one of the few with which I wholeheartedly agree. He and I are politically polar opposites and I normally read his columns to find out the other sides point of view. But not this time. This time, not withstanding my personal involvement with one of his examples, I find his reasoning and his solution rock solid. Early in my career I practiced in front of a judge who ordered a school to be desegregated and was then recalled by angry voters. That judge was considered by me, and the other litigators in the firm with which I practiced, to be one of the smartest, hardest working and fairest judges among all of the Los Angeles judges. His decision was upheld twice on appeal. But because he was right, but unpopular, the city lost one of its best. In the case of Judge Persky, his decision is obviously outrageous, but I have not read anything that describes him as lawless, or corrupt, or even generally incompetent. Let us hope that the prosecutor in Mr. Turners case a) reads Dean Chemerinskys op-ed and b) files the appeal. C. Robert Ferguson Laguna Woods David Whiting nailed it I enjoyed David Whitings two articles this week regarding mental health and gun control [Mental health treatment is key to slowing gun deaths, News, June 15] and police and health agencies [After critical grand jury report, Orange County police boost training to handle mentally ill, News, June 17]. I had an experience recently at Hart Park in Orange, where I walk my Golden Retriever two to five times a week. I was walking on a footpath when I heard a loud commotion that was echoing in the cement parking area that has a water release system for storm run-offs. What I encountered was a homeless man with a black hoodie walking toward me screaming and yelling. It was the first time in my life that I wished I had my pistol with me. This guy made every hair on my body stand up and Im with my 80-pound dog who loves everyone. This guy was obviously a paranoid mental case who was very angry. I had never seen him before and I was shaken. I made a hard right turn to get out of his way as he screamed, Dont look at me or Ill mess you up. After he passed, I picked up a large rock and have carried it with me the rest of the week. Im now thinking, here I am wearing my NRA hat and carrying a rock. I have since discussed this man with friends I know at the park and with a Hart Park worker. They have all told me the guy is very angry at times and he is well known by the Orange Police Department and that he moves from Hart Park to Yorba Park and others. So what does society do with this man? I have no doubt hes been in and out of jail and mental facilities and wont stay on his medication. So I will keep my pistol at home, wear my NRA hat and continue to carry my rock. Did I call the police? No, they are probably afraid of this guy, too. After the Fullerton situation with Kelly Thomas, nobody has their back and they know it. Thats the unintended consequences. What to do with this man, I have no idea. I just didnt want to see him again. So of course this morning, hes sitting at a table across the way calm as can be as I walk my dog carrying my rock. Jeffrey M. Whitfield Santa Ana LONDON The flag over the British Parliament is flying at half-staff. On the grass on the square opposite sits a picture of Jo Cox, the Labour Party lawmaker who was killed on Thursday, surrounded by flowers and candles. The political debate has fallen silent. The question Britons are asking themselves is whether it will resume with the same polarizing vitriol that has characterized the four-month campaign over whether the U.K. should leave the European Union. Before Coxs death, that debate had reached levels of anger almost unprecedented in the U.K. The closeness of the polls as the June 23 referendum approached led both sides to escalate their language. Just this week, the Remain camp described Nigel Farage, leader of the U.K. Independence Party, as engaging in the politics of the gutter over a poster showing a crowd of refugees entering the EU. Earlier, former Prime Minister John Major called Leave leader Boris Johnson, a former mayor of London, a court jester. The Leave camp has sent its own barbs: When President Barack Obama said he wanted Britain to stay in the EU, Johnson wrote that the part-Kenyan president may have issues with the countrys imperial legacy. One of the pro-separation groups tweeted after the massacre in an Orlando gay nightclub that Britons should Act now before we see an Orlando-style atrocity here before too long. At one point Johnson said the EU shared Adolf Hitlers goal of unifying Europe, albeit by different means. Other Leave campaigners went further, mocking up German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Hitler. Weve got too used to not respecting that people may have strongly held views and come to a different result, said Liz Kendall, who like her friend Cox is a Labour member of Parliament. On social media, youre in an echo chamber of those on your side, and those against, and being measured doesnt get you anywhere. This is what were all thinking about, whether or not thats directly linked to this awful tragedy. Much of the bitterness in the EU debate has been within Prime Minister David Camerons own Conservative Party, which is split on the issue. He and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who are campaigning for Remain, have used the machinery of government to their best advantage, including publishing Treasury reports warning of the dangers of a so-called Brexit. That has upset Conservative lawmakers who favor a Brexit, saying its not playing fair. One was quoted anonymously in the Sunday Times last month saying: I dont want to stab the Prime Minister in the back I want to stab him in the front so I can see the expression on his face. Youd have to twist the knife, though, because we want it back for Osborne. There is a sense in which weve become much more polarized on a whole heap of issues at the moment, said Andrew Russell, professor of politics at the University of Manchester. At some level there is this notion that people are fair game for public criticism and people in public life dont have any kind of right to private life at all, and I think that might be redressed. The level of anger could be seen back in May, when Vote Leave officials learned they had been outmaneuvered by Cameron in negotiations over television debates. In a late-night statement emailed to media, Vote Leave attacked the broadcaster, ITV Plc. There will be consequences for its future, the group said. The people in Number 10 wont be there for long. Similarly in the U.S., presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump revoked press credentials for the Washington Post, saying it was a front for its owner, Jeff Bezos, and his company, Amazon.com Inc. He has also said he would stiffen libel laws to make it easier to take the press to court. As with Trump, the Leave campaign had found that anti-establishment, anti-immigration messages were gaining traction with voters angry that globalization had left them insecure, and with the notion that migrants were pushing down wages and putting pressure on public services. As with Trump, it has been happy to stretch the truth far further than regular politicians, for instance putting up posters falsely announcing that Turkey was joining the EU. The campaign now has a problem. Its two messages were that immigration needed to be controlled and that the referendum was a chance to strike back against establishment authority figures. The killing of a member of Parliament who had been an aid worker and campaigned for refugees makes those difficult to deploy. Cameron, speaking on Friday near where Cox was killed, said her death showed that it was time for the country to put aside divisions. We should value and see as precious the democracy that we have on these islands, where 65 million of us live together and work together and get on together, he said. And if we truly want to honor Jo, then what we should do is recognize that her values service, community, tolerance the values she lived by and worked by, those are the values that we need to redouble in our national life in the months and years to come. Any election is partly won by the side that successfully sets the question. Remain had already asked people if they wanted to live in Nigel Farages Britain. The risk for Leave is that after her killing, voters might decide the question is whether they prefer Jo Coxs Britain. (With assistance from Alex Morales) 2016 Bloomberg News Visit Bloomberg News at www.bloomberg.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): BRITAIN-LAWMAKER Topics: t000036524,t000002953,c000212486 Le Dindon carries nearly all of master farce playwright Georges Feydeaus hallmarks, with philandering spouses of both genders, plenty of slapstick and wordplay, and a general air of absurdity and confusion. The revised 1993 version of the 1896 farce, renamed An Absolute Turkey, is whats now being served up by Fullertons Stages Theatre and even if some supporting roles arent well cast, and the middle sections drop off comedically, director Shawn Michael Brewers lively, frenetic and often inventive staging is well worth a look. Lucienne (Erica Jackson), the pampered young wife of straitlaced lawyer Vatelin (Rob Downs), has told his salacious pal Pontagnac (Zackary Salene) shell never cheat on her husband unless she first catches him with another woman. Since Pontagnac lusts after the lovely Lucy, he sets out to catch Vatelin in the act, dragging Lucy along to Vatelins rendevous with his Swiss mistress, Mitzi (Lucy Abel). Increasing the air of riotous confusion, Feydeau stuffs this Turkey with spouses, servants and innocent bystanders. No one here is faithful not even those who espouse fidelity. Brewer receives droll performances and keen comic timing from his leads, who make the opening scene a giddy blast. Driven by nervous energy, Jacksons Lucy is a study in moralistic hauteur. Downs brainless lawyer, a grinning, overly gracious fool, takes infidelity as de rigueur. Salene captures Pontagnacs relaxed urbanity and utter boredom with married life. Aaron Ford conveys the youthful ardor and romantic languor of Redillon, the callow young bachelor who also pines for Lucy. As comically desperate (for Vatelins love) is Abels laughably Tyrolean-looking Alpine mistress, Mitzi. Adding to the laughs are Michael K. Holle as Mitzis huge, manically Teutonic husband and Bryana Pickford as Pontagnacs petulant wife. These seven are the core of the Stages cast, mastering every facet of the genre. Others either ill-define their roles or are ill-served by them. The overall tone is refreshingly cosmopolitan and sophisticated, as opposed to Benny Hill-like lowbrow obscenity. Brewers brilliantly cartoonish vision is boosted by dazzling, whirlwind set changes and characters voice-overs, duplicated in comic strip-like thought balloons projected above the heads of bird photos on the large upstage screen. Reinforcing the overarching avian theme are Andrea Birkholms luminous, intensely colorful Belle Epoque costumes, many teeming with feathers, and Jon Gaws bird-heavy set design. A comic souffle, the play is augmented by photographic projections and graphics that zip us all around Paris and the inspired use of classical and pop music of the period. Contact the writer: emarchesewriter@gmail.com Frida Mendez learned to speak English by watching cartoons alone with a dictionary on her lap. No one would hang out with me, recalled Mendez, who was brought by her mother across the Mexican border when she was 8. While some immigrant children have shrunk and faded in such circumstances, Mendez blossomed. The shy little girl who sat alone watching television is a standout student at Ocean View High. The 18-year-old carries a 4.6 grade point average and plans to attend UC Irvine in the fall, where she hopes to study business administration. In addition to taking the requisite full load of advanced placement classes at Ocean View, Mendez ran track and was engaged in numerous community service clubs, including Entre Amigos, which works in Mendezs Oak View neighborhood. She is also one of the high achievers in the schools acclaimed Business Academy. Although accepted into Irvine, Mendez isnt sure how she will pay for school. Although Californias AB540, the law signed in 2001 by Gov. Gray Davis that allows undocumented students like Mendez to pay in-state tuition instead of out-of-state tuition, and other programs are available, Mendez expects she and her mother will really have to scrape. Every scholarship I am able to apply to, I do, she said. Im grateful for anything I receive. As a non-citizen, Mendez said the opportunities are harder to come by. Maria Segura, like many others, brought her daughter to the United States for the better life. The single mother had made her living in the family business in Morelos, Mexico, where she took fruits and vegetables into the city to sell at the market. When Seguras father died, business lagged, so she decided to make the trip north. She now works at a McDonalds restaurant and moonlights cleaning office buildings. She and her daughter live in the Oak View neighborhood. We live paycheck to paycheck, says Mendez, who also helps out by working about 20 hours a week at the restaurant chain. Mendez said she told her she wants to take a second job to help save money for school, although so far her mother has not allowed it. When the mother and daughter first arrived in the United States, the idea of one day contemplating college seemed unthinkable. I didnt understand the lessons, Mendez said of her introduction to U.S. schools. (Teachers) expected me to learn at the same pace as the English speakers. Mendez said her mother warned her it would be hard. In Mexico I was always number one. In preschool I could already read and do math, she said. My mother said, Honey, its going to be different. Mendez said. She said if I failed, it was OK. And at first she did. I always had an F in language arts. Eventually, Mendez broke her natural reserve. I decided I had to go out there and see what I could do, she said. I know I have an opportunity that few people have, Mendez said of growing up in California and attending public schools. Im going to take the opportunity my mom has sacrificed for so it wont be in vain. Contact the writer: gmellen@ocregister.com SAN FRANCISCO Already rocked by a sexual misconduct scandal, the Oakland Police Department has come under further scrutiny over an unrelated criminal case that led to someone in the agency being placed on administrative leave, officials said. Prosecutors in Alameda County have been asked to investigate the new criminal misconduct case, Mayor Libby Schaaf said Thursday in a written statement. She released few details but said the matter is not related to alleged sexual misconduct involving a sex worker and sworn personnel from the Oakland Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. This is an effort to reassure the public that we are taking swift action to address every instance of misconduct, Schaaf said in the statement released with City Administrator Sabrina Landreth. Schaaf previously ordered that any allegation involving on- or off-duty criminal misconduct by an employee of the police department must be immediately reported to prosecutors. Earlier this week, Schaaf removed the interim police chief she had appointed just a week earlier to get a handle on what she called the disgusting allegations that officers had sex with the 18-year-old woman. The teenager has alleged in media interviews that two dozen current and former officers in five San Francisco Bay Area cities had sex with her while she was working as a prostitute. Most of the accused officers worked for the Oakland Police Department. Encounters with three of the officers took place when she was a minor, the woman has said. The Associated Press does not generally name people who say they are victims of sex crimes. Planning and installation of two new recreational trail heads into St. Joe State Park are in the works right now, according to Park Hills city officials. City Administrator Matt Whitwell said, Theres a hiking and biking trail head and then theres an ORV (off-road vehicle) trail head. Both of these are planned with the extension of Fairgrounds Drive at Woodlawn. Some of the funding has already been applied for and approved, while additional requests for grant funds are pending final approval. The roadway and utilities we do have funding for (already), he said. For the trail heads, we have grant funding and some additional funding by the city for completion of the biking trail head. We just (recently) applied for grant funding for the ORV trail. St. Joe State Park is one of very few (parks) that allow off-road vehicles in the state, so we hope we would get the available funding on that as well. Perhaps the hidden gem of Park Hills, Norm Lucas, the citys economic developer, has a significant amount of experience completing the complicated, technical and often very lengthy proposals and has a very high success rate when it comes to the acquisition of grant monies. Norm Lucas is very successful with his grant applications, said Whitwell. He knows what hes doing when it comes to that and hes a very valuable resource to the city because there are a lot of municipalities that dont have the ability to have someone on staff that can apply for these grants and actually receive them. Hes applied for, and the citys received, a lot of funding over the past several years just because of his knowledge. Lucas said he is confident that the request for a grant to help pay for the ORV trail head will be approved largely because there are only two state-run parks in Missouri, St. Joe and Finger Lakes state parks, that offer such recreational trails. He added that hes not always this confident when it comes to grant approvals, but in this particular case the city is almost guaranteed to get a portion of the available funds. Who else are they going to give it to, if not for St. Joe park? said Lucas. In anticipation of beginning the projects in earnest, Whitwell said city crews have begun to clear some of the excess vegetation near Highway 67 for purposes of extending utility services into the trail head development area. Theyre currently clearing some property out there at Woodlawn and Fairgrounds, he said, and then once we get full approval by the state for the extension of Fairgrounds Drive by MoDOT, we will begin a larger scale clearing operation out there through a contractor that will be awarded a bid. Area residents may not be aware of how closely St. Joe State Park borders are to Highway 67 and Fairgrounds Drive. Its only a couple thousand feet from where Fairgrounds and Woodlawn currently intersect, said Whitwell. Theres a lot of people who, I dont think, realize that it is that close. And this interchange, when it was installed, there were definitely some extension plans (in mind) and its just now coming to fruition. According to Whitwell, Its approximately Id say the extension of Fairgrounds Drive at Woodlawn (will be) about 15 to 18 hundred feet; and then there will be the trail heads and then from the trail heads into the park property itself is another 1,200 or so feet. Once you get onto park property, its maybe another 600 800 feet to the (parks) biking trail head. And the ORV trail head will be about the same. The new trail heads will provide park visitors, especially hiking, biking and ORV enthusiasts, with another option for enjoying the extensive trails available at St. Joe. In addition to the extension of Fairgrounds Drive and the trail sections themselves, plans include a parking area for visitors in a section that will allow for the installation of expanded parking if the trail heads prove as popular as anticipated. I think it will become a premier access to the state park, said Whitwell. Regionally, you can have people come from Illinois and north of St. Louis County and western Missouri and all around the south the entire region can come down Highway 67 and basically, within minutes, be on these trails. Other ideas and plans for developing the areas around Fairgrounds and Woodlawn drives have also been underway for quite some time. Hopefully therell be some development potential in this area with some convenience stores and (other) retail opportunities, said Whitwell. And the hotel feasibility study is coming together now so we should have that for the June 14 meeting for release to the council and (the public.) Were hopeful that the recommendation there is for quite a few rooms and (other) lodging and a conference center or whatever. Were hopeful that all of these things will move forward pretty quickly. Once city officials obtain final approval from MoDOT for westward extension of the roadway and utilities (poles and lighting) toward the state park, the next step will be to complete the design and engineering plans for the project and hire a contractor for the bulk of the work. Were pretty far along in the preliminary design and would anticipate within the next couple of weeks some sort of approval from MoDOT as far as the roadway extension goes, said Whitwell. And then we can start (the bid process), award the bid and start some clearing and installing some utilities and the roadway. In the meantime, Lucas is monitoring the progress of the grant process that will facilitate installation of the actual trail heads and trails into the park. Whitwell anticipates that the entire project could be completed by the end of the year, depending on various factors and, of course, how much cooperation they get from the weather. I think well have a great product here to offer the public. Were very pleased with how the state has worked with us and with the grants, said Whitwell. Its a pretty exciting time for the City of Park Hills. On July 9, Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of the record-shattering, groundbreaking, Obama-praised Broadway musical Hamilton, will leave the show, he announced Thursday. Before he does, two stagings with the original cast will be filmed for posterity. Then, on July 11, Mirandas understudy and alternate Javier Munoz will take over the leading role. The Brooklyn-born actor is stepping into one of Americas brightest spotlights, but during the past year, it was unclear if hed ever take the stage again. Munoz was diagnosed with cancer in October 2015. I had never been more scared in my life, he told People, reflecting back on the disease that nearly stole his life and, barring that, his livelihood. Its a rare thing in my life to find myself face to face with something Im scared of, and I was scared of this. So scared, in fact, he didnt tell anyone about the diagnosis for weeks. He still hasnt publicly stated which type of cancer he had. Instead, he would call in sick when he was physically unable to perform until, eventually, even attending the show to take notes (another part of an understudys job description) was too taxing on his body. Finally last November, he underwent surgery and subsequent radiation therapy, which forced him to take a more than two-month leave-of-absence from the production. Most shows would have simply replaced the understudy, but Miranda and Munoz had too long of a history for such a quick cast off. Munoz was actually Mirandas alternate in his previous Tony award-winning Broadway musical, In the Heights. Following Mirandas departure, Munoz took over that role as well, earning a Drama Desk award for his work. Years later, Miranda reached out to his longtime alternate when Hamilton was still nothing more than a loose collection of songs called the Hamilton Mixtape. I definitely remember getting a call from Lin and him describing the idea via voicemail, Munoz told Vulture. I was sort of sitting there thinking, What? But its Lin! So I trust him. Obviously, Im gonna say yes. He helped Miranda transform the mixtape into a full-blown musical. The creator wasnt about to replace Munoz while he was in a hospital bed. There was no thought at all about (replacing him), Thomas Kail, director of both Hamilton and In the Heights, told the New York Post. Javis someone who has given so much. Now we wanted to make sure he had what he needed to be well, and to know he wasnt alone. While it didnt last long, the recovery process proved arduous. The actor had been singing and dancing in front of packed audiences for three hours at a time just weeks prior. Now, he celebrated the ability to turn over in bed or walk down the stairs. His parents helped him through recovery. They knew what cancer was like 12 years ago, both of them were diagnosed with a form of the disease within six months of each other. Finally, on Jan. 17, he returned to Hamilton, but he didnt think he would be able to perform the entire, physically demanding show. He told People he thought, Im never going to reach the other side. It looked impossible at the start. It was immense work to get through it. But he did. Coming out of this, its sort of reinvigorated my passions, he told People. If success comes with those things in some way and everyone has their own definition of success thats great. But its the art thats my goal. Its the work thats my goal. Its creating something wonderful. Munoz shouldnt have much trouble filling the Revolutionary-era shoes vacated by Miranda. For most of its run, apart from the time missed due to cancer, hes been doing it every Sunday since the show officially opened on Aug. 6, 2015, along with filling in for Miranda whenever needed. The New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley has praised his work, describing him as having a penetrating stare and a Don Juan smile and calling him the sexy Hamilton who plays the role with a cutting carnal edge. And hes no stranger to high-pressure performances. He just happened to fill in for Miranda when the first couple Jay Z and Beyonce attended the show for the first time. Oh yeah, and he was in the titular role for the first time when President Obama and the first lady first saw the musical, according to Variety. The spotlight, the celebrities, the fame Its a far cry from his childhood. Born to Puerto Rican parents, Munoz grew up in the Linden Houses, a project in East New York, Brooklyn. We grew up relatively poor in a first-floor apartment with gates on every window, Munoz told the New York Daily News. It was scary coming home, because it was a rough and violent neighborhood. As for his new role as the lead in Hamilton, Munoz is prepared, taking the what doesnt kill you makes you stronger mentality onto the stage. He tweeted, Heartfelt gratitude for so much positivity today; thank you! @HamiltonMusical If you can imagine this, I feel like Im on a mountain top. Im not at the top of the range yet, theres farther to climb, and thats whatever else is coming in my future, he told Variety. But where Im at is: I feel like Im standing on top of the mountain. And I could not have arrived here without each and every moment happening the way it did. The strengths that I have now, I have because of everything that has happened. Im healthy, and Im so good, and Im so strong, and its all gratitude. Its their eyes that first grab Pedro Oliveiras attention. He sees them and wants others to see them too. So hell ask, Can I take your picture? Sometimes the homeless people he approaches say OK. Other times, they want to be left alone. And on rare occasions, hell get yelled at. Oliveira respects their wishes. I dont ask twice. If they say No, no is no. And he only asks for their first names, respecting their privacy. Oliveira says he doesnt take their portraits to exploit them. He just wants to bring attention to the faces of people too often overlooked by the rest of society. In a way, Oliveira uses his camera to exalt his homeless subjects by creating fine art portraiture for an ongoing project that he calls Careful: Soul Inside. I want to make people stop ignoring that we have this issue, says Oliveira, 27, who lives in San Juan Capistrano and attends college in Portland, Ore. We are no better than these people are. Just luckier, he adds. Oliveira speaks from experience. He grew up impoverished in Sao Paolo, Brazil. He got into computer science and worked several years in systems analysis for IBM. His job paid well but involved long hours and lots of stress. He wanted a change and came to the U.S. to learn English. Oliveira worked in sales before pursuing his dream to study communications. He started photographing homeless people in a park across the street from where he lives in Portland while working on a degree in communications/advertising at Portland State University. The first picture he ever shot of a homeless man taken about a year ago earned Oliveira a third-place award in the Council on Aging-Orange Countys juried Aging as Art photo competition one of several such accolades. Titled King James, that photograph of an older gentleman with flowing white hair and beard is included along with two other portraits by Oliveira in the Aging as Art exhibit on display through July 18 at Newport Beach Central Library. The exhibit was at Bowers Museum in Santa Ana earlier in the year. When he posted the King James photograph on his Facebook page, pedrontheworld, it got about 4,000 likes overnight. From people all over the world. That floored Oliveira. So he went back out with his camera. Over the past year, hes photographed about 40 homeless people, in Portland and in Orange County. He also posts them on his pedrontheworld Instagram account. One of his portraits is of an African American man named Jimmy who told Oliveira that he had studied journalism as a young man but made bad decisions and dropped out of school. In February, it made the cover of a weekly called Street Roots that addresses homelessness and raises money for the homeless in Portland. He titled his photograph of Jimmy The Black Hope. Oliveira has a showing at a private gallery coming up next month in Portland, where his work was featured in a recent segment on the local NBC News affiliate. He supports himself with a job in marketing when hes in Orange County and by taking family portraits, beauty shots and other freelance photo gigs. What he does for money doesnt compare to what he gets out of pursuing his Careful: Soul Inside project, he says. Any day, I would rather take pictures of a homeless person than a model. Contact the writer: 714-796-7793 or twalker@ocregister.com PALO ALTO After a jury convicted a California man of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in a fatal drunken driving crash, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced him to six months in jail and ordered him to undergo random alcohol testing. The judge sentenced Frank Guerrero to three years in prison for robbing another man. In both cases, Persky followed the sentencing recommendation of the Santa Clara County Probation Department. An Associated Press review of his rulings shows that Persky has adhered to the same practice in every trial where the probation office made a recommendation since he began presiding over a Palo Alto criminal court in 2015. That includes the sexual assault conviction of former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, who got six months in jail and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life. Prosecutors had sought a six-year sentence. The light sentence given to Turner, and Perskys reasoning for it, touched off intense debate over whether he handled the case properly and drew widespread calls for the judges removal. On Tuesday, the local district attorney blocked Persky from hearing a new sexual assault case and said he is considering blocking all sexual assault cases that get assigned to Perskys court. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said he lacked confidence that the judge could fairly participate in the new case. But Rosen said he does not support removing Persky from the bench. The judges supporters describe him as a smart jurist who listens to all parties, including the probation department, and who is open to sparing first-time offenders lengthy prison sentences when hes convinced counseling and court monitoring can help them get back on track. Persky has many progressive ideas, said Gary Goodman, who is in charge of the Palo Alto public defenders office and has more than a dozen cases pending before Persky. But critics say Perskys handling of the Stanford case makes him unfit for the bench. They insist he has the authority to ignore the probation departments recommendation and that the sentence he gave to Turner marginalizes campus sexual assault and may deter future victims from reporting attacks. It is ignorance, said Stanford law professor Michele Dauber, who is a friend of Turners victim. The AP reviewed court records for 20 criminal cases in which Persky has issued sentences, including all seven trials he presided over, since January 2015. The probation department issued sentencing recommendations after five jury verdicts of guilty. One defendant was convicted of misdemeanor drunken driving, and the probation department did not make a recommendation. A seventh trial ended in acquittal. Cheryl Stevens, a lawyer in the Santa Clara county counsels office, said the probation department is responsible for providing the court with a neutral recommendation for sentencing of a defendant. Echoing findings in Turners probation report, Persky said on June 3 that Turners youth, character references, lack of a criminal record and, to a lesser extent, the role alcohol played in the assault pointed toward a short jail sentence rather than a longer prison term. Turner also has to register as a sex offender for life. The sentence, coupled with Turners fathers plea for leniency because his son had already paid a steep price for 20 minutes of action, thrust the case into the national debate over campus sexual assault. Until getting assigned the Turner case, Persky and his Palo Alto court attracted little outside attention. Compared to the chaotic Hall of Justice 20 miles south in San Jose, the Palo Alto courts quietly handle a steady stream of suburban Silicon Valley crimes that rarely make headlines. But the Turner case changed that. Even before Turner was sentenced, the case drew more attention than any other Persky has handled since arriving in Palo Alto. Because of the poor state of Santa Clara Countys technology, accessing Perskys cases is virtually impossible for the public. The Palo Alto court clerks office isnt equipped with a computer for public use, and it maintains only Perskys current, daily calendar. The year before the governor appointed him, Persky lost an election to a fellow prosecutor in the Santa Clara district attorneys office for an open slot on the bench. As a prosecutor, Persky worked to keep sexually violent predators confined to mental hospitals after they served their prison terms, among other duties. On the bench, Persky has served in family court and civil court and had a good reputation as a fair-minded and smart judge. He earned two Stanford degrees, including a masters in international relations, and captained the schools lacrosse team as an undergraduate. He graduated from the law school at the University of California, Berkeley. In the Stanford case, the judge was blasted for going too easy on a well-heeled, white defendant. But a review of Perskys other rulings gives no indication of racial bias in the cases where a defendants race is listed in court papers. Persky sentenced a Tongan man to four months in jail for stealing $10,000 from an elderly couple fading into dementia he was hired to care for. The man was also ordered to get counseling for compulsive gambling. Michael Lee Simpson, 32 and white, faced life in prison for raping a stranger when he pleaded guilty in exchange for a nearly 31-year sentence. Persky told Simpsons public defender he would not approve a sentence any lower. He also sentenced Kristoffer Bowen, 44 and white, to seven years in prison for pistol whipping a friend he met on his previous stint in prison. Then theres the case of Rachel Garcia, a Latina charged with misdemeanor theft who insisted on a trial. During jury selection last week, several potential jurors told Persky they couldnt serve in his courtroom because of the Turner sentence. Persky dismissed the critics, seated 14 jurors and alternates and started the trial on June 10. It was the first trial he has presided over since Turners, and it ended abruptly Monday when Persky tossed out the case before giving it to the jury, ruling that the prosecutor had not proved Garcia guilty. Its the kind of move supporters would characterize as a sign of Perskys strength rather than letting a weak case go to a jury he intervened. The district attorney described it as puzzling. It was a long-held dream, but finally, this week, the conceptual artist Christo walked on water. On Thursday, he tried out his latest project, The Floating Piers, a walkway stretching nearly 2 miles that connects two small islands in Lake Iseo, in Italys Lombardy region, to each other and to the mainland. Christo stepped out on the floating walkway of puckered yellow-orange nylon fabric, designed to change color according to the time of the day and the weather. On Thursday, it was pockmarked with bright orange blotches left by footsteps treading on the rain-drenched fabric. Its actually very painterly, like an abstract painting, but it will change all the time, Christo, 81, a Bulgarian-born American, said of his project. The Floating Piers is his first outdoor installation since 2005, when he and Jeanne-Claude, his collaborator and wife, installed 7,500 saffron-paneled gates in Central Park in New York City. Like his other environmental artworks, which try to reframe familiar landscapes, the nearly $17 million project will be funded through the sale of his original drawings and collages. I think this is a record in the history of Christos special projects because he and the team realized it in 22 months; normally it takes decades, said curator Germano Celant, the projects director. So I will say that its an Italian and American miracle at the same time. Walking on the floating pier, as I discovered, is akin to being on a lightly rocking boat, without feeling wary about suddenly toppling over should a strong wave arrive. Shoes are optional, and its probably worth taking them off, at least for a moment, to feel the fabrics texture. (There is a layer of felt beneath the saffron cover.) When wet, the walkway is a little squishy; when sunny, it should feel warm to the toes. Look! Christo said, pointing to a juncture where two pathways joined to form a bright saffron-colored V, contrasting against the deep blue of the lake. You see! It falls in that way so you can see the movement, he said. Its actually breathing. Getting the walkway to both gently undulate and remain securely affixed to the uneven lake bottom was a feat that has occupied engineers, construction companies, French deep-sea divers and even a team of Bulgarian athletes drafted over the past two years. The walkway is assembled from 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes that form its 53-feet-wide spine, covered this week with a waterproof and stain-resistant fabric made by a German company for the project. Each project is like a slice of our lives, Christo said, and part of something that I will never forget. From Saturday through July 3, the project will be open and free to the public 24 hours a day, with a legion of boat hands, lifeguards, monitors and information officers standing guard to avert unintentional dips in the lake. Its really a physical thing, you need to be there, walking it, on the streets, here, Christo said. And its demanding. The route, which laps around the small island of San Paolo, also includes pedestrian areas in the towns of Sulzano, on the mainland, and Peschiera Maraglio, on Monte Isola, an islet rising out of the lake. The project, he said, is all this the piers, the lake, the mountains, with the sun, the rain, the wind, its part of the physicality of the project, you have to live it. I know these projects are totally irrational, totally useless, he added. The world can live without them, nobody needs them, only me and Jean-Claude. She always made the point that they exist because we like to have them, and if others like them, its only a bonus. Christo, whose full name is Christo Javacheff, and his wife, who died in 2009, envisaged a floating piers project 46 years ago, when they were approached by an Argentine art historian who suggested the Rio de la Plata basin in South America as a site, but the plans fell through. Drawings for that version are on display at the Museo di Santa Giulia, in nearby Brescia. In 1995, they considered reviving it in Tokyo Bay, but that project, too, was never realized. Yet Christo was determined. Some projects remain in your heart, he said. Apart from the sporadic protests of labor unions and a national environmental organization that was worried about the impact on the lake, the Italian project went smoothly after local officials and administrators came on board. Christo said it was about positively exploiting the incredible chemistry of humans from all walks of life, each member of the team focusing energy on something that does not exist to the point where it does. He was also relieved that there was never a discussion with officials about installing a safety fence along the sides of the walkway, allowing visitors to walk to the edge of the water. The moment you have a parapet, forget it, he said, the feeling of walking on water is gone. Other concerns about the ability of a small lake community to deal with the avalanche of visitors that the walkway is expected to draw an estimated 40,000 people a day appear to have been muted for now by enthusiasm for the project. Lake Iseo is perhaps northern Italys least famous lake, overshadowed by the neighboring Lake Garda. But hotels and other lodging options here and in nearby towns are nearly booked for the duration of the run. Lake Iseo wont be the same after this event, said Fiorello Turla, the mayor of Monte Isola. Monte Isola will change skin, as its exposure to the global spotlight puts it on the map, he added. Its a great opportunity that weve been given and that we want to seize and bring forward. At the close of its 16-day run, the walkway will be dismantled and its parts recycled and resold. The important part of this project is the temporary part, the nomadic quality, Christo said. The work needs to be gone, because I do not own the work, no one does. This is why it is free. Miss Mary Ann King never stopped reminding people how special they are. Long after she left the childrens television show Romper Room, King continued to carry her Magic Mirror, a prop she peered through to list the names of the special viewers at home. She brought it with her on errands later in life for the people who never heard their name on air. People stopped her everywhere we went and wanted her to say their name, said Kandace Del Rosario, Kings daughter. Thats why she carried it. The television host and longtime Hacienda Heights resident died Thursday at 82. Shes going to be greatly missed. Not just by me, but I think by many, many people, Del Rosario said. As of Friday, a Facebook post about her death had received 160 comments from friends and viewers. Romper Room aired around the world with different hosts in each locale. Here in Los Angeles, Miss Mary Ann hosted the show in the 1960s and 1970s. It was a grand journey, King said last year. When you do a daily show, it stretches your mind and keeps you busy. You really work hard. But I would have done it for nothing. I just loved it. On the show, she taught children how to behave and how not to behave with the help of Do Bee and Dont Bee. She closed off each show with her Magic Mirror at the end to read off the first names of children watching, many of them submitted by their parents. Romper, bomper, stomper, boo, tell me, tell me, tell me do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, did all my friends have fun at play? the host asked. In 2003, a mugger snatched Kings bags, including one containing her Magic Mirror. Socorro Serrano, who hosted Romper Room as Miss Soco from 1975 to 1990, dug out her Magic Mirror after learning of the theft. She presented it to King on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. She really is the one that most people remember with her beautiful red hair and her lady-like demeanor and her sweet voice, Serrano said. That was my little way of encouraging her and respecting her. She was the Romper Room teacher. It was the first time the two hosts sat together, Serrano said. While studying education in college, Serrano looked at King as a role model. She was just so important in the lives of so many little kids, Serrano said. She set the bar high for all Romper Room teachers, and like all of her much younger students, I always wanted her to be proud of me. Originally from Oklahoma, King wrote commercials before she ever appeared in one. But when an actress couldnt nail the lines, she stepped in and impressed the producers, Del Rosario said. She appeared in advertisements and talk shows in Texas and Kansas, until she was asked to come to Hollywood to host Romper Room. In her words, that was the end of the rainbow, where the dream was, her daughter said. After Romper Room, she went deeper into education, teaching as part of a regional occupation program that helped high school students learn technical skills. She took the job after school officials told her if you think you can do better, come and do it, when she complained about one of her daughters classes. King was a lifelong advocate for education. In 2010, she fought against the controversial implementation of a Confucius Classroom, sponsored by the Chinese government, at a middle school in Hacienda La Puente Unified School District. Officials later decided to offer the program without accepting a $30,000 grant from China. King moved from her home in Hacienda Heights to the Oakmont of Chino Hills senior community in 2015. Del Rosario made the decision because of a string of break-ins and her mothers trusting personality. Sometimes people who saw her on the show sought her out at home. She brought sunshine wherever she went, Del Rosario said. She just saw the good in everything and trusted everyone, even when she probably shouldnt have. Del Rosario has asked that anyone who would like to attend services for her mother contact her at KandiDelRosario@aol.com. WASHINGTON More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administrations policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the countrys 5-year-old civil war. The memo, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times by a State Department official, says U.S. policy has been overwhelmed by the unrelenting violence in Syria. The memo calls for a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process. Such a step would represent a radical shift in the administrations approach to the civil war in Syria, and there is little evidence that President Barack Obama has plans to change course. Obama has emphasized the military campaign against Islamic State over efforts to dislodge Assad. Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, have all but collapsed. But the memo, filed in the State Departments dissent channel, underscores the deep rifts and lingering frustration within the administration over how to deal with a war that has killed more than 400,000 people. The State Department set up the channel during the Vietnam War as a way for employees who had disagreements with policies to register their protest with the secretary of state and other top officials, without fear of reprisal. While dissent cables are not that unusual, the number of signatures on this document, 51, is extremely large, if not unprecedented. The names on the memo are almost all midlevel officials many of them career diplomats who have been involved in the administrations Syria policy over the past five years, at home or abroad. They range from a Syria desk officer in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs to a former deputy to the U.S. ambassador in Damascus. While the memo doesnt feature any widely recognized names, higher-level State Department officials are known to share their concerns. Kerry has pushed for stronger U.S. action against Syria, in part to force a diplomatic solution on Assad. Obama has resisted such pressure and has been backed up by his military commanders, who have raised questions about what would happen in the event that Assad was forced from power a scenario that the draft memo does not address. The State Department spokesman, John Kirby, declined to comment on the memo, which top officials had just received. But he said Kerry respected the process as a way for employees to express policy views candidly and privately to senior leadership. Robert S. Ford, a former ambassador to Syria, said, Many people working on Syria for the State Department have long urged a tougher policy with the Assad government as a means of facilitating arrival at a negotiated political deal to set up a new Syrian government. Ford, who is now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, resigned from the Foreign Service in 2014 out of frustration with the administrations hands-off policy toward the conflict. In the memo, the State Department officials wrote that the Assad governments continuing violations of the partial cease-fire, known as a cessation of hostilities, will doom efforts to broker a political settlement because Assad will feel no pressure to negotiate with the moderate opposition or other factions fighting him. The governments barrel bombing of civilians, it said, is the root cause of the instability that continues to grip Syria and the broader region. The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war, is evident and unquestionable, the memo said. The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges. The memo acknowledged that military action would have risks, not the least further tensions with Russia, which has intervened in the war on Assads behalf and helped negotiate a cease-fire. Those tensions increased Thursday when, according to a senior Pentagon official, Russia conducted airstrikes in southern Syria against U.S.-backed forces fighting Islamic State. The State Department officials insisted in their memo that they were not advocating for a slippery slope that ends in a military confrontation with Russia but rather a credible threat of military action to keep Assad in line. Once that threat was in place, the memo said, Kerry could undertake a diplomatic mission similar to the one he led with Iran on its nuclear program. The expression of dissent came a week after Assad showed renewed defiance of the United States and other countries, vowing to retake every inch of his country from his enemies. The cease-fire, which Kerry helped negotiate in Munich last winter, has never really taken hold. Assad has continued to block humanitarian convoys, despite a warning that the United Nations would begin airdrops of food to starving towns. There is an enormous frustration in the bureaucracy about Syria policy, said Andrew J. Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy. Whats brought this to a head now is the real downturn in the negotiations, not just between the U.S. and Russia, but between Assad and the opposition. Last month, Kerry rejected the suggestion that the United States and its allies would never use force to stop the bombings or enforce humanitarian access. If President Assad has come to a conclusion theres no Plan B, he said, then hes come to a conclusion that is totally without any foundation whatsoever and even dangerous. Still, Obama has shown little sign of shifting his focus from the campaign against the Islamic State a strategy that probably acquired even more urgency after the mass shooting Sunday in Orlando, Florida. In the memo, the State Department officials argued that military action against Assad would help the fight against the Islamic State because it would bolster moderate Sunnis, who are necessary allies against the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL. While the State Department has a tradition of being open to dissent in the 1990s, Secretary of State Warren Christopher met with Foreign Service officers who had written a 30-page dissent on the Clinton administrations Balkans policy Christopher and his successors have been frustrated when these classified memos become public. In this case, the memo mainly confirms what has been clear for some time: The State Departments rank and file have chafed at the White Houses refusal to be drawn into the conflict in Syria. During a debate in June 2013, after the Assad government had used chemical weapons against its own people, Kerry brandished a State Department report that argued that the United States needed to respond militarily, or Assad would view it as green light for continued CW use. Three years later, the sense of urgency at the State Department has not diminished. The memo concludes, It is time that the United States, guided by our strategic interests and moral convictions, lead a global effort to put an end to this conflict once and for all. BEIRUT Renewed Syrian government airstrikes on the northern, bitterly contested city of Aleppo killed at least seven people on Friday, just hours before a Russia-announced truce was to expire at midnight, activists said. Earlier, two media activists who were seriously wounded in an explosion the previous day in the city were taken to neighboring Turkey for treatment. The two have been documenting Syrias war, traveling with rebels and reporting on some of the fiercest battles in the conflict, now in its sixth year. The activist Local Coordination Committees said seven people were killed in the airstrikes on Aleppo on Friday evening, mainly around the rebel-held Qatirji neighborhood. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll at nine. The wounding of Hadi Abdullah and his cameraman, Khalid AlEissa, illustrated the dangers faced by those reporting from inside war-torn Syria. The blast went off late Thursday as the two walked into their apartment building, said Bibars Mishal, a rescue worker in the Syrian Civil Defense volunteers. The force of the blast blew out the entrance door, parts of the walls, along with wires and electricity boxes. AlEissa suffered a wound to the head while Abdullah was buried under the rubble. It took us about 15 minutes to cut the wires and pull them out, Mishal told The Associated Press by telephone from Aleppo. Other activists called it an assassination attempt against Abdullah and his colleague, accusing government agents in the city of targeting them. Deadly rockets and bombs resumed raining down on the city later in the evening, just before a 48-hour cease-fire announced by Russia was to expire at midnight, activists said. The Syrian air force with the presumed help of Russian aircraft have been waging a fierce bombing campaign on Aleppos s opposition-controlled eastern section, while rebels have assaulted the western half of the city, which is under government control, with rockets and mortars. Fighting had not let up around the city and its outskirts, even during the truce. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah lost 14 of its fighters in battles against rebels and al-Qaida militants near Aleppo. Elsewhere in Syria, an aid convoy delivered food Friday to residents trapped in the rebel-held neighborhood of Al-Waer, in the central city of Homs, the United Nations said. It was the first delivery to the neighborhood, besieged by government forces, in three months. People have died in Al-Waer because of the lack of humanitarian supplies of late, U.N. aide official Jan Egeland said in Geneva. Washington, meanwhile, accused Russian aircraft of bombing a U.S.-backed rebel faction fighting the Islamic State group in southern Syria on Thursday, near the Tanf border crossing with Iraq. The Observatory said the airstrikes killed two rebels, one belonging to the New Syria Army, and another to an allied Iraqi faction. There were no Syrian regime or Russian ground forces in the vicinity.?? Russias latest actions raise serious concern about Russian intentions, said Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook. Syria is the third-deadliest country in the world for journalists after Yemen and Iraq, according to statistics from the Committee to Protect Journalists. At least 95 journalists have been killed in Syria since 2011, some in bombings or at the hands of IS militants. Almost no international news organizations send staff to Syria because of kidnappings by militants, who often kill their hostages. Rebels and residents in areas out of government control rely on volunteer media activists such as Abdullah and AlEissa and monitoring groups to broadcast their news to the world. In 2013, Abdullah was among the few activists reporting from the besieged strategic border town of Qusair, which eventually fell to the Syrian government forces. He has since been traveling with rebel groups to report from the front line, mostly in northern Syria. This was the second time this week that the two were wounded. Abdullah spoke to the AP on Wednesday, after they were wounded in an airstrike, the third they covered that day. He said at the time he had to have five stitches to his head while AlEissa got four. But the wounds from Thursday night appear to have been more severe. A doctor familiar with their condition said later Friday that the two were taken to an undisclosed location in Turkey for treatment. Abdullah had suffered wounds to his lower limbs while AlEissa was wounded both to the head and stomach, said the doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. DEAR ABBY: I have plans to go to law school in the next two years. I have already taken the entrance exam, and will receive recommendations from two of my college professors. The problem is, my parents are refusing to co-sign for my law school loan. Abby, I'm not asking for money; I'm just asking for someone to co-sign the loan for me. I plan to pay off the debt myself. I don't want to ask an extended family member for help, because even if they agree, I'd feel horrible if it prevented them from helping their own children with something. My parents don't have a good enough excuse to not co-sign for me, and it surprises me that it doesn't embarrass them that I may have to ask another family member for help. What should I do, Abby? -- FUTURE LAW SCHOOL STUDENT DEAR FUTURE LAW SCHOOL STUDENT: Your parents shouldn't have to meet your criteria for what is a "good enough" excuse for being reluctant to co-sign on a loan for you. It should be enough that they are uncomfortable with the prospect of doing it. While your desire to pursue the field of law is admirable, have you researched what job opportunities are available to new law school graduates? Currently, according to the media, these jobs are not nearly as plentiful as they have been historically. However, if you are determined to plunge ahead, I think you already know what you're going to have to do -- and that includes seeing if you can find another source of funding for your law school education. DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend and I have been together a year and a half. We knew each other for a while prior because we used to work together. Our relationship has been somewhat fun. The only issue that bothers me is that he can never seem to open up. He doesn't express his feelings toward me or even show much that he cares that we're together. When I ask him about it, he says he's just not ready to open up and I should respect that. I do, because he has been through a lot in life. But it's hard to figure out where I stand with him. I'm always the one to make the first move -- whether it's to show affection or express my love for him. It's lonely and confusing that he doesn't, and I often feel like I'm in a relationship with myself. Should I give him more time to get comfortable enough to open up? Or am I wasting my time? -- MIXED UP IN LOVE DEAR MIXED UP: Not all men are comfortable expressing their emotions verbally. More important than what someone tells you, is how he treats you. You stated that he not only doesn't express his emotions, but also doesn't show that he cares you are a couple. A year and a half has been plenty of time for your boyfriend to respond with more than indifference. Because you need more than he seems capable of giving, it's time to find someone who can give you the affection and affirmation you crave. In a relationship, BOTH parties must contribute if it is to survive. DEAR ABBY: I have officially found my biggest pet peeve. It's a pervasive issue with my generation of committing to something and not showing up. They'll flake at the last minute, or refuse to commit to something because there's a possibility something better will come along. And constantly showing up late has become normal with young adults. Furthermore, despite the many technological advances that allow us to communicate quickly, their failure to communicate about plans astounds and infuriates me. I've encountered this problem too often with friends, co-workers, bosses and professors at university. I have tried to let it roll off my back and remind people about how their rudeness affects others, but I'm not sure what else I can do. Obviously, I can't control other people. How can I express my frustration without being a monster? -- HAD IT UP TO HERE DEAR HAD IT: I assume that you have already expressed your frustration to at least some of the people you have described. If this happens regularly, it's a sign that they don't care how their behavior affects others. You can spare yourself much stress if you start "deleting" irresponsible, self-centered individuals from your circle to the extent that it's possible. Of course, you can't do that with those who have control over your life such as professors or employers right now, so you will have to tolerate some of this behavior for the present. DEAR ABBY: My father, a widower, is in his late 80s. He's in great shape, still drives, goes on vacations and volunteers twice a week. He is brilliant, and enjoys cars, gambling and eating. I promised I'd call him on a weekly basis, but I don't know what to talk to my father about. He's a man of few words, so our conversations are somewhat limited after I ask about his interests. I'd be very appreciative if you or your readers can suggest some topics I haven't thought of. -- STUMPED DAUGHTER DEAR STUMPED DAUGHTER: How about talking to your father about some of your own interests -- what you have been doing, movies or plays you have seen, restaurants you have tried that he might enjoy, what's going on with other relatives, and current events. If necessary, make a short list of topics from your local newspaper and keep it with you when you call him. And remember, conversations don't have to be long ones -- just interesting. DEAR READERS: Allow me to wish a Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere -- birth fathers, stepfathers, adoptive and foster fathers, grandfathers, and all of those caring men who mentor children and fill the role of absent dads. I applaud you all! -- LOVE, ABBY P.S. And per many readers' requests, I'm giving a shout-out to dual-role moms, too. DEAR ABBY: I would like your opinion about something that's bothering me. I live in a senior housing complex in Massachusetts. Most of the residents are women in their 80s and 90s. (Some are also in their 60s.) A few men live here also. One of the men sits on his living room couch with only his jockey shorts on. He leaves his door wide open when he does this. He seems not to care who sees him while walking by his apartment. Some folks here believe it should be ignored and no one should look in while passing by. They say whatever he does in his own apartment is his own business. I believe that's true, but only when the door is closed. What do you think? By the way, he is in his 60s. -- BEFUDDLED IN MASSACHUSETTS DEAR BEFUDDLED: What people do in the PRIVACY of their own apartment is no one's business. When the front door is open, it is no longer private. If the man's state of undress bothers some of the residents, they should bring it to the manager of the senior housing complex. DEAR ABBY: My younger sister lives at home with our parents. She suffers from a learning disability as well as some serious mental health issues that are under control. She is a bright, sweet person who -- with some help -- could become semi-independent. However, my parents have made no serious attempts to encourage this. She graduated from high school 10 years ago and has sought no further education or employment opportunities. She spends most of her time in her room playing video games. I have tried to offer suggestions like volunteering or joining an organization. While this is met with polite positivity, it has inspired no action. Our parents are getting older, and if my sister isn't able to live independently, the burden of supporting her will fall on me. I am not permitted to express how frustrating this situation is or how sad it makes me. I am shut out of the conversation, even though my future and the future of my own family is involved. I live far away, but keep in touch regularly. What can I say or do to encourage change? -- THE BAD SISTER DEAR "BAD" SISTER: Your parents are doing your sister no favors by keeping her isolated and dependent. This is a conversation that needs to take place with them in person, rather than from a distance. You and your husband should meet with them face to face. It's important that you understand what financial provisions they have made for your sister in the event of their deaths, and you should know exactly what your responsibilities will entail. Years ago, one of my assistants was in a situation just like yours. His younger brother was mentally disabled and lived with their parents until their deaths. At that point, responsibility for the younger brother was left to the older brother. The parents had assumed that the same kind of living arrangement would continue. However, the gentleman who worked with me understood that it would not be healthy for either of them, so he arranged for his brother to move to a group home. There he was able to participate in activities and, for the first time in his life, to make friends. If your sister doesn't have the skills to live independently, this may be the solution for her, too. DEAR ABBY: I'm retired and living full time in my RV. During the summer months, more folks travel as I do, many of them with children. While I think this is a wonderful experience for families, some parents appear to forget that there are others in the campground and allow their children, regardless of age, to roam around unsupervised. This can be dangerous because large vehicles many not see small children dart into their path. Also, while they might know their neighbors at home, you have no idea who might be parked nearby at a campground. This means that unless invited, children (and adults) should not cut through occupied sites. Just like at home, common sense and courtesy will make camping a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. -- MARGARET IN SIOUX FALLS DEAR MARGARET: Amen! Thank you for the reminder to your fellow travelers. DEAR ABBY: My friend "Sara" invites herself and her two children over to play with mine from time to time. When it's time to have a snack or eat, she and her kids make themselves at home -- especially with the milk. Abby, I work 70 hours a week. My children eat cereal often and love milk, but because of my schedule, I don't get a chance to go grocery shopping as often as I should. (I am a single parent.) How do I politely tell my friend that it's fine to make herself at home, but getting both of her children refills of milk without asking me is taking it too far? She knows I can afford it, but I'm uncomfortable asking because I don't know how to draw the line. -- WORKING MOM OUT WEST DEAR WORKING MOM: I assume you communicate with Sara outside of her drop-in visits to your home? The next time you talk, text or email her, explain that you love her company and she's always welcome, but because of your 70-hour work schedule you don't get to the market as often as she does -- so when she brings her kids, please also bring a quart of milk with her. To do that is stating the facts, it isn't rude and it isn't asking too much. If she's your friend, and not a user, she will comply. Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 6 Federal regulators have closed an investigation of Lumber Liquidators after the company agreed not to resume sales of Chinese-made laminate flooring. Shares of Lumber Liquidators soared in Friday trading. The Toano, Virginia, company stopped selling the Chinese-made laminate flooring last year, a couple of months after a news report on 60 Minutes said it contained high levels of the carcinogen formaldehyde. The U.S. Consumer Production Safety Commission said Lumber Liquidators tested the air quality in 17,000 households and none had formaldehyde above guidelines. Nurses plan strike in Minneapolis-St. Paul About 4,800 nurses are preparing to launch a one-week strike at five hospitals in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in a dispute over health insurance. Minnesota Nurses Association members plan to walk out at 7 a.m. Sunday at hospitals operated by Allina Health. Allina says it plans to keep the facilities operating close to normally with a smaller staff of replacement nurses. SUV demand prompts Ford to shorten shutdown Ford is knocking a week off the traditional two-week summer shutdown at three SUV plants to handle increased demand. The company said it will use the extra week of production to make 22,000 more SUVs at factories in Louisville, Kentucky; Oakville, Ontario, and Chicago. The factories make the Ford Escape, Edge, Flex and Explorer sport utility vehicles and Lincoln counterparts. Sales of the four Ford SUVs are up 8.5 percent through May to just over 305,000. Every generation goes through events that change everything. I was a kid in the 1960s and a teenager in the 1970s. I vaguely remember President Kennedy's assassination. I had just turned four. Honestly, if it had not been for the fact that it was the first time I saw my dad cry, I doubt if I would remember the event at all. But, I have heard a lot of people say the nation lost its innocence the day we lost our President. When Neil Armstrong placed his footprints in the sands of the moon, we all knew the world would no longer be the same. We were not sure of the what or the how, but we all knew. Then along came Watergate. Before Nixon's scandal, the vast majority of Americans trusted the government. Now a vast majority of Americans think there is no such thing as an honest politician. Watergate changed America. Moving forward to September 11, 2001. Before 9/11 American's believed terrorism was something that happened only in Israel and the Middle East. 9/11 was big, it wasn't one guy, it was a group of men that did this. It wasn't one suicide bomber killing a half dozen people at a restaraunt, it was a group of people killing a number in the thousands, bringing our magnificent Twin Towers down to rubble, attacking our military brain thrust, the Pentagon, and thankfully a third attack thwarted by those in the airplane over Pennsylvania. 9/11 changed the world. For my parent's generation the Great Depression, Pearl Harber, and the Enola Gay changed everything. Our church had Vacation Bible School this past week. The oldest kid involved was sixteen years old. She was barely a year when 9/11 happened. No other child here this week was alive that fateful day. To them, 9/11 is something they will read about in school, hear older people around them talk about, and see some clips of it on tv in early September every year. Much like Hiroshima and Nagasaki were for my generation. Our closing program was Sunday evening; only a few hours removed from the shootings in Orlando. After the service, we had a weenie roast. Once the marshmallows had been devoured, the kids were running around playing, some were flying kites, others playing some sort of tag. It reminded me of simpler times long ago and the carefreeness of childhood. Someone brought up Orlando, and I thought of the children playing in the church yard. What would be the events that change everything in their lives? There are children in parts of the world that are not worried about what they will eat tomorrow; they are worried about if there will be a tomorrow. The children of Israel will know how to dawn a gas mask before they know how to read. Where and when will the next mortar round or sniper bullet strike is more concern for a ten-year-old in Syria than how high they can fly their kite. There have been eighty-two school shootings resulting in deaths since Columbine (April 20, 1999). Newspeople and politicians describe school shootings as, "far too common." One is way too many, but the optimum word here is, "common." Common is something that happens a lot. Those events I described as changing things for mine, and my parent's generations were things that never happened before. The fact they had never happened before is one of the main reasons they caused change. What about this generation of American kids? What is coming down the road for them that will change their lives forever? The closer we get to the return of Christ the worse it will get. The Bible speaks of "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity" (Luke 21:25). Nations will have problems they will not know how to solve. The answer to man's problems is faith in Jesus Christ, but from the first day of school we put doubt in a child's heart. By teaching evolution, by default, we claim the first chapter of the Bible is in error, therefore taking away any credibility to the rest of the book. We teach our children prayer may be offensive to some, therefore discouraging any prayer life at all. If we fail to look toward "the way, the truth, and the life" for our answers then we will lose our way, believe only lies, and have a life not worth living. When Iraq War veteran Joe Trader returned to his hometown of Bennington after serving in the Army, he noticed something was missing. Growing up right up the street, I was surrounded by a lot of old veterans, said Trader, 35. It always kind of stuck in my mind that something needed to be done to memorialize them. Now its being done. As Trader spoke, he stood in the new plaza honoring Benningtons military veterans. It will be dedicated at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, as part of the towns annual Bennington Days. The ceremony will feature a color guard from Offutt Air Force Base, a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps. The plaza, on 156th Street just south of Warehouse Avenue, features a three-piece monument of black granite and three flagpoles. The names of eight Bennington service members who died in the nations wars are on a plaque. The push for the monument followed a call from Trader to Mayor Gordon Mueller a couple of years ago. Trader mentioned his idea of building a monument to local veterans. He had tried to raise funds on his own but hadnt gotten anywhere. Decades ago, Bennington had a veterans memorial next to Centennial Park, but that was cleared out to make way for the towns fire station. Mueller liked the idea of building a new memorial. He found out that Benningtons American Legion Post No. 266 wanted one, too, and had some money set aside. We had a plan for years, but it just wasnt going anywhere, Mueller said. He appointed a committee that included members the Legion, the Legion Auxiliary and the general public. To lead the group, he chose Mel Valasek, a farmer and former Vietnam War medic who had been prominent in civic affairs in the town of 1,480 people for years. Trader served on the committee, too, along with Joann Warrick who had earlier pushed for a monument Suzanne Allen, Jean Harding and Richard and Lois Musel. The group gave energy to the project and brought the community on board, too. Committee members photographed monuments in other towns to get ideas. They selected a location at the south entrance to town, on an old railroad bed. They sold and bought fundraising memorial bricks ranging from $100 to $1,000 to help cover the estimated $45,000 cost of the project. The price tag shrank, though, because so many townspeople donated materials and services, including architectural design, concrete, sod, landscaping and the flagpoles. The Legion and Auxiliary each donated $10,000. It all came together very well, Musel said. The committee broke ground during last years Bennington Days. This year during the ceremony, flags will be raised for the first time on the three new flagpoles. One person who wont be there for Sundays dedication is Valasek. He died suddenly last January at age 67 from the effects of blood clots, said his fiancee, retired Air Force Reserve Maj. Deann Zens. Zens stepped in as committee chairman after Valaseks death. She helped push the project to the finish. This has been such an honor, said Zens, a veteran of the Vietnam and Persian Gulf Wars. Its about being with people who are honorable and have esprit de corps. It brought back all of these wonderful memories. Contact the writer: 402-444-1186, steve.liewer@owh.com The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the conviction and 30-day jail sentence of a former western Nebraska police chief, saying Friday that he did not have the authority to obstruct justice. Former Sidney Police Chief Byron Wilkinson pleaded no contest to obstructing government operations and was sentenced in July. The charge stemmed from what state prosecutors said was Wilkinsons failure to pursue a criminal case against then-city Public Works Director John Hehnke after Hehnkes ex-girlfriend filed a criminal complaint in 2014. Hehnke had been ticketed by a Sidney police officer for peeking into his ex-girlfriends window while she was in her underwear, but the ticket never made it to local prosecutors. When the officer questioned Wilkinson about the matter, Wilkinson told him in an email that he quashed the citation in favor of handling the matter administratively. The more Bangladesh faces IS threat, the better becomes BJP's chances in Bengal Feature oi-Shubham Ghosh More the Islamic State (IS) sympathisers gain ground in neighbouring Bangladesh, more the BJP in West Bengal will find a reason to cement its base. According to a report published in a Kolkata-based daily, the BJP's state meeting in Siliguri on Friday decided to approach the Bangladesh High Commission under the leadership of state chief and MLA Dilip Ghosh, seeking protection for the endangered minorities in the neighbouring country. The BJP cadre will also focus on the issue at the grassroots level to bring its pet issue of Hindutva to the fore in the state's politics. A delegation from the BJP has already approached the high commission on the issue. [PM Modi expresses concern over IS threat to Ramakrishna Mission in Bangladesh] The practitioners of saffron politics haven't had much success in selling Hindutva in the eastern state which was ruled by the communists for over 30 years at a stretch. Terrorist activities in Bangladesh are giving BJP just what it want in Bengal That the BJP is eager to cash in on the Hindutva sentiments in Bengal instead of choosing the way of appeasing the minorities in the state was evident from the steps it took ahead of this year's Assembly election. While it brought is RSS pracharak Ghosh to head the party instead of a more moderate Rahul Sinha, it also campaigned over the clashes in Kaliachak in Malda district to win a seat there. And now, the party has found a big opportunity to mobilise the majority votes by focussing on the security of the minorities in Bangladesh---where the fangs of radicalism are turning more fearsome. Not to forget, the RSS's untiring exercise to expand its cadre base in Bengal. [BJP wins 3 seats in Bengal---its highest since BJS's tally of 9 in 1952] The urge to play politics of polarisation in Bengal is not unexpected The BJP's decision to meet fire with fire is not unexpected. The saffron party has not been able to develop a strong organisation and face in Bengal where its ideology has also not been made much of an impact---thanks to a long Left legacy and Mamata Banerjee' populism. The growing strength of radicalism in neighbouring Bangladesh thus gives it a chance to play its strong card on this side of the border and generate support. It will need Mamata Banerjee to do some special thinking to counter BJP's Hindutva project in Bengal It will need a well thought-out counter plan from Banerjee to stop the BJP from making inroads in the state. Though the ruling Trinamool Congress has no ideological baggage like the Left or the Congress when it comes to dealing with the right-wing BJP, but the fact that she is in power now and not in opposition will demand her to put in more thinking in the BJP policy. For she has a huge vote-bank in the minorities. Can Mamata neutralise BJP's twin weapons of Hindutva & development? It will be interesting how Banerjee's future electoral strategies go from here. It was one thing to deal with the Left which did little to put Bengal on the path of growth and alienated various sections of the society. But it is another thing to deal with the BJP, which essentially plays two cards---of majoritarian religious appeal and development. It is something which galvanises both the urban and rural, general and caste and moderate and radical religious views. Banerjee is yet to win the confidence of the urban voters in terms of development while she has no ideological capital to sell to the radical (majority) thinkers. On the contrary, her politics of appeasing minorities in the name of secularism has earned her criticism. The Bangladesh problem will certainly make the BJP versus Mamata fight in Bengal interesting in the coming days. The one who will play it smarter will be placed better to clinch the contest. Licence of Laxmi Co-operative Bank cancelled by RBI: Depositors can claim up to Rs 5 lakh RBI to soon launch e-rupee on pilot basis for specific use cases RBI rate hikes to contain price rise; inflation to fall below 6 pc next year Can't choose RBI Guv on basis of popular vote: Subramanian Swamy India oi-PTI Bhubaneshwar, Jun 18: BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, who ran a tirade against RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, today said the Reserve Bank head is a government employee and is not selected on the basis of popular vote. "Raghuram Rajan is an employee of the Government of India. We don't select employees on the basis of popular vote," he said, reacting to Rajan's decision not to take a second term. In a series of letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Swamy had demanded sacking of Rajan, arguing that he is not "fully mentally Indian" and had been sending confidential and sensitive financial information around the world. Rajan, in a letter to RBI employees today, said that he would go back to Chicago to continue his academic career after completion of his three-year term as central bank chief on September 4. PTI Centre of Excellency Lab to be set up by University of Jammu, Delhi firm CUCET 2016 results declared: Check the results here News oi-Mukul Kumar Mishra New Delhi, June 18: There is good news for students who had appeared for Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) last month. Reportedly CUCET 2016 results have been declared. SBI Clerk preliminary exam 2016 results declared: Check the results here Candidates who had applied for admission into various courses including undergraduate and postgraduate programs, can check their result on its official website, cucet16.co.in . The Central University had conducted exam for various courses i.e B.Ed, PG Diploma and research programs on May 21 and 22. If students clear the test, they will be eligible to get admission in various colleges, across nine central universities of Haryana, Jammu, Jharkhand, Kashmir, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. According to a report, more than 1 lakh students appeared for the exam to get admission in various courses in these universities. How to check results Candidates need to login the official website cucet16.co.in . Fill all the required details including your Application ID and password. A window showing your results will apear on screen once you submit all these details. OneIndia News Ex-Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni is an accused in Drug racket India oi-Pallavi Sengupta Mumbai, June 18: Former Bollywood beauty Mamata Kulkarni has been named as an accused in a drug racket by the Thane police. In fact, it is also said that Mamata Kulkarni and her husband Vicky Goswami have connections with a few people in the Bollywood. Vicky Goswami has been named as the kingpin of the International Drug network. Paramveer Singh from thane police said, "According to the new evidences, Mamta Kulkarni (former actor) is now also an accused. We will send a request to Interpol for red corner notice against Mamta Kulkarni through CBI. We are verifying her bank accounts and investments. Her husband Vicky Goswami is already an accused." A total of 18.5 tonne of Ephedrine and 2.5 tonne of acetic anhydride has been seized by the Thane police in April and Goswami has been named as the prime accused here. He is on bail in a case where he was arrested by the Kenyan police officials. He will soon be extradited from Kenya. However, Goswami is unwilling to come to India, fearing kidnapping by USA's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that has been pressurising India to extradite him. The racket unravelled with the arrest of Sipren Chinassa, a Nigerian national, who was caught with 500g of ephedrine and who led the cops to the manufacturing units in Solpaur. This further led the cops to Sagar Powale and Mayur Sukhdare, who were caught with 2 kg of ephedrine. This was followed by the arrest of Dhaneshwar Swamy with 5.50kg of ephedrine powder. A crime branch official said, "Members and directors of the company were directly connected to the Kenyan drug mafia king Vicky Goswami. Earlier, too, they had not disclosed the amount of drug that was being manufactured at the company." He further added, "The accused were planning to arrange a unit at Mombasa in Kenya were they can turn ephedrine into methamphetamine which is costlier in the international market. The Gujarat and Maharashtra police are working on this drug cartel while we have found that 4-5 persons are still absconding. We will arrest them soon." OneIndia News Meanwhile, Goswami also claimed that Mamata Kulkarni was just a well-wisher and not his wife. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, June 18, 2016, 15:51 [IST] Life sentence should have been given to all convicts: Zakia Jafri Gulberg verdict: Conspiracy theory requires a due burial India oi-Vicky New Delhi, June 18: The much awaited verdict in Gulberg society massacre case was delivered yesterday. While there were life sentences handed out to 11 persons which made it clear that the conspiracy angle to this case has been laid to rest and is required its due burial. These observations by Judge P B Desai puts an end to the narrative that the state's machinery had conspired and engineered these riots. While the court also observed that the prosecution made no attempt to establish that the police officers were part of the conspiracy, the judge also said that the mob had turned murderous after former MP, Ahsan Jafri opened fire at them. Conspiracy theory shot down: First and foremost the mob was not interested in killing. They were engaging in stone pelting. However when Jafri opened fire the mob turned murderous the court observed. On the issue of conspiracy the judge observed that several attempts had been made to rake up the conspiracy theory. The court made it clear that no material has been considered even prima facie worthwhile to arraign senior police officers, politicians and government officials as accused in this case. It would be unsafe and improper to even have a further discussion in this regard the Judge also said. Gulberg massacre case: 11 get life term The court observed that the Special Investigating Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court had not brought any evidence forward to establish the larger conspiracy. The testimony where two drivers were discussing a meeting to hatch a conspiracy was termed "ridiculous" by the judge. The evidence provided by Ashish Khaitan following a sting operation was also junked with the observation that the entire transcript was not tendered before the probe agency or the court. On the conspiracy theory there is only stray evidence and that too it is not trustworthy. The special court had yesterday awarded life terms to 11 persons. While delivering the verdict on the quantum of sentence, the court awarded seven years imprisonment to 12 while one more person was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. The court had convicted 24 persons in connection with this case while acquitting 36. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, June 18, 2016, 8:31 [IST] We cannot wait longer now: SC to hear Vijay Mallyas contempt case in January for final disposal Mallya spotted at book launch in London attended by Indian envoy India oi-Vicky New Delhi, June 18: Vijay Mallya who was recently declared a proclaimed offender was spotted at an event in London in which an Indian envoy was was present. The book launch which took place in London was attended by Mallya. The event was held to launch the book, "Mantras for Success, India's Greatest CEOs Tell you how to win." The book has been written by Suhel Seth and journalist Sunny Sen and the event was held at the London School of Economics. Following the launch of the book, there was a panel discussion which was attended by Indian High Commissioner Navtej Sarna. Suhel Seth however took to his twitter account and said that the event was an open one and anyone could attend it. He however stated that after Sarna saw Mallya he left the event. There has been no official comment from India on this incident as yet. However sources tell OneIndia that they are looking into this matter. They however add that Mallya was not on the official invite list for the event. He was not on the guest list, a senior Indian official informed. However the matter is being looked into and we have sought more details, the official informed. The incident takes place when India is moving pillar and post to have Mallya who has defaulted on loans and faces money laundering charges extradited to India. He is accused of defaulting on loans to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore. Only last week a court in Mumbai has declared Vijay Mallya a proclaimed offender. The order of the Special Prevention of Money Laundering court was passed under Section 8 of the PMLA Act. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, June 18, 2016, 15:18 [IST] There is no 'one-size-fits-all' to curb poverty Skeletons from the past: Kin of missing women approach cops after human sacrifice case COVID-19 responsible for pregnancy-related deaths in the US With these 5 changes, breast cancer survivors can live longer, healthier Matter of immense pride: PM Modi on induction of women fighter pilots India oi-PTI New Delhi, June 18: As three women were inducted as into IAF as fighter pilots today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed it as a "matter of immense pride and joy". "It is a matter of immense pride & joy to see the first batch of women fighter pilots being inducted in our Air Force. More power to them," Modi tweeted. He was commenting on the induction of three women -- Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh -- as the first women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force. They were commissioned at a function at Air Force Academy in Dundigal on the outskirts of Hyderabad. "It is a golden letter day...," said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, asserting that "step-by-step", "total gender parity" will be achieved in the armed forces in the coming years. PTI Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again BJP shreds Kejriwal's demand for Lakshmi on notes; calls it his 'new mask' Priyanka Gandhi's house poses security risk, withdraw permission: BJP leader to Centre India oi-Mukul Kumar Mishra New Delhi, June 18: A BJP MLA has urged Centre not to allow Priyanka Gandhi to construct her house near the summer residence of the President of India in Chharabra, Shimla. Reportedly, BJP MLA from Shimla Suresh Bharadwaj has also written a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh regarding the same. In support of his claim, BJP leader said that as the area (near the Presidential Retreat) falls in "high security zone", such an activity should not be allowed. He further said that no construction is allowed in the vicinity of either the Presidential Retreat or Kalyani helipad nearby due to security reasons and that other people had been refused such permission in the past. The former Rajya Sabha MP said dignitaries like Prime Minister also stay at Presidential Retreat during their visits and Kalyani helipad is used exclusively by the Air Force for these VVIPs and for other security sorties. "...but now Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is constructing a house in this area which has put security of his Excellency the President of India, Prime Minister and other dignitaries at risk," Bharadwaj said in the letter to Singh. According to him, the area is 'no-construction zone', because of which people sold their land at throwaway prices and Priyanka purchased about 4,000 sq mtr of land. Taking "advantage" of her family status, Priyanka managed to get permission to construct house in the high-security zone, the MLA claimed. "The security angle of the President and other VVIPs may kindly be re-examined and permission granted to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to construct a huge house near Retreat, Shimla may be withdrawn," he said in the letter. OneIndia News (With inputs from PTI) For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, June 18, 2016, 11:38 [IST] After prodigal disrepute, fighter Beti makes Bihar proud India oi-Jagriti New Delhi, June 18: Haunted by media from across the globe over topper scam, Bihar can now cheer on the achievement of its fighter 'Beti' Bhawana Kanth. Bhawana along with Mohana Singh and Avani Chaturvedi formally commissioned by the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in the fighter stream of the flying branch after each cleared the first stage of training and has about 150 hours of flying. The glorious event took place at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal near Hyderabad on Saturday. This historic day has come as a proud moment for Bihar as Bhawana Kanth is a native of Baur village in Darbhanga. The 24-year-old Kanth has made Bihar proud by becoming one of three first women fighter in India's history. This success of a 'beti' of Bihar has added a feather in its cap at a time when video of Ruby Rai, a student of Bishun Rai College in Hajipur, went viral on social media as she, pronounced political science as 'prodigal science' and described it as a subject on cookery. Rai scored 444/500 marks to top the IA exams. Her fake success in Class 12 exam (Arts stream) brought bad name to the state. It's not only Ruby, science topper Saurav Shrestha also failed to answer rudimentary questions related to the subjects during a media interaction soon after results were announced related to the subject. India's first women fighter pilots thunder the sky today Bhawana who did her schooling from BR DAV in Bihar's Begusarai has brought immense pride for parents and women folk of India. Following her schooling she went to Kota in Rajasthan to pursue her intermediate and started preparing for engineering entrance exam. She pursued her engineering in Medical Electronics stream from BMS College of Engineering in Bengaluru. India is proud of Mohna Singh, Bhavna Kanth, Avni Chaturvedi for creating history by becoming fighter pilot in IAF. pic.twitter.com/u82FbJZRca Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (@naqvimukhtar) June 18, 2016 Congrats to the 3 fighter pilot ladies and more strength to our women !Proud moment for India ! Jai Hind ! Kirron Kher (@KirronKherBJP) June 18, 2016 Congratulations to the first 3 Women Fighter Pilot of #IAF Avani Chaturvedi, Mohan Singh & Bhawana Kanth! #Respect pic.twitter.com/EEZ6Wrsmbr Amit Panchal (@AmitHPanchal) June 18, 2016 Long wait is over, first 3 women pilot commissioned in IAF. What a moment, way to go. https://t.co/vz6wqpx0Zy peenaz tyagi (@Peenaz_NN) June 18, 2016 Lead the way, Avani Bhawana Mohana, our first women fighter pilots. Give wings to dreams of little girls! Jai Hind! pic.twitter.com/Uiip4yWseL (@ggiittiikkaa) June 18, 2016 Heartiest congratulations to first women fighter pilots of Indian Air Force - Bhawana Kath, Avani Chaturvedi & Mohana Singh. #NariShakti Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) June 18, 2016 Glorious day for India. Our first three Women Fighter Pilots. Salute their parents and teachers and mentors.Jai Hind pic.twitter.com/bVlb7utXAp Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) June 18, 2016 India's first three women fighter pilots being inducted today. Congrats! https://t.co/UQbmPxAznX Indian HC in Aus (@navdeepsuri) June 18, 2016 My heart is filled with great pride that three valiant daughters are scripting history today by becoming country's 1st women fighter pilots. ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 18, 2016 Sky is just not the limitCongrats to 1st female fighter pilots of IndiaAvani Chaturvedi, Mohana Singh & Bhawana Kanth. More power to you! Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) June 18, 2016 OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, June 18, 2016, 13:36 [IST] Ex-President Morsi sentenced to 40 yrs in jail by Egypt court International oi-PTI Cairo, Jun 18: Egypt's toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was today sentenced to life imprisonment by a court for passing state secrets to Qatar. The court also upheld death sentences given to six Muslim Brotherhood members in the same case and awarded life imprisonment (25 years in prison) to two others. Morsi was given an additional 15 years in prison in the same case, increasing his jail term to 40 years. Last month, the court ordered that the case documents of the six defendants, excluding Morsi, be referred to the Grand Mufti, who according to the Egyptian law must review all death sentences. However, his decision is not binding. The six defendants include Ahmed Abdo Ali Afifi, a documentary film producer (who is in jail), Asmaa el-Khateeb reporter in Rassd news network (RNN) (sentenced in absentia), Alaa Omar Mohammed, a Jordanian news producer in Al-Jazeera (sentenced in absentia), and the news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal in Al-Jazeera (sentenced in absentia). The verdict is not final and can be appealed. Morsi as well as other defendants have been convicted for leaking classified documents to Qatar and selling them to Al-Jazeera channel. The classified documents allegedly include information on general and military intelligence, the armed forces, its armaments and the state's policy secrets. Other charges include leading and joining the outlawed group, the Muslim Brotherhood, that aims at changing the country's regime by force, and attacking army and police posts and public property. Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 35 other members of the proscribed Islamist group were last month sentenced to life for committing violent acts after the ouster of country's first democratically elected President in 2013. Badie and Morsi were also sentenced to life in prison in the espionage case. Their sentences are currently in appeal. Morsi himself alongwith Badie and 100 other leaders were also sentenced to death in June last year for escaping from prison in 2011. However, an Egyptian court later quashed the death sentence against Badie. Hundreds of other Muslim Brotherhood members were also sentenced for life in various cases. The Egyptian government has been cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters since the ouster of Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood was designated as a terrorist group in November 2013 by the government. PTI Even if not contesting 2020 polls, Hillary Clinton will not be entirely out of scene Hillary Clinton says Julian Assange must 'answer for what he has done' Hillary remembers Orlando, Charleston victims; calls for strong gun control laws International oi-PTI Washington, June 18: Amid a spate of shootings in the US, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has called for strong gun control laws and plugging the loopholes in the rules that are currently prevailing. In an open letter on the first anniversary of Charleston church massacre and less than a week after the horrific shooting in Orlando, Clinton said an average of 90 people a day are killed by gun violence in our country. Sanders says he will work with Clinton to transform party "This must stop. A good first step is closing the 'Charleston Loophole' in our gun laws, which allows a person otherwise prohibited from buying a gun -- such as a domestic abuser or other violent criminal -- to buy one if a background check isn't completed within three business days," Clinton said. "This loophole allowed the alleged Charleston shooter to buy his gun despite his prior arrest record. How many more innocent people need to be cut down before we act and close this dangerous loophole?" she asked. Last year nine churchgoers, all African-American, were shot by a young, white man who entered their Charleston, South Carolina, church, joined their Bible study for an hour and then opened fire. "On that terrible evening and every day since, Americans across the country have joined our hearts with the people of Charleston and South Carolina. Millions of Americans are still walking with them -- in grief, solidarity and determination," Clinton said. "In the spirit of the Charleston Nine, let's bridge our divides, fight for change and remember that love never fails," Clinton said. Her remarks come just days after the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which Afghan-origin gunman Omar Mateen massacred 49 people. PTI Orlando Gunman's wife texted 'I love you' when he was giving reasons to hate him International oi-Pallavi Sengupta Orlando, June 18: The Orlando rampage is still haunting the world. However, a text message sent by Omar Mateen's wife Noor Mateen during the rampage has taken the world by yet another surprise. Top US lawmakers said on Thursday that they are probing the Facebook activity of Mateen and his wife, apart from any social media movement during those hours of horro. Omar Mateen is said to have made extremist posts during the massacre and searched for news of the attack. In fact, a letter was sent to Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, seeking his company's help to share the specifics of Mateen's five accounts. The possibility of involving social media investigation to ensure that such ploys can be thwarted is alos being explored. "This is our job, to see what has happened in the past, what can we possibly do to prevent this from occurring in the future and how can we find bipartisan solutions," said Ron Johnson, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security. Officials believe thta Mateen had been radicalised after watching jihadist propaganda online. Johnson said that Mateen had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and also warned "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state." He also said, "The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west. In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic state in the USA." Mateen is said to have also searched for "Pulse Orlando" and "shooting". Mateen's wife suspected that he was going to carry out an attack, even though he said that he was going out to meet a friend. When the news of the shooting broke, Noor called her husband frantically, but the calls were not received. Omar, however texted het 4 am asking if she had seen the news. She responded with "I love you". Authorities are yet to comment on whether Noor will be charged for hiding her knowledge of Omar's intentions. OneIndia News Donald Trump does it again, says 'US must consider racial profiling' Orlando shooter exchanged messages with wife during assault International oi-IANS By Ians English Miami, June 18: Omar Seddique Mateen, perpetrator of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 50 people dead, including the attacker, and 53 wounded, exchanged text messages with his wife, Noor Zahi Salman, throughout the assault, local media reported on Friday. Apparently, Salman's mother called her daughter around 2:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, woke her up and asked if she knew where Mateen was, Efe news cited a report by NBC News channel. Barack Obama tells Orlando families they have 'inspired' the nation Salman said she did not, and went on to text her husband and ask where he was, to which Mateen answered, "Do you see what's happening?" His wife said "No", and Mateen replied, "I love you, babe". Around 2:00 a.m. Mateen started his indiscriminate shooting in the gay club Pulse, which was celebrating "Latin Night". But apparently that was not the shooter's only use of the telephone during the massacre. He also communicated with News 13 television and asked a producer if he knew anything about the shooting, and when the man said he did, Mateen said, "I am the shooter. It's me." Orlando shooting: Mateen's wife knew of attack, could be charged "I did it for the Islamic State (IS)," the killer said, according to producer Matthew Gentili. Mateen also used his mobile phone during the massacre to access Facebook, where he published messages blaming the United States for the death of "innocent women and children", and demanded that the US stop bombing territory controlled by the IS. During his conversations with police negotiators, Mateen also declared his loyalty to the terrorist group. While holed up at Pulse, he also used Facebook to find out what impact the massacre was having by using the search words "Pulse Orlando" and "shooting". IANS 'India won't listen to anyone': Anurag Thakur gives strong reply to PCB Pakistan off the FATFs grey List: What this means 'Pakistan gate' being built at Iran border International oi-IANS By Ians English Islamabad, June 18:Amid the tension between Islamabad and Kabul over construction of a gate at Torkham border crossing, the Pakistani side is building a gate at the country's border with Iran at Taftan to curb illegal trade. Frontier Corps Sector Commander Brigadier Khalid Beg and Balochistan Collector Customs Saeed Ahmed Jadoon on Friday laid the foundation stone of the 'Pakistan Gate' at Taftan in Chagai district, Dawn online reported. The construction of the gate will complete in two months at a cost of Rs 15 million. It will be inaugurated on the country's Independence Day (August 14). Iran has already constructed a trade gate inside its border at Mir Java in Zahedan, capital of Sistan and Balochistan province, and has been demanding that Pakistan build a similar gate on its side of the border. Iran has also erected 10-foot-high walls at various places along with its border with Pakistan. Speaking at the Taftan ceremony, Beg said the purpose of building the gate was to make border management more effective. He said the trade gate would facilitate thousands of traders and tourists crossing into Pakistan. Jadoon said the gate would be a symbol of the country on the border. He said although the gate was needed by Pakistan to improve border management, it was also requested by the Iranians. It would help curb illegal trade on both sides of the border. The government is also constructing a 'Pakistan House' at Taftan to provide facilities to people going to Iran and Iraq for pilgrimage. "The construction of Pakistan House is in progress and will be completed soon," said Chagai Commissioner Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani. IANS Pakistan re-opens Torkham border crossing after 6 days International oi-PTI Islamabad, June 18: Pakistan on Saturday re-opened its Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan after closing it for about six days due to tension over construction of a gate, officials said. The busy border crossing in the north-west was closed on Sunday night due to clashes between the two sides which killed a Pakistan army Major and an Afghan border guard. US rules out mediation between Afghanistan, Pakistan A security official said that the two sides held talks on the issue and agreed that border should be re-opened. "It will not affect the ongoing construction of the gate which is important to regulate illegal border crossings," he said. Pakistan also lifted curfew in the areas near the border which was imposed after gun battles with Afghans. Pakistan has already announced that no one will be allowed to enter through Torkham without valid documents from June 1. After reopening of the border, only those carrying visa and entry permits would be allowed to enter. Pakistan has also announced that security gates will be constructed at eight recognised entry points from Afghanistan and patrolling of about 2,400-km long border will be increased to check illegal crossings. PTI Prince William makes history, appears on cover of gay magazine International oi-Jagriti London, June 18: Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, has created history by becoming the first member of the British royal family to appear on the cover of a gay magazine. Prince William posed himself for the cover of Attitude magazine's July issue. Attitude magazine's July issue has discussed the mental health implications of homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic bullying issues being faced by the LGBT community, said the magazine website. He was clicked by Leigh Keily when Prince William invited Attitude magazine to bring members of the LGBT+ community to Kensington Palace to hear their experiences of homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic bullying, and discuss the mental health implications it has. The cover of the magazine shows a smiling William, wearing a white open-necked shirt, with the caption: "Making History, Prince William meets Attitude". "No one should be bullied for their sexuality or any other reason and no one should have to put up with the kind of hate that these young people have endured in their lives," William told Attitude.' Indian-origin Marine helps save lives during Orlando shooting "The young gay, lesbian and transgender individuals I met through Attitude are truly brave to speak out and to give hope to people who are going through terrible bullying right now. Their sense of strength and optimism should give us all encouragement to stand up to bullying wherever we see it," he added. OneIndia News (With inputs from agency) 'Coronavirus vaccine may never be found': Boris Johnson warns of 'worst-case scenario' Farmers' protest internal issue of India, for it to resolve: British govt How did British colonise hot countries? Netizens ask as Britain faces extreme heat Suspect charged with murdering British MP: police International oi-PTI London, June 18: Sole suspect Thomas Mair has been charged with murdering British MP Jo Cox and will appear in court later on Saturday, police said. Cox was attacked with a knife and a firearm outside her constituency surgery in the village of Birstall, northern England, on Thursday. British MP dies after gun, knife attack Mair, 52, who is from the Yorkshire village, was arrested close to the scene. West Yorkshire Police's Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen, who is leading the investigation, said in a brief statement that Mair had been charged with a string of crimes related to Cox's death. Mair is due to appear in a central London court later Saturday. "We have now charged a man with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon," he said. "Thomas Mair, 52, of Birstall, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court today." PTI From hijab to Kashmir, Zawahiri was Al-Qaeda's voice for everything anti-India As Al-Qaeda scouts for new chief, Indian agencies worry about an Islamic State spillover They stay among you to kill you: Ansarul Bangla Team could be Indias biggest threat US air strikes kill six Al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen International oi-PTI Washington, Jun 18: The United States killed six Al-Qaeda fighters last week in three separate air strikes in central Yemen, the military has said. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) "remains a significant threat to the region, the United States and beyond," US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said in a statement. "We remain committed to defeating AQAP and denying it safe haven regardless of its location." The United States, which considers AQAP the most dangerous Al-Qaeda branch, regularly conducts air strikes against the jihadist group in Yemen, mostly using drones. The first strike took place on June 8 in Al-Badya Governorate, killing two Al-Qaeda operatives and destroying their weapons-laden vehicle, CENTCOM said. A June 10 strike in Marib Governorate killed two fighters, while a June 12 strike in Shabwah Governorate killed two others. AQAP has several thousand "adherents and fighters" in Yemen, where it is "very active," CIA Director John Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. "There is an active effort underway to continue to dismantle and destroy that organisation." There are also "several hundred" fighters loyal to the Islamic State group in Yemen, Brennan said. AQAP has taken advantage of the country's civil conflict between Huthi rebels and Yemeni government forces to expand its influence in the country's south and southeast. US soldiers had been deployed in Yemen until March 2015, when the last troops left the country in the face of a Huthi rebel advance. However, a "very small number" of US soldiers recently returned to the southern port of Mukalla, retaken from AQAP in April, the Pentagon confirmed last month. AFP Raghuram Rajan says no to second term as RBI governor Mumbai oi-Shubham Ghosh Mumbai, June 18: Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has decided not to continue in the role for a second term and will return to academia once his tenure ends on September 4, 2016. In a note to the central bank staffers which the RBI put on its web site, Rajan said: "I want to share with you that I will be returning to academia when my term as Governor ends on September 4, 2016. I will, of course, always be available to serve my country when needed." [Read the entire RBI note here] Rajan also said that he is confident that his successor would take the country to new heights with the latter's help. He also thanked the "RBI family" for the support. [Can not fault Raghuram Rajan for various wrongs: Shourie] Fifty-three-year-old Rajan, the former chief economist of the IMF, joined the RBI as its governor in 2013 and was handed a three year term. As an outspoken RBI governor, Rajan didn't quite have a smooth first term as the political camp was divided over him. While BJP leader Subramanian Swamy often sought his ouster, former minister Arun Shourie backed him. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to chip in once saying Rajan's reappointment shouldn't be an issue of the media's interest. [Swamy fires another salvo at Rajan] Oneindia News Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival PM Modi expresses concern over IS threats to Dhaka Ramakrishna Mission New Delhi oi-Shubham Ghosh New Delhi, June 18: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed concern over the terrorist threat to Ramakrishna Mission in Dhaka and spoke to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. Officials of Belur Ramakrishna Mission also met those in the PMO here and discussed the threat. India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Friday evening that his office has kept close communication with the mission and also alerted the Bangladesh police and foreign ministry. [Dhaka raises Ramakrishna Mission security after IS threat] He said security has been beefed up in the mission and also personally paid the institution a visit. Suspected radical Islamists claiming to be followers of the Islamic State have threatened to kill a Hindu priest of the Ramakrishna Mission for preaching in "Islamic Bangladesh". A number of murders of liberal minds have also been carried out in the country in the recent past, prompting the government to carry out mass arrests. The MEA feels the terrorists are taregting the Awami League government in Bangladesh for its India-friendly actions and steps against radical Islams. Modi visited the mission during his visit to Dhaka last year and also did meditation there for some time. Oneindia News 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 Udta Punjab: Arvind Kejriwal slams Badals for drug menace in state New Delhi oi-Sandra Marina Fernandes New Delhi, June 18: A day after Bollywood movie Udta Punjab was released, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to talk about the drug menace in Punjab. Kejriwal wrote: "Watched Udta Punjab. Movie shows politicians running drug rackets, drugs distributed freely during elections. Punjab situation quite bad." Piracy: Udta Punjab now being hosted by over 700 websites Watched Udta Punjab. Movie shows politicians running drug rackets, drugs distributed freely during elections. Punjab situation quite bad Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 18, 2016 Ever since Udta Punjab ran into a controversy for depiction of rampant drug abuse in the state, Kejriwal and other political leaders have taken advantage of the situation to hit out at the current state government. Kejriwal took this opportunity to hit out at Punjab government and said: "Just watched Udta Punjab. V powerful. Badals must watch it to see what they have done to Punjab." Just watched UDTA Punjab. V powerful. Badals must watch it to see what they have done to Punjab. Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 17, 2016 AAP is looking to repeat its Delhi victory in Punjab in the Assembly polls scheduled early next year. Meanwhile, the film after facing a lot of roadblocks finally released with one cut after the Bombay High Court order clearing the decks for the release of the movie after deleting a urination scene and displaying a revised disclaimer. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, June 18, 2016, 11:17 [IST] 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Softpedia 30 Mar 2021 Sales of the iPhone 12 have so far been pretty strong, with the new series eventually helping Apple surpass Samsung and become the.. Rumble 11 Feb 2022 Australia has revised its vaccination guidelines countrywide. It is now mandatory to be vaccinated with the third dose to be.. Jerusalem Post 04 Jul 2021 The Ever Given container ship has been anchored in a lake between two stretches of the canal since it was dislodged on March 29. Newsy 16 Oct 2022 Watch VideoWith less than 30 days to go until the midterm elections, the White House is seeking to paint a rosier picture of.. Mashable 06 Sep 2022 The release of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were possibly the most comforting release ever. Sure, the iPhone X's changes are.. Smoke billows from the Iraqi planning ministry in Baghdad after it was hit with a missile during the start of the Iraq W (Image by (Olivier Coret / Corbis)) Details DMCA Fifty-one mid-level U.S. diplomats have written a dissent cable to Secretary of State John Kerry urging the Obama administration to conduct military strikes against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop its "persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country's five-year-old civil war." The mid-level diplomats, who have been involved in the U.S. policy toward Syria over the past five years, believe that "a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process" and would put pressure on the Assad government to negotiate with the moderate opposition. The officers wrote that the Syrian government's barrel bombing of civilians is the "root cause of the instability that continues to grip Syria and the broader region...The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war, is evident and unquestionable. The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges." The dissent cable concludes, "It is time that the United States, guided by our strategic interests and moral convictions, lead a global effort to put an end to this conflict once and for all." I can understand their frustration, but from a different point of view. It is no use pretending. The 'revolution' is dead -- Bernie's revolution. Whether the real revolution will die depends on what we who supported him so passionately decide to do. Bernie's 'revolution' was killed by none other than the President of the US, Barack Obama. He struck the fatal blow by prematurely announcing his endorsement of Hillary Clinton. By doing so he effectively robbed Sanders of his chance of persuading non-pledged delegates to switch from supporting Hillary to supporting Bernie. The Democratic Party has a vested interest in perpetuating itself as it is now. Millions of Americans, especially the young, have come to realize that the Democratic Party is nothing more than the second side of the same coin. The Republicans and the Democrats are both ruled by the rich and the powerful and they both are beholden to them. It is against this that the people wanted to revolt. Bernie initially so rightly put it, it was not about electing this person or that. But now he is reduced to focusing on "Doing whatever I can" to defeat Trump, and, by implication, electing Hillary. What the people wanted was a revolution against the status quo. What they wanted was to make America a better place, electoral reform, a reversal of the flow of wealth from the poor to the rich, an end to fracking, universal health care, free tuition in colleges, making an 'adjustment' (as Bernie put it) in our relationship with Israel, putting an end to supporting corrupt dictators who so wantonly disregard human rights, abandoning going around the world toppling popular, freely, democratically and constitutionally elected leaders, to name but a few of their aspirations. In Bernie, this army of passionate millions saw a general and they flocked round him, contributed what little they could, cast their ballots at the primaries and attended in unprecedented members at his rallies. After Obama's endorsement of Hillary, Bernie changed his direction. The argument is that the country cannot afford to have Trump become the president and all efforts should be to prevent him doing so and the only way to do this is to strengthen the Democratic Party and stand unitedly behind its nominee. Sanders did not want to be a 'spoiler', a second Nader. We have heard this argument again and again. Yes Hillary is the face of Wall Street. Yes Hillary is opposed to universal health care and almost all the aspirations of Bernie and his supporters. But for now, to prevent Trump becoming president, one must resign oneself to choosing the 'better of two evils'. If we dance to this tune, there will never be the revolution this country needs and what we, the supporters of Bernie, so passionately worked for. 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). I have read many distressing accounts of the suffering of dairy cows. I thought I had heard them all. No, I found I haven't. Kate Good's post on One Green Planet, while repeating some familiar stats in this regard, also reveals some new ones here. First, I agree with her that the dairy industry just might be one of the most deceptive industries on the planet. For most of our lives we have been told by them that we need dairy to get enough calcium and nutrients to be able to build strong bones. Well, I doubt that this 85-year-old vegan is the only one that can dispute this "fact." Two years ago I slipped on two stairs in a darkened auditorium and went flying. People my age often get a broken hip from such a fall. I came away with only a sprained foot. Obviously, this vegan has strong bones without using dairy products. I became vegan in 1983. So this dogma, which has been ingrained in us since childhood, is suspect, and of course, we are the only species to consume the milk of another animal even beyond infanthood. But I think what bothers us the most is the deception of the dairy industry depicting the cows who produce milk, yogurt, and cheese as being "happy" cows. They are often pictured on grassy hillsides, happily spending their days wandering around with their calves in idyllic surroundings. Later on- they will be gladly hand-milked by a kind farmer. If all this were only true. But the reality? I am sure you have seen pictures as I of cows standing in long lines being milked twice a day. Do they ever walk in the sunshine? Somehow I doubt it. And where are their calves? The boy calves are sequestered in smallish crates unable to even turn around. They are kept anemic by being fed some sort of formula that keeps them so. The female calves will join their mothers on the milk line when they are old enough. In the meantime, the mother cows are continuously artificially impregnated via a device aptly named a "rape rack." And these poor cows, after giving birth, are forced to watch their babies being dragged away from them. How painful this must be for them, and it is a yearly occurrence. People are cruel. If anyone should have an inkling of how these deprived mother cows must feel, it should be human mothers, but sadly, pitifully few of them care enough to become vegan. China also now uses milk and milk products. In the National Geographic Instagram there is a picture of a huge dairy farm in Anhui Province which is home to 39,000 Holstein cows. The aerial view shows thousands of hutches where newborn cows live -- checked daily by uniformed workers. There is no happy and strong bond shared by mothers and babies in this scenario. On this factory farm the cows are fed soy beans from Brazil mixed with alfalfa from Utah. The semen for artificial insemination comes from Canada. Not only does misery abound, but this operation makes an enormous environmental impact. Soy production for livestock feed is a huge driver of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Producing alfalfa consumes large amounts of water. At the end of her post, Kate Good tell us like it is: "We all have the power to put an end to this unnecessary suffering and damage, and it starts with one simple choice. With a plethora of milk and dairy alternatives on the market, there has never been a better time to ditch dairy." I agree. I also read today of one courageous restaurant owner in New York -- Ravi di Rossi. He owns 15 upscale restaurants (Bourgeois Pig) known for their cured meat selections. But di Rossi's restaurants are now going vegan despite some complaints from his meat-loving patrons. The new restaurants have a new name - Lady Bird. I hope and pray that his new vegan restaurants will succeed. For a certainly, they will not have dishes made with milk, butter, cream, or cheese. This may well be far-fetched. But after watching the H. A. Goodman video: For example: Obama's reneging on his promise to release Clinton's TPP emails more sooner than later, and now waiting until after the election in November to do so. But... wait a minute. Wouldn't the only reason for Obama delaying the release of the emails be if they were (of course) so damaging and incriminating that they would seriously affect her chances to win the election? If so, then why would the President set himself up in such a way as to certainly have his legacy so tarnished, before he even left office? Would Obama, indeed, knowingly shine the light on himself so glaringly, and invite the inevitable scorn that would be heaped upon him for keeping the country from knowing before the nomination, and be viewed virtually as a criminal, co-conspirator? I'm not sure this is possible. I think there's a good chance he may have done it simply because he doesn't really believe she'll ever get that far. Furthermore, this theory may also be consistent with the fact that Obama, as the head of the Democratic Party (outranking Debbie Wasserman Schultz), has not instructed the DNC to refer to Madam Secretary as the "presumptive nominee" ("We're not presuming anything." as Ms.Schultz recently stated; except the DNC is referring to Hillary Clinton as the presumptive nominee because the DNC doesn't want to alienate Sanders and his supporters. Or, perhaps, there really is more to this than meets the eye. Bernie, in fact, did not drop out of the race, nor has he yet to endorse his opponent, even after meeting with Obama or with Clinton. And one doesn't really get the sense the push to do so was particularly strong. I realize that this is extreme speculation. But, if the case against Clinton is as airtight as it seems to be, and there will be no avoiding a firestorm once the FBI report comes out, then the President is certainly well aware of the inevitable. Obama could have even said to Sanders at their meeting, "Hang in there comrade, things are about to move in your direction..." President Obama (Image by The White House) Details DMCA Furthermore, this theory may also be consistent with the fact that Obama, as the head of the Democratic Party (outranking Debbie Wasserman Schultz), has not instructed the DNC to refer to Madam Secretary as the "presumptive nominee" ("We're not presuming anything." as Ms.Schultz recently stated; click here ). The RNC certainly has no problem with doing so with regard to Mr. Trump. It is, of course, possible that everyone in the establishmentthe DNC is referring to Hillary Clinton as the presumptive nominee because the DNC doesn't want to alienate Sanders and his supporters. Or, perhaps, there really is more to this than meets the eye. (Article changed on June 17, 2016 at 18:30) Edward Snowden speaking at SXSWi 2014 (Image by TheSeafarer) Details DMCA I am happy to report that my (adopted) hometown of Kassel, Germany, has chosen Edward Snowden for its annual "Glass of Reason" award. Glas der Vernunft is sometimes translated as "Prism of Reason" because the physical award (see here ) is a glass prism designed by Kassel artist Karl Oskar Blase to represent both the fragility of glass and the analytical power of reason. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, the citizens of Kassel endowed this award with a 20,000 mark/10,000 euro financial gift to honor individuals for their special contribution to the ideals of reason, tolerance of dissent, and overcoming ideological constraints. Snowden was chosen as the 26th recipient of this award because the jury decided (see here ) that his revelations significantly increased public and governmental awareness of the issue of uncontrolled data collection and that he acted "courageously, competently, and reasonably, sacrificing his career and risking his life for a cause greater than himself." "However controversial, Edward Snowden has alerted us to the dangers of uncontrolled data collection and storage and triggered a discussion about how far government agencies should be allowed to infringe upon individual rights" (my translation). The award will be presented officially on September 25, 2016 in Kassel. Snowden will obviously not be able to attend but has indicated via his lawyer in Berlin that he is pleased to accept the award. Speakers at the ceremony will include Heribert Prantl, a lawyer and editor for the Suddeutsche Zeitung, and lawyer/novelist Bernhard Schlink . The Glass of Reason will thus be added to the long list of awards that have honored Snowden, as he continues to live in exile in Russia, outside the clutches of a U.S. government that insists on persecuting a man that the rest of the world, as well as a great many Americans, regard as a hero. 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. The shooting in Orlando, Florida, is not about homosexuals, or Muslims, or assault rifles. It is about waging aggressive warfare overseas, empowering the domestic police state, and electing a warmongering President. Dr. Graeme McQueen, founding member of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University, Canada and author of The 2001 Anthrax Deception, argues that the prime suspects in any such case should be intelligence agencies. We don't have to go far to see the dirty hand of intelligence agencies in this catastrophe. The shooter himself was an employee of G4S , described by journalist Alex Emmons as "a giant, often controversial global contracting corporation that provides mercenary forces, prison guards and security services." Additionally, the shooter's father is said to be a CIA asset. Given that Intelligence agencies are well-positioned to engineer synthetic terror threats, author Naomi Wolf argues that it is "crazy" not to question news events, since "spectacles" drive "outcomes". Further, she observes that propagandizing the public includes films (i.e. "Zero Dark Thirty" -- arguing that the Pentagon must have "signed off" on it ) which indirectly seek to "normalize" intelligence operations such as torture and mass surveillance. Intelligence operatives know that synthetic terror events shock and anesthetize the public; that they make people susceptible to manipulation; and that they lay the groundwork for the terror event to be easily politicized. Naomi Klein describes the same dynamic in The Shock Doctrine. When people are shocked by a real or man-made event, they can be easily manipulated to support wars, or neoliberal market schemes, or any number of toxic agendas. A simple formula underpins these operations: problem, reaction, solution. The problem from the perspective of criminal warmongers is that the public doesn't want war or a police state. The intended reaction of the operationis that thesynthetic terror event will induce people to seek protection from the state, coupled with aggressive war to bomb the threat out of existence. The solution, or intended result, is already occurring. Engineered fear and racism have set the stage for the public to be manipulated to accept a covert agenda that it would otherwise reject. Cui Bono? Who benefits? The police state apparatus, War Inc., and a warmongering Presidential agenda all benefit. The manipulation of the public is further enabled by an amendment to the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) which negates the Smith-Mundt Act (SMA) of 1984 which prohibits government agencies from propagandizing domestic populations. Susan Posel explains in "How the NDAA Allows US Gov to Use Propaganda Against Americans": "SMA defines the prohibition of domestic access to influence information through a variety of means, from broadcast to publishing of books, media, and online sources by restricting the State Department. No-NDAA (Image by PandaUnite) Details DMCA The Broadcasting Board of Governors was created from SMA. This agency claims to "inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of 'freedom and democracy'. They omit that their specialty is making sure propaganda is added to the informational flow we all depend on." Instead of succumbing to the shock of terror events, instead of allowing our "reptilian minds" to overrule rational decision-making processes, we need to decode the Orlando shooting, and other terror events, within the "problem, reaction, solution" framework, and be conscious of how they are being manipulated and politicized to suit covert agendas that do not serve the public interest. The "therapy" for the shock will allow us to subordinate our "reptilian" mindsets, and to act rationally. A rational mindset will reject the racism, hatred, and warmongering which are intended off-shoots of these terror events. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Consortium News Over the past several decades, the U.S. State Department has deteriorated from a reasonably professional home for diplomacy and realism into a den of armchair warriors possessed of imperial delusions, a dangerous phenomenon underscored by the recent mass "dissent" in favor of blowing up more people in Syria. Some 51 State Department "diplomats" signed a memo distributed through the official "dissent channel," seeking military strikes against the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad whose forces have been leading the pushback against Islamist extremists who are seeking control of this important Mideast nation. The fact that such a large contingent of State Department officials would openly advocate for an expanded aggressive war in line with the neoconservative agenda, which put Syria on a hit list some two decades ago, reveals how crazy the State Department has become. The State Department now seems to be a combination of true-believing neocons along with their liberal-interventionist followers and some careerists who realize that the smart play is to behave toward the world as global proconsuls dictating solutions or seeking "regime change" rather than as diplomats engaging foreigners respectfully and seeking genuine compromise. Even some State Department officials, whom I personally know and who are not neocons/liberal-hawks per se, act as if they have fully swallowed the Kool-Aid. They talk tough and behave arrogantly toward inhabitants of countries under their supervision. Foreigners are treated as mindless objects to be coerced or bribed. So, it's not entirely surprising that several dozen U.S. "diplomats" would attack President Barack Obama's more temperate position on Syria while positioning themselves favorably in anticipation of a Hillary Clinton administration, which is expected to authorize an illegal invasion of Syria -- under the guise of establishing "no-fly zones" and "safe zones" -- which will mean the slaughter of young Syrian soldiers. The "diplomats" urge the use of "stand-off and air weapons." These hawks are so eager for more war that they don't mind risking a direct conflict with Russia, breezily dismissing the possibility of a clash with the nuclear power by saying they are not "advocating for a slippery slope that ends in a military confrontation with Russia." That's reassuring to hear. Risking a Jihadist Victory There's also the danger that a direct U.S. military intervention could collapse the Syrian army and clear the way for victory by Al Qaeda's Nusra Front or the Islamic State. The memo did not make clear how the delicate calibration of doing just enough damage to Syria's military while avoiding an outright jihadist victory and averting a clash with Russia would be accomplished. Video of the Russian SU-24 exploding in flames inside Syrian territory after it was shot down by Turkish air-to-air missiles on Nov. 24, 2015. (Image by Middle East Eye) Details DMCA Presumably, whatever messes are created, the U.S. military would be left to clean up, assuming that shooting down some Russian warplanes and killing Russian military personnel wouldn't escalate into a full-scale thermonuclear conflagration. In short, it appears that the State Department has become a collective insane asylum where the inmates are in control. But this madness isn't some short-term aberration that can be easily reversed. It has been a long time coming and would require a root-to-branch ripping out of today's "diplomatic" corps to restore the State Department to its traditional role of avoiding wars rather than demanding them. Though there have always been crazies in the State Department -- usually found in the senior political ranks -- the phenomenon of an institutional insanity has only evolved over the past several decades. And I have seen the change. I have covered U.S. foreign policy since the late 1970s when there was appreciably more sanity in the diplomatic corps. There were people like Robert White and Patricia Derian (both now deceased) who stood up for justice and human rights, representing the best of America. But the descent of the U.S. State Department into little more than well-dressed, well-spoken but thuggish enforcers of U.S. hegemony began with the Reagan administration. President Ronald Reagan and his team possessed a pathological hatred of Central American social movements seeking freedom from oppressive oligarchies and their brutal security forces. This is a particularly interesting week to be traveling across the French countryside, as news fills the papers and the airwaves of another assault weapon-of-war used in another mass shooting done by another frightened--and thus hate-filled--American. The Europeans know well the wages of hate and fear. And it goes way back into the dim mists of history, well before the era of the names we all know so well from the 20th century. "The Other" is the key. Once a demagogue successfully turns a person, a group, a gender (or gender preference), a region, a nation, or a race into the Other, the consequences are terribly but consistently predictable. An Other is, virtually by definition, less than fully human. They're not "us." They may be alive, they may be able to feel emotion, they may be able to communicate, but they're not us. Therefore, what we do to Them isn't as important or consequential as what we may do to Us. (See "slavery"; U.S. history 101.) And when this de-humanization is used by those with economic, religious or political power (the lines between the three are often indistinguishable), it becomes weaponized. It seems one of the most fatal flaws of the human race is that we keep forgetting this lesson -- or that those elites lusting for wealth and power keep remembering and enthusiastically using it to rally their less-powerful, less-fortunate peers. Yesterday, Louise and I visited a castle here in the Loire Valley where Joan of Arc helped plan a history-changing battle against an Other of that day. Slaughter and looting ensued, and one group of elites ended up ceding power and land to another. And while all the details of the elites and their fantastic lives are on display, both in the castle and in any history book, what is almost entirely missing from the narrative is how the use of wealth, religion and ancestry to "other-ize" the defeated people impacted the lives of what the Bernie Sanders of that era would have called the "ordinary working people." While the elites marched into the history books, the "little people" were subject to rape, pillage, torture, murder and a shift from the service of one elite group to another. It's a story you can find in the Bible over and over again (read the Book of Joshua for some particularly startling accounts of this phenomenon). The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the same story from millennia before Joshua. Every war in every part of the world in the 65 years of my lifetime tells the same story. And so you'd think that people like Mitch McConnell would realize how powerful and dangerous it is to, as one of my elderly German friends once said, "Gently look the other way." Instead, so far, like so many of his mostly Republican colleagues and much of the right-wing media, McConnell has so far refused to even acknowledge the role the systematic and even organized (both by party and by religion) other-ization of LGBT people played in the Orlando gay nightclub massacre. Most polls at present show that Hillary Clinton will beat Trump in their presumed presidential face off in the fall. The problem with this is that polls measure what people tell pollsters and that's what ends up in their numbers and percentage crunching. In some cases, the numbers ultimately prove right and the presidential candidates that polls show will win do win. This may or may not be the case in trying to figure out where Trump really stands with millions of voters. He's banking that the polls are dead wrong. In a speech back in July in Phoenix he reached back more than four decades and snatched at a line and a concept that then GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon pulled out of his political hat in November, 1969. Nixon publicly called on those he dubbed "the silent majority" to bail him out on his plan to settle the Vietnam War. Nixon had much more in mind than drumming up support for his war plan, he had coined a new code word for millions of mostly white, conservative, blue collar, and middle income voters, who were appalled by and mad as hell at the ghetto riots, campus demonstrations, rampant drug and "permissive" culture and disrespect for law. They were in Nixon's view so denigrated, mocked, marginalized, and pushed to the side by the mainstream media, and ignored by Washington politicians and bureaucrats, that they would hit back, and hit back hard, in the one way, they knew how. That was at the polls. That meant a vote for Nixon. The implication was that untold numbers of these closet Nixon backers might not show up in the polls as Nixon supporters precisely because they weren't part of a voter sample. Or, if they were they wouldn't tip their hand about backing Nixon. A decade later the hidden bias, masked feeling, and the penchant of many white voters to shade, deceive or just plain lie to pollsters and interviewers when they tell them that color didn't mean anything to them in an election surfaced with a vengeance in the heated contest for California governor in 1982. Polls consistently showed L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley would beat his white GOP rival and become the first African-American governor. The polls were wrong and Bradley lost. Pollsters tried everything they could afterwards to weed out hidden bias in the polls, with mixed results. In Trump's case, the issue isn't race in trying to decipher why many voters might not let on how they really feel about him. It's how he's been routinely caricatured, and that's as a clown, loud mouth, liar, conniver, racist, women and immigrant, and Muslim basher. These aren't exactly the qualities of person, let alone a presidential candidate, that would make someone proudly tell pollsters, or anyone else that they would stand in a line to vote for. The primaries gave a clue about how this presidential election cycle is unlike few others in modern times. Even though polls showed Trump at the top ahead of his GOP rivals for months before the first primary, the experts were virtually unanimous that the polls couldn't really be believed, and that he would wither on the vine in the first round of the primaries. The polls for the most part were right about his popularity. But since then with his wave of shoot from the lip bluster and fights with Obama blaming him for the Orlando massacre, and his double and triple down in attacks on Muslims, the same polls are showing him slipping further behind Clinton. Can they really be believed? The brutal reality is that millions do think that Muslims are terrorists, and that the country is under siege, that the Obama administration and Clinton would do a lousy job in protecting them, that they haven't done a darn thing about keeping jobs here. And, worse, they'd take away their guns. They are likely to seethe in quiet anger at the sight of demonstrators repeatedly disrupting Trump rallies and clashing in the streets with police. Many, when asked, might not express that anger and frustration. Worse, as Nixon played on and up, they aren't even asked how they feel about issues, or paid any attention to. Yet they more than showed in the primaries when they voted for Trump that they are there in massive numbers. Much is made that there aren't enough less educated, blue-collar white men in the electorate to push Trump over the top. But that's misleading. Trump has actually gotten a lot of votes from middle-class white, both male and female, college educated, business, and professionals. There's more still to the potential Trump vote total. Elections are almost always won by candidates with a solid and impassioned core of bloc voters. In Trump's case, white males, older voters, middle-income, college educated voters vote consistently and faithfully. And most times they vote in a far greater percentage than Hispanics and blacks, and especially young voters. Nixon was definitely on to something in 1969 when he corralled his silent majority and bagged the White House. The jury is way out on whether Trump can do the same. But the danger is there. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is the author of Let's Stop Denying Made in America Terrorism, (Amazon Kindle) He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network. Surprisingly, but despite the tough political confrontation two world superpowers--the US and Russia--have much in common. They very often behave the same way. This is particularly evident in political and military spheres. Their main common feature that usually threatens the smaller states is absolute autonomy in their actions while achieving the status of "superstate". The rest of the world becomes a hostage of Russia's and the US' decisions and policies. Unfortunately, today the role of "hostage" has gone to Europe. It is Europe who has to change its mind and abandon traditional values, review its policies and even plans for further development. One example is rising defence spending by both sides that has lead to the parallel European response. Russia increased its military spending last year by 7.5 percent to $66.4 billion. The United States in its turn remained the leader, accounting for 36 percent of all military spending in the world, according to the SIPRI report. In 2015, Washington increased its defense expenditure 2.4 percent to $596 billion. As a result European NATO states have to declare the planning rise of their military spending for the first time in nearly a decade. Another recent example that shows existing dependence on each other's steps is a grandiose Russia's military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2016. It was held to demonstrate Russia's military power and its new defence capabilities. The US was also not left out: over 1400 soldiers and 400 vehicles displayed their "dynamic presence" in Europe during Dragoon Ride II. Dragoon Ride is a 2,200-kilometer trek from Germany to Estonia, en route to Saber Strike 16. This convoy will continue through Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and finally ending in Estonia. U.S. units about to take part in the Saber Strike training exercise in the Baltic countries in June on Friday started a vehicle road. A column of US tanks and vehicles maneuver through smoke and dust to demonstrate Russia the US's power and resolve. Such demonstrations of superiority and military might stir up the situation in Europe and divide people into those who support militarization of the region and those who strongly oppose. It should be said that anti-NATO moods manifestation become the integral part of any NATO's large event as well as anti-Russia rhetoric accompanies any Moscow's actions. A member of a group of Czech and Slovakian soldiers opposed to NATO, described the US soldiers as "aggressors, killers and occupiers" as Dragoon Ride II paraded through the country over the weekend. ( https://www.youtube.com/embed/qCSfOldUnHM ). As well as Russia was harshly criticized by media for excessive aggressiveness. Europe turned to be between two sides, and each of them is not supposed to back down. They play cat-and-mouse with smaller countries and do not care about other states' interests. Smaller countries such as Slovakia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and others look at the US military raid on Europe as if it is normal. While European security first of all is a matter of Europeans themselves. But Russia and the US ignore the opinion of others, considering their action as the only right steps and do not leave other countries chance to choose its own path. 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. Updated at 3:55 p.m. About 20 demonstrators who spent the better part of the morning blocking railroad tracks in Vancouver to protest oil trains were arrested Saturday after ignoring repeated orders to clear out, organizers and police said. A coalition calling itself the Fossil Fuel Resistance Network organized Saturday's demonstration near the BNSF Railway and Amtrak Station in response to an oil train derailment across the river in Oregon that spilled thousands of gallons of crude earlier this month. Vancouver also is the site of a proposed, and highly controversial, $210 million oil terminal. The alliance, comprising groups throughout the Northwest, says its aim is to end fossil fuel extraction and transportation. Officers told the group to disperse dozens of times. "You are trespassing on BNSF Railway property," an officer said over a loud speaker. "If you refuse to leave, you will be arrested for criminal trespass in the second degree." But protesters, who alternated between singing and chanting, responded by turning up the volume. "Want to know what all the fuss is? Rising up for climate justice," they chanted. On June 3, a Union Pacific train derailed near the Columbia River Gorge town of Mosier, spilling 42,000 gallons of crude and sending up a massive plume of black smoke that could be seen miles away. No one was injured, but the crash damaged the city's sewage treatment plant and forced nearly 300 people to evacuate their homes. It also prompted Oregon to ask the Federal Railroad Administration to place an open-ended moratorium on oil trains traveling through the state. Sharon Rickman, 58, was among several dozen people who showed up Saturday. She says she's worried about "explosive oil," especially as the anniversary of one of the deadliest oil train crashes draws near. Forty-seven people were killed in July 2013 when an unmanned Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway train jumped the track in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. "They're unsafe, they'll never be safe," she said. She's also concerned about a proposed oil terminal in Vancouver. If Tesoro Corp. and Savage Services build the facility, it would be the largest in the Pacific Northwest, capable of moving 15 million gallons of oil through the Columbia River Gorge in four trains each day. Rickman says communities should be moving away from fossil fuels and focusing on building greener economies. She showed up Saturday to protest, not to get arrested. About 20 others, however, were fine with both. BNSF police officers first issued trespass warnings to 19 people, seated in a circle and blocking the tracks. A BNSF train, which had been resting farther down in the rail yard, approached with its horn blaring. It stopped just shy of the rail crossing, about 50 feet from the protesters. Some, including Mia Reback, weren't OK with that. "BNSF bringing a train this close to protesters further shows they do not care about the health and safety of community members," Reback said. Gus Melonas, spokesman for BNSF Railway, said no one was in danger. The train, which was loaded with paper products, was traveling about 3 mph and stopped outside the rail crossing, he said. "We don't want anyone to get hurt," he said. "We will not run trains until it's determined to be safe for the public." Melonas said BNSF was still assessing the affect of the protest, but said five trains had been waiting to get by. Train traffic on the main line first was blocked around 9:30 a.m. At the protest's peak, Reback said, about 100 people showed up. They held umbrellas, decorated with sunflowers, and posters and banners, including one that read, "BAN the BOMB TRAINS." Reback believes such protests will help keep the community safe. She looked around at the group, kept back, just off the tracks by police officers, while the others were arrested. "It's beautiful," she said. Officers, from BNSF, Vancouver and the Clark County Sheriff's Office, arrested about 20 protesters on second-degree criminal trespass accusations and loaded them into vans to be taken to the Clark County Jail, according to police and protest organizers. As police took each protester away, their supporters standing nearby chanted their names. At one point, officers in riot gear showed up, but they stayed back. By 1 p.m., the tracks were cleared. The waiting train traveled through, its horn again blaring. -- Rebecca Woolington rwoolington@oregonian.com 503-294-4049; @rwoolington Cold water beat down on Zach Penney's shoulders. Struggling in his black tank top to keep the shivers in check, he plunged his head under Willamette Falls and searched for a lamprey suctioned to the vertical rock wall. He grabbed the slick body with white cotton gloves and broke the suction, then tossed it into a net. Ralph Lampman, manning the net, then transferred it to a brown burlap sack, where it joined dozens of other wriggling eel-like fish. Lamprey aren't a glamorous fish. Their suction cup mouths ringed with teeth allow them to live like parasites on bigger fish until they migrate to their spawning grounds. Penney grew up hearing about the Pacific lamprey harvest from his grandparents and elders on the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho. Not many lamprey make the trip up the Columbia River to Idaho anymore since several dams went up. So, when he had the chance to join Friday's lamprey harvest near Oregon City, he was eager to try. Six Columbia River tribal members gathered before 7 a.m. at Willamette Falls for the annual rite. Each year, tribal members brave the current and temperatures of the early summer river to wrangle the prehistoric fish into burlap sacks that they take back to their longhouses and freezers. Some are eaten fresh, some are frozen for community events and ceremonies and some go to researchers. Penney runs the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission's fishery science department. Between the fish commission and the four tribes -- Warm Springs, Yakama, Umatilla and Nez Perce -- there are about 500 people dedicated to fishery science. They, along with many federal, state and nonprofit agencies, focus on salmon conservation. But the tribes are among the only organizations also trying to build up the 450 million-year-old lamprey runs that have been nearly wiped out in the last 100 years. "It's just one of those feelings when you have all five senses engaged," Penney said. "It's not like sport fishing. It's something older and deeper." Sixty years ago, 400,000 adult lamprey made the yearly trip up the Columbia River. Less than 20,000 on average now struggle upstream to lay eggs. With so few left, mainstays of tribal life on the river are gone. Children used to pull lamprey from the Columbia River and its tributaries while their older relatives fished for salmon. Now, tribal members are allowed to only harvest at Willamette Falls in a small window, because the populations are so low through the rest of the Columbia Basin. Yakama lamprey biologist Ralph Lampman was also a novice at Friday's harvest. His work focuses on tracking lamprey with GPS, so the Yakama fisheries staff know how many lamprey are making it back to their native spawning grounds. In 2005, only 1 to 2 percent of the historical numbers made it home. That's 1 to 2 percent of 50,000 at the most. The population has started to bounce back in Yakama waterways, but still is significantly lower than the pre-dam years. Now, at most, 87 lamprey make it back. Many of the 194 fish Friday's small crew pulled out of the falls will go toward Lampman and others' research. They want to study how many male and female lamprey are showing up this time of year. If they get a better handle on that ratio, they can make sure the tribes are harvesting at a time when they are not ruining the lamprey's chance of mating. Saving lamprey and harvesting lamprey could seem like they would be at odds, but the tribal members see them as inextricable. "The water on your back, feeling the fish and grabbing them out -- it's an ethereal experience," Lampman said. Sara Thompson, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission spokeswoman, watched the crew struggle to reach the best spot for harvesting from a high rock as dry as anything near the falls could be. She is a veteran of the harvest, as is Bobby Begay and his daughter, Daisy, who led the first-timers through the white-capped current and pulled the first lampreys out, holding the wriggling bodies up into the sliver of early morning sunlight before plopping them into a small net. "The ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest was built on the backs of these things," she said. And, in tribal religion, that ecosystem includes the tribes. Lamprey are a first food to them -- animals that gave up their life to feed humans in exchange for stewardship. Anyone with a permit can harvest lamprey in Oregon, but almost no one other than tribal members does. "The reason we have so many people dedicated to this is because of our culture," she said. -- Molly Harbarger mharbarger@oregonian.com 503-294-5923 @MollyHarbarger 1climate.JPG In this May 24, 2015 file photo, a man pours water on his face during a hot summer day in Hyderabad, India. (Associated Press/2015) Poor climate change analogy: Economics is complicated so climate change must be too hard to understand. That was what I discerned reading Megan McArdle's op-ed on climate change. I think the analogy was amiss. Unlike economics, climate science seems rather straightforward. Carbon dioxide is building up in the Earth's atmosphere and is scientifically measurable. This is happening through natural sources such as volcanoes and loss of forestland through fires. It is also increasing due to man's extensive use of fossil fuels (particularly coal), the loss of forests through human use and methane emissions from some food production. Climate scientists -- 97 percent of whom agree on the data and consequences -- have been documenting and studying these increases for some time. The carbon dioxide buildup traps more heat and moisture, the extra heat causes rising global temperatures, and the additional moisture causes more turbulence in the atmosphere leading to record-breaking downpours now seen in many parts of the world. Record rains in Texas and global heat records are likely examples of what we will see with more frequency. I would be happy to spend more time "talking about the science" with Megan McArdle if it is still unclear. Jack Patrick Hillsboro By David Sarasohn Oregon has never had a mass killing on the scale of last weekend's atrocity in Orlando, although we all know this could change at any moment, even in the time between these words being written and being read. At any moment we -- or any other Americans -- could look up and see CNN showing pictures of large numbers of our loved ones, see our local police chiefs telling a hastily assembled press conference that it's too soon to understand just what happened. Oregon has, in fact, already had too many mass shootings; knowing that one is too many, we've had many more than that. The same weekend the Orlando gay club was blasted apart, we saw this year's graduation ceremonies for Umpqua Community College, ending an academic year that began with nine of its students and faculty murdered by yet another loner who couldn't fit into society but possessed military-level armament. At that commencement, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin told the graduates, "Look at the class of 2016. Look around at everybody here today. Look at what we are made of. And be proud. We are UCC strong. We're UCC strong." In contrast to that message of unity and strength, the days after the Orlando atrocity have been all about America's divisions, about the dangers of being gay, about dark warnings against Muslims, here and everywhere. The outrage takes in a range of our hottest-button issues: the treatment of gays, terrorism, angry outcasts voicing their grievances with battlefield weapons. In moments of agonizing trauma, it has been the calling of national leadership to bring us together -- from Ronald Reagan after the space shuttle Challenger explosion, to Bill Clinton after the Oklahoma City bombing, to George W. Bush after 9/11, to Barack Obama's appearances after many too many mass shootings. There's a time when the job isn't about punching, but about opening your arms as wide as you can. But then there was Donald Trump's response, the day after the shooting. Repeating his call to ban Muslims from entering the country, he also attacked those already here, warning, "You have many, many, many people, right now living in the United States who are worse than (the Orlando shooter). ... You have thousands of shooters like this, with the same mentality out there in this country." Meanwhile, a lot of politicians managed to condemn the Orlando murders without mentioning the identity of the people who were killed, and the likely reason they died. No, Oregon has never had a mass killing on the scale of Orlando. But Oregon, like other places, has had searing experiences to divide us -- and has come through them. Throughout the 1990s, and into the 21st century, Oregon went through repeated corrosive initiative battles over the rights of its gay citizens. The fights were bitter and hard, with angry messages flowing into Oregon from around the world, and a police car stationed outside an Oregonian editorial writer's house after the paper took a strong stand against one of the anti-gay measures. But Oregon came through the hard time without compromising its citizens' rights, and with a strong new activism of pro-rights forces. And now no sane politician -- admittedly, not an all-inclusive category -- would see an anti-gay approach as a strategy for Oregon political success. At about the same time in California, a governor based his re-election campaign on an anti-immigrant initiative, including grainy ads showing immigrants seeping unstoppably across the border. The governor and the initiative won, but the campaign set off a Hispanic political mobilization that has changed the state's electoral atmosphere thumpingly. If Oregon and California didn't achieve universal enlightenment, they have seen widespread mobilization, which has its own useful effects. And the country has indeed seen some glimmers of enlightenment. Last week, a post-Orlando rally in Salt Lake City was addressed by the lieutenant governor of Utah. He was, he admitted, not an obvious choice to speak there -- a balding, straight, youngish Republican politician with a less than entirely inclusive record -- but he had something to say. "I'm here because those 49 people were gay. I'm here because it shouldn't matter," Spencer Cox told the crowd. "But I'm here because it does." He was there, Cox explained, for a simple reason: "My heart has changed." The world, Ernest Hemingway reminded us, breaks everybody. But afterwards, some people are strong at the broken places. Afterwards, some places are strong at the broken places. Oregon is. Orlando can be. And if we've learned anything over two centuries, as opposed to months of anguish and anger, America will be. * David Sarasohn's column appears on the first and third Sundays of the month. He blogs at davidsarasohn.com. 1mississippi.JPG Gabriel Swaidner of Gulfport holds a rainbow flag during a vigil near the lighthouse to honor the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Monday, June 13, 2016, in Biloxi, Miss. (The Associated Press) By Noah Feldman The first wave of state legislative reactions to the Supreme Court's 2015 decision legalizing gay marriage typically involved state versions of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The motive might have been anti-gay, but the form was hard to criticize legally, since other states and federal law already provided the same religious-liberty protection. Not so for Mississippi's new law, which gives opponents of gay marriage special protection. Now facing its first challenge in federal court, it should be held unconstitutional because it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment by singling out one set of religious beliefs for positive treatment. Signed in April, the Mississippi law calls itself the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act." It's different from laws in other states modeled on the federal religious-freedom legislation. Those laws seek to restore the status quo as it existed between the Supreme Court's 1963 Sherbert v. Verner decision and the 1990 case of Employment Division v. Smith. In that golden age, believers were entitled to an exemption from any law that incidentally imposed a substantial burden on their religious exercise, unless the government had a compelling interest not to exempt them and tailored its law narrowly to achieve it. The federal law and its many state imitators apply equally to all sincere religious believers and their beliefs. The Mississippi statute doesn't. It begins by singling out three religious beliefs or moral convictions for protection. They are that "marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman"; that "sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage"; and that "male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth." The law then goes on to insulate believers in those principles from a whole range of anti-discrimination actions by the state. These include housing discrimination, employment discrimination and refusal to offer commercial services like photography and flowers to gay couples who are getting married. It allows any entity to refuse to participate in sex-reassignment therapy or treatment. It also protects entities from having to allow transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to the sex to which they have transitioned.The law also says that anyone authorized to perform marriages in Mississippi can choose not to perform gay marriages. What makes the Mississippi law unconstitutional is that it chooses a specific religious beliefs for protection. That violates the establishment clause in at least two ways. It favors particular religious beliefs over others. And it sends a message that the state endorses some religious beliefs more than others. Consider those religious faiths that think gay marriage is fine. They're not being given any special exemptions. Now consider a faith that says interracial marriage violates God's laws. That faith isn't getting any special protection, either. The protection is going only to the specific faiths that condemn gay marriage. When he was on the court, Justice John Paul Stevens used to worry about the danger that religious exemptions designed to safeguard the free exercise of religion might run afoul of the establishment clause. In the 1986 case Goldman v. Weinberger, involving an Air Force psychologist who wanted an exemption from military regulations to wear his yarmulke, Stevens wrote a concurrence explaining why the exemptions would be a bad idea. "The very strength of Captain Goldman's claim," he wrote, "creates the danger that a similar claim on behalf of a Sikh or a Rastafarian might readily be dismissed." He concluded that "an exception for yarmulkes" - however reasonable in itself - "would represent a fundamental departure from the true principle of uniformity." Stevens's concern was that exemptions applied on a case-by-case basis would favor some religions over others. That's exactly what the Mississippi law does. There's no case law expressly stating that an exemption targeting one type of religious belief is inherently unconstitutional. But that's at least partly because such laws are exceedingly rare. The only vaguely analogous law I can think of is an old Connecticut law that allowed non-Sunday Sabbath observers an exemption from Sunday closing laws. The Supreme Court struck down that law in 1985. The Mississippi law is an outlier, a case of religious liberty gone so far that it turns into a religious establishment. The federal court in Mississippi should strike it down. Noah Feldman, a Bloomberg View columnist, is a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard. For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view. 1flag.jpg Paco Garcia waves a rainbow flag during a city-wide memorial vigil for the victims of Orlando's Pulse nightclub shooting, Thursday, June 16, 2016, in San Antonio. (The Associated Press) By Jennifer Carlson and David Pettinicchio Special To The Washington Post It's an all-too-familiar routine for Americans: mass shooting, dramatic calls for change, inaction. It happened when 20 schoolchildren were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School. When a dozen people were killed in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater. When almost three dozen were slaughtered at Virginia Tech. But this time, things might be different. Not because of the record number of people killed in Orlando or because this heinous act was a terrorist attack, a hate crime and a mass shooting. It's because the victims were part of a social movement with deep organizational infrastructure and political know-how largely unmatched within the gun-control movement. It's because the attack targeted gays - and their community is organized. Today's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer coalition is made up of powerful organizations able to mobilize at a moment's notice, including the NOH8 Campaign, the Human Rights Campaign and PFLAG. This robust and multifaceted apparatus is one of the most effective political movements in recent American history. It has faced down obscene public indifference to gay lives (peaking with the AIDS epidemic), violence against LGBTQ people (who suffer more hate crimes than any other protected group), laws that criminalized gay sex (Bowers v. Hardwick was overturned only in 2003) and widespread intolerance. To attack these issues, queer people have focused not on transforming laws but on transforming culture. In the 1960s, gay rights groups organized "sip-ins" at bars that refused to serve "disorderly" homosexuals. Other picketers staged "zaps," splashy, media-friendly protests that called attention to homophobic behavior. "Homophile organizations" sprung up around the country to fight for queer-only spaces. Their efforts led to the establishment of hundreds of pride parades, lesbian clubs and gay bathhouses - institutionalized "safe spaces" where people could meet and organize. After Stonewall, activists shifted their focus, working to build sympathy and support among straight Americans. They called on gay people to "come out" to family and friends, a social ritual that personalized the political (something gay rights groups learned from feminists). Organizers also broadened their message on important gay rights issues, selling things like same-sex marriage as the right to love. Efforts such as "kiss days" at businesses opposing LGBTQ rights have linked discriminatory policies to more relatable notions of romance and relationships. It's worked. According to Gallup polls, in the past 20 years Americans' support for marriage equality has jumped from 30 percent to 60 percent. Many people said they softened their attitudes because they knew a member of the LGBTQ community - what social scientists call the "contact hypothesis." Today, gay groups have the organizational, financial and cultural resources to exploit political opportunities as they arise. A similar cultural shift undergirds our country's gun politics. Over the last 50 years, the National Rifle Association has convinced many Americans that gun ownership is a vital tool for self-defense and the key to serving as a responsible "citizen-protector." The organization brought this galvanizing rhetoric to the national stage through its lobbying arm. But it exerted cultural pressure too. Its ads, magazines and political paraphernalia reach millions. And the organization's training courses -- attended by hundreds of thousands of Americans each year -- present defensive gun use as a civic duty and the NRA as a service organization. Today, many Americans see a gun as something to be carried alongside a wallet or a cellphone. A majority say firearms enhance public safety. The shift is as striking as the change in sentiment on same-sex marriage: Over the past 15 years, the belief that guns make a home safer jumped from 35 percent to 63 percent. Even Americans who don't own guns agree that they are objects of safety. The gun lobby and the LGBTQ movement both understand that political change requires fundamental cultural shifts. It requires deep organizational ties and the ability to connect an issue not just to a set of beliefs, but to a sense of identity. Right now, gun control advocates lack these tools. If they can mobilize gay rights against gun rights, the NRA may have finally met its match. It won't be easy. The NRA has a track record of galvanizing a committed block of voters in key states. Meanwhile, the LGBTQ movement has largely focused on changing hearts and courts. In terms of electoral politics, it is unclear whether it can match the influence of the NRA to set national political agendas, especially in presidential campaigns. And those deep pockets of the NRA really are deep. The organization's budget is more than seven times that of the Human Rights Campaign. It's also not clear that gay rights groups will take on gun control. Many gun proponents see gay rights as part and parcel of a broader libertarian cause. Meanwhile, some LGBTQ activists have vigorously embraced gun rights as a way to protect gay lives. The Pink Pistols group, under the slogan "pick on someone your own caliber," explicitly advocates the exercise of Second Amendment rights for self-protection, especially against hate crimes. The LGBTQ community is highly diverse, and attempts to ally gay rights activists with gun-control proponents may undermine the diversity that defines the movement. Still, some Democrats, gun-control supporters and gay rights advocates are already making the link between gay politics and gun control. Actor, activist and author George Takei has described the fight for gun control as "the next chapter of LGBT history." Many LGBTQ groups cheered the Democratic-led Senate filibuster this past week in favor of gun reforms. This outcry makes sense. This hate-motivated killing in Orlando is but one example of the broad culture of violent intolerance that LGBTQ people face. Until now, the NRA - not just because of its sheer organizational strength and financial backing, but also because of its cultural ingenuity - has been able to define the terms of the gun debate and the terrain of the struggle. The LGBTQ movement might just be able to change that. Carlson is author of Citizen-Protectors: The Everyday Politics of Guns in an Age of Decline." Pettinicchio is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. An expert on social movements and public policy, he is the author of several articles on U.S. and international politics and policy. He is currently working on a book on the disability rights movement entitled "Empowering Government." 1clinton.jpg Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Circuit Center in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (The Associated Press) By Albert Hunt Here's a good bet: After resisting for a year, Hillary Clinton soon will release copies of some of the lucrative paid speeches she made to big Wall Street interests three years ago. Here's why: -- She is assailing Donald Trump for not releasing his tax returns. One of his rejoinders is her refusal to let the world know what she told the fat cats. It's true that virtually all candidates release their tax returns but not transcripts of private speeches. Still, keeping the speeches under wraps undercuts Clinton's criticism. -- Trust remains one of Clinton's major problems with the public and the speeches reinforce it. In this week's Bloomberg Politics poll, when asked about a series of criticisms of Clinton, the one that voters cited as most bothersome was the paid speeches, more even than her use of a private e-mail server while Secretary of State. Half of likely voters said they were bothered "a lot" about the speeches; only a quarter said it didn't bother them. -- With Bernie Sanders out of the way, there's less political risk. The Vermont senator's full-throated attacks on Wall Street appealed to a lot of Democratic primary voters. It's safe to assume that Clinton's speeches were more conciliatory, making them a potential liability in her campaign against a socialist opponent. On the stump, by contrast, Clinton has struck a tough tone on Wall Street: "I have the toughest most effective campaign plan to take on the entire financial industry," she has declared. That's probably not what she said privately to the bankers -- few people take money for speeches and then criticize their hosts. Clinton, after she left the State Department in 2013, collected well over a million dollars in speaking fees, including $675,000 at Goldman-Sachs functions. Sanders and others pressured her to release what she said in these speeches. She refused, at one point saying she'd only do that if others did. Then she dropped the issue. Albert Hunt is a Bloomberg columnist. For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view. (c) 2016, Bloomberg View Rural Washington Killings Tony Reed appears Friday, June 17, 2016, for a hearing at the Snohomish County Courthouse in Everett, Washington. Reed pleaded guilty to two counts of felony rendering criminal assistance in connection with the slayings of Monique Patenaude and her husband Patrick Shunn. (Ian Terry/The Herald via AP) (The Associated Press) SEATTLE -- One of two brothers who had been charged with killing a rural Washington state couple and burying their remains has pleaded guilty to two counts of felony rendering criminal assistance. Murder charges against Tony Clyde Reed were dropped after authorities learned Reed was not present when Monique Patenaude and her husband, Patrick Shunn, were killed in April. Reed entered the pleas Friday in a deal that includes a sentencing range of 12 to 14 months. Investigators believe Reed's brother, John Reed, fatally shot the couple over a long-standing property dispute in Oso, a rural community northeast of Seattle. Police say the brothers fled to Mexico after the slayings with assistance from their parents, who were arrested earlier this week. Tony Reed turned himself in at the U.S.-Mexico border and led authorities to the couple's grave. John Reed remains at large. Their parents, Clyde Reed, 81, and Faye Reed, 77, were arrested Tuesday at their home in Ellensburg on accusations of first-degree rendering criminal assistance. Investigators said the parents admitted providing the vehicle in which their sons fled the state to make their way toward Mexico; giving them financial assistance; and transferring the title of John Reed's truck, which is believed to have been used in the slayings, to Faye Reed. Authorities said they plan to arrest others who also aided the brothers. They've previously indicated that two friends in Phoenix, Arizona, gave them another car and $500, knowing the siblings were on the run. "We absolutely will arrest anyone who has helped a murderer escape justice," Sheriff Ty Trenary said in a news release. Patrick Shunn is from Oregon City, Oregon, and his wife Monique Patenaude is a native of British Columbia. The couple was reported missing April 12, and suspicion fell on the Reeds in part because a neighbor saw them at the gated driveway they formerly shared with the couple the next day, court documents said. Authorities said surveillance video captured the couple's vehicles being simultaneously driven up a gravel logging road leading to where the bodies were found, indicating that at least two people were involved in covering up the killings. The sheriff's office said John Reed is believed to be in the Tijuana, Rosarita or Ensenada areas of Mexico, where investigators recently distributed wanted posters for him, and that he had been driving a 2002 gold Acura 3.2 TL with Arizona plates BNN-9968. He's described as armed and dangerous, 5-foot-8, 190 pounds with hazel eyes and gray hair. The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his capture. -- The Associated Press Nearly one year after In-N-Out Burger opened its first location in Oregon, the Beaver State is bracing for another. This time, it's in Caveman country. The City of Grants Pass on Friday confirmed that it received plans from the company to build a new restaurant on Northeast Morgan Lane, just off Interstate 5 Exit 58. The lot is flanked by three different gas stations and a swathe of fast food joints further down the road. In-N-Out will be the closest fast food place to the interstate in Grants Pass city limits. Lora Glover, the city's director of park and community development, told KEZI that a groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2017. The burger chained had confirmed late last year that it had bought the property on Morgan Lane with the intent of expanding beyond Medford, where its first Oregon location opened late last year. --Eder Campuzano 503.221.4344 @edercampuzano ecampuzano@oregonian.com A Salem teen whose face was disfigured by a propeller while swimming in Costa Rica as part of a school trip has filed a $20.8 million lawsuit against his former high school. Joseph Christopher Johnson, who was 16 or 17 at the time of the June 2014 trip, is suing Salem Academy, a private Christian school of more than 700 students. A representative from the school declined comment Friday. Johnson's lawsuit states that the incident happened on the seventh day of the trip, which was organized by the school through a tour company. The students and their chaperones had plans to spend the day at Isla Tortuga, and a checklist suggested packing a swimsuit to enjoy the "pristine and sandy beaches," the suit states. A boat propeller is shown in this file photo. (Motoya Nakamura/The Oregonian) The suit, which was filed this week, states that students shouldn't have been allowed to swim in a multi-use area where boats operated, especially without buoys or other markers warning that swimmers were in the area. The suit also claims that the school, which had previously sent students to Costa Rica for educational tours, should have known that Johnson "was likely to dive under the surface of the water, or submerge, so that his presence would be unknown to the operators of motor boats operating in the area." Johnson's "head and face were chopped, cut and severely injured by the propeller of a motor boat," according to the suit. Johnson has been in continuous pain since the incident two years ago, has suffered permanent scars and disfigurement to his face and will suffer a diminished earning capacity because of the incident, the suit states. His medical bills have reached $867,000, according to the suit. The suit seeks that amount, and a yet-to-be determined amount of future medical expenses and diminished earning capacity. The suit also seeks $20 million for Johnson's pain and suffering. Andrew Carter, an attorney from The Dalles, is representing Johnson. Read the lawsuit here. -- Aimee Green 503-294-5119 This post has been updated with information from Brown's campaign: Gov. Kate Brown is skipping her first chance to face off against Republican opponent Bud Pierce, declining to participate in a debate that's traditionally served as a kickoff for the fall election. Brown will become the second candidate since 2010 to miss the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association's July 22 debate, which has hosted major gubernatorial candidates for the last 30 years. "I'm disappointed for our members, and I'm disappointed for voters who are missing the opportunity to find out where she stands," said Laurie Hieb, the association's executive director. "She wasn't elected into office by voters and everyone is still trying to understand the direction she wants the governor's office to go." Brown, elected secretary of state in 2012, assumed office after Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned in 2015 amid allegations of influence-peddling and a federal investigation. "She does look forward to debating her Republican opponent this fall, but right now she's focused on her duties as governor," said spokeswoman Liz Accola Meunier. Before saying no, Hieb said, Brown's campaign asked for details about the format and the people invited. Hieb also told The Oregonian/OregonLive and other media outlets that the campaign asked to see questions in advance, but later said she may have misread the question. In emails provided by the Brown team, campaign manager Michael Kolenc asked, "Do you happen to have a list of the editor and publisher members? Do their questions need to be reviewed by a committee?" "I read that as they wanted to review the questions," Hieb said, "like a committee from each of the campaigns." Pierce, a Salem oncologist with no political experience, will still address the forum. He'll have 30 minutes to speak and answer questions, Hieb said. "I want to bring transparency to the governor's office," Pierce said in a statement, poking at Brown over her stated emphasis on improving transparency and ethics in the wake of Kitzhaber's resignation. "It is becoming more and more obvious that Kate Brown is not interested in being open and honest with the public." Hieb said the association reached out to the two candidates right after the primary. They heard back from Pierce the day they emailed the debate invitation. Brown's camp, however, emailed back weeks later, but with the requests for advance information, Hieb said. Republican candidate Chris Dudley was the last to opt out of the debate in 2010. "It's been something that's a longstanding tradition," Hieb said. "It's beneficial for the public. The editorials written after the debate help readers understand where candidates stand earlier than a rush at the end near election day." Jim Moore, a political science professor at Pacific University, said that while Brown's decision "certainly breaks tradition," he doubts it will affect her campaign. "The newspaper publishers debate has always been seen as the opening of the campaign for the political insiders, but rarely has news been made there," he said. "The voters aren't really paying that much attention so I don't think it'll make a difference." As an incumbent, Moore said, it makes sense that Brown would want fewer debates. "As an incumbent against a very little-known opponent, it's never to her advantage to have debates at all," he said. "It's just giving Bud Pierce free media and getting him to a higher level of connecting with voters.... Debates just open the door for mistakes." - Talia Richman trichman@oregonian.com @TaliRichman A new poll of likely voters suggests former Gov. John Kitzhaber still has much work to do as he tries to rebuild his reputation with Oregonians. Only 23 percent of 800 respondents surveyed this month reported favorable feelings toward Kitzhaber, with 45 percent holding an unfavorable view, according to results obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. Participants were even more skeptical of Kitzhaber's fiancee, former first lady Cylvia Hayes, with only 5 percent reporting favorable feelings toward her and 30 percent unfavorable. Kitzhaber and Hayes are at the center of a federal investigation into Hayes' contracting work. Kitzhaber's 23 percent favorability rating was even below that of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who won support from 25 percent of respondents. However, that gap is within the poll's margin of error, plus or minus 3.5 percent. Kitzhaber began staging a return to public life last fall, with a statement to the Statesman Journal newspaper followed by video and written statements on Facebook that suggest he is trying to mend his reputation. He recently met with City Club of Portland members to discuss the corporate tax measure, and he's scheduled to speak at the club's forum on health care reform in August. The poll of registered voters was conducted for Democrats by a Democratic polling firm. It also gauged support for Gov. Kate Brown, who is running for election in November to finish the last two years of what would have been Kitzhaber's fourth four-year term. Then-Secretary of State Brown became governor in February 2015, after Kitzhaber resigned amid allegations that he and Hayes granted special access to groups that employed Hayes. The poll results were released after what some observers have described as a tough week for Brown, in which she came under attack by Republicans and Kitzhaber for not yet taking a stand on a controversial $3 billion corporate tax ballot measure. Fifty-five percent of participants approved of Brown's work thus far as governor, although a smaller segment -- 21 percent -- said they strongly approved. The remaining 34 percent said they "somewhat approve" of Brown's track record. Twenty percent of respondents strongly disapproved of the governor, 14 percent somewhat disapproved and 11 percent were undecided, according to the polling data. The poll also asked likely voters about presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Trump. Clinton had a 39 percent favorable rating and 51 percent unfavorable rating, while Trump's 25 percent favorable rating was joined by a 64 percent unfavorable rating, according to the polling data. President Barack Obama had a higher rating than either Clinton or Trump, with 53 percent of likely voters reporting favorable feelings. -- Hillary Borrud hborrud@oregonian.com 503-294-4034; @hborrud A new tax based on how much people drive could be among the transportation funding ideas lawmakers consider in 2017, according to a member of the task force exploring the idea. The Oregon Department of Transportation launched a pilot project last July to test the pay-by-the-mile tax. Vicki Berger, a former Republican representative from Salem and member of the task force, said the state needs new revenue to supplement or replace the gas tax because drivers are paying less as cars become more fuel-efficient. "Everybody who's ever looked at this comes to, 'Well why not pay per mile instead of on the fuel?'" Berger said, before noting the rise of cars that run solely on electricity. "The famous Tesla pays no taxes to drive on your roads, and that's not going to be viable." Berger said the task force plans to release recommendations in September for legislation to charge the mileage tax on certain vehicles -- perhaps only on specific types of vehicles or all new cars sold after a future date. Oregon was the first state to test the concept, and California and Washington are now preparing to launch their own pilot programs. Yet the pilot program designed to test the program has fallen short of its enrollment goal, despite the transportation department spending at least $6.4 million on the project according to a state application for federal funds. As the one-year anniversary approaches, the state has enrolled only 891 drivers, a fraction of the 5,000 volunteers state officials hoped to sign up for the program. Michelle Godfrey, an education and outreach coordinator for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said she did not know how many participants the state needed to properly vet the system. The number of vehicles in the pilot is slightly higher, at 1,018, but that number got a boost when the transportation department signed up the fleets of four of its contractors. They account for 50 vehicles in the program, and all four contractors were signed up after solicitations from transportation department staff, Godfrey wrote in an email. The contractors do work including paving and highway construction. Transportation staff promoted the program at events attended by contractors, after a public relations firm hired by the state failed to sign up any independent vehicle fleets, Shelley Snow, a department spokeswoman, wrote in an email. The state has spent $514,735 since April 2014 for the public relations firm PRR to promote the pilot project and sign up volunteers. The state's contract with the firm allows it to spend up to $650,000. The four contractors who signed up are Knife River, K&E Excavating, Lakeside Industries and Bayview Transit Mix. Knife River had $13 million in active contracts with the transportation department in fiscal year 2015, and K&E Excavating had $39.1 million, according to a state contracting database. It was unclear when Lakeside Industries and Bayview Transit Mix might have had state transportation contracts. Asked about his company's participation, Brian Gray, president of Knife River's northwest region, said there were "absolutely no incentives" to join the program. "There's no benefit of being part of that," Gray said, "other than participating in an alternative long-term funding mechanism for transportation." Travis Brouwer, assistant director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, said department staff mentioned the mileage tax pilot project at a regular meeting between the department and industry leaders. Brower said he did not know why the only vehicle fleets enrolled were transportation department contractors, but said "transportation stakeholders have a stake in having a long-term, sustainable funding source." Knife River's Gray said the company has an interest in Oregon, other states and the federal government finding more money for transportation. "Knife River is heavily dependent on transportation funding, and we also realize that the current system is not adequate, ... that people are driving fewer miles, that cars are getting better gas mileage and with the hybrids and electrical cars there's got to be a better system in the future," he said. "The more data we get and work out the bugs, the better." -- Hillary Borrud 503-294-4034; @hborrud The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped a charge of illegal re-entry against an immigrant activist who took refuge at an Oregon church in 2014 to avoid deportation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Nyhus wrote in a May 27 motion to dismiss the charge against Francisco Aguirre-Velasquez that it was "in the interest of justice." Nyhus and a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland did not return messages seeking further explanation Friday. Aguirre, the father of two children who are U.S. citizens, still faces possible deportation. He said in a statement he wants immigration authorities to stop targeting his family. "This initial victory is proof that when we come together, we can win," Aguirre said. "The only way to ensure justice for migrants is if we come together as a community and defend our basic human rights." Aguirre came to the U.S. from El Salvador illegally in the 1990s, and was deported in 2000 after he was caught selling heroin and cocaine in Portland. He re-entered the country and became an immigrant-rights activist and the coordinator of a nonprofit that runs a day labor center. He came to the attention of immigration authorities in 2014 following an arrest for driving under the influence. Asked for an update on the status of his case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori K. Haley said in an email they weren't going to speculate on the case's next steps. "The Department of Homeland Security's immigration enforcement focus continues to be on individuals who pose a public safety threat, including those with prior felony drug trafficking convictions," Haley wrote. But Olga Tomchin, staff attorney for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said an ICE agent recently served Aguirre with notice that it plans a fast-track deportation process that doesn't include a hearing before an immigration judge. Tomchin said the process is generally reserved for people serving a prison sentence, with the idea that they will be returned to their home countries immediately after their release. It's unusual, she said, for it to be used against someone based off a conviction from 1999. "If he didn't have a very strong legal team, and a big community that was fighting for him, then he would likely not understand what to do and be deported very quickly," she said. Supporters of Aguirre contend he has made positive contributions to the community during his many years in Portland and should be allowed to remain with his family. They add that's he's also grieving the death of a 19-year-old son from a prior relationship who was murdered in El Salvador fourth months ago. A rally for Aguirre is scheduled for Sunday at Augustana Lutheran Church, the place where he sought sanctuary. -- The Associated Press Nighclub Shooting Assault Weapons FILE -- In this Aug. 15, 2012 file photo, three variations of the AR-15 assault rifle are displayed at the California Department of Justice in Sacramento, Calif. A Portland man's Facebook post wherein he visits a local gun store to learn about the firearm has gone viral and has nearly 50,000 shares. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) A story about a bizarre visit to a local gun store by a Portland man went viral this week before it was pulled down by Facebook for violating community standards. The post has since been restored, but the business, U.S. Guns, refutes some of Buckley Jeppson's account while confirming he had visited the store Tuesday. Multiple attempts by The Oregonian/OregonLive for comment from U.S. Guns were declined on Wednesday and again Saturday. U.S. Guns, in its own Facebook post on Friday afternoon, confirmed that Jeppson had visited the establishment earlier in the week and that he asked about rifles on display. "Our employees responded that by strict military definition we had no assault rifles," the post read. "From there he asked what practical hunting use these firearms served, refusing to accept they might have one." The U.S. Guns post also disputes Jeppson's original claim that employees answered no when he asked: "Have you ever had someone you love killed by a gun, and I don't mean while hunting rabbits?" "Both the employees working at the time are Veterans (sic) who served multiple deployments overseas and have both experienced the loss of a comrade due to gun fire," the gun store wrote. The post also refutes Jeppson's claim that the AR-15 is its best-selling gun and that it "represents a small market of our overall business." The business's online armslist contains dozens of products, most of them handguns. But the part of Jeppson's account the store most puts into question is the Portlander's claim that he was approached by a customer in the parking lot after his visit. In his original post, Jeppson writes that a man ran outside to meet him, claiming gun ownership was a necessity for various reasons. The list included zombies; scavengers in the aftermath of a potential large-scale earthquake; Muslim and Mexican immigrants; and the government. The U.S. Guns post confirms that there was one other customer in the store during Jeppson's visit, but that the person didn't rush out to confront the Portlander after he left. Jeppson maintains that the interaction occurred, but also that the man in the parking lot may not have been a U.S. Guns customer. "I just assumed from what he said that he was someone who was in there the whole time," he told The Oregonian/OregonLive during a phone interview. "That's an assumption that I made." Jeppson also had no idea that his original post would get as much traction as it did. "Heavens no," he said earlier in the week. "I was just trying to do something local for my local friends. There's so much rhetoric flying around on both sides, I figured why not just go ask these people." The Portlander said all of his conversations with the folks at U.S. Guns were civil and pleasant, even if he didn't approve of some of the products sold there. "The guys were professional, they're obviously knowledgeable and they're very respectful," Jeppson said. "I thought they were quite reasonable." The U.S. Guns post refuting parts of Jeppson's account had been shared 171 times as of noon Saturday. Jeppson's original story is nearing 50,000 shares. The gun store's full post is embedded below. Good Day to Everyone, We are aware of the Facebook post put forth from Buckley Jeppson, that post has since now been... Posted by US Guns, LLC on Friday, June 17, 2016 Kale Williams contributed to this report. --Eder Campuzano 503.221.4344 @edercampuzano ecampuzano@oregonian.com u.s. federal courthouse.JPG A hearing-impaired Florida doctor has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Providence Health & Services in Oregon, contending that the medical facility failed to allow his first interview for a medical director's job to be done via Skype, instead of by phone. The doctor, who has a law degree as well, filed the lawsuit himself this week in U.S. District Court in Portland. (The Oregonian/file) A hearing-impaired Florida doctor who applied for a medical director's job contends that an Oregon health care provider violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it denied him an interview via Skype, according to a lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court in Portland. Dr. Peter Garcia, who has 30 years' experience in family and emergency medicine, filed a discrimination lawsuit against Providence Health & Services for failing to accommodate his disability and dismissing him as a candidate for the job, court documents show. Garcia, who also has a law degree, is representing himself. Gary Walker, a spokesman, said that Providence Health & Services is fully committed to adhering to the Americans with Disabilities Act, "and provides reasonable accommodation to disabled applicants for employment and to our current caregivers with disabilities.'' Walker noted that the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated Garcia's complaint and took no action, saying it was "unable to conclude that the information obtained establishes violations of the statutes.'' Garcia submitted his job application last spring and received an email from Providence on May 7, 2015, confirming that it had been received, according to the suit. On his resume, he included a personal statement, notifying Providence of his hearing loss and cochlear implant surgery, the suit says. He wrote that he began experiencing hearing loss eight to nine years earlier, and did not work at all from 2009 through 2011. He received the cochlear implant in August 2011 and, with improved hearing, he returned to the workforce in the fall semester of 2012, teaching part-time at the University of Central Florida College Of Medicine, he wrote. On May 21, 2015, a Providence employee emailed Garcia, requesting an initial phone interview. Garcia responded a day later, sending his full resume to the employee and suggesting she contact him again "to set up further communication regarding this position.'' When the employee again emailed Garcia, asking for a phone interview, he wrote back, "My preference would be to Skype.'' In a May 26 email, the Providence employee replied to Garcia, saying a Skype interview wasn't necessary at that point and insisted on a phone interview, the suit says. "It would appear that you associate a Skype interview with a more serious interview than a phone interview,'' Garcia wrote back. "Perhaps if you would consider the situation from the perspective of a cochlear implant recipient, you would understand why a Skype interview is the preferred method of communication." The next day, according to the suit, the Providence employee responded to Garcia, saying there was "no context'' for his Skype interview request, and wished him "best of luck with your job search.'' Garcia said he wrote a final email back to the employee, directly explaining his significant limitations as a cochlear implant recipient. He compared the difficulty of doing a phone interview for a cochlear implant recipient, to reading for a blind person. Garcia is seeking a jury trial, and pursuing undesignated punitive and other damages. -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian lightbar.jpg If a person is being followed and feels threatened, Sgt. Pete Simpson recommended going into a nearby store or business, seeing if the person follows and then asking for help from employees or calling the police. (The Oregonian/File) The Portland Police Bureau said it will review an incident involving an officer after a woman's Facebook post went viral. In an entry posted Thursday night, a woman detailed her experience being followed to a downtown Portland coffee shop and the subsequent "disturbing" response by Portland Police. The poster, Taryn Border, said a man followed her to Heart Coffee on Thursday morning and waited outside, maintaining eye contact with her as she waited for her coffee. When he started following another woman, Border said she called the police and followed them discreetly, as she was worried about the safety of the woman. When an officer arrived (Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland Police Bureau spokesman, clarified the officer's name is Foesch), Border said he was "immediately aggressive and militant, cutting me off, saying that no laws had been broken, and that I was out of line to assume any negative intention." We've reached out to Border via Facebook, but haven't yet heard back. You can read the full Facebook post here. The Portland Police Bureau responded with the following Facebook post on Friday afternoon: The Portland Police Bureau was made aware of a Facebook post earlier today regarding the actions of one of our officers.... Posted by Portland Police Bureau on Friday, June 17, 2016 In emails to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Simpson said that following someone in and of itself is not a crime, absent other circumstances like a restraining order or stalking order. If a person is being followed and feels threatened, he recommended going into a nearby store or business, seeing if the person follows and then asking for help from employees or calling the police. -- Anna Marum amarum@oregonian.com 503-294-5911 @annamarum lightbar Portland police are investigating an altercation aboard a MAX train involving a transgender man and another rider who allegedly used a gay slur while talking on the phone June 17, 2016. (The Oregonian/OregonLive/file) Portland police are investigating an altercation aboard a MAX train involving a transgender man and another rider who allegedly used a gay slur while talking on the phone Friday. Witnesses told police the transgender man, 20, overheard a 25-year-old man use the slur from the other end of the train. The two men argued, police said, and the 20-year-old man pushed and punched the other man, who punched back. The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office will review the case to determine whether either man will face charges, Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland police spokesman, said in an email. Bias Crimes detectives are investigating the incident, Simpson said in a news release. Police responded to the Overlook transit station in North Portland around 12:40 p.m. and found the 20-year-old man with non-life-threatening injuries. He was taken to a hospital, Simpson said. Police were able to track down the other man on the Interstate Bridge at Hayden Island. Officers took him into custody then released him -- pending further investigation -- after speaking with him, and reviewing surveillance footage and witness statements. Police ask any victims of bias crime assault to call 911. They ask anyone who is victimized by bias crimes like graffiti or vandalism to call the bureau's non-emergency line, 503-823-3333. Bias crimes, Simpson said, are "any criminal act that targets a victim based on the suspect's perception of the victim's race, color, religion, national origin or sexual orientation." -- Jim Ryan jryan@oregonian.com 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 After a week of and grieving, Candi Brings Plenty and Asa Wright topped their van with wooden poles and drove downtown to build a tepee for what was planned as a party. Their organization, the Portland Two Spirit Society, had been chosen months ago to serve as grand marshal of this weekend's . The Native American group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was set to bless a celebration that's become more family-friendly in recent years -- far from the radical declarations of identity that erupted in a time before marriage equality and civil rights victories. Then a gunman killed 49 people inside an . Pride events across the country suddenly felt more charged. They marked a chance to mark the pain and storms yet to come. The Two Spirit blessing felt more necessary than ever. Brings Plenty is a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, a nomadic people who traditionally built tepees as a way of carrying home with them. In a week where LGBT people pulled together to create safe spaces, Brings Plenty decided to put up a tepee along the Willamette River. She believed the symbolism could help them heal. "The tripod is the strongest structure," Brings Plenty, 35, said Friday as she and Wright laid the poles along the waterfront. "The tepee could withstand blizzards, thunderstorms and tornados. It was structured so the wind would blow under and through it, so the wind would not knock it down." Brings Plenty grew up in Rapid City South Dakota, one of the few Native American kids in a mostly white school. On weekends, she traveled back to the Pine Ridge Reservation. She told her mother when she was a pre-teen that she was bisexual. Later, she said lesbian. Neither ever felt right. She first heard the phrase "Two Spirit" on the radio show Native American Calling. Two Spirit encompasses gender and sexuality. It describes a Native American who embodies both male and female characteristics. As a woman who dated women, wore dresses and changed her own oil, Brings Plenty knew right away: "This is what I am." She moved to Portland in 2012, in part because Wright had created a Two Spirit Society here. Wright, too, had long felt that he had to choose between two identities. Every year, the Pride parade fell on the same weekend as the Delta Park Pow Wow, one of the largest Native American events in Oregon. People in the majority white LGBTQ community didn't seem to welcome him, Wright said. Other ethnic minorities host their own Pride events. Each June, there's a , a PDX Latino Gay Pride, an Asian Pacific Islander Pride as well as , a Pride event for all LGTBQ ethnic minorities. Portland's Two Spirits didn't have that. A decade or so ago, Wright visited Seattle's Pride. At the end of the parade, he saw a tepee in the distance. His tribe, the Klamath-Modoc, aren't nomadic, but urban Native Americans recognize tepees as a cultural touchstone, he said. He walked toward it. "Everyone welcomed me," he said. "I had this aha moment. I found my people. I don't have to choose one or the other." Wright started the Two Spirit group in 2004 with about 20 people. It became one of 32 Two Spirit societies across the United States and Canada. The Portland group's membership ebbed and flowed over the years and eventually lost steam. But when the Portland Two Spirit Society regrouped in February with Brings Plenty as the leader, 50 people attended the meeting. Brings Plenty is an organizer, a public health worker with experience planning events and leading nonprofits. At that first meeting, she charted a plan for the group. The big goal: Make it into the Pride parade. Her group hadn't even marched in the mainstream parade last year. They couldn't afford the $150 participation fee. This year, she asked if the Two Spirit Society could begin the parade with a blessing and a dance. "You are marching on indigenous land," she told the Pride NW board. "A part of being Two Spirit is reclaiming our sacred space. Pride is represented more as a mainstream, gay, white privilege way of celebrating. We don't see ourselves represented in any of the Pride events." The board agreed and named Portland's Two Spirit Society this year's grand marshal. Dykes on Bikes, the motorcycle group that leads most pride parades across the country, agreed to delay their entrance until after the blessing. Bridging the gaps between communities is "even more important now," Portland's Dykes on Bikes president . "We must support and take care of each other during this tragedy." In the days of legalized same-sex marriage, Pride parades have begun to feel more like family events rather than the radical, liberation marches they were when they first began in the late 1960s. This year's parade, Brings Plenty expects, will carry a weight the parades haven't in recent years. Thousands have attended vigils at Q Center and Embers Nightclub. Brings Plenty has performed several traditional blessings. She felt weary after a week of events, but offering blessings had helped, she said. "There are traditions to processing mourning, to acknowledging grief," she said. "Being able to provide all of the healing that I have has allowed me to grieve in the best way I know how." They had burned sage and cried together. Now, it was time to find the strength to celebrate. Friday afternoon, Wright tied the first of three wooden poles together. As he worked to attach a feather, Brings Plenty gave a tobacco offering and spoke a quiet blessing in Lakota then in English. "Please watch us over this weekend," she whispered. "Please keep us safe." -- Casey Parks 503-221-8271 cparks@oregonian.com; @caseyparks Headbanging.jpg Vice's Noisy blog recently declared Portland the second-most metal city in America based on the number of bands per capita. Based on those metrics, the site also named Oregon the most metal state in the union. (Creative Commons photo by Flickr user Skadi_) Portland rocks. Just not quite as much as Cleveland, according to Vice's Noisey blog. The site recently named Bridgetown the second-most metal city in America, a standing deduced by comparing the number of metal bands that hail from a given city and comparing that to the municipalities' populations. The bands are culled from Encyclopedia Metallum, a registry of metal acts around the world. According to the database, 388 metal acts call Portland home. The U.S. Census estimates that the city's population in 2015 was 632,309. That's roughly 613 bands per 1 million residents, the metric for Vice's ranking. The reigning city, home of LeBron James, Paul Newman and Marilyn Manson, holds claim to 325 metal bands. And with a population of 388,072 according to Census data, that puts metal density at 837 bands per 1 million residents. That's a lot of rock. The entire ranking can be found over at the Noisey blog, complete with a nifty infograph. And even though the most supposedly metal city in America doesn't even have an Ikea, you can take solace in the fact that, according to Vice, Oregon is still the most metal state in the union: 148 metal bands per 1 million residents. Besides, the Portland Mercury points out that vast swathes of Cleveland's metal bands are inactive, so there's also that. --Eder Campuzano 503.221.4344 @edercampuzano ecampuzano@oregonian.com Portland online-education company Treehouse generated national attention in 2013 when it eliminated bosses. It was a radical experiment in empowering employees, giving workers the authority to propose their own projects, manage themselves and evaluate each other. It didn't work. After two years, Treehouse scuttled the experiment. Chief executive Ryan Carson said employees felt adrift, "lonely islands with no support." And so he made the painful decision to reverse course and install a traditional management structure. "We were naive," Carson said in a recent interview. "It was hopeful." It felt bad, though, to admit things weren't working. The no-boss approach was a core part of Treehouse's identity, Carson said, and something some employees deeply appreciated. Treehouse was among a handful of companies that won accolades by experimenting with a completely flat organizational structure. The no-boss approach was fine when Treehouse was a small company - it employed 61 in 2013 - but Carson said it became an obstacle for the business as Treehouse grew north of 100 workers. Projects went unfinished, Carson said, and there was no one to hold accountable. "I had to admit that I'd make a mistake. Think about all the press we'd got about it," Carson said. He still keeps an article from The Oregonian about the no-boss approach on his wall, but now it's a reminder of lessons learned. "If figured that was part of my job," he said, "is to admit mistakes and move on quickly." It's been a similarly rough go for some other firms who tried the no-boss approach. GitHub, a San Francisco company that hosts software projects, gave up its flat structure early in 2014. In a statement, GitHub said the system didn't hold up as the business grew. Tips for organizational change Portland State University management professor Berrin Erdogan offers these tips for businesses considering experimenting with new ideas: * Do your groundwork : If you're going to make a big change, start with a good concept of why you're doing it and what you expect. * Involve employees in decision-making: They'll have good ideas, and "If you have their buy-in it will work out better." * "Make sure the idea is executed faithfully" : If you're going to make a change, follow through and give it your best effort. * Own up to it if it doesn't work : "Admitting the mistake and cutting your losses are great." * Make sure lessons learned are codified and shared : This is how you build institutional memory. "At a point, we realized that to better support our users, as well as the development of our employees, we needed to add some structure to our management approach," the company said. Las Vegas online clothing retailer Zappos is still trying to make a no-boss structure work, and offered months of severance pay to employees who didn't like it. Nearly one-in-five have taken the company up on its offer to leave, according to the online business journal Quartz. Sweeping changes like the ones Treehouse and other no-boss companies have tried are just short of bet-the-company decisions. If they succeed, they could profoundly improve the business and its image. But if they fail they could fail spectacularly, leaving a business with a hangover that lasts for years. Berrin Erdogan, a management professor at Portland State University, suggests companies should be clear about what goals they're trying to achieve and consider whether there's another way to reach the same end. Risks might be less significant at a smaller organization that can reverse course quickly, but Erdogan said larger organizations can try, for example, big changes in one department before deciding whether to roll them out broadly. Academic research shows organizations do perform better with fewer layers of management and a culture that empowers employees, according Erdogan. Taken to the extreme, though, she said the no-boss approach can be counterproductive. "Eliminating managers altogether assumes that managers add no value, and I don't agree with that," Erdogan said. "Good managers add great value." Still, she doesn't fault Treehouse or others for trying something unorthodox - and credits the Portland company with being open about its setback. "It's great that companies are experimenting and I love that they're sharing the results of the experiment," she said. "Sharing the results does a lot of other companies an important service." When Treehouse decided to scrap the approach and install a layer of management, Carson said it promoted people with strong people skills, figuring they would be best positioned to manage the change. Still, it was a tough transition. Some employees were disappointed and quit fairly quickly, and others suddenly felt dispensable. "When you install management, you get accountability back," he said. "Some people weren't pulling their weight and it became clear really, really fast." Treehouse hasn't given up on its experiments. The company has long maintained a four-day workweek, which it says benefits recruitment, morale and - consequently - productivity. Carson said that thinking hasn't changed. A computer programmer by training who did not attend business school, Carson said his approach has always been to try out new ideas and see what happens. The no-boss approach didn't work, but he said he doesn't regret the attempt. "Humans want that support system and they want to be led, and that's OK," Carson said. "It's not bad." -- Mike Rogoway mrogoway@oregonian.com 503-294-7699 @rogoway 2015 High School Journalism Institute The students of the 2015 High School Journalism Institute class. Eighteen more students will join their ranks this year. (Staff) What is it like to be a journalist? Eighteen talented students will learn this week at the High School Journalism Institute. The seven-day training program for Oregon and southwest Washington teens starts Saturday at Oregon State University. The Oregonian/OregonLive partners with Oregon State each year to host the institute, because we believe these students have the power to shape the future of journalism. The High School Journalism Institute has reached hundreds of students whose own experiences and backgrounds are underrepresented in mainstream media today. Newsrooms need voices like theirs to remain relevant and to reflect the increasingly diverse communities in which we all live. But first? These aspiring journalists must learn the tricks of the trade. This week, students will report, write, take photos and produce videos with help from professional mentors. Many of the stories they write will be tied to a simple but powerful theme: "What's next?" They will ask big questions about current issues and explored how those trends will impact the future. Their work will provide a glimpse into the future - one they will be part of writing. You can follow their progress and stories throughout the week in the special Teens section of OregonLive.com or by following #hsji2016 on social media. All the students' hard work will also appear in The Pride, the annual program newspaper. The Class of 2016 is: Sonide Bocage, Parkrose High School Jovani Camarena, Reynolds High School Alex Diaz, Parkrose High School Allison Echeverria, Westview High School Elizabeth "Izzy" Escobar, Parkrose High School Maya Fiallos, Lincoln High School Melanie Gonzalez, Reynolds High School Isabel Lim, Parkrose High School Kyler Kaykeo, Fort Vancouver High School Sarah Milshtein, Westview High School Hanin Najjar, International School of Beaverton Dylan Palmer, Grant High School Kyleah Puyear, St. Helens High School Elizabeth Radcliffe, North Marion High School Toli Tate, Grant High School Amelia Underhill, Silverton High School Annie Vong, Parkrose High School Julian Wyatt, Grant High School For more information about the High School Journalism Institute, contact director Molly Young at myoung@oregonian.com. Rebellious Republican delegates are trying to figure out how to change the convention rules so they can make a last-stand revolt against Donald Trump's presidential nomination in Cleveland next month. They might be better off passing the hat among all their friends. On Friday, Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger tweeted that a "former Trump adviser" speculated that a big payday would convince the presumptive GOP nominee to abandon his unusual campaign and go back to real-estate deals and reality TV. On the phone with a former Trump adviser: "I bet if someone offered him $150 million to drop out, he would." Ben Schreckinger (@SchreckReports) June 17, 2016 He followed up by tweeting that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says it'll surely take a lot more money to get Trump to bow out. Via email, @mcuban tells me he thinks Trump would drop out for $5 billion. Considers $150 million too paltry https://t.co/NpJeYrD31p Ben Schreckinger (@SchreckReports) June 17, 2016 There's no word yet on whether the unnamed former Trump adviser was being serious, but conservative writer and Never Trump leader Bill Kristol wants to find out. He tweeted that he's ready to raise the needed cash. The Midland Area Chamber of Commerce has joined the Central Michigan University Research Corp.s Passport Program along with three other chambers including Bay, Mount Pleasant and Saginaw. The collaboration efforts continue to strengthen the connectivity between entrepreneurs and the business community across the Great Lakes Bay Region, according to organizers. The partnership with CMURC was a unique opportunity for us to protect and promote the regional business community, said Bill Allen, president and CEO of the Midland Business Alliance, the umbrella organization that directs both the Midland Chamber and Midland Tomorrow. With a strong region, it will allow for a stronger presence and more opportunity to recruit active and engaged companies. The Passport Program was created to introduce entrepreneurs to the regional business community during the early stage of their businesses. Entrepreneurs gain access to networking events and receive significant discounts on needed business services from trusted, vetted providers. A cornerstone of the program is to improve the economic climate of the region to make it a prime location for high tech entrepreneurs and supporting businesses, CMURC President and CEO Erin Strang said. The more partners moving in the same direction, the sooner we will get there. Along with the four regional chambers, more than 50 service providers from across the state have found value in partnering in the Passport Program. Providers including accountants, attorneys, marketing consultants, graphic designers, technology consultants, programmers, engineers and manufacturers are receiving deal flow from high potential entrepreneurs and establishing relationships early on in the companys development. Strang said by engaging with the Passport Program to promote regionalism, youll find new customers, clients and referrals along with a network of strong, passionate community leaders. If you are a service provider looking to expand your footprint in the Great Lakes Bay Region, or a business looking to grow, learn more and contact CMURC at http://cmurc.com/apply. Delta Colleges plans to establish a $12.7 million satellite campus in downtown Saginaw appear to be back on track. After being in a holding pattern awaiting word from the state of Michigan on whether the college would receive a matching grant to help fund the project, President Jean Goodnow said Delta has been selected to receive capital outlay funding. Goodnow shared the much-anticipated news with trustees during their regularly scheduled monthly meeting this week. Were very excited to receive capital outlay funding from the state for this important project, she said. Were waiting for approval from Gov. (Rick) Snyder and are targeting May of 2019 for classroom doors to open in downtown Saginaw. The Michigan House and Senate both voted to approve House Bill 5294, which is now on Snyders desk for his signature, officials said. Larry Ramseyer, Deltas director of facilities management, said he has heard from local legislators that the governor is expected to sign the bill into law, perhaps as soon as the end of this week. He typically signs these bills pretty quickly, he said. This bill would authorize Delta to proceed with Saginaw Center planning, but we would need to receive construction authorization in a subsequent appropriation act to construct the facility, Ramseyer noted. In October, Deltas board of trustees approved a five-year capital outlay program that marked the fifth straight year the Saginaw Center topped its list of facility-related projects. Goodnow said the colleges internal team has done a lot of work getting ready for this initiative, but will need to review and update it because it was compiled over a year and a half ago. A number of changes have occurred in downtown Saginaw, she said. By refreshing and validating our work, we will ensure that we are able to bring forward a proposal reflecting updated facts and the highest certainty of a successful outcome. Ramseyer said, A lot of time has gone by, but were hopeful all the planning weve done is still applicable. Well need to relook at potential sites as well. Delta has explored nine different sites in downtown Saginaw. All were located between I-675 on the north and Hoyt Street on the south; from the Saginaw River on the west to Warren Avenue on the east. Ramseyer said no final recommendation has been determined, but officials are estimating that a site could be presented for board approval as early as October 2016. Goodnow said Delta is prepared to match the states $6.4 million for the project because it has been setting aside funding for a number of years. I just visited Susan Kaltenbach (Saginaw County Clerk) and paid my $100 fee to run for re-election in November, said Robert Emrich, Saginaw County trustee. Id like to stick around long enough to see the Saginaw Center happen. In classic Midland fashion, a small non-profit providing a specific service will be able to increase its services for those in need due to the generosity of area foundations. The Helping Hands Dental Center is seeing a $700,000 dream come true, expanding its operations at 1509 Washington St. (next to the Department of Health and Human Services), said HHDC Board President Greg Dorrien. Work on the building will be done in two phases. Phase I of the renovation will be completed in September and Phase II is to be completed in October. Once renovated, the facility will house two dentists on a daily basis operating out of four patient rooms, one emergency overflow room for all the unscheduled walk-in emergency needs patients, one room for hygiene patients and a room dedicated to those patients who use wheelchairs and are unable to transfer to a dentist chair, Dorrien said. Instead of a dentist chair in that room, Dorrien said there will be a specific piece of equipment called a Versatilt. Patients position their chairs on this device and it tilts the patients and chairs into a traditional dental position. This makes it much easier for the doctor to perform his or her job, which should lead to a better patient experience as well. HHDCs major services include exams, cleanings, x-rays, fillings, extractions, dentures and partials. Bobbie Arnold, president of the Charles J. Strosacker Foundation, took a leading role in working with the representatives of the other foundations to assure the project could go from our boards dream into reality, Dorrien said. The $700,000 project so far has received support from the Charles J. Strosacker Foundation of $350,000, the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation of $150,000 and the The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation of $75,000. The Midland Area Community Foundation provided two gifts; one from its Community Investment fund of $40,000 and another $10,600 through its Big Give committee. The Delta Dental Foundation, through its Bright Futures Program, also came through with $5,000 (its maximum allowable grant amount). A few other requests are still outstanding. HHDC opened for business in late 2004 with a small part-time dental office serving the dental needs of adults 21 and over and senior citizens with Medicaid insurance. Back in 2004 when we opened, the state didnt provide dental care to Medicaid patients, Dorrien said. At that time, 19 local dentists and some of their staff took turns volunteering at HHDC, relieving some of the crushing need in Midland County. When the state finally started reimbursing for services provided to Medicaid clients, HHDC was able to hire a part-time dentist and expand hours. That has turned into three part-time dentists on staff and two part-time hygienists. We also still have one volunteer dentist, Dr. James Bakeman, who has volunteered one day a month ever since we opened, Dorrien said. Bakeman is also assisted by Dr. Tom Knight, retired. HHDC will remain open during the renovation period for all but a couple weeks in early September. HHDC operates in partnership with the Midland County Health Department. Prospective patients should call (989) 837-9740 for more specific information. Patients must be 21 or older, live in Midland County, must have Medicaid insurance and most need to provide a $3 co-pay per visit. The Midland City Council recently recognized of a longtime Midland Planning Commission member, before turning to business including conversations about increasing water and sewer rates, new housing for Northwood University students and renovations at the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library. Brad Kaye, assistant city manager of development services, told the city council that Ray Senesac has served for 21 years on the planning commission, and has worked with four different planning directors, three city managers and a number of updates to city zoning and planning ordinances. His contribution has been extensive, Kaye said. Upon receiving a resolution for his service Monday, Senesac thanked the seven different city councils he has served for continuing to appoint him to the planning commission and said it was his way of giving back to the city thats been so good to me. Public hearing on zoning Members of the city council unanimously approved Zoning Petition No. 605, submitted by Primrose Retirement Communities, LLC, a company that plans to build a retirement village at an 80-acre location that would include independent living, assisted living and memory care facilities. Building the retirement village required a change in zoning for the property, located at 5900 Waldo Ave., from Midland Township zoning to Residential B Multiple-Family zoning. It would also require an exemption that Primrose Retirement Communities will not build multi-family residences; instead, seniors will be offered apartments or single-family units. The property is located on 80 acres of recently-annexed land from Midland Township and Kaye said the planning commission is discussing how to zone the remaining property. Mark McNeary, general counsel and a partner in Primrose Retirement Communities, was present at the meeting and said construction could start in October and November of this year. Our intent is to develop in mid-Michigan with the same manner and passion weve developed in our other projects, McNeary said. Increasing water and sewer rates Noel Bush, utilities director for the City of Midland, introduced two ordinances that would increase water rates by 2 percent and sewer rates by 2.5 percent. He said rate reviews are required every year, and this years street fund covers projects that could also mean more water utility work for city employees as well as an increase in customers through retail contracts with surrounding townships. The first reading of both ordinances was passed by a vote of 5-0. Small increases are typical year-to-year, Bush said, in response to a question by Diane Brown Wilhelm, Ward 4, if the rates would ever not be increased. This strategy allows consumers to budget for small increases and avoids much larger increases down the road, he added. Renovating a community landmark Library Director Melissa Barnard shared some remarks with the city council about a $26,000 grant from the Alden and Vada Dow Family Foundations that will aid in replacing the exterior building fascia at the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library. The original fascia was designed by Grace A. Dows son, Alden B. Dow, who used glass Coke bottles. The plan is to work with Saginaw-based WTA Architects and use a new material called channel glass to renovate the facade, Barnard said. WTA Architects is a company that has been used in the past by the library, to mimic Dows iconic architectural style during renovations and construction. The foundation will fund the construction over the next two years, with an anticipated completion date in 2017. Northwood University housing Site Plan No. 349 was originally on Mondays consent agenda but was moved to regular business at the request of Midland resident Teresa Dopp. The site plan was brought forward by Northwood University as part of a normal site plan review and approval for North Village Housing, a 75,350 square foot student housing facility to be located at 4203 W. Sugnet Road. Dopp said she had not heard about plans by Northwood University to build student housing along West Sugnet Road, and wanted to know more about the intended project. She is concerned because of property she owns in the area. I live in that area and theres going to be a lot of traffic. Weve had trouble before, Dopp told the city council. Keith Pretty, president of Northwood, also spoke about the site plan and said student housing is a priority for the growing institution. We see this as a win-win for the entire community, Pretty said. Members of the city council approved the site plan by a vote of 5-0. The next meeting of the Midland City Council will take place at 7 p.m. June 27 in the Council Chambers of City Hall. Michigan State Police Tri-City Post is now assisting Buena Vista Police Department with a missing person investigation. The missing juvenile is 17-year-old Rae-Showna Oneal Jones. She is a black female, about 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds. She has brown eyes, black hair, which was in braids tied into a pony tail. She was last seen wearing a gray Ohio State sweatshirt with red letters, blue jeans and brown boots. She has no known mode of transportation and may utilize a bus. Oneal Jones left her residence on Dec. 16, 2015. She has not been heard from since. Detectives have information that she was last seen walking along State Street near Wieneke Street in Saginaw Township on Dec. 17, 2015. She could possibly be in the Flint, Detroit or Chicago area. If you have any information, contact Crime Stoppers at (989) 522-5425 and/or MSP Sgt. Bill Arndt at (989) 495-5559. BLOOMINGTON As the tally of gun-related incidents in Bloomington continues to grow three shootings in four weeks and 15 reports of random gunfire so far this year police are looking at a variety of reasons for the violence and finding no common thread joining them together. "We've had 15 shots-fired calls since January, all in different areas. We've had four people hit, but those were not related to each other at all," Police Chief Brendan Heffner said Friday. The most recent shooting occurred late Thursday night when a 16-year-old girl was struck in the abdomen by gunfire, possibly from a vehicle, near the intersection of Madison and Olive streets. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening, and no arrest was made as of Friday. A man who lives in the area told police he frequently hears kids exchanging verbal threats. Three days earlier, police were called to the intersection of Olive Street and Euclid Avenue for a shooting that left a 26-year-old man lying in the street with a gunshot wound to his chest. On May 21, a 20-year-old man was injured in the 2000 block of East Empire Street. A handgun and spent shell casings were recovered by police but no suspect has been arrested. Charges are pending against an 18-year-old Bloomington man in the Jan. 20 armed robbery of a 19-year-old man. Richard Sims is accused of shooting the victim during a robbery at gunpoint in the area of Lang's Alley and Jackson Street. The dispute involved illegal drugs, according to police. Fifteen other incidents involving gunfire that did not result in injuries also remain under investigation by Bloomington police. Hybrid gangs a group of about 150 people in their late teens and early 20's who are not affiliated with traditional street gangs are behind some of the shootings, said Heffner. Rap music videos posted online by hybrid gangs provide the fuel for much of the street-level fighting between groups, said Heffner. The freestyle operations of hybrid gangs makes them a difficult target for police, said Heffner. "People involved in these hybrid gangs do what they want to do. They have their own rules and guidelines" that can be unpredictable, he said. The challenges for police in their efforts to stem gun violence have changed little over the past several years as the easy access to handguns acquired largely through residential burglaries has created a legion of potential assailants most of them under the age of 25. In October, community and school leaders joined Bloomington police officers in asking for the public's help in addressing over 13 shootings in the city from April 2015 to that time. The hand-to-hand passing of illegal guns among people who may use them to steal from others or settle a grudge is recognized by police as one of their toughest challenges in the fight to curtail gun violence. Videos posted by hybrid gangs show off the affection some members have for guns, said Heffner. "Some people are enamored by guns. They just don't understand the consequences," said the police chief. The consequences for using a gun during a crime should be serious, said McLean County State's Attorney Jason Chambers, who supports the 15 years added to sentences in Illinois for crimes involving weapons. "Often times there's a progression where people start carrying a gun and then it progresses to them pulling it out, making a visual threat. Then you have people who are willing to pull the trigger," said Chambers. Bloomington police estimated that more than 60 percent of the 76 armed robberies committed in the city since 2011 involved a firearm. Only a dozen of the 141 firearms stolen during that time frame were recovered. Searches by Bloomington police officers related to two drug busts in January turned up five handguns, including two that had been stolen in separate break-ins. BPD Detective John Atteberry acknowledged that the recovery of five weapons in a single month was a rare success. Once again the media is misleading the American public. Several news outlets are reporting the shooting in Orlando as the deadliest single-day shooting in the history of the U.S. And some as the worst shooting in U.S. history. Facts, however have a funny way of shedding light on the truth. The media seems to have forgotten the massacre on Dec. 29, 1890. This massacre happened at Wounded Knee, South Dakota where 150 to 300 peaceful men women and children were slaughtered by U.S. military troops. Granted there was more than one shooter, but the number of murdered was much higher than Orlando. The atrocities committed by the military cannot be documented in this letter. These peaceful civilians were being disarmed by the U.S. military over a religious "ghost dance" and tensions were running high on both sides. It appears that Orlando, Fla., wasn't the first time a minority group was targeted. Kevin Livingston, Bloomington Here we go again. Just because 49 people have been shot to death in Orlando, theres renewed talk of gun control. The same thing happened after Sandy Hook, when some loony lawmakers proposed universal background checks on gun sales, a ban on assault weapons and limiting magazines to 10 rounds. But thanks to the NRA and many courageous members of Congress, this nonsense went nowhere. Whew! After all, the slaughter of 20 schoolchildren is no reason to overreact. Look, this is America; we need our guns to hunt, to practice marksmanship and, most importantly, to protect our homes and families. Plenty of traditional guns do the job quite nicely. So why not ban assault weapons, which seem particularly effective for shooting lots of people? Because the bad guys will get them anyway! All well accomplish is to deprive everyone else the fun of fancy firearms. And background checks? Seriously? Just because someone suffers from acute paranoia, fits of unbridled rage and routinely threatens co-workers, he cant go out and buy himself a nice semi-automatic? After all, no ones perfect. Now granted, once in a while a theater, nightclub or office will be strewn with bloody, bullet-ridden bodies. And Sandy Hook wont be the last time that terrified first-graders are shot dead after a failed attempt to hide from a gunman. But lets look on the bright side! The odds of that happening to our children or friends or neighbors are pretty darn remote. Arent they? Randy Gleason, Normal Anticipation for the showing of Disney's live-action "Beauty and the Beast" in March 2017 has definitely increased after the first ever teaser was unveiled in May. However, not much can be deduced from the trailer when fans have been eager for more, and nothing else has been learned about the movie since. But recently, a photo of its stars -- Emma Watson (Belle), Josh Gad (Le Fou), Dan Stevens (Beast), Luke Evans (Gaston) and Kevin Kline (Maurice) -- surfaced on social media, where the candid shot was depicted side-by-side with the original "Beauty and the Beast" animation characters. Once again, this elicited a warm reception from the fans who can only hope that more promos about the movie come out. Twitter member BellayBestiaSon shared the photo of the "Beauty and the Beast" live-action cast as they took a group selfie. The image was matched by a hand-drawn artwork of their characters based off the animated version, which Josh Gad immediately took notice. The actor shared the same photo on his Instagram and noted how great it was. The photo has been receiving thousands of likes from eager followers who said they cannot wait to see the film on the big screen. The original group shot of the cast of "Beauty and the Beast" was actually taken by Josh Gad. He posted this on his Instagram back in 2015, just when filming for the movie wrapped up. Can't wait for you to be our guest. A photo posted by Josh Gad (@joshgad) on Apr 14, 2015 at 11:37am PDT Meanwhile, "Beauty and the Beast" supporting cast member Gugu Mbatha-Raw is as equally excited as her co-stars about the release of the Disney movie. She told E! Online that fans will love the live-action version as much as the original cartoons. "It's got all the magic and the romance of the original but it's also very funny," noted the actress. Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Plumette, the castle's French maid, and she recalls that she while she only shot her scenes for a few days, these were "magical days." She particularly loved dancing in the ballroom with Ewan McGregor (Lumiere) and said that the experience to do "Beauty and the Beast" has been "so exciting." "Beauty and the Beast" will be out in theaters March 17, 2017. Watch the teaser below: We know an adult needs at least 7 hours of shut-eye but most parents and care providers are confused about how much sleep kids should be getting. Only a few people are educated about sleep. With the help of a 13-member panel of experts, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has released the first official sleep guidelines for how much snooze children should get, depending on their age. Lack of sleep is a growing trend among youngsters so the new sleep guidelines are as essential as to what we eat and activities we do, according to Wendy Hall from Canada - a UBC sleep specialist and nursing professor and one of the experts in the panel, reported CBC News. In a survey, at least 25 percent of 12-year-olds don't get enough sleep and this has a large impact on their learning and memory. Following the new sleep guidelines, sufficient amount of sleep in kids promotes growth, healthy weight, protects them from cardiovascular damage and promotes stronger immunity from germs. Other benefits the sleep guidelines endorse are the increase in kids' attention span, boosts learning and children are cautious, reducing injury risks. For optimal health and learning development, children and teens should get the following sleep guidelines (per 24 hours) on a regular basis: The AAP has endorsed new sleep guidelines for children. Are your kids getting enough sleep? https://t.co/mn9xHeRkUc pic.twitter.com/ZS1UbDWPNT HealthyChildren (@healthychildren) June 13, 2016 The American Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed the new sleep guidelines for kids, which were published online on Monday in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The range of the new sleep guidelines for each age grouping is wider than before but the sleep guidelines stress that children and teenagers "need substantial amounts of sleep." Dr. Stuart F. Chan of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, another expert in the panel on the new AASM guidelines was quoted in NBC News. On the other hand, sleep deprivation would eventually take a toll on a kids' health. Dr. Chan cited the dangers of sleep disorder in kids, "sleep apnea is associated with poor school performance, mood and behavior problems, misdiagnosis of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)." And children without getting the following sleep guidelines could even develop heart problems. The biggest challenge parents face is how to ensure that their children get adequate sleep while following the sleep guidelines. There are many factors surrounding a family's activity or kids' social issues that affect sleep. Experts advise parents to observe kids even if they're following the sleep guidelines for children, but are still sleepy during the day, or sleeping more than what's recommended. Parents should consult their family doctor or a pediatrician for there could be an underlying sleep disorder. Prince George and Princess Charlotte may come from a royal family in the United Kingdom. However, their royalty parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton do not want both royal babies to receive the impeccable royal treatment. Even though they have inherited a number of luxury bedroom spreads around Kensington Palace in London, their royal parents prefer to treat them as average children. According to US Magazine, Prince William and Kate Middleton like to take care of their children by themselves without special assistance. "I very much feel if I can do it myself, I want to do it myself", Prince William explained after the birth of George 2 years ago. As a result, Prince William takes on the responsibility to go on a 10-mile journey to pick up his son from pre-school. George who is now 2 years old has begun his study at East Walton's Westacre Montessori School for a 3 days a week program. This set up, makes Prince George converse better and improve his social skills by being around other pre-school students. This successfully eliminates the gap between the son of Royal Prince and the average regular student. On the other hand, Charlotte who is a year old, now shows unique characterisitcs that mirrors that of her royal mother. If Kate is studying, Charlotte follows her as well saying she wants to study too. If Kate is cooking, then Charlotte watches her mom and sets herself right next to her. Charlotte likes to be near her mom all the time and follows whatever her mom is doing. The constant companionship of Kate with her daughter makes Princess Charlotte very happy. Interestingly enough, just like Prince William, Kate doesn't need much assistance in taking care of Charlotte and is a hands-on Mom for as long as she can even on her hectic days. Hello Magazine reports that whenever the the Royal couple has an engagement to go to, they ask Maria, thier Spanish nanny to take care of their kids, especially Charlotte. A trusted source of the palace has attested that Kate usually calls her children through Skype when she and Prince William are away on their travels especially if they are gone for a week or more. Countless fans are now excited for the upcoming release of the "Frozen 2" movie. Now, rumors are rife that Elsa will definitely come out as full-fledged lesbian in the "Frozen" sequel and will fall in love with Anna. Elsa, Anna romance happening in 'Frozen 2' Showbiz Maven has reported that there is a huge possibility of Elsa falling in love with Anna in "Frozen 2" should the lesbian plot will be realized. It has been previously reported that Anna is just an adopted daughter of the deceased King and Queen of Arendelle. If this is so, this means that Elsa and Anna are not related at all and might develop feelings for each other if Disney would push through a lesbian Elsa in "Frozen 2." Though nothiing is confirmed as of yet, it is very likely that Elsa will be coming out as a fully-fledged lesbian after million fans have petitioned to make her the first-ever gay Disney princess. It can be recalled that the theme song of the first "Frozen" movie titled "Let It Go" has been a huge issue for some as it allegedly promote homosexuality. However, composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez have made it clear that the song is more about breaking free and not being afraid of showing the world who and what you truly are. Olaf to fall in love with a human in 'Frozen 2' Meanwhile, Cross Map has reported that Olaf will definitely be falling in love with a human in "Frozen 2" movie. However, up until now, nothing is confirmed by Disney. Sources have claimed that getting Olaf a love interest in "Frozen 2" is important as it could also boost merchandise sales aside from making the plot more interesting. In fact, voice actor Josh Gad, who plays Olaf, have voiced his excitement for "Frozen 2" and for the possibility of having a partner in the upcoming movie. "I'm just excited that they announced it," Josh Gad told E! News. I have complete faith in the creative team and I'm excited to hear that it's happening at this point." "Frozen 2" is slated to hit theatres in 2017. Do you think Elsa will be falling in love with Anna in "Frozen 2" movie? What are the things you expect to happen in "Frozen 2"? Share to us your thoughts in the comment section below. Google is consistently exploring all facets of virtual learning with the success of online applications, with a new artificial intelligence lab. Focusing on machines learning for the advancement of its products, Google Research Europe would be based in Switzerland. Following Google's recently launched Assistant, the company's European research team on artificial intelligence would be under the expertise of Emmanuel Mogenet plus up to a few hundred colleagues. Two years after successfully acquiring British startup DeepMind for 400m, the Silicon Valley giant even got 250 AI London-based experts to collaborate with the Zurich team, Telegraph UK reported. The new Zurich team is geared towards shaping Search, which would launch the artificial intelligence-powered application as an "ultimate assistant". That said, Mogenet adds that Search would feature a voice-activated, human-like AI capable of appropriate intelligent responses to queries entered via the search engine online. Mogenet also views the new Google Search AI to be the most helpful and reliable artificial intelligence assistant which could be utilized across varied platforms, from the comfort of one's phone to cars. Many other examples that Google had demonstrated over the years through machine learning (with a high accuracy rate) include Google Photos and the Smart Reply feature for Gmail. Machine learning is the most relevant counterpart for driverless technology nowadays, as experienced by Tesla car users. With Google Search in the works, the company aims to deepen the exploration of how artificial intelligence can be useful in replicating simple to complex process in a matter of seconds by the human brain, CNET reported. The new Zurich artificial intelligence team would be concentrating on research areas that deals with natural language parsing, as well as machine perception. The upcoming AI-powered Search would be the on-point answer to Prof. John Searle's question, the known Slusser Professor of Philosophy at Berkeley University: "Why don't these brain guys solve the problem by consciousness?". Well, Google has already done something about it. The aftermath of the Orlando, Disney tragic accident where a 2 year old boy was snatched by an alligator, the Graves couple, Matthew and Melissa received backlashes from social media. However, those in support and showed compassion towards the victim's family,posted in social media, photos of their kids playing by the beach, on the same spot where the young Graves boy was playing that fateful evening. The incident happened days ago and CNN had reports on how the police and rescuers tried to find the gator that snatched the boy leading to his tragic death. They found the boy Lane but it was too late. It looked like a harmless evening as the family on vacation decided to wade a little bit at the lagoon. Little did they know a tragic accident is coming their way, and it did. What hurts the most is the enemy is not even a human being that you could just simply charge and put to justice by getting the culprit in jail. Instead it was a beast of water and land. Now, they are getting all these hate comments for something that was beyond their control. Some people say they should be charged for child endangerment. There a lot of other ugly things being said about the parents of the victim. Here is just one of it: Police should be investigating Nebraska parents for negligence and neglect. Their irresponsible parenting caused death of their son. Lou Thomas (@Rivco12survivor) June 16, 2016 However, in response to the negative comments on the family of the victim, here are some of the compassionate support from other parents who think that the boy's parents shouldn't be blamed for the incident: Buzzfeed made a report of others who also posted photos of their children playing near the lagoon. This is to show their support and to extend their condolences. To the Graves family, much heartfelt condolences. May you be comforted in your hour of your grief. Katie Holmes' ex-husband, Tom Cruise, who has been a singular member of the Church Of Scientology will reportedly leave his religion. Although Tom Cruise had been a steadfast member of Scientology despite alleged detriment to his relationship with daughter Suri by ex-wife Katie Holmes, the "Mission Impossible" actor will now supposedly walk. Gossip Cop cites OK! in reporting that the cause for Tom Cruise leaving Scientology is his "The Mummy" co-star Annabelle Wallis. Tom Cruise allegedly fell for Annabelle Wallis while they filmed "The Mummy" The allegation continues to say that Annabelle Wallis is just as attracted to the "X-Men: First Class" actress' co-star, but hesitates because Tom Cruise is involved with Scientology. "She told him she couldn't make a commitment to him so long as he was a practicing Scientologist," a supposed source allegedly told OK! While Annabelle Wallis supposedly thinks Tom Cruise is great company, the "Body Of Lies" actress is unwilling to convert to Scientology to be with the "Jack Reacher" star. Floating information suggests that Scientology tends to discourage church members from getting together with non-church members on a romantic capacity. The alleged OK! source, however, supposedly relayed that Annabelle Wallis caused Tom Cruise to re-examine his Scientology affiliation. "Tom has always done what the church asked, but he's finally realizing what a negative impact that's had on his relationships," the supposed source is said to have stated. Tom Cruise and Annabelle Wallis reportedly went on a dinner with Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx. Gossip Cop, however, refutes the allegations over Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis and the matter of quitting Scientology. Gossip Cop states that Tom Cruise has no intention whatsoever to leave Scientology for any reason. Tom Cruise had been involved in more than a few controversies relating to Scientology and his supposed romance with Annabelle Wallis and get-together with Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx are just the latest ones. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions This service is a courtesy for our print subscribers to give them access to our online edition at no additional cost. If you haven't registered on the new site, you must do it now before you do anything else. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Patna: A daily wage earner died in Patna on Friday when he and another person were brutally beaten by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) after they were mistaken for thieves targeting people near Patna Junction, Karbigahia, and Jakkanpur Railway Colony. As reported, RPF jawans detained two men on late Thursday night on suspicion of them being thieves. Both were tied to a pole and beaten up all night long. One person, who was identified as the daily wage earner Rampreet Yadav, died of his injuries. The RPF jawans then threw his dead body on Mithapur where it was discovered on Friday morning. Another man, who was also beaten up and tortured, was rushed to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for apparent body injuries. Yadav's body was sent to the PMCH for an autopsy. Meanwhile, police have arrested one RPF jawan in this connection though two others remain underground, DSP Ramakant said. Iran's Judiciary Evades Responsibility for Lashing Sentences against Striking Miners 06/18/16 Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran After a month-long silence amid widespread condemnation of the decision by Irans Judiciary to intervene in a local labor dispute and punish 17 protesting mine workers with lashing sentences, the Judiciarys spokesperson has finally spoken out by evading responsibility for the ruling. It is possible that the judges taste does not match ours in some cases, and we dont defend such tastes, said Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, during a press conference on June 12, 2016, according to the semi-official Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA). Public outcry over the lashing sentences has meanwhile resulted in the dismissal of a Rouhani government official in charge of labor matters. Traditionally, local labor councils have handled labor disputes in the Islamic Republic, but the Judiciary has been increasingly inserting itself into the disputes, and has been criticized for siding with employers. Meanwhile, independent unions are not allowed to function in Iran, workers are routinely fired and risk arrest for striking, and labor leaders are prosecuted under national security charges and sentenced to long prison terms. Asked by an ILNA reporter why the Judiciary has been entering labor disputes and siding with employers, Ejei said: I categorically deny [the allegation] that we have entered union matters and that we have voted in favor of the employers, as we have repeatedly asked the Labor Ministry and government organizations to intervene in such cases in favor of the workers. Ejei did, however, acknowledge the Judiciarys increasing involvement in labor disputes: Where [actions] lead to social loss and crime, it shouldnt be expected that the Judiciary would not enter, he said. The Judiciarys dismissal of responsibility for the lashing sentences, which the United Nations has declared a cruel and inhumane punishment tantamount to torture, comes at a time of growing public outcry for accountability. In fact, experts on Iranian law point out that the Judiciary should have put its weight behind the employees in the case involving the 17 mine workers. From a legal standpoint, the Judiciary can reach the conclusion that the punishment against these workers was unlawful and compensate them for the fines they were ordered to pay, Farideh Gheyrat, a prominent lawyer based in Iran, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Workers Lashed for Protesting On December 27, 2014 a large group of workers from the village of Agh Darreh in West Azerbaijan Province gathered in front of the Agh Darreh gold mines guardhouse to protest the firing of 350 workers. That same day one of the sacked workers attempted suicide and was taken to hospital, but ultimately survived. The Pouya Zarkan Company, which operates the mine, sued 17 of the workers at the rally for disrupting public order. They were found guilty and sentenced to prison, lashings and fined up to five million rials ($164 USD) each. The workers received a pardon from Irans supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, for their prison terms, but the lashings-between 30 and 100 per worker-were carried out. Shortly afterwards a court in Yazd Province also sentenced a group of protesting workers from the Iran Central Iron Ore Company in the city of Bafgh to lashings on June 6, 2016. Mohammad Jedari Foroughi, a lawyer representing nine of the accused workers in the Bafgh case, told ILNA that Branch 105 of the Second Criminal Court in Yazd had ruled that a rally for workers rights by his clients in 2014 had disrupted order and prevented production at the mine. The workers were sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven to 11 months and 30 to 50 lashes each. The court has suspended the implementation of the sentences for five years, but Foroughi said he would still file appeals. Widespread Condemnation On June 1, 2016 ILNA reported that the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei had written to the prosecutor general to investigate the Agh Darreh case. He also removed West Azerbaijans labor affairs director, Reza Taghizadeh, from his post for being uninformed about the lashing sentences carried out against the gold mine workers. The government finds [the Agh Darreh] case regrettable, said the Rouhani governments spokesperson, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, at a press conference on June 7, 2016. That same day Mohsen Sarkhoo, the chairman of the Tehran City Councils Labor Faction described the lashings as unprecedented and called on the Judiciary to review the rulings. If employers continue to bring criminal charges against workers simply for protesting, the labor force would no longer feel secure and ultimately production and profits would suffer, said Fathollah Bayat, chairman of the Contract Workers Union, on May 29, 2016. On June 7 2016, the Islamic Labor Party issued a statement condemning the punishments: After the lashing sentences for taking part in a union protest rally were carried out against the workers from the Agh Darreh gold mine, and the subsequent outcry from the labor community and popular organizations against the Judiciary for these punishments that are against the countrys labor laws as well as international conventions, we did not expect to see any more judges interfering in disputes between workers and employers. Unfortunately, the lack of sufficient care in resolving these kinds of disputes has caused more protesting workers to receive lashing sentences, this time at the Bafgh iron ore mine, said the statement. Two labor organizations in neighboring East Azerbaijan Province-the Islamic Labor Councils Coordinating Committee and the Labor Unions Association-issued a joint statement on May 30, 2016 condemning the lashings and calling on the Judiciary to stay out of labor welfare disputes. Unfortunately, we have been witnessing workers being sued and punished for [being involved in] labor protests demanding better welfare and the implementation of labor laws in some cases, said the statement. Employers are filing complaints with the Judiciary and building cases against this hardworking class, continued the statement. These cases undermine the principle of separation of powers between the three branches of state and marginalize workers to the point that they would not be able to demand dialogue within legal frameworks. These punishments violate international labor conventions. Previous Lashing Sentences In April 2015 five workers from the Chador Malou iron ore mine in Yazd Province were sentenced to prison and lashings for disturbing order and denying others the right [to work], but their prison sentences were suspended and the lashings reduced to fines because they had no prior criminal record. In September 2014 four workers from the Razi petrochemical plant in Bandar Imam Khomeini in southern Iran were also sentenced to six months in prison and 50 lashes each for disturbing the peace and making insults and threats. The employer accused the workers of provoking their colleagues to make irrelevant demands unrelated to work that forced the plant to shut down for several days. In February 2009 two female labor activists-Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabad-were flogged 70 times and 15 times respectively for attending a rally marking International Labor Day on May 1, 2009 in Sanandaj, a city in Irans Kurdistan Province. Another Israeli Right-Winger Breaks With Netanyahu on Iran Deal 06/18/16 By Ali Gharib (source: LobeLog) When world powers led by the United States signed a nuclear deal with Iran, American neoconservatives and other pro-Israel hawks were positively apoplectic. Mark Kirk, the Republican senator from Illinois who enjoys a consistent windfall of pro-Israel campaign cash, said that the deal was worse than the Munich agreement with Nazi Germany. The Wall Street Journal opinion pages Bret Stephens actually used that as a headline: Worse than Munich. In fairness, these hawks were just taking their cues from Israel itself. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long regarded Iran as a second coming of the Nazis. He stated this unequivocally when the world was on the cusp of a nuclear deal-and defended the line of argument when it was criticized. That this notion would echo through rank-and-file right-wing Israel supporters in America should be no surprise: they have long been clear in their affinity for Netanyahu and his bankrupt worldview. Oddly, however, Netanyahus tack seems to have always engendered more detractors in Israel itself-and not just lily-livered peaceniks. One hawkish figure, Netanyahus last defense minister Moshe Yaalon, didnt ever directly repudiate the comparisons of Iran to the Nazis but never made them himself. An eight-year member of Netanyahus Likud party, Yaalon recently parted ways acrimoniously with the government. At a speech to this years Herzliya conference (the neocon Woodstock), he delivered a blistering attack on Netanyahu and his rhetoric. Heres The Washington Posts translation: At this time and in the foreseeable future, there is not an existential threat to Israel. Israel is the strongest state in the region and there is an enormous gap between it and every country and organization around it. Therefore, it is appropriate for the leadership in Israel to stop scaring the citizens and to stop telling them that we are on the verge of a second Holocaust. But Yaalon didnt stop there. He went on to more-or-less endorse the Iran nuclear deal. The Islamic Republics nuclear program, said Yaalon, has been frozen in light of the deal signed by the world powers and does not constitute an immediate, existential threat for Israel. Its hard to see how this latest statement could possibly stand in opposition to Secretary of State John Kerrys defense that the people of Israel will be safer with this deal. Yaalons turn-around has been nothing short of stunning. Though eschewing comparisons to the Nazis, he was a vociferous critic of diplomacy with Iran. As Netanyahu pointed out in his rebuttal to Yaalon, the then-defense minister called Iran an existential threat to Israel just four months ago. One cannot express full confidence in the leadership when one is part of it and then say the complete opposite when you are outside, Netanyahu said in response to Yaalons latest remarks, according to the Post. Therefore, no importance should be ascribed to such political attacks. But actually one can expect exactly that. When one is in government, one is responsible to higher authorities. A government official must toe the line-it is literally part of their job-or resign and speak out. In this case, Yaalon followed orders until his relationship with the government ended. Only then did he give voice to his criticisms. Yaalons announcement that he had his own political ambitions was an additional complication-see: the political attacks that Netanyahu referred to-but it does not obviate what he is saying. After all, Yaalon is not merely casting himself as an outsider of Israeli politics. Rather, he is joining a litany of current and former security officials who have spoken out in favor of the Iran nuclear deal. Dissent from Netanyahus anti-Iran belligerence can be found at the top echelons of the military andamong other nodes of the security establishment. The list is not limited to individuals, either. Israels nuclear commission, a bureaucratic body of experts created to advise the government, has also endorsed the deal. And yet in the U.S., hawks ignore the mounting accumulation of these countervailing opinions. Its a remarkable show of intellectual dishonesty. Some neocons bristle at being called Likudniks-they think it smacks of dual-loyalty accusations-but until now it seemed apt. With even a Likud man like Yaalon breaking with Netanyahus party, however, it might be said that, today, neocons are hardly even Likudniks; theyre pure Netanyahuists. There is nothing that can make them so much as even acknowledge criticisms of the Israeli prime minister, let alone accept those criticisms. They are showing, once again, that their neoconservative ideology is just as bankrupt as their idol Netanyahu. About the Author: Ali Gharib is a New York-based journalist on U.S. foreign policy with a focus on the Middle East and Central Asia. His work has appeared at Inter Press Service, where he was the Deputy Washington Bureau Chief; the Buffalo Beast; Huffington Post; Mondoweiss; Right Web; and Alternet. He holds a Master's degree in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. A proud Iranian-American and fluent Farsi speaker, Ali was born in California and raised in D.C. Iran next to join emerging power SCO: Kazakhstan President 06/18/16 Source: Press TV Iran is next to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which will officially have India and Pakistan on its roster next week, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has said. Leaders of the regional security group, led by China and Russia, will meet for the summit of their leaders in Uzbekistans capital of Tashkent on June 23 and 24. Iran has long sought SCO membership Iran has long sought SCO membership We will meet up next time at the SCO forum at which we will include India and Pakistan into the organization, Russias Interfax news agency on Saturday quoted Nazarbayev as saying. Iran is the next. So, this organization with three billion residents is becoming a huge power," he added. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will attend the summit as will Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is optimism that the entry of India and Pakistan into the grouping will have sobering effect on the two nuclear arch-rivals ties. Besides adding 1.5 billion people under the SCO umbrella, the India-Pakistan admission may also help improve strained ties between India and Pakistan by opening another communication channel, Xia Yishan, a research fellow of Central Asian studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said. SCO Members [dark blue] and Acceding States [light blue] as of 2016 The SCO, founded in 2001, comprises of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as full members and covers political, economic and military cooperation. Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status. India and Pakistan had their admission finalized at Ufa summit in Russia last year but the procedures including the adoption of all SCO documents by both countries are still under way and they may have to wait until the 2017 summit for formal seat among its members. Iran has long sought membership in the SCO but the group kept the country waiting until it reached an agreement with the US, Europe and other key international players on its nuclear program. With the addition of Iran, the group would control around a fifth of the world's oil and represent nearly a half of the global population. Leaders of SCO countries and observer states pose for a group photo on the sidelines of their summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Sept. 11, 2014. The SCO has also sought unity with the BRICS group of world countries - Brazil, India, South Africa, China and Russia. The two bodies have agreed to coordinate efforts to keep their economies stable, launched a development bank and agreed on a currency pool. Member countries are keen to offer an alternative to an outdated vision of a "uni-polar" world dominated by Washington. For Russia, the SCO and its close cooperation with BRICS provides a timely counterbalance to Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and the Wests military expansion near Russian borders. The SCO is also a boost to Chinas plans to rebuild the Silk Road as its signature foreign policy initiative and reach markets in Europe and Africa. Under the One Belt, One Road policy, unveiled by President Xi in 2013, Beijing seeks to build land, sea and air routes reaching across the Asian continent and beyond with the aim of boosting trade by $2.5 trillion in the next decade. The West looks at the plan with suspicion, seeing it as part of a political gambit aimed at expanding China's economic presence. Manuel Villareal probably wishes the bicycle he was riding Thursday night had a headlight. It set off a chain of events that landed the 25-year-old Los Angeles man in jail. When a San Bernardino County sheriffs deputy tried to stop Villareal near Gray Street and First Avenue about 10:22 p.m. for lacking a headlight a violation of California vehicle code Villareal grabbed something from his waistband and ran, according to a sheriffs news release. After Villareal refused his command to stop, the deputy gave chase on foot. Before losing sight of the fleeing man, the deputy saw him throw something into a nearby yard, the release stated. After more deputies arrived and set up a perimeter, a nearby resident reported seeing Villareal force himself into a house. The deputies found him there hiding in a laundry room and took him into custody, officials said. After searching the area, deputies found a loaded 9mm handgun, a loaded 9mm magazine and marijuana. They found the gun on the roof of the house next to the one in which Villareal hid, according to the release. Deputies arrested Villareal on suspicious of being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and burglary. They booked him at the Central Detention Center. After almost three years on the job, Fontana Unified Superintendent Leslie Boozer is leaving the district. Boozer has accepted a job as superintendent of Dublin Unified School District, 15 miles east of the San Francisco Bay. The move was prompted by a recent engagement to be married. When the changes in my personal life started to occur in the last couple of months, I started look at the options that were out there to go up north, Boozer said Thursday afternoon. Its a rapidly growing district with some amazing programs. Boozers last day in Fontana Unified will likely be sometime in July, she said. The school board is expected to interview interim superintendent candidates at its June 29 meeting and interview executive search firms to help find Boozers permanent replacement at its July 8 board meeting. Boozer has led Fontana Unified since November 2013 and tendered her resignation to the school board Wednesday. The work is never done. Were educating kids, and thats very dynamic, but I feel like weve done a lot to strengthen academics for our students, she said. I think weve made some wonderful progress and Im really proud of the work that the board of education and our staff has been able to accomplish. During Boozers time in the front office, Fontana Unifieds graduation rates at its five comprehensive high schools rose to 92.9 percent for the Class of 2015, according to the news release, and more students took the classes necessary to attend California State University and the University of California, among other achievements. Our district appreciates Dr. Boozer for her transformational leadership over the past three years, as she worked to strengthen the academic achievements of our students, increase professional development for staff and established partnerships with the community to ensure the continued success of their children, school board president Lorena Corona said in the districts release. During this time of transition, the board and I share the same commitment to continue the great work Dr. Boozer and her team has started, including ensuring academic excellence and providing the support our students need to succeed. Boozers new district is much smaller than her current one. Fontana Unified teaches 38,742 students, according to the California Department of Education, while Dublin Unified teaches 9,965. Although excited for the changes ahead of her, Boozer said shell miss Fontana. We have great teachers, great staff, amazing students. Theres a lot of amazing things happening in our schools, she said. Im very proud of the work that weve done here. Its an amazing community, and Im sad to leave it. Contact the writer: beau.yarbrough@langnews.com; @LBY3 In the early 20th century, the distinctive red cars of the Pacific Electric Railway system criss-crossed Southern California from San Bernardino to Santa Monica and Pasadena to Newport Beach. Those red cars will be back in action on Saturday, June 18, and Sunday, June 19, during Pacific Electric Weekend at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris. Activities include a Fathers Day barbeque on Sunday (reservations required). By the 1950s the expanding highway system was siphoning riders away from mass transportation and the last line of the Pacific Electric was discontinued in 1961. The Orange Empire Railway Museum, founded in 1956, maintains a large collection of red cars which will be operating this weekend. According to a museum news release, The museums extensive collection of Red Cars represents what was once Americas largest interurban electric railway system. Admission to the park is free. An all-day ride pass is $12 for ages 12-and-up, $8 for ages 5-to-11, and free for those 4-and-under. The barbecue is $12 for adults and $6 for children. For more information, call 951-943-3020, or visit www.oerm.org. A legal battle over the World Logistics Center will continue through at least the summer as opponents and Moreno Valley square off over whether the city violated state law in approving three developer-backed initiatives. A Riverside County judge is scheduled to hear arguments in the case Aug. 3. A hearing that had been scheduled for Friday, June 17, was canceled. Moreno Valley and developer Highland Fairview face a dozen lawsuits over the City Councils approval last August of the 40.6 million-square-foot project that would transform the citys eastern side south of Highway 60. Plaintiffs including Riverside County, the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and a coalition of environmental groups say the project would increase traffic and air pollution and that the environmental analysis did not meet state law. A second round of lawsuits accused the developer and city of trying to circumvent state environmental law and the legal challenges when the council repealed its prior approval and adopted initiatives with nearly identical language three months later. In doing so, the city and developer are relying on a 2014 state Supreme Court ruling that found that voter-approved development initiatives are generally exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act. The case also allows legislative bodies to adopt them without actually taking them to voters, as was done in Moreno Valley. Highland Fairview and city officials say their actions followed state law. For now, the parties have agreed to put on hold the lawsuits challenging the project approval and first address the initiatives, interim City Attorney Steve Quintanilla said. The city has also chosen not to seek a change of venue an option available in cases involving public agencies and will continue to have the case heard by Judge Sharon Waters. She has overseen several cases involving state environmental law including lawsuits over Metrolinks Perris Valley Line and the 11,350-home Villages of Lakeview development that was proposed between Perris and San Jacinto. In court documents, attorneys for the air quality district, transportation commission and environmental groups have asked the judge to set aside approval of two of the initiatives which they say go beyond what is allowed under the state constitution. One initiative includes the same terms as the previously approved development agreement but removes Highland Fairviews name and only lists the beneficiary as the current property-owner. But state law does not allow initiatives to be used to approve development agreements or confer benefits to private groups such as Highland Fairview, a brief by Rachel Hooper, an attorney for the air district, stated. In their reponse, the city and Highland Fairview stated that the initiative is constitutional because no specific corporation or individual is named and the beneficiary is the un-named owner of the property who does not need to be identified. But Hooper stated that Highland Fairview is clearly the beneficiary as it owns the property, played an integral part in the public debate about the initiatives and was even identified as the other party by city officials during their discussions when it was adopted. The company spent more than $800,000 backing the initiatives, according to campaign spending reports. Another initiative has the same conditions included to comply with state environmental law that were in the original approval. Those too are not allowed through the initiative process, Hooper stated. In response, the city and Highland Fairview stated that approval of development conditions is a legislative act and can be done through initiative. Contact the writer: 951-368-9558 or ighori@pressenterprise.com June 12 marked day six of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but also a day where, unfortunately, a heinous act of hate was witnessed once again. An attack on a small group of people, is an attack on humanity. As an Ahmadi Muslim, its heartbreaking to hear that a terrorist in the name of Islam attacked his fellow humans because he did not agree with their choices. There is no such belief as killing in the name of God. Islam gives its followers the right to accept the choices of others whether others agree or not. No one has the right to judge others for whatever the reason might be. God is the judge of all actions whether they are right or wrong. Palvasha Noor Rancho Cucamonga Climate change skepticism Implicit in the claim that climate change is largely due to the emissions that arise from human activities is the belief that once upon a time there was a steady state wherein the climate never varied beyond the bounds that humans found comfortable. As most of the climate change proponents are agnostic if not atheistic, this steady state can be seen as a kind of secular Eden, a happy time in which generations of humans lived out their years in a natural state. Now that the pope and other religious leaders are throwing their support behind this climate change orthodoxy God embraces Gaia we who dare assert that the climate is always changing and both recorded and geological history tell us theres little we can do about it, find ourselves in the curious position of being regarded as both anti-science and anti-religious heretics. That climate change can be controlled offers comfort to a growing majority who believe in magic rather than what we, the unhappy few, know to be true: we are fated to live in a world where the climate is sometimes cooling, sometimes warming, but ever changing and on occasions, catastrophically so. Lowell Stacy Moreno Valley Lake Elsinores Planning Commission will have a full complement of members as a result of City Council appointments this week. Council members reappointed Commissioner John Gray to a second term. They also picked Public Safety Advisory Commissioner Myles Ross and landscaping business owner Michael Carroll to join the panel. Seven residents applied for the three seats, one of which was vacant. All the applicants were excellent, said Councilman Daryl Hickman, who along with colleague Bob Magee was assigned to recommend candidates to the council. The five-member council voted unanimously Tuesday, June 14, to support Magee and Hickmans recommendations of the three, who will begin their four-year terms on July 1. Gray, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, was founder and chief executive officer of the resort Glen Ivy Hot Springs located between Lake Elsinore and Corona. Now retired, Gray is serving his second full term after being appointed as a planning commissioner in 2012. Ross, who was educated at the University of Phoenix and Cottonwood School of Ministry in Los Alamitos, was appointed in February 2014 to fill a vacancy on the public safety group. To be a planning commissioner, he will vacate his public safety panel seat and the council will appoint a new member in the coming months. Carroll, an alumnus of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, owns Eco Planet Landscaping, which is based in Lake Elsinore. He is active in the Rotary Club and the citys annual Clean Extreme community cleanup. Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams@pressenterprise.com San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon will travel to Tel Aviv, Israel, to attend the Anti Defamation Leagues annual National Counter-Terrorism Seminar from July 30 through Aug. 7. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved McMahons $2,000 travel expense. McMahon said in a telephone interview he has not been asked to speak at the weeklong conference about the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino but would not object if asked. It was also unclear if law enforcement officials in Orange County, Fla., would attend the seminar. On Sunday, the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 and deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history occurred there. Before he killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub, the shooter, Omar Marteen like San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik pledged his allegiance to ISIS. Since 2004, law enforcement executives from across the country and members of the ADL have traveled to Israel to learn about its tactics and strategies in combating terrorism, according to the ADL website. The citizens of Israel have been dealing with terrorist activity and how to respond to it for years, McMahon said. I have a couple of friends who are sheriffs who went two years ago and felt it was very beneficial to see how they secure their borders, deal with the terrorist threat and how they get in front of the media right away. The seminar is an intensive weeklong course led by senior commanders in the Israel National Police, experts from Israels intelligence and security services, and the Israel Defense Forces. More than 175 law enforcement executives have participated in the event since it began. My hope is that the things I learn over there, I can share with our peers back in our county on how to deal with tragic events should another one occur, said McMahon. Contact the writer: joe.nelson@langnews.com; @SBCountyNow California employers pulled back on their hiring in May with just 15,000 jobs added, but the states unemployment rate dipped to 5.2 percent. The Inland jobless rate was just slightly higher at 5.3 percent. Californias jobless rate of 5.2 percent for May was down from 5.3 percent the previous month and 6.4 percent a year earlier, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. Chris Thornberg, director of the UC Riverside business schools forecasting division, cautioned against placing too much emphasis on one months results. The surveys are all over the place, he said. Weve added an average of about 33,000 jobs a month over the past three months. Thats a bit of a slowdown, but as far as slowdowns go, its not a big deal. The Inland Empire added 4,000 jobs in May, about 1,000 more than the previous month, and the two-county regions unemployment rate dropped to 5.3 percent compared with 5.6 percent in April and 6.4 percent a year earlier. Educational and health services posted the biggest monthly gain of 2,400 jobs. Construction added 900; trade, transportation and utilities added 800; government grew by 500 jobs and manufacturing boosted its payrolls with 400 new jobs. Thornberg said it makes sense the Inland Empire would add manufacturing jobs while L.A. County is shedding them. Thats a lot cheaper place to do work, he said. Many manufacturing companies are thinking about moving out there and theres a resurgence going on for industries that do things like fabricated metals and aerospace components. The Inland Empire added 43,600 jobs over the year at an annual growth rate of 3.3 percent. Trade, transportation and utilities led the growth with a year-over-year gain of 13,900 jobs. Seven other industries also boosted their payrolls, including educational and health services (9,200) and government (8,000). Mining and logging were the only two industries to post declines, with a combined loss of 300 jobs, the EDD reported. Last months employment boost in California was especially weak in light of the 70,000 jobs that were added in April. But the Golden State still led the nation in year-over-year job growth for May, with 440,300 jobs added at an annual rate of 2.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Florida ranked second with 253,000 jobs, followed by Texas (171,000), Georgia (124,600) and Washington (100,800). Contact the writer: kevin.smith@langnews.com; @SGVNBiz on Twitter Theres no contest when it comes to police privacy vs. the publics right to know. The cops are winning all the lobbying battles in the state Capitol this year. Next up is a bill by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, that would allow a law enforcement officer to block a public agency from responding to a Public Records Act request for body-cam footage or other recordings. This is an unwise and counterproductive bill, bad for the public and bad even for police in the long run. Yet Mr. Santiagos Assembly Bill 2533 sailed through the Assembly and is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. The bill sponsored by the Peace Officers Research Association of California and opposed by the California Newspaper Publishers Association would require a public agency to provide an officer at least three business days notice before posting on the internet any audio or video recording of the officer, recorded by the officer or involving the officer. That would give the officer time to seek an injunction and tie up release of the recording in court, even if the agency wants to comply with the public-records request. As James Ewart, CNPAs general counsel, wrote to Asm. Santiago, his bill would allow a self-interested individual to have a stranglehold over information that the public has an overwhelming interest in obtaining and that a law enforcement agency may want to disclose immediately for the good of the community. He cited as an example LAPDs infamous beating of Rodney King: In a similar case today, if AB2533 were the law, the agency could not release any officers body-cam footage for three days or more, if the public has to overcome an injunction while graphic videos by bystanders would be ubiquitous. That would stoke the communitys suspicion about police rather than allaying it, as a quick release of footage might. The members of the Senate Public Safety Committee should stop this bill in its tracks. On the other hand, a bill that would have greatly improved transparency for Californias police agencies died quietly in the Senate late last month. Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Long Beach, used his chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee to kill SB1286, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, without debate. The bill had been passed by two Senate committees, but Sen. Lara placed it on suspense May 9 and didnt bring it back for consideration by the deadline to move bills to the Senate floor. Sne. Lenos bill, co-authored by Sens. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa and co-sponsored by the CNPA, the ACLU and other organizations, would have allowed the public access to records of investigations and discipline in police use-of-force cases but only when a police agency had found its officer had violated public rights, not when there are mere allegations. It also called for members of the public who file a police misconduct complaint to be told how the department responded to it. Those are records the public has access to in states like Texas and Utah, for example, but not in California. And our Legislature is keeping it that way. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has initiated moves to bring more stability to the local currency with the introduction of some regulations. The Ghana cedi has remained relatively stable against the major foreign currencies particularly the US dollar but its performance has been overshadowed by other Africa currencies which have been performing better. As at June 1, the cedi had lost about 1.2 percent in value against the US dollar. But the BoG in a bid to consolidate the gains and avert turbulence has introduced measures to deepen the foreign exchange market and promote greater transparency in the determination of the exchange rate. As part of the measures, it is amending the requirements for surrender and repatriation of export receipts. With effect from July 1, 2016, the portion of foreign exchange receipts from the export of minerals and cocoa (other than the proceeds of the cocoa syndicated loan) that was subject to surrender would no longer have to be surrendered to the BoG but directly to the commercial banks. Importantly, all exporters, except those who operate in accordance with Retention Agreements and who have been permitted to operate accounts offshore, would also be required to repatriate in full, all their export receipts to banks in Ghana. This will be credited into their foreign exchange accounts (FEA) or converted into cedis on need basis. Meanwhile, rules on repatriation of export proceeds require that all exporters of goods and services, with the exception of those with retention agreements are obliged to repatriate to Ghana all export proceeds. Exporters who operate in accordance with retention agreements and who have been permitted to operate accounts offshore are also allowed, until further notice, to retain in their offshore accounts the portion of export proceeds as provided for under the retention agreements, the BoG said. The bank further stated that all other exporters shall ensure repatriation of export proceeds in accordance with the terms of export, provided that all export proceeds shall be received and repatriated immediately within a period not exceeding 60 days from the day of shipment of goods. Export proceeds shall also be repatriated through an external bank to exporters Foreign Exchange Account (FEA) opened with a local bank which endorsed the export documents, it concluded. Source: The Finder Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), has denied the arrests of four British men, one German and two Ghanaians in a United Kingdom (UK) international law operation resulting in the seizure of a ton of narcotic drugs valued at 80 million in an Accra villa. According to a statement copied Peacefmonline.com, a publication dated June 3, 2016, and posted on Ghanaweb, as well as other media platforms about the arrests, were false. The statement signed by Col E.W.K Nibo, said that the secretariat, had established that the same story was published by peacefmonline.com on December 17, 2011. He revealed that, investigations have uncovered no new arrests as reported by Ghanaweb on June 3, 2016, supporting strongly that Ghanaweb merely recycled an old story. Read below the full statement: The attention of the national Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) has been drawn to a publication on Ghanaweb dated June 3, 2016, with the above headline in which the media platform reported the arrest of four British men, one German and two Ghanaians in UK international law operation resulting in the seizure of a ton of drug in a raid on a villa in the suburbs of Accra. The story was sourced from liberianobserver.com but Ghanaweb attributed it to a Ghana Daily Mail newspaper. According to the publication, the interception of the cocaine worth Eighty Million Pounds (80 million) that was destined for the Streets of UK was imported into Ghana and the suspects were arrested when they attempted to export the drug to the UK. It has been established that this same story was published by peacefmonline on December 17, 2011. Investigations have uncovered no new arrests as reported by Ghanaweb on June 3, 2016 supporting strongly that Ghanaweb merely recycled an old story. It is noteworthy that the June 3, version provides no names of the suspects and date of arrest. COLWK NIBO (Rtd) Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The ECOWAS Community Court, has ordered Ghana to pay $ 250,000 in compensation to the family of Augustine Chukwuebuka Ogukwe, 15, a Nigerian Student, who died in a swimming incident on October 2013 in Ghana. The Court said that the compensation is for the failure of the Ghanas police to carry out a proper investigation into the death of the student thereby failing in its obligation to protect and defend all persons within its territory. According to a release from the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, Nigeria, Mr Obioma Ogukwe, father of the deceased had brought an action in which he alleged that he was given an autopsy report issued by the Ghana Police Hospital without his consent or knowledge, which revealed that the basic cause of death was drowning while the direct cause was asphyxia by submersion. Led in evidence by Femi Adedeji, the plaintiff also alleged that the physical appearance, contrary to the Autopsy report, showed evidence of torture on the body and the wounds on his face and sides, which he said were evidence of beating, torture, and gruesome murder. The suit filed in February 2014, the plaintiff claimed that Ghana neither took steps to investigate the matter nor to set up a Coroner Inquest to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the deceased and prosecute any person found culpable in violation of the countrys obligations under international human rights instruments. Consequently, Mr. Adedeji submitted that the right to life of the plaintiffs son had been violated by the State. But Counsel to the Defendant, Mrs Dorothy Afriyie-Ansah submitted that given the peculiar circumstances of the death of Master Austine Ogukwe where no finger prints could be taken, nobody saw how it happened and the tip off was from an unknown informant, no arrest could have been effected. She refuted the claims that the State failed or refused to investigate the matter and to conduct a coroners inquest to unravel the strange occurrence, but that a report of full scale investigation had been submitted to the office of the Attorney General for advice. She then contended that the plaintiff was not entitled to his claim for compensation for a death caused by drowning and not unlawful causes. Mr Justice Micah Wilkins Wright, delivering judgment, acknowledged that though the defendant may not be liable for acts of private institutions operating in its territory, the State has a duty to protect all persons in its territory and to properly investigate or institute an inquiry and punish all acts of violence and violations committed in its territory. The judges also noted the defendants failure to provide evidence in support of its argument, including the documentation of the crime scene, to explain the marks on the body of the deceased, which could have been as a result of several factors. The late Augustine, who was until the tragedy a Student of Ideal College, Tema near the countrys capital was said to have died during a jogging exercise involving 45 other students who later went swimming. Also on the panel were Justices Friday Chijioke Nwoke and Alioune Sall. Source: http://sunnewsonline.com/nigerian Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Government spokesperson Sam Dzata George has lambasted the opposition New Patriotic Party for their attempt to score cheap political points from the raging debate over a Ford Expedition Gift to President John Dramani Mahama. Mr George who was speaking on Metro Tvs Good Morning Ghana show said any attempt by the NPP to tarnish the impeccable reputation of the President will not wash. The NPP is struggling to deal with the massive corruption that has engulfed their party. This is why they have sidelined their National Chairman and General Secretary because they were determined to fight it. Paul Afoko has said it and so this is not in dispute at all. President John Mahama has an impeccable record and the whole world knows that. The NPP is doing everything possible to dent the image of this affable hardworking man because they cant simply match his unprecedented record of achievement. The NPP is desperate. They dont have a message and so will be quick to take advantage of a non-issue like a simple Ford vehicle offered as a gift and handed over to the state to brain wash Ghanaians. I am even told the car is being used by the security at the flagstaff house, he added. His comments come in the wake of a raging controversy about the propriety or otherwise of the president accepting a gift from a contractor. This was after a Joy News investigation by Manasseh Azure Awuni revealed that a Burkinabe contractor, Mr. Djibril Kanazoe gave the luxury vehicle to the President in 2012. He had won two contracts from government, raising questions about the propriety of the gift. According to a code of ethics for ministers and public servants, a gift received should not be more than $50. The luxury vehicle is reportedly valued at $100,000. But dismissing allegations of potential conflict of interest and bribery, Mr. Sam George said he finds the allegations laughable and unfortunate. He said the chronology of events leading to when the contractor presented the car gift do not support the NPPs allegation of bribery. In any case his checks as he put it have revealed that the actual cost of a brand new 2017 Ford Expedition model is $66,000. So it is not possible for a 2 year old 2010 home-used model to cost even close to $100,000. The said contract the NPP keeps harping on was awarded long before the contractor decided to give the Ford Expedition to the President so how can any right thinking person suggest that the President influenced the award of the contract to the Mr Kanazoue. In any case who will receive a bribe and document it. It doesnt even make sense, he told show host Randy Abbey. In a related development, the Convention Peoples' Party (CPP's) flagbearer Ivor Kobina Greenstreet says he sees nothing wrong with the issue being raised. He was reacting to legal practitioner Kwame Boateng Acheampong and Prof Ken Attafuah who have condemned the President for accepting gift. I dont have a feeling that there is a breach of protocol or conflict of interest, he explained on Pulse in an interview with Francis Abban on Joy News channel on Thursday. He dismissed talks about impeaching President John Mahama describing it as ridiculous after the two lawyers argued that the president has breached Article 284 of the Constitution. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Any year in which we get two bites of the RuPauls Drag Race cherry is a damn good year, and just months after Bob The Drag Queen snatched the crown in Season 8, the show is officially returning for another round of All Stars! The cast list for Drag Race All Stars 2 was announced overnight, and while it features only ten queens, it has pretty much everyone you could want especially if you happen to be a fan of Season 5. No fewer than five queens are returning from that year the mighty Rolaskatox will rise again, with Roxxxy Andrews, Alaska and Detox all set to reunite, alongside rivals Coco Montrese and Alyssa Edwards. The season of the fish smells like trout. Season 6 runner-up Adore Delano is coming back, alongside Season 7 favourites Katya and Ginger Minj. Season 4s Phi Phi OHara and Season 2s Tatianna will also be vying for the title. This cast list raises SO MANY LEGITIMATE AND DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. Are Alyssa and Coco still mortal enemies? Is the work room big enough to contain Phi Phi and Roxxxys egos? WHO DO WE EVEN ROOT FOR FROM THIS EXCELLENT BUNCH? Notably absent are the likes of Willam, Courtney Act, BenDeLaCreme and Season 8s Kim Chi, but its not like were complaining about this incredibly stacked cast. The key to a swollen vagina is courage. The show returns Thursday August 25 in the US. We are thinking about the thousands of GIF-worthy moments that Drag Race All Stars 2 will produce and we are figuratively literally screaming. Source: Vulture. Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty. Pewdiepie is not a quiet man anyone who has ever seen one of his videos knows as much. In a recent upload, however, YouTubes biggest star claims that he was evicted from his apartment in Brighton for being too loud. Its not the inconvenience of being kicked out that angers him, but the circumstances in which it happened. Well admit, having watched the below video, the whole situation seems pretty damn bizarre. To sum up: Pewdiepie, otherwise known as Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, had a soundproof booth set up in his apartment, but would sometimes record portions of his videos outside the booth, where neighbours could hear. In April of this year, Kjellberg was recording in his kitchen when a man came to his door to complain about the noise, and started yelling anti-gay slurs (he can be heard in the background at the 1:30 mark in the below video). Kjellberg later said that the man in question was actually his landlord, who had come to complain because he thought he could hear the sounds of somebody having gay sex in the apartment. As far as we know, Kjellberg is not gay, but you dont need to be gay to know that homophobia is fkn rank, and he has since slammed his landlord over the incident, and his attitude in general. To be clear: I made a video, landlord thought I was having gay sex. Comes down to call us faggots. Next day evicted w/o previous notice. Felix Kjellberg (@pewdiepie) June 17, 2016 He later received a letter telling him to vacate the premises by June 29. In the below video, which shows him packing for the move, Kjellberg vents his anger, saying: If youre gonna be a landlord in Brighton, the gay capital of UK, maybe try not be a fuckin prejudiced piece of shit, how bout that? We dont know all the facts here, and we have no idea if Kjellberg is being kicked out as a result of this one incident, or if he was a noisy neighbour in general, but turfing somebody out because you think theyre having gay sex is pretty damn gross. Fans need not worry about disruptions to their regularly-scheduled video game commentary. Pewdiepie has already lined up an office space in which to make videos. So much shitty content is going to be made here, he promised. Hopefully we can yell as much as we want. In April of this year, Pewdiepie himself addressed his tens of millions of subscribers and apologised for the generally shitty attitude that he himself displayed towards gay people in his earlier videos. I really dont like that, he said, citing a gay joke from a video from 2011. But I feel like back then I didnt understand. I was so immature, and I thought things were funny because they were offensive. I would say a lot of stupid shit, said the now-26-year-old. Im not proud of it. Im really not. But Im also glad Ive grown past it. Source: Kotaku. Photo: Vincent Sandoval / Getty. Lesley McSpadden,Michael Brown,Sr. FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2014 file photo, the parents of Michael Brown, Lesley McSpadden, left, and Michael Brown, Sr., right, sit for an interview with The Associated Press in Washington. Attorneys representing Ferguson, Mo., its former police chief and an ex-officer in a wrongful-death lawsuit by Brown's parents are pressing the latest quest for access to any of the late 18-year-old's juvenile records. Anthony Gray, a Brown family attorney, has said any brush by Brown with the juvenile court system is irrelevant to whether Brown's 2014 death resulted from excessive police force. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The city of Ferguson and other defendants in a wrongful-death lawsuit by Michael Brown's parents are seeking access to any juvenile records of the black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2014 -- a request once rejected by a judge after a newspaper and blog sought such documents. The motion, filed this month, seeks St. Louis County family court records concerning outcomes of any Brown-related juvenile cases "or records of any alleged delinquent acts committed by or pertaining to" him. The motion argues that any such information "is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence" in the lawsuit against the St. Louis suburb, former Police Chief Thomas Jackson and Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed the unarmed Brown during an August 2014 confrontation. Brown's parents "have no standing to assert any privilege with respect to the requested information," and at the time of Brown's death "the interest in safeguarding the confidentiality of any juvenile court records became less compelling," according to the motion, scheduled for a hearing Thursday. The filing, first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, claims a "legitimate interest" in the records without elaborating. Peter Dunne, the attorney who filed the motion, did not reply Friday to requests for an interview. Anthony Gray, an attorney for Brown's family, said that even if Brown had a brush with the juvenile court system -- including for such low-level offenses as truancy -- those details are irrelevant to whether his death resulted from excessive force. "This is just a smear tactic, a smear campaign," Gray told The Associated Press. Wilson's "decision to use deadly force has to be predicated on what he knew at the time (of his confrontation with Brown) and the circumstances he was facing," not anything about his past. "It is my full anticipation (searchers of Brown's juvenile past) will find nothing of any significance or relevance," Gray added. "If there is something there that would go to Michael Brown's propensity as to what happened (during his encounter with Wilson), we would have known that by now." Police have said Brown had no adult criminal record. Juvenile records are confidential in Missouri, although being charged with certain violent crimes removes those privacy protections. In September 2014, a month after Brown's death, another St. Louis County family court judge denied without offering an explanation a request by the Post-Dispatch and California blog GotNews.com to release any Brown juvenile records. At a hearing, a juvenile court system lawyer said Brown did not face any juvenile charges at the time he died and never was convicted of a serious felony such as murder, robbery or burglary. It's unclear whether Brown had ever faced lesser offenses as a juvenile. A St. Louis County grand jury's November 2014 decision to not indict Wilson rekindled sometimes-violent protests that immediately followed Brown's death. Wilson later resigned. The U.S. Justice Department ultimately concluded that evidence backed Wilson's claim that he shot Brown in self-defense after Brown first tried to grab the officer's gun during a struggle through the window of Wilson's police vehicle, then came toward him threateningly after briefly running away. The latest motion over juvenile records came after a federal judge ordered that both sides in the lawsuit be given unredacted transcripts of the grand jury proceedings involving Wilson, marking the first time anyone outside of the secret proceedings will see its uncensored workings. The family's lawsuit is scheduled for trial next May. )^ Investigations from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights The U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights is investigating alleged sexual violence incidents at 11 Pennsylvania colleges and universities dating back to 2013. The federal government is in the process of investigating higher education institutions for possible violations of federal law over the handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints. In May 2014, there were sexual violence cases at 55 colleges being investigated -- including five in Pennsylvania. As of June 15, 195 postsecondary institutions are under investigation -- including 11 in Pennsylvania. There are a total of 246 sexual violence cases under investigation. Don't Edit Protesters stand outside of Old Main, Penn State's central administration building, in response to the Kappa Delta Rho controversy. The Kappa Delta Rho fraternity at Penn State is accused of sharing nude photos of passed-out women taken in its fraternity house in a private Facebook group without the knowledge or consent of the women. Bobby Chen, For PennLive.com )^ Possible Title IX violations Schools that receive federal money must comply with Title IX, a law that prohibits discrimination based on race, nationality and gender, and lays out guidelines for how schools must handle such incidents. Department of Education spokesman said it does not disclose case-specific facts or details about investigations. When an investigation concludes, the department will disclose, upon request, whether a college or school has been directed to address compliance concerns or has found insufficient evidence of a Title IX violation there. Heres a breakdown of the 11 universities and college in Pennsylvania that have 15 current sexual violence cases under investigation: Don't Edit commons.wikimedia.org Allegheny College Two cases are currently being investigated at Allegheny College, in Meadville. The first case started on Dec. 5, 2014 and the second case was started on July 30, 2015. Don't Edit screen shot via WPXI.com Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University, a private research university in Pittsburgh, has one sexual violence case being investigated. The case was opened on Jan. 13, 2014. Don't Edit )^ Elizabethtown College A small liberal arts college in Lancaster County, Elizabethtown College has one sexual violence case being investigated by the federal government. The case was opened on Nov. 20, 2014. Don't Edit Don't Edit )^ Franklin and Marshall College A sexual violence cases was opened at Franklin and Marshall College on March 26, 2014. Don't Edit commons.wikimedia.org Gannon University A catholic school located in Erie, Gannon University, has one sexual violence case being investigated. It was opened on June 1, 2016. It is the most recent case opened at a Pennsylvania university. Don't Edit commons.wikimedia.org Lincoln University The United States first degree-granting historically black university, Lincoln University, has one case being investigated. It was opened on Dec. 2, 2015. Don't Edit )^ Penn State University Penn State University, the state's largest college, has one sexual violence case that the U.S. Department of Education is investigating. The case was opened on Jan. 23, 2014. Don't Edit commons.wikimedia.org Point Park College Point Park College, which has about 4,000 under- and postgraduates, has two sexual violence cases being investigated. The cases were opened Feb. 19 and Feb. 27, 2015. Don't Edit Don't Edit commons.wikimedia.org Swarthmore College A sexual violence investigation was opened at Swarthmore College on July 12, 2013. Don't Edit )^ Temple University Philadelphia's Temple University has the most opened sexual violence cases than many other school in the state with three. Cases were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Don't Edit commons.wikimedia.org Valley Forge Military Academy and College A sexual violence investigation was opened at Valley Forge Military College on March 23, 2015. WILLIAMSPORT -- The third-degree murder conviction of a York County man has been affirmed again. U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann Friday denied the appeal of Eugene Howard Rainey who was convicted in 2009 of third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Rainey, 34, claimed the evidence did not support his conviction, there was prosecutorial misconduct, new evidence has been discovered, errors were made by the judge and his lawyer was ineffective. Brann rejected all of them. He found the prosecution had presented ample evidence that showed Rainey fired the fatal shot and he conspired with his brother George to commit the crime. Brann pointed out Rainey, who is serving a 25- to 50-year-term, was acquitted of charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first degree murder and had has lost a number of appeals in the state court system. According to court documents, Rainey, his brother and Joseph Mallory were driving and smoking marijuana the morning of Jan. 9, 2008, when they spotted a car in which Dion Willams was the front seat passenger. A high-speed chase ensued until the car driven by George Rainey was able to block the other vehicle in an alley. Eugene Rainey ran to the other car, drew a handgun and fired three times into the front passenger side, fatal wounding Williams. The Rainey brothers were arrested later in Maryland where they had registered at a motel under fictitious names. George Rainey also was convicted of third-degree murder. The brothers are at the State Correctional Institution at Coal Twp., outside Shamokin. It was an opportunity to come together as a community to offer a prayer for peace for the victims and their families of last Sunday's mass that brought dozens of Muslims and non-Muslims together at Hadee Mosque in Harrisburg on Friday evening. But it was also used as a time to promote understanding about Islam and its motto of "Love for all. Hatred for None" and point out how the Islam they know condemns the actions of the shooter Omar Mateen, who called himself a Muslim. "We stand together with all Americans, members of this community to condemn this attack," said Imam Hassan, the spiritual leader for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Harrisburg/York Chapter . "To my eyes, it would be a tragedy if people like Omar Mateen and ISIS, if these people were allowed to become the representatives of the face of Islam." At this latest of several prayer services held this past week in Harrisburg in the wake of the shootings that left 50 people dead and 53 others wounded, speakers talked about how horrific events like this tests their faith and tests how it's viewed by others outside the Muslim community. Dr. Ahmad Hameed encouraged those gathered to think of this latest one as yet another test. "All of us together who are going through this will come out stronger and we will renounce any and all terrorism in the name of religion," Hameed said. Hassan shared that he feared that this latest tragedy might be the final straw that would turn the majority of Americans against Islam but he and others including Ted Martin of Equality PA voiced hope that instead it would encourage people to be more caring and understanding of each other. Dr. Mubashir Mumtaz, spokesperson for the Muslim community's Central PA chapter, shared that hope. "Unfortunately, this is the time when everybody's pained and saddened because of these horrific incidents," he said, adding, "but there's never a bad time to build bridges." A 19-mile section of the eastbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be temporarily shut down late Sunday night for a construction project. The eastbound lanes of the turnpike will be shut down between the Harrisburg East Interchange, Exit 247, and the Lebanon-Lancaster Interchange, Exit 266, from 11 p.m. Sunday until 5 a.m. Monday, according to the turnpike commission. "The eastbound closure is needed for crews to safely install steel girders for the new structure that will replace the bridge over Swatara Creek at milepost 251, in Dauphin County," according to the turnpike commission. The overnight closures are also expected to take place next weekend, weather permitting, as beam installation continues, officials said. For more traffic information, follow live traffic updates, accident reports and road closures below from PennDOT, Total Traffic Network and other Twitter sources. Get a look at conditions on local roads -- via PennDOT traffic cameras -- anytime here on PennLive. For Pennsylvania Turnpike updates and possible travel delays visit the Turnpike website here. Tweet us at @pennlive with any incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com. Sometime around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, his voice hoarse and his face creased with fatigue, U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy ended his extraordinary takeover of the Senate floor with an equally extraordinary speech. The Connecticut Democrat, who'd spent nearly 15 hours trying to pry loose votes on gun-control bills, told the story of six-year-old Dylan Hockley and a teacher's aide named Anne Marie Murphy. Both were victims of the 2012 murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The two were found together. In her final moments, Murphy wrapped the child in her embrace to try to shield him from a madman's bullets. "It doesn't take courage to stand here on the floor of the United States Senate for two hours or six hours or 14 hours. It doesn't take courage to stand up to the gun lobby when 90 percent of your constituents want change to happen," Murphy said. "It takes courage to look into the eye of a shooter and instead of running, wrapping your arms around a 6-year-old boy and accepting death as a trade for just a tiny, little, itty piece of increased peace of mind for a little boy under your charge." "If Anne Marie Murphy could do that, then ask yourself what can you do to make sure that Orlando or Sandy Hook never, ever happens again?" With that, he gave up the microphone. Hours later, Senate leaders promised votes, which were scheduled for Monday, on a quartet of gun-control bills, including competing Democratic and Republican measures that would keep suspected terrorists from buying guns. As The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jonathan Tamari points out, none of the four are expected to pass, since they require a near-impossible 60 votes for approval and would face an openly hostile Republican-controlled U.S. House even if they did. So here we are again - at a transformative moment in our politics. And here we are again, once again having apparently failed to seize on even a small fix that all concerned believe is a good idea. Namely, that people who are on terrorist watch lists ought not to be allowed access to weapons. Even the National Rifle Association, the single, biggest impediment to progress on gun control, agrees with it. But it really wasn't a surprise. We've been here before. Flash back just a year, to June 2015, as another deeply disturbed individual opened fire in a Bible study group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Nine people, including the church's pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, were killed. Days later, his head bowed as if in prayer, President Barack Obama hesitated for a long moment during his eulogy for Pinckney and the other victims. Then, slowly, in his deep bass voice, he began to sing "Amazing Grace." In seconds, the crowd was on its feet, swaying, singing along, some with tears in their eyes. It was another potentially transformative moment. Another opportunity to break the cycle of partisanship and paralysis that is part-and-parcel of our tortured national dialogue on guns. It wasn't. Instead, it ended up being a way station on the path to the next mass shooting. This time it was in San Bernardino, Calif., at the hands of a husband-and-wife team with ties to Islamist extremism. Those shootings, however horrifying they were - and they were horrifying - did not yield a similarly transformative moment or the same mass call for change in our laws. That could have been because the shootings took place in a state with some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. Or it could have been that, after years of carnage, Americans are increasingly numb to the slaughter around them and have come to accept it as the inevitable price of living in the 21st century. So, numbed by Newtown, by Charleston, by San Bernardino, we waited for the next mass shooting. Inevitably, it came again, in all its horror. And this time, tragedy hit for the cycle. A deranged gunman with possible ties to Islamist terror, who appeared to be a self-hating homosexual, opened fire in an LGBT-friendly nightclub in Orlando, Fla., during pride week celebrations. By the time he was done, 49 people were dead, 53 more were injured and the gunman - who will not be named here - was killed in a shootout with police. One of Orlando's most horrifyingly indelible images: The crime scene investigators who sifted through evidence as the victims' cell phone ceaselessly rang, as frantic family members, loved ones and friends searched for them. The investigators could not answer the calls. So Connecticut's Murphy had his moment - and for a fleeting second, the nation's attention was focused on our epidemic of gun violence and how we might combat it. But we've been here before. And, sadly, we know what happens next. pennsylvania budget It's budget time in Pennsylvania again, but don't despair. (PennLive.com/file) It's state budget time in Harrisburg. Remember that? Don't despair. The talks are actually going lots better this year, so we're told from a group of nervous sources who - party because they aren't authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing negotiations, and partly because they're surprised that they're going as well as they are after last year's impasse - offered observations on the QT. Here's some early observations, 11 days before the dawn of the 2016-17 fiscal year. 1. As a practical matter, sales and income tax increases are off the table. The combination of the election year, the strength of the anti-tax sentiment in the majority Republican caucuses and some rather promising revenue growth estimates appear to have put Gov. Tom Wolf's proposal for an increase in the state income tax to rest. And Wolf is OK with that. "If we can get to a balanced budget that's what I really care about. The means to that end, I'm indifferent to," Wolf told reporters this week. There is, all sides seem to agree, a need to close a gap between projected available revenues of about $30.4 billion, and expenditures that based on the talks to date would come in somewhere between $31.5 billion and $32.0 billion. Those spending markers, by the way, represent almost equal movement down from Wolf's February budget request ($33.2 billion), and up from the level of spending finally agreed to this year ($30.2 billion). There's a lot of work to do, but it appears both sides are already "getting real." 2. Familiarity appears to be helping. After that looong game of budget chicken in Gov. Tom Wolf's first year in office, Pennsylvania's budget-makers appear to have a much better idea of the pathways to compromise. For example, just as Wolf is ready to concede on broad-based tax increases, Republicans are ready to give him at least partial wins on his top two spending priorities: new spending for basic education and to address the opioid addiction crisis. Those items still need closure, but, as one legislative source said Friday, "It's a one-eighty from where we were a year ago." You can actually see it in the way this is being negotiated: quietly, between smaller groups, often outside the Capitol, and determinedly outside of the view of the press. This is not to say there won't be fights - there are always fights at budget time. But all sides appear to have learned from last year, and, in several cases, are benefitting from their rookie mistakes. Here's how House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana County, put it this week: "I think I understand much more now than I did a year ago what are possible outcomes, and what are maybe things that we may want to come back and fight next time we have a Republican governor.... "But in the time being, I don't think any of us wants to waste the opportunity to actually do significant things for the people of this state." 3. Sin is in. If no one wants to raise the income tax, and public employee pension and medical assistance costs keep growing, where do you find the money to balance this budget? Start with vices. By far the biggest bundle of money is being pinned to a likely $1-per-pack increase in Pennsylvania's cigarette tax, taking it to $2.60-per-pack. The Wolf administration has suggested that could raise $468 million over a full year. Pair that with new excises on e-cigarettes, chew, and virtually every other form of tobacco product except cigars, and there's likely a $500 million pot of money out there. Far more controversial is a House-backed effort to expand legal gambling, possibly to include Internet-based gambling run by casinos, and the introduction of video gaming terminals in bars, fraternal organizations and private clubs. The fate of this proposal - especially the VGT plan - is unclear in the Senate, and also with Gov. Wolf. But for now Republicans have suggested that license fees and early revenue from i-gaming alone could generate some $126 million. Finally, the state's Independent Fiscal Office has estimated that the changes in the state's liquor retailing law passed earlier this month could spike those revenues by about $100 million next year. There are other possibilities, including revisiting a tax amnesty program that in the past has raised tens of millions of dollars, as well as the lingering idea of a shale tax, but this budget will start and end with what can be generated from booze, butts and bets. 4. Will your friend who works at the Capitol be able to come to your July 4 party? Good vibes notwithstanding, we have no earthly idea when this will get done. What we do believe is that it will get done a lot more quickly than last year (low threshold), almost certainly before Labor Day (reasonable), and quite possibly before the national political conventions in July (optimistic). Next checkpoint? Whether the House is ready to vote a spending and revenue plan by about Thursday of next week, and what that roll call looks like. See you then. Syrian President Bashar Assad shakes hands with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, June 18, 2016. Russia's defense minister visited Syria on Saturday to meet the country's leader and inspect the Russian air base there, a high-profile trip intended to underline Moscow's role in the region. (Vadim Savitsky/ Russian Defense Ministry Press Service pool photo via AP) We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Emmet County plans road work, new signs with ARPA funding Bids will be going out this winter for a Camp Petosega Road project and new road signs throughout the county. Slaven Vlasic/Getty ImagesCommon is set to play Robert Sand in a television adaption of Black Samauri, Variety reports. The television series, which is based on Marc Olden's 1974 book series, will follow the story of Sand, who is rescued by a Japanese samurai master and trained to take revenge on the "corrupt powers" who ended the life of his friends. The series is executive produced by Wu-Tang Clan's RZA; Wu Films' Mitchell Diggs and Diane Crafford; and Cinemation's Andre Gaines. Gaines, who obtained the rights to the book, explains to Variety the character of Robert Sand and why he felt Common was the right person for the role. Robert Sand is like black Jason Bourne. Black Samurai is one of the most unique, timely and fun experiences Ive ever read, while at the same time tackling some serious subjects around race and diversity, says Gaines. With John Wick 2 and Suicide Squad coming up, Common was an obvious choice for the role, and Im thrilled to have him on board. I believe hes the next great American actor. The rapper/actor has been busy as of late with his recent appearance in Barbershop and NBC's The Wiz Live musical. Last year Common won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, along with John Legend, for their song "Glory" from Selma. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A La Pine man has been missing since June 16, after visiting family in the Harrisburg/Brownsville areas. According to a Deschutes County Sheriff's Office news release, Robert Hughes, 65, was driving his silver 2001 Ford Ranger pickup with Oregon license plate YHN311. He is described as being 5-foot-10 and 270 pounds. It is believed he could be suffering from depression. He likes to visit and fish at the Cow Meadow area at the Deschutes River, and at Hanks, Winopee, North Twin and Little Cultus lakes. He may also be visiting the Diamond Lake area. Anyone with information regarding this case is encouraged to call the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office at 541-693-6911. Calvin Lee Claims 2016 WSOP $3,000 Six-Max Title June 17, 2016 Donnie Peters Calvin Lee can now call himself a World Series of Poker gold bracelet, as the 28-year-old captured poker's most coveted prize when he won Event #21: $3,000 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em at the 2016 WSOP. Lee earned $531,577 in first-place prize money for the victory, topping a field of 1,029 players. Final Table Results Place Player Prize 1 Calvin Lee $531,577 2 Steven Thompson $328,487 3 Mark Herm $224,805 4 Will Givens $156,281 5 Martin Kozlov $110,389 6 Alex Queen $79,246 "It comes in waves," Lee told officials after the win. "The adrenaline rush is so sick. Even when I was losing, I was feeling amazing. What is it they say? 'The second best feeling in gambling is losing?' But I kept my eye on the prize and I never gave up." Coming into the final day, five players remained. It was an additional day added to the schedule after a prolonged Day 3. Leading the final five was Will Givens, who was looking to ride his chip lead to his second gold bracelet. After Martin Kozlov was bounced in fifth place on the final day, Givens' run ran out in fourth following some early setbacks. His ran into the of Lee, and that was all she wrote for Givens. Mark Herm then busted in third place to set up a heads-up match with Lee and Steven Thompson. Going into the match, Thompson had the advantage with 8.82 million in chips to Lee's 6.625 million. Lee battled his way back in the match, took the lead, and then finished the deal a long 55 hands later. On the final hand, Lee limped in on the button with the blinds at 150,000/300,000/50,000. Thompson checked from the big blind, and the flop came down . Thompson led with a min-bet of 300,000, Lee raised all in for effectively 3.5 million, and Thompson tank-called. Thompson called it off with the for top pair, but Lee's was in front thanks to the better kicker. The turn card and river card kept Lee in front. Thompson, a 36-year-old poker player from Costa Rica, was eliminated in second place for $328,487. Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+! Vietnam raised its imports of coal to an all-time record high to 1.3 million tons in May, surging 151.8 percent from a year earlier as demand for the fuel rises in the summer month. Vietnam produced 72.6 billion kWh of electricity in the first five months, going up 12.1 percent year on year. As the electricity demand is expected to rise sharply from June, the Vietnam Electricity (EVN), the country's sole power utility, will increase buying from coal-fired power plants as well as oil-based power units, EVN said earlier this month. Photo by EVN. China, which was the key buyer of Vietnamese coal before 2015, exported 137,302 tons of coal to Vietnam in the month, up 86 percent from 73,806 tons on-year, latest data from Vietnam Customs shows. The other main suppliers in May included Russia with 431,768 tons, up nearly four times year on year; Australia with 364,744 tons, up 230.2 percent from May last year; and Indonesia 307,476 tons, rising 58.3 percent year on year. During January-May, Vietnam imported 5.99 million tons of coal, more than three times higher year on year, according to the data. The biggest coal seller to Vietnam in the first five months was Russia with 1.89 million tons, up more than 7 times from 254,097 tons in the first five months of 2015, followed by Australia 1.82 million tons, up 334.2 percent from 418,643 tons in the same period last year; Indonesia 1.11 million tons, up 42.3 percent from January-May last year; and China 978,259 tons, up 381.6 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Vietnam slashed exports of coal in May, shipping 116,064 tons, down 26.5 percent year on year, mainly to Japan with 28,496 tons, down 50.6 percent on-year. Its coal exports in the first five months stood at 218,697 tons, falling 75.7 percent year on year, while the largest buyer was the Philippines with 79,000 tons, up nearly 12 percent year on year. Most of the country's domestic coal production is allocated for local use in power, cement and other industrial sectors. Related news: > EVN apologizes to clients for widespread power outages > EVN to maintain retail electricity prices > EVN to ensure power supplies during dry season Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print In a new Facebook rant posted Friday, Sarah Palin called President Obama a special kind of stupid for calling or a ban on assault rifles, writing that Enough is enough, Mr. President. Theres no due respect due you after pulling this stunt. Obamas offending words his stunt in Palins world were simple common sense to anyone but the NRA. Speaking in Orlando Thursday, the president said: Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons, should meet these families and explain why that makes senseand why it is they think our liberty requires these repeated tragedies? Thats not the meaning of liberty. In that special kind of tastelessness that is Sarah Palins alone, she included an image that, given her partys position on womens right to choose, is particularly offensive: Enough is enough, Mr. President. Theres no due respect due you after pulling this stunt. Exploiting a sick, evil, ideological-driven attack on Americans to further your twisted anti-Second Amendment mission is disgusting. Today youre demanding an explanation from law abiding gun owners, but not demanding the same from followers of Islam, the religion behind this terror? If the demented Orlando terrorist doesnt represent all Islamic followers, then why do you insinuate he represents all gun owners? And why, after any shooting, do you always want to take away firearms from the innocent people who didnt do it? Forget your asinine gun control, do your job and engage in Islamic terrorist control. Notice, she has no concerns about right wing domestic terrorism, let alone controlling it. Or the fact that more Americans are killed by children with guns than by Islamic terrorists. Of course, if you can follow what she claims is her logic, you will immediately note that the president did not say the Orlando shooter represent all gun owners. Or that he wants to take away firearms from innocent Americans. And her attempt to conflate gun owners with a religion says more about her own views on the subject than Obamas. She concluded, Yes, its a special kind of stupid to demand we explain ourselves. But if you really want them, get ready for our explanations. Heres mine: Here she links an article about Obamas Orlando visit. Palin said we must explain ourselves, but there is really no explanation that can be found for Sarah Palin, or her inability to see that in the world we have, her own stupidity is of a very special kind indeed. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Hillary Clinton is considering U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren for her running mate for the Democratic presidential ticket, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing several people familiar with the process. Warren, a leading progressive voice among Democrats, is among those Democratic presidential candidate Clinton is vetting for the vice presidential position, the newspaper reported. Clintons rival Bernie Sanders is not, it added. Sources told Reuters earlier this month that Warren, who represents Massachusetts, is considering the potential role. Representatives for Clinton, Sanders and Warren did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the report. Clinton is the Democratic Partys presumptive nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election, having won the last primary contest this week in the District of Columbia. Although Clinton and Sanders met this week, the senator from Vermont does not plan to end his campaign or endorse Clinton in a video speech to supporters scheduled for later on Thursday, his spokesman said. While the search for a potential partner in the race is still in its early stages, the Journal reported several Democrats said Clintons campaign is looking at a number of potential candidates, including Warren. Other prospective running mates include U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, according to the report. Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Cory Booker of New Jersey as well as U.S. Representatives Xavier Becerra of California and Tim Ryan of Ohio are also under consideration, it said. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is also a potential candidate, it added. Warren threw her support behind Clinton last week as the former secretary of state moved her sights from the nominating contest toward a Nov. 8 match-up against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Warren could help Clinton win over Sanders supporters from the partys more liberal wing after a surprisingly protracted primary race. Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, has not yet dropped out. She also would give Clinton a vocal boost in her fight against Trump. Warren has called Trump a threat to the country and has vowed to keep lashing out at him. (This story has been refiled to remove superfluous word endorsed in paragraph nine.) (Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Conservative pundits make little sense at the best of times, but their full court press against Islam reveals how desperate they are to control the debate about the volatile mix of readily available assault rifles and hate. To say their logic is convoluted is to understate the case. Weve already seen Sarah Palin looking in the mirror and mistaking her reflection as Obama. She was right about the special kind of stupid, though. I dont know why she wants an assault rifle so badly; shes already proven she cant hit anything with it. And we had Michael Savage, who on Thursday said that President Obama is inviting a barbaric invasion the barbarians, of course, being Muslim refugees. And these Muslims are not invaders, but people fleeing from a war caused by a destabilization of a region we caused by toppling Saddam Hussein. According to Savage, Obama needs to be impeached, and his logic is at least as inscrutable than Palins: My instincts are intact with regard to the barbaric invasion and my instincts tell me that Obama is doing it on purpose. My instincts tell me that Obama wants to harm America forever. My instincts tell me hes a madman and hes very evil and must be impeached immediately. Thank the Enlightenment the very liberal Constitution does not make Michael Savages instincts the law of the land. Cranky old televangelist Pat Robertsons solution is to let Muslims and gays kill each other, following some absurd logic understood only by conservatives, that Islamists and gays are natural allies: The left is having a dilemma of major proportions and I think for those of us who disagree with some of their policies, the best thing to do is to sit on the sidelines and let them kill themselves. Well, actually, we are being killed by conservatives who demand everybody, including terrorists, have the opportunity to be armed with assault rifles. If anything, we could say we should sit on the sidelines and watch conservatives be killed by their kids wielding unsecured weapons. And that brings us to Fox News Mike Gallagher, who announced Friday on The Real Story that, Its ridiculous to say Muslims are assimilating. Youre painting with a broad brush and you cant make that kind of a generalization. Yes, the guy working for the network that makes hay off generalizations based on false premises and faked scientific studies, says you cant make that kind of generalization. Heres how that conversation went: HEATHER NAUERT: Donald Trump saying basically our leaders gave up on battling ISIS. Have they? Has the president? MIKE GALLAGHER: It feels like it because if they havent then they would be identifying ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism as the core reason that these poor people were slaughtered in Orlando. Its unbelievable, youve got to give the left credit. Theyve figured out a way to shift the attention from the problem with radical Islamic terrorism to gun control. Theyve done this over and over again, and to their credit, theyve pulled it off because the mainstream media is complying. NAUERT: Alan, this has gone from what would normally be a debate about a terror attack on the United States to something about gun control and LGBT issues and fairness so have the Democrats won on this so to speak? ALAN COLMES: Theres more to it than that. The president in his speech the other day said that its not just guns, its not just terrorism, we have to address both. As a matter of fact Donald Trump is fearmongering, hes saying Muslims arent assimilating, Muslims arent telling on each other when theyre extremist. NAUERT: Many would argue that that would be part of the problem in places like Minnesota where you have boys go off and join terror organizations in Somalia. COLMES: If I could just achieve closure on my sentence which is that James Comey, he said the head of the FBI that thats not true. That in fact, Muslims are going to authorities. So he is fearmongering and hes not telling the truth about whats going on. Muslims are assimilating and they are active in terms of dealing with authorities. GALLAGHER: Its ridiculous to say Muslims are assimilating. Youre painting with a broad brush and you cant make that kind of a generalization. Here again we see Gallagher pushing the execrable logic that if we dont call terrorists names, weve given up on fighting terrorism. Shooting at them, bombing them, nailing their leaders with drones, apparently thats not enough. You have to really get under their skin. Colmes is right: Trump is fearmongering. In that, hes certainly no different that Fox News itself. And were back to the whole issue of collective guilt here as well, in that if youre not white, youre expected to turn each other into authorities or youre all guilty. We dont see that standard applied to white Europeans. We never have, as Native Americans discovered to their dismay. Moreover, think about the absurd logic of ghettoizing Muslims and then complaining that they refuse to assimilate. The same thing was done, it scarce needs be said, to the Jews by a Europe also dominated by white male Christians. Gallagher is lying. It isnt Democrats attempting to shift attention from terrorism to gun control, but rather Republicans turning attention away from gun control to Islamic terrorism. The one constant in all mass shootings is the one Republicans refuse to talk about is guns, and of those guns, assault rifles cause the highest casualty rates. How can Islam be the problem when there are just over 3 million Muslims in the United States, but over 5 million assault rifles? Most shooters are not Muslims. They are white Americans. The victims in a church were black; the victims in a nightclub were gay. There are all sorts of things we should be talking about here but you wont hear any of them addressed by Republicans. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) The awkward efforts of Republicans to embrace their partys standard-bearer Donald Trump looked particularly painful in Congress this week as lawmakers ducked into elevators, dashed away from reporters, ignored questions or, worse, tried to answer them. Only days after a furor over his criticism of a Mexican-American judge, the presumptive presidential nominee sent Republicans reeling again by renewing his call for a ban on Muslim immigration after a gunman who pledged allegiance to Islamic militants killed of 49 people at a Florida nightclub. Then former reality TV star Trump waded into two sensitive topics for social conservatives by embracing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and suggesting the country may need certain new gun control measures. For lawmakers accustomed to well-crafted talking points and predictable lines of questioning, the week marked a chaotic flurry of contorted responses or terse, tight-lipped replies. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming walked away when asked about Trumps embrace of the LGBT community, saying: I dont know what the latest is. I havent read anything. I havent been watching. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a former Trump adversary in the presidential primaries, had to bat away two Trump questions before he could announce that he is considering running for re-election a decision that could determine whether Republicans retain control of the Senate in the Nov. 8 election. Senator Ted Cruz, another rival in the primaries, refused to respond directly to the speech in which Trump hardened his line on Muslims while Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr called it an OK speech before stepping into an elevator and refusing to respond to any more questions. The Trump challenge is obvious even for seasoned Republicans. Im spending my days commenting on everything that Donald Trump says, lamented John McCain, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee. Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, ricocheted from rejection of Trumps comments on Muslims to doubts about the legality of his proposed immigration ban to bafflement over the billionaires response to the Orlando shootings. YOU CANT MAKE THIS UP Trump controversies have also overshadowed House Speaker Paul Ryans rollout of a policy agenda, a campaign document that was supposed to help bring Trumps position more into line with mainline party doctrine. Asked on Thursday whether he was bothered by having to contend with Trumps remarks, Ryan called Trump a different kind of candidate(in) a different kind of year. Asked how many more times he would be called on to do so, Ryan said: I dont know the answer to that question either. In an ironic message to his critics among the Republican leadership this week, Trump had this to say: Be quiet, just please be quiet. Dont talk. Please be quiet. Just be quiet. Ryans response? You cant make this up sometimes, he said. A political neophyte who has never held elected office, Trump has also said he may not need much from his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill anyway. We have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself. Ill do very well, he said in a CNN interview. A lot of people thought I should do that anyway, but Ill just do it very nicely by myself. (Reporting by David Morgan; additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Susan Cornwell and Alana Wise; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Jobless rate Not adjusted, jobless rate in May in metropolitan areas in Minnesota: Duluth: 5.1 percent Mankato: 2.7 Minneapolis-St. Paul: 3.1 ADVERTISEMENT Rochester: 2.7 St. Cloud: 3.3 Minnesota: 3.3 United States: 4.5 Initial claims for unemployment insurance In 11-county southeast Minnesota region May 2016: 1,174 April 2016: 906 ADVERTISEMENT March 2016: 1,070 February 2016: 1,394 January 2016: 1,870 December 2015: 2,717 November 2015: 2,333 October 2015: 958 September 2015: 793 August 2015: 802 ADVERTISEMENT July 2015: 1,161 June 2015: 1,334 May 2015: 1,009 April 2015: 1,034 March 2015: 1,336 February 2015: 1,485 January 2015: 1,939 December 2014: 3,203 November 2014: 2,418 October 2014: 1,174 September 2014: 995 August 2014: 817 July 2014: 1,093 June 2014: 1,354 May 2014: 1,216 April 2014: 1,405 March 2014: 1,599 February 2014: 1,668 January 2014: 2,183 December 2013: 3,466 November 2013: 2,178 October 2013: 1,498 September 2013: 1,089 August 2013: 1,078 July 2013: 1,415 June 2013: 1,358 May 2013: 1,686 April 2013: 1,538 March 2013: 1,454 February 2013: 1,478 January 2013: 2,471 December 2012: 2,880 November 2012: 2,458 October 2012: 1,648 September 2012: 1,144 August 2012: 1,199 July 2012: 1,569 June 2012: 1,525 May 2012: 1,597 April 2012: 1,419 March 2012: 1,706 February 2012: 1,904 January 2012: 2,815 December 2011: 3,013 November 2011: 2,734 October 2011: 1,673 September 2011: 1,300 August 2011: 1,632 July 2011: 2,470 June 2011: 2,060 May 2011: 1,686 April 2011: 1,771 March 2011: 2,128 February 2011: 2,064 January 2011: 3,075 December 2010: 3,371 November 2010: 3,336 October 2010: 2,256 September 2010: 1,842 August 2010: 1,725 July 2010: 1,795 June 2010: 2,041 May 2010: 1,418 April 2010: 1,889 March 2010: 2,524 February 2010: 2,633 January 2010: 3,276 December 2009: 4,780 November 2009: 3,531 October 2009: 2,679 September 2009: 2,199 August 2009: 2,337 July 2009: 2,789 Source: Minnesota DEED Area employment Jobs in May and change from a year ago for Rochester metropolitan area (Olmsted, Dodge and Wabasha counties): Total Nonfarm, 118,121, 1.5% Total Private, 105,551, 1.4% Goods-Producing excl. Ag., 15,182, -0.5% Mining, Logging and Construction, 4,674, 3.7% Manufacturing, 10,508, -2.3% Trade, Transportation & Utilities, 18,385, 2.1% Wholesale Trade, 2,996, 5.7% Retail Trade, 12,637, 3% Transportation and Warehousing, 2,752, -5.6% Information, 2,015, 1.1% Financial Activities, 2,682, -0.4% Professional and Business Services, 5,877, -1.8% Educational and Health, 47,586, 4.2% Leisure and Hospitality, 10,117, -4.7% Government, 12,570, 1.9% Federal Government, 953, -1.9% State Government, 1,559, 4.7% Local Government, 10,058, 1.8% Source: Minnesota DEED Monthly housing data Residential sales in southeastern Minnesota in April, with change from a year ago. New listings: 778, up 0.4 percent Pending sales: 682, down 0.3 percent Sales: 663, down 6.5 percent Sales, year to date: 2,127, down 4.2 percent Median sales price: $165,500, up 4.1 percent Average days on market before sold: 69, down 14.8 percent Average days on market, year to date: 82, down 15.5 percent Source: Southeast Minnesota Association of Realtors Single-family home construction Permits issued in Rochester May 2016: 52 April 2016: 33 March 2016: 31 February 2016: 15 January 2016: 25 December 2015: 42 November 2015: 23 October 2015: 49 September 2015: 27 August 2015: 33 July 2015: 29 June 2015: 48 May 2015: 19 April 2015: 22 March 2015: 30 February 2015: 19 January 2015: 21 December 2014: 27 November 2014: 18 October 2014: 35 September 2014: 23 August 2014: 60 July 2014: 38 June 2014: 41 May 2014: 35 April 2014: 25 March 2014: 28 February 2014: 14 January 2014: 11 December 2013: 22 November 2013: 26 October 2013: 34 September 2013: 23 August 2013: 21 July 2013: 39 June 2013: 33 May 2013: 28 April 2013: 39 March 2013: 29 February 2013: 15 January 2013: 19 December 2012: 14 November 2012: 22 October 2012: 23 September 2012: 22 August 2012: 38 July 2012: 39 June 2012: 32 May 2012: 22 April 2012: 29 March 2012: 32 February 2012: 20 January 2012: 6 December 2011: 16 November 2011: 23 October 2011: 16 September 2011: 19 August 2011: 18 July 2011: 8 June 2011: 26 May 2011: 14 April 2011: 19 March 2011: 24 February 2011: 8 January 2011: 3 December 2010: 15 November 2010: 21 October 2010: 14 September 2010: 10 August 2010: 15 July 2010: 23 June 2010: 12 May 2010: 20 April 2010: 25 March 2010: 27 February 2010: 8 January 2010:13 Source: city of Rochester It's not a big deal. So far, it's brought two full-time jobs and a couple of part-time jobs to St. Charles, but the 2015 relocation of Active Tool & Die is just the kind of business development needed in Southeast Minnesota. And thankfully, a business park made the development happen. "We are blessed to have the finest health care institution in the world," said John Wade, chairman of Journey to Growth, a regional initiative working to build a framework to promote economic development and diversity in the region surrounding Rochester. "The question is, what are we going to do to capitalize on that, and grow and diversify the economy." With Destination Medical Center dominating the business growth talk in and around Olmsted County, it can be hard to spot the little successes that are helping to keep area communities afloat in growth. But those little successes are as vital to a sustainable economy. Wade said health care, dominated by Mayo Clinic, represents 40 percent of the local economy. But eventually even the Mayo Clinic's survival hinges on having diversity throughout the region. "We need to be a location that people want to come to," Wade said. "It's a mosaic, and if we get all the pieces right, it's be a much more beautiful painting." ADVERTISEMENT One piece of that mosaic is a provider of precision tools and machined parts that has been located in St. Charles since 1997. But, said co-owner Darin Ihrke, when Active Tool & Die saw the need to expand, there were many options available. "There's a good chance we might have moved (from St. Charles)," said Ihrke, who owns the company with his brother Brent. "We looked at other towns." Creating space for growth Fortunately, the company did not have to move far from its old location in downtown St. Charles. In 2012, the city of St. Charles began work on the Chattanooga Innovation Park, a business park along Interstate 90. Following the loss of North Star Foods, the St. Charles Economic Development Authority along with the city council started looking for a way to attract new businesses and provide room for expansion for existing businesses. The result was the business park, a $2.1 million investment by St. Charles in the future of the city, said City Administrator Nick Koverman. The 32.5-acre site is currently home to Active Tool & Die, and the city recently sold a 4.09-acre parcel to Envirolastech Inc., a manufacturer of plastic building materials that hopes to break ground later this summer. The business park in St. Charles is just one of many throughout the region. From the 200-acre Elk Run business park in Pine Island to the 8.5-acre Preston Industrial Park, cities invest millions in the hope of attracting new industry or retaining existing industry. For example, the Preston Industrial Park cost $800,000 to develop, $350,000 of which came from a state grant for business development infrastructure, said Cathy Enerson, economic development director for Community and Economic Development Associates. That compares to the $2.315 million Pine Island spent to run the east frontage road from Goodhue County Highway 11 to Bioscience Drive at the Elk Run interchange along with utility trunk lines. The city also spent $414,080 on a utility loop to the new elementary school that is located in Elk Run's land west of U.S. Highway 52, said Pine Island City Administrator David Todd. ADVERTISEMENT Unlike business parks owned wholly by their cities, Elk Run is a public-private mix. The development is owned by Woodland, Calif.-based Tower Investments which works with the Pine Island's economic development authority to market the development to potential buyers. "Rochester is growing," said John Pierce, a senior vice president with Tower Investments. "Mayo's DMC has the promise for tremendous more growth." While the first plot sold from Elk Run was to American Waterworks, a Pine Island company looking to expand, Pierce said Tower still sees a bioscience focus for Elk Run. "Elk Run would be an ideal location for a research park to compliment the excellent work already being done at the Mayo Clinic," he said. Internal business growth Elk Run is still waiting on its first construction groundbreaking for a new business, many business parks in communities surrounding Rochester have fared better. Like Elk Run and the Chattanooga Innovation park, many business parks in the area have started with expansion rather than attracting new industry. The city of Spring Valley invested $1.7 million in its two adjacent business parks, with half of that money for infrastructure coming from federal grants. Enerson said five lots in the 142-acre industrial area have been developed. Big pieces of that development came from growth of existing businesses. SATA DanAm and Kappers, two long-time Spring Valley businesses both expanded by staying in the city. Due to the growth from expansion, combined the companies employ about 85 people, Enerson said. ADVERTISEMENT "They wanted to grow, and we didn't want them to leave," Enerson said. "In order for them to grow, they needed a place to expand. We're not to far from the border, and we want to keep our jobs in Minnesota." The expansion of Bluff Country Manufacturing in Preston meant the retention of 10 full-time jobs, Enerson said. Those 10 manufacturing jobs work as multipliers in a community. Each manufacturing job helps create service jobs within the community, Enerson said. Filling a need As land becomes more scarce in Rochester and the price of that land skyrockets industrial areas surrounding the city will become more vital. The average cost per square foot of industrial property in Rochester is $5, Enerson said. "But there's not much industrial land to buy or sell," she said. That compares to about $3 per square foot in Stewartville, $2.35 in Spring Valley and an asking price of 80 cents to $1 in Owatonna, Enerson said, adding that in Owatonna, "They're willing to give the land." That's essentially what happened in St. Charles. The 4.09 acres sold to Envirolastech went for $1 for the whole tract. The reason is simple. The tax revenue created by Active Tool & Die was $15,642 for 2016, said Koverman, the city administrator. The property tax for Envirolastech would be roughly twice that. And that's before the city counts the residential property tax for the workers who live in St. Charles. When Envirolastech signed its deal with St. Charles to purchase the land at the I-90 business park, the city proudly touted its win, noting that its park beat out Elk Run and industrial land in Zumbrota to land the building materials manufacturer. But for Wade, any win for Southeast Minnesota is a win as far as his organization is concerned. "Journey to Growth is as excited if Byron, St. Charles or Chatfield or Red Wing has growth as we would be for Rochester," Wade said. For the region and Journey to Growth, it's all about diversifying that economy. But for the smaller cities, industrial-business parks are part of the lifeblood that keeps those cities alive. "We want to know about the jobs and the tax base that would be created," Enerson said. "It takes decades. It's a long-term commitment to put in an industrial park." Russian oil giant to supply nearly 100 million tons of oil to Petrovietnam Russias leading energy company, Rosneft, has signed a long term oil supply contract with Petrovietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil), a subsidiary of state-owned Petrovietnam, at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 16, VietnamPlus reported Friday. The contract provides for the supply of up to 96 million tons of oil before 2040 to the Vietnamese oil and gas group. The document was signed by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and PV Oil Vice-President Vo Khanh Hung. Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin (L) and PV Oil Vice-President Vo Khanh Hung (R) at the signing ceremony. Photo by VietnamPlus/Khanh Hung Rosneft will establish itself as a leading provider of energy resources in one of the most dynamically developing economies of the Asia-Pacific region, Sechin said. The transaction will be sealed once necessary regulatory and additional approvals are obtained. The deal comes after Russias top oil and gas companies signed a number of cooperation agreements and memorandums with Petrovietnam in May, during a visit by Vietnams Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to Russia. Petrovietnam signed a cooperation agreement with Rosneft, two memorandums of understanding with gas giant Gazprom, on new oil and gas upstream projects and gas use in power generation, and a production-sharing agreement with Vietsovpetro, its 51:49 joint venture with Russias Zarubezhneft. Related news: > PetroVietnam, Petronas extend joint upstream oil and gas project to 2027 > PetroVietnam-Gazprom venture pumps billions of cubic meters from East Sea gas fields > PetroVietnam-Gazprom venture pumps billions of cubic meters from East Sea gas fields WARREN, Mich. 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. 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. ADVERTISEMENT 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? ADVERTISEMENT 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. MINNEAPOLIS U.S. Bank and Bank of America got together this spring on a system that lets people instantly pay money to a friend on a smartphone with a crucial difference. U.S. Bank charges $6.95 for the service. Bank of America offers it for free. "There's already a bit of a discord between us and the other bank that came out with one of the real-time payments," Richard Davis, U.S. Bank chief executive, told analysts and investors earlier this year. "We have to make sure that the business of banking doesn't become a utility in the minds of the consumers where they expect everything to come without a value price to it." The conflict highlights an upheaval in banking around the emerging service known in tech and banking as peer-to-peer payments. Fast-acting firms like PayPal, Venmo and Square have already attracted millions of users and handled billions of dollars' worth of transactions in which people pay someone else with a tap on a screen rather than handing over some bills and coins. The firm that becomes dominant in peer-to-peer payments will help shape the future of transactions with merchants, who long have yearned to escape the control of card networks like Visa and MasterCard. ADVERTISEMENT At the moment, PayPal has 179 million users worldwide, and its mobile subsidiary, Venmo, reported $3.2 billion in transactions in the first quarter, more than double the volume a year ago. Snapchat and Square both let people send cash to their friends quickly. On Snapchat, all users do is type the amount in a message and it shows up in the other person's bank account. Facebook Messenger also is rolling out its own payments service. The nation's largest banks, which jointly own a network called clearXchange, still have major advantages. They control most customers' cash accounts. They alone can offer true real-time service for now. And they believe they have the potential clout with clearXchange and its 28 million registered users to attract customers from many more financial institutions and develop the critical mass to muscle out the competition. But they have lost ground, particularly among young people, to slick apps that allow customers to move money not instantly but quickly enough. And in September, payments through apps not controlled by banks will be able to get faster, when the Automated Clearing House adds two new windows for payments to clear during the day. "Peer-to-peer is definitely something that the banks have taken their eye off of," said Michael Moeser, an analyst with digital financial consulting firm Javelin. "As consumers begin to use other apps like Venmo, Square Cash, Snapchat and Facebook, there's a degree of disintermediation I'm not using U.S. Bank, I'm using Snapchat." Chase Quickpay and Wells Fargo's SurePay both already offer peer-to-peer payments, though not in real time, and not with the elegance or simplicity of an app like Venmo, which has caught fire with college students. U.S. Bank's standard peer-to-peer payment service, which closes transactions in up to three business days, is free. But the bank is charging for instant payments which it believes customers want because offering the service required investment and the company sees the option as a premium feature. "The principle of charging for speed and convenience is obviously not something that we invented," said Gareth Gaston, a U.S. Bank executive vice president. "The principle of offering a base service for free, that's completely fine, and if you have a need to speed it up, then you pay for more." ADVERTISEMENT Wells Fargo will likely be the third large bank to offer instant payments on the clearXchange network, expecting to roll out the service this summer, company officials said. They would not say whether the service will be free. Then Wells Fargo, Bank of America and U.S. Bank customers will be able to send each other money instantly. The network will be more valuable as more banks and their customers use it. "Person to person payments can only work if you have a large network of people using that network," Gaston said. But it's not clear that most consumers need most payments to be instant, and it's a rare transaction that justifies a $6.95 charge, said Moeser, the analyst with Javelin. A last-minute bill payment, for instance, might qualify. "It's a great product for somebody who is late on a payment or someone who really needs to make sure that payment gets done today," Moeser said. "At that price level, though, it's not going to attract consumers who want to make it part of their regular payments." U.S. Bank and Bank of America are still in the early stages with their instant payment service, and won't say how many people are using it. Gaston at U.S. Bank said he believes most people will be moving money to other people with their phones within five years, and added he's confident that banks will be at an advantage. "For sure, customers trust banks more than they trust startups," Gaston said. We grieve. We grieve with our whole selves: mind, body, and spirit. Our hearts ache with the reality that we live in a world where there is horrific violence. We long for a solution to the hatred and fear and brokenness we witness. We feel the heaviness of it all, and we feel it deep inside the marrow of our bones. The feeling of it all is important. We can't skip this step. The most profound solutions to the biggest quandries of life are uncovered as we weave together this collective web of compassion, grief and love. Jesus mentions this emotional state in the Bible. It's gut-rooted compassion. It's not a surface-level emotion. Instead, it's a kind of response that's rooted way down deep. The original Greek word used to describe this feeling in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke is splagchnizomai. It comes from the root word splachna, which means "inward parts." ADVERTISEMENT In the Gospel of Luke, the word is used three times. In Luke, chapter 7, Jesus sees a widow whose only son has just died. It's the middle of a funeral profession, and the whole town is walking with the woman. They're all headed out of town to the tombs to bury the son's body. When Jesus sees her, he is moved with splagchnizomai. Whenever Jesus feels this feeling, he's moved to action. Jesus raises the young man back to life, and reunites him with his mother. The word shows up again in Luke, chapter 10, in describing the actions of the Good Samaritan. In the story, a man ends up robbed and wounded on the side of the road. Everybody walks by and refuses to help him. But then a Samaritan feels splachnizomai. Like Jesus, he, too, is moved to action. He bandages the wounded person, finds him some shelter, and takes care of him through the night. The third time the word is used in Luke shows up in chapter 15. It's the story of a runaway son. There are two brothers. The younger of the two is footloose and fancy free. In typical first-born fashion, the older one tends to play by the rules. The younger son hits the road with dad's money as soon as he can. Things don't go real well for the kid. In fact, they go terribly and he ends up living in a pigpen without a dime. The son decides he'll go back and beg for Dad's forgiveness. As soon as the father catches a glimpse of his son in the distance, way before the kid could even say one word of apology, the dad feels splachnizomai. He doesn't feel judgment or resentment. He instead feels compassion for his confused, misdirected child, and he feels it in his guts. Like Jesus and the Samaritan, the dad is also moved to action. He throws a party to welcome his son home. It's a huge celebration big and fancy and over the top. Splachnizomai sometimes inspires that level of emotional response. When the feeling strikes, it moves people toward unabashed compassion. There are times in life when it's certainly appropriate to be more temperate with our feelings. But there are also times when big, gut-rooted compassion is necessary. There are occasions upon which we experience and witness things that we can't help but feel with our whole selves. We are living in such a time as this. ADVERTISEMENT I am convinced that any long-lasting solution will not come from hate, retribution, anger, or fear. It will come from a different place inside. It will come from the compassionate core of all our inward parts working together. Compassion unfurled on the world is an utterly powerful force. It is through splachnizomai that the grieving find hope, the wounded are healed, and the lost are welcomed home. The beauty of Minnesota is that you don't have to look nor travel far to find a fabulous state park to explore. Arguably rising to the top among a host of gems is Itasca State Park, about 20 miles north of Park Rapids. Established in 1891 and the oldest in Minnesota, Itasca is steeped in history, culture and wonderment. Towering pines at Preacher's Grove, the Itasca Indian Cemetery and Wilderness Drive await. And, of course, you'll find the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River. And whether you visit for a day or a week, your senses will be stimulated and your stressors stilled as you immerse yourself in Mother Nature at its finest and soak it all in. About the writer:Elizabeth Nida Obert is a Post-Bulletin senior staff photographer. ADVERTISEMENT Getting there:About a five-hour drive north from Rochester. Where you stayed:We pitched a tent in one of the 223 campsites. Other lodging in the park includes cabins and the historic Douglas Lodge. Where to eat:The Douglas Lodge Restaurant, conveniently located in the park, provides hot and tasty meals and is open Memorial Day weekend until the first Sunday in Oct. Side trips:Park Rapids, where I recommend dinner at the Y Steak House and a walk down Main Street. I also recommend an afternoon in Bemidji, where bike enthusiasts will enjoy a ride around Lake Bemidji. Your travel tip:Itasca State Park is the most popular in Minnesota. If you want to avoid summer crowds, consider visiting off-season. Further information: www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/itasca Unlike their Asian peers, private companies in Vietnam have yet to apply for funding from the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB). ADB is widely known for its public sector (sovereign) financing to developing member countries governments and public sector entities, such as state-owned enterprises. But it also provides direct financial assistance to private sector projects. The bank has already financed several projects in a number of countries in Asia, such as China, Thailand and Myanmar, but has not received project applications from the private sector in Vietnam, ADB President Takehiko Nakao told a press briefing in Hanoi on June 17. In Vietnam, we also want to do that [private lending]. There is no obstacle to that. But right now we have not received [funding] applications [from Vietnams private sector], the ADB President said. ADB President Takehiko Nakao (R) at the press briefing in Hanoi on June 17. Photo by Reuters/Kham For Vietnam, ADB pledges to increase private sector lending and equity investments, especially in finance, agri-business and infrastructure but it can also be expanded to other sectors. Meanwhile, in China, ADB is extending an up to $75 million equivalent loan to Yingda International Leasing, a Sino-foreign joint venture company, which will allow it to expand badly-needed funding for healthcare equipment and facilities at hospitals in the central and western regions of the Peoples Republic of China, ADB said in January 2016. In Thailand, ADB has signed an agreement to provide a local currency loan of up to Baht 1.81 billion ($55 million) and a $30 million loan from the ADB-administered Clean Technology Fund to Chaiyaphum Wind Farm Company Limited to develop a wind power plant in Thailand. Christopher Thieme, Director with ADBs Private Sector Operations Department said in January this year the project will help accelerate and expand private investment in clean energy infrastructure in the kingdom. Even in Myanmar, which has just opened their door to the world for a number of years, ADB and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, are extending a loan of $150 million each to Ooredoo Myanmar, a fully owned subsidiary of Qatar-based Ooredoo Q.S.C, to expand a nationwide greenfield mobile telecom network using advanced 3G technology. According to the bank, to be eligible for ADB nonsovereign financing, the proposed recipient must be: an entity wholly owned or controlled by one or more private entities; an entity, wholly owned or controlled by a sovereign, undertaking commercial activities (subsovereign and other public sector entities); an entity, partially owned or controlled by one or more private entities and a sovereign, undertaking commercial activities; or a local government or other subsovereign entity (including municipalities and other forms of local government) that can contract and obtain financing independently from the sovereign. Related news: > Vietnam unlikely to receive concessional loans from ADB in a few years > Vietnams GDP growth to slow next year: ADB > Vietnam asks ADB for financial support in fighting drought and salinity WINONA A Winona man has been sentenced to more than 14 years in prison after being convicted by a jury of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child. James Richard Jerome Cochran, 26, was found guilty March 5 in Winona County District Court. Last week, Judge Mary Leahy handed down the 172-month term, with conditional release after 10 years. Cochran must also register as a predatory offender; the court found civil commitment was not appropriate. According to the criminal complaint, the child, who was younger than 13, told investigators that Cochran had sexual contact with him, including penetration and forcing him to perform oral sex, from January 2013 until December 2014. Cochran was charged Jan. 2, 2015. He was convicted after a six-day trial. For families experiencing generational poverty, the idea of making positive changes can seem distant. Olmsted County Community Services is expanding two of its best tools for these situations Project HOPE and Project PACE. "It's about convincing people who have lost the belief that there are possibilities out there, and that there is a hopeful future, that a hopeful future is possible," John Edmonds, family support programs supervisor, said. The county recently received more than $410,000 in Minnesota Department of Human Services grant funding to expand both programs over the next three years. It is a grant the county has not received in the past and should help build off the work the programs have established so far, said Paul Fleissner, director of Olmsted County Community Services. Project HOPE (Hope, Opportunity, Pride and Empowerment) was established in 2005 to address a specific issue a disproportionate number of families of color in the county's child welfare system. ADVERTISEMENT Project PACE (Parents and Children Excel) was established two years later, in 2007, as a direct connection to children in the community. The program works with young people of color who have school attendance issues or behavioral problems at home, in schools or in the community. Together, the programs work with families of color in the community to address both personal issues and systemic issues. "What our program was about was helping families to develop a vision for the future and then helping them to overcome whatever barriers there were systemic barriers as well as what their personal barriers might have been," Edmonds said. Education is a key component of both Project Hope and Project PACE as education can be an indicator of future success and a lack of education often can correlate to negative social indicators, Edmonds said. With the new grant funding for the programs, Edmonds said Olmsted County will be able to extend its reach into early education. Project PACE previously had served children ages 7 to 14, but with more funding, the program will move into early education environments at all ages. "I think it's a major step forward," Edmonds said. In 2014, the county's latest report on the programs, Project PACE served 94 clients. For more information on the programs, visit the Olmsted County webpage at co.olmsted.mn.us or call the Children and Family Services Division of Community Services at 328-6400. ADVERTISEMENT In 1987, Dr. Tom Shives, an orthopedic surgeon for the Mayo Clinic, had surgery that put him out of work for three months, and he was looking for something to do during his recuperation. "And I always, for whatever reason, loved radio," said Shives. "And I really wanted to be on the radio." Shives approached a friend that worked at KROC, a local Rochester radio station, about reading the news on the radio. After auditioning, Shives spent two months at the radio station. During that time, the idea for Mayo Clinic Radio began to form. At 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 1, 1991, the first Mayo Clinic Radio show was broadcast. Since that first day, the show has always been at 9 a.m. on Saturdays. In the 25 years that the show has been on the air, there has been nearly 1,100 shows with over 350 different guests. The Mayo Clinic community came together on Thursday to celebrate Mayo Clinic Radio's 25th anniversary. ADVERTISEMENT Mayo Clinic Radio is a weekly, one-hour radio program that highlights health and medical information coming out of the Mayo Clinic. During the hour program, the two hosts, Shives and Tracy McCray, talk to medical professionals from the Mayo Clinic about a variety of medical topics, including cancer, heart health, and healthy living. The show is syndicated across the United States and Canada, with 91 radio stations broadcasting the show on a weekly basis. Accessible, reliable Shives said in a world full of misinformation, Mayo Clinic Radio offers easily accessible, reliable medical information from experts. That is what makes the show so unique. "You know that if you're listening to a Mayo Clinic expert, one of the world's experts in their field most likely, the information is up to date and reliable," said Shives. "So I think in that sense there's nothing like it." The show's success doesn't surprise Shives. "Considering the fact that I have so much faith in my colleagues and I know they're so good and I know they have a wealth of information to share with the public, it doesn't surprise me," said Shives. "The only thing that surprises me is that it hadn't taken off sooner." McCray joined the show in 2011 after working at KROC for a number of years. With no medical background, McCray serves as sort of the average health-care consumer. ADVERTISEMENT Made a difference The show has made a difference in several instances. For Shives, it was when his wife was listening to an episode that talked about coronary artery disease. After hearing the symptoms, she helped diagnose her father, who had been suffering from chest pain for years and was being treated for heartburn. "There's no question that it ended up saving his life," said Shives. McCray recalled a similar experience. After doing a show about strokes, a listener contacted her with a shocking story. After listening to the show, a man was having really bad headaches. He then remembered what he had heard the previous day, and took himself to the emergency room and told the doctors that he thought that he was having a stroke. "It turns out he was and he knew it because of what he heard on the radio show," said McCray. "It's stuff like that that's really cool, and now that we're not just in the Rochester area, we don't even know the impact." The 25th anniversary celebration was held in the library in the Plummer Building on Thursday. Medical professionals from the Mayo Clinic, many who had been guests on the show, attended. Throughout the event, McCray interviewed people that had previously been on the show, and visitors toured the Mayo Clinic Radio's new recording studio on the ninth floor of the Plummer Building. ADVERTISEMENT Dr. John Noseworthy, president and CEO of Mayo Clinic, and Dr. John Wald, Mayo Clinic's medical director of public affairs, spoke at the event, expressing their gratitude for what the show has done for the Mayo Clinic. "It's just a phenomenal thing," said Noseworthy. "It's spreading the word about what Mayo does to meet the needs of our patients." Giving the last speech of the evening, Shives thanked McCray and his former co-hosts, the radio team, his family, and his secretary, who he said was instrumental in getting the radio show started. Most of all, Shives thanked the medical professionals who had taken the time to be on the show. "I think this celebration is really a reflection of the expertise and the generosity of my colleagues," said Shives. "I always knew that if I could get my colleagues to participate in the program it would be a success." McCray read a proclamation from Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede, who could not be in attendance. In the proclamation, Brede expressed his gratitude for Mayo Clinic Radio and declared June 16 to be Mayo Clinic Radio Day. Shives and McCray are now looking to the future. Plans for Mayo Clinic Radio include making podcasts a more popular part of the program, as well as making video podcasts and live streaming shows on Facebook. No matter what changes the future holds for Mayo Clinic Radio, Shives said that his hope is for the popular radio show to be around for a very, very long time. ST. PAUL The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision Monday allowing city inspectors in Minnesota to access rental properties without evidence of a code violation. In the case, landlords Jason and Jacki Wiebesick applied for a renewal of their rental license on a property in Golden Valley. The city then asked the Wiebesicks to notify the tenants, Tiffani Simons and Jessie Treseler, and call the city to schedule their triennial inspection and give the tenants a minimum of 24 hours notice of the inspection, according to the appellate decision. Both the landlord and the tenants refused to consent to an inspection, saying their rights under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution were being violated since there was no evidence of a code violation to warrant the intrusion of the residence, the appeals court noted. The city then petitioned the district court for an administrative search warrant to inspect the unit to determine if it complied with city code. The district court ruled that without suspicion of a code violation, the administrative search warrant would not be granted. On appeal that decision was reversed partially on the basis of a similar case from Red Wing. The appellate judge noted that the district court misapplied the findings of that case, McCaughtry v. City of Red Wing, where the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the a similar code in Red Wing. ADVERTISEMENT The court of appeals noted that the "only effective way to seek universal compliance with the minimum standards required by municipal codes is through routine periodic inspections of all structures." Name:Deb Las Family:Daughter Khiara, graduating JM senior, heading to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Brennigan, a JM sophomore going-on junior; a cat (chocolate lynx birman), Cappuccino; and parents, Al and Marilyn Leske of Rochester. Hometown:Rochester. Here's a fun fact: I went to John Adams, the middle school where I now teach science. I developed a love of science there. School/grade:Science at John Adams Middle School, Rochester. What is the best or favorite part of your day? ADVERTISEMENT I don't know that I have a best part of the day, but each day starts out with a lot of activity. I supervise the Science Alive! Lab that is home to a number of animals: geckoes, a degu, Guinea pigs, an African side-neck turtle, cockatiels, and lots of gerbils. Students come in each morning to care for the animals. Sometimes lab time is used as a reward or as therapy. I have heard students say that time in the Science Alive! Lab is the best part of their day, so that makes me happy as well. What or who inspired you to become a teacher? I became interested in science at John Adams. I had amazing science teachers! Marv Mikesh, Dave Arlander, and Sam Baily are still active in the community. John Adams at that time was on a modular schedule. I spent many of my open periods in the science resource room. George Lueder was my biology teacher at John Adams. He reminded me of Robert Conrad. I was the only girl in my small-group class. Mr. Lueder really pushed me by comparing the girls' scores (just mine) to those of the boys. At the end of the year, he gave me my biology textbook, since new ones were to be purchased. I still have that book. I had hoped to come back and do my student teaching under Mr. Lueder, but he passed away from cancer before I had that opportunity. I did get to student teach under Dick Norman in the amazing science department at Mayo High School. My first year of teaching was split between John Adams and Mayo High School. I knew I wanted to go into science. I had never thought about teaching it, however, until in high school I took CAP (Community Awareness Program). I tutored ESL (English as a Second Language) students and helped in the TMH (Trainable Mentally Handicapped) room at John Marshall. At the start, I was pathetic, especially working with students who had handicaps. The class changed me. I still remember my exit conference. The teacher told me that I went from a student that he thought would have to be removed to one of the best students he had ever supervised. Craig Sheets, the CAP teacher, pulled me into the hall after my experiences and asked me if I had ever thought about teaching. I told him I wanted to go into research. He said that I was a people person and should seriously consider if I wanted to spend the rest of my life working in a lab. I took Craig's advice to go into teaching and have never regretted it. What is one thing you want your students to retain from their days with you? Pursue your life goals with passion. Keep the doors of opportunity open for yourself. Find a job you want to go to, not one you have to go to because you don't have the skills or knowledge to do what you really want. Do you have a teaching philosophy? I love the Rochester School District's Inspire, Challenge, and Empower mission statement. I would just add to do whatever it takes to help each and every student learn. Sometime that doesn't make teachers popular. One year I could not get a student to do any work. One day the assignment was to write one sentence. I decided I was not going to give up on that kid. I had him stay for me for three hours. Finally he wrote out a sentence. As I was congratulating him, he confided in me that it was the first assignment he had completed in his three years in middle school. I shared that with his teachers. The next day the math teacher kept him for 3 1/2 hours. After that, the student started taking out his notebook and working every day. That first day, the young man was very upset with me. At the end of the year, he was excited about the success he was seeing in himself and was all smiles. ADVERTISEMENT What is the most memorable thing that's happened in your classroom? There are so many memorable moments in teaching. Here are some of my favorites: A group of four students won a science competition. They were asked to speak to policymakers about their project that was a hot topic in local news. Each student introduced themselves in a different language and then in English. They challenged the adults to follow their example, for all the students came from very different backgrounds but had learned to work together for a common solution. When talking with a student I knew fairly well, I asked him that if I ever had to refer to him as anything but his name, what would he preferred to be called, African American, colored or black. His response was very wise. He said, "It doesn't matter what you call me. What matters is that you use respect when talking to me." Once I was being videotaped for instructional purposes. I was checking lab work. A student had the correct answer, but he could not tell me how he got the answer. I sat down with the student while the camera was running and found out he was missing important background concepts. I made him start from the very beginning. As I worked with him, I could see where his thinking was off. Suddenly, real learning took place and his face lit up. He pumped his fist in the air and cheered. He really understood the material versus faking it. At first I thought I had really messed up my teaching video since I had side tracked off the lesson, but then I realized that was really what teaching was all about. The 10 Who Make A Difference Awards recognize 10 outstanding individuals or groups in southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa who have made an impact in their community through volunteering. Each year KTTC-TV and United Way of Olmsted County ask the public and non-profit organizations to nominate an individual or a group who have made a difference in their community. A judging panel then select the winners. The 23rd annual 10 Who Make a Difference Award Ceremony will be at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Rochesterfest Main Stage. This year's winners include Carrie Clark, Diane Ilstrup, Fred Regal Catering, Kitchen for a Cause, Martin Omerichamoi, Rochester Reading Champions, Mary Rossman, Chatfield Student Service Club Leadership Team, Arlan Walton, and the Women's Leadership Initiative of Mower County. Carrie Clark Clark is a very active volunteer in Olmsted County, regularly giving back to causes she identifies with. From sharing her story with people going through treatment at the Nicotine Dependency Center to working and volunteering with NAMI, Clark is being a light for those struggling in her community. She also sits on four boards: Community Service Advisory Board, SE Minnesota Adult and Children's Mental Health Local Advisory Council, CREST, and the SE Minnesota Adult & Children's Mobile Crisis Steering Committee. Clark is an advocate for people struggling with addiction, mental illness, homelessness, incarcerated youth, the underserved in the community, and people with physical disabilities. ADVERTISEMENT Diane Ilstrup Ilstrup has served in numerous leadership capacities with the Rotary Club of Rochester since joining in 1988. Near and dear to Diane's heart is the STRIVE program, Students Taking a Renewed Interest in the Value of Education. The Greater Rochester Rotary Club started the STRIVE program in 1999 at John Marshall High School, at the time that Diane Ilstrup was principal. Diane embraced the program, believing in its potential to make a brighter future for many high school students. STRIVE pairs a high school senior who has been challenged academically with an adult mentor, usually a Rotary member, during the student's senior year. STRIVE mentors make a difference by giving hope and direction, helping the student set goals, improving academics, making friendships and celebrating accomplishments Ilstrup became very instrumental in expanding the program beyond John Marshall High School to all the public high schools and was instrumental in expanding STRIVE to all three Rochester Rotary clubs. Years after she retired as a school principal, Diane remains very active in STRIVE. She currently is the co-chair of STRIVE for all 3 Rotary clubs. Fred Regal Catering In 1983, Regal initiated the first ever Taste of the Town, then called "Kitchen of the Rochester Chef's Culinary Charity." The event has grown over the last 32 years, all the while Fred and Regal Catering have remained active participants. Proceeds raised from Taste of the Town benefit the Good Samaritan Dental Clinic, where on a monthly basis, Regal generously prepares and donates dinner for the volunteers. He also provides the meal for the biannual Dental Clinic Volunteer Appreciation event. Outside of The Salvation Army, Regal has prepared the Thanksgiving meal for the International Thanksgiving, and more recently he has been making the Thanksgiving meal at Peace Lutheran Church. Kitchen for a Cause ADVERTISEMENT Harry Kerr and VFW Post 1215 have provided support to Zumbro Valley Health Center for more than 15 years to assist veterans in our community experiencing homelessness. Kerr served as the project manager for an exceptional group of area veterans who helped build out a small kitchen at Zumbro Valley Health Center's 7th Street office. This building houses our Homeless Services Team, which identifies and provides housing and long-term support services to people many of whom are veterans experiencing homelessness in Olmsted County. Kerr and his team support efforts to reduce homelessness in our community. Zumbro Valley Health Center staff are now able to provide nutritious food to people experiencing homelessness as well as those clients who have been housed, but do not have the resources to purchase food on a regular basis. In addition, staff now prepare meals for social events that allow clients to interact with others, helping them build critical social skills and reducing the isolation commonly found in people diagnosed with a serious mental illness or substance use disorder. Martin Omerichamoi Omerichamoi has had a wide range of responsibilities through his many volunteer experiences. He has served as mentor, interpreter, motivator, advocate, and friend, and has worked with all ages children through seniors. His volunteer experiences have ranged from serving as an election judge, weeding at Quarry Hill, volunteering as an interpreter for UN refugees, helping with disaster relief, connecting low-income people to cell phones, and volunteering with Boys and Girls Club and United Way. Omerichamoi has been volunteering in the Rochester area since 2004 and has been especially helpful to African immigrants. He puts the needs of others before his own and is passionate in his efforts to improve the lives of others. Rochester Reading Champions Volunteers for the Rochester Reading Champions program meet two times a week with a student who is struggling to read. Reading is a critical part of everyday life and crucial to employment and engagement as a successful, contributing member of society. Rochester Reading Champion volunteers provide their students with the opportunity to experience success, build confidence, and develop literacy skills required to change their life trajectory. ADVERTISEMENT Volunteers have successfully completed 120 hours of training and practicum and prepare and execute unique research-based lesson plans aimed at meeting the specific needs of their students. Mary Rossman Since 1998, Rossman has helped coordinate, sew and finish baby clothing and blankets with Bundles of Love, a Rochester group dedicated to helping families in need be able to provide for their babies. The group also packs layettes, and delivers "bundles" which are the layettes in homemade diaper bags. Rossman averages 36 hours a week doing this volunteer work. Student Service Club Leadership Team The youth of Student Service Club in Chatfield do an incredible amount of volunteer service, often while partnering with other organizations. Some examples include semi-monthly meals provided at the Dorothy Day House, raking leaves and shoveling driveways for those who otherwise cannot through the Help Our Neighbors initiative, ringing bells for The Salvation Army, helping several organizations provide holiday gifts to those who cannot afford any, making blankets and providing goods to the Women's Shelter, donating blood, cleaning the highway through Adopt A Highway, and several others. The Student Service Club is run by students. These leaders motivate, organize, prepare, run, and provide all the logistical support for all activities. Arlan Walton Walton is a volunteer who serves faithfully at Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch, showing up many days even before the staff arrives. He specializes in construction work and fine woodworking. When he is not at the ranch, Walton is off serving individuals who need housework done but can't afford it. Ironwood serves people with disabilities, members of the military, and youth. Walton works on projects all related to those people they serve; building furniture for the Miracle Lodge that is used by people who stay there. Women's Leadership Initiative The Women's Leadership Initiative of Mower County is an organization that is run solely by volunteers. Their mission is to ensure that the basic needs of children are being met. Their main program is providing weekend food backpacks for children in grades PreK-6 for three schools in Austin as well as Leroy, Southland, Lyle, and Grand Meadow. The WLI also funds and has volunteers assist with personal care closets in all the elementary schools in Mower County. Students and families, are able to get such items as toothpaste, clothes soap, and socks as the need arises. The group is filled with caring, dedicated members who have put in countless hours to help ensure the children of Mower County have their basic needs met. The children are healthier and happier, parents are less stressed, and the schools benefit because the students are more ready to learn when their basic needs are met. WINONA The Winona School Board approved cuts for the 2016-17 school year of more than $1 million during Thursday's school board meeting. That will leave the district with spending in excess of $1.5 million more than its revenue for the upcoming school year. "We've been cutting for the last few years because of shortfalls from the state," said Mohamed Elhindi, the school board president for the Winona Area Public Schools. Initially, the board looked for the low-hanging fruit to cut, he said. "There is no more low-hanging fruit." The biggest cut approved was $208,050 to special education staffing. The school board also approved the reduction of two full-time staff positions each in elementary, middle and high school staffs. Elhindi noted that more than 80 percent of the district's budget is salaries, so staff cuts were necessary to meet the reduction goals. Even with the cuts, the district's fund balance will take a $1.557 million hit by the end of the next fiscal year for the district on June 30, 2017. Reduced enrollment is the main culprit for the shortfall, Elhindi said. However, enrollment numbers for next year are not final and could increase, making the shortfall less. ADVERTISEMENT The financial bind emphasizes the need for voters to approve the operating levy that will be on the November ballot, said School Board Member Jay Kohner. That levy is about $1,500 per student or $6 million. Elhindi said the levy is just a renewal of the current levy in the district. "The levy would keep us where we are right now," he said. "Winona has been a generous community. We're not asking for an increase." The hit to the fund balance for the upcoming school year will reduce that balance to less than about 11 percent of the expenditures, Elhindi said. "The board's policy is to have a fund balance of 16 percent," he said. That goal would be ideal, Kohner said. "But that would require a whole lot of cutting and it might not be realistic," he said. That additional cutting comes in projections through 2022, said School Board Member Ben Baratto. "We're projected to be cutting over a million through 2022," he said. "In 2018, it's about $1.555 million. If we keep doing that to 2022, it'll bring the fund balance up. But cutting a million plus every year hurts." Nearly every area received cuts, Baratto said, even the scant budget for the school board. "It's just across the board," he said. "It hurts the classroom, the students. No doubt about it." New data released Thursday by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources show the number of gray wolves in the state at a record high since tracking began nearly 40 years ago. The count that took place over the 2015-16 winter estimated between 866 and 897 wolves, spread across northern Wisconsin in 222 packs. That represents a 16 percent increase from last year's wolf count. "I was a little surprised how much it grew," said Adrian Wydeven, coordinator of the Timber Wolf Alliance at Northland College and former longtime head of the Wisconsin DNR's wolf program. "Although we did expect the population to come up some with the lack of any kind of a hunting/trapping season." A federal judge placed wolves in the Great Lakes region back under endangered species protection in late 2014. ADVERTISEMENT That ended three years of wolf hunting in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wisconsin's wolf population plummeted to about 660 in 2014, after hunters killed about 250 wolves in the second year of the state's wolf hunt. But numbers rebounded about 12 percent the following year after the state's wolf quota was reduced. Wolves became nearly extinct in Wisconsin in the early 1980s. The population reached a low point of only 14 in 1985, before beginning a slow recovery. Wisconsin's wolf numbers now trail only Alaska and Minnesota, Wydeven said. The Minnesota DNR estimated the state's wolf population at about 2,200 last August. Wisconsin's wolf count was compiled with the help of more than 100 volunteer trackers, including Wydeven. "Volunteer trackers are a critical component of Wisconsin's wolf monitoring program," said David MacFarland, the Wisconsin DNR's large carnivore specialist. "Department staff relies upon their efforts to ensure we have high quality data." Vietnams manufacturing is currently determined by low-wage, low-tech and low-added value production. And the country is finding its way to move up the global value chain so that it can maximize the potential benefits from a variety of new generation free trade agreements including the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The supporting industries of Vietnam remain weak, said Pham Tuan Anh, deputy head of Heavy Industries Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on Friday at a workshop on how to boost the development of supporting industries in Vietnam as reported by the Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam now has to import nearly 90 percent of raw materials, spare parts and components, Anh added. Official statistics show the rate of locally sourced components of the motorcycle and electronics industries have improved noticeably over the past five years, ranging from 40 percent to 70 percent. However, the localization rate in other industries such as automobile and textiles and garments is just about five to 10 percent. About 85 percent of Vietnamese enterprises in the textile industry are focused on labor-intensive cutting and sewing, making the country an outsourcing hub for foreign fashion companies, said Le Tien Truong, chief executive of the countrys largest textile company Vinatex. Get ready for more "Made in Vietnam" labels as new generation free trade agreements will make it easier and cheaper for global fashion companies to source in the country. Photo by Reuters/Nguyen Huy Kham Local companies have to import more than 65 percent of raw materials, including fabrics and other accessories from overseas, especially from neighboring China which owns the bulk of the worlds polyester production and is one of the top producers of cotton, said Le Quoc, a senior advisor to the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association. In 2014, Vietnam only produced enough fabric to meet a fifth of the industrys requirements, meaning some $10 billion in fabric was sourced overseas, with nearly a half of this coming from China, according to official customs data. Moreover, local companies have little information about supporting industries which are mainly controlled by foreign companies. For instance, about 80 percent of parts suppliers in Vietnam, including electronics and other metal parts, are foreign-invested companies. Evidently, Vietnam's supporting industries are weak, putting the countrys manufacturing sector at risk of missing out on the benefits of free trade agreements. The TPP, for example, will scrap tariffs in many areas. In the garment industry, the trade deal, with a mechanism called the rules of origin, will only benefit companies either importing materials from within the TPP community or sourcing at home. Vietnams domestic automobile industry is also faced with many challenges in the era of new generation free trade agreements. Following the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, Vietnam will cut car import tariffs incrementally over the next four years for imported cars from ASEAN countries. The current tariff of 50 percent will be cut to zero by 2018. The Vietnamese government has worked on a plan to spur the development of supporting industries. The goal is that in the next four years local supporting industries can meet 45 percent of the demand and Vietnam will have 1,000 suppliers for domestic manufacturing sector and for foreign-invested companies in the country. By 2030, Vietnams supporting industries will grow rapidly enough to meet 70 percent of the demand of local manufacturing. And the number of suppliers will double to 2,000. The Vietnamese government has confirmed on June 15 that the national legislature intends to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal at its first plenary session from July 20 to August 9. The TPP will create a free-trade zone among 12 nations around the Pacific region that accounts for 40 percent of the worlds economic output. However, the pact can take effect only if it is agreed on by half of the participating countries representing 85 percent of the trade zones gross domestic product, which means without the approval of the U.S. Congress, the trade accord wont come into effect even it is ratified by all the other countries. Related news: > Vietnam to ratify TPP trade deal by August 9 > Vietnam president asks Samsung to help develop supporting industries > TPP offers promising new world for Vietnam's textiles sector A border guard vessel has brought ashore the body of Su-30MK2 fighter pilot Tran Quang Khai at 5 a.m. this morning after a four day search off Vietnam's central coast. Strong winds have prolonged the journey to bring Khais body ashore, where throughout the night, fellow soldiers and locals waited for his return. At 3:30 a.m. on June 18, ten army cars carrying soldiers, officers and Khais family arrived at Port Squadron 2. At the port, soldiers lined up facing the sea awaiting Khai. By 5 a.m., the vessel carrying Khais body arrived after a 10 hour journey. Colonel Duong Minh Hien, Deputy Commander of Nghe An Province Military Command said Khais body has been transferred to the Military Zone 4 Hospital in Vinh City (Nghe An central province), after which, he will be returned to Hanoi. Body of Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai brought ashore. Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai, 43, was from the northern province of Bac Giang. He was the tenth child in a family of 11 and the only one to enter the army. According to his family, Khai was married three years ago to a teacher from Bac Giang, with whom he had a three year old daughter. The couple was planning to build a house this year. Khai's body transferred to a car. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Binh The body of Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai was discovered by fishermen yesterday at around 6 p.m. about 33 nautical miles from Thanh Hoa central provinces Hon Me Island. One hour later, his body was transferred to a vessel from Nghe An Provinces Border Guard. Major Nguyen Thanh Thuy, Commander in chief of a battalion from Thanh Hoas Hon Mat Island, said the man died about three days ago. His co-pilot Major Nguyen Huu Cuong was rescued by a fishing boat on June 15, a day after the plane went down. Vietnam People's Air Defense - Air Force lost contact with the fighter jet flying offshore Nghe An on Tuesday morning. The jet departed from Tho Xuan Airport in Thanh Hoa Province for routine training but disappeared from radar at 7:29 a.m the same day. Vietnam also lost contact with CASA-212, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, of the Vietnam Coast Guard yesterday noon while it was searching for the missing Su-30 fighter jet and its pilot Tran Quang Khai. Nine crew members of CASA-212 remain missing. The search team have found CASA debris yesterday, 13-15 nautical miles to the south west of Bach Long Vi Island. Related news: > Vietnamese missing fighter pilot found dead off central coast > Over a thousand people join search for missing Vietnamese fighter pilot > Vietnamese fighter jet missing, one pilot has returned to the shore Vietnams military and civil forces have met with big waves and other adverse weather conditions at sea while searching for the two missing aircraft and 9 military personnel. The search operations have been expanded to almost the entire area of the Gulf of Tonkin. Currently we have not found anything new, Do Duc Hoa, Party Chief of Hai Phong Citys Bach Long Vy District said on Saturday morning. Lieutenant-General Phan Van Giang, Chief of General Staff, (second, L) with the search and rescue teams. Photo by the Ministry of National Defense The Third Military Region, the Peoples Navy, the Border Guard, Coast Guard, and fishing boats have been mobilized in the search and rescue efforts. They are determined to search the area again and again, and will work urgently but carefully. Everyone wants to have results early but the search zone is large while the weather at sea is very complicated. The history of airplane accidents in the world shows that it is not easy to find missing planes in adverse weather conditions at sea in one or two days, a source from the Ministry of National Defense said. On June 14, Vietnam's fighter jet Su-30MK2 crashed offshore the central province of Nghe An. The jet had two pilots on board, one of whom, Major Nguyen Huu Cuong, was rescued but the other, Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai, 43, was found dead at sea and has been brought ashore. The CASA-212-40 with nine people on board went missing on June 16 while searching for the Su-30MK2. The search and rescue team have recovered in the Gulf of Tonkin debris belonging to the CASA-212 plane which crashed on June 16 while searching for the missing Su-30 fighter pilot Tran Quang Khai. China has deployed the NANHAIJIU 101 rescue ship to help with the search. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has said from the Steering Committee for Search and Rescue of the CASA plane in Hai Phong: "We have to find the crew members at all costs." Related news: > Vietnamese missing fighter pilot found dead off central coast > Debris from missing CASA search plane recovered > Vietnam loses contact with plane searching for missing fighter pilot > Vietnamese fighter jet missing, one pilot has returned to the shore Every so often we receive a notice of a policy change and applaud. This week, it came with an email announcing candidates for Rochester's school board would be listed in a single category, allowing school district residents to pick any three of their choice. Too quickly -- a day later -- we discovered the district's announcement was flawed. An exception granted to state legislation means Rochester's school board candidates will run based on seats. The district will see three distinct races. Some have applauded the exemption, noting it allows challengers to attempt to unseat a specific candidate and keeps local election rule making in local hands. Others, us included, maintain the at-large option would best serve the voters, as well as the most-qualified candidates. ADVERTISEMENT By putting all the candidates in a single category, it forces incumbents and challengers alike to campaign based on what they see is best for the district. It forces them to look at the broader issues in more detail to suggest how the district should move forward to maintain its budget and provide the best programs for children. By limiting races to individual seats, candidates in the general election simply need to convince voters why they are better than their individual opponents. It also opens the possibility that voters will need to reject the second-best candidate of six potential board members or accept one of the least qualified, based on who filed for which seat. It's too early to predict the outcome of the election, but it's not too early to be disappointed about how it will be conducted. I wrote here about the British Lefts disgraceful effort to make political hay out of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by a mentally ill man. Pro-EU forces are trying to somehow tie the murder to the Brexit side of the EU debate. While I considered the attempt contemptible, I wasnt at all sure that it wouldnt work. (The parallels to similar issues in the U.S. are obvious.) But if this survey is right, the Lefts effort may be failing: British support for remaining in the European Union has weakened in the wake of the murder of the pro-EU politician Jo Cox, according to an online research company Friday. Qriously, a London-based technology start-up that gathers data and intelligence about consumers through mobile phone apps, found that backing among likely voters for Britains EU membership has dropped to 32% from 40% before her death. The poll was based on 1,992 British adults surveyed on June 13-16, and then 1,002 on June 17 the day after Cox was shot and killed in northern England. Qriously found that 52% will vote to leave the bloc in a national referendum on June 23. The figure is unchanged from before the parliamentarians death. The weakening support for remaining in the EU coincided with a large move toward Dont know, which leaped to 16% from 9% before Coxs assassination. In recent weeks, momentum has shifted toward the Brexit side. If this poll is reliable, it suggests that such movement continues, and the tragic murder of Ms. Cox has not changed how Britons think about remaining in the EU. Nor, of course, should it. Speaking before Syrias parliament, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recently said that Bloodshed in Syria will not end if we dont eradicate terrorism from its roots wherever it exists. Such a statement coming from Assad along with his vow to liberate all parts of Syria is deeply cynical and cruelly ironic. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner noted that as usual Assad refuses to recognize the role that he has directly played in creating the conditions that exist today, where Daesh has been able to get a strong foothold and establish itself. Its important to remember that over 5 years and over 400,000 Syrian fatalities ago, the civil war in Syria started when Assad violently attacked peaceful pro-democratic demonstrators with guns and tanks. Since then, any opponent of the Syrian regime is labelled a terrorist. Untold thousands have disappeared into Assads horrific prisons. He has bombarded the Syrian people with chemical weapons and barrel bombs; he uses starvation and torture as weapons of war. By what possible measure can this be called a liberation strategy? The State Departments most recent report on terrorism also underscores the irony of Assads boast of eradicating terrorism at its roots. It notes that for years the Assad regime encouraged and facilitated al-Qaida and other terrorist networks to transit through Syria to battle Coalition forces in Iraq. Those very networks, the report said, were among the violent extremist elements, including ISIL, which terrorized the Syrian and Iraqi population in 2015 andcontinued to attract thousands of foreign terrorist fighters to Syria in 2015. In his speech Assad said, There is no choice but victory. Two days after he spoke three more medical facilities in and near Aleppo were destroyed from the air continuing another liberation tactic of Assad: targeting hospitals. Such actions, as White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest said, demonstrate that Bashar al-Assad has lost his legitimacy: He continues to carry out heinous acts of violence against his own peopleThats why its impossible for him to fulfill his rhetoric about uniting that country under his leadership. In fact, Mr. Earnest said, Assads continued presence in that office only exacerbates the chaos and turmoil in that country. Its time for him to leave so that the rest of the international community can support the Syrian people as they choose the political direction of [their] country. The Democratic National Committee was hacked in 2015 and again this year. Hacked opposition research was posted online and made the headlines. The DNCs security consultant CrowdStrike attributes the hacking to operatives of the Russian government. Guccifer 2.0 (whoddat?) has posted a set of donor related documents that complicate the story. The DNCs early attempts to minimize the extent of the hacking have not held up. They appear to be an exercise in wishful thinking or public relations. Wired reports the story here and here with a good set of links; the Washington Post reports it here. Yesterday Times Haley Edwards emphasized the who in this particular whodunnit. The story obviously bears on the mind-boggling story of the private server used by Hillary Clinton to conduct official business as Secretary of State. The hack of the DNC appears to have gone on for a year before it was discovered. The identity of the perpetrators is unclear. The penetration was wide and deep. According to the Post: The intruders so thoroughly compromised the DNCs system that they also were able to read all email and chat traffic. Hmmmm. At Forbes, Paul Gregory quotes CrowdStrike on the hack: [I]t is extremely difficult for a civilian organization to protect itself from a skilled and determined state such as Russia. That too seems to bear rather directly on the case of Clintons private server. Gregory draws out the relevance of the hack of the DNC to the Clinton case in a way that the other stories overlook. PREMIUM TIMES recently published a special report detailing how some state governors are involved in hi-tech mobile phone snooping. According to the report, the governors in question carried out illegal surveillance activities on some perceived opponents by tracking their location and intercepting calls & text messages made over 3G networks in real time. The report went further to state that a Bulgarian digital surveillance company, Circles 3G, provided the technology with which the governors used to covertly infringe on the privacy of their targets. How is it possible that private phone calls and text messages of law abiding citizens can be illegally intercepted in real time without the subscriber or network providers consent? Well, the possibility of this sort of thing happening is not hard to imagine. The GSM network from the onset was not designed with security in mind. For a long time, remote mobile phone tapping has been made possible by the use of counterfeit mobile towers otherwise known as IMSI-Catcher, acting between the target mobile phone and the service providers real towers (base station). The IMSI-catcher masquerades as a base station and causes every mobile phone of the simulated network operator within a defined radius to connect to it, thereby allowing the attacker to eavesdrop effortlessly. However, the discovery of an intrinsic vulnerability within mobile phone network interconnection system, otherwise known as SS7 (Signalling System 7) that allows criminals or governments to remotely snoop on anyone with a phone in real time has made the use IMSI-Catcher for mobile phone surveillance look like childs play. Your phone number is all a hacker needs to listen to your calls, read text messages, and track you. As far back as 2008, a telecoms researcher Tobias Engel demonstrated this in a security conference Chaos Communication Congress in Germany, followed by demonstrations by other researchers such as Karsten Nohl in 2014. The worlds attention was once again drawn to the SS7 vulnerability following Nohls live demonstration of remotely surveilling a US congressman Ted Lieu, aired on US based CBS network in April 2016. The SS7 protocol was designed to allow mobile phone network carriers exchange information with one another and to enable mobile tower handover, international roaming, cross-carrier billing and other facilities. But once a hacker gains access to SS7 system, they can essentially eavesdrop, and track the location of a phone using the same system that the phone networks use to make service available and deliver voice calls, texts and data services. SS7 vulnerability is a weakness that has existed for years ever since the protocol was developed in 1975. Some experts believe this vulnerability was intentionally allowed to exist as it is well known to notable security agencies such as the US National Security Agency. The much talked about Circle 3G hi-tech surveillance technology is based on the exploitation of this vulnerability. However, they are not alone; the list of companies that provide this sort of service is endless. These companies boast corporate and government customers around the world with some using corporate lingo to semantically dodge the outright use of the term surveillance. The revelation of the alleged activities of these governors has once again raised concerns about digital privacy rights in Nigeria and the need for appropriate legislation to regulate such activities, failure to do so will inevitably lead to abuse. Privacy has become a human rights issue for the digital age. The UN General Assembly in December 2013 adopted resolution 68/167, which expressed deep concern at the negative impact that unlawful interception of communications may have on human rights, and affirmed that the rights held by people offline must also be protected online, and it called upon all States to respect and protect the right to privacy in digital communication. The Amnesty International also, recently declared that encryption (a basic prerequisite for privacy and free speech in the digital age) is now a human right issue. As a law abiding citizen, should you be scared about the continued existence of this weakness? Well, not so much as the politicians, high profile corporate executives, government officials, celebrities, activists and people in positions of power. As an average subscriber, the SS7 loophole should not be atop the list of things to worry about if you have figured out that you are not that important in the scheme of things. There are more serious security threats to worry about as a smartphone user than the SS7 intercepts. Nonetheless, the consequence of this technology falling into the hands of organised crime syndicates is enormous as all thats required to snoop on you is your phone number and access to the SS7 system. Banks for instance use phone calls or text messages to verify a users identity; this could be easily intercepted for fraudulent purposes. Because the SS7 based mobile phone surveillance depends entirely on systems outside of the subscribers control, there is very little you can do to protect yourself beyond not using the mobile network services. For voice calls, the best option is to bypass your phones normal calling procedure in favour of using a service that carries voice over data instead of the usual voice call network. This will help prevent your calls from being intercepted. Messaging services including WhatsApp and many others allow secure voice communications. For text messages, you are better off using messaging apps that offer what is called end-to-end encryption. This ensures that your messages are secured from the time theyre sent to the moment theyre received. Examples include WhatsApp (which recently implemented end-to-end encryption), Apples iMessage or the many others available out there. Dealing with location tracking can be a bit challenging as your location could be tracked at any moment as long as you are connected to the mobile phone network even if your GPS is turned off. The only way to evade it is to turn off your connection to the mobile phone network and rely on Wi-Fi instead. Although an unwavering hacker could still track your IP or hardware address. The most important takeaway is to realise that pretty much anything can be hacked; having that understanding and adjusting your routine may help, especially when security and privacy is at stake. The mobile phone network is by design not secure and will probably never be. There may be some improvements in the future, but that may not deter a determined adversary. If you are seriously concerned about the security of your communication, its best not to send them over a communications system of any sort. Amakiri Welekwe holds a masters degree in Network Systems and works as an information technology and cyber security specialist. He regularly writes about contemporary issues in IT and cyber security. Egypts deposed president, Mohammed Morsi, was on Saturday sentenced to 40 years in prison on charges of leaking secret state documents to Qatar when he was in office. The decision was made by the Cairo Criminal Court, which announced two separate jail terms of 25 years and 15 years against Mr. Morsi on different counts. Two former aides to Mr. Morsi were sentenced to life terms, which under Egyptian law is 25 years. The court also confirmed preliminary death sentences given last month to six defendants in the same case. The six, convicted of espionage, included three journalists, who were tried in absentia. Two of the three are employees of the Qatari television network, Al Jazeera. The confirmation of the death verdicts came after the countrys chief Islamic legal authority, the grand mufti, approved them, as required by Egyptian law in cases involving death sentences. The rulings against Mr. Morsi and all other defendants can be appealed. Qatar was a key ally of Mr. Morsis now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. Human Rights group Amnesty International condemned Saturdays death sentences. While this outcome is appalling, it is sadly not surprising, Magdalena Mughrabi-Talhami, the watchdogs deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, said. Egypts broken and utterly corrupted justice system is now little more than a handy tool for the authorities repression of any vestiges of opposition or criticism, she added in a statement. The Egyptian government has repeatedly rejected criticism of heavy-handed sentences against Islamists, saying that the countrys courts operate independently. Mr. Morsi, Egypts first democratically elected president was toppled by the military in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. In June 2015, another court sentenced him to death after convicting him of involvement in a mass prison escape during Egypts 2011 uprising. This sentence is also subject to appeal. The court also handed him a life term on charges of conspiring with foreign organisations in conducting the jailbreak. He is being tried in a separate case on charges of insulting the judiciary. Several senior leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood and their followers have been sentenced to death in different cases since Mr. Morsis toppling. The group has dismissed the sentences and other harsh verdicts as politically motivated. (dpa/NAN) The extremist Boko Haram sect has killed seven police officers in the West African country of Niger, Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum said on Saturday. The terrorists attacked the village of NGagam near the Nigerian border on Friday evening, Mr. Bazoum said. Urgence Diffa, which monitors the security and humanitarian situation in the area, reported that the attackers arrived in vehicles and opened fire on the police officers in the village. The village is located in an area where many refugees live. Mr. Bazoum had visited the village, located some 40 kilometres from the town of Diffa, with a delegation just a few hours before the attack. Boko Haram is an extremist organisation that launches regular offensives in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon with the ultimate goal of setting up a fundamentalist theocracy. (dpa/NAN) The Nigerian Air Force on Friday launched the second phase of its counterinsurgency campaign in Northeast Nigeria by deploying six special combat Jets that are geared towards wiping out the Boko Haram insurgency in the region in a short time. The six lethal aircrafts, comprising three Alpha Jets and three MIF7 jets are to be used by a new combat group, tagged Operation Gama-Aiki meaning end the Job in Hausa. Operation Gama Aiki, launched on Friday in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, is a second phase of the NAF operation in the ongoing counter terrorism war in the volatile Northeast. Air Component Commander of the Flagship Counterinsurgency; Operation Lafiya Dole, Peter Uzezi, said the new phase of the onslaught would flush out insurgents from the areas notorious as a major stronghold of the outlawed group. He said the new operation followed a successful outing in Sambisa forest under the aegis of Operation Crackdown in collaboration with ground troops. He said six fighter jets had been deployed with specific instructions to the northern axis area. Three out of the six aircrafts are Alfa jets, expected to patrol the Monguno axis and advance with ground troops towards Alagarno where operations are ongoing. The other three are MIF7 jets heading towards Diffa general area in Niger Republic enroute Baga local government to effect logistic re-supply to troops operating in Baga and surrounding towns. Mr. Uzezi urged the air fighters to sustain coordinated airstrikes and interdiction with ground troops as well as the Multi National Joint Task Force. Despite the recorded successes of the Nigeria military over the Boko Haram insurgents, the outlawed group continued to carry out pockets of deadly attacks on soft targets especially in communities not covered by the military. On Thursday the insurgents attacked a vulnerable group of mourners in a village in Adamawa State, killing at least 18 persons during a wake-keeping session. The Federal Government has formally accused the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, of forging the 2015 Senate Standing Rules used in electing them to office. Both presiding officers have been charged to court accordingly. Also charged alongside Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu are the immediate past Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, and his deputy Benedict Efeturi. The charges were filed more than a year after the controversial election and inauguration of the two principal officers on June 9, 2016. Days after the elections, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi (APC-Kaduna North) petitioned the Inspector General of Police, alleging that the Standing Rules used for the exercise was forged. He accused the four officials of conspiracy, and demanded criminal investigation of the matter. The police later launched an investigation, submitting a detailed report to the nations Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. Mr. Hunkuyi is the secretary of Unity Forum, a group of All Progressives Congress Senators opposed to the emergence of Mr. Saraki, preferring his opponent, Senator Ahmed Lawan instead. The federal government has now taken steps to press criminal charges against the Senate president and the three other officials. The case, with reference number, CR/219/16, was filed on June 10, 2015 at the Federal High Court in Abuja. It has been assigned to Justice Yusuf Haliru. The case bothers on two-count charge, including offence of conspiracy punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code Law; and offence of forgery with fraudulent intent punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Law. Count one reads, That you Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu on or about the 9th of June, 2015, at the National Assembly Complex, Three Arm Zone, Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves, to forge the Senate Standing Order, 2011 (as amended) and you thereby committed the offence of Conspiracy, punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code Law. Count Two reads, That you Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu on or about the 9th of June, 2015, at the National Assembly Complex, Three Arm Zone, Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with fraudulent intent forged the Senate Standing Order 2011 (as amended) causing it to be believed as the genuine Standing Order, 2015 and circulated same for use during the inauguration of the 8th Senate of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, when you knew that the said Order was not made in compliance the procedure for amendment of the Senate Order, you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Law. The Special Adviser to Mr. Saraki, Yusuph Olaniyonu, told PREMIUM TIMES the new case against the Senate president was just unravelling. Its a curious and very very recent development, Mr. Olaniyonu said. We are watching. Mr. Ekweremadus spokesperson, Uche Anichukwu, neither answered calls nor replied a text message. Mr. Saraki is currently facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false and anticipatory declaration of assets. Officials of the Borno State government in charge of administering foods and other relief materials for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are in trouble for allegedly re-bagging and diverting rice donated by philanthropic organisations and well-meaning individuals. Thousands of IDPs in over 20 camps around Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, are left hungry as officials enrich selves from the sales of diverted food meant for IDPs. Many others have died of starvation while hundreds have been hospitalised. Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Friday directed the police and the State Security Services to go after officials involved in the act. The governors spokesperson, Isa Gusau, said Mr. Shettimas directive followed the circulation of video clips and still pictures on the social media showing bags of rice purportedly from NEMA being re-bagged by officials of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency. Mr. Shettima spoke at a meeting with heads of all security and para-military organisations in Borno State shortly after he held the traditional iftar (breaking of fast) with them at the Government House on Friday night. Mr. Isa added that the governor described those who circulated the video as a group of Abuja-based politicians from Borno State bent on bringing down his administration. But critics said the governors directive came a bit late because the action of thieving officials had already led to the death of several IDPs, some of whom perished from starvation and malnutrition. In Bama town, 75km away from Maiduguri, hungry and malnourished IDPs die on daily basis because of inadequate food supply, those familiar with the matter said. Governor Shettima had to visit Bama camp after receiving report that IDPs were dying rapidly due to lack of care and proper nutrition. At the camp, the governor saw how hungry IDPs were left unattended to even as fresh corpses of persons killed by hunger were being buried, his aides said. The governor had to quickly direct officials of the state ministry of health to move 61 persons with acute condition of malnutrition to the intensive care unit of the Umaru Shehu Ultramodern Hospital, Maiduguri, to save them from dying. Another set of 478 children, alongside 219 adults with lesser cases of malnutrition, were also moved to a special care unit for proper feeding and medication, officials said. Sources in Bama said before the governors visit on Wednesday, bodies wrapped in mats and being moved for burial were common sights at the camp almost on daily basis. We have lost count of people that have died so far in this camp, said a concerned local camp official. It was really a messy situation when you have to pick corpses of malnourished persons everyday; sometimes some of the dead ones may not even be discovered on time. The theft is not restricted to food items alone, medical drugs, toiletries, beddings and wrappers have been diverted to the market and sold by greedy officials. Meanwhile, the Borno State Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Ahmed Satomi, has been summoned by the states House of Assembly to explain why Internally Displaced Persons are dying of malnutrition everyday in various camps managed by the state government. Mr Satomi is also to answer questions on the alleged diversion of relief materials. The Assembly had on Thursday issued a 24-hour ultimatum for the SEMA boss to appear before a seven-man ad hoc committee on the alleged diversion and repackaging of relief items donated by Dangote Foundation and other humanitarian agencies for feeding the about 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state. The lawmakers are also seeking explanation regarding the multiple deaths at the camps, especially in Bama. The Chairman, House Committee Verification on the plight of IDPs, Mustapha Ngala, who led other members to the office of SEMA Friday told journalists that his committee was mandated to go round IDP camps to see if there were any gap in feeding and welfare need of victims of the Boko Haram insurgency. We have gone round most of the camps to see things for ourself and report back appropriately to the House and the authorities, we have been to Dalori Camp I & II, Bakassi Camp, Shettima Ali Monguno Camp among other resettlement camps, Mr. Ngala said. We have had discussions with those managing these camps and the victims themselves (IDPs). We have not concluded our findings to tell you what we have gathered yet, but very soon, when we are through with our findings, we are going to tell the public. Mr. Ngala however said the state assembly was displeased with the series of allegations bothering on corruptions and lapses in SEMA. Efforts by this newspaper to track down the SEMA chief executive for comments on the allegations against his agency and staff were unsuccessful. Mr Satomi failed to keep a promise to revert as soon as he was done with an assignment he was handling. As the allegation of sexual misconduct against three Nigerian lawmakers by the United States Government continues to draw public fury, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has asked America to provide fool-proof evidence that the lawmakers indeed committed the crimes. A lawmaker, Mohammed Gololo (APC-Bauchi State) was accused of grabbing a hotel maid and soliciting sex, while two others, Samuel Ikon (PDP-Akwa Ibom) and Mark Gbillah (APC-Benue State) allegedly requested a car park attendant to help them arrange the services of prostitutes during a visit to Cleveland for the International Visitor Leadership Programme. The allegations were contained in a June 9 petition to Mr. Dogara by American Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle. The three lawmakers denied the allegations separately describing them as totally false, calculated attempt to rubbish the National Assembly and a case of mistaken identity. In a series of tweets on Saturday, Mr. Dogara commented on the allegations, as he responded to questions thrown at him by Nigerians. He who alleges must prove, he said via his Twitter handle @speakerdogara. Thats the law. As we speak no evidence has been put forward other than the letter sent to my office and copied to many others. Together with the US Embassy in Nigeria we will get to the bottom of this matter and until then lets not be judgemental. Under our laws an accused person is deemed innocent until proven guilty and he enjoys the benefit of any doubt. Social media trial and conviction of members alleged to have committed the offence is taking up arms against our laws, tweeted an awfully embarrassed Mr. Dogara. Charged by Twitter user @saintyMartins for being more defensive than the accused lawmakers, Mr. Dogara replied, whats more offensive, to be defensive or convict people based on an allegation? Is that the standard in the US. Another Twitter user @akorive001 asked Mr. Dogara what his response was to allegation by activist Kayode Ogundamisi that he was shielding the accused lawmakers. Interesting, the Speaker replied, He (@ogundamisi) can convict if he likes but for us we must see the evidence (be)cos(cause) thats what the law says. My position is very neutral. On the alleged attempted rape of hotel room keeper by Mr. Gololo, Mr. Dogara said the US Ambassador did not make reference to that in his letter. Thats a social media creation. Mr. Gololo was actually accused of grabbing the room keeper and soliciting sex from her. He said the concerned lawmakers had indicated they were ready to stand trial in the US. They are ready to do that at their own cost. In further tweets, the Speaker, however, warned of consequences for the lawmakers if proven guilty. No ambassador brings dishonour to his home country without some dire consequences. This all members know. The members are ambassadors of the House and indeed Nigeria when they were in the US, they mustnt bring dishonour to us. The spokesperson for the House, Abdulrazaq Namdas, told PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday that the House leadership was investigating the matter. He did not say how the investigation was being conducted. When contacted, the U.S. embassy in Nigeria declined comments, saying in an email to PREMIUM TIMES that it does comment on private diplomatic correspondence. Sex Scandal: Mine is mistaken identity Ikon Meanwhile, one of the lawmakers, Mr Ikon, has dismissed the allegation as untrue, saying his identity had been mistaken. Mr. Ikon, a member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), representing Etinan/Nsit Ibom/Nsit Ubium Constituency of Akwa Ibom, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday that the allegation was in bad taste. The lawmaker said he was at a loss as to what the U.S. envoy intended to achieve with the allegation, insisting that he had been mistakenly dragged into a matter he knew nothing about. He said that he was happy that the lower chamber had commenced the process of investigating the allegation, and expressed confidence that he would be cleared. He also said that he had briefed his lawyers to initiate legal and diplomatic steps to get to the root of the matter to clear my name and the institution I represent. Condemning the allegation by the ambassador, Mr. Ikon said, I wish to state unequivocally that this is false and definitely not me. This, to me is a case of mistaken identity and I will be vindicated. I have initiated measures both legal and diplomatic to clear my name and the institution I represent. There are many questions left unanswered by the actions of the U.S. mission but I believe it will become clearer in the course of time. He urged his constituents and Nigerians to be patient as the truth would be unveiled, adding that God would vindicate him. I want to reassure all of my innocence in this matter and I call on all relevant authorities and jurisdictions to commence full investigation to correct this great injustice to me. I have an unwavering faith in God to see me through this trying moment and plead with all not to be hasty in condemning me as the final outcome will surely clear my name. I urge for patience, prayers and Gods abiding wisdom at this time. Some lawmakers on Saturday proposed life pension for presiding officers of the National Assembly after their tenure in office. They made the proposal at a-two day retreat on Constitution Review organised by the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review in Lagos. According to them, presiding officers, who should enjoy life pension are President of Senate, Deputy President of Senate, Speaker, House of Representatives and Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives. The deputy president of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, spoke in favour of the proposal, saying that principal officers of the two chambers should be entitled to life pension after their tenure. Mr. Ekweremadu, who the chairman, Senate Ad hoc Committee on review of 1999 constitution, said it was necessary for the presiding officers to enjoy such benefits. This has nothing to do with an individual. It is about the institution. Let us not politicise it. Nobody elected the Chief Justice of Nigeria, but he enjoys pension. But if we cheapen our own institution, so be it. Let us not make this a personal thing, he said. Stella Oduah (PDP-Anambra) said there was no reason why legislators should not enjoy such benefit when other arms of government enjoyed it. The executive enjoy it. Let us stand by our leaders. They should enjoy this benefit. They act on behalf of us. They are equal to the executive and judiciary and should therefore, enjoy the same benefit, she said. Ahmed Yerima (APC-Zamfara), who also spoke in favour of the suggestion, said after being elected by all the lawmakers and their constituencies, lawmakers should enjoy pension. Governors, who spend just four years enjoy it, so presiding officers should enjoy it too, Mr. Yerima said. However, the leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, spoke against the proposal. The case of the state governors and their deputies is different. They were elected by the public. But we elect our principal officers. To me, I believe that the benefit of the office of the senate president and other principal officers is too much. They are just one among equals. I am against any excessive privileges given to the senate president or the speaker. All of us were elected. If we are doing anything, it should be for all members of the National Assembly, he said. Also, the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, spoke against the suggestion. The governor of a state and the president cannot stay in office for more than two terms. But for a senator, he can stay in office for 35 years, Mr. Akpabio said. According to Oluremi Tinubu, I think principal officers have had enough. Principal Officers drive fleet of cars and they have other entitlements. They should not earn extra money when they leave office. In the last assembly, we in the minority tried to raise our voice against it. You are first, second and third among equals. Some of us do not even have cars, but principal officers have so many. I think we should drop that idea, Mrs. Tinubu said. In another development, lawmakers voted against the continuous operation of joint account between local and state governments. Twenty four lawmakers voted in favour of financial autonomy for local governments, while six lawmakers supported the continuation of the status quo. (NAN) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently concluded an official three-day trip to Washington, where he met with business leaders, addressed Congress, and discussed U.S. India ties with President Barack Obama. It was the two leaders third major bilateral summit, and reflected the strong partnership between the worlds two largest democracies. In remarks after the meeting, President Obama said the United States and India have deepened and broadened their partnership across a range of issues. Mr. Obama cited Indias role in Paris in helping to forge the historic climate change agreement, noting both countries commitment to full implementation. The leaders discussed how they could bring the Agreement into force this year. They also resolved to work to adopt a hydrofluorocarbon amendment to the Montreal Protocol in 2016. The President noted the necessity for climate financing to be in place in India in order for Prime Minister Modis bold vision for solar and clean energy to be realized, and the two countries identified next steps under the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy, including strengthened cooperation to accelerate the deployment of rooftop solar power in India. The two also discussed the progress the two countries have made around civil nuclear energy and welcomed the start of work in India to build six Westinghouse reactors that are expected to bring clean, reliable electricity to millions. The U.S. supports Indias admission to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a body dedicated to curbing nuclear arms proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that could be used in nuclear weapons development. A key priority for both the United States and India is determining the best way to promote economic opportunity and alleviate poverty. President Obama said he and Prime Minister Modi discussed a range of areas for cooperation, including trade and job growth, in particular for the youth of both countries. Important issues of regional security were also discussed. President Obama noted that India and the United States have a shared vision of peace, of democracy, of countries resolving conflicts diplomatically, rather than through war. And when we work together on the international stage we can make significant progress. In a joint statement, President Obama and Prime Minister Modi affirmed the increasing convergence in the strategic perspectives of the United States and India and pledged to remain closely invested in each others security and prosperity. Senators and speakers of some state Houses of Assembly on Saturday proposed immunity for presiding officers of the legislature. The decision was taken at a two-day retreat on constitution review, organised by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Constitution Review, with the theme, Towards Ensuring Governance Accountability in Nigerian federalism. If the proposal succeeds and is inserted in the constitution, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who is being prosecuted for false and anticipatory assets declaration as well as alleged forgery, may enjoy some reprieve. His deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, may also have the forgery case against him dropped. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 21 lawmakers voted in favour of the proposal while 15 voted against. The lawmakers argued that presiding officers in the legislature ought to enjoy immunity since the executive and judiciary were enjoying it. The Chairman Senate Committee on Works, Kabiru Gaya, said the essence of immunity was to guard some public office holders against any form of distraction while discharging their duties. He said, there are three tiers of government and only two arms enjoy immunity. See what is happening to the President of the Senate now. We are not saying the case in court should be stopped. But even yesterday we read in the papers that there is a fresh case of forgery of Senate Standing Rule against the presiding officers and some other persons and all is to destabilise us. Also, the Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, who is being tried for allegedly aiding the Boko Haram sect, supported the proposal for immunity for all presiding officers in the three arms of government. However, he argued that such immunity should be limited to civil offences committed by the officers. According to him, for criminal issues there should be no immunity but for civil offences there should be immunity. Whoever it is that is involved in a criminal matter should be prosecuted. The Minority Leader of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, proposed that all National Assembly members and Houses of Assembly members should be given immunity. He explained that elected officers, who were saddled with the responsibility of ensuring good governance should be allowed to carry out their functions without any form of interference. I propose that all principal officers of the House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate, should enjoy immunity like the executive. So all parliamentarians who have criminal cases can be investigated but they should serve their punishment after office, he said. However, the Deputy Senate Leaders, Bala Ibn N Allah, argued that Nigerians might misconstrue the proposal for immunity for the legislature to mean that they were arrogating so much power to themselves. He suggested total removal of immunity from all arms of government, adding: Let us remove immunity from everyone and let there be balance. If you give immunity to everybody, a legislator may rape a lady and wait to finish his tenure before being prosecuted because he has immunity, he said. In a similar development, the lawmakers agreed on rotation of governorship positions among different ethnic groups in states. They arrived at the consensus with 15 lawmakers voting in favour and seven against. The lawmakers also proposed that independent candidates should be allowed to vie for political offices and voted against diaspora voting. Section 308 of the Nigerian Constitution provides for immunity from prosecution for persons holding the offices of President , Vice-President, Governor or Deputy Governor. The section reads, (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution, but subject to subsection (2) of this section (a) no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against a person to whom this section applies during his period of office; (b) a person to whom this section applies shall not be arrested or imprisoned during that period either in pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise; and (c) no process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of a person to whom this section applies, shall be applied for or issued: Provided that in ascertaining whether any period of limitation has expired for the purposes of any proceedings against a person to whom this section applies, no account shall be taken of his period of office. (2) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to civil proceedings against a person to whom this section applies in his official capacity or to civil or criminal proceedings in which such a person is only a nominal party. (3) This section applies to a person holding the office of President or Vice-President, Governor or Deputy Governor; and the reference in this section to period of office is a reference to the period during which the person holding such office is required to perform the functions of the office. (NAN) Adamu Mohammed, a teacher, whose heartrending story of his battle with cancer PREMIUM TIMES reported in August 2015, has succumbed to the terminal disease. The death of Mr. Mohammed, 43, was announced Friday by his friend, Ndama Abubakar, the managing director of Newsline Newspapers. I thought your readers will be interested in this story as the final chapter in the gory and heartrending struggles in Adamus life, Mr. Ndama told PREMIUM TIMES. The deceaseds family is grateful to you, and asked me to convey their Ramadan best wishes to you. May God reward you with al janna firdaus for publishing Adamus plight, which went a long way to generate funds for palliative treatment and helped him to live this long. According to Mr. Ndama, the teacher died in Paiko, Niger State, where he was reportedly waiting to raise about $19,000 (N3.2m) for treatment for surgical excision of the affected portion of his skull. The Indian doctors at Primus International Specialty Hospital in Abuja had warned that unless he reported immediately at their parent hospital in India with the money for surgical excision of the affected portion of the skull, the disease would degenerate and engulf all of the face. At the time, Mr. Mohammed, father of four, was already decaying while alive. It is not clear how much was raised for him as his friend did not give those details in a mail sent to this newspaper. Read here the story published by PREMIUM TIMES on the matter on August 6, 2015. A speaker at the Parenting for Nation Building dialogue session facilitated by PREMIUM TIMES Friday has said that men and women have different roles in the upbringing of children. Ayodele Adeboye, Country Manager, Econet Wireless in Nigeria, who spoke on the topic Parenting by Example said he did not believe that women are equal to men. Equal is a mathematical term that means one and the same, Mr. Adeboye said. That cant be true. Women are, rather, equivalent to men, which is that they are of equal value, not equal. They have different roles. Women, especially in this century, have proven that they can do those jobs that men used to do in the past as breadwinners, and do them even better. The best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother. And the man has to be present to do that. As a parent, you must learn to take responsibility. If we dont take responsibility, our children cannot take responsibility. Fridays dialogue session was organized in partnership with TW Magazine and Parenting Resources & Initiatives of Atlanta, USA. Over two dozen women attended the event which had just a handful of men in attendance, a fact which the lead speaker, Christopher Kolade, described as unnecessary oppression. When I came in here, and I saw the sheer number of ladies compared to men and I asked, is it only ladies that are interested in parenting? Mr. Kolade, Nigerias former Ambassador to the United Kingdom, said. It is important for us to know the kind of nation we want to build. Truth and justice is an indication of the type of nation we want to build. If we want to build a nation that reflects truth and justice, we learn those things first. Truth and justice are not just concepts themselves, they reflect the way people relate with one another. When parents begin to have more than one child, theres certain concept of behaviour. Every Child is inclined to seize the best part of anything to share. You have to teach them why its important to share. Sharing means you have to give up something. Later, Mr. Kolade told PREMIUM TIMES he wasnt surprised at the low male turnout for the event. Actually, I was not surprised because, generally speaking, in the upbringing of our children we tend to say, in our culture, that the mother is the one that does this. So I wasnt surprised, he said. But it was a good thing for us to note it because we ought to do something about it. We should make sure that the men are educated to realize that children a woman cannot have a child without a man, so Gods scheme is that both of them should participate in the upbringing of the children. Its a matter of education. Amina Oyagbola, HR/Corporate Services Executive at MTN Nigeria, said combining parenthood and career, especially for women, is a difficult task. A lot of working parents, especially females, the schedules of work conflict with the schedule of school. I think work schedules are designed around men, said Ms. Oyagbola, who spoke on the Imperatives of Work-Life Balance. We have to make our choice. The choice is still ultimately yours. Whatever choice you make you have to live with the consequences. In the early years of my career, I almost quit. I had three children. I was living in Satellite Town and working in Victoria Island. I just had a baby and I was the only senior management staff. I will wake up at 4am and cook for the children, breastfeed my baby. Ill leave the house 5 am, drop off those that needed to be dropped off in school and take my new baby to my mum at Ikoyi. I dont believe in excuses. I dont believe in telling stories. Speaking on Critical Life Values: Precursors in Nation Building and Living in the Diaspora, Bola Odetokun said children should be taught to treat others as they would want to be treated and to go out of their way to show kindness. Teach your child that no one owes them anything, and to consider whatever they get or anything people do for them as a privilege and be thankful for it, said Ms. Odetokun, founder of Parental Resources & Initiatives, USA. We need to go back to those days of being kind and being generous. I have seen children behave as if the world revolves around them. Lets teach our children to be grateful for life. Dont allow a child to play the blame game. He/she needs to take responsibility for their choices and be ready to live with the consequences. Three Nigerian lawmakers have been accused by the United States of sexual misbehaviour while in that country. The United States ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, said one member of the House of Representatives attempted raping a hotel attendant, and two others solicited the services of prostitutes through car park attendants during their visit to Cleveland, United States, for the International Visitor Leadership Program. The lawmakers deny the allegations and have demanded video evidence and an apology. That hasnt stopped the American authorities from withdrawing their visas. But who exactly are the three lawmakers? Here is what we know about them. Mohammed Gololo A member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Gololo represents Gamawa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State in the House of Representatives, where he is a first-termer. Born in 1975, Mr. Gololo attended Barewa College, Zaria until 1994. He obtained Bachelors Degree and Masters of Business Administration from the Lagos State University, Lagos, in 2002 and 2005 respectively. Before his election to the House, he worked in the operations section of the National Maritime Authority. In 2015, he raised a motion for the probe of alleged N2.7 billion severance package for National Electricity Regulation Commission board members, arguing that it was not authorized by the National Assembly in the 2015 Appropriations Act. According to Mr. Entwistle, Mr. Gololo grabbed a hotel chambermaid and solicited sex. But he denied the allegation in a letter June 13 letter to the American Embassy in Nigeria. These are totally false, unfounded and baseless allegations against me, the lawmaker wrote. I categorically deny that any such incident happened. I never grabbed any housekeeper or solicited sex. He demanded video or any such evidence of my alleged misbehaviour. Samuel Ikon Mr. Ikon is a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, representing Etinan/Nsit Ibom/Nsit Ubium Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State. He is 43. Mr. Ikon graduated from Federal Government College, Ikot Ekpene, in 1995; and later, from the University of Calabar. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Uyo. He is a former speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly (2011-2015) and was once the head of Nigerias Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures. He is currently a member of House Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Relations. He is accused of asking car park attendants to help arrange services of prostitutes. I wish to state unequivocally that this is false and definitely not me. This to me is a case of mistaken identity and I have already instituted measures both legally and diplomatically to clear my name and the institution I represent, Mr. Ikon said, in refuting the allegation. I call for patience and Gods abiding wisdom at this time. Mark Gbillah Mr. Gbillah, 44, represents Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency of Benue State in the House, and is a member of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. In 1987, he left St. Gabriel School of Makurdi where he received secondary education. He graduated from University of Jos where he studied Building Technology, and later had graduate studies at the University of Liverpool, UK. He worked at Airtel Nigeria Ltd. as project specialist before serving as chief executive of Cynosure Global Ltd., specializing in construction and real estate. A member of house committee on petroleum resources (downstream), Mr. Gbillah says one of his core legislative interests is developing a constitutional means of checking herdsmen, understandably so, given the experience of his Benue kinsmen at the hands of rampaging pastoralists. Alongside Mr. Ikon, he was accused of encouraging prostitution by soliciting the services of sex workers through car park attendants. But he says the allegation is an affront on the National Assembly, describing it as calculated attempt to rubbish the Nigerias lawmaking institution. In a letter to the US Embassy, Mr. Gbillah threatened legal action against the countrys Department of State, Marriot Hotel Brand, the Cleveland Council of World Affairs and the US State Embassy, requesting for damages, comprehensive investigation of these allegations to exonerate myself and a formal globally publicised apology. The alleged shameful conduct of Nigerias lawmakers, Mr. Entwistle said in his petition, cast a shadow on Nigerias National Assembly, the International Visitor Leadership Programme, and to the American hosts impression of Nigeria as a whole. Such conduct could affect some participants ability to travel to the United States in the future, he said. To ensure a prosperous future for Europe it is necessary to reflect on all those factors that have shaped the continent over the centuries, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in Warsaw on Friday. He was speaking at the opening of a series of conferences focusing on leadership that he attended together with his German counterpart Joachim Gauck on a one-day visit to Warsaw on Friday. It is not possible to think of the foundations of Europe without taking into account the achievements of Christian civilization, said Andrzej Duda. The Polish president also said in his speech that predicting the future was never as difficult and risky as it is now. He argued that the past must become a starting point for discussion about the future. The question of the future of Europe is the question of its identity, said Duda, and thats why thinking about the future of the continent, we cannot forget all those factors that have shaped Europe throughout its history. A standout feature of Europe is its diversity, according to Duda. "Europe as a cultural phenomenon is nothing other than the sum of the experiences and achievements of European nations," he said. The assumption underlying the European Union is that diversity does not have to be a hotbed of constant conflict, that it can be a positive value, he added. It is impossible to think about the foundations of Europe without taking into account the achievements of Christian civilization, the Polish president went on. "There are reasons to believe that the structure on which European civilization stands is the most stable when, next to the two pillars in the form of Greek philosophy and Roman law, there is also a strong third pillar: the core canon of Christian ethics and the presence of religious discourse in the public space," Duda said. "Taking into account the key factors behind the success that the process of European integration has enjoyed so far, I am increasingly prompted to side with the view that without renewed, in-depth reflection on all these factors, the Europe of the 21st century cannot be the Europe of the dreams of all those generations that were engaged in building its permanent unity. Let us therefore go back to our roots, to the proven ideas and methods of action thanks to which Europe developed the most intensively," Duda continued. Germany's Gauck said that closer cooperation between countries does not mean that nations and cultures should give up their identity. When we are rooted in our identity, integration is not a threat but something that enriches us, he said. The foundations on which Europe rests are strong and the European Union is built on solid ground, the German president said. He added that Europeans have collectively laid these foundations and that Poland was one of the builders. Speaking about the origins of European integration, Gauck said that it was a product of the Enlightenment tradition. He added that the peaceful idea of European integration, which lay at the core of the European Union, was shaped during the two world wars and arose out of a spirit of resistance to terror and totalitarianism and out of a desire to embrace freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Among the pioneers of European integration, Gauck listed 19th-century Polish uprising fighters and the countrys resistance movement during World War II. The concepts of a common European post-war order appeared almost simultaneously in various parts of German-occupied Europe at the time, among various resistance groups in Central and Western Europe, Gauck said. Poles spilled a lot of blood, contributing to the eventual emergence of a free, united and peaceful Europe decades later, the German leader said. He added that Germans must be grateful to the Poles, because Polish clergy and intellectuals "constantly appealed for building a common future for Poles and Germans in a united Europe." Concluding his speech, Gauck said that Europe was based on the idea of unity in freedom and diversity - the kind of unity in which the common European heritage and national identity are not seen as mutually exclusive.(PAP) Areas in which Poland and Germany can act together within the European Union need to be found, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in Warsaw on Friday at a meeting inaugurating the work of a Polish-German reflection group. "I would like to underline with great joy that the initiative which the (German) president and I proposed during my previous visit to Berlin has been realised - the initiative to appoint a joint Polish-German reflection group for international policy", the Polish president said. "Essentially, it is very simple: the aim is to find those areas in which we can work together on the European arena and answer questions about what European challenges there are and what they will be in future, so that we can prepare for them together as well as possible in strategic terms", Duda continued. Germany's President Joachim Gauck, in Warsaw on a one-day visit, said at the reflection group's inauguration that there was something that united Germany and Poland, namely the Treaty on Good Neighbourhood and Friendly Cooperation and its words on the two countries' attachment to the norms of integrating Europe, of coexistence in friendship. Nobody in Germany wants to see a weak Poland, a weak Poland is not in Germany's best interest, Gauck emphasised. He also pointed out that a weak Germany was in neither Poland's nor Europe's interest. Consolidating the European idea was of advantage to both Poland and Germany, he added. (PAP) ELKO Yi Tian Li and Yan Ling Chen have been running Monkey Sun restaurant in the Sunrise Shopping Center for a number of years. Now they want to expand their culinary expertise and will soon be opening N & I Cafe right next door. Popular in San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles, these establishments offer a unique Asian eating experience that has never been experienced in Elko. Dessert cafes typically offer sweets, beverages, and small, savory snacks. They are often places that families and groups seek out for a quick calorie fix and a fun time instead of a main meal. We owned a big cafe like this one in Sacramento, said Li. Li and Chen both have years of experience as chefs in China, California and Nevada. This addition to their business is a big step they have both been looking forward to. Chen will be the main person to run N & I and she has the place decorated with families in mind, right down to the miniature cafe tables and chairs for children. One of the highlights of the establishment will be the bubble tea, a drink that is a traditional Hong Kong specialty. Li described the drink as British style tea with milk. Sugar is blended in to give it a sweet taste and this concoction is added atop a tapioca base that creates a chewy sensation. Other foods that the restaurant will serve include egg puff cake, fresh juices and appetizers like the curry fish bowl, chicken wings and Hong Kong style French toast. The couple has purchased several specialty pans and appliances from Hong Kong for creating these treats. Li explained that part of the reason they are opening the specialty cafe is because of Elkos rural nature. People dont get to the city often, he said. The restaurant is scheduled to open in early July. Its hours will be 11 a.m. 10 p.m. every day. The cafe is located at 2596 Idaho St. right next to Monkey Sun. The phone number is 775-777-7887. Some people dont know about this kind of Chinese food, explained Ling. We will put things out that we think people will like and then try new things. The cafe will be adorned with photo illustrations of many of the delicacies so that customers can relate to the new dishes. For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. MILAN, June 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners of 2015/16 European Business Awards Programme Crowned at Gala Event in Milan EUROPE's 12 best businesses are celebrating after being named winners in the 2015/16 European Business Awards, sponsored by RSM, at an exclusive awards ceremony in Milan last night attended by prominent businesses leaders, European ambassadors and government ministers. The winning businesses achieved their success after a 16-month long journey in Europe's biggest business competition, which this year engaged with over 32,000 businesses and generated over 227,000 votes from across the globe in its public vote. Business VIPs presented trophies to the 11 category winners of the competition and the 'European Public Champion'; the overall winner of the public vote. Additionally Roberto Polillo received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his pioneering work in information technology. THE WINNERS Category Winner Country Ireland The RSM Entrepreneur of the Year Award Aerogen (Republic) The UKTI Award for Innovation TEKEVER Portugal The ELITE Award for Growth Strategy of the Nef-Timur Real Estate Year Development Turkey The Award for Environmental & Corporate Sustainability Wyke Farms United Kingdom The Award for Customer Focus Bel Medic Serbia The Employer of the Year Award Relekta Norway The Import/Export Award Mycronic AB Sweden The Business of the Year Award [t/o EUR0-25m] Clio Online Denmark The Business of the Year Award [t/o EUR26-150m] Grup Ametller Spain The Business of the Year Award [t/o EUR150m+] Figeac Aero France The European Public Champion YEDAS Turkey The Chairman's Selection Award Science4You S.A. Portugal The Lifetime Achievement Award Roberto Polillo Italy Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards, added: "These fantastic businesses are the best of the best. They demonstrate agility and adaptability, innovation and financial success and are creating strong growth opportunities in a competitive global marketplace. Together they are forging a stronger business community in Europe and creating a better future for us all." Jean Stephens, CEO of RSM, the 6th largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms, said: "The calibre of this year's competition finalists is outstanding. The extraordinary entrepreneurialism, innovation, leadership and business acumen demonstrated by the Ruban D'Honneur recipients and the overall category winners shows how much can be achieved in challenging market conditions. All those involved are a credit to their country and we wish them every success for the future." The 11 category winners went through a process of written submissions, video entry judging and face-to-face interviews, and were shortlisted as one of 678 National Champions and 110 Ruban d'Honneur recipients before reaching the final. In the 2015/16 competition, all EU member markets were represented plus Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Their combined revenue exceeded 1.2 trillion employing over 2.5 million people. Supported since their inception by lead sponsor and promoter RSM, the European Business Awards' is now in its 10th year and its primary purpose is to support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe. Additional sponsors and partners of the Awards include UK Trade and Investment, ELITE and PR Newswire. For further information about the European Business Awards and RSM please go to http://www.businessawardseurope.com or http://www.rsm.global and follow us on twitter at @rsmEBA About the European Business Awards: The European Business Awards' primary purpose is to support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe. For all citizens of Europe, prosperity, social and healthcare systems are reliant on businesses creating an even stronger, more innovative, successful, international and ethical business community - one that forms the beating heart of an increasingly globalised economy. The European Business Awards programme serves the European business community in three ways: It celebrates and endorses individuals' and organisations' success It provides and promotes examples of excellence for the business community to aspire to It engages with the European business community to create debate on key issues The European Business Awards is now in its 10th year. It attracted over 32,000 businesses to the competition last year and in the public vote generated over 227,000 votes from across Europe. Sponsors and partners include RSM, ELITE, UKTI and PR Newswire. http://www.businessawardseurope.com. About RSM RSM is the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms, encompassing over 120 countries, 760 offices and more than 38,000 people internationally. The network's total fee income is US$4.64 billion. RSM is the lead sponsor and corporate champion of the European Business Awards promoting commercial excellence and recognition of entrepreneurial brilliance. RSM is a member of the Forum of Firms, with the shared objective to promote consistent and high quality standards of financial and auditing practices worldwide. RSM is the brand used by a network of independent accounting and advisory firms each of which practices in its own right. RSM International Limited does not itself provide any accounting and advisory services. Member firms are driven by a common vision of providing high quality professional services, both in their domestic markets and in serving the international professional service needs of their client base. http://www.rsm.global About UK Trade & Investment: UKTI works with UK based businesses to export to international markets and supports overseas companies to look at the UK as the best place to set up or expand their business. If you are a company interested in expanding in to the UK, please contact Lisa.Greig@mobile.ukti.gov.uk or visit http://www.gov.uk/ukti About ELITE: ELITE is an integrated service designed to help SMEs prepare and structure for the next stage of growth through access to long term financing opportunities. ELITE targets SMEs with a sound business model, clear growth strategy and a desire to obtain funding in the near future. ELITE offers an innovative approach, including a training programme, a working zone supported by a tutorship model and direct access to the financial community through dedicated digital community facilities. It is "capital neutral" to any financing opportunity, providing access to Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds, debt products, etc. ELITE was successfully launched in Italy in 2012 and in the UK in 2014. It now accounts for more than 200 companies of different sizes and sectors, more than 150 partners and more than 70 long term investors. It is a European platform deeply rooted in each domestic market, through partnership with local institutions combined with the opportunity to access international support and advice. It will be a community of excellence: companies, advisors, investors and stakeholders with an interest in supporting SMEs. The larger the community, the wider the range of business and growth opportunities offered to ELITE members. About PR Newswire PR Newswire is the leading global provider of PR and corporate communications tools that enable clients to distribute news and rich content. We distribute our client's content across traditional, digital and social media channels in real time with fully actionable reporting and monitoring. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimisation network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region. For more information on PR Newswire please visit http://www.prnewswire.co.uk SOURCE The European Business Awards WASHINGTON, June 17, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following a meeting today at the White House between Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Barack Obama, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir reviewed the strong historic ties and strategic value of the bilateral relationship during a press conference at the Saudi Embassy in Washington. "With regard to the relationship between our two countries: Yes, I believe they will grow stronger and they will grow deeper in all areas, irrespective of who is in the White House," said the foreign minister. "This relationship is very, very solidThis relationship will go on and continue to flourish, as it has over the past eight decades." This was the first visit to the U.S. by Prince Mohammed as Deputy Crown Prince, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. He held a series of meetings in Washington this week with senior administration officials, members of Congress and representatives of the private sector. Minister Al-Jubeir said Prince Mohammed briefed officials on Saudi Vision 2030, which he described as a very bold and comprehensive vision for the Kingdom. "I think people in the U.S. were very pleased with it and very supportive of the scope of it, the breadth of it, and look forward to working with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on its implementation," he said. Minister Al-Jubeir also discussed regional issues, including Yemen, Syria and Iran. On Yemen, he said the coalition had reduced its military operations in Yemen in support of peace talks, and is working to reach a political agreement. "The military operations of the coalition have substantially subsided and we are working to reach a political agreement between the Yemeni parties that will then launch a transition period, that will then take Yemen to a new future," he said. Minister Al-Jubeir also said the Saudi-led coalition is doing everything it can to minimize civilian casualties and is upholding international humanitarian law. "We are confident that we have taken all necessary measures to prevent or to minimize collateral damage or damage to civilians," Minister Al-Jubeir said. On Syria, the foreign minister said Saudi Arabia has always supported a more aggressive, robust intervention in Syria against Bashar al-Assad. "We have always supported a more aggressive approach and a more robust approach, including a military approach, to Syria, and we have said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would be prepared to provide special forces to any international coalition that would operate in Syria." The foreign minister said the Kingdom's position towards Iran has not changed. He stated, "It [Iran] is igniting sectarianism in the region; it is supporting terrorism; it is assassinating diplomats; it is exporting arms; and it is supporting militias and letting these militias destabilize the region. If Iran wants to have normal relations with the countries of the region, it must change the approach that it has adopted over 35 years." This is distributed by Qorvis MSLGROUP on behalf of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. SOURCE Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information Office WASHINGTON, June 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three crew members from the International Space Station returned to Earth at 5:12 a.m. EDT (3:12 p.m. Kazakhstan time) Saturday after wrapping up 186 days in space and several NASA research studies in human health. Expedition 47 Commander Tim Kopra of NASA, flight engineer Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) and Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos touched down southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. The crew completed the in-flight portion of NASA human research studies in ocular health, cognition, salivary markers and microbiome. From the potential development of vaccines, to data that could be relevant in the treatment of patients suffering from ocular diseases, such as glaucoma, the research will help NASA prepare for human long-duration exploration while also benefiting people on Earth. The three crew members also welcomed four cargo spacecraft, including one that delivered the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), an expandable habitat technology demonstration. The BEAM, which arrived in April on the eighth SpaceX commercial resupply mission, was attached to the space station and expanded to its full size for analysis over the next two years. The BEAM is an example of NASA's increased commitment to partnering with industry to enable the growth of commercial space, and is co-sponsored by the agency's Advanced Exploration Systems Division and Bigelow Aerospace. Two Russian Progress cargo craft docked to the station in December and April, bringing tons of supplies. Kopra and Peake also led the grapple of Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft to the station in March, the company's fourth commercial resupply mission, and the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in April. During his time on the orbital complex, Kopra ventured outside for two spacewalks. The objective of the first spacewalk was to move the station's mobile transporter rail car to a secure position. On the second spacewalk, Kopra and Peake replaced a failed voltage regulator to restore power to one of the station's eight power channels. Kopra now has 244 days in space on two flights, while Peake spent 186 days in space on this, his first, mission. Having completed his sixth mission, Malenchenko now has spent 828 cumulative days in space, making him second on the all-time list behind Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka. Expedition 48 continues on the station, with NASA astronaut Jeff Williams in command, with crewmates Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The three-person crew will operate the station for three weeks until the arrival of three new crew members. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are scheduled to launch July 6 (Eastern time) from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Check out the full NASA TV schedule and video streaming information at: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv Keep up with the International Space Station, and its research and crews, at: http://www.nasa.gov/station Get breaking news and features from the space station on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/Space_Station Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov ELKO -- A man claiming to have been stabbed at the Jerritt Canyon mine has been taken to a hospital in Boise for treatment. Acting Undersheriff Kevin McKinney said deputies found the man after he had been without any medical attention for a few days and was still wandering around the area of the incident. Last night deputies got sent up to the Jerritt Canyon mine. The initial report was that he had been stabbed multiple times by some unknown males, McKinney said. Further investigation showed that he was an employee at the Jerritt Canyon mine and that those injuries were probably self-inflicted, he added. According to Jerritt Canyon, the man was a temporary employee of Small Mine Development, a contractor at the mine. McKinney said detectives in Boise are following up on the case and he is awaiting further details before he writes his own police report. Most of the wounds are superficial, he said. He lost quite a bit of blood initially, but when he got up to the hospital they were able to stabilize him and it sounds like hes in fairly good condition now. The headline for this article has been corrected to indicate the man was employed by Small Mine Development, not Jerritt Canyon Gold. WASHINGTON, June 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau: YALE MAN Profile America Saturday, June 18th. The first Chinese student to graduate from an American college was Yung Wing, a naturalized American who received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut this month in 1854. That year, some 16,000 Chinese immigrants arrived in California, though ensuing restrictions greatly reduced the annual arrivals for decades thereafter. Today, there are almost 3.8 million Americans of Chinese descent, and they are no longer a rarity on college campuses. Over 48 percent of school age Chinese-Americans are enrolled in college or graduate school, while 26 percent of adults have graduate or professional degrees. You can find more facts about America's people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov. Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 3011 1854 Chinese immigration/page 100/accessed 4/20/2016: https://books.google.com/books?id=T9Xcsfe0pz4C&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=1854+16,000+chinese+immigrants+California&source=bl&ots=Ud44sNXPPw&sig=NLs344Af-_Al4utvtOdxhmB4Whs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibvtOnrJ3MAhWFyT4KHZv3A6oQ6AEILDAD#v=onepage&q=1854%2016%2C000%20chinese%20immigrants%20California&f=false Chinese population and education: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/S0201//popgroup~017 Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu). Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/DC91889LOGO SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau Related Links http://www.census.gov If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Hyderabad, June 13 : The makers of S.S. Rajamouli's magnum opus "Baahubali 2" on Monday began filming the climax portion of the film, which will be shot over a period of 10 weeks at the Ramoji Film City here. "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. Mumbai, June 15 : After Robert De Niro, Hollywood star Willem Dafoe has congratulated Indian actor Anupam Kher for reaching a milestone of 500 films. Anupam shared a snippet of Dafoe's video in which he says: "Anupam congratulations. 500 films, incredible. It was a pleasure working with you. Good luck. Celebrate." They worked together in "The Headhunter's Calling". Calling him a great actor, Anupam captioned the image: "Thank you Willem Dafoe for wishing me on my 500th film. You are a great actor. And your love for yoga is amazing." The "Saaransh" star thanked all his fans. "Thank you everybody for your love and best wishes on my 500th film 'The Big Sick'. You people make feel happening," he added. The 61-year-old will be seen sharing screen space with Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani in "The Big Sick". Berlin, June 18 : A 94-year-old former Auschwitz death camp guard was convicted of accessory to the murder of over 170,000 people, and sentenced to five years in jail on Friday. A court in German city of Detmold ruled that Reinhold Hanning, the former guard, participated as an accessory to the killing of more than 170,000 people from 1942 to 1944 at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland, Xinhua news agency reported. "He was in Auschwitz for nearly two and half years and thus supported the mass murder," said the judge. At least 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz death camp during the second World War, most of them Jews. During the trial which started in February, Hanning said he was ashamed that he was aware that innocent people were murdered every day in gas chambers, but did nothing to stop it. Hanning's defence lawyers had requested an acquittal, arguing that there were no evidence of Hanning's direct involvement in concrete action and he had not beaten or killed anyone. Ottawa, June 18 : Canada's parliament has passed a contentious bill to allow medically-assisted death for terminally ill people. The bill received royal assent on Friday afternoon after passing a final vote in the Senate earlier in the day. The bill was voted through after a final bid by senators failed to expand the scope of who qualifies for a doctor-assisted death, CBC News reported. It was approved with a vote of 44-28. The Senate had passed an amendment to include those who were not necessarily near death, but the House of Commons rejected it on Thursday. In a joint statement, the ministers reiterated that the legislation "strikes the right balance between personal autonomy for those seeking access to medically assisted dying and protecting the vulnerable." The law was put forward after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on doctors helping the incurably sick to die. The move makes Canada one of the few countries where doctors can legally help sick people die. Assisted suicide is currently legal in just a few countries, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Albania, Colombia and Japan. The practice is legal in the US states of Washington, California, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana. ELKO Sherry Smith, the new executive director at Friends in Service Helping, did not have far to travel for her new position. She relocated just 122 miles from her former office in Winnemucca. However, the job ahead of her stretches on for many figurative miles. F.I.S.H. has been giving temporary and emergency assistance to people in and passing through Elko since 1987. Their mission statement reads: To determine and provide the needs for individuals of Northeastern Nevada seeking urgent or supplemental assistance. Through compassionate service, we strive toward a goal of renewed hope, dignity and self-sufficiency for all. F.I.S.H., its director and staff have some big shoes to fill in a community that is located miles from many other services. The organization operates as a welcoming oasis for those who are stranded or have fallen on hard times. Smith knows a lot about running a service oriented nonprofit. For a number of years she served as Executive Director for Humboldt Volunteer Hospice. In her former position, Smith also coordinated family care for the chronically and terminally ill. She also served as coroner with the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office working with the Washoe County Medical Examiner and Coroners Office and the Clark County Coroners Office. Now, she is looking forward to the duties and dilemmas that face her at F.I.S.H. and has already been tackling a number of formerly unaddressed ideas and changes. The board and myself plan to start a membership pledge, Sherry Smith said. Families, businesses and individuals can pay yearly. This idea comes at a time when many improvements need to be made on the various facilities under F.I.S.H. auspices. The Samaritan House needs a new roof and funds from the pledge will go toward that. Smith is also planning to address some changes in the thrift store. She wants to give it a fresh, new look to appeal to all types of buyers and offer incentives with customer appreciation cards. The Frugal Flamingo, the thrift store that supports the hospice in Winnemucca, has been very successful under her tutelage. Its not just one clientele base that comes to the thrift store, Smith said. We have refurbishers, those who need inexpensive items, people buying costumes and others using vouchers. Before moving here Smith spoke at both Rotary Club and Lions Club meetings to jumpstart her involvement in the community. Its been nonstop getting to know people and our partners in the different service agencies. Everyone has welcomed me with open arms. Smith has high regards for her predecessor Susan Martsolf and the work she has done. F.I.S.H. serves many people in different ways and Smith plans to maintain these services. She recognizes the passion and involvement of the staff and the need for the community. Smith, being a forward thinking person, wants to adopt new ideas like the use of social media to help promote the thrift store and inform people about closures and sales or when there is a surplus of donated, perishable food. A new Facebook page has already been created and is seeing plenty of traffic. The page can be found under the name FISH Thrift Store Elko. She has got it together after eighteen years. I felt privileged to attend the retirement party and hear about her history, she commented about Martsolfs legacy. Although she has only been here a short time Smith is becoming very intertwined and connected in the community. She asked her parents to come up to see Lamoille Canyon. I really like it here, Smith said. Hyderabad/New Delhi, June 18 : Flying Officers Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh on Saturday created history by becoming India's first three women fighter pilots when they were formally commissioned into the Indian Air Force. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commissioned them into the IAF after they successfully completed their training at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Hailing from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan respectively, the trio was the cynosure of all eyes at the Combined Graduation Parade at the academy and said they were happy over the opportunity given to them to serve the nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet from his personal Twitter handle: "It is a matter of immense pride & joy to see the first batch of women fighter pilots being inducted in our Air Force. More power to them." The three women, who broke the gender barrier to etch their names in IAF history, will get to fly fighter jets next year only after the completion of stage-III training at Bidar in Karnataka. The women, who earlier flew the Pilatus and Kiran jet trainers, will now get to train on the Hawk advanced trainer jets for a year before they can fly the supersonic warplanes. They were visibly elated after the defence minister conferred on them the 'President's Commission' to formally induct them into the IAF. Talking to reporters, they said it was a great honour to be in the first batch of women fighter pilots in the IAF. "We are happy to get this opportunity to serve the country," said Chaturvedi. They said they enjoyed the six-month training at the academy and never felt that they were being treated differently from male trainees. Asked what role they expected to play in the force, they said they will now focus on the next level of training. Chaturvedi, hailing from Satna district, comes from a family of army officers. She was inspired to join the IAF by her brother, who is in the army. She said she always wanted to fly and joined a college flying club during her graduation days. Bhawana Kanth, from Darbhanga district, said she always dreamt of flying planes as a child. She opted for the fighter stream after successfully completing her stage-I training. Daughter of an Indian Oil Corporation officer, she said she had set her mind on becoming a fighter pilot and serve the nation. Mohana Singh from Jhunjhunu district said her grandfather was a flight gunner in the Aviation Research Centre while her father is a warrant officer in the IAF. Mohana said she is excited to continue the family legacy of serving the nation. While women pilots have been flying helicopters and transport aircraft since 1991 in the IAF, it was last year when the government decided to allow women into fighter jet cockpits. In February, President Pranab Mukherjee announced that women cadets will be allowed in combat roles in all three defence services. Speaking at the parade, Parrikar said more women would join the armed forces. The minister reviewed the colourful passing-out parade and conferred the 'President's Commission', on behalf of the President of India, on 129 graduating trainees of various branches, including 22 women trainees. Parrikar also presented the 'Wings and Brevets' to the newly commissioned officers of the flying branch and to officers from the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. Mumbai, June 18 : Filmmaker Raam Reddy's acclaimed Kannada film "Thithi" has bagged the top awards at the ongoing 19th Shanghai International Film Festival and the filmmaker says the response from the Chinese audience for the film has been "overwhelming". "Thithi" won the Best Film and Best Script Writers in the Asia New Talent Awards at the festival in Shanghai. Other films nominated in the Best Film Category were "One Night Only", "Hana's Miso Soup", "Land of the Little People" and "Detective Chinatown". "Shanghai is the first place the film is being screened at Asia outside of India, and I was really keen to see how people from china and different parts of Asia react to the film. The jury was from China, Japan and Korea and they unanimously loved this film. The response from the chinese audience has been overwhelming as well," Reddy said in a statement. "It is hard to imagine the diversity of people, who have seen and accepted 'Thithi', and I really couldn't be happier with the experience here," he added. Ere Gowda, who has co-written the film with Reddy, is "happy" that people around the world have loved the film". "Thithi" is na dramatic comedy about how three generations of sons react to the death of the oldest in their clan, a man named Century Gowda -- a locally renowned, highly cantankerous 101-year-old man. Set in a small village in Karnataka, the three story lines intertwine before converging at Century Gowda's 'Thithi' -- the final funeral celebration, 11 days after a death. Produced by Pratap Reddy and Sunmin Park, "Thithi" has already been screened in over 12 international and national film festivals and won 13 awards. It recently won the 2016 National Award for Best Feature film in Kannada and also won three awards at the Karnataka State Film Awards 2016 -- Best Film, Best Dialogues and Best Supporting Actress. The film was also selected for 2016 New Directors/New Films. Mumbai, June 18 : Veteran actor Anupam Kher has finished shooting for his 500th film "The Big Sick" in New York. "Finished shooting of my 500th film 'The Big Sick' in New York. It was a pleasure to be part of this landmark film. Jai ho," Anupam Tweeted on Friday night. The 61-year-old actor also thanked the producers of "The Big Sick" for making him a part of the film, which also stars actors Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani. "Thank you my producers Judd Apatow and Barry Mendel for making me part of 'The Big Sick'. It has been a pleasure," he added. According to deadline.com, "The Big Sick" follows a couple dealing with their cultural differences as their relationship grows. New Delhi, June 18 : Actor Sidharth Malhotra, who is set to star in the remake of "Ittefaq", says he has to "match up" to the acting abilities of the late superstar Rajesh Khanna, who starred in the 1969 film. "I am extremely excited for 'Ittefaq'. It is a remake of the super-hit 1969 film 'Ittefaq.' The benchmark for me has already been set as superstar Rajesh Khanna was a part of the film back then, and I have to match up to his acting abilities in this remake," Sidharth told IANS over e-mail from Miami. Sidharth, who made his forary into Bollywood with the 2012 film "Student of the Year", says the film's script is brilliant and it would be a new screen character for him. The film is being produced by Red Chillies, Dharma and BR films. Directed by Yash Chopra, "Ittefaq" also featured late actress Nanda. It revolves around a man named Dilip, who loves his passion more than his wife, and one day in a fit of rage -- when his wife tries to harm his paintings -- he strangles her to death. Islamabad, June 18 : The border between Pakistan and Afghanistan at Torkham reopened on Saturday, after a closure of nearly six days during which the two sides skirmished over the issue of construction of a gate on the Pakistani side. The route was reopened for traffic after officials from both the sides met early on Saturday and the curfew was lifted at Torkham, Dawn online quoted security sources as saying. The gate at Torkham will be named after Pakistan Army Major Ali Jawad Changezi, who died in Afghan firing, the sources said. After the reopening of the broder people were thoroughly checked and only those with complete documentation were being allowed to enter the Pakistani side. Thousands of people and transit trucks were stranded on both the sides due to the closure of the border. Firing broke out on Sunday over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side. An army officer was killed in Pakistan and an official reportedly died in Afghanistan, while civilians and officials were injured on both the sides. Afghanistan summoned the Pakistani ambassador on Tuesday to register its protest at the violence. Similarly, Pakistan summoned the Afghan charge d'affaires in Islamabad on Monday. The two countries, after diplomatic and military contacts a day earlier, agreed over ceasefire on Wednesday but there were disputed claims about the conditions on which the hostilities were to end. Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal said the resumption of work on the gate was not agreed upon in the meeting with Pakistani officials. The envoy had threatened to quit if the construction work was not stopped. Security sources said the construction of the gate continued on Saturday, which Pakistan said was being built to stop militants from crossing the border. The 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-long frontier, rejecting the contours of the boundary. The officials said the initiative of construction of the gate was the part of national action plan aiming to protect border. They said it will be in the favour of long-lasting peace in both the countries. New Delhi : "Out of the 2.77 crore population of the state, only 0.06 per cent was found abusing drugs, which is the lowest percentage across the nation," said Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in February 2016, citing a 2015 study as he criticised Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for projecting Punjab as a drug haven. But Badal's response misquotes the 2015 study (conducted by the Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses, an NGO, in collaboration with the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, or AIIMS): The 2015 study "was not about all drugs, but just one type of drug - opioids, which means products of the opium plant, such as heroin and morphine, or synthetic drugs, which affect the body like opium", said lead investigator Atul Ambekar, additional professor, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre and Department of Psychiatry, AIIMS. "The WHO describes the following categories of drugs other than opioids (and tobacco and alcohol) that may cause dependence: cannabis, sedatives, hallucinogens, cocaine and amphetamine type stimulants, and inhalants." The study interviewed a sample of 3,620 opioid-dependent people to estimate that Punjab has 232,000 opioid-dependents. It also said there may be up to 860,000 opioid users in the state though this was not a stated aim. The AIIMS finding translates to 837 opioid-dependents per 100,000 people in Punjab, or 0.84 per cent of the state's 28 million population. This alone is more than three times as much as the corresponding all-India figure for all types of drug dependents, based on a Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment estimate of three million drug dependents nationwide, which is 250 per 100,000, or 0.25 percent of the Indian population. Drug use in Punjab has been estimated through surveys of selected sample groups, as scientific studies tend to be. There has never been a state-wide census-type survey. "Over 16 percent (of Punjab's) population is addicted to hard drugs," said an affidavit submitted by Harjit Singh, secretary of the state's Department of Social Security and Women and Child Development, citing a departmental survey in reply to a petition filed by some drug rehabilitation centres before the Punjab and Haryana High Court in May 2009. So, is it 0.84 percent or 16 percent? Punjab: the opioid-consumption capital of India, but how many use more-damaging drugs? Estimating the extent of the drug problem in Punjab based on opioid-pharmaceutical drugs or opium-dependency made sense because that is the flavour of the user market, although the last such - and still widely quoted - report is 12 years old. Punjab was home to 56 per cent of Indian opium users, said a 2004 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, followed at a distance by Rajasthan (11 per cent) and Haryana (six per cent). Punjab was one of only three states reporting the abuse of propoxyphene, a narcotic opiate pain reliever used as an injectable substance, the others being Nagaland and Mizoram, as per the UN report, based on the Drug Abuse Monitoring System data from 203 participating centres nationwide. The affidavit submitted by Harjit Singh appeared to second this finding. It said: "Opiates, their derivatives, and synthetic opiate drugs are used by 70 percent of the addicts, followed by a combination of opiate and other sedatives, including morphine." Lead investigator of the AIIMS study Ambekar believes one of their findings validates the decision to focus on opioids. The study involved asking psychiatrists and agencies offering de-addiction services in Punjab about their case load; 80 individuals and 80 agencies participated. "One in four patients seen by the participating professionals and agencies was opioid-dependent," said Amedkar. "Clearly, opioid dependency is putting a disproportionate burden on mental health services." But the study showed a shift from opium or pharmaceutical opioids to heroin, a highly processed, more addictive form of opium. "Whereas most earlier studies have reported that opium or pharmaceutical opioids are largely used in the state, we found heroin is the drug of choice of opioid addicts," said Ambekar. Drug (alcohol, tobacco, narcotics) consumption in Punjab up: studies Defining drugs as including alcohol and tobacco as well as narcotics, as many studies examining the extent of drug use do, yields a much higher prevalence of drug use in Punjab. As we said, the affidavit we cited quoted a survey from the secretary of the social security department to say that two-thirds of rural households in Punjab have at least one drug addict. IndiaSpend has cited this data to convey the extent of Punjab's drug problem, in a June 2015 report. Treatment is integral to reducing drug demand In 1979, a study published in the British Journal of Addiction found 19 percent of a sample of southeastern Chhajli town's population using opium, mostly as dependent users; six per cent used barbiturates and two percent cannabis. A 2011 study of the same village published in the Delhi Psychiatry Journal found only 3.4 percent of the sample was addicted to opium, marking an 82 percent fall in the use of opium, attributable "to the efforts of post graduate students from Government Medical College, Patiala, to sensitise the villagers to the problem of drug use and encourage them to seek treatment", said Dr Balwant Singh Sidhu, professor & head, Psychiatry, Rajendra Hospital, Government Medical College, Patiala and study co-author. One of the biggest findings of the AIIMS study is that while four in five patients had tried to kick the habit, just over one in three had received any kind of support. One in six patients had received some kind of medical treatment and only one in 10 opioid-dependents had received Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST), de-addiction treatment that involves an opioid medication to help patients with long-term withdrawal. "This is because the existing rules have been misinterpreted in the state. OST is being allowed only for the licensed in-patient centres," said Ambekar. "Punjab must integrate OST into out-patient, clinic-based health services for better results. Restricting such treatment only to addicts admitted to de-addiction centres is severely limiting the number of patients who can be helped." In April 2012, the deputy chief minister consulted psychiatrists from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, to draw up a strategy to reduce addiction. The recommendations of the consultation with psychiatrists required Badal's administration to create five model de-addiction centres (in Amritsar, Faridkot, Patiala, Jalandhar, and Bathinda) and 25 intermediate-level de-addiction centres, train medical professionals and make available essential drugs for running the services. Badal would do better to share an update on the implementation of these recommendations. (19.06.2016 - In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Charu Bahri is a freelance writer and editor based in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be contacted at respond@indiaspend.org) New Delhi, June 18 : The Congress on Saturday asserted that the Narendra Modi government is not serious about getting controversial business tycoon Vijay Mallya back to India. "It is not surprising. This government is actually trying to go through the motions of a smoke-screen. They are not serious in getting him (Mallya) back. The Indian High Commissioner in England understands that and therefore he does not see a problem in attending that event," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said talking to reporters here. The Congress reaction came after media reports suggested that Indian High Commissioner in UK, Navtej Sarna, attended a function where Mallya too was present. The High Commissioner "understands the policy of the government which is actually you create a smoke screen of activity. They are not serious of getting him," said Tewari. "If the government is serious about getting him let them make public who travelled in his private plane in last five years," Tewari added. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday in an interview to Times Now said that it was not easy for any Indian government to extradite Mallya from the UK. "Arun Jaitley is ostensibly doing what he has been asked to do -- try and walk on a tight rope and possibly try to subterfuge the action and hide a lot of inaction," Tewari said, reacting to Jaitley's statement. "If they would have been serious they would have never let him go," Tewari said. Mallya is wanted in bank loans default and money-laundering cases against him. Kannur (Kerala) : Kannur (Kerala) June 18 (IANS) A court here in Kerala on Saturday granted bail to two Dalit women who were sent to jail on Friday for "trespassing into Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) office and beating up two party men". The Congress party, however, accused the ruling party of misusing power to send the two Dalit women -- Akhila, 30, and her 25-year-old sister Anjana -- to jail on false charges. "The conditional bail has been given to the women and every Saturday, they have to report before the probe official and have to surrender their passport," the counsel for the two women told reporters here. On Friday, Thalaserry Police presented Akhila and Anjana before a court that sent the two siblings and Akhila's 18-month-old baby to jail. This case has by now drawn national attention with the media taking it up in a big way and the National Commission for Scheduled Caste looking into it as well. "This is the biggest joke, such a thing never happened... and that too, two hapless young women beating up CPI-M men at their office. These are absolutely ridiculous and baseless allegations," the Congress party's Kerala unit president V.M. Sudheeran said while addressing a party function in Thiruvananthapuram. Later, addressing reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, Sudheeran said the officials who acted at the behest of the CPI-M leaders should be taken to task for this act. Minister for Culture and SC/ST A.K. Balan told reporters in Delhi that they will look into the matter and see if anything wrong was done. CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said "this is the ploy of the Congress party to see that through all this, they can get into the good books of the community by targeting us". "The bail application could have been moved on Friday, but none of the Congress people wanted to do so," said Balakrishnan. Akhila and Anjana are daughters of Congress leader N. Rajan and his family has come under frequent fire from the CPI-M leaders after he contested last year's local body election against a top CPI-M leader at Thalaserry. "They went to the CPI-M office to plead with those present there to leave them alone and not make them a subject of ridicule as they have been mentally harassed for long," said Kannur district Congress president K. Surendran. CPI-M legislator A.M. Shamsheer, who represents Thalaserry constituency, said the two women trespassed into their party office and the law took its course. New Delhi, June 18 : Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has criticised the censor board after watching "Udta Punjab", saying the films being made in the country are treated "like patients in a mental institution". Bhatt shared his views in an elaborate Facebook post, wherein he shared his views on the Abhishek Chaubey directorial that was mired in controversy. "Our films are being treated like patients in a decadent mental institution where shock therapy is given to all the patients. Then, they lie in the corner in a vegetative state, no one any different from the other," Bhatt wrote. "No individuality... Just lumps of controllable protoplasm adhering to the parameters of social behaviour laid down by minds that cannot see the world for what it is," he added. Criticising the Central Board of Film Certification's (CBFC) objection towards the language used in the film, Bhatt wrote: "The CBFC had not met any of those people I had in the film. They just saw what they should make of people. There is no foul language in the film; it is just the language the people use". "The doctor did not curse, but Tommy, the rock star, did. That was the difference between the two. Did the CBFC want to make them similar? They wanted to make a cokehead and a doctor speak the same lingo? Really?" The "Love Games" director said that "we are living in very dangerous times". "'Udta Punjab' wanted to expose the menace of drugs but instead it ended up exposing much more. It exposed the inability of the keepers of our culture to see that all types of people exist, and we as an audience have the right to meet them," he wrote. He also emphasised on the importance of freedom of speech for writers. "If I cannot tell stories about the world I live in, if I cannot tell stories about the people who live here with me, if I cannot go to places where there is pain and misery, if I cannot tell you how those people speak, if I cannot distinguish between good and bad, if I cannot give you a slice of life, a slice of the world I live in, then I am a storyteller in chains," Bhatt wrote. The release of "Udta Punjab" was beset with trouble after the CBFC first suggested 89 cuts, but later the Revising Committee asked for 13 cuts. The makers moved the Bombay High Court which on Monday overruled the CBFC-recommended cuts and cleared it for release with just one cut and three disclaimers by the filmmakers. Co-produced by Phanton Films and Balaji Motion Pictures, the film stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh. "Udta Punjab" released on Friday. New Delhi : History is full of incidents that have lessons for later times, provided they are not forgotten. One key aspect is the interface between politics and the judiciary. In a time where the courts are moved for all sorts of agendas, verdicts may bow to dictates of public opinion or extraneous considerations, or regimes may prefer a committed judiciary, it may be worth remembering a courageous revolutionary who took on a totalitarian regime's attempts to demonise the opposition through law. Georgi Dimitrov may not be remembered by diehard communists but the Bulgarian communist leader's defiance in a German court in the early days of Nazi rule is a spirited example of how regimes, or any other vested interests, may seek to advance their cause through courts to lend it legitimacy, and how they can be countered. Dimitrov (1882-1949), whose 134th birth anniversary falls on Saturday, was along with three other communists - two compatriots and a German, plus a Dutch anarchist held from the spot, arrested and put on trial for the Reichstag fire of February 1933. The fire, which came less than a month after Adolf Hitler became German chancellor, was according to the Nazis, the signal for a Communist putsch, and led to suspension of all civil and political liberties and a massive crackdown on the opposition. While all this failed to ensure the Nazis won a majority in the March 1933 parliamentary elections (they only got 44 per cent of the vote), the expulsion of the elected 81 Communist Party members, most already arrested, ensured that there was no legislative opposition. The trial of the five men was part of the Nazis' aim to prove the Communist plot through "fair" judicial proceedings - but they were anything but that. In the preliminary inquiry, a judge, perceived as anti-Nazi, was replaced by one more amenable, and in the court proceedings, the "right" Supreme Court judge was chosen. This however made no difference to Dimitrov, who realised it was a political trial, made the most of it to expose the regime. Defending himself, he dominated the proceedings - well described in American journalist William L. Shirer's magisterial "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" as well as more colourfully in his colleague John Gunther's "Inside Europe" (1936 edition). As Gunther recounts, Dimitrov, speaking in his Balkan-accented German, was unforgettable. Pointing once to Van Der Lubbe, he exclaimed: "This miserable Faust! I wonder who is his Mephistopheles". But the high-point was his confrontation with Nazi strongman Herman Goering, whom he made lose his cool unforgettably during his cross-questioning. When the judge rebuked him for making "Communist propaganda", Dimitrov dramatically gestured to him and said: "But he is making National Socialist propaganda." As Goering said: "Look here, I will tell you what the German people know. They know you are behaving in a disgraceful fashionA.I did not come here to be accused by you", Dimitrov replied: "You are a witness." This infuriated Goering, who burst out: "In my eyes you are nothing but a scoundrel, a crook who belongs on the gallows." The cool response was: "Very well, I am most satisfied." As the judge intervened to stop the cross-questioning, Dimitrov let go one parting shot: "You are greatly afraid of my questions, are you not, Herr Minister?" and a thoroughly angry Goering burst out: "You will be afraid when I catch you. You wait until I get you out of the power of this Court, you crook." Though Dimitrov and the other communists were acquitted, the trial did nothing to restore the state of liberties in Germany but helped to show part of the Nazi regime's true, and unwholesome face - though too many chose to ignore it till they led the continent - and the world into another ruinous war. But the true significance of the episode is in the importance of a free judicial process, which used capably, can help counter even the most insidious political machinations. That is why Dimitrov, and his courageous but skilful performance, must not be forgotten. (Vikas Datta is an Associate Editor at IANS. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in ) 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 London/New Delhi, June 18 : Beleaguered industrialist Vijay Mallya, wanted in a money laundering case and declared a proclaimed offender, was spotted at a book launch event in London that was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Navtej Sarna, sparking a row back home. But the government on Saturday clarified that the envoy left the event immediately after seeing the fugitive liquor baron among the audience. The government washed its hands off the event at the London School of Economics on Thursday and said the function to release the book, "Mantras for Success: India's Greatest CEOs Tell You How to Win" by author Suhel Seth and journalist Sunny Sen, was not hosted by the Indian High Commission. "The list of invitations for the event was determined by LSE. They have written to the High Commissioner that Mallya was not on their list," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement in New Delhi. The statement said the LSE had widely advertised the event through social media and its attendees were not required to register in advance. Sarna was invited to participate in the discussion about the book. "When the high commissioner (Sarna) spotted Mallya in the audience he left the stage and venue immediately after making his comments and without waiting for the interactive session," the statement said. It said that there were two events on the day -- the book launch by UK Minister of State for Universities and Science Jo Johnson and later a reception at the High Commission for select guests. The book launch event was organised by the 100 Foot Journey Club -- a collaboration between the Indian High Commission and LSE. "Mallya was certainly not an invitee to the reception at the High Commission...and was not present," the statement said. Seth, one of the authors of the book, in a series of tweets insisted that that it was an "open event". "No specific invitations (were given). Anyone could attend," Seth said, denying that Mallya was among those invited. But the presence of Mallya at the book launch sparked off political controversy amid frenzied social media reactions. The Congress slammed the government for allegedly soft-peddling the probe against Mallya who fled India with more than Rs 9,000 crore of outstanding dues to 18 Indian banks. A non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued against the business tycoon known for his flamboyant lifestyle. "They (the government) are not serious about getting him (Mallya) back. The Indian High Commissioner in England understands and therefore he did not see any problem in attending the same event," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters in Delhi. "If the government is serious in getting him", Tewari said, let it make public the list of the persons "who travelled in his private plane in the last five years". Reacting to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's remarks that it was not easy to extradite Mallya from the UK, the Congress leader said: "Jaitley is ostensibly doing what he has been asked to do. They try and walk a tight rope and possibly try to subterfuge the action and hide lot of inaction.' Islamabad, June 19 : Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai, will visit Islamabad on Monday for talks to remove differences over the border management issues, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said on Saturday. Clashes had erupted along the Torkham, the busiest border crossing, between the troops of the two countries on June 12 that caused casualties on both sides, Xinhua news agency reported. Both sides have now declared ceasefire and the border was opened on Saturday after its six days closure. However, both countries have deployed troops and tanks along the border. Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz had invited Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar, and Foreign Minister Syed Salahuddin Rabbani to visit Pakistan to discuss the border issues and to remove any gaps in communication or understanding. Afghanistan has accepted the talks offer but decided to send an Afghan delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai to Islamabad. The foreign ministry said the Afghan delegation will visit Islamabad on Monday for "discussions on the issues relating to Torkham border crossing as well as other matters pertaining to border management". "Pakistan welcomes the visit and looks forward to meaningful deliberations through a constructive engagement between the two sides with a view to promote bilateral relations as well as peace and stability of our two countries and the region," a foreign ministry statement said. Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly 2,600 km border, mostly porous, and the militants take advantage of the loose control. Dr. Hogbergs leadership and impact on the swine industry are remarkable. We are grateful and indebted for his contributions, said Doug Webel, Ph.D., President and CEO of JBS United. JBS United presented Dr. Maynard Hogberg with the 2016 John B. Swisher Leadership Award on June 8, 2016 at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa. The John B. Swisher Leadership Award is an annual honor presented to an individual who exemplifies extraordinary leadership qualities and who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the swine industry. "This award is especially meaningful, not just because it is named after my father, but because of what John Swisher and this honor stand for, remarked Ellen Crabb, Vice Chairperson of the JBS United Board of Directors. This honor is awarded annually to an individual, like my father, that helped define what the pork industry is today. It is meant to honor someone that shaped lives and influenced others to create a better path for all of us. Dr. Hogberg, Professor Emeritus of Animal Science and former Animal Science Department Chair at Iowa State University, is a national leader in animal agriculture. As a professor at Iowa State, he has mentored countless students, faculty and colleagues. He served as a leader to multiple organizations including president of the American Society of Animal Science and of the Federation of Animal Science Societies. In 2007, Hogberg was named an Honorary Master Pork Producer by the Iowa Pork Producers Association. In 2009, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the National Pedigreed Livestock Council. In 2014, Dr. Hogberg was presented with the Distinguished Service Award from the National Pork Board. Most recently, Hogberg led the establishment of the Jeff and Deb Hansen Agricultural Student Learning Center at Iowa State. Hogberg has made incredible advancements for the swine industry, including assisting with the formation of both the National Swine Registry and the National Junior Swine Association. Dr. Hogbergs leadership and impact on the swine industry are remarkable, said Doug Webel, Ph.D., President and CEO of JBS United. We are grateful and indebted for his contributions. I have always had a great deal of respect for JBS United. The company has made a significant impact on helping livestock producers be profitable through their feeding and management programs. Their history of being a service-oriented company has certainly made for a stronger livestock industry, commented Dr. Hogberg. To be honored by JBS United is truly very humbling. As part of the honor, JBS United has contributed $5,000 to the Iowa State University Animal Science Department. About JBS United JBS United, founded in 1956, is dedicated to providing research-based solutions that create value for the swine, poultry and dairy industries. JBS United offers livestock nutrition and health products globally through the JBS United or affiliate brands. While the organizations headquarters are in Sheridan, Indiana, the sales staff and team members are throughout the nation and extend to 26 countries. To learn more, visit JBSUnited.com. Greg Arenstein (on left) and Nick Andersen Congratulations to Attorneys G. Gregory Arenstein and Nicholas I. Andersen for being named to the 2016 Columbus CEOs Top Lawyers List. Greg and Nick are Shareholders at the Dublin, Ohio based law firm of Arenstein & Andersen Co., LPA. According to Columbus CEO, attorneys on the list are among an elite group of Columbus lawyers recognized for their legal abilities and professional ethical standards. This years list was compiled by Avvo, a Seattle based company, that rates and profiles attorneys nationwide. Avvo uses a proprietary algorithm to rate attorneys on a 10-point scale, factoring in peer endorsements as well as experience, education, training, speaking, publishing and awards. This is Columbus CEOs eighth annual Top Lawyers feature. Greg currently holds an Avvo Rating of 7.5 Very Good on the numerical Avvo Rating scale. Nick currently holds an Avvo Rating of 9.1 Superb on the numerical Avvo Rating scale. Gregs recognition in Columbus CEOs Top Lawyers List highlights his skills in the primary practice are of business law. Gregs business law practice includes assisting business owners from launch to winding up and everything in between, including mergers and acquisitions and private offerings. In addition to his business practice, Greg practices in the areas of estate planning and taxation. Nicks recognition in Columbus CEOs Top Lawyers List highlights his skills in the primary practice area of litigation. Nicks litigation practice includes assisting business owners and individuals with prosecuting and defending lawsuits on a myriad of legal issues. Currently, Nicks litigation cases include multiple lawsuits advocating for Ohio landowners against the abusive use of eminent domain by privately owned pipeline companies. In addition to his litigation practice, Nick practices in the areas of estate planning, business, and taxpayer representation. Greg and Nick founded Arenstein & Andersen Co., LPA in 2010. Arenstein & Andersen Co., LPA is located in Dublin, Ohio and Tipp City, Ohio and provides legal services statewide in the areas of business, real estate, civil litigation, taxation, estate planning, probate and trust administration, family law, bankruptcy, workers compensation, and assisting clients with social security disability and social security income claims. John Watkins and Michael Pariente Johns attention to detail is rarely seen in any type of law practice. I am grateful he is part of the firm. The Pariente Law Firm, P.C. announced famed Las Vegas DUI Attorney John G. Watkins is now exclusively of counsel with the firm, ensuring high quality, experienced representation in DUI defense. Mr. Watkinss in-depth study of human anatomy and physiology, behavioral analysis, chemical alcohol testing, laboratory procedures, and police techniques for DUI enforcement bring the Pariente Law Firm, P.C. to a new level of quality representation. Mr. Pariente says, Johns attention to detail is rarely seen in any type of law practice. I am grateful he is part of the firm. Mr. Watkinss legal career began in 1980 as a law clerk for Clark County District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski. Mr. Watkins served as Clark County Deputy District Attorney prosecuting criminal cases until 1983 when he opened his own successful practice until 2016 when he joined the Pariente Law Firm, P.C. Mr. Watkins has represented clients in over 10,000 DUI cases and has defended clients in over 500 trial. Mr. Watkins has argued before the Nevada Supreme Court a total of 89 times with 56 reported opinions. He has been in front of the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 25 times and before the United States Supreme Court. Most notably, Mr. Watkins was lead counsel in the controversial and nationally televised trial of Jessica Williams. Mr. Watkins argued against then Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval ultimately taking the case to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Pariente Law Firm, P.C. is a premiere Las Vegas Criminal Defense Firm led by award-winning Las Vegas Criminal Defense Attorney Michael Pariente. Founded in 2006, The Pariente Law Firm, P.C. focuses solely on Criminal Defense. Contact Information Email: legal(at)parientelaw(dot)com Website: https://parientelaw.com Phone: 702-966-5310 Provar will revolutionize how companies approach testing within the Force.com ecosystem, stated Geraint Waters, Product Manager at Provar. Were very excited to see how ForeFront will make use of Provar going forward." ForeFront, a business transformation management consulting and systems integration company, launched this week at the Maximize event the first automated testing tool solution for ServiceMax. As a Gold partner of ServiceMax, the market leader in cloud-based field service management software, ForeFront is committed to its clients success in deploying solutions based on the ServiceMax platform. Best practices and proven methodologies in Agile development enable ForeFront to be engaged in some of the SaaS industrys most complex integration challenges. Automated software testing is a critical element in ensuring any projects success in todays diversified cloud applications environment such as the Salesforce eco-system. Earlier this year, ForeFront partnered with UK-based Provar to market its testing technology. As a result of a joint development effort, the first testing automation for ServiceMax, based on Provars tool and ForeFronts testing know-how, is now a reality and was launched at Maximize. Test automation for ServiceMax offers significant benefits by taking the complexity out of testing. In addition to functionalities such as point and click test creation, our clients get pre-configured ServiceMax test cases which accelerate uncovering issues early on and jump start automating their testing. The ServiceMax add-on solution is to be marketed as Release Management Best Practices and is part of ForeFront Service Accelerators (FSA) portfolio. Unit testing, system testing, and regression testing in an Agile software development, particularly with Enterprise multiple teams, inshore and off-shore, 3rd party ISVs, is difficult, complex and critical. By providing test automation for the ServiceMax platform, the challenge of a successful deployment is significantly reduced, in terms of costs and time. The Provar test automation tool is available now and bundled with ForeFront services pricing. ServiceMax clients using the tool have reported significant time savings, increased confidence, and satisfied QA testers having removed monotonous manual testing. About ForeFront ForeFront has over 10 years of experience in the Salesforce ecosystem with strong capabilities and expertise in business transformation cloud strategy, Force.com custom development, systems integration and global solution deployments. Our partners include Salesforce, ServiceMax, Apttus and IBM. Our clients include market leaders such as Bayer, Elekta, GE, Ricoh, Walmart. ForeFront is located in the New York metro area with offices across the USA and Europe. ForeFront delivers forward-thinking cloud solutions to clients at the frontline of their industry. http://www.forefrontcorp.com About Provar Provar is the only code-free, integrated automation testing tool for Salesforce. They began as a part of makepositive, a UK based Salesforce implementation partner. Provar specializes in the testing of Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and ServiceMax. providing tools to Fortune 100 companies and Salesforce app vendors. They have a diverse range of customers spanning several industries and serve business sizes ranging from 100 to 100,000. http://www.provartesting.com/ 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 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 In In the Darkroom, journalist Faludi explores her fathers life and gender transition. In writing about your father, when did you realize the memoir was going to dig deeply into the history of Hungary? From my first visit to Budapest to see my father after her operation, it was clear to me that if I were to understand her, I needed to understand the nation she came from, the nation that my father, as a boy, deeply identified with, the nation that then defined our family as alien simply for being Jewish. So, very early on it became evident to me that the story of my fathers quest for personal identity and Hungarys quest for national identity were deeply intertwined. With the current discussions around LGBT rights, could you comment on the books timeliness? When my father had sex-reassignment surgery and I started writing about it in 2004, the question of transgender rights and related legal issues werent even on the table. Its breathtakingand hearteninghow speedily the climate has changed (at least in the U.S.). To comprehend my fathers gender change, I spent a lot of time talking to transgender people, consulting the authorities and the literature on the subject, immersing myself in the history and the current debates on trans identity. And I hope Ive added to the discussion. But I dont pretend to present here a verdict on the matter. This book is not a corrective or a valedictory or any kind of decree on transgenderism. Its an exploration of one particular daughters experience with one particular father. How do you feel now that your father has passed on? I dont believe in anything so tidy as closure. But my father and I did grow to have a real and deepening relationshipfor the first time since my childhood and our quarter-century estrangement. My father ultimately apologized for some of the violence she perpetrated during my youth, and in my way I apologized for allowing our separation to continue over so many decades. And Im grateful for that reconciliation. Maybe even more important, though, the process of writing the book freed me from living with the caricature I had of my father. As a child, you dont see the vulnerability and frailties of your parentsonly their power. Writing the book freed me from the demon Id demonized. My father went, in my mind, from symbol to human. Did your work as a journalist help keep you on an even keel while addressing such a personal subject? My training as a journalist taught me to ask questions first, to challenge my assumptions, to look for the hidden story, and to perceive rather than to moralize. So, yes, it helped a lot. And like a lot of journalists, being armed with that reporters notebook and a list of questions gives me a certain fortitude. Im not sure whether Id have been able to open up the discussion after such a long silence without the tools of my trade. But in the end, I also had to drop the stance of outside observer. This was my story as much as my fathers. When I was four years old, for reasons no one in my Italian-American family can explain, I picked up my older brothers book and I read it. All these years later, I can still see the writing on the first page: Look! Look! I can still remember the thrill I felt when I realized I was reading. I had one thought that day: I want to live inside a book. In many ways, thats exactly what I did. In fact, I read my way through most of my life. My mother worked in a candy factory, stuffing Easter baskets and Christmas stockings. She liked to spoil us, and her paycheck often went to luxuries such as T-bone steaks, a chemistry set for my brother, and go-go boots for me. But to her, books werent a luxury; they were a waste of money. At our local discount store, Id plop myself in the meager book section, while my mother splurged on new curtains. Shed find me there with a lapful of books, often sniffing one (even now the smell of a new book is one of my greatest pleasures). A Nancy Drew book cost $2.99 back then, and Id hold one up to her, its yellow binding as beautiful as the sunshine. Im not going to waste my money on books, shed say. But I did. I spent my allowance on those Nancy Drew books, even as I read my way through the library. I read before I fell asleep at night and as soon as I woke up in the morning. I read when I felt sad or lonely or confused. I read because I was so bored in my small Rhode Island mill town, where even the movie theater and Woolworths had gone out of business. In high school I lost myself in Russian and French novels hidden in my textbooks. In college I majored in English and happily read for four years. I didnt realize that my love of reading would actually save my life some day. But that is what happened. In 1982, my only sibling, my brother Skip, died suddenly in a household accident. I moved home that summer to help my parents, even though I was stunned by grief myself and couldnt begin to understand what they needed. At night, I read to escape my mothers tears and my fathers bewilderment over the loss of their son. I dont remember the title of one book I read through that endless summer; I just remember how words comforted me at a time when comfort could not be found. Eventually, of course, the summer ended. I relocated to New York City and began to write my own first novel. I even took a part-time job at a bookstore in Soho so that I could buy books at a discount. I fell in love. My heart got broken. I moved away from N.Y.C. and felt a homesickness Id never experienced before. I made and lost friends. I fell in and out of love again and again. And through it all, I read. In April 2002, I was a full-time writer living back in Rhode Island, married with two childreneight-year-old Sam and five-year-old Grace. One morning Grace woke with a high fever that I couldnt bring down. By the time the doctors learned she had a virulent form of strep, she lay in the ICU, dying. Grace died 36 hours later. The next morning, I couldnt believe that the sun had the audacity to shine, that the newspaper arrived on my front stoop. I couldnt believe the world could still spin when my world had come to such a horrible halt. I looked at that newspaper, and for the first time since I was four, I could not read. Months passed, and still I could not read. One day, over a year after Grace died, a book caught my eye in my local bookstore window: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I bought it. Then I went home, sat on my sofa, lifted the book to my nose, and inhaled deeply. It was like seeing an old friend again after too long apart, that smell. I opened the book, and I read it straight through. Then I cried. I cried for the daughter I had lost. I cried for all the pain in this big beautiful world. I cried for the gift that books bring us, for the comfort of words, for the human heart that breaks and mends over and over. Look! Look! that book called to me so long ago. I was too young then to understand exactly what it was offering me. Ann Hoods new novel, The Book That Matters Most, will be published this August by Norton. Though various sources have reported a decline in e-book sales for traditional publishers in 2015 compared to 2014, no one has come up with a clear reason for the drop. To gain some insight into the trend, the Codex Group devoted a recent survey of book buyerss shopping preferences to looking more deeply into the question. The book market has taken a different path from the music and home video markets, where research from industry associations shows that consumers continued to increase digital spending last year (with digital reaching record revenue share levels of 70% and 59%, respectively, for 2015). Preliminary figures from the Association of American Publishers found that sales of e-books for trade publishers fell 14% in 2015 compared to 2014 and accounted for 20% of overall trade book revenue, down from 23% in 2014. Going beyond AAPs member publisher sales performance, the Codex Groups April 2016 survey of 4,992 book buyers found that e-book units purchased as a share of total books purchased fell from 35.9% in April 2015 to 32.4% in April 2016. The Codex survey includes e-books published by traditional publishers and self-publishers and sold across all channels and in all categories. In light of the April study results, Codex president Peter Hildick-Smith believes that the book industrys experience with digital sales differs from that of music and video because of two factors. First, electronic devices are optional for reading books (unlike for listening to music or watching video), and the current range of e-book reading devicesincluding smartphones, tablets, and dedicated e-readershas not delivered the quality long-form reading experience needed to supplant print, even with e-books major price and convenience advantages. Second, Hildick-Smith said, a new consumer phenomenon, digital fatigue, is beginning to emerge. Device Limitations The reading devices that first ignited the e-book categorydedicated e-readers such as Nook and Kindlestill remain the most important factor affecting e-book reading and sales. Though only 34% of book buyer households own e-book readers, they are still the dominant factor in e-book consumption, having been used for an average of 55% of the total time spent reading the most recent e-book read by respondents. Dedicated e-reader owners also purchased 59% of e-book units bought by respondents in the month. In contrast, tablets, owned by 66% of book-buying households, were used for only 28% of e-book reading time, while smartphones, with the highest penetration among book buyers (73%), accounted for only 12% of e-book reading time. The challenge going forward, Hildick-Smith pointed out, is that dedicated e-reader ownership has been stagnant for the past three years, and the devices are increasingly being retired. Only 50% of dedicated e-reading devices were used by respondents to read e-books in the week prior to the survey, and less than one-third of the devices were used to purchase an e-book in the prior month. Tablets and smartphones are not picking up the slack, with only 52% of tablets and 26% of smartphones being used for e-book reading in the week prior to the survey. The Codex survey also found that though book buyers stated they spent almost five hours of daily personal time on screens, 25% of book buyers, including 37% of those 1824 years old, want to spend less time on their digital devices. Since consumers almost always have the option to read books in physical formats, they are indicating a preference to return to print. In the April survey, 19% of 18-to-24-year-olds said they are reading fewer e-books than when they started reading that format, the highest percentage among all age groups. Overall, 14% of book buyers said they are now reading fewer e-books than when they started reading books in the format, and 59% percent of those who said they are reading fewer e-books cited a preference for print as the main reason for switching back to physical books. The share of print books purchased was also the highest among the heaviest screen users, the so-called digital natives, ages 1824 (83%), and lowest (61%) among 55-to-64-year-olds. Unless the e-reader device market is recharged with lower-price, higher-quality options, Hildick-Smith expects that consumers tiring of their digital-device experience will have further digital fatigue, leading to continued e-book sales erosion. One of the most unexpectedly enjoyable and charming books Ive read about a famous writer recently was last years The Man with the Golden Typewriter, a selection of Ian Flemings James Bond-related correspondence, edited by his nephew Fergus, who spoke to PW in November. Even as the billion-dollar movie franchise has kept Flemings name in circulation, he hasnt been remembered to posterity as either a particularly good person or writer; the few people I know whove actually finished a Bond novel mostly comment on the unreconstructed sexism and racism, and queasy undertow of sadism. The surprise, then, of this collection is how charming and funny Fleming is in addressing colleagues, fans, friends, and the occasional complaint. To a lawyer in an Australian mining town who sent Fleming a fan letter, telling him it was only the second he had ever written, Fleming rather sweetly replies when you come to write your first book, even if its upon an abstruse point of law, you will come to know what a warm glow it causes to hear from a reader. He flirtatiously chides one reader of From Russia with Love in April 1957 because she did not save the book up to read on the sands at Santa Margharita. That is just the sort of place he would wish to be readparticularly by a girl. You must try and be more continent next Spring. He also composes a form letter to reassure other readers of Russia, which (spoiler alert) unlike its screen adaptation ended with the heros apparent death, as a medical report from Sir James Molony, Department of Neurology, St. Marys Hospitalthe condition of 007 shows definite improvement. It has been confirmed that 007 was suffering from severe Fugu poisoning (a particularly virulent member of the curare group obtained from the sex glands of Japanese Globe fish.) Hes notably good-humored about the (frequent) factual corrections he receives from readers, informing one fan of From Russia with Love, the cardinal error in this book was to furnish the Orient-Express with hydraulic instead of vacuum breaksa gross mistake which the Black Belt grade among James Bonds audience have been quick to seize upon. If, like me and I suspect most readers, youve never read a single book by Ian Fleming, Id recommend making it this one. With the presidential election just months away, this falls crop of politics books dives into the issues and cultural trends that are driving the daily news cycle. Top 10 Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives Gary Younge. Nation, Oct. 4 Younge presents a series of portraits of young people taken from us far too soon by gun violence that has become all to common in America. Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State Barton Gellman. Penguin Press, Sept. 20 The three-time Pulitzer Prizewinning author who unearthed the deepest secrets of Edward Snowdens NSA archive offers an inside account of the surveillance-industrial revolution and its discontents. Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Rights Secret Plan for America Nancy MacLean. Viking, Jan. 10 MacLean, an award-winning historian, tells the largely unknown backstory of the radical rights moment of creation, and parts the curtains on the movements political agenda. The Gilded Rage: A Wild Ride Through Donald Trumps America Alexander Zaitchik. Hot Books, Sept. 20 Who are Donald Trumps supporters? Zaitchik seeks a deeper understanding of the presumptive 2016 Republican nominee and a right-wing movement without precedent in American presidential politics. How We Got to Now, Book 2: The World We Made by Having Fun Steven Johnson. Riverhead, Dec. 6 In the follow-up to his bestselling How We Got to Now, Johnson argues that observers of technological and social trends should be looking for the future wherever people are having the most fun. The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East Jay Solomon, Random House, Sept. 6 The Wall Street Journal foreign affairs correspondent explores the decades-long hostility between Iran and the United States, and the historic nuclear deal framework of 2015. Liars: How Big-Government Progressives Teach Us to Lie About Ourselves Glenn Beck. S&S/Threshold, Aug. 2 The bestselling author and conservative radio host argues that progressivism is eroding the foundation of the country. Thank You for Being Late: Finding a Job, Running a Country, and Keeping Your Head in an Age of Accelerations Thomas L. Friedman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nov. 22 The New York Times columnist argues that we have entered an age of dizzying accelerationand explains how to live in it. They Cant Kill Us All: The Story of #Blacklivesmatter Wesley Lowery. Little, Brown, Nov. 15 A behind-the-barricades look at the young men and women behind the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as its past and future. Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped Garry Kasparov, PublicAffairs, Nov. 8 Former world chess champion turned political activist Kasparov describes what he sees as Russias slide back into a dictatorship, and argues that the West will pay the price for Vladimir Putins ascent to the presidency of Russia. Politics & Current Events Listings Abbeville Full Faith and Credit: Debt, Spending, Taxes, and the Bankrupting of America by Alan Axelrod, illus. by Michael Ramirez (Sept. 13, hardcover, $22.95, ISBN 978-0-7892-1283-2). What is the national debt? Who loses from it? Who profits from it? Is it a greater threat to America than international terrorism? This book follows the money and finds the answers. 10,000-copy announced first printing. Arcade India Sutra: Reflections on the Worlds Largest Democracy in the 21st Century by Shashi Tharoor (Jan. 3, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-62872-716-6). One of Indias most distinguished writers offers a panoramic insiders look at the road ahead for India in an unprecedented era of change. 10,000-copy announced first printing. Basic The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force by Eliot A. Cohen (Jan. 3, hardcover, $27.50, ISBN 978-0-465-04472-6). A renowned scholar of international relations argues that the United States must use military power in support of its foreign policy, although doing so will require U.S. leaders to rethink and reorder Americas strength. 25,000-copy announced first printing. Twilight Warriors: The Soldiers, Spies, and Special Agents Who Are Revolutionizing the American Way of War by James Kitfield (Oct. 25, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-465-06470-0). Award-winning foreign correspondent Kitfield offers a dramatic portrait of the innovative Special Forces commanders and FBI agents who have pioneered an interagency, networkcentric strategy to battle Americas hidden enemies. 40,000-copy announced first printing. Beacon Guns Dont Kill People, People Kill People: And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control by Dennis A. Henigan (Aug. 2, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-0-8070-8884-5) debunks the lethal logic behind the pervasive myths and bumper-sticker logic that have framed the gun control debate. Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City by Steve Early (Jan. 17, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-0-8070-9426-6) reveals how the working-class company town of Richmond, Calif., harnessed the power of local politics to reclaim their community from one of the largest oil refineries in the state. Broadside Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line by Heather Hendershot (Oct. 4, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-06-243045-8) is a compelling portrait of William F. Buckley as the champion of conservative ideas in an age of liberal dominance, taking on the smartest adversaries he could find while singlehandedly reinventing the role of public intellectual in the network TV era. 25,000-copy announced first printing. Brookings Institution Against the Death Penalty by Stephen Breyer, edited by John Bessler (Aug. 23, hardcover, $14.95, ISBN 978-0-8157-2889-4). Justice Stephen G. Breyer argues that the death penalty is carried out unfairly and inconsistently, and thus violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishments specified by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. 10,000-copy announced first printing. City Lights America at War with Itself: Authoritarian Politics in a Free Society by Henry A. Giroux (Sept. 13, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-0-87286-732-1). From hatemongering tactics in the run-up to the 2016 presidential race to the increasing number of mass shootings, and excessive police violence, Giroux presents a blistering critique of how Americas drift toward authoritarian intolerance is dividing the nation. 10,000-copy announced first printing. Breaking Through Power: Its Easier Than We Think by Ralph Nader (Aug. 16, trade paper, $15.95, ISBN 978-0-87286-705-5) draws from a lifetime wagingand often winningDavid vs. Goliath battles against big corporations to offer this Thomas Painestyle indictment of the wealthy corporations that control U.S. politics, and shows how average Americans can fight back. 10,000-copy announced first printing. Counterpoint/Soft Skull Crashing the Party: An American Reporter in China by Scott Savitt (Oct. 11, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-59376-652-8). In this political memoir, Savitt, a former reporter for Asiaweek magazine, and the youngest accredited foreign correspondent in Chinas history, recounts how he found himself caught up in the countrys complex web of political contradictions and violence. Crown The Great Suppression: Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on Democracy by Zachary Roth (Aug. 2, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-1-101-90576-0) argues that a growing number of Republicans are afraid of popular ruleand theyre doing everything they can to limit it, through a range of efforts, including gerrymandering, voter ID laws, and campaign finance initiatives. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy ONeil (Sept. 6, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-0-553-41881-1). A former Wall Street quant sounds the alarm on mathematical modelinga pervasive new force in society that threatens to undermine democracy and widen inequality. Custom House The Long Game: The Greatness of the Obama Presidency by Jonathan Chait (Nov. 15, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-06-242697-0). Acclaimed as one of the most incisive and meticulous political commentators in America, Chait digs deep into Obamas record on major policy fronts to argue that history will judge our 44th president as among the greatest and most accomplished in history. 100,000-copy announced first printing. Farrar, Straus and Giroux The Secret Lives of Web Pages by Paul Ford (Jan. 3, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-0-374-26111-5). A definitive, necessary explanation of how the Internet works, by a writer, programmer, and webmaster for Harpers magazine. Thank You for Being Late: Finding a Job, Running a Country, and Keeping Your Head in an Age of Accelerations by Thomas L. Friedman (Nov. 22, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-374-27353-8). In his most ambitious work to date, New York Times columnist Friedman shows that we have entered an age of dizzying accelerationand explains how to live in it. Hachette/Twelve The Year of Voting Dangerously: The Derangement of American Politics by Maureen Dowd (Sept. 13, hardcover, $22.95, ISBN 978-1-455539-2-60). The New York Times columnist offers an incendiary look at the bizarre yet fascinating election of 2016. Harvard Univ. Democracys Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism by James T. Hamilton (Oct. 10, hardcover, $35, ISBN 978-0-674-54550-2). In democratic societies, investigative journalism holds government and private institutions accountable to the public. But important stories are going untold, Hamilton argues, as news outlets shy away from the expense of watchdog reporting. Harvard/Belknap Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform by Tommie Shelby (Nov. 1, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-674-97050-2). Why do American ghettos persist? Shelby advances a social vision and political ethos that calls for putting the abolition of ghettos at the center of reform. Herald Racism in America: Leonard Pitts Speaks by Leonard Pitts (Nov. 8, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-63353-447-6) collects essays from the Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and bestselling author on issues of race in the U.S., from the earliest days through the most recent Ferguson riots. Hot Books The Gilded Rage: A Wild Ride Through Donald Trumps America by Alexander Zaitchik (Sept. 20, hardcover, $21.99, ISBN 978-1-5107-1428-1). The once unimaginable emergence of Donald Trump as the 2016 Republican nominee has left the country scrambling for answers and explanations. Who, exactly, are Trumps supporters? Where are they coming from? What are they thinking, and what do they want? Zaitchik seeks a deeper understanding of a right-wing movement without precedent. 20,000-copy announced first printing. Unspeakable by Chris Hedges, with David Talbot (Oct. 11, hardcover, $21.99, ISBN 978-1-5107-1273-7) takes on the most sensitive topics in America, from the rise of Donald Trump to Black Lives Matter, in an effort to combat the intellectual and moral decay that has come to grip American life. 40,000-copy announced first printing. I.B. Tauris Radicalized: The New Generation of Jihadis and the Threat to the West by Peter R. Neumann (Dec. 30, trade paper, $17.95, ISBN 978-1-78453-673-2). The attacks in Paris in January and November 2015 heralded the beginning of a new wave of terrorism, rooted in the ongoing conflict in Syria and Iraq. Based on interviews and previously unseen material, Neumann provides an essential introduction to one of the greatest security crises of our time. Island Biting the Hands That Feed Us: How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable by Baylen J. Linnekin (Sept. 15, hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-1-61091-675-2). Food waste, hunger, inhumane livestock conditions, disappearing fish stocksthese are the kind of problems we expect food regulations to combat. Yet the government often makes these problems worse. This book warns against efforts to regulate our way to a greener food system, calling instead for empowerment of those working to feed us, and themselves, sustainably. Knopf The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People by Walter Russell Mead (Jan. 17, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-0-375-41404-6). The acclaimed author of God and Gold and Special Providence presents a groundbreaking new work that overturns the conventional understanding of the Israeli-American relationship and explores the fate of the Jewish people. Little, Brown Assassination Generation: Video Games, Aggression, and the Psychology of Killing by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (Ret.), with Kristine Paulsen and Katie Miserany (Aug. 9, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-0-316-26593-5). The author of the bestseller On Killing reveals how violent video games have ushered in a new era of mass homicideand what we must do about it. 40,000-copy announced first printing. They Cant Kill Us All: The Story of #Blacklivesmatter by Wesley Lowery (Nov. 15, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-0-316-31247-9) is the first book to go behind the barricades of #blacklivesmatter to tell the story of the young men and women who are calling for a new America, a galvanizing look at where the movement came from, where it is headed, and where it still has to go. 50,000-copy announced first printing. Melville House Dragons in Diamond Village: Tales of Resistance from Urbanizing China by David Bandurski (Oct. 25, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-61219-571-1). Journalist Bandurski brings to light the dark side of the Chinese dream, offering an account of the contradictions of economic growth and urban development in China. MIT Environmentalism of the Rich by Peter Dauvergne (Sept. 16, hardcover, $26.95, ISBN 978-0-262-03495-1). Over the past 50 years, environmentalism has emerged as a clear counterforce to the environmental destruction caused by industrialization, colonialism, and globalization, but, Dauvergne shows, more eco-products can often just mean more corporate profits, consumption, and waste. Hate Spin: The Manufacture of Religious Offense and Its Threat to Democracy by Cherian George (Sept. 23, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-262-03530-9) shows how sophisticated campaigns touting religious freedom are often manufactured by political opportunists to mobilize supporters and to marginalize opponents. Nation Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge (Oct. 4, hardcover, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-56858-975-6). On an average day in America, seven young people aged 19 or under will be shot dead. Younge presents a gripping chronicle of an ordinary but deadly day in American life, and a series of character portraits of young people taken from us far too soon, as well as those they left behind. 40,000-copy announced first printing. Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt by Sarah Jaffe (Aug. 23, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-56858-536-9) argues that Americans, regardless of political alignment, are boldly challenging who wields power in this country, whether in the growth of the Tea Party, the successful fight for a $15/hour minimum wage, a 21st-century black freedom struggle with Black Lives Matter, or the grassroots networks supporting presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders. 20,000-copy announced first printing. Oneworld Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future by Johan Nordberg (Oct. 11, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-78074-950-1). Every day were bludgeoned by news of how bad everything isfinancial collapse, unemployment, environmental disasters, disease, hunger, war. But, Nordberg argues, the rarely acknowledged reality is that the economic and social progress of the past few decades has been unprecedented. Pantheon Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment, edited by Angela J. Davis (Jan. 24, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-101-87127-0). Distinguished American legal scholars analyze the key issue of the Black Lives Matter movement: the often lethally hostile relationship between American law enforcement and African-American men. Penguin Press Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State by Barton Gellman (Sept. 20, hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-1-59420-601-6). From the three-time Pulitzer Prizewinning author who unearthed the deepest secrets of Edward Snowdens NSA archive comes an inside account of the surveillance-industrial revolution and its discontents, who are fighting back against state and corporate intrusions into our most private spheres. A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order by Richard Haass (Jan. 17, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-399-56236-5). The president of the Council on Foreign Relations offers a lucid and incisive breakdown of our shifting landscape, and the need for a new American foreign policy that reflects a 21st-century world. Penguin/Blue Rider Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein by John Nixon (Aug. 2, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-0-399-57581-5). The CIA agent who conducted the interrogation of Saddam Hussein reveals what he learned about the former Iraqi dictator and offers many contrarian opinions to what we know about the U.S. involvement in Iraq. Princeton Univ. Against Democracy by Jason Brennan (Aug. 30, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-691-16260-7). Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its resultsand the results show that democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, which does most of us little good. Prometheus Books Rampage Nation: Securing America from Mass Shootings by Louis Klarevas (Aug. 23, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-1-63388-066-5). In the past decade, no individual act of violence has killed more people in the United States than the mass shooting. This well-researched, forcefully argued book answers some of the most pressing questions facing our society: why do people go on killing sprees? What Washington Gets Wrong: The Unelected Officials Who Actually Run the Government and Their Misconceptions about the American People by Jennifer Bachner and Benjamin Ginsberg (Oct. 4, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-1-63388-249-2). Each year unelected federal administrators write thousands of regulations possessing the force of law. What do these civil servants know about the American people whom they ostensibly serve? Not much, according to this study. PublicAffairs All the Kremlins Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin by Mikhail Zygar (Sept. 6, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-61039-739-1) charts Vladimir Putins transformation from a passionate fan of the West and a liberal reformer into a hurt and introverted outcast, and offers a compelling portrait of modern Russia, a country swirling with intrigue and paranoia. 30,000-copy announced first printing. Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped by Garry Kasparov (Nov. 8, trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-61039-719-3) tells the stunning story of Russias slide back into a dictatorshipand how the West is now paying the price for Vladimir Putins ascent to the presidency of Russia. 20,000-copy announced first printing. Random House The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East by Jay Solomon (Sept. 6, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-8129-9364-6). A Wall Street Journal foreign affairs correspondent explores the decades-long hostility between Iran and the United States, and the historicand potentially disastrousnuclear deal and rapprochement. Known and Strange Things: Essays by Teju Cole (Aug. 9, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-0-8129-8978-6) is the first book of essays by the award-winning author of Open City and Every Day Is for the Thief. Riverhead How We Got to Now, Book 2: The World We Made by Having Fun by Steven Johnson (Dec. 6, trade paper, $18, ISBN 978-0-7352-1191-9). In this lushly illustrated follow-up to the bestselling How We Got to Now, the New York Timesbestselling author compellingly argues that observers of technological and social trends should be looking for the future wherever people are having the most fun. Rowman & Littlefield Cyberbullying and the Wild, Wild Web: What Everyone Needs to Know by J.A. Hitchcock (Dec. 16, hardcover, $34, ISBN 978-1-4422-5117-5). As the Internet makes the world more accessible, it has also increased the possibility of cyberbullying and cyberstalking. Hitchcock presents real-life examples of Internet crime and responses by the public and the criminal justice system. Supremely Partisan: How Raw Politics Tips the Scales in the United States Supreme Court by James D. Zirin, foreword by Kermit Roosevelt (Sept. 15, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-1-4422-6636-0), explains how we arrived at the present situation, and looks at the current divide through its leading partisans, justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor on the left and Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the right. Seven Stories ISIS: The Terror Nation by Loretta Napoleoni (Aug. 9, trade paper, $15.95, ISBN 978-1-60980-725-2). ISIS is not another terrorist network, Napoleoni argues, but a formidable enemy in tune with the new modernity of the current world disorder. Merchants of Men: The Business of Kidnapping Inside the Refugee Crisis by Loretta Napoleoni (Aug. 9, hardcover, $23.95, ISBN 978-1-60980-708-5). Napoleoni offers a powerful critique of the sophisticated underground networks that deliver thousands of refugees a day along the Mediterranean coasts of Europe, a new breed of criminal enterprise that has risen out of the political chaos of post-9/11 Western foreign policy and the fiasco of the Arab Spring. Simon & Schuster How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon by Rosa Brooks (Aug. 9, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-4767-7786-3). Once, war was a temporary state of affairsa violent but brief interlude between times of peace. Today, Americas wars are everywhere and forever. Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University, examines what happens when the ancient boundary between war and peace is erased. S&S/Threshold Liars: How Big-Government Progressives Teach Us to Lie About Ourselves by Glenn Beck (Aug. 2, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-1-4767-9885-1). The bestselling author and conservative radio host argues that progressivism is eroding the foundation of this country. Skyhorse Jesse Venturas Marijuana Manifesto by Jesse Ventura, with Jen Hobbs (Sept. 6, hardcover, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-5107-1424-3). The former professional wrestler and Minnesota governor lays out his philosophy on marijuana and why hes always been in favor of legalization. 80,000-copy announced first printing. St. Martins The Art of Being Free: Alexis de Tocqueville and the Way We Live Now by James Poulos (Jan. 17, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-250-07718-9). De Tocquevilles seminal work, Democracy in America, is still surprisingly resonant, argues Poulos, as he explores how a modern reading of the classic text might help alleviate our uniquely American malaise. Enough Said: Whats Gone Wrong with the Language of Politics? by Mark Thompson (Sept. 6, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-250-05957-4). Free speech has always been limited by obstacles: national, state, or local laws, organizational rules, social restrictions, incomplete transmission via technology, and the limits of language itself. But with the advent of social media platforms, Thompson, CEO of the New York Times Company, outlines both the positive trends in public engagement and the dangers of speech without accountability. Verso Age of Folly: America Destroys Its Democracy by Lewis Lapham (Sept. 13, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-78478-711-0) collects essays on the frantic retreat of democracy and the war on terror by one of Americas leading essayists. Lapham covers the beginning of the war on terror to the bombastic spectacle of the current U.S. elections. Viking Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Rights Secret Plan for America by Nancy MacLean (Jan. 10, hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-1-101-98096-5). The frightening and largely unknown backstory of the radical rights political agenda, from award-winning historian MacLean: billionaires didnt create this movement, she argues; the South did. Yale Univ. The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East by Christopher Phillips (Oct. 25, hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-0-300-21717-9). Most accounts of Syrias brutal, long civil war focus on a domestic contest that began in 2011 and only later drew foreign nations into the escalating violence. But Phillips explores the roles the United States and other nations have played in shaping the ongoing civil war. The Winchester: The Gun That Built an American Dynasty by Laura Trevelyan (Sept. 6, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-300-22338-5). Arguably the worlds most famous firearm, the Winchester repeating rifle was one of the first to fire continuously without needing to be reloaded after every round. Trevelyan, a descendant of the Winchester family, offers a fascinating history of the family behind the popular firearm that changed America and the world. International fiction, including several exciting books in translation, and collections of short fiction are the highlights of this falls list. Longtime fans of science fiction and fantasy will also be delighted to see new books from cherished authors Connie Willis and Peter S. Beagle, and a collection of novellas by the legendary Ursula K. Le Guin. Top 10 Behind the Throne K.B. Wagers. Orbit, Aug. 2 Taut suspense and dark, rapid-fire humor mark this excellent debut, in which an interplanetary adventurer is forced to take her place as the heir to an imperial throne. Certain Dark Things Silvia Moreno-Garcia. St. Martins/Dunne, Oct. 25 This novel, set in Mexico City, combines elements of Latin-American mythology with a literary voice to turn vampire fiction on its head. Crossroads of Canopy Thoraiya Dyer. Tor, Jan. 31 The highly anticipated fantasy debut from the Aurealis- and Ditmar-award-winning author is set in a giant mythical rainforest controlled by living gods. Crosstalk Connie Willis. Del Rey, Oct. 4 SFWA Grand Master Williss first novel since 2010s Blackout/All Clear is a rollicking send-up of obsessive cellphone usage in too-near-future America. The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula K. Le Guin. S&S/Saga, Oct. 18 All the novellas by SFWA Grand Master Le Guin are collected for the first timeand introduced by the legendary authorin one volume. The Graveyard Apartment Mariko Koike, trans. by Deborah Boliver Boehm. St. Martins/Dunne, Oct. 11 A young couple believe they have found the perfect home to grow into, only to realize that the apartments idyllic setting harbors the specter of evil. Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation Edited and trans. by Ken Liu. Tor, Nov. 1 The Hugo-winning author and translator brings 13 Chinese science fiction short stories to English-reading audiences, along with several essays by Chinese scholars and authors. Isra-Isle Nava Semel, trans. by Jessica Cohen. Mandel Vilar, Oct. 25 In 1825 Mordecai Noah, a diplomat, bought Grand Island, near Niagara Falls, as a refuge for Jews. In 2001, his descendant goes to find itand disappears without a trace. Summerlong Peter S. Beagle. Tachyon, Sept. 13 Beagle (The Last Unicorn) returns with this long-anticipated new novel, a beautifully bittersweet tale of passion, enchantment, and the nature of fate. Swift to Chase Laird Barron. JournalStone, Oct. 7 The celebrated horror authors fourth collection of macabre stories continues his inquiry into the darkness of the human heart. SF, Fantasy & Horror Listings Ace Ninth City Burning by J. Patrick Black (Sept. 6, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-1-101-99144-2). In this epic science fiction debut, Earth has battled an alien force for over 500 years, but the course of the war is about to change. Amazon/47North Bury the Living by Jodi McIsaac (Sept. 6, trade paper, $10.99, ISBN 978-1-5039-3551-8). During Northern Irelands infamous Troubles, teen Nora joined the IRA to fight for her countrys freedom. A decade later, a mystical artifact transports her back to the height of Irelands brutal civil war, giving her the chance to alter the fortunes of Ireland and maybe even save the ones she loves. Angry Robot An Accident of Stars: Book I of the Manifold Worlds by Foz Meadows (Aug. 2, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-0-85766-585-0). Saffron Coulter becomes an accidental worldwalker. In her travels, she befriends sorcerers, queens, and rebels, and changes the fate of nations. But eventually she has to go home, where life will never be the same. Kojiki by Keith Yatsuhashi (Aug. 2, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-0-85766-615-4). A young woman travels to Japan to fulfill her fathers dying wish and stumbles into a mythic struggle between divine forces. The Rise of Io by Wesley Chu (Oct. 4, trade paper, $14.99, ISBN 978-0-85766-582-9). Ella Patelthief, con artist, and smuggleris on the border of a demilitarized zone run by the body-swapping alien invaders when she observes a womans violent death. As she dies, the alien inhabiting her body moves to Ellas and demands her help completing an urgent mission. Atria/Bestler Blood Riders: A Novel by Gary Oldman and Douglas Urbanski (Nov. 22, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-1-5011-0568-5). Magnus Blackwell rises from his coffin to join the 1880s community of Echo Basin. By day he is a gentleman, a seemingly civic-minded and active member of the community. By night he is a hunter, an adventurer, and a vampire. Baen Shadow of Victory by David Weber (Nov. 1, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-1-4767-8182-2). The Mesan Alignment has a plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human raceand to get its way, it uses sneak attacks and false-flag operations to begin an interstellar war between two major galactic powers. Bedazzled Ink Haunting Muses, edited by Doreen Perrine (Oct. 1, trade paper, $12.95, ISBN 978-1-943837-52-6). In this collection of lesbian stories, ghosts (both literal and metaphorical) arent necessarily evil, and hauntings may or may not be bad. Berkley Crimson Death: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Novel by Laurell K. Hamilton (Oct. 11, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-1-101-98773-5). In her 25th adventure, vampire hunter and zombie raiser Anita Blake learns how far shell go to save someone she loves. Bold Strokes Believing in Blue by Maggie Morton (Sept. 13, trade paper, $18.95, ISBN 978-1-62639-691-3). Growing up gay in a small town has been hard, but it cant compare to the next challenge facing Wren and her new sky-blue wings: saving two entire worlds. Candlemark & Gleam Drakon by A.M. Tuomala (Nov. 29, trade paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-936460-69-4). The year is 1880. Ever since the Ottoman Empire bought the allegiance of the dragons, the Tarasov family has stood guard against them on the disputed borderlands. But the bloodthirsty dragons theyve feared and fought all their lives arent what they seem. Chizine The Rib from Which I Remake the World by Ed Kurtz (Sept. 13, trade paper, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-7714-8390-2). What begins with a gruesome and impossible murder soon spirals into hallucinatory waking nightmares for hotel house detective Jojo in WWII Arkansas. Black magic and a terrifying Luciferian carnival boil up to a surreal finale. City Owl Truthsight by Miriam Greystone (Nov. 1, trade paper, $14.99, ISBN 978-1-944728-04-5). Amy, a doctor, spends her nights running a secret clinic for supernatural creatures. When she is forced to use her magic to save the lives of a centaur infant and its mother, she vows never to regret her decision, no matter what the consequences. DAW The Heart of What Was Lost: A Novel of Osten Ard by Tad Williams (Jan. 3, hardcover, $22, ISBN 978-0-7564-1248-7) is a short sequel to the epic and bestselling Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. It tells how newly crowned King Simon and Queen Miriamele drove the Norns, the most human-antagonistic fae, back into their mountain stronghold. Del Rey The Bear and the Nightingale: A Novel by Katherine Arden (Jan. 10, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-1-101-88593-2). A young womans family is threatened by forces both real and fantastical in this debut novel inspired by Russian fairy tales. Crosstalk by Connie Willis (Oct. 4, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-345-54067-6). In a novel thats part romantic comedy and part social satire, SFWA Grand Master Willis examines the consequences of having too much connectivity, and what happens in a world where, suddenly, nothing is private. The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville (Aug. 9, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-0-345-54399-8). In 1941, a surrealist bomb exploded in Nazi-occupied Paris, unleashing thousands of manifsphysical manifestations of images taken from surrealist paintings. Some were merely whimsical; others were terrifying and dangerous. Now its 1950 and New Paris, as its called, is the epicenter of the continuing war. Edge Terminal City by Trevor Melanson (Sept. 15, trade paper, $14.95, ISBN 978-1-7705-3083-6). Mason Cross never wanted to be anything like his father, a famous professor who was also a necromancer. But death changes people. Now Mason is following in his dead dads footsteps, down a dark, solitary path between two competing lives. Hadley Rille A Villa Far from Home by Sheila Finch (Aug. 19, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-0-997118-83-4). A 16-year-old Roman girl and her illegitimate child are exiled by the Emperor Nero to Britannia. A middle-aged Celtic king of an insignificant tribe is trying to find middle ground between Celtic tradition and Roman rule, making enemies on both sides. And the shadow of martyred Queen Boudicca lies like a curse on the land. Harper Voyager Breath of Earth: A Novel by Beth Cato (Aug. 23, trade paper, $14.99, ISBN 978-0-06-242206-4). Steampunk author Cato (The Clockwork Dagger) turns to the U.S. in this well-researched and vivid fantasy set in an alternate 1906 San Francisco thats protected from earthquakes by geomancers. 35,000-copy announced first printing. The Queen of Blood: Book 1 of the Queens of Renthia by Sarah Beth Durst (Sept. 20, hardcover, $19.99, ISBN 978-0-06-241334-5). Only the queen stands between malevolent spirits and the end of humankind. With her position so precarious, young women are trained as her heirs. Two of them, an idealistic young student and a banished warrior, become allies in a battle to save their realm. 50,000-copy announced first printing. Inkshares The Seventh Age: Dawn by Rick Heinz (Nov. 1, trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-941758-89-2). Mikes death-defying stunts have brought him closer than ever to lifting the veil of reality, always just out of reach. However, his ventures to the edge of death have not gone unnoticed, and a mysterious organization seeks to recruit him to their own cause: preparing the city for impending Ragnarok. Journalstone Swift to Chase by Laird Barron (Oct. 7, trade paper, $18.95, ISBN 978-1-945373-05-3). Celebrated horror author Barrons fourth collection of macabre stories continues his inquiry into the darkness of the human heart. Mandel Vilar Isra-Isle: A Novel by Nava Semel, trans. from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen (Oct. 25, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-942134-19-0). In 1825 Mordecai Noah, a diplomat, bought Grand Island, near Niagara Falls, as a refuge for Jews. In 2001, Liam Emanuel learns about and inherits the island. He leaves Israel with a burning desire to reclaim this historic promised land in Americaand vanishes with no trace. Medallion The Book of Ralph by Christopher Steinsvold (Aug. 9, trade paper, $14.99, ISBN 978-1-942546-34-4). Ralph, an eccentric extraterrestrial whos been hiding on the moon, needs one hapless mans help to personally deliver a dark warning to the White House. Ralph has a big heart, a fondness for Andy Warhols art, and a dangerous plan to save the world. Nerdist Welcome to Deadland by Zachary Tyler Linville (Aug. 9, hardcover, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-941758-85-4). The few people left after a zombie apocalypse are thrust together to fight for their lives. Asher is Wendys only friend; as he clings to her, she hides a dark secret. Rico is a 17-year-old rebel who has to grow up fast to protect a six-year-old boy. These ragged survivors become humankinds only hope. Orbit Behind the Throne by K.B. Wagers (Aug. 2, trade paper, $14.99, ISBN 978-0-316-30860-1) is an action-packed science fiction adventure trilogy launch. When notorious space adventurer Hail Bristol is dragged back to her home planet to take her rightful place as the heir to the throne, she finds that trading her ship for a palace is her most dangerous move yet. 50,000-copy announced first printing. The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks (Oct. 25, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-316-25133-4) continues the Lightbringer epic fantasy series. Former emperor Gavin Guile, stripped of both magical and political power, is now imprisoned in his own magical dungeon. But the world faces a calamity greater than the Seven Satrapies has ever seen, and only he can save it. 150,000-copy announced first printing. Feedback by Mira Grant (Oct. 4, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-0-316-37934-2) is a full-length Newsflesh novel that overlaps the events of Feed. It covers the presidential campaign from the perspective of scrappy underdog reporters relentlessly pursuing the truth while competing against superstar bloggers, surrounded by zombies, and facing more insidious forces working in the shadows. 75,000-copy announced first printing. PM Fire. by Elizabeth Hand (Jan. 1, trade paper, $13, ISBN 978-1-62963-234-6). The title story, written especially for this collection, is a harrowing, postapocalyptic adventure in a world threatened by global conflagration. The Woman Men Couldnt See is an expansion of Hands acclaimed critical assessment of author Alice B. Sheldon, aka James Tiptree Jr. Also included are two more stories, an essay, and a candid interview. Pyr Congress of Secrets by Stephanie Burgis (Nov. 1, trade paper, $17, ISBN 978-1-63388-199-0) is a fantasy version of the historical 1814 Congress of Vienna, in which alchemy is a tool for political intrigue. Restless The Winterlings by Cristina Sanchez-Andrade, trans. by Samuel Rutter (Nov. 8, trade paper, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-63206-109-6), is a reckoning with violent history, the occult, and death, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil Wars fallout and Hollywoods Golden Age. Roc After Atlas: A Planetfall Novel by Emma Newman (Nov. 8, trade paper, $15, ISBN 978-0-425-28240-3). Govcorp detective Carlos Moreno was only a baby when the Atlas expedition left Earth to seek truth among the stars. It took his mother away; made his father lose hope; and led Alejandro Casales, leader of the religious cult known as the Circle, to his door. Rosarium The Voices of Martyrs by Maurice Broaddus (Nov., trade paper, $17.95, ISBN 978-0-9967692-5-9), the first collection from the acclaimed fantasy author, draws on voices from the past, present, and futurethe voices that shape stories, the stories that shape lives. S&S/Saga Bookburners by Max Gladstone (Nov. 15, hardcover, $32.99, ISBN 978-1-4814-8557-9) is an urban fantasy about a secret team of agents that hunts down dangerous books containing deadly magicpreviously released serially online by Serial Box, now available in print for the first time. The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin by Ursula K. Le Guin (Oct. 18, hardcover, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-4814-5139-0). All the novellas by SFWA Grand Master Le Guin are collected for the first timeand introduced by the legendary authorin one volume. The Mountain of Kept Memory by Rachel Neumeier (Nov. 8, hardcover, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-4814-4894-9). In this elaborate epic fantasy, a prince and a princess must work together to save their kingdom from outside invaders and dangers within. The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley (Jan. 10, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-4814-4793-5). Set within a system of decaying world-ships traveling through deep space, this science fiction epic follows a pair of sisters who must take control of their war-torn legion of worldsand may have to destroy everything they know in order to survive. The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu (Oct. 4, hardcover, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-4814-2430-1). In the highly anticipated sequel to The Grace of Kings, Emperor Kuni Garu is faced with the invasion of an invincible army and must quickly find a way to defeat the intruders. S&S/Gallery The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn (Dec. 6, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-1-4767-8375-8). In this intimate horror novel, a smalltown boy investigates the mysterious disappearance of his cousin and uncovers a terrifying secret kept hidden for years. The Ferryman Institute: A Novel by Colin Gigl (Sept. 27, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-1-5011-2532-4). In this fantastical debut, a ferryman for the dead finds his existence unraveling after making either the best decision or the biggest mistake of his immortal life. Skyhorse/Night Shade MJ-12: Inception: A Majestic-12 Thriller by Michael J Martinez (Sept. 6, hardcover, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-5978-0877-4). A team of superhuman covert operatives emerges from the ashes of WWII in this Cold Warera paranormal espionage thriller. 20,000-copy announced first printing. Skyhorse/Talos Viscera by Gabriel Squailia (Oct. 4, trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-940456-68-3). A woman with strange abilities travels across a bizarre war-torn land in an inventive and gruesomely comic fantasy tale. Small Beer The Chemical Wedding by Christian Rosencreutz: A Romance in Eight Days by Johann Valentin Andreae, in a new version by John Crowley, illus. by Theo Fadel (Nov. 15, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-1-6187-3108-1). A new edition celebrating the 400th anniversary of one of the most outlandish stories in Western literature, with eight new woodcut illustrations. 5,000-copy announced first printing. St. Martins Curioddity by Paul Jenkins (Aug. 30, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-250-02615-6). Will Morgan is a low-budget insurance detective for whom imagination is a thing of the distant past. When a job opportunity enters the frame in the form of the mysterious Mr. Dinsdalecurator of the ever so slightly less-than-impressive Curioddity MuseumWill reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing box of levity (the opposite of gravity). St. Martins/Dunne Certain Dark Things: A Novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Oct. 25, hardcover, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-250-09908-2) combines elements of Latin American mythology with a literary voice to turn vampire fiction on its head. The Graveyard Apartment: A Novel by Mariko Koike, trans. by Deborah Boliver Boehm (Oct. 11, hardcover, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-250-06054-9). Originally published in Japan in 1986, Koikes novel is the suspenseful tale of a young family that believes it has found the perfect home to grow into, only to realize that the apartments idyllic setting harbors the specter of evil. The longer they stay, the more trapped they become. Tachyon Pirate Utopia by Bruce Sterling, illus. by John Coulthart (Nov. 15, trade paper, $14.95, ISBN 978-1-61696-236-4). Who are these bold rebels pillaging their European neighbors in the name of revolution? The Futurists, who are utopian pirate warriors of the diminutive Regency of Carnaro, scourge of the Adriatic Sea. Fresh off of a worldwide demonstration of their might, can the Futurists engage the aid of sinister American traitors and establish world domination? Summerlong by Peter S. Beagle (Sept. 13, trade paper, $15.95, ISBN 978-1-61696-244-9). Beagle (The Last Unicorn) returns with this long-anticipated novel, a beautifully bittersweet tale of passion, enchantment, and the nature of fate. Tor Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection by Brandon Sanderson (Nov. 8, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-9116-2). A new Stormlight Archive novella will be the crown jewel of this first collection of short fiction by bestseller Sanderson, containing eight stories tied to his various series of novels. Crossroads of Canopy: Book 1 in the Titans Forest Trilogy by Thoraiya Dyer (Jan. 31, hardcover, $25.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-8592-5) is the highly anticipated fantasy debut from Aurealis- and Ditmar-award-winning author Dyer, set in a giant mythical rainforest controlled by living gods. Deaths End by Cixin Liu (Sept. 20, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-7710-4) concludes the Three-Body trilogy by Chinas most popular science fiction author. With human science advancing daily and the alien Trisolarans adopting Earth culture, it seems that the two civilizations will soon be able to co-exist peacefully as equals. But peace has also made humans complacent. Everfair: A Novel by Nisi Shawl (Sept. 6, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-3805-1) is a neo-Victorian alternate history that explores the question of what might have come of Belgiums disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology just a little earlier. The Family Plot by Cherie Priest (Sept. 20, hardcover, $25.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-7824-8). Augusta Withrow offers Chuck Dutton salvage rights to her entire property. This could be a gold mine, so he assigns his daughter to personally oversee the project. But something at the Withrow mansion is angry and lost, and this is its last chance to raise hell before the house is gone. Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation by Ken Liu (Nov. 1, hardcover, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-8419-5). Hugo-winning author and translator Liu brings 13 Chinese science fiction short stories to English-reading audiences. Some have won awards and garnered critical acclaim; some are simply Lius personal favorites. The volume also includes several essays from Chinese scholars and authors. Spellbreaker by Blake Charlton (Aug. 23, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-1729-2). Leandra Weal is one of three Wardens, charged with quelling neodemons who arise from malevolent thoughts and the magic energies of the world. A spell induces a vision that warns her she must either kill someone she loves or die herselfvery soonin order to prevent widespread destruction. Urbane Infinite Rooms by David John Griffin (Nov. 1, trade paper, $14.95, ISBN 978-1-910692-60-8). While Donald Clement narrates to a remembered psychiatrist, his inner reality becomes infused with surreal fantasy. As Donald falls deeper into the mental realm, the shocking truths he has been hidingeven from himselfare exposed. Viking The Hike: A Novel by Drew Magary (Aug. 2, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-0-399-56385-0). In this literary odyssey, Magary combines fascinating dream imagery, assorted video game tropes, and a story structure thats deliberately predictable (with nods to many other tales of wandering through strange lands before returning home) but still surprising. ROCK ISLAND -- Time spent as a district leader has been fun, but The Rev. Dr. Joseph Williamson III doesn't want to do it again. Rev. Williamson will end his four years as a Wood River Baptist District Association moderator by hosting the 177th district convention July 10-15 at Second Baptist Church, 919 6th Ave., Rock Island. More than 300 delegates from across Illinois are expected to join him. "This is my last year as moderator," Rev. Williamson said. "It's been a great four years and the time went well. There were some great challenges and inspirations." But, he said, it's time to rededicate his full attention to his church's needs. The event begins July 10 with a "Throwing Back to the '70s, '80s and '90s" Gospel music concert led by Wood River Music director Cindy Patton. Scheduled sessions start at 10 a.m. July 11, followed by classes that afternoon. Evening services at 7:30 p.m. are planned July 11-14. The district -- the oldest association of churches in the country -- governs 34 Illinois churches, including Region V members Greater Antioch, Olivet and Second Baptist, all in Rock Island; Mt. Zion Missionary, in East Moline; Progressive, in Davenport; and Tabernacle and Trinity Community, in Moline. Event chairwoman Deborah Taylor called it "exciting" when Rev. Williamson first was named to the post and it helped put Second Baptist "on the map." But she said she also looks forward to the end of his term, and the next chapter of his service. The conference theme is "Transparency to the End" based on 1st Timothy 4:7, which reads "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith," Rev. Williamson said. "I've always believed that our service to God should never be kept hidden," he said. "It should be seen and heard." More than 75 volunteers have been involved in planning and conducting the conference, Ms. Taylor said. Work began in January, she said. "It's been a labor of love," she said. The Antioch and Olivet Baptist churches also will lend a hand, she said, and there will be plenty of homemade food created by the culinary artists of the congregation. "We're letting everyone use their gifts," Rev. Williamson said. The church last hosted the annual meeting in 2008. People remember it well and said they're looking forward to returning to Second Baptist, Ms. Taylor said. Vendors and hotels also look forward to the influx of guests and the economic affect it will have to the Quad-Cities, Ms. Taylor said. Quad-Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau President/CEO Joe Taylor has pledged promotional support. "Delegates are coming with lots of money that they wish to donate to the local economy," Rev. Williamson said. "This is a great opportunity to showcase the Quad-Cities," state church promotional materials. "It will benefit the local hotels, restaurants and businesses. It's also a great opportunity, Ms. Taylor said, for church members to honor the work of its pastor. To register for the conference, visit woodriverbaptist.org or call Samme Montgomery at 309-788-0677, ext. 7. Talish residents are ready to regain Talish base After Four-day April war Talish has become a neutral zone, said Talish residents today during the press conference in Yerevan. According to their words, Talish residents received no state support in the issues of evacuation as well as accommodation. We met with Bako Sahakyan and there was a proposal to go and temporarily settle in Alashan and Kolatak, where there are half-built houses, though, still now no Talish resident has reacted to it, said Melita Khalapyan, Chairman of Council of Trustees of Talish foundation. There has been no other proposal or aid at state level to Talish residents. She says that Talish residents are afraid, and it is natural that they dont want to return, but Talish must not be left under the supervision of the adversary. For that purpose the foundation has drafted a plan and presented to the RA and NKR authorities. We intend to build a settlement, district very close to Talish, where only volunteers will settle. Here they will be engaged in farming and in case of necessity they will be able to defend themselves, said member of the foundation Eduard Palatov. He says that it will cost little for the budget. Talish residents are also ready to form a battalion and regain Talish base, on which at present the Azerbaijanis fastened up their flag, simply the permission of the authorities is necessary for that. Teacher of the Armenian language of Talish was also present at the press conference, who has recently returned from there. She says that the village is completely destroyed and it is impossible to live there. G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now! Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK Spanish satellite operator Hispasat is to display its UltraHD free-to-air network on Wortens stores across the country. UltraHD Hispasat and Worten have reached an agreement to promote the use ofTV technology, so the Hispasat 4K network will be broadcast on the shops UltraHD screens. The initiative has begun as a pilot test at the new Worten store in Avila, and will be implemented in new shops over the next few months.Through this agreement, Hispasat further extends its range of action to promote UltraHD, by letting the public see first-hand the great leap forward in the quality offered by this technology compared to high definition television, stated the operator in a release . People will also be able to see the high performance of satellite distribution, which is the logical choice for broadcasting content in 4K given its wide bandwidth.Since it presented the Ultra HD channel to the industry over two years ago at IBC and NAB, Hispasat has become one of the 4K leaders in Spain and Portugal, carrying live UltraHD broadcast, promoting 4K talent and collaborating with European partners in developing the industrys near future.It has also taken the lead in Latin America, where it was the first satellite operator to broadcast in Ultra HD via the Hispasat 30W-3. The 4K channel is also available in the region since April 2014. Among the new free-to-air (FTA) players in Spain, Grupo Secuoya has been the first to join UTECA, the association of private FTA groups led by Atresmedia and Mediaset. UTECAs board of directors has accepted Secuoya into the association, through which TV free-to-air commercial networks try to protect their business.Adding more TV channels results in a better and greater audience segmentation, which benefits both viewers and advertisers, and stimulates investments and growth for the broadcasting industry, said Alejandro Echevarria, president, UTECA Grupo Secuoya will be represented at UTECA by Raul Berdones, the groups president. The association is currently formed by Atresmedia, Mediaset, Veo TV (owned by Unidad Editorial, it currently broadcasts Discovery Max in Spain), and NET TV (owned by Vocento, it operates Disney Channel and Paramount Channel).On 28 April, Spains DTT network gained three new operators airing three new channels, namely Grupo Secuoya (broadcasting Ten), Kiss Media/Radio Blanca (DKiss) and Real Madrid (Real Madrid TV).Meanwhile, Atresmedia and Mediaset launched their sixth and seventh network, respectively, and Mediapro is preparing the premiere of GOL , a sports-themed free-to-air channel. This scenario leaves 31 FTA signals controlled by nine media groups. Colombian production house Caracol has licensed three series for Netflix, which is to include them in the video-on-demand (VOD) catalogue for the Americas, Spain, Portugal and Andorra. Under the terms of the agreement, Caracol TVs successful La Nina, La Esclava Blanca and a new creation, Sobreviviendo a Pablo Escobar, will be presented as Netflix Originals. Both titles will be gradually released in Latin America, the US, Canada, and the Southern European territories through the next 12 months.We are very proud of this agreement with Netflix, which enables us to keep at the industrys forefront and maintain our leading position in global production and distribution of Spanish-language content, stated Gonzalo Cordoba, president, Caracol TV La Nina has already aired in Colombia, where it has led the prime time slot with a story of guerrillas. Sobreviviendo a Pablo Escobar is a new-branded series based on the book written by one of Escobars hitmans. This production follows the path of Narcos , Netflixs first original produced in Latin America.This alliance highlights Caracols commitment with the audience and its international clients. 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Search Real Estate By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 06/17/2016 ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. star JoJo Fletcher clearly has a weak spot for bad boys, regardless of how hard she tries to like the good guys.Before meeting nice-guy Ben Higgins on The Bachelor, Fletcher dated 38-year-old Dallas salon owner Chad Rookstool, who recently threw her under the bus in a tabloid interview.Rookstool insisted Fletcher reunited with him after Higgins but dropped him quick to become star when the opportunity presented itself in order to further her career . Rookstool also quoted Fletcher allegedly saying she had never developed real feelings for Higgins.Fast forward to and four of the men competing for Fletcher have questionable motives and character, however, she's very attracted to them.Over the course of 12 seasons, "this is the most toxic group of men," a show source told Us Weekly in its June 27 issue.But Fletcher told the magazine she absolutely didn't go looking for trouble."It's not like I see a guy walking down the street and I'm like, 'He looks like a bad boy. Let me go date him,'" Fletcher said. "My luck has been that I've dated guys who ended up being that type of guy."Going down the list, let's start with protein and anger-fueled Chad Johnson , who ripped Evan Bass ' shirt, threatened to punch Alex Woytkiw 's teeth out, and promised Jordan Rodgers he'd stalk him at home once filming concludes.As for Robby Hayes and Grant Kemp , they both allegedly dumped their long-term girlfriends at home to appear on and seek the spotlight . And last but not least, Rodgers allegedly cheated on his ex-girlfriend and then "went on the show to get famous," a source close to him told Us, "not to find love.""He wanted to make it as far as he could on to raise his profile," the source added. "He wants to be on TV."Hopefully Fletcher ends up with a fiance like Higgins, because she previously admitted he's exactly the type of man she'd love to marry someday.During their eight-week romance on The Bachelor, "Ben taught me what to look for, as far as qualities," she noted, "what to be drawn toward and what to steer away from." By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 06/17/2016 ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. of New York City star Jules Wainstein's husband Michael Wainstein has denied cheating allegations.According to Michael's lawyer Mark Jay Heller, Michael filed for divorce from his wife of eight years on Wednesday, and although Jules has claimed infidelity was the reason , her accusations don't match her actions, E! News reported "We prepared papers dated May 13. We sued her for divorce. She has not answered the papers. If she had any basis for counterclaim against him, she would have done so," Heller told E! News."This incorrect allegation that he was busted for committing adultery, if it's true, she certainly would have answered his papers countersuing him for adultery. She has not done that."Heller revealed the couple is still living together with their son, Jagger, and daughter, Rio, in the family's home, but the atmosphere is tense.After all, Jules called the police Thursday morning on Michael, claiming that he was "speaking to her in a threatening manner," E! News reported."Obviously, it's not going very well," Heller added of their dynamic. "When it gets to court, the judge may order someone to move out. They don't have a court date yet.""This divorce is contentious," a source noted, "and it's going to be ongoing."Another insider told the website that Jules' marriage was crumbling even before she made her Bravo debut on of New York City's eighth season, which premiered back in April."They were having issues before the show, but I think pressure from filming clearly put a strain the marriage," the insider said at the time of the divorce filing. "It brought things to a head."While both camps clearly disagree on the series of events, Jules wrote in a blog post for Bravo that she is doing okay and staying strong for her children."My kids and I will be just fine -- better than fine. Truth is that it's too easy to get caught up in your own reality, especially when you are blindsided and betrayed by someone who is supposed to be a partner and friend. I'm trusting and open, but I'm also strong and practical," she wrote."This isn't the end of the world, it's just a big bump in the road, but I'll get over it and I'll be stronger for it. While my heart might be broken, it's still good as gold. There are bigger issues in the world that need tackling, and there are bigger realities that need to be addressed. My reality is that my kids and I are healthy and happy."Jules has yet to provide comment on Michael's cheating denial. SHARE Q. Does your faith tradition have a view/decree regarding capital punishment? If so, for which crimes? In Genesis, Chapter 9 in the Bible, God instituted the practice of punitive civil justice in the form of capital punishment for those guilty of murder. The New Testament teaches that the government has the authority to "bear the sword," a reference to capital punishment. It's "a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil." In line with the teaching of scripture, capital punishment should be practiced by the government for the crime of murder. This teaching is not in conflict with those places in scripture that forbid personal retribution and vengeance. Vengeance is given to the state to execute, not to us personally. The Rev. Gene Crow, pastor Redding Reformed Fellowship The Science of Mind tradition as represented by the Centers for Spiritual Living does not have a specific view or decree from the tradition in regard to capital punishment. We believe in cause and effect. Our thoughts directly create our experiences. So the harm one does to others impacts their victims but also has a direct negative impact upon themselves. No matter how it may appear, there is a consequence for all actions. This tradition's perspective is that each person is responsible for their actions and each individual must make their own decision on how they feel about capital punishment. The Rev Lynn Fritz Centers for Spiritual Living, Redding The Catholic popes, in the last 25 years, have been direct and specific about their condemnation of capital punishment. I agree wholeheartedly. First, it's a process of vengeance and punishment without any hope of redemption, of the conversion of the criminal, or the example he/she can give to others of forgiveness and change. Second, it's very alarming to see the large number of false convictions, condemning an innocent person to death. Too often, hasty and flawed prosecutions and poor defense counsel can overwhelm and even ignore evidence of innocence. Third, death or life judgments are not ours to make, only God's. We, too, often engage in righteous anger about certain crimes and are motivated to make easy judgments in search of "swift justice" and retribution. Justice is found only after pain-staking investigation. Quite often that will reveal severe mental illness as a root cause of many capital crimes. Deacon Mike Evans Sacred Heart Church, Anderson The United Methodist Church opposes capital punishment as it denies the opportunity for Christ to bring a person to redemption and transformation in this lifetime. Biblical references to capital punishment must be interpreted within context and not viewed as support for the death penalty. We have alternative means for protecting society that allows time for rehabilitation to take place, if we choose to provide the means. The church is called to be an active participant in the transformation of lives. Tara Macy, lay servant First United Methodist Church, Redding In Unity, we believe that the Christ consciousness lives within each person whether they are aware of it or not whether they are able to express it or not. There are people who do unconscionable things to others. But ending that person's life through capital punishment does not lesson the grief caused to those who are affected by the crime. It does not make things right. Treating the criminal with disrespect and with punishment that is demeaning does not help him or her. In situations where a crime is so heinous that capital punishment would be considered, it takes courage for those affected by the crime, those in law enforcement, and those in the legal system to see the perpetrator as needing to be treated humanely. If we are to grow into the highest and best that any of us can be, we must learn compassion for everyone while meeting out humane consequences. Carolyn Warnemuende, spiritual director Unity Church in Redding Equality and dignity are vital. Executing people takes away their right to human dignity. The Ten Gurus appear to be against capital punishment as they did not use it for criminals they encountered. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled the Punjab at the start of the 19th century, none of his subjects were executed. As this was the only time when Sikhs ran an independent nation, Sikhs follow this example today and oppose capital punishment. Sikhs are banned from "killing in cold blood." Capital punishment may be regarded as killing in cold blood. Personally, I can't see how capital punishment can be justified. Only God has power to determine birth or death. Amarjit Singh The Sikh Centre, Anderson We do have both a just God and a merciful God. Where we come to some confusion is when we expect a merciful God to offer us a free ride for sin. In other words, by human definition we can go do anything we want because we know God will forgive us. If we truly come to repentance for a murder, God will forgive us and we can be eternally with him. But we still are subject to the consequence of a physical death. We will die for our sins, no getting past that and it will either be by old age, illness or in the case of murder, execution. Jim White, lay leader Weaverville Church of the Nazarene Next week's question: What steps does your faith organization take to avoid or embrace secular politics? Hung Vu/Record Searchlight file photo Visitors at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area enjoy a warm spring day in 2015. Whiskeytown Lake affords many recreational opportunities on the water, from sailing, kayaking to canoeing. SHARE Nathan Solis/Record Searchlight file photo Children paddle their kayaks at Brandy Creek Beach in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area during last month's Memorial Day weekend. Courtesy of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area A hiker enjoys a view of Whiskeytown Falls. The trail to the falls is one of many in the park. By Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Whiskeytown offers a variety of free, family-friendly activities throughout the summer. From kayaking to stargazing, there is something for everyone. Programs begin Sunday on Father's Day and run through Labor Day weekend. Reservations are required for the park's kayak programs and can be made up to two weeks in advance by calling 530-242-3462. While programs are free, visitors must display a valid entrance pass on all vehicles in the park. Kayak Program Daily tours at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (except Friday evening) (2 hours) Hop on a tandem kayak with a friend and explore the quiet coves around Whiskeytown Lake while you learn more about the natural and cultural values of the park. Children must be at least 7 years old. Reservations are up to two weeks in advance, call 530-242-3462. Moonlight Kayak Program July 14-18 at 8 p.m., and Aug. 13-17 at 7:30 p.m. (2 hours) Experience dramatic changes in the landscape as you explore Whiskeytown Lake under the light of the moon. Reservation slots fill up fast for this program. Call 530-242-3462 in the morning two weeks in advance to receive the best opportunity of securing a spot. Special Access Kayak Program Friday evenings during July and August (2 hours) This program has been developed for individuals with special needs so they can enjoy a kayaking adventure. Visitors who have limited mobility, disabilities, developmental issues, or with restrictions due to age or illness are encouraged to give kayaking a try. Visitors with special needs are paired with an experienced kayak volunteer. Call 530-242-3421 for more information. Junior Ranger Kayak Program Mondays and Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. (1.5 hours) Join us for a special program that pairs parents and their children in kayaks so they can discover and share the joy of nature with each other as they paddle and play. The program is geared for children 3 to 6 years old. Call 530-242-3462 to make a reservation. Junior Ranger Saturdays at 10 a.m. (1 hour) Children along with their parents can learn about preserving and protecting park resources while making new friends during a special one-hour activity that explores the wonders of Whiskeytown. Meet at the Oak Bottom Amphitheater. Ask the ranger about earning your Whiskeytown Junior Ranger badge and patch. Junior Firefighter Saturdays at 11 a.m. (1 hour) Join Whiskeytown National Park Service firefighters to learn how they manage fire to promote forest health and protect lives and property. Children will learn about the important role that fire plays in the ecosystems of our national parks during this hands-on activity. Children who complete the program will earn a Junior Firefighter Badge. Meet at the Oak Bottom Amphitheater. Walk In Time Wednesdays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. (2 hours) Discover how pioneers/prospectors Charles Camden and Levi Tower reshaped the landscape to create a home for their families and an oasis for many travelers during and after the California Gold Rush. Visit the historic orchard and find apple trees over 150 years old that still bear fruit. After a tour of the Camden House, enjoy a leisurely stroll through the area, then try your hand at finding gold the old-fashioned way with a gold pan in the creek. Meet the ranger at the Tower House Historic District parking lot bulletin board. Evening Astronomy Program Friday evenings at 9 p.m.; during August and September, start time is at 8:30 p.m. (1 hour) Spend the evening with a Sky Ranger and discover the wonders of our night sky. After a 30-minute presentation, Shasta Astronomy Club members will share their powerful telescopes to assist visitors with their celestial gazing. Meet at the Oak Bottom Amphitheater for the first half of the program and the second half at the Oak Bottom Beach parking lot. Contact Ranger Matt Switzer for more information about park astronomy programs at 530-242-3454. Free Movie Night Under the Starlight Saturday evenings at 8:30 p.m. through Labor Day weekend at Oak Bottom Amphitheater. Presented by the Oak Bottom Marina, family-friendly movies are offered to anyone who would like to join. Snacks and drinks are available for purchase. Bring a cozy pillow and sit under the stars while enjoying a movie next to the lake. For more information, contact the Oak Bottom Beach Store at 530-359-2675. Star Party Saturday 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on July 2, July 9, Aug. 6, Aug. 27, Sept. 3 and Sept. 10 (weather permitting). For up-to-date information, call the visitor center 530-246-1225 or visit the park website or www.shastaastronomyclub.org. Experience the splendor of the dark night sky. Because of its unique position nestled within mountain ranges, Whiskeytown is a great place to explore the heavens. The night constellations often elude urban dwellers, but at Whiskeytown visitors are able to see deep into space aided by powerful telescopes provided by the passionate and knowledgeable Shasta Astronomy Club. Take Paige Bar Road and meet at the Mount Shasta Mine Loop Trail parking lot. Perseid Meteor Shower Special Event Friday evening Aug. 13. Brandy Creek parking lot B, start time is after sunset. Whiskeytown, in partnership with the Shasta Astronomy club, will hold a special star party for the Perseid Meteor Shower. Amateur astronomers will provide telescopes to view what is considered to be the most brilliant meteor shower of the year. The lights will be turned off to minimize light pollution and the beach will remain open for the event. Visitors are encouraged to bring red-light flashlights, lounge chairs, food, drinks and extra clothing for the nighttime star party. Meet at Brandy Creek Beach Lot B. Be on the Lookout During the summer months rangers will offer additional programs including ranger-led hikes, art workshops and more. ACL tears can't hinder West Valley High School captains West Valley football captain Noah Mason and volleyball captain Emeri Brown shared how they recovered from torn ACL injuries in less than a year. SHARE Cindy Holcomb Pileup causes freeway shutdown Northbound Interstate 5 just north of Sims Road reopened just after 5 p.m. Friday after a pileup in the rain. The freeway was blocked for about an hour and a half because of the multivehicle collision involving two big rigs and several cars, the California Department of Transportation said. The crashes were about seven miles north of Pollard Flat. The California Highway Patrol reported minor injuries on its website. The incident started about 3:40 p.m. with a single-vehicle crash that left an auto in the middle of the freeway. A rear-end collision occurred next involving a semitrailer before the pileup occurred. All the vehicles were removed by 4:58 p.m. and all lanes reopened at 5:04 p.m., the CHP's website said. Forest Service plans open house on fires The Shasta-Trinity National Forest is holding a fire management open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday in Redding. U.S. Forest Service employees will be on hand to talk about such topics as detection and fire prevention, fire dispatch, prescribed fires and how to get information on wildland fires. There will also be information on how aviation is used in fighting wildfires. The open house will be held at the forest headquarters, 3644 Avtech Parkway in Redding. For more information, call 226-2500. Cal Fire suspends residential burning The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has announced a suspension of burn permits for outdoor residential burning starting Monday. The suspension covers all State Responsibility Areas in Shasta County and eastern Trinity County, Cal Fire said. Residential burning for landscape debris, such as branches and leaves, is also banned on lands protected by the Shasta County Fire Department. Agricultural, training, campfire permits and vegetation control burns with permits are not affected by the suspension, Cal Fire said. Despite rain over the winter and spring, drought conditions continue to increase the fire danger in the North State, prompting the suspension, Cal Fire officials said. Containment grows for Pony Fire Containment of the Pony Fire in Siskiyou County increased from 20 percent to 25 percent as the size grew to 2,963 acres, Klamath National Forest officials said Friday. Lightning last week started the fire, which is located about 15 miles southwest of Happy Camp and west of Highway 96. Containment lines that crews built on the fire's northern flank and on the east side of Swillup Creek held Thursday. Crews planned to strengthen both lines Friday. Firefighters got a break when up to a half-inch of rain was recorded Thursday and a steady rain fell two to three hours Friday morning. However fire activity could increase Sunday with the predicted return of hotter and dryer weather, officials said. To the south, crews will continue building fire lines to keep flames from advancing toward homes along Highway 96. With the cooler weather, fire managers reduced the amount of equipment and number of personnel to about 400 people, but they said additional resources will be called back if warmer temperatures and dryer conditions cause the fire to grow. Also, Forest Service officials will host a public tour at 1 p.m. Saturday at River Park in Happy Camp to show the public what goes on behind the scenes. RSVP to 530-643-7669 if you want to attend. PD: Two fight over place to sleep A disagreement over a sleeping spot under a covered RABA bus stop led to one man suffering a knife cut to his head and the alleged attacker going to jail, Redding police said. About 2 a.m. Thursday, victim Darrell Ray Brown, 59, called 911 saying he was assaulted with a knife by Timothy Clifford Pudwill, 58, in the 2600 block of Hilltop Drive, police said. Brown said he was on the ground in his sleeping bag under the bus stop when Pudwill came up to him and tried to start an argument about who was allowed to sleep there, police said. Pudwill assaulted Brown while he was in his sleeping bag and at one point Pudwill used a folding knife to cut Brown on the top of his head, police said. Pudwill ran away, but was later found by officers. Brown positively identified Pudwill and said he wanted the man prosecuted. Pudwill was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and booked into the Shasta County Jail. Police seek woman in Redding stabbing Redding police are looking for a 53-year-old woman in connection with a Thursday night stabbing of another woman, officers said. Daphne Suzanne Newton, 47, of Redding called 911 about 9 p.m. Thursday to report she'd been stabbed by Cindy Marie Holcomb, 53, also of Redding, Cpl. Danny Smetak said. Police said Newton went to a home on Rose Avenue, just south of Eureka Way slightly west of downtown, in search of her husband. Holcomb answered the door wielding a large knife and stabbed Newton once in the shoulder and once in the left breast, Smetak said. Newton walked back to her home, called 911 and medics took her to Shasta Regional Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Police tried to find Holcomb, but she'd left the Rose Avenue home before they arrived, officers said. Her whereabouts is unknown and she's wanted by police on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Police ask anyone with information on Holcomb's location to call 225-4200 or 243-2319 to leave an anonymous tip with Secret Witness of Shasta County. Police: Both drunk in pedestrian crash Redding police arrested a 47-year-old woman early Friday after she hit a pedestrian while driving drunk, officers said. Police at about 1:20 a.m. went to Buenaventura Boulevard near Railroad Avenue, just west of Highway 273 in south Redding, for a report of a pedestrian hit by a vehicle. Officers learned Melanie Diane Wheeler, of Redding, was driving a 2010 Jeep Liberty west on Buenaventura when she struck Justin Lee Colvin. 27, of Redding, who was walking along the north curbline of the road, Redding police Cpl. Danny Smetak said. Colvin suffered cuts to his to face and nose, and medics took him to Mercy Medical Center for treatment. Police learned both Colvin and Wheeler were drunk at the time of the collision, Smetak said. Officers arrested Wheeler on suspicion of driving under the influence causing injury and booked her into the Shasta County Jail. Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight David Browand sits in a Shasta County courtroom Friday as he waits for his criminal case to be called. SHARE By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight A 54-year-old Redding man who pleaded guilty in November to 11 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child, among other charges, lost his bid Friday to withdraw his pleas. Superior Court Judge Greg Gaul denied a motion to allow David Arthur Browand to withdraw his pleas, clearing the way for him to be sentenced on July 5. Browand faces 20 to 30 years in prison under his plea deal. Arrested in March 2014, Browand was charged with 49 felonies and a series of enhancements. In addition to the lewd and lascivious counts, Browand pleaded guilty and no contest to two other sex-crime related charges. But he attempted to withdraw his pleas earlier this year because there was decades-old information from one of two victims that was not shared with him by his deputy public defender. That oversight, Gaul determined following a number of lengthy hearings on the issue, did not warrant having the plea bargain withdrawn, saying it was clear to him that the information would certainly have been ruled inadmissible if the case had gone to trial. The judge's ruling can be appealed. Authorities initially learned of the alleged molestations in February 2014 after a now 19-year-old woman told a counselor at the school where she was attending that she had been molested by Browand when she was between 9 and 12. She later told police she did not report the molestations when they occurred because Browand had threatened to harm her if she ever did so. Browand remains in Shasta County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail. SHARE Last week's Gawker Media bankruptcy inspired online triumph. "What a beautiful day," tweeted Hulk Hogan, whose $140-million invasion-of-privacy verdict underwritten by hostile Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel doomed Nick Denton's snarky online empire. Most were less subtle. "Goodbye and good riddance to Gawker," the New York Post sneered. It's tempting to side with the gloaters; I'm as disgusted by Gawker as the next guy, and I'm not above feeling a frisson of glee when bad people face consequences for their actions. But schadenfreude isn't a First Amendment value. From a legal and constitutional perspective, even Gawker haters should be troubled by its fate. Spite arose from partisan hostility to Gawker's reliably left-of-center sensibilities. It was also a reaction to Gawker's routine degradation of its targets, and to how sharply that behavior contrasts with Gawker's progressive pieties. Gawker Media attacks anti-gay politicians and celebrates advances in gay rights. At the same time, its writers smugly and self-righteously out gay men. Recently, Gawker transmuted blackmail into clicks when it participated in a male escort's extortion of a married executive from a rival media empire. Gawker also champions feminist values, particularly through its site Jezebel, even as it humiliates women for traffic. Gawker paid a young man to describe a sexual encounter with a candidate for U.S. Senate, including a critique of her pubic hair, because Gawker didn't like her politics. A reliable critic of objectifying women out of one side of its mouth, Gawker publishes hacked and leaked nudes out of the other. Gawker offers nihilistic hypocrisy as clickbait. Observers were, then, rather skeptical that Gawker had principled journalistic reasons to publish Hulk Hogan's sex tape. And the trial, far from rehabilitating Gawker's reputation for professionalism or decency, soiled it further by dredging up unseemly episodes from the site's past. "Blah, blah, blah," a Gawker editor wrote in passing along a complaint from a young woman who was the subject of a stolen video, eagerly published for clicks, that may have depicted her rape. So, yes, Gawker got what was coming in a karmic sense. Nevertheless, when a jury verdict bankrupts a media company for what it has published, we ought to examine meticulously whether the company received due process, whether the court applied the correct First Amendment principles, whether the verdict was based on mere antipathy rather than law and fact, and whether the damages are proportionate to the alleged wrongdoing. The First Amendment does not allow courts to craft new ad hoc exceptions to free-speech principles when speech is sufficiently upsetting. Rather, courts must carefully determine whether particular speech falls into well-defined exceptions to the First Amendment, such as obscenity or fraud. Nor should we just assume that the judge and jury decided the case wisely, because most of our cherished free-speech rights have been recognized by appellate courts after judges and juries erred. The right for high school students to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, the right to burn a flag, the right for Hustler magazine to satirize Jerry Falwell, the right for the New York Times to publish the Pentagon Papers without prior restraint, the requirement that public officials prove that journalists engaged in actual malice before winning a defamation case all of these important rights arose from Supreme Court decisions correcting the mistakes of trial courts and juries. In short, we shouldn't just assume that crushing bad people is just or defensible. We don't need the First Amendment to defend popular speech, we need it to protect unpopular speech; our civic obligations are at their peak precisely when loathsome people are on the line. Devotion to the First Amendment should also provoke grave concerns about Thiel's open-checkbook funding of Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker. What Thiel did wasn't illegal; he has free-speech rights too. The problem is that Thiel found a way to weaponize the brokenness of our legal system. Though Thiel crushed Gawker through victory, he might well have crushed it in defeat. Defending a civil suit, whatever its merits, is often a years-long pitched battle. Eventual vindication rarely comes with reimbursement of fees and costs, let alone compensation for the disruption and stress. Most victories are Pyrrhic. Few factors deter vengeance by litigation; one is that litigation is impossibly expensive, even for plaintiffs. A billionaire's support eliminates that barrier and allows angry people to silence speakers they hate. That doesn't mean we should stop the rich from funding causes they care about. It means that the cause of free speech requires us constantly to reevaluate our legal system and demand that the process of litigation itself cannot prove ruinous. Again, that's true even when hated gossip-mongers are at the receiving end of that litigation. We owe this vigilance to ourselves as the potential next targets and to our free-speech heritage. Ken White is a criminal defense attorney and civil litigator at Brown White & Osborn LLP in Los Angeles. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times. SHARE A small group of people took a first step this week in what they hope will become a larger movement of taking back Redding's public spaces. About 10 members of the Take Back Redding Facebook group gathered under unusually gray and cold skies on Wednesday in Library Park to share lunch. They brought bag lunches and talked and ate together on benches in the park tucked behind the Lorenz Hotel and near the RABA bus terminal in downtown Redding. Fed up with reports of homeless and other people selling drugs, having sex in the open, defecating and leaving trash in the small park, this band of folks decided to take a stand and use the park as it was intended. They didn't engage any of the people who usually hang out there, who for the most part left the lunch group alone or went elsewhere. "This lunch in Library Park is not about being anti-homeless," said Shannon Hicks, Take Back Redding member who planned the lunch. "It's about establishing the presence of law-abiding citizens in areas that unfortunately and this area too have been commonly overrun by addicts and criminals who are well-known to our law-enforcement officers." Indeed, members of the group and others on Facebook post videos showing disturbing behavior of people who hang out in the park all day. Officials from the Veterans Hall nearby also report that people have defaced the entrance to that building with human waste, its elderly members accosted as they walk from their cars to the building. Business in the area is also being affected. Attorney Karen Smith is moving her family law office from the Lorenz Hotel after working there for seven years. The reason? Her clients tell her they don't feel safe coming to her office. She can't blame them. She's greeted every morning by blood, urine, garbage and feces left on her business' porch. Smith and her three employees have witnessed stabbings, assaults, drug use, public sex and more in the park. Dale Ball, from Shasta Support Services, a volunteer group that helps clean up homeless camps, summed up the lunch group's overall feelings about what's happening downtown: "The town's fed up. We're just fed up," he said. Hicks and others plan to hold another lunch next Wednesday in Library Park. They will come up with other areas to target, as well as encourage others in the community to identify parks and other public spaces to take back. "There's a lot more to solve the problem but it's a little more to bring out the presence and let people know we're not going to lay over and take over," Hicks told the Record Searchlight. The problems plaguing Library Park aren't unexpected. Merchants raised the alarm two years ago when construction was winding up on the Lorenz Hotel. During the renovation to the hotel, the park was fenced off. Merchants in October 2014 told city officials they needed to come up with a plan to keep the park from being overrun with homeless people when the fence went down. The Redding Police Department temporarily increased bike patrols in the area in late 2014 and again in 2015, writing hundreds of tickets for drinking in public, garbage dumping and illegal camping. The bike patrol has since been wrapped up into the Neighborhood Policing Unit, which concentrates on Hilltop Drive and some parts of downtown. Library Park still gets some attention, but not like in the past. The results are the illegal activity and filth residents, merchants and their customers grapple with every day. Would more police patrols help? Absolutely. Would a homeless day center help? Yes. Would bathrooms for the homeless reduce the human waste left in front of businesses? Most likely. Are any of those solutions coming soon? Not likely. So in the meantime, fed-up residents are searching for action they can take themselves that will not solve the problem entirely, but will give them a sense of doing something toward addressing the herculean task of reducing the impact of homelessness. So next week, and maybe the week after that, and the week after that, people will gather at Library Park to ever so briefly make it what it should be: a place for people to enjoy a welcoming spot of green in downtown Redding. Late-night comedian Seth Meyers, fresh off a round of jousting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, mostly stayed away from politics Friday when he gave the commencement address at his alma mater, Northwestern University, but he couldn't resist one small jab. After telling the grads about the soaring words offered by recent graduation speakers such as first lady Michelle Obama and "Hamilton" playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meyers added this: Advertisement "My favorite inspirational quote came from Donald Trump, who said to the graduates of Trump University, 'If you want your money back, you're going to have to sue me, you losers.'" Meyers, 42, a 1996 Northwestern graduate who was born in Evanston, started his comedy career by joining the school's improv troupe, and after graduation sharpened his skills at the iO Theater and the Amsterdam-based Boom Chicago comedy ensemble. Advertisement He returned to the area in 1999 to put on a two-person show in Chicago called "Pick-Ups and Hiccups" that won rave reviews. Two years later, he joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live," where he ultimately became the anchor of the Weekend Update sketch. He left SNL in 2014 to become the fourth host of "Late Night," the NBC franchise originated by David Letterman. He made news this week by facetiously banning Trump from the program in a gesture of solidarity with the Washington Post, which Trump has barred from his campaign events. "We instituted this ban despite the fact that he's never been here, or asked to be here, or would ever be caught dead here," Meyers said Wednesday night. "I just think that takes an amazing amount of courage on our part." Trump, a frequent target of Meyers' jibes, responded in kind. "He has begged me to do the show for the last two years. I have told him emphatically 'no,'" Trump said in a statement. "I only like doing shows with good ratings, which as everybody knows, I only make better (by a lot)." Despite that fracas, Meyers, who received an honorary doctorate of arts at the ceremony, kept the focus on his school days, joking that his new title would make him "the doctor least requested in an emergency." He recalled struggling through a geology class his freshman year, only to take the same class, which had been retitled, his senior year, achieving the same mediocre result. He remembered blasting Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road" repeatedly on his own graduation day, much to the fury of his grad-student neighbor. And he said he had the university to thank for his immense career success. Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "I truly believe I would never have been on 'Saturday Night Live,' I would never have hosted a talk show, if it wasn't for my time at Northwestern," he said. "Because when I performed in the (school's improve show), I thought I just might possibly be funny, because these people are smart." Students said afterward they appreciated Meyers' light touch. "He was very energetic," said Kelley Park, 22, a neurobiology graduate from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. "I think it was more entertaining than other speeches I've heard." Jeremy Meagher, who earned a master's degree in public policy, said he was impressed with Meyers' wit and humility. "I like that he didn't try to be too wise, like a typical commencement speech," said Meagher, 25, who grew up in Paris. "I think it was a good dose of reality, balanced with humor. Not too much politics, which was good. It was very tastefully done." jkeilman@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @JohnKeilman 'It is sad for the country and it is sad for the government of the country too,' says the Nobel Laureate. Terming Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan's decision not to seek a second term as 'sad' for the country, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen felt India is losing one of the most skillful economic thinkers in the world. 'We are losing one of the most skillful financial economic thinkers in the world. It is sad for the country and it is sad for the government of the country too. The RBI is not a completely autonomous institution,' Professor Sen told a television channel. In an apparent reference to Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy, who attacked Dr Rajan on numerous occasions, Professor Sen said, 'It is true that some members of the ruling party, I understand -- I have not seen that but somebody told me -- have been sniping at Raghuram Rajan. That certainly is unfortunate.' Noting that he is not a great admirer of the Narendra Modi government, the economist said the administration may have to decide what it wants in its policy. The High Commissioner upon seeing Mallya walk in actually at the mid of the event, got up and left Vijay Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender by a Mumbai court in a money laundering case, has been spotted at a book launch event at London School of Economics this week that was attended by the Indian envoy. Social media was in a frenzy after it emerged that Indian High Commissioner Navtej Sarna, who was one of the special guests at the event on Thursday evening to mark the launch of Suhel Seth's new book 'Mantras for Success: India's Greatest CEOs Tell You How to Win', was also present at the event when the business tycoon arrived. Seth claimed that Mallya was not an invited guest at the event, which was open to anyone who wanted to attend. Seth took to Twitter to clarify: "About @TheVijayMallya at my book launch. It was an open @SAsiaLSE & advertised on Twitter. No specific invitations. Anyone could attend." "Upon realising that @TheVijayMallya was in the audience as any other person, @NavtejSarna left before the Q&A expressing displeasure." "The High Commissioner upon seeing Mallya walk in actually at the mid of the event, got up and left. To say he rubbed shoulder or he met Mallya is incorrect," Seth told a news channel. The event was organised by the 100 Foot Journey Club, set up as a collaboration between the Indian High Commission and LSE last month as a forum to discuss and debate issues of contemporary relevance within the India-UK sphere. The club had been launched in May with a talk at LSE on 'Rethinking the Global Monetary System' by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan. The Indian High Commission in London is likely to issue a statement in relation to Thursday's book launch. Image used for representation purpose only. Photograph: Reuters Asserting that Aligarh Muslim University is not a minority institution, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday said the varsity is committing a "big crime" by not implementing the policy of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs. RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal said the National Democratic Alliance government's stand on the issue of AMU's minority status was in sync with that of previous governments, barring the United Progressive Alliance dispensation, and an order by the apex court in 1968. The NDA government had told the Supreme Court in April that it would withdraw the appeal filed by the erstwhile UPA government challenging the Allahabad high court verdict holding AMU as non-minority institution. "The Centre took the stand which was the position of Maulana Azad, (HRD Minister) M C Chagla, (Saiyid) Nurul Hasan. At that time, all the (then) three Prime Ministers Jawharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi were also there. Our stand is similar to the decision of the Supreme Court. We did not change the decision, it was done in 2005 by the UPA. "So, the present central government has not taken any new decision. They have taken the same decision which was given by a bench of five judges of the Supreme Court in 1968. It's the same decision taken by the Constituent Assembly, which had Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Maulana Azad and several Muslim leaders," Gopal said. He was speaking on a day-long workshop on 'National Reservation Policy and Aligarh Muslim University', which was attended by several BJP MPs and MLAs. The issue assumes significance as BJP is raising the issue in view of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls where the party is seeking to repeat its Lok Sabha performance when it won 71 of the state's 80 seats. Speaking on this occasion, BJP from MP from Lalgang Neelam Sonker said "injustice" is being done by the varsity by not implementing the reservation policy and that she, along with other BJP MPs, will raise the issue in Parliament and take it before the people. Gopal said all central universities give reservations to SC, ST and OBCs. He noted that even Banaras Hindu University, on whose basis the law for AMU was formulated, implements the policy of reservation. "On the basis of Kashi (Banaras) Hindu University, the AMU Act was made, but they (the AMU) don't give reservation. This is a dilemma. This is discriminatory. Not implementing the policy of reservation is a big crime," the RSS leader said. Gopal said there was a lot of "confusion" over the issue. Had AMU been a minority institution, it would have been a "madrassa", he said. "Had the benefit of reservation given to SCs, STs and OBCs, then lakhs would have been benefited. The locals would have been MBBS, B.Tech, MCA, BCA, LLM and made progress in life. But now the time has come to correct it. The central government with all its strength has stood with this position," Gopal said. Sonker said there is a perception in mind that AMU is meant only for the Muslim community. In an apparent attack on St Stephens College here, she said, "There is a college in Delhi which thinks it's above the Constitution and its provisions. We have to take it seriously. "The BHU is near us. We have many Muslim brothers in my constituency, but whenever I ask them why don't you study there (in BHU), they say we want to go to AMU. I think, even they have this in their mind that the university is theirs and meant only for their community people and not for anyone else. "This university is for everyone. I want to assure you that in the upcoming Parliament session, we will raise the issue. We will also go out in the region and tell people that it is injustice and it has to be stopped. The Vice-Chancellor is not implementing the (reservation) policy, and we will undertake protests," the Bharatiya Janata Party MP said. Criticising the UPA government's stand, Gopal said it was in 2005 that then HRD Minister Arjun Singh for the first time declared AMU as a minority institution which was a "wrong stand". In the famous Azeez Basha versus Union of India case, the SC ruled that AMU was not a minority institution as it was set up by the British legislature, and not by Muslims. In 1981, Parliament passed an AMU Amendment Act, which accepted that AMU was set up by Muslims. As aspects of admission policy were challenged by some groups, the Allahabad high court ruled in 2005 that the 1981 act was ultra vires of the Constitution, and that AMU was not a minority institution. AMU's appeal against the single-judge order was dismissed, but the Supreme Court stayed the Allahabad HC decision. "Reservation for Muslim students (in AMU) is wrong. Second, the HRD Ministry's decision was also quashed by the Allahabad High Court. Third is 1981 the amendments made by Parliament, which led to the notion that it was a minority institution is also wrong. It was also quashed by the court. "The previous governments did mislead (the community), but never granted the minority status," he said. Gopal also sought to clarify that the 50 per cent reservation cap in AMU is not for Muslim students, but it is for the students of the same university, who do bachelors. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Centre of pursuing vindictive politics and using central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to terrorise people in the non Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states. "They are terrifying everybody by using the CBI, ED or the Income Tax Department. In states which have no BJP governments they are using the three central agencies against them," she said. Addressing a programme of the Trinamool Congress, the chief minister also ticked off BJP for "selling" the country in the name of "Make In India". "They don't care for the values and principles of the country," she alleged. Banerjee indirectly accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to take credit for everything positive happening in Bengal and "spreading lies". "In Bengal, we have cancelled more than 1.35 crore fake ration cards. He is claiming that they have saved so much of leakage of public distribution system by saving Rs 30,000 crore. In Swachh Bharat, under the Nirmal Bharat scheme we have taken a lead, but they are taking credit by saying they are doing Swachh Bharat. "We have opened accounts in Panchayat for women working in Integrated Child Development Services Scheme. They are taking credit that they have opened accounts. Sitting back and tweeting about those achievements and trying to take credits. There should be a limit in telling lies," Banerjee said. She asked her party MPs to expose the lies on the floor of Parliament. Banerjee attacked the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Congress for protesting only in West Bengal against the hike in fuel prices, saying "everyday the prices of fuel are increasing. And whenever the fuel prices are increasing the CPI-M and the Congress are protesting. Why are they not protesting against it in Delhi? They have their offices in Delhi." She accused the BJP of trying to flare up communal passions in the country. "The Congress too has joined them these days while the CPI-M is also there with them." She alleged the CPI-M and the Congress had sacrificed their ideologies for the sake of returning to power and that a section of the media acted as their "stooges". Banerjee also asserted that her party had not taken "a single penny" from anyone in the Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada sting operation. Addressing a party programme in which Narada sting accused TMC leaders Firhad Hakim, Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy were also present, Mamata said, "You did not call anyone on your own. Someone asked for an appointment and then they came to meet you. During that appointment you yourself kept the money on my table and took pictures. I didn't ask for money, neither did I call you. Why did you come to my place." "You yourself came and said you want to give money and you then try to blackmail. We want to know how much money is being raised through such kind of blackmailing. We want to know the truth behind it. From Saradha to Narada, Trinamool Congress has not taken a single penny from anyone," she said in reference to the allegations leveled against TMC leaders in the Narada sting operation. Banerjee also questioned the source of money used in the sting operation. The West Bengal chief minister had ordered a probe by Kolkata police into the Narada sting operation, in which several Trinamool Congress leaders were purportedly shown accepting money in return for promising to grant favours to a fictitious company. "Is it that Suvendu Adhikari can't eat and he needs to take money to run his family, Firhad Hakim can't eat and he need to take money to survive? Their families have also faced humiliation because of this. Who are they to conduct such sting operations, do they have any license to conduct such sting operation," Banerjee asked. Former actress Mamta Kulkarni was on Saturday named as a prime accused in a multi-crore drug racket linked to drug baron Vicky Goswami, with Mumbai police claiming that she was actively involved in the illicit activities and would seek her extradition from Kenya. Addressing a press conference, Thane Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said the statements of a couple arrested in the case and inputs received from the US Drug Enforcement Agency have confirmed Kulkarni was a prime accused in the case. Police have initiated the process for extradition of Kulkarni and Goswami, who are said to be in a relationship and are currently based in Kenya. The first step towards this would be issuance of Red Corner Notice against them through Interpol, the officer said. He said the probe conducted so far reveals that Kulkarni was actively involved in the international racket which was busted two months ago. In all, there were 17 accused in the case, of whom seven were still at large. The remaining 10 were arrested and are now in judicial custody. The drug racket came to light when police seized around 18.5 tonne of ephedrine, worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore, after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Maharashtra's Solapur district in April. According to police, ephedrine, which is a controlled drug, was allegedly being diverted from the Solapur unit of Avon Lifesciences and sent abroad after processing. The ephedrine power is used for sniffing and is also used to produce popular party drug methamphetamine. Singh said police have information that Kulkarni and other members of the drug syndicate participated in a meeting held on January 8, 2016 in Mombasa, Kenya where the logistics involved in transporting ephedrine were discussed. Another meeting was held on April 8 in Dubai where two persons from Morocco were present along with Goswami and Kulkarni, he said. It was decided that the ephedrine would be dispatched to Mombasa where it would be processed into methamphetamine and sold in the international market. Singh said as per information with the police one kg of meth costs $50,000. Avon, whose executives are among those arrested in the case so far, had 2 crore shares of which 11 lakh was to be alloted to Kulkarni. She was also to be inducted on the company's board. Assets and bank accounts of Kulkarni in India, managed by Goswami and her sister, were being probed, he said. Just before the racket was busted, 100 kg of ephedrine was manufactured at Avon Lifesciences' premises and dispatched by air to Kenya. Payment for the same was sent by Goswami to Mukesh Jain, a director of the company, through hawala (an informal channel for transferring funds), the Thane police chief said. Jain had gone abroad several times to meet Goswami. The accused who are currently in jail are: Sagar Suresh Powle, Mayur Suresh Sukhdhare, Rajendra Jagdambaprasad Dimri, Dhaneshwar Rajaram Swami, Puneet Ramesh Shringi, Manoj Tejraj Jain, Hardipsingh Indersingh Gill, Narendra Dhirajlal Kacha, Babasaheb Shankar Dhotre and Jai Mulji Mukhi. Those on the run include Kishore Rathod, said to be the son of a former politician, and an accused identified only as Dr Abdullah, who is based abroad, as well as two of his associates, police said. The US Drug Enforcement Administration authorities have already shared details about Abdullah, they said. The entire drug racket first came to light when Thane Police arrested a Nigerian national in a drug case on April 18. His interrogation led police to Solapur, where they conducted raids in the premises of Avon Lifesciences. Hundred samples of power seized from the factory were sent for chemical analysis and 50 of them were found to be ephedrine. Results of other samples were awaited, police said. Egypt's toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was on Saturday sentenced to life imprisonment by a court for passing state secrets to Qatar. The court also upheld death sentences given to six Muslim Brotherhood members in the same case and awarded life imprisonment (25 years in prison) to two others. Morsi was given an additional 15 years in prison in the same case, increasing his jail term to 40 years. Last month, the court ordered that the case documents of the six defendants, excluding Morsi, be referred to the Grand Mufti, who according to the Egyptian law must review all death sentences. However, his decision is not binding. The six defendants include Ahmed Abdo Ali Afifi, a documentary film producer (who is in jail), Asmaa el-Khateeb reporter in Rassd news network (sentenced in absentia), Alaa Omar Mohammed, a Jordanian news producer in Al-Jazeera (sentenced in absentia), and the news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal in Al-Jazeera (sentenced in absentia). The verdict is not final and can be appealed. Morsi as well as other defendants have been convicted for leaking classified documents to Qatar and selling them to Al-Jazeera channel. The classified documents allegedly include information on general and military intelligence, the armed forces, its armaments and the state's policy secrets. Other charges include leading and joining the outlawed group, the Muslim Brotherhood, that aims at changing the country's regime by force, and attacking army and police posts and public property. Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 35 other members of the proscribed Islamist group were last month sentenced to life for committing violent acts after the ouster of country's first democratically elected President in 2013. Badie and Morsi were also sentenced to life in prison in the espionage case. Their sentences are currently in appeal. Morsi himself alongwith Badie and 100 other leaders were also sentenced to death in June last year for escaping from prison in 2011. However, an Egyptian court later quashed the death sentence against Badie. Hundreds of other Muslim Brotherhood members were also sentenced for life in various cases. The Egyptian government has been cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters since the ouster of Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood was designated as a terrorist group in November 2013 by the government. Buoyed by the success of the United Nations' recognising June 21 as the International Yoga Day and huge participation in last year's Yoga Day celebrations at the Rajpath in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all his Cabinet colleagues and ministers to commemorate Yoga Day with the people by fanning out across the nation. The Bharatiya Janata Party has released a list of 50 ministers with their assigned locations, where they will participate in the Yoga Day celebrations on Tuesday. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told ANI, "All ministers of the central movernment will participate in the International Yoga Day functions in various districts across the nation on June 21. An environment is being created for sensitising people about the benefits of good health." Trashing criticism by various political parties, Naqvi said, "I think there should be no politics on health. The people, who are indulged in politics of health, are politically bankrupt. Thus, at least, they must perform yoga." The list of 50 leaders includes even towering names like Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (Mumbai), Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu (Delhi), Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar (Kanpur), Union Road transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur) and Union HRD Minister Smriti Zubin Irani (Bhopal) among others. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Minister of Minority Affairs Najma A Heptulla, and some of the other leaders are out of the country, while the participation of some leaders like J P Nadda is tentative. Prime Minister Modi will also attend an International Yoga Day function in Chandigarh, where over one lakh people will be participating. He will be joined by Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev on the occasion. The prime minister had in his address at the mass yoga demonstration event at Rajpath last year said it is the beginning of a new age to train the human mind to achieve new heights of peace and harmony. Sometimes some distortions creep in about many things due to ignorance. "This has been a tradition for centuries and over the time a lot of things became associated with it. Mind, body, soul, intellect should all be balanced and in harmony, they should be in their natural state of balance and to achieve this state yoga plays an important role," he had said. HAL made its point against a sceptical Indian Air Force, which opposed the HTT-40 project, blocked funding, and imported an expensive Swiss trainer rather than backing the HTT-40. Ajai Shukla reports. IMAGE: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in the cockpit of the Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40. Photograph: Manohar Parrikar/Twitter Underlining its capability to design and fly aircraft, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited staged the inaugural flight of its Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 before Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday, June 17. HAL has conclusively made its point against a sceptical Indian Air Force, which opposed the HTT-40 project, blocked funding, and imported an expensive Swiss trainer (the Pilatus PC-7 Mark II) rather than backing the indigenous HTT-40. 'There is no need for the HTT-40 trainer,' Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne had said at the Aero India show in February 2013. 'We have the Pilatus PC-7. It is a proven aircraft. The project HAL plans is from scratch. Our indications are that the cost will be too high. There is no need for all this.' HAL came back punching. Former chairman R K Tyagi and the current boss, T Suvarna Raju, threw their weight behind the trainer project and committed Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 billion) of internal HAL funds to the development project. A team of young, talented designers worked without IAF assistance to bring the aircraft to flight. On Friday, as Parrikar watched the HTT-40 smoothly take off and circle the HAL airfield in Bengaluru, his own support to the indigenous project, and that of his predecessor, A K Antony, were vindicated. Congratulating the HAL designers, Parrikar said: "The young team has taken a calculated risk and they have flown the aircraft within one year and kept their assurance." "The indigenous content on HTT-40 is close to 80 per cent," the minister added. "Almost 50 per cent of the components on HTT-40 are manufactured by private players of the Indian aerospace ecosystem. Here, the role of private players and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has been significant in the production of parts. The IAF is positive in all these developments." IMAGE: The Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 in action at the HAL airport in Bengaluru. Photograph: Twitter Preceding the inaugural flight, the HTT-40 had already made its first flight on May 31. Since then, test pilots have expanded its flight envelope, to clear it for flying at 300 kilometres per hour and for 4G turns. It has validated glide tests (flying without engines), instrument landing, and demonstrated its ability to land in heavy rain. HAL Chairman Suvarna Raju on Friday said, "The project will now go in full throttle as we aim to get the aircraft certified in 2018. Towards this, HAL will be manufacturing three prototypes and two static test specimens." "It is a remarkable feat that the aircraft in its inaugural flight carried out low speed pass, a series of turns, high speed pass and short-landing using reverse thrust which is a unique feature available on this engine-propeller combination," he added. The HTT-40 is a propeller-driven, turbo-prop aircraft for stage-1 training of rookie pilots, learning to fly their first aircraft. After 80 hours of basic training on the HTT-40, pilots move on to stage-2 training on the HAL-built Kiran Mark II jet trainer. Those selected to fly fighter aircraft move on to stage-3 training on the Hawk advanced jet trainer, after which they graduate to frontline fighters in the IAF's combat squadrons. The IAF has calculated it needs 181 basic trainer aircraft. It has already bought 75 Pilatus PC-7 Mark II trainers and the purchase of another 38 is being processed. That leaves space for 68 HTT-40s in IAF training schools. For HAL, the challenge now is to certify the trainer by 2018, putting it through a challenging stall and spin tests. After that, HAL projects it will build the first two HTT-40 trainers in 2018, eight in 2019, and reach its capacity of 20 per year from 2020 onwards. The advanced systems in the HTT-40 include a pressurised cockpit (which allows flight at high altitudes), zero-zero ejection seats (which allow ejection even from a static aircraft), and a state-of-the-art cockpit display with 'in-flight simulation' that permits flight instructors to electronically simulate various system failures, allowing the rookie pilot to handle the 'emergency.' Community leaders discuss future of mental health services in Morgan County A large crowd gathered at First Christian Church to learn about local efforts that are underway to manage growing mental health pressures facing the city and all of Morgan County. Halloween events, fall festivals pack October in Abilene, Big Country From family-friendly to frightful, there are plenty of opportunities to don the costumes and scare up some treats. Catholics from across the sprawling Diocese of San Angelo are expected in Abilene Wednesday to celebrate the Fortnight of Freedom Mass. The service will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, with Bishop Michael Sis presiding. Other clergy from churches in the diocese will assist. The public is invited. According to a news release from the diocese, the church observes the Fortnight for Freedom every year at this time, ending on the Fourth of July. The theme this year is 'Witnesses to Freedom.' In addition to diocesan events, two special Masses will be celebrated, serving as bookends to the Fortnight for Freedom. Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore will celebrate the opening Mass Tuesday at the Baltimore Basilica. The concluding Mass will be held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., celebrated by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh. Fortnight of Freedom Mass in Abilene Wednesday What: Each year dioceses around the country arrange special events to highlight the importance of defending religious freedom. The Fortnight for Freedom is from Tuesday the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More to July 4. When: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday Where: Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 837 Jeannette St/ Presiding: Diocese of San Angelo Bishop Michael Sis will officiate, assisted by clergy from the diocese. Source: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org If it's June, it must means that a lot of United Methodist Church pastors are on the move. Each year in June, Northwest Texas Annual Conference delegates meet to take care of church business and to appointment clergy to the congregations within the conference. Abilene and most of the United Methodist congregations in the surrounding area are in the Abilene District of the Northwest Texas Annual Conference. One of the most notable changes came at St. James UMC in Abilene. Jeanie Williams is leaving to become pastor at White Rock UMC in Los Alamos, N.M. She will be replaced at St. James by Donita 'Dot' Lea, who previously was a chaplain at a hospital in Odessa. Her first Sunday will be July 10. George Price, Abilene District superintendent, said leaving St. James was difficult for Williams but that she wanted to be nearer her elderly parents in Albuquerque. Williams is on a mission trip to Paraguay and unavailable for comment. 'They did not want her to leave,' Price said of the St. James congregation. 'She did an incredible job there.' Two area pastors also received awards at the annual meeting, which was held last week in Lubbock. E.C. Ice, pastor of Hamlin UMC, received the One Matters Award for outreach. This was the first time the award was given by the Northwest Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, but it has been awarded in other conferences nationally. Jim Wright, who is leaving the Knox City church for Anson, received the Denman Evangelism Award. Also, Eddie Rivera, former pastor at St. Paul UMC in Abilene, was appointed superintendent of the El Paso District. He served as pastor of St. James UMC in Las Cruces after leaving Abilene. One of the more emotional changes came at Blackwell United Methodist Church, Price, the district superintendent, said. Charles Casey, who is retiring from active ministry, was at the church 25 years, a rarity for United Methodist pastors. 'There were people out there,' Price said, 'who never knew another pastor.' Casey also is the compliance officer at Cooper High School and will remain in that job. Price attended Casey's last service at the Blackwell church in May. It was followed by a send-off party, but no one was in a celebratory mood, Price said. 'That was a tough one,' he said. Other are appointments included: First UMC Sweetwater: Ryan Sidney Strebeck of Dalhart, replacing Brian Brownlow, who was appointed to Lakeridge UMC in Lubbock Munday UMC: 'Benji' Jeffrey Van Fleet, a recent seminary graduate, replacing John Westman, who is retiring Anson UMC: Jim Wright, formerly of Knox City, replacing Gene Hudgins, who was appointed to a church in Amarillo Blackwell UMC: Rhea Bullock, a graduate of Logsdon School of Theology, Hardin-Simmons University, replacing Charles Casey, who is retiring Rotan UMC: Cody Dykes; the church had been without a pastor for six months SHARE Incident reports released Friday by the Abilene Police Department: Assault, 4400 block of Crawford Street, Wednesday A woman reported that a known suspect struck her in the back of the head. The suspect then left the scene. The woman said she planned to press charges. Theft, 100 block of Ruidosa Avenue, Wednesday A stolen trailer and mower were recovered and returned to their owner. Credit card abuse, 500 block of Grape Street, Wednesday A known suspect allegedly took the victim's debit card and used it without permission to get $60 from an ATM. Criminal mischief, 3000 block of West Lake Road, Wednesday Someone broke out a window at an apartment complex, causing $200 in damage. Theft, 1900 block of Pine Street, Tuesday A woman reported that someone stole her wallet and attempted to use her debit card at a gas pump. Theft, 1700 University Boulevard, Wednesday A drywall lift, steel vertical racks and two air-conditioning units were reported stolen from a backyard. The items were valued at $850. Burglary, 1900 Sycamore Street, Wednesday A woman is suspected of taking a man's wallet and using his debit card to withdraw money. Theft, 4400 block of Cole Street, Tuesday A woman reported that she left her phone inside a business and when she went to retrieve it, the phone was missing. Surveillance footage showed a female suspect taking the phone, according to police. Burglary, 2900 block of South Third Street, Tuesday Someone reportedly broke down a door, after trying to pry it open, and stole building supplies. Police reported finding latent prints that potentially could be used to identify a suspect. Burglary of a vehicle, 7800 block of Venice Drive, Monday A wallet, money clip, credit cards and pocket knife were reported stolen from an unlocked truck. Exodus Metropolitan Community Church will host a citywide service of remembrance for victims of the Orlando shootings at 6 p.m. Sunday. The church, located at 1933 South 27th St., wants to offer an opportunity for anyone who wishes to honor the victims and 'take a stand against this senseless violence' said the Rev. Margaret Warn-Walker in a message to the Reporter-News. 'It's our hope that our time together will become a line of demarcation between the loss and pain of this senseless act of hatred and terror and our commitment to love and to create change,' Warn-Walker said Friday. Participants come from local churches and the general community, she said. 'We're going to honor the victims in video and word,' Warn-Walker said. Other components of the service will include music and a charge to action. 'Part of the service Sunday will be an opportunity for people to write down what they will do to make changes,' Warn-Walker said. 'One of the suggestions is for people to speak out.' She said she hoped the event would be well-attended. 'I hope that there won't be enough room in the church,' she said. 'I think it would say a lot. I think very highly of the Abilene community, anyway, but I think that would be an amazing outpouring.' Mayor Norm Archibald has issued a proclamation in support of the event, Warn-Walker said. The remembrance is listed among other national and international events on the 'We Are Orlando' website, www.weareorlando.org. Brenda Church Position: Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Ballinger Age: 51 Family: Single Ordained: June 5 at First Central Presbyterian Church, Abilene Education: Cooper High School, 1982; bachelors degree in accounting, Hardin-Simmons University, 1986; master of divinity degree, Abilene Christian Universitys Graduate School of Theology, 2014; online courses from the University of Dubuque (Iowa) Theological Seminary for Presbyterian ordination Photos by Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News Rolando Diaz is painting a mural inside a former Boys Club building on South 2nd St., where Tim Smith plans to create his residence and an event center, after an extensive remodel. SHARE Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News Diaz paints a mural on the remaining plaster of a brick wall which will be an indoor wall of a future event center. By Scott Kirk, Special to the Reporter-News If you're eager to see how Tim Smith's renovation of an old abandoned building in the 800 block of South 2nd Street is going to turn out, he knows how you feel. "People have told me 'I can't wait to see how this turns out,'" said Smith Friday afternoon. "I can't wait, either." Smith said the building was originally a John Deere tractor dealership and later a Boys Club, but he said it had been abandoned for "at least 40 years." At some point this fall, the 12,500-square-foot property will be abandoned no longer. Smith and his wife will be living in 3,100-square-foot home built within the walls of the old building. Actually, the footprint of the living quarters is around 2,000 square feet with an upstairs part. It's the future of the other 10,000-plus square feet is what is exciting to Smith, the owner of Firehouse Fitness. "It's going to be an event center at some point, but it's going to be our home, first," he said. From the South 2nd side of the property, people will be able to see a fleur de lis iron fence and a mural that is currently being painted by Dallas artist Rolando Diaz, an Abilene Christian University graduate. Diaz said that he took his inspiration from the fence and decided on a Mardi Gras theme with influences from both New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro. "We just told him we wanted it to be bright and festive," said Smith. "It's that." Smith bought the property in December after visiting it. He said he knew as soon as he walked in it that he wanted it. Cleanup has been time consuming, particularly removing the roof, which he said was in particularly bad shape. The structure of the building is strong. Wood beams that run across the top show no sign of sagging. Smith said that a previous owner tried tearing down the walls but gave up on the project because they were too strong. For the time being, the top of the nonresidential part of the property will remain uncovered, although Smith said he may cover parts of the area to create shade. The area will also include a fountain and a huge lathe, left by some past owner, that will be covered with a granite top and turned into a table. Smith said that he didn't have a timetable for the event center to be up and running, but judging from comment he's received, that time may come sooner rather than later. "I had someone ask me if it was going to be ready by December because he had a reunion planned," said Smith. "I told him to hold on." Smith said he hopes that his project will inspire other entrepreneurs to look at downtown Abilene, both south and north of the railroad tracks, and repurpose other old buildings. He said the success of The Mill, a couple of blocks from his property, was a determining factor in this renovation. "I'm not sure I would have done this if it hadn't been for The Mill," he said. However, Smith, a 48-year-old lifelong resident of Abilene, has a history of taking old buildings in town and making them into new business ventures. The name of his Firehouse Fitness drew on the fact that its location was an old firehouse on South 7th Street. "I like history," he said. "The history of places fascinate me." Smith said the reaction of people has been encouraging. A preacher told him that he was making Smith's project the subject of a sermon. Others have told him they're excited to see what it will look like when it's finished. But perhaps the greatest compliment Smith received came from his 20-year-old son. "He told me, 'Dad, you're crazy and it's cool. None of my friends' parents would do something like this,'" said Smith. We forget, in our over-air-conditioned, too-containerized world, that nature is dangerous. The heartbreaking tale of the toddler snatched by an alligator as he splashed his feet at the water's edge in the shadow of one of Florida's most luxurious hotels, his parents hovering closely nearby, must remind us to be careful out there. Very careful. This summer, millions of Americans will head to our magnificent 59 national parks as the National Park Service, one of the most wonderful gifts we citizens have received, celebrates its 100th anniversary. Millions of those visitors will be unprepared for being in the great outdoors. In Yellowstone, our first national park, tourists will encounter bears and get too close. Just 10 months ago, a hiker in Yellowstone was killed by a grizzly. (The little cubs may be cute, but the mother bears always nearby are not and will attack in an instant. Personal observation from a Yellowstone visit: Bears are incredibly fast.) Also in Yellowstone, scalding, boiling, sulfurous hot springs and pools are far more dangerous than they look. There have been deaths and injuries suffered by children and adults who slipped off boardwalks into these springs or, incredibly, thought the waters were safe enough for swimming. They are not. More often, tourists do not take enough precaution when trekking in the wilderness, assuming that because they're in a park, they will be safe. Last August, two French hikers died at White Sands National Monument. They did not have sufficient water for even one day. Every year, between 120 and 140 people die (excluding suicides) in national parks. Suicide is the fourth most common cause of death in the parks following drowning, vehicular accident and falling. Other causes are avalanches, pre-existing medical conditions, heat or cold exposure, and wildlife. On the other hand, at least 282 million people visit the parks each year last year, there were more than 307 million recreation visits meaning your chances of dying in a national park are infinitesimal. Yet deaths occur. Years ago, a woman unadvisedly walking alone on the Appalachian National Trail wandered off the trail and died despite an extensive search for her. A 2008 study published in the Journal of Travel Medicine found that the most fatalities occurred in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Grand Canyon National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Yosemite National Park. Domestic visitors accounted for 73 percent of the fatalities, and European visitors accounted for 13 percent. Transportation and water-based activities resulted in the highest number of fatalities. Motor vehicle crashes accounted for 20 percent of fatalities and were followed by suicide (17 percent), swimming (11 percent), hiking (10 percent), plane crashes (9 percent), climbing (6 percent) and boating (5 percent). Not surprisingly, one of the major causes of car crashes is drivers distracted by scenery. In 2014, Yellowstone historian Lee Whittlesey updated his 1995 book, 'Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park.' It is a fascinating and sad account of macabre incidents but, as Whittlesey has said, also an account of how incredibly stupid park visitors can be. In his view, the most terrifying dangers are the hot springs, bears and bison. In general, the common sense rules for park visits are don't hike alone, don't ski into blizzards alone, don't climb over guardrails, don't drink too much and don't jump in rivers, especially if you can't swim. And don't get out of your vehicle or get too close to wild animals even if they seem tame. And be prepared for emergencies. The tragic alligator attack in a man-made lagoon near Disney's Grand Floridian resort and the frightening incident involving a 3-year-old who fell into the gorilla pit at the Cincinnati Zoo remind parents that vigilance with small children can never be too intense, even in what should be highly safe venues. With care, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the amazing parks system, let's hope the worst experiences we encounter will be traffic jams and high entrance fees at the most popular parks. Email Ann McFeatters, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com. Mike McLeod, Merkel The Merkel city manager told a Texas Ranger on Feb. 22 that the city's annual audit for 2014-2015 uncovered 'evidence of theft' being committed by an unnamed city employee. Between November 2014 and February 2016, someone had been removing cash from the daily deposits to the water and sewer fund. A district judge signed warrants on Feb. 24 for bank records of city deposits made from Oct. 1, 2014, through Feb. 15, 2016, to include copies of deposit slips recording cash and check amounts. As of June 6, the Texas Ranger did not have anything to report, according to the Merkel newspaper. In the last four months, no employee has been questioned and no polygraphs have been given. It appears that this $21,000 theft of taxpayer money is not important enough to spend a day in Merkel to solve this crime. Four months is long enough! The citizens of Merkel deserve better. Editor's note: Mike McLeod is the former mayor of Merkel. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Hong Kong on Saturday in protest at the detention of five booksellers from the city's Causeway Bay Books store, who are accused by Beijing of violating its laws by selling banned books to residents of mainland China. Chanting "Say no to power! Hong Kong has limits!", "Protest political kidnappings!" and carrying banners and yellow umbrellas linked to the 2014 democracy movement, the protesters marched to Beijing's representative office in the city, led by returned bookseller Lam Wing-kei, who recently spoke out against his detention in China. Police presence was strongly visible outside the Central Liaison Office, with crowd barriers in place and officers taking photos of the scene with their cell phones, a live video stream from the Apple Daily newspaper showed. Labour Party lawmaker Cyd Ho told protesters that they are the "conscience of the Hong Kong people." "Lam Wing-kee decided to speak out after a march of 6,000 Hong Kong people [supporting him]," she said. "Now, we march again. There is still hope for Hong Kong." Marchers filed past the Liaison Office in a narrow space that left no room for rallies, before dispersing, local media reported. Organizers said some 6,000 people marched on Saturday after gathering in a narrow street outside the now-shuttered Causeway Bay Books store, where Lam Wing-kei addressed the crowd following a press conference on Friday where he broke silence over the five men's treatment by Chinese police. "This bookstore is located in Hong Kong, a place where the freedom of speech and of publishing is protected," said Lam, who on Friday defied the Chinese police to speak openly about his detention, saying his colleague Lee Bo had been "abducted," while he was blindfolded at a border checkpoint and spirited away for months of interrogation by a Beijing-directed "taskforce." "But the Chinese government is using force to destroy it, because it wants to gradually restrict the freedoms enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong," Lam told the crowd. Some protesters wore T-shirts emblazoned with prints of the "Goddess of Democracy" statue from the 1989 student-led Tiananmen Square democracy protests, with slogans calling on Beijing to overturn the official verdict of "counterrevolutionary rebellion" on that movement. Lam, who went missing last October around the same time as four of his colleagues at Causeway Bay Books, is the fourth bookseller to return to the former British colony, but the first to depart from Beijing's official line on the booksellers' fate. Store manager and British passport-holder Lee Bo, 65, went missing from his workplace in Hong Kong on Dec. 30, while general manager Lui Bo (also spelled Lui Por), and colleagues Cheung Chi-ping are believed to have been detained during trips to China from their usual base in Hong Kong. Publisher and Swedish nation Gui Minhai left his Thai holiday home under opaque circumstances before appearing on state television CCTV "confessing" to involvement in a drunk-driving death 10 years earlier, a claim that his family have dismissed as highly dubious. Lee Bo, who went missing from his workplace in Hong Kong on Dec. 30, returned to mainland China after spending less than 24 hours in Hong Kong, although he has since returned to his home. The U.K. government has said he was "involuntarily removed" from the city. Lam was unusual in that he was the first to depart from the script given him by Chinese police, telling reporters on Friday that Lee Bo was abducted and that his own televised "confession" had been scripted and directed by a "special taskforce" acting under orders from the highest echelons of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. Clarification from Beijing Lam also said Chinese police had ordered him to bring back a hard drive from the bookstore containing details of all of its customers, following months of interrogation over exactly who was buying books in Hong Kong that are banned in China. He said he had changed his mind and stayed in Hong Kong because of previous protests in the city in support of the booksellers. Lee Bo on Saturday denied that he had been kidnapped, but according to Lam, he has more to lose by defying Beijing. "Lee Po may now be back in Hong Kong, but he is being controlled [by Chinese police] because he has family members back in mainland China," he told reporters on Saturday. "I know a lot of what he has said has been against his will." China's foreign ministry on Friday said Lam had broken Chinese law. "Lam Wing-kei is a Chinese citizen, and he has violated Chinas laws on the mainland," spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing, adding: "Relevant authorities in China are authorized to handle the case in accordance with the law." But Hong Kong's lawmakers, both pan-democratic and pro-establishment, say Beijing has yet to explain how a bookseller operating in Hong Kong could have violated Chinese law, as the sale of books isn't illegal in the former British colony. Michael Tien, who represents Hong Kong in China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, said he will seek clarification from parliamentary officials. "When you mail banned literature into China from other parts of the world, when you enter China someday, are [you] liable to be arrested?" he told reporters on Friday. And pro-Beijing Liberal Party leader James Tien said the public wants to know why the administration of chief executive Leung Chun-ying isn't acting in support of the booksellers. "Then the question will be posed: why arent we doing anything? Are we afraid of Beijing? Im talking about the Hong Kong government," Tien told government broadcaster RTHK. Meanwhile, China's powerful propaganda department has ordered its tightly controlled media to delete any news related to the booksellers, according to a leaked report posted and translated by the U.S.-based China Digital Times website. Even an editorial in the Global Times newspaper, a nationalistic tabloid which has close ties to the Communist Party, was considered off-limits, in spite of reiterating Beijing's view of the booksellers' status. "All websites find and delete Global Times' 'Causeway Bay Bookstore Managers "Confession Retraction" is Without Real Substance,' and do not repost related reports," the directive, dated June 17, said. Hong Kong was promised a "high degree of autonomy" under the terms of its 1997 return to Chinese rule, within the "one country, two systems" framework agreed between British and Chinese officials and enshrined in its mini-constitution, the Basic Law. However, China's cabinet, the State Council, has said such autonomy was still subject to the will of Beijing, while the city's own government has warned of "limits" to free speech. Reported by RFA's Cantonese and Mandarin Services. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Russia continues to strike targets across Ukraine, causing damage and killing civilians, as its forces are preparing for battle in the strategic southern region of Kherson, Ukrainian officials and the military said. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. Ukraine on October 26 reiterated its call for the development of an air-defense system to repel the Russian missile and drone attacks. The immediate delivery of a sufficient number of air-defense systems is urgently needed to repel "Russian missile terror," the head of the president's office, Andriy Yermak, said after talks with the national-security advisers of the United States, Britain, and France in Kyiv on October 26. On October 25, the head of U.S. aerospace and defense corporation Raytheon Technologies told CNBC television that Washington has already delivered to Ukraine the first two NASAMS medium-range antiaircraft missile systems. We delivered two systems to the U.S. government a few weeks ago. They are currently being deployed in Ukraine," Greg Geis said. The General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said early on October 26 that more than 40 settlements were hit by Russian strikes during the previous day. Russia used a combination of air strikes, rockets, and missiles to hit Ukrainian targets, the General Staff said in its morning report. In the central city of Dnipro, at least two people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in the Russian bombardment, regional Governor Valentyn Reznichenlo said. In the southern city of Kherson, Russian forces are digging in for the "heaviest of battles," said Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. A Ukrainian counteroffensive has driven Russian forces back in the region, where the provincial capital of Kherson has been in Russian hands since the early days of the invasion eight months ago. "With Kherson, everything is clear. The Russians are replenishing, strengthening their grouping there," Arestovych said in an online video late on October 25. Russia-installed authorities are evacuating residents to the east bank of the Dnieper River as Russian forces prepare to defend the city, he said. "It means that nobody is preparing to withdraw. On the contrary, the heaviest of battles is going to take place for Kherson," he said. Zelenskiy on October 25 reiterated a pledge to retake the city of Kherson, the loss of which would be a big setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Of the four Ukrainian provinces partially occupied by Russia that Putin proclaimed to have seized last month, Kherson is arguably the most strategically important. It controls the only land route to the Crimea region that Russia illegally annexed in 2014 and the mouth of the Dnieper River that that bisects Ukraine. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden warned Russia on October 25 that the use of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine would be an "incredibly serious mistake." Moscow over the weekend claimed Ukraine is preparing to use a so-called dirty bomb on its own territory, drawing immediate dismissal from the United States and other countries that have backed Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies suspect Russia might have made the claim to set up a "false flag" attack in which it would use a dirty bomb itself but would blame the attack on Ukraine and use it to justify the use of conventional nuclear weapons by Moscow. "Let me just say Russia would be making an incredibly serious mistake were it to use a tactical nuclear weapon." Biden told reporters. "I cannot guarantee you that it is a false flag operation yet. We dont know. But it would be a serious mistake." Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented no evidence for the claim when he spoke on October 23 with his counterparts from several NATO countries, including Britain, France, and the United States, who dismissed the claim after the series of calls. WATCH: Speaking to Current Time in Riga on October 22, Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot change the course of war in Ukraine by dropping nuclear bombs. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on October 26 that Russia would "vigorously" continue to make the case to the international community that it believed Ukraine intended to detonate a dirty bomb with radioactive contaminants. Peskov told reporters Moscow wanted to prompt an active response from the international community. A dirty bomb would use a conventional warhead to create an explosion that would spread radioactive, biological, or chemical materials over an area. Moscow took its accusations against Ukraine to the UN Security Council on October 25, and the country's UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said afterward that Russia was "satisfied because we raised the awareness." Speaking to reporters, he added: "I don't mind people saying that Russia is crying wolf if this doesn't happen because this is a terrible, terrible disaster that threatens potentially the whole of the Earth." The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said earlier on October 25 that it is preparing to send inspectors to two Ukrainian sites in the coming days in reaction to Ukraine's request for an inspection following Russia's claims. Enerhoatom, Ukraines nuclear energy operator, issued a statement on October 24 voicing its concern that Russias statements may indicate that Russia is preparing an act of nuclear terrorism. Russian troops have occupied Ukraines Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, since March. It is still run by Ukrainian engineers though Russia claimed after its illegal annexation of the Zaporizhzhya region that it is on Russian territory. Enerhoatom said that Russian forces have carried out unauthorized, secret construction work over the last week at the plant in the area of the spent nuclear fuel storage facility. Russian officers controlling the area wont give access to Ukrainian staff or monitors from the IAEA that would allow them to see what they are doing, the operator said. Enerhoatom added that it assumes the Russians are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at the plant. With reporting by AFP, dpa, BBC, and Reuters Kosovo's parliament has voted to extend the mandate of the European Union justice mission, whose work was suspended earlier this week because of a dispute over its role. Two-thirds of Kosovo's lawmakers voted on June 17 to allow the mission, known as EULEX, to stay in the country until June 2018. The mission handles war crimes and other cases considered too sensitive for local prosecutors and judges. Western sources said the EU and Kosovo had disagreed over what the mission should do. Kosovo wanted it to have more of a monitoring role but the EU wanted it to continue its job of investigating and trying cases. The mission halted court proceedings on June 15 pending the vote. Under a new deal, EULEX will try current cases but will only take on new cases if Kosovo's legal authorities agree. "With this vote we are performing a service to strengthen justice in Kosovo," Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said. EULEX is unpopular with the biggest political party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, and some other politicians. Senior party officials and close allies of President Hashim Thaci have been jailed or accused of war crimes, corruption, and organized crime. Based on reporting by Reuters and AP WASHINGTON -- Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian author awarded the Nobel Prize for literature last year, says the prospects of steering Belarus and neighboring Russia away from authoritarianism in the near future remain dim but urged those who desire political change to persevere. Alexievich told an audience in Washington on June 17 that those in her generation who had hoped for a democratic future in the post-Soviet world "suffered a defeat" in the 1990s and failed to prevent the ascendance of strongman leaders with a Soviet mind-set. "The degree of faith that people had in the 1990s, their eyes shining -- I don't think we'll see that in our area of the world again soon," she said at the National Endowment for Democracy. Alexievich, 68, has deployed her journalistic skills to explore major tragedies that impacted Belarus throughout the 20th century, including the Nazi occupation, the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Swedish Academy awarding the Nobel Prize praised her "polyphonic writings" and described her work as "a monument to suffering and courage in our time." Alexievich, who writes in Russian, has been a tenacious critic of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Her most recent book, Second-Hand Time, examines the post-Soviet mentality two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union. She said at the June 17 event that Putin displays a clear Soviet mentality and is relying on "hysteria" and a "fortress" mentality to shore up his rule. The social and economic upheaval following the Soviet collapse left people feeling "deceived and robbed, and, of course, this is another aspect of Putinism, which found a substitute for this aggressive energy that has accumulated in society," Alexievich said. Putin "pumped this energy back to this familiar area, namely: 'We are great. They humiliate us. We are a besieged fortress surrounded by enemies," she said. Alexievich said she saw herself as an artist rather than a political figure, but she was prepared to take to the streets if she is needed there."It would be very hard for me to urge other people to do so," however, she said. "I'm not a fan of revolutions, because we have the memory of revolution in our genes. What is revolution? In general its blood and death," she said. Alexievich said she did not see any reason to expect either Putin or Lukashenka to be unseated anytime soon, but "this is no reason to abandon our cause and do nothing." She told of a demonstration she attended in Belarus at which she was approached by a police officer who helped break up the rally. "He said: 'You know, I understand everything. I read your books...and I agree with you completely. But as long as there's 1,000 of you, Im going to disperse you. When there's a half-million of you, I'll be with you,'" Alexievich recalled. Responding to a question about political trends in the United States, Alexievich appealed to American voters to refrain from voting for the new political personality -- an apparent reference to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Trump, a wealthy businessman and reality TV star, has stirred controversy on a range of policy fronts, including with his proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. His presumptive Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, has accused him of a fondness for authoritarian leaders, including Putin, who has spoken positively of Trump. "Your new political personality surprises us," Alexievich said, eliciting laughter from the audience. "Belarus is in the situation where at first we placed our hopes in Russia, and we got the Putin that we have now. We're placing our hopes in America. Please don't bring us any surprises." A Pakistani woman has been arrested and charged for allegedly throwing acid on her boyfriend after he refused to marry her, officials say. In a rare case of a woman attacking a man, Punjab police said they arrested Momil Mai, a married mother of four in Multan who was in a relationship with Saddaqat Ali, who was also married. Mai was demanding that Ali make her his second wife, officials said on June 17. Polygamy is legal for men in Pakistan, though a woman would have to divorce before being allowed to marry again. The acid attack occurred on June 15. Ashiq Malik, medical superintendent at the government hospital in Multan where Ali is being treated, told AFP that he received burns on around 60 percent of his body. Acid attacks disfigure and often blind the victims, which are nearly always women in Pakistan, where hundreds of such attacks occur each year to settle personal scores. Based on reporting by AFP and dpa Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe a "great danger" and vowed that Moscow will respond by enhancing its own missile strike capability. While NATO insists the shield is a defensive system aimed in part at thwarting possible Iranian missile strikes, Putin said it can be easily turned into an offensive system that could be used against Russia. "Those tubes, those silos where missiles are put are used for Tomahawks. These Tomahawks can be put there in just a few hours, and then these will be not missile interceptors," Putin told international news leaders in St. Petersburg on June 17. "You have only to change the software, and that's it. This work is absolutely invisible. The Romanians won't know what's happening there," he said. "Nobody will know, either Romanians or Poles. I know how it's done." "In my view, this is really dangerous," he said, adding that "we know approximately which year the Americans will get a new missile that will have a range of not 500 kilometers but 1,000 kilometers, and from that moment they will start threatening our nuclear potential." Putin added that "we will have to respond" to the threats, although "I know in advance that we will again be accused of aggressive behavior" when Russia responds. "We will perfect our missile strike capability," to ensure that "strategic balance" is maintained in Europe, he said. "We will have to ensure not only our own security. It is vital for us to ensure strategic balance in the world." Putin added that he worries that the growing military confrontation between Russia and the United States "is dragging the world into a new dimension." "People feel no danger, and that is alarming for me. Can we see that we are dragging the world into an utterly new dimension?" Putin said he didn't know how to "bring this home" to leaders from other countries. With reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and TASS Russia's defense minister has met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a visit to the Syrian capital. Syrian state television said the previously unannounced visit by Sergei Shoigu on June 18 was to discuss military cooperation and efforts to fight "terrorism." Meanwhile, the Pentagon has voiced "strong concerns" over Moscow's bombing of U.S.-backed forces in southern Syria. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said on June 18 that U.S. military officials holding a video conference with Russia expressed the concern over attack on coalition-supported forces at the Al-Tanaf garrison. U.S. defense officials said that Russian forces in Al-Tanaf targeted a meeting of combatants on June 16 that was held to coordinate the fight against forces of the Islamic State extremist group in Syria and Iraq. The Syrians belonged to the New Syrian Army, trained by the British and the Americans in a coalition camp in Jordan, while the Iraqis were tribal fighters, U.S. officials said. Russia's Defense Ministry said on June 16 that it had not carried out any strikes targeting opposition forces included in the cease-fire, without mentioning Al-Tanaf -- an assertion challenged by the United States. Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP Germanys foreign minister has criticized NATO military exercises in Eastern Europe as "warmongering and called for phasing out European Union sanctions against Russia if there is substantial progress in the peace process in Ukraine. The comments by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, made in interviews published June 19, were the sharpest indications of a division within Germany's ruling coalition over policy towards Russia. Steinmeier's Social Democrats have backed a more conciliatory stance toward Moscow than Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc, the Christian Democrats. Merkel has repeatedly said that sanctions imposed against Russia can only be lifted once a peace agreement, known as the Minsk accords, is fully implemented. "What we should avoid today is inflaming the situation by warmongering and stomping boots," Steinmeier was quoted as telling the German tabloid Bild Am Sonntag. It is a mistake, he said, to think "you can increase security in the alliance with symbolic parades of tanks near the eastern borders." NATO is deploying new battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to ease fears that followed Russias annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the war that later broke out in eastern Ukraine. The war games the alliance conducted in Poland and Lithuania this month were among the largest since the end of the Cold War. The exercises featured 31,000 troops from 24 NATO and partner nations, including German troops. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on June 16 that Russia is seeking to create "a zone of influence through military means" and said Russia is undergoing "massive militarization" along its borders with countries in the military alliance. Russia has continually accused the alliance of breaking a promise not to expand into the former Warsaw Pact bloc after the Soviet collapse. In addition to stepped up aerial patrols by fighter jets and bombers, the Defense Ministry recently announced plans to reorganize deployments of several army corps along western regions, bordering Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states. In a speech in St. Petersburg June 17, President Vladimir Putin reiterated the argument that the United States and its allies have used the Ukrainian crisis to "justify the existence of the North Atlantic bloc." "They need an external adversary, an external enemy, otherwise what's the purpose of this organization?" he said. "There is no Warsaw Pact, no Soviet Union, so whom is it directed against?" NATO officials will meet in Warsaw next month to formally approve the plans for new deployments along the bloc's eastern flank. Aleksei Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's lower house of parliament, welcomed Steinmeier's comments as a "voice of reason." "Steinmeier spoke against Stoltenberg's course for scaring Russia. Some voices of reason could be heard from behind the curtain of threats and hysterics," Pushkov said in a tweet July 19. In a separate interview also published on June 19, Steinmeier said the European Union sanctions against Russia should be gradually eased if there is substantial progress in the peace process. "Sanctions are not an end in themselves. They should rather give incentives for a change in behavior," Steinmeier told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland, a network of local newspapers. The European Union on June 17 extended for a year a ban on business dealings with the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. The Minsk deal calls for a cease-fire between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces, along with a range of political, economic, and social steps to end the conflict, including holding local elections in the east. With reporting by AFP, AP, and BBC Swedish authorities say they will expel a Bosnian man who sought asylum in Sweden but is suspected of being a member of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group. Immigration authorities said on June 17 that the 46-year-old was considered "a security risk" and had been flagged by France in the European Union's national security database. He said the unidentified man had his asylum request turned down because it was deemed groundless. Bosnians are systematically denied asylum in Sweden. Bosnia-Herzegovina, a candidate for EU membership, is considered safe by many of the bloc's members. Moreover, Sweden's Sydsvenskan daily and other news outlets said the man had ties to IS. The man arrived in the city of Malmo on June 13 by plane from Bosnia with his four children. Based on reporting by AP and AFP Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. With a voice that softened to a whisper then boomed to a near-yell, Dick Gregory took on the issues of the black community Friday evening. Gregory, 83, was the keynote speaker for Juneteenth 2016, A Freedom Celebration, attended by a standing-room crowd in Rhythm Hall at the Dominion Arts Center. The comedian-turned-civil rights activists speech ranged from the serious nature of the racial divide in the United States to a comedic tone when discussing things like gorillas buttocks. You forget theres a universal God. He dont care about your cars. What kind of house youre in. None of that, Gregory said before slamming the lectern so hard the microphone fell off. That happened more than once, and organizers ended up having to tape down the microphone. After unsuccessful runs for Chicago mayor and president in the late 1960s, Gregory ditched his comedy career to become a leader in the civil rights movement. He used that comedic background to poke fun at gorillas and tell jokes about what he would have done if elected president. The crowd laughed constantly at Gregorys jokes but also was responsive to his serious messages, including one about fixing schools and ensuring a good education for children. Fridays event featured performances by Elegba Folklore Society dancers and drummers, as well as an impromptu standup comedy set by Richmond-based comedian Micah Bam-Bamm White. Juneteenth, also called Freedom Day, commemorates the emancipation of slaves throughout the Confederate South. Its recognized on June 19. A second man has been arrested in a May 9 homicide at the Midlothian Village Apartments in South Richmond. Kyreek R. Carter, 19, of the 1000 block of St. Paul Street, was arrested Wednesday and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, Richmond police said Friday. On May 27, Larry M. Scott, 31, of the 5600 block of Petoskey Avenue, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force. He also has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, police said. About 11:15 a.m. on May 9, officers were called to the 4000 block of Midlothian Turnpike for a report of a double shooting. They found two adult males outside of the apartment complex, each suffering from a gunshot wound. Both victims were taken to a hospital. Rashawn A. Brathwaite, 23, of the 2300 block of Whitcomb Street, died that day. The second victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released. Detectives believe robbery was the motive for the shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call Major Crimes Detective Arcellious Demery at 646-5999 or Crime Stoppers at 780-1000. Citizens can also text Crime Stoppers at 274637, using the keyword iTip followed by the tip. CHARLOTTESVILLE What started as a political effort to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville has transformed into a much broader mission that ultimately may not change much in Lee Park. Depending on the will of the community, a citizen panel and the City Council, long-existing communities and lesser-known parts of the citys history instead might be highlighted and memorialized with new statues, memorials and traditions. On Thursday, a result of those initial efforts the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces made its first public appearance. Following the City Councils unanimous decision to create the ad hoc commission last month, nine people were appointed to the panel, chosen from a pool of 74 applicants. This is a difficult conversation were going to have over the next few months, said City Manager Maurice Jones. I appreciate all of you for taking on this challenge and I look forward to working with every one of you. For the next six months, the commission will gather for public meetings to discuss a variety of issues theyve been tasked to address, including whether to relocate, or add context to, the citys Confederate memorials. Other commission objectives include making plans to augment the slave auction block at Court Square and provide a further narrative for the Vinegar Hill community. A new memorial to an African-American leader also will be considered. Sometime in November, the commission will present a final report with recommendations for the City Council. It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search Get new posts by email: Subscribe A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. The states top health official said someone should have the authority to get to the bottom of how Jamycheal Mitchell died alone in a Portsmouth jail cell 10 months ago, but the agencies under his purview do not have the authority for that undertaking. Dr. William Hazel, Virginias secretary of health and human resources, said the Virginia State Police should investigate the death of the 24-year-old mentally ill man being held on a petty theft charge. Hazel sat down with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Thursday to talk about Mitchells case as details were emerging of the death of another mentally ill inmate last month. This time, a woman died less than 24 hours after she was transferred to a state mental hospital from the same Portsmouth jail where Mitchell died. Its unclear if any agencies will investigate the death of the woman, whom the state has declined to identify because of federal privacy laws. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which is under Hazels umbrella of agencies, and the Office of the State Inspector General, which Hazel does not oversee, have come under fire for their separate investigations into Mitchells death. Neither report answered key questions about how he lost so much weight under supposed near-constant supervision of guards and medical staff. The medical examiner said Mitchell, who was bipolar and schizophrenic, died of heart problems and extreme weight loss. Instead, the reports focused on administrative breakdowns and clerical errors that prevented Mitchells transfer to Eastern State Hospital for treatment, despite two court orders. Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, said its disturbing that another of the jails inmates has died. Asking the right questions of the right people should uncover what happened to her, but that has not worked in Mitchells case, he said. Perhaps we do need statutory change to ensure that there is some agency with oversight, or maybe we just need to have a firm discussion with the people at the regional jails to jerk them into line, Deeds said. I dont know that people will have any faith in the system we have unless theres some oversight or accountability. Theres none now. Hampton Roads Regional Jail cleared itself of wrongdoing after conducting an internal investigation but has refused to release the report to the public, though it has the discretion under state Freedom of Information laws to do so. Five cities feed into the jail: Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth, Newport News and Norfolk. It is run by a board made up of the sheriffs and elected officials in each of those cities. The chairman and vice chairwoman of the board of Hampton Roads Regional Jail could not be reached Friday. Mitchells family has filed a $60 million lawsuit in federal court claiming he was neglected and subjected to routine physical abuse. When asked twice whether it was acceptable that no one has taken the blame for Mitchells death, Hazel demurred. It is not surprising given the legal environment, he said. At some point, somebody is going to get sued, and so it is not surprising that people would clam up under those circumstances. People do not like to talk openly about their mistakes and ways to prevent them from happening again when they fear lawsuits and expensive settlements, he said. When asked if he believes his agencies should have the authority to find out what happened to Mitchell, Hazel said he was unsure. I think that somebody should have it, he said. If these people in the public sector are moving from site to site to site and we have some responsibility, I think we should have some authority to go with it. It may not be the agency that may not be the best place for it. I dont know yet what the best place for that responsibility is, but there should be some, he said. Hazel said he and Gov. Terry McAuliffe believe the Virginia State Police should conduct an investigation. State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said agency investigators are still reviewing findings of the other reports in Mitchells case and have not decided whether to formally investigate. There is a lot of material to go through, Geller said. We wish we had the manpower to dedicate someone to one case full time, but ... we dont. Several advocates have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to look into Mitchells death. The FBI, which is part of the Justice Department, is prepared to investigate should state police uncover civil rights violations in the course of their investigation, according to Christina Pullen, a spokeswoman for the FBIs Norfolk field office. Its too early to know whether law enforcement officials will investigate the death of the woman at Central State Hospital. Lt. Col. Eugene Taylor, an assistant superintendent of the jail, said officials there would cooperate if outside investigations take place. But the jail itself does not conduct inquiries into deaths once inmates transfer out of their custody. Central State workers found the woman dead in bed the morning after she arrived for court-ordered care. Its not yet clear how she died, but she did not commit suicide, Hazel said. Efforts to secure emergency mental health treatment for the woman began the afternoon of May 24, state officials confirmed this week. Prescreening paperwork was completed and submitted within two hours. The hospital asked if the jail could bring the woman the following morning. Jail officials touched base with the hospital the next day to ensure a bed was still available and then picked up the court order sending the woman to Central State, officials said. The womans hospital intake paperwork was stamped 2:21 p.m. Wednesday, May 25. She was found dead the next morning. Deeds said it was outrageous that the woman had to wait until the next morning for a transfer. Who was tending the shop down there? Deeds said. In an emergency situation, that discretion should not exist. An emergency is an emergency. Thats just unacceptable. A spokeswoman for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services was asked twice last week if the agencys investigators intend to review the womans death, as they did for Mitchell, but she did not provide an answer. A massive line of storms stretching across much of Virginia brought heavy winds and rain Thursday night, with central Virginia bearing much of the brunt. At the height of the storms aftermath, some 160,000 Dominion Virginia Power customers were without electricity. Almost 100 roads were closed in Henrico County and nearly 40 traffic lights in Richmond were out or blinking. One person was seriously injured in Hanover County when a tree fell onto their home. Damage assessments are still being tallied, but Richmond City Public Schools estimated damage to 10 of its schools totaled $750,000. In Campbell County, south of Lynchburg, the storm blew down about 50 trees, damaging between seven and 10 homes, according to public information specialist Tina Barbour. Some of those homes may end up being uninhabitable According to Appalachian Powers online outage map, 145 customers in Nelson County, 255 residents in Lynchburg, 341 residents in Bedford County and 3,914 residents in Campbell County were without power early Friday. Some Southside Electric Cooperative customers in Bedford County and Central Virginia Electric Cooperative customers in Amherst also lost power in the storm. Both Dominion Virginia and Appalachian Power crews began the task of restoring power Thursday, expected to take days. Effects of Thursdays storm were more minimal in the Roanoke Valley, which was also hit hard by a storm on Wednesday evening. A few hundred customers in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Franklin County lost power Thursday night. Fire and EMS crews spent the evening dealing with downed wires and debris, and state troopers responded to wrecks on the highways. Roanokes peak wind gust in Thursdays storm was 52 mph, after topping out at 53 mph in Wednesdays storm. A gust of 58 mph is considered severe. Richmond reported a peak gust of 60 mph Thursday, and a wind gauge in rural Nelson County recorded a peak gust of 77 mph. On Friday, communities in the hardest hit areas including North Richmond, western Henrico County and Hanover County, began what is likely to be a lengthy cleanup process. Steve Butler surveyed a large tree limb dangling over the roadway in front of his house on Cottage Cove Drive in The Colonies at Wilde Lake subdivision in western Henrico as his 19-year-old son, William, took a chain saw to it. This is the joy of having a teenage son, he said. It was a scene replayed throughout the Richmond area, where the sound of chain saws and generators punctuated the moist air as hundreds cleared debris from rooftops, yards and driveways and thousands waited for their power to come back on. About 10 p.m., Trudi Allcott, who lives in the 3900 block of Seminary Avenue in Richmond, woke her husband and they huddled against a brick wall inside for 10 minutes as debris smacked against the house and car horns sounded in the street. When they awoke, all three of the couples cars were damaged by fallen trees. At least four oak trees within sight of the Allcotts front stoop had fallen, including one that fell diagonally and completely crushed their Subaru Outback. I dont think I imagined how bad it would be, Will Allcott said. Its a blessing that nobody was hurt. Richmond city officials scrambled contractors and city workers from several departments to the neighborhoods hardest hit by the intense storm. Mayor Dwight Jones press secretary, Tammy Hawley, said the city expected to have 50 crews deployed by the end of the day to address damage. All available contractors have been called in, said 3rd District Councilman Chris Hilbert, who represents much of the citys north side. People have been pulled from parks and recreation and public works to work on tree removal, and Dominion has offered to help as well. In Ginter Park, crews used everything from pickup trucks to garbage trucks to collect downed limbs and debris from the side of the road. The city doesnt collect garbage on Fridays, so those crews were available to address storm damage. In Campbell County, Evington residents Pat and Odell Harmon were in bed when the storm sent a 150-year-old tree into the back part of their home. I started to get up and my husband said, Dont you move, Pat Harmon recalled as she looked into her laundry room, which was covered in leaves and insulation. About a mile away, on Sunburst Hills Road, workers attempted to remove a large tree that fell onto Angela Hendricks garage, trapping her vehicle inside. Her kitchen and dining area also received some damage. We heard a loud noise but we didnt know exactly what it was, Hendricks said. Im just thankful it was the house and not us. In Richmond, the Maymont Nature Center and the Victorian estate closed Friday because it lost power, a sign on the door read. A generator restored some power to the building to help take care of the fish and other animals inside the nature center, two workers said. In the surrounding parks, trees that once stood tall lay horizontal Friday morning but none blocked the areas streets. A Byrd Park pond overflowed its banks as a result of the heavy rain Thursday night. But people still walked their dogs or paced through the park. One family was seen having a picnic. Amy Friedenberger and Kevin Myatt of The Roanoke Times and Eleanor Roy of The (Lynchburg) News & Advance contributed to this report. When he was faced with the drug possession charges, the man claimed that it was all for his own personal use. Witnesses reportedly said they heard Marhanka yell out in the courtroom, I dont want to live anymore, just before he drew out two sharp metal objects and quickly ended his life by slashing his neck. Although he was rushed to a nearby hospital very quickly, doctors were unable to save him and pronounced Tyrel Martin Marhanka dead. The following statement was issued by the court located in Chengu County near the western city of Taichung: We deeply regret that Tyrel Martin Marhanka killed himself during the sentencing.. He was cooperative during the investigation and the trial. His attitude was mild and he did not show any signs that he would [kill himself]. Brazilian mining giant Vale SA (VALE) is in talks with Asian mining companies about potential sale of minority stake in its Brazilian iron ore assets, the Bloomberg News reported Friday. The report specified that the sale could raise up to $7 billion, citing people familiar with the matter. The report specified that the world's top iron-ore producer may also consider streaming deals. No agreements have been reached, and the talks may not result in a deal, the report added. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... This is an interesting story. Back in the late nineties when Tofilau Eti Alesana was prime minister, and Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi was his Minister of Finance, life in Samoa was a chaotic politically, and all of us working at the Samoa Observer were worried, in fact pretty scared. The Samoa Observer then was a toddler trying to walk straight, and Tofilau and his cabinet ministers were having great fun taking potshots at it, in the form of mind-bending lawsuits. Those were truly exciting times. In one of Tofilaus defamation claims where his lawyers were expatriates, his legal fees totalled $WS783,000. Later in Parliament, Tuilaepa submitted Tofilaus fees for approval and approval was smartly granted. Those fees were provided for in the governments 1998-99 budget. Sometime later, Tuilaepa requested a further $400,000 in connection with the same claim, and again approval was granted. Now that was when the government announced the establishment of the law called Printers and Publishers Act 1994. It said from then on, that law would allow top government officials from the prime minister down to leaders of state ministries and corporations, the use of public funds to pursue defamation claims against newspapers. In other words, the new law was designed to stop newspapers from publishing stories that are deemed threatening to government leaders; which is to say it was a campaign aimed at putting a stop to the disclosure of alleged government corruption. Incidentally, the word media was poignantly absent in the announcement. And it was pretty clear why. Only newspapers were targeted by the campaign. The rest of the media, which included radio and television, were not; they were alright; they were not a threat then and they are not a threat today. At the time, the Leader of the Opposition, Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese, made his opposition known. Describing the new law as unconstitutional, he told Parliament: This decision breaches freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution. The Prime Minister does not worry about money because the government is paying. However, the Observer is bound to be hurt financially whether it wins or not, since it is paying for its own legal fees. And if this is what will be happening to newspapers, their freedom to express themselves as its required by the Constitution, cannot be protected. The Prime Minister and other government officials will keep on suing them for defamation, knowing well they do not have to part with a cent of their own. When one of the papers legal fees arrived, it amounted to $230,000, a substantial amount well beyond the papers financial capabilities. There was no way we could pay them all at once, and it was frightening thinking about it. What are we going to do now? Jean asks. Well, I reply. Lets go to the bank. Set up an appointment with Mr Kelsh. When? Today, tomorrow, the sooner the better. Mr Peter Kelsh is the Managing Director of the Bank of Western Samoa. We have been banking with B.W.S. for sometime now so that we have been able to establish a pretty good relationship with them. As we entered his office that afternoon Mr Kelsh was waiting. That meeting turned out to be the shortest one weve ever had with a bank manager, and the most satisfactory one too. So what can we do for you? he asked after weve sat down. Jean and I look at each other. So I start: We have some legal fees to pay. I know that, he says. How much? He was told the amount. Well, you have to pay them, he said. I nodded. You have a cheque book, dont you? Yes. Then just go and sign your cheques and pay your legal fees. For a moment I just sit there speechless. Although Mr Kelshs words are sweet music to the ear, the abruptness with which he has made his decision also makes it sound somewhat surreal. Ive been expecting more questions, details of repayment conditions and whatnot, but apparently this is a special case so that all those silly things are not needed. We say thank you, the meeting ends, we stand up, and walk out the door. That night, alone in the house, I say to Jean: Someone is looking after us. Hes certainly thinking what the government is doing is not right. I think I know who that someone is. Jean says nothing. She is deep in thought. On 16 September 1998, another trial is about to be concluded. This is Tofilaus claim of criminal libel made against the editor of the Samoa Observer, and Justice Sir Gordon Bisson is presiding. The penalty is six months in jail. Today His Honour is delivering his judgement. The courtroom is packed. His Honour denies Tofilaus full claim of $550,00 and awards him $75,000 instead. On the P.M.s claim of damages for $400,000, His Honour said he took into account that the plaintiff was only 12.5 percent successful, and awarded him $50,000. Now that got me thinking; in my book, the plaintiff is either 100% successful or he is nil successful. Is His Honour saying the plaintiff is 12.5% honest and 75.5% dishonest? In my book, the courts ruling is absurd! The way I see it, honesty is 100%. Nothing more. Nothing less. His Honour told the court: I did not take into account the fact that the Prime Ministers case was being funded by the Samoan Government. Now again, in my book, thats drivel. Im reminded that the prime minister had engaged the services of two legal firms one is Australian and the other is Samoan - in an attempt to close the newspaper down, and put its editor behind bars. His legal costs were being paid for by the public, so what kind of circus are we conducting here? Justice Bisson said he also took into account that if Tofilau had elected to give evidence in the usual way in support of his case, there would have been a substantial saving in time and expense. Hogwash. Still, when it was known that the plaintiff would not get in that box because he refused to give evidence, perhaps the court should have ruled the trial could not continue. After all, he had been convicted of the crimes in question that hed earlier denied, and now that the truth had been established, the idea that the defendant would still be made to pay did not sound like justice to me at all in those days. Still, later in Parliament, the leader of the Opposition, Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese, had the last say. He asked: Where else in the world does a government pay for the legal fees of a Prime Minister when he sues a newspaper? The answer then was none. It remains the same today. Dear Editor, In your Sunday Samoan issue of 29 May 2016 you reported the Prime Minister stating an intention to correct the Constitution to indicate that Christianity is the official church of Samoa. You quoted him recalling that in the past, the elders wanted to insert the changes in the Constitution, but the papalagi told them not to as it would be too wordy and that there was no extremism then. If your reporting is correct, the above and his other comments quoted in your article suggest he blames foreigners for what he sees as an important omission from the Constitution. It seems to me that the Prime Minister, like the rest of us, has selective recall. After all Christianity was very definitely a 19th century papalagi import to Samoa. Those papalagi who used the excuse of too wordy may have been speaking in code. They may in fact have been cautioning Samoa to ensure a separation between Church and State, to avoid the excesses they as Europeans would have recalled the Church perpetrating in medieval Europe when it had official status and untrammelled power. (The Spanish Inquisition is an example of this.) The Prime Ministers proposal sounds harmless enough on first reading, but he could be letting a genie out of the bottle. We may think that what happened years ago in Europe could never happen in Samoa, but we should not forget that old cry of the historians: He who is ignorant of the past faces the future at his peril. Samoas clerics have shown themselves not to be backward in coming forward. They already play an important opening role at Government events. The clerics seem to have the best house in each village, and the biggest, shiniest SUV. At the same time they seem to turn a blind eye to the indebtedness and poverty their offertory practices create amongst their flocks. The Prime Ministers initial intimation of a Constitutional correction was quickly followed by a call from one influential cleric for action against a small non-Christian group. I fear that once the Prime Minister has had his way and gone to join Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the angels and archangels in the Golden Kingdom, we will start to see clerics representing the official religion themselves standing for election to Parliament, not content to leave this to their followers. We can expect there then to be pressure for good Government salaries to be paid to clerics practising the official religion. There will probably be some leaning on the education authorities to make Creation Science a core curriculum subject in schools. Religious declarations or testing may be imposed for recruitment to Government employment, or perhaps even for visas. Government funding could well be demanded for renewal, enhancement and multiplication of the places of worship for followers of the official religion. All such outlays would represent diversion of much needed Government funding of infrastructure. The end result could be a necessity to amend the national slogan from: Samoa, a nation founded on God to Samoa, the nation which foundered on God. The Prime Ministers reported comments on this subject provide yet another reminder that religious fervour and rational thinking have never been good travelling companions. Apprehensive 15 June 2016 My first ever teaching placement was at Leififi Intermediate School in 1976. I was assigned to Form 2 C2, a class of 36, with the challenge of preparing them for Senior Secondary School the following year. I must admit to initially being quite intimidated upon warnings that this particular class would be extremely difficult to teach. However, instead I found myself pleasantly surprised to meet a group of diligent hard workers who persevered through every class despite the forbiddance of speaking Samoan in school. It would be this endurance that would later see the top Maths and Gagana Samoa students, in the Form 2 National Exams, emerge from this class of underestimated potential. As a teacher, it is sufficient reward to see my students succeed and enjoy the career paths they have chosen; whether it has been in esteemed positions as physician-specialists, I.T. specialists, C.E.O.s, business managers, school principals, church ministers, and a Cabinet minister to name a few. Also of equal importance is every success achieved away from the corporate world; in sport, in families, and in general contributions to the community in many other ways I applaud you all. On June 7th 2016, in celebration of the Class of 1981 Reunion, I was presented a plaque of appreciation by Penny Alama, Oketevi Tanuvasa, and Ailaoa Hunkin as representatives of this class. This extremely unexpected gesture, in the presence of my husband and children (in my own home!), was exceptionally overwhelming and I was deeply moved. This emotional tribute was affirmation as a teacher that my lessons had not been in vain and furthermore, that they were not only remembered but continued to be appreciated many years later. As teachers, we strive to make a difference in your lives and guide you to unlock your potential as anything you are willing to work towards. I cannot adequately describe how honoured and humbled I am by your recognition of this. Words fail me, but from the bottom of my heart I wish to say thank you, Class of 1981. Thank you for acknowledging our work as teachers. Thank you for appreciating your teachers. Thank you and may God continue His blessings upon you all. Faafetai lava, Miss Ioane 1976-1977. Letelemalanuola Tuitama. Nothing about us, without us. This catchphrase, created by N.O.L.A. (Nuanua O le Alofa), the National advocacy organisation of people with disabilities, certainly came true on the second, and last day of their National Youth Forum. The Forum was held in order to raise awareness for young, disabled members of the society by giving every attending member of the event a voice to speak out about the situation and the issues young handicapped people have to face in their everyday life. Our forum here can definitely be described as successful for the young and disabled members of our society, explained Mataafa Faatino Utumapu, Office Manager of N.O.L.A. to Weekend Observer on the events closing day. Those young people could increase their understanding in terms of income generated activities and services which are available for them, and they were also able to experience and identify the commitment that is provided for them from the governmental side. This commitment mentioned by Ms Utumapu was one of the main parts of the Forums second day. Several speeches were held to explain and extend the role of young, disabled people in society, as for instance done by Maotaoalii Kaioneta Kitiona, Police Detective Inspector and Media Officer of the Samoan Ministry of Police. During his short presentation at the Youth Forum, he informed the attendants about the most common forms of discrimination which young, disabled people have to face, including for instance domestic violence or voyeurism in public. He explained to the participants, which rights and regulations in particular secure their sanctity as a fully accepted member of society and also pointed out on which legal provisions these rights are routed. A main part of the presentation given by the Ministry of Police today dealt with demonstrating how domestic violence against disabled people can be prevented, because these represent some of the general offences against handicapped people, especially at a young age, the Police Detective Inspector told. As he stated, Samoa already has a lot of such programmes available, sponsored by the government and its ministries, to deal with all different disabilities and their social awareness. Concerning the recent Youth Forum, Inspector Kitiona spoke of an extraordinary benefit provided for disabled people: It has to be our priority to let the members of our society with special needs know that they are treated equal to everybody else. Therefore, the providing of prevention measures in terms of violence or any kind of discrimination for them is one of our main tasks for today and I think this has been really helpful so far. The forums programme also contained a speech given by Mr Manusamoa Anthony Saaga of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, in which he informed the attendees about facilitating accessible communications for disabled people. For the participants of the Youth Forum, their attendance turned out to be a highly profitable one, as Mr Ari Hazelman, who, together with his friend Setu Tiatia had visited the event, explained: We were able to learn a lot during the last two days and this knowledge definitely will help us a lot, especially in terms of dealing with society or our environment in general. According to Ms Mataafa Faatino Utumapu of N.O.L.A., the different items on the Youth Forums agenda helped to celebrate diverse achievements in terms of young peoples disabilities, but also to identify barriers which still need to be subdued to advocate those people. Regarding future plans to assure that the newly gained awareness for disabled people in Samoa will stay relevant, Ms Utumapu already mentioned a platform, that will be shared and will guide the work of the group as well as [N.O.L.A. s] work to make sure that young people with disabilities are getting the right amount of attention they deserve. There might be some changes to the electricity tariffs for the next financial year, 2016/2017. This follows the Multi-Year Tariff (M.Y.T.) Review and proposal for the changes to electricity tariffs which were made by the Electric Power Corporation to the Office of the Regulator on the 26th May 2016. Under the Electricity Act of 2010, the O.O.T.R. shall conduct public consultations before making a final decision on the E.P.C. proposal. The purpose is to gather stakeholders input on the proposal by E.P.C. and carry out an Annual Review on the impact of the Multi-Year Tariff. The Office of the Regulator in collaboration with the Electric Power Corporation have been conducting consultations with the private sectors, Government Ministries and the village mayors regarding the Multi Year Tariff together with the E.P.C. proposal for a new tariff structure and electricity rates. This week was Upolus turn to listen to the proposals and share their views on what needs to be improved. And yesterday was the village mayors turn and the event saw more than fifty mayors from all around Apia gather at the Conference Room at the T.A.T.T.E. Building. We are conducting consultations at the moment for members of the public so they will be well-aware of what has happened and what will happen next. We are also getting a lot of feedback from them on how to improve and what their views are, said Regulator, Unutoa Auelua Fonoti. The Office of the Regulator will compile the feedback from the Public/Private Sector/Government Ministries/Pulenuu/Sui o Nuu to assist in the Review of Proposal before the Regulator makes her final decision. Once the Regulator makes the final decision, E.P.C. will then inform the public through the media before its implementation. According to a Powerpoint presentation by the Office of the Regulator which was obtained by the Samoa Observer, O.O.T.R. will continue to review the proposal and will present the findings first to their staff when complete, with tentative determination scheduled before end of June 2016. On face value and after first analysis, proposal looks favorable for E.P.C. Proposal reflects continuous reductions in tariff for next financial year, according to the presentation. According to the Electricity Act 2010, the timeframe required for the Regulator to make a decision to accept or reject a proposal from a licensee, such as E.P.C. for tariff change is six (6) months. So if the E.P.C. submitted the proposal on 23 May 2016, the Regulator should make the final decision by November. The E.P.C. and the Office of the Regulator will host consultations for the big island of Savaii next week. The United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative, Lizbeth Cullity, hosted on Thursday here in Apia, the consultations that were aimed at directing focus on maintaining sustainable development in the Pacific region. She said The United Nations member states around the world adopted a sustainable development agenda until the year 2030. Together with Mr Filifilia Iosefa, the U.N.s Coordination Specialist for Samoa, she organized the gathering on Thursday. Because of the said agenda determined for the years to come, the U.N. hosted national consultations to discuss a variety of topics and solution approaches. It invited more than 40 members of the civil society as well as the private sector of Samoa, which included participants such as N.G.O.'s, farmer groups, culture and fine arts, private sector representatives, tourist operators and youth groups. We started our work concerning 17 different goals in particular this January. Our entire agenda is based on leaving no one behind. So when were talking about sustainable development, we make sure that it is inclusive. "Years ago, people only talked about development and didnt use the word sustainable. "But sustainability is what we need to focus on now, because we recognized that without such sustainability, the programmes that we have been working on could actually lead to problems regarding for instance the area of climate change or others," Lizbeth Cullity told Samoa Observer. She maintained that the opinions of members of the private sector and civil society were highly important, saying: We wanted to work with them to see how they are interested and willing to be partners with us. "The governments alone cannot make progress, as they need to rely on media, on civil society and private sector [including] churches, schools, villages and the people themselves. Cullity also pointed out that there will always be challenges to be faced when trying to achieve progresses, saying: This is an economy of small scale, [where] the private sector does not have the means to employ those who are vulnerable. "(Besides) the government itself is also limited by the resources, concerning both human and capital, so yes, there will be challenges, but that does not mean that we cannot make great leaps and bounds in accomplishing other goals. Lizbeth Cullity said that "Samoa has really demonstrated its leadership in the area of looking at sustainable development. "And as a matter of fact, the Samoan government has been a model to other Pacific governments to show them how they are organizing their sectoral plans, and having a more integrated, sustainable development strategy." Therefore, Lizbeth Cullity said she did exclude that the progress which was discussed at national consultations, could also be adopted by other Pacific Island states in the near future. To achieve progress, the members of the consultations shared their ideas in the context of group work, in which they were divided into four groups. Each one dealt with different topics of the 17 so called S.D.G.s (Sustainable Development Goals) which had been introduced by the U.N. These topics included a whole range of goals from poverty, climate action up to responsible consumption and production. Each of the four groups was encouraged to come up with recommendations to be discussed later. Spokesman Adrian Mosese, of TV3, pointed out that with the recent problems regarding Samoas youth, something has to be done. He said: Weve faced a lot of tragic events throughout the past weeks including fighting, robberies between schools and gangs. "I know that this is one of the things that had a negative influence on our economy, especially in the sector of tourism. "What we need is to create an environment in which kids know that their talent could be used for more than injuring people. "The tribal days where people actually had to fight for what they wanted are over. There has to be more awareness for the youth. "Thats why we want the U.N. to support us to at least prevent such problems from repeating themselves in Samoa. For most kids nowadays, dancing is a popular form of art which is promoted and also embedded in education." The group introduced a plan to improve education among the countrys youth in rural areas. Said Mose: Ive seen a lot of the Pacific region and I am aware that in P.N.G., especially in the highland areas, there is a huge number of uneducated people. "But they do speak good English, and I think that is what we also have to adopt here in Samoa. We need to arrange ways for people who need education but dont have the ability to pay for it." During the national consultations, similar recommendations were expressed. The ideas discussed during this weeks consultations will be reviewed at a meeting to be held on 23 June here in Apia. The former General Secretary of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa, Dr. Afereti Uili, would not comment on the outcome of the mediation held recently, between him and the woman he had been accused of having an affair with. He told the Weekend Observer yesterday the matter was confidential so that he could not comment on it. He said he would comment only when the procedure is official. Dr. Afereti added: My lawyer advised me not to say anything to the media at this stage. He urged to be patient saying it might not be long before the mediation process is completed. Dr. Afereti was holding the position of C.C.C.S. General Secretary when he was forced to step down, following reports he had a sexual affair with an unknown woman. He denied the allegation then and sometime later, reports said an official investigation into the matter was being carried out. However, in yesterdays meeting with the Weekend Observer, Dr. Afereti maintained he could not comment at this stage. He said: I have no comment to make at the moment. He also said: There is no point saying anything since the matter is not yet complete. Lets wait for the court to clear everything then we can go ahead and say all that we want to say. When the right time comes I will tell you everything. Deputy Register of the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, Li'o Heinrich Siemsen, confirmed that the mediation had been completed. All I can confirm is that there was a mediation between the two parties and an agreement was reached, he said. It is now up to the lawyers of both parties whether they want to bring the matter back to court for an official withdraw, and for both parties to resolve the matter. That is all I can tell you in regards to this matter. Last month, during the Churchs Annual Conference, Dr. Afereti Uili was stripped of all his responsibilities by the Elders Committee, over an allegation of a sexual nature that had been made by an unnamed woman. Committee Member, Rev. Elder Soti, said their decision was based on what had been presented to them about Dr. Aferetis alleged behaviour. Even though Afereti denies the allegation, he said, the girl involved has told us otherwise. So weve looked at the bigger picture and reached the conclusion that no Samoan lady would do such things for no reason, said Rev. Elder Kerisiano Soti. In response, Dr Afereti said at the time: I am innocent, I have not done anything wrong. There has been no proof of these allegations. He added: The decision theyve made is based on their opinion that I have sinned but I strongly reject the allegation. "Not only do I reject the allegation, he said, but as far as Im concerned, nothing has been proven. Think a minuteImagine you are in a store and you see a big new television for only $1. You look at a t-shirt and the price on it is $1,000. Next to it is a brand new motorbike that costs only $3. Wouldnt you wonder if someone had sneaked into the store and changed all the price tags? What you thought was very valuable is now not very valuable at all. Have you ever gone through a painful loss or frightening crisis that turned everything in your life upside down? Maybe the doctor told you that you have a serious, life-threatening illness. Someone you love died in an accident. Suddenly almost everything in your life was reshuffled and changed. Those things that seemed important and took much of your time before now meant nothing to you. And the things that you took for granted and hardly even noticed now became the most important things to you. It was like someone came and switched all the price tags in your life. Sadly, these painful losses and problems in life are sometimes the only things that wake us up to see whats truly important in life. Unfortunately for many of us, its only when the problem and storm hits that we begin to understand there are only 2 things that really matter: our Maker and people. Life is short. Often shorter than we expect! And hopefully before its over we learn how valuable every day is. Each day is just one more gift from God. So we need to start spending what little time we have left on getting close to Him and the people Hes given to us to share our lives with. That is the only way we can have no fears or regrets when we die. Some of us are scared and dont want to think of dying because were not sure if were ready to face our Maker and Judge. Think a Minute Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala Warren spared the life of a 20 year old male Sione Sione from experiencing the life in prison after he was convicted with robbery. Sione was given another chance to change his life and he was strongly advised by the court that robbery is a serious offence. Justice Tafaoimalo said the seriousness of this offence is reflected by the maximum penalty of 10 years if convicted. The charge of theft was accompanied by violence and due to the fact that the accused is older than the victim, it is considered as bullying. Despite the aggravating factors, Justice Tafaoimalo gave a non custodial penalty for the defendant and ordered the probation office for a rehabilitation program that suits him well. The accused is a single male of 20 years of age, who helps his mother during the day with her handicrafts and works night shifts at JPs bar at Vaimea. According to the police summary of facts, the victim is a 17 year old attending Saint Josephs college who was walking home around 3pm. The victim caught up with Sione and he asked him for some money, the victim responded that he had no money. The accused then walked over to the victim and searched his pockets and took his earphones and a cell phone worth $45 and left. The victim reported the matter to the police the same day and Sione was arrested and charged with one count of robbery. On May 16, 2016, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge. Sione also told the court that he already apologized to the victim and his parents and returned all the things that he took that day. He also apologized to the court for what he did and he had realized that what he did was wrong and that would be his last time to stand in court. Many people categorize yoga as a form of exercise. But for New Zealand based professional Yogi, Uma Jammu Chopra, she sees it as a way of living and a way of being. Mrs. Chopra is in the country under a volunteer programme with the United Nations. The program enables professional yogis to visit different member countries to createe awareness about the significance of yoga. This initiative is in preparation to celebrate International Yoga Day on Tuesday, June 21. International Yoga Day will be celebrated for the second time this year, since it was first declared by the U.N last year. This is Mrs. Chopras first time in Samoa. And while in Samoa, she paid a visit to the students at the National University of Samoa, and talked to them about yoga and its significance in her life. Yesterday, Mrs. Chopra hosted a yoga session with the public starting from 8-9am at the T.A.T.T.E Building. In an interview with Sunday Samoan, Mrs. Chopra described yoga as life-changing. Yoga to me personally changed my life, she said. I was drawn to it when I was in University and I started learning on my own through books and I didnt want to stop doing it ever since then. But I became so addicted to it when I was studying to become a teacher. The whole philosophy of Yoga is science. And I was a Science teacher before I became a full-time Yogi. And I have a great passion for it. Yoga can help make you a better person, said Mrs. Chopra. Yoga comes with the skills that can help you manage your emotions and feelings, she said. It can teach us how to be connected with all the levels of our beings. And the skills that come with it, its like if people have these skills in their life, they can manage their lives better. If they manage their minds better, their lives will be better as well. Its true that everyone has their own way of releasing stress, like listening to music or by exercising. Thats the same with Yoga as well, but quite different. For instance, suppose that you are having a conversation with someone and then suddenly that person will say something that will make you so angry to the point where things could get out of control. You cant just stand up right away and go out on the field and play rugby, or exercise at that very moment. But yoga provides the skills that can help you manage your emotions and calm your nerves. Breathing is very vital in the essence of yoga, said Mrs. Chopra Breaths and emotions are connected, she said. You can tell different emotions by observing how people breathe. So our emotions can affect our breathing. So what we do in Yoga is we use our breath to manage emotions. And its something that you have with you all the time. The skills will help you control all the emotions. Mrs. Chopra also works on a programme called Youth Empowerment Seminar (Y.E.S)in New Zealand. And she teaches the youths on how to manage their minds and the way they behave. Under Y.E.S! I help the students or the youth with the different ways you can manage your emotions and behaviors. I mean you cant get rid of stuff from your mind, no matter how much you try and you cant subtract the negative things that happen in your life. But with the skills of Yoga, you are able to manage it. Moreover, she added that yoga isnt as popular as it should be because yoga has been misrepresented by the western world. Therefore, she believes that people should understand what Yoga really is. Because what they see is whats being commercialized, she said. And a lot of commercials are showcasing Yoga as another form of exercise, it has been put in the same category. And just because they see head stands and a lot of different sequences of yoga, most will find it challenging and will not want to try it out. But thats not exactly what Yoga is. So what really is yoga? According to Mrs. Chopra, Yoga helps to manage the modulation of your mind. We all know life is hard, and ups and downs are there. But what we need to do is to learn how to sail through the ups and downs. And with the skills from yoga, we are able to do that. And thats what Yoga is; and how is it achieved? There are various branches of yoga. Yoga can be done in many ways. Some do it as a way of service, some do it as devotion. As for me, Yoga is not something separate from me. I see yoga as my whole lifestyle. I see it as a way of living and yoga is a way of being. Uma Jammu Chopra was born and raised in Fiji. She is currently residing in New Zealand where she has lived for 30 years now. She is married with two children. Mrs. Chopra was a science teacher for more than 25 years before she became a professional yogi in 2007. She leaves Samoa today. May 19 2016 - The National Council of Churches (N.C.C) has welcomed Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaois call to review the religious freedom provisions of the Constitution, Radio New Zealand has reported. Tuilaepa had indicated last week that the country's supreme law could be changed to recognise Christian principles and teachings, not just in the preamble. But the Secretary General of the Samoa Council of Churches, Reverend Ma'auga Motu, said he would go a step further and ban the religion of Islam, saying it poses a threat to the country. "We are not going too far, no," Reverend Motu is quoted as saying. "We are still wanting our own people to be prevented from this kind of influence, even though there are so many people who are good people but still there are some dangerous people among them who might come and threaten our peace." The Constitution protects the right to practice any religion but doesn't rule out the establishment of an official state religion. There is a small muslim population in Samoa that gathers at a mosque and there is the Samoa Muslim League based near Apia. Yesterday, the Pacific Conference of Churches (P.C.C) says dialoguing with other religions was a key resolution at its most recent assembly General Secretary of the P.C.C, the region's grouping of Christian denominations, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, argued that the focus needs to be on dialogue. "To create first that space where everybody can come in and discuss and dialogue," he said. "But they have the right to do the decision but before that we have to first look at what our faith, as Christians, is telling us." Francois Pihaatae said where he lived in Fiji, there were many Muslims who were peaceful contributors to the country. Dear Editor, Re: After 24 years the government wakes up and Samoa Observer still there I applaud Gatoaitele Sano Malifa and the staff of the Samoa Observer. At times when the opposition was so weak, they could not even place the governments feet in hot water. But the Samoa Observer newspaper did! Many Samoans may not know it, but whilst the opposition parties could barely breath a voice of dissent over the last three decades, they and these disorganised political parties across the floor owed huge debts of gratitude to the C.E.O. and staff of the Samoa Observer for holding the government of the day accountable. Ropati V An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, to death for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Morsi, the top defendant, and two of his aides were sentenced to 25 years in prison for membership in the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group but were acquitted of espionage, a capital offense. Morsi and his secretary, Amin el-Sirafy, each received an additional 15-year sentence for leaking official documents. El-Sirafy's daughter, Karima, was also sentenced to 15 years on the same charge. Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected leader, was ousted by the military in July 2013 and has already been sentenced to death in another case. That death sentence and another two life and 20 years in prison are under appeal. The Brotherhood was banned and declared a terrorist organization after his ouster. Khalid Radwan, a producer at a Brotherhood-linked TV channel, received a 15-year prison sentence. All of Saturday's verdicts can be appealed. Of the case's 11 defendants, seven, including Morsi, are in custody. Amnesty International called for the death sentences to be immediately thrown out and for the "ludicrous charges against the journalists to be dropped." The two Al-Jazeera employees identified by the judge as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal were sentenced to death in absentia along with Asmaa al-Khateib, who worked for Rasd, a media network widely suspected of links to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Jazeera condemned the verdicts, saying they were part of a "ruthless" campaign against freedom of expression, and called on the international community to show solidarity with the journalists. "This sentence is only one of many politicized sentences that target Al Jazeera and its employees," the network's acting director Mostefa Souag said in a statement. "They are illogical convictions and legally baseless. Al Jazeera strongly denounces targeting its journalists and stands by the other journalists who have also been sentenced." A news story that appeared earlier on the Al-Jazeera English website identified Hilal as a former director of news at Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel and said Alaa Omar Mohammed was an Al-Jazeera employee until last year. The network's statement confirmed Hilal's status, but only said that Mohammed was "identified by the prosecution as an Al-Jazeera journalist." The three other defendants sentenced to death Saturday are documentary producer Ahmed Afify, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohammed Keilany and academic Ahmed Ismail. Judge Mohammed Shirin Fahmy recommended the death sentence for the six last month. Under standard procedure in cases of capital punishment, his recommendation went to the office of Egypt's Grand Mufti, the nation's top Muslim theological authority, for endorsement. Fahmy quoted the Mufti's office as saying the six had sought to harm the country when they passed to a foreign nation details of the army's deployment as well as reports prepared by intelligence agencies. "They are more dangerous than spies, because spies are usually foreigners, but these are, regrettably, Egyptians who betrayed the trust," the judge said. "No ideology can ever justify the betrayal of one's country." Egypt's relations with Qatar have been fraught with tension since the ouster of Morsi, who enjoyed the support of the tiny but wealthy Gulf state. Cairo also maintains that Al-Jazeera's news coverage of Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East is biased in favor of militant Islamic groups. Last year, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi pardoned two imprisoned journalists from the Al-Jazeera English news network. Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-born Canadian, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were arrested in December 2013. They had been sentenced to three years in prison for airing what a court described as "false news" and coverage biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood. The prosecution of the two, along with Australian Peter Greste another Al-Jazeera English reporter who was deported in February last year drew strong international condemnation. Egypt was ranked 158 out of 180 countries in the 2015 Press Freedom Index, according to Reporters Without Borders. In December, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Egypt was second only to China as the world's worst jailer of journalists in 2015. -AP Texas sinkholes have become an ordinary sight for the residents of Wink and its neighboring Kermit. But with the new radar images of the two giant sinkholes through an orbiting space satellite, there are revelations that seem to indicate imminent huge changes, particularly in terms of size. Based on the Texas sinkholes map, the massive holes were found to be unstable, with grounds subsiding which suggests that the holes may bring bigger danger someday. In a new study led by the geophysicists at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the two sinkholes, which are approximately a mile apart, seem to be expanding. In addition, the areas surrounding the current sinkholes are not stable, with notable massive areas of subsidence having found through satellite radar remote sensing. This geohazard assessment indicates the likelihood of new sinkholes, or one massive one, could form. According to the research scientists, the area that is included in the geohazard map, is largely composed of gas and oil production installations and equipment, two communities and hazardous liquid pipelines. In addition to this, freshwater intrusion to the underground could melt the interbedded salt layers, thereby speeding up the sinkhole collapse that could become catastrophic, Seeker reported. The formation of sinkholes in the world, or even sinkholes in the ocean, have been unpredictable in the past. However, satellite remote sensing will provide significant ways to determine the geohazard expansion of the existing sinkholes as well as the possible formation of new sinkholes. By closely monitoring these sinkholes and designing the level of change, the possible sinkhole development may be predicted. Following the study on the Texas sinkholes 2015 and Texas sinkholes 2012, the geophysicists are gathering additional high-resolution satellite information over the sinkholes and nearby regions to monitor development and collapse. The findings have been reported in the journal Remote Sensing while the research was backed by the NASA Earth Surface and Interior Program, the U.S. Geological Survey Land Remote Sensing Program and the Shuler-Foscue Endowment at the Southern Methodist University, according to Lab Manager. Sildenafil citrate, popularly known as Viagra has been found to prevent heart attacks among diabetic male patients. New research claims the men taking the drug were found to have lower risk of having a heart attack or dying from heart disease than those who do not take the medication. According to Independent, the lead scientist told the Daily Express the findings are "incredibly exciting". Experts from the Center for Cardiac Research at the University of Manchester studied 6,000 diabetic patients in Cheshire who had been prescribed to take Viagra, which works to increase blood flow, to treat erectile dysfunction. Although diabetics are prone to heart problems, the study participants did not suffer as many incidents as compared to those patients who are not on the drug. According to Tech Times, the research is led by Professor Andrew Trafford. His team wanted to show that Viagra can also prevent arrhythmia or abnormal heart rhythm. 'Heart failure is a devastating condition which means your heart is not pumping blood around your body as well as it used to. It can really impact a person's quality of life and currently the outlook for patients with heart failure is grim - worse than that of some cancers,' Professor Trafford said. A report by the Daily Mail said that past research published in the journal BMC Medicine showed how Viagra could help prevent the heart from enlarging and changing shape in patients with a condition called left ventricular hypertrophy. He also added saying, "Our studies have shown that drugs normally used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, such as Viagra, actually have a very pronounced effect in slowing the progression of heart failure as well as reducing the likelihood of fatal arrhythmias." The National Health Service has at least 900,000 people in the United Kingdom who have been diagnosed with heart failure, and while the condition can the said condition can affect people in all age group, they have found that the condition most commonly affects older adults. More than 50 percent of all patients with heart failure are more than 75 years old. Heart condition is linked to several other severe health conditions such as hypertension, coronary heart disease and heart attack. New reports suggest Google's highly awaited Nexus 2016 will run the newest Android version, possibly dubbed Android Nutella 7.0. As the search giant has already released the Android N Developer Preview 4, rumors are that the final build of Android N will likely get launched in August alongside Google Nexus 2016. The tech giant had previously announced that it would roll out five Android N preview releases before releasing its final version in Q3, 2016. Hiroshi Lockheimer, the senior VP in charge of Android, teased fans on social media by tweeting an image that shows him searching the word "Nutella" on Google Search engine. Hence, it is speculated that the Android N will finally arrive as Android Nutella. Just testing some stuff out... pic.twitter.com/6KPTEgXl9K Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) June 15, 2016 China-based tech giant, Huawei, recently confirmed that it is manufacturing Google's much awaited Nexus 7. Charlene Munilall, Huawei South Africa Consumer Business Group General Manager, confirmed the news in an interview with Gearburn. Munilall revealed that Huawei will be manufacturing Nexus 2016. "We're doing the Nexus again this year, by the way," she said casually. Munilall, however, did not offer any details about the Google Nexus 2016 specs, release date and price. Rumor has it that HTC is developing two new Android N devices for Google, and the devices are internally named as S1 and M1. According to Know Your Mobile, the upcoming handsets will likely be the first to feature Android N's new 3D Touch display technology. It is expected that one of the Nexus smartphones will feature a 5-inch display whereas the high-end version would pack a 5.5-inch display. The handsets are rumored to be powered by Snapdragon 820 chip processor and 4 GB RAM. The Nexus 2016 devices are also expected to include Google Photo backup feature with enhanced camera specs. We advise our readers to take the information with a grain of salt as nothing yet has been officially confirmed by the makers. National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) and Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam Bruno Angelet (Source: VNA) At a reception for Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam Bruno Angelet, the top legislator stressed that the EU is Vietnams second largest trade partner, top investor and non-refundable aid supplier. Two-way trade hit USD41.8 billion in 2015, up 12 percent from the previous year. She called on the EU to soon complete the last procedures for the Vietnam-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) to take effect, work together with the Southeast Asian nation in reviewing legal issues and speeding up the ratification of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and recognise Vietnams market economy status. The NA Chairwoman highlighted the European Parliament (EP)s important role in enhancing the multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and the EU, saying the friendship between the Vietnamese law-making body and the EP has also been stepped up. The host noted her wish that the EU will raise its voice and take constructive actions to contribute to maintaining peace and security in Asia-Pacific, including the East Sea. For his part, Bruno Angelet promised to share the EUs development experience with Vietnam during his tenure in the country. Regarding the EVFTA, the ambassador said he will made proposals for the early ratification of the deal. Meeting with Ambassador of the UK Giles Lever, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan spoke highly of the collaboration between the two countries across all fields. She called for the diplomats contributions to increasing the presence of UK businesses in Vietnam in such areas as finance and banking, infrastructure development, insurance, science and technology, oil and gas, and aviation. Vietnam wishes to receive the UK Governments assistance to deal with climate change, salinity intrusion and drought challenging the countrys central and Central Highlands regions, the legislative leader noted. Giles Lever, in reply, said UK investors highly appreciate Vietnams dynamic development and want to increase their presence in Southeast Asia and in Vietnam in particular. According to the ambassador, the two countries boast substantial potential for cooperation, spanning the realms of education and training and science and technology. At a meeting with German Ambassador Christian Berger, the NA leader affirmed that Germany is Vietnams trustworthy partner. She proposed that the diplomat promote trade and investment ties between the two countries in order to bring the bilateral trade to USD15-20 billion in 2020. The host thanked the German Government for its marked official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam over the past while, saying the aid is significant to the countrys socio-economic development and international integration, particularly in its priority spheres like vocational training, renewable energy and climate change combat. The Vietnamese NA is perfecting the countrys legal system, especially in the judicial sector, she said, calling for Germanys support and cooperation in this field. Christian Berger stated that Vietnam is not included in the list of countries to which Germany will cut its ODA as his country considers the Southeast Asian nation a strategic partner. Germany stands ready to share its development experience with Vietnam, covering skill improvement for labourers, he said, suggesting the country establish a vocational training system based on businesses real demands. The ambassador proposed setting up a joint chamber of commerce and industry to help the two sides acquire investment climate-related information in their respective countries in a bid to strengthen their affiliation in economy, trade and investment in the time ahead./. Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc (Source: VNA) The remark was made by Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc when interviewed by the Vietnam News Agency on the visit. Deputy FM Ngoc said that during her trip from June 9th-17th, Thinh attended the 26th Global Summit of Women and the 32nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and had a working session with Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Secretary General Martin Chungong. She met with the leaders of Poland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, as well as local businesses and representatives of the Vietnamese community in the three countries. At the Global Summit of Women in Poland, Thinh was invited to deliver speeches at both opening and closing ceremonies, in which she introduced foreign friends to Vietnams consistent policy on gender equality and promotion of womens advancement as well as womens role in and contributions to the nations construction and development. She also updated participants at the UNHRC session on the drought and saline intrusion situation in the central, Central Highlands and southern regions of Vietnam as well as the countrys efforts to ensure human rights and implement its sustainable development goals. According to the Deputy FM, this was the first trip to Central and Western Europe made by a Vietnamese leader after the 12th National Party Congress, showing that Vietnam attaches importance to and actively boosts relations with its three traditional and important partners in the region. During the meetings, the leaders of the countries discussed specific and practical measures to further promote bilateral relations with the Vietnamese Vice President. On the East Sea issue, they expressed their concern and shared the viewpoint of addressing disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, in order to maintain peace, stability and maritime security and safety in the region. They showed their belief in Vietnams development potential, hoping for more intensive collaboration in numerous fields, especially in addressing difficulties for the European countries investment projects in Vietnam, Ngoc added./. The seabed holds some fascinating historical secrets, but unlike monuments on land, they're largely hidden from view. Now, archaeologists in the United Kingdom are using 3-D printing to bring two historical shipwrecks to life for history enthusiasts and experts alike. Using data from photogrammetry (measuring the distance between objects from photographs) and sonar imaging, the researchers have produced scale models of a 17th-century shipwreck near Drumbeg, in Scotland, and the remains of the HMHS Anglia, a steamship that was used as a floating hospital during World War I. The steamship was sunk by a mine off the south coast of England. RELATED: San Francisco's Deadliest Shipwreck Found "It was a proof of concept for us, trying to establish what could be done using sound and light, but there are so many different applications you could use this for," said maritime archaeologist John McCarthy, a project manager at Wessex Archaeology who carried out dives at the Scottish site and was in charge of producing the 3D models. "People can engage much more easily with a physical object in front of them. You can bring it to schools and conferences, and we are hoping to donate both models to local museums, once we've finished with them," McCarthy told Live Science. It was not particularly difficult to create 3D-printed representations of the shipwrecks, McCarthy said. The magic, he said, was in creating the virtual models that were fed into the 3D printer. RELATED: Biggest Shipwreck Finds in History McCarthy carried out initial experimental surveys of the Drumbeg wreck in 2012 with his colleague Jonathan Benjamin, who is now a lecturer at Flinders University in Australia. McCarthy recently joined him there to begin Ph.D. studies under Benjamin's supervision. At the Drumbeg wreck site, the pair found three heavily encrusted cannons with evidence of a preserved wooden hull underneath. The ship's identity is still unknown, but one theory holds that it is a Dutch trading vessel called the Crowned Raven, which is known to have been lost in the bay in the late 1600s. After realizing the techniques they were using could provide enough data for a 3D model, the archaeologists went back to do a more detailed survey in 2014 and used the lessons they had learned from their first attempt. WATCH VIDEO: How this Derelict Ship Is Fighting China Press Release June 17, 2016 Legarda Meets Bhutanese Officials on Env't and Cultural Preservation Senator Loren Legarda today met with visiting officials from the Royal Kingdom of Bhutan and discussed efforts of the Philippines on environmental protection, disaster resilience, climate adaptation and cultural preservation. Officials from Bhutan's Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, led by Mr. Karma Kuenga Zangpo of the Department of Local Government, requested a courtesy call with Legarda, who chairs the Senate Committees on Climate Change and Cultural Communities, and the United Nations Global Champion for Resilience. "I had a very engaging discussion with Bhutanese officials who are working from different local governments of Bhutan as project managers specifically for environment-related projects. They were interested on how we were able to mainstream disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in our development agenda, and create the People's Survival Fund by law to support adaptation efforts of local communities," she said. "I encouraged the delegates to incorporate and articulate disaster risk reduction as a pillar and an integral part of their laudable development concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH)," she added. In 2009, in her first official country mission as the Asia-Pacific Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, Legarda visited Bhutan and addressed the Bhutan National Sensitization Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction. From then on, Legarda has been urging the Philippine government to adopt the GNH concept of Bhutan. Bhutan's GNH measures progress by giving equal importance to non-economic aspects of well-being. It consists of four pillars--sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, environmental conservation, promotion and preservation of cultural values, and good governance. "The quality of life of Filipinos remains poorly understood due to the absence of measures that will reflect the happiness and well-being of the people. Our extractive and consumptive model for progress, which conveniently factors out the impact of economic activities on the natural environment and on the well-being of people, increasingly reveals our vulnerability to disasters and climate change and puts our sustainable development goals in peril," said Legarda. "Adopting the GNH index will help us pursue the holistic development of the country amid threats of climate change," she added. Legarda previously filed a Senate Resolution urging the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to develop new indicators that will reflect the happiness and well-being of Filipinos, adopting the GNH concept of the Royal Kingdom of Bhutan. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A group of black cowboys rode down Turk Street Saturday morning on large brown horses, leading a line of drummers and African-themed dancers through the sun-filled historic Fillmore district to celebrate San Franciscos annual Juneteenth Parade and Festival. Jugglers wobbled down nearby streets on stilts. Novelty car collectors showed off classic Cadillacs and Impalas. Models walked down a catwalk for a fashion show. S.F.s 66th observance The festivities marked the 66th year for San Franciscos version of one of the oldest African American celebrations across the country, meant to honor the unofficial end of slavery throughout the country. There is no real national celebration for the end of slavery, said the Rev. Arnold Townsend, executive director of SF Juneteenth. This is a way of celebrating and recognizing that. The tradition dates to June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers made their way to Texas and enforcement of President Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, which officially freed slaves two years earlier, spread west. The celebration started in Texas, but Wesley Johnson Sr. brought the tradition to San Francisco in 1951 when he invited the Bay Areas African American community to celebrate at the Texas Playhouse on Fillmore Street, a popular lounge he owned at the time. Since then, the celebration has taken off. This years event started at 10 a.m. with nearly 5,000 people expected to show up throughout the day to check out clothes vendors, community organization booths, live music stages and grills, which filled Fillmore Street for several blocks. Fatimah Salahuddin of El Sobrante was there early Saturday morning, alongside dozens of others preparing for the event. She sat up a booth in the Uhuru African Village portion of the festival, where people could purchase African clothing and foods. Salahuddin grew up in San Francisco and has attended the celebration several times, but hasnt had the chance in a few years. She was happy Saturday morning to see that the event appeared larger than ever. Its a way to bring the community together, she said. Its especially important now with all the violence and police brutality thats going on. Juneteenth is a way for many people to come together to recognize those issues. Uniting as community Townsend said thats an important part of what the event is about. We no longer really have a united community in the city, Townsend said. Weve been pushed out by development and gentrification. This is a way of identifying our blackness and community as a people. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The festival ran through Saturday evening. Local musicians performed at several stages, black astronauts from NASA talked with community members about their experience, and vendors whipped up fried foods. Gabriel Johnson of Minneapolis visited the festival with a group of friends. As an intern in the Bay Area for the summer, he wanted to check out the event to become better acquainted with the community. He ate fried crab cakes, catfish and oysters as he stood with others to watch an R&B group play. So far, the food is definitely my favorite part, Johnson said. That, and the hospitality. Musicians from the original bands Prince & the Revolution and New Power Generation were scheduled to take the stage Saturday evening in a special tribute to Prince. After all, Townsend said, the idea is for everyone to just come out and be able to have a good time. Kevin Schultz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: kevinedschultz This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Santa Cruz Organic applesauce and Starbucks popular bottled iced coffees are among the 16,000 food and beverage products that may contain bisphenol A, or BPA, which has been declared toxic to the female reproductive system by the state of California, according to analysis of industry data from the Environmental Working Group. However, most grocery shoppers may never know about the chemicals presence, because individual warnings on food products that contain BPA are not required even though California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment added the chemical to the list of toxic chemicals known to cause reproductive harm last year. Under California Proposition 65, that status requires consumer notification as of last month. Yet the only way customers will know about potential BPA in their food products comes in the form of general warning signs at the checkout counter of supermarkets, similar to the kind posted in gas stations, though more specific to BPA. BPA is commonly used for making plastics and epoxies that go into linings for many different types of food and beverage containers, especially metal lids and cans. The specific food and beverage products that potentially contain BPA were recently made public by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and other industry groups. In an effort to share that information with consumers, the Environmental Working Group has now organized the list of products into a new searchable database. Its in baking decorating sprays, aerosol cans, beer kegs its all over the place, said Samara Geller, an author of the report and a database and research analyst at the Environmental Working Groups Oakland office. That substantial list also includes many Coca-Cola products, Vlasic kosher dill pickles, Chicken of the Sea tuna, Swanson beef broth and Pace chunky salsa. The question of whether BPA should appear on specific food labels fits into the national debate over what information consumers should have access to when grocery shopping. We would prefer if this stuff were labeled on the can or on the package directly, as opposed to having to dig around in a database to find products that contain female reproductive toxins, Geller said. After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in 2010 that it had some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and young children, it said it would support voluntary industry efforts to remove BPA from products, especially baby bottles and infant formula containers. But in 2014, the FDA reiterated its overall message that BPA levels are safe at the low level they occur in foods, based on a four-year review of 300 scientific studies. Scientists and regulatory agencies in the U.S. and across the world have concluded that BPA is safe for use in food packaging, the Grocery Manufacturers Association said in May, in a press release regarding Prop. 65 disclosure. Nevertheless, many states have individual laws limiting the use of BPA. California law prohibits the sale of cups and bottles intended for children under 3 years old that contain more than 0.1 parts per billion BPA. According to an analysis that the Environmental Working Group published in 2014, around a third of the food and beverage brands sampled still regularly used BPA in packaging. Some prominent brands, like Campbells and Del Monte, recently announced plans to discontinue its use. Consumers should expect to see the BPA warning signs at checkouts until at least next May, said Sam Delson of the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. After that, the state could require individual labels on products or shelf signs. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Delson said its good news that some companies are planning to phase out BPA, but there are also concerns about what they will use instead. On the one hand, we applaud companies that are seeking BPA alternatives, he said. But we dont know what theyre going to replace it with, and replacement chemicals can also have health concerns that havent been fully documented. Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: taraduggan Searchable BPA database: http://bit.ly/1W4nRwL A San Francisco water department crew hit a gas line Friday morning while installing a new water service, spewing fumes into the residential area of the citys Miraloma Park neighborhood and prompting the evacuation of several homes, officials said. Firefighters and and Pacific Gas and Electric worker responded to reports of the leak at a residence in the 200 block of Juanita Way about 9:40 a.m., said Lt. Jonathan Baxter, a fire department spokesman. The area was quickly closed off to traffic and at least three nearby residences were evacuated, Baxter said. Officials also issued a shelter in place alert for the area as a precautionary measure. Weve had crews out there since before 10 a.m., said Abby Figueroa, a PG&E spokeswoman. Right now they are working with the San Francisco Fire Department to secure the area, make it safe and stop the flow of gas. Officials were able to clamp off the leak at 10:50 a.m., Figueroa said. A San Francisco Public Utility Commission crew struck a one-inch gas line, which connects the house to the larger gas main, causing the leak, said Suzanne Gautier, a spokeswoman for the agency. Gautier said she could not immediately comment on whether the crew had followed proper protocol of contacting PG&E before digging in the area. She said that is something theyre still looking into. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. This is just a reminder, no matter how big or small the project is, that its always important to call 811 before you dig, Figueroa said. Crews worked at the site through the morning and were expected to have the incident cleared by Friday afternoon. Kevin Schultz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: kevinedschultz The news is bad all over, and the skies are gray. A good time for a road trip, to get out of town for a couple of days. We signed up for a train trip to Los Angeles, slow and scenic, like a land cruise. Lunch in the dining car while rolling through the green Salinas Valley. A glass of wine in the afternoon, with the blue Pacific Ocean just outside the window. Nobodys in a hurry, and a good thing its 12 hours from the Bay Area to L.A. by rail on the Coast Starlight. The train got there just after dark, but Los Angeles Union Station was full of people, even on a Saturday night. This is the last of the great railroad stations, opened in 1939 when streamlined trains were the cats meow. The movie stars went up to San Francisco on the Southern Pacifics Lark, came in from Chicago on the Santa Fe Super Chief. Now a transit hub That faded away, of course, and not long ago L.A. Union Station was like a ghost town at night, empty and dusty. Now its back. Nearly 110,000 people go through L.A. Union Station every day, 10 times as many as in the stations heyday. These days its a transit hub, with regional rail, buses, a subway and big ambitions. On Saturday night, a man in a suit was playing a grand piano and the old place had been spiffed up so much the floor tiles gleamed. In one big corner was some kind of special event apparently a gala dinner for some upscale worthy cause. Men in black tie, women in formals. A black-tie gala in a railroad station? That was a surprise. CINDY YAMANAKA/MCT Los Angeles is always a surprise for visiting San Franciscans. It seems bigger than we remember, big enough to be a separate state, or even a nation of its own. L.A. has an unmistakable Southern California look tall, sleek buildings in clusters, skinny palm trees all around. San Franciscans tend to look down their noses at L.A. Theres the smog, the freeways, the Dodgers. The weathers nice, but its not The City, as we like to call San Francisco. Maybe we ought to take another look. Los Angeles is noticeably cleaner than San Francisco, Oakland or Berkeley. Less trash, or so it seemed. There was a bit of high fog June gloom, its called but no smog. Homeless, but not seen We hear that Los Angeles has twice as many homeless people as San Francisco, but they are not nearly as visible. It was just a quick look Westwood, Century City, a ride through South Central, a glimpse of Santa Monica but we see more beggars in a single block in San Francisco than we saw in three days in L.A. Its true. The place is different. There is no North Beach in L.A., no Golden Gate Park and no waterfront. San Francisco is better looking, but the snooty city to the north may be losing its edge, like a beauty who has let herself go. After a bit, the trip resumed, this time in a rental car. You have your choice fast but bleak Interstate 5, up over the Grapevine and through the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, or Highway 101, the classic route. The classic route: 101 We took 101. The first part of the freeway goes through country blasted by the sun and endless suburbs Tarzana, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Thousand Oaks. In an hour or so, the ocean at Ventura. Classic beach places up to Santa Barbara, then over the hill to San Luis Obispo, the traditional halfway point. Very historic: There is a Spanish mission there and the worlds first motel. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. We skipped history and headed up over the Cuesta Pass to Santa Margarita, past Paso Robles and then up the long Salinas Valley again, northbound this time. The off-ramps zip by: King City, Soledad, Gonzales, Chualar. On the side of the road, workers bent over row crops, dust kicked up by farm machinery. We sometimes forget how big California is, how different one region is from another. Not long after Salinas, the hills are covered with trees pines and firs a sure sign of Northern California. And just at the top of a long grade, the headwaters of the Pajaro River and the Santa Clara County line. S.F. County line The San Jose city limits reach way out in rolling hill country, like the end of a long arm. We turn off 101 at 85 north, a shortcut to Interstate 280. A roadside sign says I-280 is the scenic route, but now its clogged with afternoon Silicon Valley traffic. It is stop and go, stop and slow and after a bit more San Bruno Mountain is off to the right. And then the San Francisco County line, a glimpse of a BART train, and a turnoff that runs into familiar streets. L.A. is a great place to visit, but what they say is true: At the end, all roads lead home. Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His column appears every Sunday. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: carlnoltesf Gap Inc.s struggles could wreak havoc on balance sheets beyond its own. The San Francisco apparel chain, which also operates Banana Republic and Old Navy stores, is a key tenant to malls and shopping centers across the country. If Gap cant arrest its falling sales, the company will most likely need to close stores beyond the 100 locations it plans to eliminate across the world over the next few years. For some properties, the loss of a Gap store squeezes the cash flow of the propertys owner. At worst, it could force the owner to shutter the property because of loans that cant be repaid. Research firm Morningstar recently estimated that there are at least 130 commercial real estate mortgages in the United States backed in part by Gap Inc.s stores whose leases will expire over the next two years. Of this group, 32 properties could see occupancy rates fall below 80 percent should the Gap store close. If you lose a tenant like Gap, it would be enough to handicap your financing prospects, said Edward Dittmer, vice president of analytics at Morningstar. The loss of such revenue cant be replaced. A Gap spokeswoman declined to comment. The problems are not confined to Gap. Mall anchors like Sears, Macys and J.C. Penney are looking to reduce space by as much as 50 percent, said Jeff Badstubner senior vice president at JLL, a real estate investment management firm. Though Gap stores are small compared with department stores, Morningstar identified 14 mortgages in smaller shopping centers where Gap occupies more than 20 percent of the propertys space. For example, at the Manhattan Gateway Center in Manhattan Beach (Los Angeles County), Gap takes up 30 percent of the property. Online shopping Like other mall apparel chains such as J. Crew and Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap has struggled to increase sales as more people purchase clothes over the Internet. About 75 percent of Gap stores and 80 percent of Banana Republic locations are in malls. CEO Art Peck has previously told analysts the company drastically needs to improve its merchandise. The companys three major business units Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic are struggling. In 2015, sales at stores open for at least a year fell 4 percent. Things are not that much better this year: First-quarter same-store sales dropped 5 percent from the same quarter last year. In fact, Gap has not recorded a monthly same-store sales increase since March 2015 14 months ago. The recent struggles of Old Navy have been particularly alarming, because it has been Gaps most consistent performer over the years, said Morningstar retail analyst Bridget Weishaar. Since 2015, Gap has closed 150 stores across the United States, with 25 left on the cutting list. The company also plans to shutter about 75 Old Navy and Banana Republic locations overseas. But those closings are probably just the start. As of January, Gap was operating 3,721 stores, and if its cash flow continues to shrink, the company will need to cut costs by shutting stores whose leases will soon expire. Store leases, which typically last five years, are among Gaps biggest expenses: The retailer estimates it owes a minimum of $6.8 billion in payments on leases that run through 2032, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not disclose specific dates when leases expire. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Gap closings will primarily hurt mediocre or poorly performing malls; such groups, rated B, C and D, make up 71 percent of the 1,052 malls in the United States, according to a report by Green Street Advisors. But Gaps position in top-rated, A quality malls is hardly assured either. More malls are opting to lease space to non-retailers like restaurants, bowling alleys and movie theaters. They are also increasingly looking to fill space with lesser-known but unique retailers that operate only three or four locations, according to Badstubner of JLL. Location switch While Gap is still a major brand, malls could seek out better-performing chains like Zara and H&M while shifting Gap stores to less desirable places on the property. Of course, malls can rest easier if Gap sales rebound. The company has the right strategies, including improving its fashion offerings and getting merchandise to stores faster. But whether Gap can execute those strategies is far from certain, Weishaar said. Thomas Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: tlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: ByTomLee Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press Chinese electronics maker LeEco said Friday it has finalized steps to buy roughly 50 acres from Yahoo in Santa Clara. LeEco has been expanding in the Bay Area, opening up a North American headquarters in San Jose in April. The purchase will help Yahoo, which has been exploring sales of its patents and real estate as it takes bids for its core Internet properties. In February 2013, two months after Adam Lanza murdered 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution urging the citys pension fund board to unload its stake in firearms and ammunition makers. At its meeting the next month, the board of the San Francisco Employees Retirement system discussed the nonbinding resolution but took no action, other than referring it to its staff to research some questions that were raised. But the issue was never brought up at another board meeting. Many mass shootings later including the deadliest in modern U.S. history last weekend in Orlando the San Francisco fund still owns shares in three companies that make guns or ammo sold to consumers: Orbital ATK, Vista Outdoor, and Sturm, Ruger & Co. These holdings are worth just over $1 million combined, a tiny fraction of the funds $20 billion portfolio. But even that small stake is surprising considering that San Francisco has passed some of the toughest gun restrictions in the country. Last year, its sole remaining gun shop closed after the city passed an ordinance requiring gun sellers to record all commercial firearms sales on video and give the Police Department weekly updates on ammunition sales. Paul Chinn/The Chronicle Supervisor Mark Farrell said he plans to introduce a similar gun-divestment resolution on Tuesday. It is part of a slow and very long process, but I think its important, he said. Investment policies Other large public pension funds in California adopted gun-divestment policies within months of the Sandy Hook massacre. The California Public Employees Retirement System and the California State Teachers Retirement System agreed not to own stock in companies that make firearms illegal for sale in California. CalPERS subsequently sold $5 million worth of stock in Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger. The teachers system sold $3 million worth of stock in the same two companies. Both still own stock in Vista Outdoor, owner of gunmaker Savage Arms. Michael Sicilia, a spokesman for the teachers fund, said the companys guns are legal for sale in California. The University of Californias investment office got out of firearms lock, stock and barrel. We determined that we did not want to be invested in these assets, period, said Dianne Klein, a spokeswoman for the UC system. It dumped about $400,000 worth of stock in Smith & Wesson and an indirect investment in a firearms distributor. Cerberus-Remington exit At the time of the Sandy Hook murders, the UC, state teachers and San Francisco investment funds all had an indirect ownership in the nations largest gun conglomerate through private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The conglomerate then named Freedom Group, now named Remington Outdoor owns Bushmaster, which made the semiautomatic rifle Lanza used. Shortly after those shootings, Cerberus announced it would sell Remington, but it never found a buyer. UC had invested about $37 million with Cerberus, but because it did not control the fund that owned Remington, it could not get rid of that holding. Instead, it sold its entire investment in Cerberus to another investor by mid-2013, Klein said. The teachers and San Francisco pension funds hung on until May 2015, when Cerberus gave certain investors a way to cash out of Remington. The teachers fund, which owned 2.4 percent of Remington, sold it back to Cerberus for an undisclosed amount. The San Francisco fund got $44,462 for its interest in Remington, said Jay Huish, the systems executive director. The decision to exit Remington was made by the staff of the San Francisco system, not the board, said Huish. We thought it was a prudent move to make. The fund also disposed of its stake in Smith & Wesson. It still owns Vista Outdoor and Orbital ATK (which makes ammunition sold to consumers) in funds that track the Russell 1000 value index. Its $268,000 holding in Sturm, Ruger was selected by one of the funds external investment managers. Paul Chinn/The Chronicle Victor Makras is the board member who raised the gun-divestment issue at the March 2013 meeting. I support divesting from firearms 100 percent, Makras said. Three years ago I made a proposal to our body to divest from firearms. It was brought up, it didnt go anywhere. He said he didnt bring it up later, when he was board president, because I did not believe the majority of the board would be supportive. Divestment evaluation Makras said he hopes the measure would have more support today, in response to the Orlando shooting that left 49 dead. But its not clear how popular it would be. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Wendy Paskin-Jordan, a current board member who was its president in March 2013, did not return phone calls. Malia Cohen, the current president, was also a board member in 2013. As a San Francisco supervisor, she voted in favor of the original gun-divestment resolution. Cohen declined to comment on whether it should be revisited. Board member Brian Stansbury, a San Francisco police sergeant, would only say, Our responsibility as board members is to evaluate every investment and its risk to the retirement system. Board member Joseph Driscoll, a captain with the San Francisco Fire Department, said he would be against an absolute ban on all gun makers because there are companies that make weapons for our soldiers, our sailors, to help defend our country. He added that there are responsible gun manufacturers. He said the funds gun and ammo holdings are worth another look, but he is fine owning companies in an index fund. When you own an index, you are taking a position in an industry or region (rather than an individual company). Im OK with that. The San Francisco fund previously divested tobacco stocks, including ones held in index funds. Board member Herb Meiberger said he doesnt comment on investments like this. He noted that the board voted in December to sell certain coal stocks, but still hasnt done it. (Huish said the staff will present a plan to divest from those stocks to the board in July or August.) Stansbury was the lone vote against the coal plan. Board member Leona Bridges could not be reached for comment. Its crazy for us to be invested in the gun manufacturing industry, Makras said. We should should take every step possible to protect life. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: kathpender Photo: MLS / / Two Bay Area men who shot and killed a 19-year-old man inside a San Francisco nightclub this month were charged with murder Friday, officials said. Charles Gardner, 25, of San Francisco, and Terrance Webb, 37, who has addresses in San Francisco and Hayward, appeared at the hall of justice Friday, where their arraignments were put over to Tuesday morning, according to the district attorneys office. San Francisco Police Department / / A suspect in the stabbing death of a 55-year-old man last week in San Franciscos Mission District was captured after he was spotted near the scene of the killing, police said Friday while announcing beefed-up patrols in the area in response to a spike in violence. Jose Poot, 27, of San Francisco was arrested on suspicion of murder after detectives investigating the slaying of San Francisco resident Larry Peevy identified him as the suspect. More than 150 San Francisco firefighters battled a huge five-alarm blaze that broke out on the edge of the Bernal Heights neighborhood Saturday afternoon, closing the areas busiest street and displacing at least 42 people. The inferno spread through as many as six buildings on the 3300 block of Mission Street, with firefighters reporting to the scene around 2:30 p.m. Flames were shooting out of Playa Azul, a neighborhood restaurant, and the Cole Hardware store as firefighters used more than 40 pieces of apparatus to tame the blaze. Authorities evacuated the surrounding buildings and blocked off nearby streets. They ordered anyone within a five-block radius of the fire to shelter in place and warned others living close by to shut their windows and doors to avoid letting in heavy smoke and potentially toxic chemicals from the burning hardware store. The order was later lifted. Chaotic scene Meanwhile, the water poured on the fire rushed down toward 29th Street and Tiffany Avenue, forcing neighbors to use sandbags and brooms to push the foot-deep water out of their homes and businesses. Firefighters were able to stop the fires spread and had contained it by about 6:30 p.m., said Jonathan Baxter, a Fire Department spokesman. Baxter said firefighters would later go into the buildings to take care of any residual fire and hot spots left inside. Authorities said Mission Street would remain closed from Valencia to 30th streets through at least Sunday morning. The fire spread through 3300 to 3322 Mission St. and 31 to 33 29th St., leaving businesses, apartments and low-income housing charred or nearly destroyed. The block was a chaotic scene, with hoses streaming water down through the roofs of the buildings. The rear of the Graywood Hotel, 3308 Mission St., was destroyed by the fire. Blue sky filled the space where the building had been. Investigating cause Two people standing outside of the buildings were treated for minor smoke inhalation, officials said. Fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze. Merchants and residents by the hundreds gathered behind police tape along Mission Street. The manager of Good Frikin Chicken set up a free table of falafel, hummus and rice, feeding the firefighters and police officers. Joe Williams lived on the second floor of the now-charred Graywood Hotel. Williams said he went to check out the hallway Saturday afternoon after his wife thought she had smelled burning barbecue. He walked down the second floor hallway, near the top of the stairs, to check the fuse box. I opened the fuse box, and smoke just poured out, he said. I ran to get the fire extinguisher, but it was already too late. Williams has lived at the hotel for about a year with his wife and 1-year-old son. He was one of several people in the building who were previously homeless and had been referred to the building by social service agencies. I just got out of being homeless, of moving from place to place, and here I am again, he said. Williams said his family just managed to escape before the fire spread. Maria Romero lived in a studio apartment with her son at 3316 Mission St. She was working at Duboce Park Cafe when she got a call that her apartment was on fire. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Her son, 15-year-old Kenneth Cano, was able to escape with their bulldog, Spike, after someone ran through the building warning everyone to get out, she said. Im so glad I was able to get the things that are important my son and my dog, Romero said. Thats what I need to carry on in this life. Things happen. The suddenly homeless residents were sent to the nearby Safeway parking lot for assistance from the Red Cross. A temporary shelter was opened at the Salvation Army on 1156 Valencia St. Previous 5-alarm fire Shukry Lama was working at the 3300 Club at 3300 Mission St. when the fire broke out. Lama, whose family owns the club, said there were a couple of customers and three employees in the bar watching the Giants game when they cleared out. Saturdays fire was San Franciscos first five-alarm in almost two years. The last ripped through a building at 2632 Mission St. on Sept. 4, 2014, injuring four people. J.K. Dineen and Kevin Schultz are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com , kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen, @kevinedschultz Imagine the thin-skinned, vindictive Donald Trump with the levers of government power at his disposal. This is a man who has demonstrated predilections more fitting for stewardship of an authoritarian regime than a democracy rooted in the rule of law. This is the candidate who has advocated torture, pushed for an immigration ban based on religious affiliation, encouraged the roughing up of demonstrators at his rallies, and called for criminal prosecution of his likely general-election opponent, Hillary Clinton, if he is elected in November. As would any self-respecting despot, Trump has equated critical scrutiny in the news media with acts of sedition. He is doing his level best to chill American journalism even as he exploits its willingness to report and often cover live on cable news his latest outrageous comment. As a candidate, his weapons of retribution are limited. One is to foment hate and distrust against the chroniclers of his campaign, which he has applied liberally in his repeated blasts at the horrible people in the press. He also has attempted to punish real or perceived enemies in the media by denying them credentials. The Washington Post is merely the latest organization to be shut out of the Trump campaigns traveling press corps. The triggering event? The Trump campaign apparently was infuriated by the Post headline: Donald Trump Suggests President Obama Was Involved With Orlando Shooting. The article was about Trumps comments to Fox News that darkly insinuated that Obamas response to the shooting suggested he doesnt get it or he gets it better than anybody understands. Trumps campaign complained: We no longer feel compelled to work with a publication which has put its need for clicks above journalistic integrity. Yet the day after shunning the Post, Trump re-tweeted a Breitbart.com story that purported to show that the Obama administration supported the Islamic State. Its more than a little ironic that Trump, the king of factually reckless and personally insulting social media blasts, would challenge anyones integrity or attention-grabbing tactics. The Post thus joins an ever-growing blacklist that includes the Des Moines Register, the Daily Beast, Buzzfeed News, Univision, the New Hampshire Union Leader, Foreign Policy, Mother Jones, Gawker and Fusion. Martin Baron, the Posts executive editor, has called Trumps move against his paper nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press. The campaigns wanton withholding of credentials, while unprecedented in modern American politics, pales in comparison with his other threats on press freedom. He has promised to open up our libel laws to make it easier for public figures to sue news organizations. Were going to have people sue you like youve never got sued before, he has said. He has talked about using antitrust laws against Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder who owns the Post. Trump adviser Roger Stone has suggested that a Trump presidency could retaliate against CNN by pulling its federal broadcast license. In some ways, Trumps moves against the media, from petty to substantial, are reminiscent of the paranoia-driven White House of President Richard Nixon. Nixon used the powers of government to harass journalists in myriad ways, from surveillance of personal lives to IRS audits. A President Trump would have far more sophisticated retaliatory tools at his disposal. Imagine if Nixons henchmen had the ability to imprison enemy combatants without due process, proscribe Americans on a secret list from boarding an airplane, or use 21st century technology to track an individuals every keystroke and mouse click. More than ever, our freedoms are becoming dependent on the judgment and restraint of those in power. Judgment and restraint are two words that one would not associate with Donald Trumps presidential campaign. John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicles editorial page editor. Email: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: JohnDiazChron Nixons unrelenting attempts at revenge on the news media President Richard Nixons administration routinely used the powers of government against journalists he regarded as adversaries. The extent of the harassment, and the presidents personal involvement, was well documented in White House tapes. Among the acts of retribution: Wiretapping The Nixon White House, without court approval, asked the FBI in 1969 to wiretap 17 journalists and government officials suspected in published leaks about the secret U.S. bombings in Cambodia. In the short run, wouldnt it be so much easier, wouldnt it, to run this war in a dictatorial way, kill all the reporters and carry on the war, Nixon said in the Oval Office on Feb. 22, 1971. Later that year, Nixon called for the FBI to investigate that bastard Daniel Schorr of CBS News after a critical story. And no stalling, he emphasized. IRS audits Journalists on Nixons enemies list were targeted for tax audits. For example, influential Washington columnist Mary McGrory was audited multiple times during Nixons tenure. Pound these people, Nixon said of the audits of McGrory and Schorr of CBS News. Outraged at the transition of the Los Angeles Times from a right-wing rag to an aggressive, respected national publication, Nixon ordered the IRS to inspect Publisher Otis Chandlers taxes and immigration authorities to investigate the Times hiring records. FCC licenses Nixon and aides plotted to use the Federal Communications Commissions license-renewal process to punish the Washington Post for its aggressive Watergate coverage. The Post had two Florida TV stations up for license renewal in 1974 and each was challenged by local individuals, some of whom were known Nixon supporters. The main thing is the Post is going to have damnable, damnable problems out of this one, Nixon said. Ultimately, the scheme failed. The Miami and Jacksonville licenses were renewed. Jack Anderson The muckraking columnist was a fixation of the Nixon White House. In January 1972, the president and Attorney General John Mitchell talked about prosecuting Anderson for publishing classified information. I would just like to get ahold of this Anderson guy and hang him, Mitchell said. Goddamn it, yes, Nixon replied. So listen, the day after the election, win or lose, weve got to do something with this son of a bitch. The president and senior aides even talked of sabotaging Andersons credibility by slipping him a falsified White House document and investigating rumors (never substantiated) that the married father of nine might be gay. There also were allegations of a plot among Nixon operatives to kill Anderson by planting poison in his medicine cabinet or exposing him to a huge dose of absorbable LSD on his steering wheel. Evidence of that plot remains a point of dispute and was never directly linked to Nixon. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump wants to shred trade deals and bar immigrants, ideas that could upend economic and political norms if he wins in November. But within a week, British voters will face an equally ominous crossroads in choosing to leave or stay in the continent-wide European Union. The British exit, known by the shorthand Brexit, is a toss-up in polls, another reminder just like the Trump candidacy of the huge gap between conventional leaders and the electorate, which is seething in anger. The motivators immigration, loss of pride, and nonpartisan fury at officialdom are remarkably alike and just as dangerous. The shocking killing of rising British lawmaker Jo Cox at the hands of an apparent neo-Nazi isolationist brings the issue closer to view. That death, on the heels of the Orlando massacre, has plunged both countries into sad contemplation at a time of intense politics and division. In Britain the urge to break away from Europe has always existed. Now its worsened in the wake of the EUs fumbling efforts to deal with Greek finances and a slow, divided response to a record wave of immigrants from the Mideast and Africa. The union isnt quick, adaptive or even united on major grievances. But pulling out, as British conservatives and others want, is too risky and unpredictable to support. Worries over the exit idea have swept across the Atlantic to draw in American observers. This past week Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen noted the Brexit vote on June 23 in holding off on a possible bump in lending rates. In April, President Obama crossed the waters to tell British voters to stick with the EU, a rare case of a foreign leader dipping into domestic politics. Washington is watching and doesnt like what might be coming: a chopped-up Europe with weaker financial and social rules. A string of economic studies heap doubt on the worth of bailing on the 28-country union. If Britain walked, it would need to redo trade deals and find itself walled off from half its export market. Standing alone could weaken the countrys generally strong economy, and London could lose its perch as a dominant financial center. There would be a price for rejecting the rest of the continent. The Brexit debate could be a early tryout of arguments that American voters will face in coming months. Its a Trump-like call for sovereignty and righteous-sounding anger. But pulling away from the outside world wont work in either Britain or the United States. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Oaklands acting Police Chief Paul Figueroa stepped down Friday, becoming the third head of the Oakland Police Department to abruptly leave the top post in nine days, just as another bombshell dropped: A new internal investigation is under way, this time into racist text messages and emails shared among officers. A visibly frustrated Mayor Libby Schaaf revealed the probe at a news conference Friday night that she began with a simple declaration: I am here to run a Police Department, not a frat house. With that, she disclosed that her citys department, already engulfed in a sex scandal, was also being probed for racist communications that were wholly inappropriate and not acceptable for anyone who wears the badge of the Oakland Police Department. The texts were sent by African American officers, Schaaf said. She would not give other details, including whether members of the police command staff were implicated, saying state law governing public release of police disciplinary matters prevented her from doing so. Some of the officers being investigated were engaging in hate speech, and others were tolerating it by receiving offensive messages and not reporting them, Schaaf said. One text obtained by NBC news showed an image of a Ku Klux Klan member on a cereal box with the message, Brad, I heard you got boxes of these in your cupboards. Another text appeared to show the word, N. In a move in which the mayor indicated she had lost faith in police leaders to run the department, she disclosed that she would not appoint another interim or acting chief to the top post. Instead, the department will have no chief, and for the time being command staff will report to City Administrator Sabrina Landreth as Oakland conducts a national search for a new chief. I feel that this is an appropriate time to place civilian oversight over this Police Department, to send a clear message about not tolerating misconduct, and to root out what is clearly a toxic, macho culture, Schaaf said. Unrelated to sex scandal The mayor said that Figueroas departure was unrelated to the texting investigation or to a separate scandal in which 14 officers have come under investigation for alleged connections to a teenage sex worker. Schaaf would not divulge Figueroas reasons for stepping down after only two days on the job. She said he has asked to return to the force as a captain, not an assistant chief. News of Figueroas decision came just hours after the explosive revelation that longtime Oakland police veteran Sgt. Mike Gantt had allowed his girlfriend to write some of his reports and that she had shared confidential case information on social media, according to sources familiar with the matter. That development came amid an ever-expanding sexual misconduct case that has now implicated officers at several other law enforcement agencies and at least one employee at a U.S. Department of Defense agency. Schaaf declined to discuss Gantts case at the news conference, saying it would compromise her ability to seek the highest punishment possible. She said the department has referred cases he investigated that could be tainted to the Alameda County district attorneys office. The mayors heightened emotion on Friday marked a stark contrast to the image of calm and control that she projected at City Hall last week after the sudden departure of Chief Sean Whent. Schaaf replaced Whent with interim Chief Ben Fairow, whom she had not fully vetted and wound up firing after six days. Several city officials were angry that the mayor had left them in the dark about Whents apparent ouster. Schaaf initially said the chief had resigned for personal reasons, but indicated Friday that she cannot fully disclose what happened because of a state law that guarantees confidentiality for police personnel files. I take ownership of my mistakes, the mayor said Friday. I hope I have been clear in what my intentions are. Meanwhile, the mayor has set her sights on significantly changing the department ending what she says is a disgusting frat culture even as the department has been under federal oversight for the last 13 years. We have a department with almost no women, no LGBT people, and a dramatic underrepresentation of people of color, Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan told The Chronicle. She is pushing for reforms that would require Oaklands police force to rethink its hiring and recruiting strategies. Indeed, many of the people caught up in recent disciplinary cases, including the sexual misconduct case involving a teenage sex worker, are rookie officers who were hired after 2013. Over the past three years, Mayors Jean Quan and Schaaf have made an aggressive push to boost the citys police force, and Schaaf, in particular, established herself as a stalwart both for Whent and for the rank and file. But with additional scandals bubbling up on what seems like a daily basis, she has struggled to restore public trust in the police force she worked so hard to build up. This cannot go on I think the communitys faith is completely destroyed in that department, said Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods. This cannot go on, said civil rights attorney Jim Chanin, who on Wednesday announced that he and fellow lawyer John Burris may ask a federal judge to intervene in hiring and recruitment for Oaklands beleaguered department. Yet others are confident that Schaaf will find a reformer from outside who can whip the force into shape. I think she can find someone who is really ruthless about instituting reforms of these kinds of things, said Peter Keane, a former San Francisco police commissioner and law professor at Golden Gate University. But that person probably has to come from another city, he cautioned. You cant do any of this stuff with an internal candidate. Chronicle staff writers Erin Allday and Demian Bulwa contributed to this report. Rachel Swan, Phil Matier and Andrew Ross are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com, pmatier@sfchronicle.com and aross@sfchronicle.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A group of black cowboys rode down Turk Street Saturday morning on large brown horses, leading a line of drummers and African-themed dancers through the sun-filled historic Fillmore district to celebrate San Franciscos annual Juneteenth Parade and Festival. Jugglers wobbled down nearby streets on stilts. Novelty car collectors showed off classic Cadillacs and Impalas. Models walked down a catwalk for a fashion show. S.F.s 66th observance The festivities marked the 66th year for San Franciscos version of one of the oldest African American celebrations across the country, meant to honor the unofficial end of slavery throughout the country. There is no real national celebration for the end of slavery, said the Rev. Arnold Townsend, executive director of SF Juneteenth. This is a way of celebrating and recognizing that. The tradition dates to June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers made their way to Texas and enforcement of President Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, which officially freed slaves two years earlier, spread west. The celebration started in Texas, but Wesley Johnson Sr. brought the tradition to San Francisco in 1951 when he invited the Bay Areas African American community to celebrate at the Texas Playhouse on Fillmore Street, a popular lounge he owned at the time. Since then, the celebration has taken off. This years event started at 10 a.m. with nearly 5,000 people expected to show up throughout the day to check out clothes vendors, community organization booths, live music stages and grills, which filled Fillmore Street for several blocks. Fatimah Salahuddin of El Sobrante was there early Saturday morning, alongside dozens of others preparing for the event. She sat up a booth in the Uhuru African Village portion of the festival, where people could purchase African clothing and foods. Salahuddin grew up in San Francisco and has attended the celebration several times, but hasnt had the chance in a few years. She was happy Saturday morning to see that the event appeared larger than ever. Its a way to bring the community together, she said. Its especially important now with all the violence and police brutality thats going on. Juneteenth is a way for many people to come together to recognize those issues. Uniting as community Townsend said thats an important part of what the event is about. We no longer really have a united community in the city, Townsend said. Weve been pushed out by development and gentrification. This is a way of identifying our blackness and community as a people. The festival ran through Saturday evening. Local musicians performed at several stages, black astronauts from NASA talked with community members about their experience, and vendors whipped up fried foods. Gabriel Johnson of Minneapolis visited the festival with a group of friends. As an intern in the Bay Area for the summer, he wanted to check out the event to become better acquainted with the community. He ate fried crab cakes, catfish and oysters as he stood with others to watch an R&B group play. So far, the food is definitely my favorite part, Johnson said. That, and the hospitality. Musicians from the original bands Prince & the Revolution and New Power Generation were scheduled to take the stage Saturday evening in a special tribute to Prince. After all, Townsend said, the idea is for everyone to just come out and be able to have a good time. Kevin Schultz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: kevinedschultz Relatives of a homeless man fatally shot in April by a pair of San Francisco police officers who quickly opened fire on him after they spotted him on a Mission District street, allegedly armed with a knife, filed a wrongful-death claim against the city Friday. The claim centers on the speed with which the officers resorted to deadly force: video footage, first obtained by The Chronicle, showed less than 30 seconds elapsed between the time officers left their squad cars and when they fired seven bullets at 45-year-old Luis Gongora. The claim is a precursor to a lawsuit against the city, the familys attorneys said. The confrontation between Gongora and the officers, Sgt. Nate Steger and Officer Michael Mellone, began when city homeless outreach workers called police on April 7 to report that a man was holding a knife at a homeless encampment on Shotwell at 18th Street. Although a spokesman for the Police Department declined to comment on the allegations made in the familys claim, police cited witness statements at a news conference a day after the shooting that Gongora lunged at Steger and Mellone with a 13-inch kitchen knife in his hand. But civil rights attorney John Burris, who is representing the family, cited other witnesses who saw Gongora sitting down with his back against a wall when officers arrived and said he did not use the knife in an aggressive way and dropped it after the officers initially shot him with a beanbag round. Three witnesses also told The Chronicle that Gongora did not appear to threaten the officers. Surveillance footage of the encounter does not show Gongora in the frame, but officers can be heard shouting at him to get on the ground! and, seconds later, put that down! before shooting him. At a news conference to announce the claim, attorneys for the family displayed photos from an independent autopsy, which concluded that a bullet wound to Gongora's head was the shot that killed him. The trajectory of the bullet came from above, they said, indicating that he was lying on the ground at the time. Gongora posed an immediate and deadly threat, and our officers use of lethal force was necessary and legally justified, Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, said Friday. Burris, however, said Steger and Mellone ignored their training to create time and space between themselves and the man, escalating the situation into a lethal encounter. When you have a person theoretically with an edged weapon, you dont rush at the person, Burris said. Just because you have a knife does not mean you have a death warrant. Gongora, born in Mexico, immigrated to the United States about 14 years ago and worked as a dishwasher at Mels Diner on Mission at Fourth streets for the better part of a decade to make money for his wife and three children in the state of Yucatan. He spoke Mayan predominantly, some Spanish and very little English, and probably didnt understand the officers commands, his family said at a news conference to announce filing of the claim. Officer Carlos Manfredi, a police spokesman, said Friday the departments investigation into the shooting was completed and had been passed along to the district attorneys office. Prosecutors are still conducting a parallel investigation and have not determined whether to charge the officers. They were placed on paid leave after the shooting but have since returned to full duty, said Officer Grace Gatpandan, a police spokeswoman. Critics said the officers did not follow a proposed use-of-force policy, developed after the shooting death of Mario Woods in December, that emphasizes communication, de-escalation, proportionality of response and the preservation of human life. The Police Commission will vote on the proposal Wednesday. A month after Gongoras death, a Bayview police sergeant fatally shot 29-year-old Jessica Williams, who had also been in and out of homelessness, after she allegedly tried to flee in a stolen vehicle. The shooting prompted Mayor Ed Lee to ask for the resignation of Greg Suhr, who stepped down as police chief hours after the woman was killed. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: kveklerov I recently received some family photos via e-mail, from my cousin Bill. His mom, my beloved Aunt Annette, had recently passed away. She was my father's sister, and the last of my aunts and uncles. In preparation to divide Aunt Annette's photos, Bill digitized several and distributed them to relevant relatives. I was stunned. They showed a sliver of my father's life that he never really wanted to talk about. Among the images were photos of my father in the military, during World War II. He was so young, just 20 to 21 years old, with movie star good looks. He was a devoted husband, and father of seven children. He died tragically young at the age of 44. I was almost 16 at the time. I chalked his silence about the war to having seen terrible things, and I never pushed the subject. One of the photos showed my father wearing a uniform with a patch on the front of it. The image was small. But, I was able to identify it by searching for Army Air Force WWII patches. I browsed several, and then had a Eureka! moment. There was the patch. Once I was able to identify the patch, I learned that he was with the 479th Squadron. I began to search for that. That search took me to a site for The American Air Museum in Wattisham, England. Americans started to arrive at Wattisham RAF in May 1942, and was handed over to the United States Army Air Force on May 8, 1943. My father's group, the 479th was lead by Kyle L Riddle, and were known as Riddle's Raiders. According to the CNIC Naval Air Station site, the group was credited with 155 enemy aircraft destroyed and 38 damaged in aerial victories, along with 442 destroyed and another 167 damaged on the ground. On Thanksgiving Day 1945, the Group boarded the USS Enterprise for the return trip to the United States, where the 479th inactivated on Dec. 1, 1945, at Camp Kilmer. I clicked on the first photo on the site, and was shocked and excited to see a group photo of the soldiers, my father among them. He is kneeling in the front, second from the right in the first photo on this page. This prompted me to write to the museum let them know who he was, in case they didn't have the identity of the men. I received the following response from Maggie Aggiss, the historian for the museum: "I am the historian for the Wattisham Museum, Suffolk, England. I was so pleased to see your message. I can confirm that your father Corporal Melvin Bragman was indeed based here at Wattisham. He was an armourer with the 436th Fighter Sqn, 479th Fighter Group, later known as Riddle's Raiders. I have attached a photo of him [see slideshow] here with fellow armourer Paul E Ellis. They are loading a P-51 Mustang ready for a mission." Those words, stating that my father had been there, choked me up. It was also the first time I knew his rank and position. I knew he was on the ground in France at some point, because he mentioned how much he liked the French people. But, I never knew he was stationed in England. There was another photo with my father and two comrades posing in front of Big Ben in London. I also came across a photo of my father with his older brother, Benny, and another soldier, in a night club. I remembered that one from my childhood. But, I never gave much thought about where it was taken. My cousin included any information that was on the back of the photos. This one said it was taken at 151 Powell Street, San Francisco, CA. I used Google Maps to look at the location. It's the historic Herbert Hotel, established in 1909, and still there. The entrance at 151 is now home to an eyewear store. I went to the location the next day. I wanted to see the building where he had been, walk on the sidewalk where he had walked. Maybe this is silly, but I wanted to see if I could feel his presence. I learned that, about a year after Dad's stay, there was a fire at the hotel. Sadly, four firefighters lost their lives and 37 people were injured. I don't know why my father came through San Francisco after the war. He lived in New York and fought in Europe. I've ordered my father's military records. Perhaps they'll shed light on that mystery and fill in any blanks. He's been gone longer now than he was on earth. Despite the many years that he's been gone, I miss him terribly. Publishing this article on Father's Day is my way of coping with the loss. A happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Bob Bragman is a producer for SFGATE. His writing reflects his love of the Bay Area, in addition to his passion for vintage pop culture, ephemera and vernacular photographs. To see more of his content, please click here. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A jury in San Francisco heard sharply conflicting portrayals of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. at Fridays opening session of the companys criminal trial on charges of violating federal pipeline-inspection laws, with one attorney calling it a deceptive scofflaw that chose profits over safety, and her adversary describing it as a community benefactor that did its best to comply with unclear government standards. After the September 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes, PG&E made a deliberate choice to not follow these ... safety regulations, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hallie Hoffman, the lead prosecutor, said in her opening statement in a packed federal courtroom. PG&E attorney Steven Bauer countered that the laws the company is charged with knowingly violating, on testing, maintenance and record keeping for gas pipelines, were so vague that some federal regulators had been debating some of the very same issues that had confused the utility and its engineers. These folks (PG&Es 20,000 employees) live in the communities where these pipelines are, Bauer told the jury. They have families. They have kids. They cross these pipelines every day, and have no reason to endanger themselves and their neighbors. But Hoffman maintained that the utility simply decided to cut safety expenses at the same time it was taking actions to maximize profits. The prosecution arose from the National Transportation Safety Boards investigation of the San Bruno explosion. PG&E is charged with 12 violations of federal laws that require gas pipeline operators to maintain accurate records, identify risks to lines and inspect or test when pipe pressures exceed the legal maximum. The company is also charged with obstructing justice in the San Bruno investigation by trying to conceal an allegedly illegal policy of testing older lines for welding problems. Prosecutors say the company conducted tests only if pipeline pressure reached at least 10 percent above the maximum allowed by federal law. If convicted of all charges, PG&E could be fined $562 million, which prosecutors say is twice the amount the company saved by sidestepping safety standards. The state Public Utilities Commission has already fined the company $1.6 billion for the San Bruno explosion. Hoffman, in her half-hour introductory statement, told jurors the company made knowing and intentional choices to violate the pipeline laws. PG&E officials knew exactly what they had to do (under the law) but they didnt like it, so they chose not to do it, the prosecutor said. She said the company corruptly misled the federal Transportation Safety Board in the boards San Bruno investigation. At first, Hoffman said, PG&E told the board it had examined its pipeline and found no leaks. Months later, she said, the company admitted having leaks, but said it couldnt locate them. She said the company knew its records were faulty, but relied on them in deciding which pipelines to inspect and repair, ignoring emails from employees about more widespread hazards. Bauer, the lead defense attorney, described a company in which safety comes first, compliance comes first. In an opening statement that lasted an hour and 45 minutes, he said PG&E had elaborate procedures for identifying defective pipelines, and any that were omitted from its reports involved only pinhole leaks posing no safety hazards. He mocked prosecutors for their decision to charge only the company and not any individual employees or executives. A corporate logo is easy to attack, Bauer said, but its harder to look somebody in the eye and say, You committed a crime. Youll notice the government didnt do that. Bauer also said the obstruction-of-justice charge was unfounded. The alleged policy of testing only lines that exceeded the federal maximum level by 10 percent was outlined in a draft document that was mistakenly sent to federal regulators in 2011 but was never implemented. Hoffman disputed that. The 10 percent practice was PG&Es practice for years, starting long before the San Bruno explosion, she said. Jurors also heard from a prosecution witness, Stephen Klejst, who oversaw the National Transportation Safety Boards San Bruno investigation. He said PG&E executives assured him the company was willing to cooperate, but it was slow in providing information and presented some records that didnt correspond with the pipelines they purported to describe. PG&E attorney Margaret Tough questioned Klejst about his description of his agencys investigation as cooperative and nonadversarial. A few days after the San Bruno explosion, she noted, the FBI had contacted the transportation board and said it was beginning a criminal investigation. You never talked to PG&E about it, Tough said. No reason to, Klejst replied. The trial resumes Tuesday. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: egelko This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Santa Cruz Organic applesauce and Starbucks popular bottled iced coffees are among the 16,000 food and beverage products that may contain bisphenol A, or BPA, which has been declared toxic to the female reproductive system by the state of California, according to analysis of industry data from the Environmental Working Group. However, most grocery shoppers may never know about the chemicals presence, because individual warnings on food products that contain BPA are not required even though California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment added the chemical to the list of toxic chemicals known to cause reproductive harm last year. Under California Proposition 65, that status requires consumer notification as of last month. Yet the only way customers will know about potential BPA in their food products comes in the form of general warning signs at the checkout counter of supermarkets, similar to the kind posted in gas stations, though more specific to BPA. BPA is commonly used for making plastics and epoxies that go into linings for many different types of food and beverage containers, especially metal lids and cans. The specific food and beverage products that potentially contain BPA were recently made public by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and other industry groups. In an effort to share that information with consumers, the Environmental Working Group has now organized the list of products into a new searchable database. Its in baking decorating sprays, aerosol cans, beer kegs its all over the place, said Samara Geller, an author of the report and a database and research analyst at the Environmental Working Groups Oakland office. That substantial list also includes many Coca-Cola products, Vlasic kosher dill pickles, Chicken of the Sea tuna, Swanson beef broth and Pace chunky salsa. The question of whether BPA should appear on specific food labels fits into the national debate over what information consumers should have access to when grocery shopping. We would prefer if this stuff were labeled on the can or on the package directly, as opposed to having to dig around in a database to find products that contain female reproductive toxins, Geller said. After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in 2010 that it had some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and young children, it said it would support voluntary industry efforts to remove BPA from products, especially baby bottles and infant formula containers. But in 2014, the FDA reiterated its overall message that BPA levels are safe at the low level they occur in foods, based on a four-year review of 300 scientific studies. Scientists and regulatory agencies in the U.S. and across the world have concluded that BPA is safe for use in food packaging, the Grocery Manufacturers Association said in May, in a press release regarding Prop. 65 disclosure. Nevertheless, many states have individual laws limiting the use of BPA. California law prohibits the sale of cups and bottles intended for children under 3 years old that contain more than 0.1 parts per billion BPA. According to an analysis that the Environmental Working Group published in 2014, around a third of the food and beverage brands sampled still regularly used BPA in packaging. Some prominent brands, like Campbells and Del Monte, recently announced plans to discontinue its use. Consumers should expect to see the BPA warning signs at checkouts until at least next May, said Sam Delson of the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. After that, the state could require individual labels on products or shelf signs. Delson said its good news that some companies are planning to phase out BPA, but there are also concerns about what they will use instead. On the one hand, we applaud companies that are seeking BPA alternatives, he said. But we dont know what theyre going to replace it with, and replacement chemicals can also have health concerns that havent been fully documented. Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: taraduggan Searchable BPA database: http://bit.ly/1W4nRwL One of the San Francisco Zoos newest exhibits is specially designed to keep people away. Forty years ago, the Mexican gray wolf population all but disappeared from the wild. One by one, the wolves vanished in the Southwest: killed by ranchers, hunted by trappers, shot by government officials. By 1976, there were only seven left in the world two of them in captivity. After decades of careful conservation and captive release, their numbers have surged to 100 in the wild, with another 250 in captivity. But not without issues. The San Francisco Zoo recently welcomed three of these rock stars of the animal world, brothers aptly named Prince, David Bowie and Jerry Garcia, from a center near Albuquerque as part of the wolfs species survival plan. Three federal agencies oversee the program, in which zoos and nature centers raise wolves that can later be released into the wild. Little human interaction But with daily human interaction, is a successful transition possible? It can be done, said Jason Watters, the zoos vice president of wellness and animal behavior. We just have to make sure the animals dont become used to humans. At the zoo, that means little interaction with animal keepers. Two former bear grottoes were renovated into a habitat akin to what the wolves would find in nature. It features dirt mounds, trees, plants, a wading pool and a heated boulder. Fourteen swiveling cameras eye the canines at all times. Yet mankinds touch is apparent in the replica oasis. Kibble, not wild game, is dispensed into troughs from electronic boxes on the walls. Wide windows cover an expanse of the exhibit, and a covered inlet provides zoo-goers with 270-degree views within the canyon. The wolves can hide in their den or behind vegetation, but in the exhibits valley, theyre accessible to prying eyes. Our main focus is to ensure that they can have their own social interactions that are not guided by us, Watters said. We dont want them reliant on us. We want them engaged in their space and acting in a fashion that approximates what they would be doing in the wild. It has been done successfully. The California condor was brought back from the brink of extinction after a captive breeding program was started in the 1980s. And this year, six Mexican gray wolf pups were released to surrogate families in the wild. The wolves are naturally shy and probably wont be spotted near the exhibits viewing windows, said Ron Whitfield, the zoos curator of carnivores. Occasionally, though, they will be seen trotting around. Bowie is basically the alpha male and runs the group, Whitfield said. When people are around, they tend to hide away and not be seen for a little while. Garcia will come out and look at people, but he stays far away. With the windows and the viewing area, people will be close, but we dont want them interacting with the wolves. The brothers, who are 11 years old, probably wont be released back to the wild because of their age. Instead, scientists will take sperm from them to breed future pups. About 55 institutions across the United States and Mexico collect the sperm and eggs, which are shipped to two gamete banks: one in St. Louis, the other in Mexico City. It helps ensure genetic diversity in future wolf populations. Certain packs have inbreeding problems, which can cause physical abnormalities. The most common effect is reduced liver size, which scientists say does not affect the wolfs health. The only genetic material we have is what was captured from those seven original wolves, said Peter Siminski, director of conservation at the Living Desert in Palm Desert (Riverside County). Thats not the best. To preserve gene diversity, we have to carefully breed wolves for the best genetic goals. A wolf in San Francisco may be fathers of puppies 20, 30, even 40 years from now because of what was preserved from them in our gene bank. Reversing a grave mistake The program is largely a success, Siminski said. People are becoming more knowledgeable about the wolfs dwindled population in the wild, and more litters are being born outside of zoos. Most of the wolves in the wild today were born there, he said. Thats a good thing. Were slowly reversing a grave mistake humans made. Wolves belong in nature. Lizzie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: LizzieJohnsonnn More than 150 San Francisco firefighters battled a huge five-alarm blaze that broke out on the edge of the Bernal Heights neighborhood Saturday afternoon, closing the areas busiest street and displacing at least 42 people. The inferno spread through as many as six buildings on the 3300 block of Mission Street, with firefighters reporting to the scene around 2:30 p.m. Flames were shooting out of Playa Azul, a neighborhood restaurant, and the Cole Hardware store as firefighters used more than 40 pieces of apparatus to tame the blaze. Authorities evacuated the surrounding buildings and blocked off nearby streets. They ordered anyone within a five-block radius of the fire to shelter in place and warned others living close by to shut their windows and doors to avoid letting in heavy smoke and potentially toxic chemicals from the burning hardware store. The order was later lifted. Chaotic scene Meanwhile, the water poured on the fire rushed down toward 29th Street and Tiffany Avenue, forcing neighbors to use sandbags and brooms to push the foot-deep water out of their homes and businesses. Firefighters were able to stop the fires spread and had contained it by about 6:30 p.m., said Jonathan Baxter, a Fire Department spokesman. Baxter said firefighters would later go into the buildings to take care of any residual fire and hot spots left inside. Authorities said Mission Street would remain closed from Valencia to 30th streets through at least Sunday morning. The fire spread through 3300 to 3322 Mission St. and 31 to 33 29th St., leaving businesses, apartments and low-income housing charred or nearly destroyed. The block was a chaotic scene, with hoses streaming water down through the roofs of the buildings. The rear of the Graywood Hotel, 3308 Mission St., was destroyed by the fire. Blue sky filled the space where the building had been. Investigating cause Two people standing outside of the buildings were treated for minor smoke inhalation, officials said. Fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze. Merchants and residents by the hundreds gathered behind police tape along Mission Street. The manager of Good Frikin Chicken set up a free table of falafel, hummus and rice, feeding the firefighters and police officers. Joe Williams lived on the second floor of the now-charred Graywood Hotel. Williams said he went to check out the hallway Saturday afternoon after his wife thought she had smelled burning barbecue. He walked down the second floor hallway, near the top of the stairs, to check the fuse box. I opened the fuse box, and smoke just poured out, he said. I ran to get the fire extinguisher, but it was already too late. Williams has lived at the hotel for about a year with his wife and 1-year-old son. He was one of several people in the building who were previously homeless and had been referred to the building by social service agencies. I just got out of being homeless, of moving from place to place, and here I am again, he said. Williams said his family just managed to escape before the fire spread. Maria Romero lived in a studio apartment with her son at 3316 Mission St. She was working at Duboce Park Cafe when she got a call that her apartment was on fire. Her son, 15-year-old Kenneth Cano, was able to escape with their bulldog, Spike, after someone ran through the building warning everyone to get out, she said. Im so glad I was able to get the things that are important my son and my dog, Romero said. Thats what I need to carry on in this life. Things happen. The suddenly homeless residents were sent to the nearby Safeway parking lot for assistance from the Red Cross. A temporary shelter was opened at the Salvation Army on 1156 Valencia St. Previous 5-alarm fire Shukry Lama was working at the 3300 Club at 3300 Mission St. when the fire broke out. Lama, whose family owns the club, said there were a couple of customers and three employees in the bar watching the Giants game when they cleared out. Saturdays fire was San Franciscos first five-alarm in almost two years. The last ripped through a building at 2632 Mission St. on Sept. 4, 2014, injuring four people. J.K. Dineen and Kevin Schultz are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com , kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen, @kevinedschultz Citigroup Global Markets is warning that spending on Google ads may slow. Analyst Mark May said recent checks with two leading search engine marketing agencies suggest a slight deceleration in the year-to-year growth rate for search spending in the second quarter compared with the first. This could be slightly below current forecasts, though how to interpret the data and what to compare it with is sometimes up for debate. Thrills at Penn Station? A development team has a novel plan to overhaul New Yorks crowded Penn Station: Build a 1,200-foot thrill ride on top of it and pay for renovations by charging $35 a ticket. The plan submitted to state officials envisions a transparent tower called the Halo with 11 gondolas offering free-fall rides of varying speeds. Youre experiencing New York City in an unforgettable way, said Alexandros Washburn, president of Brooklyn Capital Partners, which is behind the plan. Its something you will not be able to do anywhere else in the world. But dont buy those tickets quite yet; there are plenty of alternatives and foes. Tra-la-la, were divorced If you divorce from Mariah Carey, maybe youre entitled to break out into song. At least thats what Nick Cannon has done with a freestyle, Divorce Papers, which debuted on KarenCivil.com. Its not nasty toward his ex; as Cannon explained in the story, This was strictly a creative way for me to express my frustrations with the media, the naysayers, myself and ultimately with the voices in my head. The Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: techbriefing If you missed it ... In a week when Americans proved they could give bipartisan support to a politician as long as hes been dead for 212 years and has a hit musical on Broadway we also saw: After the Orlando tragedy, Twitter accounts belonging to Islamic State militants got hacked, with their pages replaced with gay pride messages and links to gay porn. The Next Web reported that the hackers had hit lots of sites, but wanted to make it clear that they werent using graphic porn and didnt want to offend Muslims in general. Their actions are directed at Jihadist extremists. In a slightly less extreme battle, somebody took over the domain of cryingjordan.com, Internet shorthand for a meme of photos of Michael Jordan crying. Click the link and you get to a website for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Hollywood Reporter said Steven Spielberg wants to remake West Side Story. With any luck, this time Maria will fall in love with Alexander Hamilton. The Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: techbriefing ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. It's all about attitude, right? Jeff Samardzija was a strike away from his first shutout as a Giant, thought he got that strike twice, before giving up a Brad Miller homer. After he retired Evan Longoria to finish a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night, Samardzija smiled and said, If thats the bad thing of the day, youre going to be all right. Obviously you want a shutout, but a complete game is not so bad either. Not bad? It was a beautiful sight for manager Bruce Bochy on a night that when closer Santiago Casilla was in San Francisco after the birth of a daughter and provided a measure of relief for fans who wondered whether Samardzijas stumble over three prior starts was the beginning of the end to his comeback. Instead, Samardzija demonstrated a keen ability to adjust. After failing to go beyond five innings in the three bad games, and allowing 12 earned runs in 142/3 innings, he worked between starts on slowing his delivery. Instead of a bad stretch snowballing, he reversed course. I was trying to get back to where I usually am, he said. Starts like the last couple leave a sour taste in your mouth. Im a competitor, and I dont like that. I just wanted to go out and pitch deep into a game seven, eight or nine innings, whatever it may be. Samardzija needed only 115 pitches to complete the Giants sixth consecutive win, which left them a season-high 16 games above .500 at 42-26. He walked none, struck out four and gave the infield plenty of work. The defensive standout was third baseman Matt Duffy, who was playing on field turf for the first time in four years and made play after play on tough short hops. Duffys got that backhand play with the double-pump down pretty good, looking off the free safety and making good throws there, manager Bruce Bochy joked. Duffy said that kind of defense is easy with all the work Samardzija and Johnny Cueto provide the infielders. He and Cueto, in different ways, keep us on our toes, Duffy said. Both of them throw a lot of strikes. Cueto is more crafty getting groundballs. With Samardzija its sheer velocity and sink. Its hard to get that in the air. The offense made life easier on Bochy by getting to Chris Archer for four runs in the first four innings. Brandon Crawford hit a two-run double in the first, on a 96 mph fastball, and Gregor Blanco hit a two-run single in the fourth, in a rally keyed by a catchers interference call on an Angel Pagan swing. Brandon Belt returned three days after getting drilled by a pitch on the right ankle. He was slow running the bases but alleviated that in the seventh when he cracked a loud home run to right-center against lefty Enny Romero. The Giants lacked their closer on a night they did not need any reliever, although Javier Lopez was warming in the bullpen and would have replaced Samardzija to face Logan Morrison had Longoria not grounded out to end it. The Giants had a great night in front of 40,135 fans, the largest crowd at Tropicana Field in more than 10 years. The Rays already had scheduled this as Pride Night. When they discounted the remaining tickets and pledged to donate the proceeds to victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, the community responded. Both teams stood on the baselines during a moving pregame ceremony, a patch that read ORLANDO on their uniforms. Its a tragedy, what happened, Bochy said. Seeing people coming together, united, pouring their hearts out over what happened in Orlando, really made it a special night. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: hankschulman The land in Alaska, Canada and Siberia is changing significantly along with a warmer climate because of the collapse of permafrost. It's not happening everywhere, yet, and the permafrost in many areas will last for millennia. But certainly some of it won't, and that's causing significant changes in the landscape. Take, for instance, the Batagaika crater or Batagaika mega-slump -- or, as the locals in Siberia have taken to calling it: "The Gateway to the Underworld." The Batagaika mega-slump as seen on Google maps. There are also the exploding craters in the northwest Siberia, Russia, region (photos above). As reported June 7 by The Siberian Times: "...respected scientist Dr Vladimir Epifanov, the sole leading expert to so far visit the site, said: 'There is verbal information that residents of nearby villages - at a distance of 70-100 km - heard a sound like an explosion, and one of them watched a clear glow in the sky. It was about one month after the Chelyabinsk meteorite.'" The Batagaika, however, is more research opportunity than mystery. The slump began in the 1960s with locals cutting down trees that had insulated the permafrost, causing it to start melting and collapsing. It has grown significantly as temperatures have increased. More importantly, the mega-slump is a window into the Earth's past, when it significantly warmed and caused big changes in the permafrost. "The slump is very big," said Julian Murton, a geologist with the University of Sussex (England) who specializes in permafrost. "It exposes about 50 meters or so of permafrost deposits and potentially provides a very good record of Ice Age history stretching back, certainly, to 125,000 years ago and possibly quite a lot before that." Geologists have found two layers in the permafrost showing significant erosion and forests that gave way to grasses and then reappeared. Murton told us: "The interesting thing from my perspective is that 125,000 years ago, when we had a period of relatively warm climate, the Arctic was a bit warmer than present, something like a couple of degrees Celsius warmer than now and sea level was a few meters higher in many places. So if we look at the permafrost of that age we can start to see what effect that past warm spell had on the permafrost. "There has been gullying and erosion during a previous warming climate, and that's kind of what we expect to see more and more of now as the climate warms. ... "Because we have these two forest beds, large trees, this can tell us about what happened to the permafrost thousands of years ago when the climate warmed. We can see evidence for quite significant erosion of the land surface associated with the development of one of these forest layers. So it was quite widespread erosion that was probably due in part to permafrost thaw." He added that similar slumps, changes in soil dynamics and collapse are occurring in northern Canada and Alaska as well as elsewhere in Siberia. Related stories: "This is pretty typical when climate warms," he said. "we know this happened regionally in Alaska, Canada and Siberia 10,000 years ago when the last Ice Age finished." So, it looks like we're in for some significant changes in our northern landscapes. Plus, there's all that carbon that could be released from the thawing ground. "There's nothing uncommon about global warming," Murton said. "It's happened countless times before. It's unusual this time in as much as humans are contributing substantially to it, but there have been times in the past when the climate has been warmer, when CO2 concentrations have been far higher." And we're getting a better picture all the time of what the past world looked like ... and it's not good for humans. Murton added that thanks for his research opportunity is due to his Russian hosts from the Science Research Institute of Applied Ecology, North-East Federal University, Yakutsk. Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook. If Google Plus is your thing, check out our science coverage here. Federal prosecutors conceded defeat Friday in their attempt to show that FedEx Corp. conspired with Internet pharmacies to deliver nonprescribed drugs, dropping the case a week into the trial. It was the first known criminal prosecution of a transportation company for allegedly illegally shipping drugs. A 2014 grand jury indictment accused FedEx and a subsidiary of plotting with two pharmacy groups to distribute medications, including narcotics, to customers who had no legitimate medical need or valid prescription for the drugs. Prosecutors alleged illegal shipments of at least $820 million worth of drugs between 2000 and 2010. If convicted, the company could have been fined twice that amount. FedEx said it never knowingly delivered illegal drugs and in fact had helped the government prosecute online pharmacies whenever the company learned that it was being used for improper shipments. The prosecution ran into trouble before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco. In March, he dismissed 14 of the 18 charges, citing paperwork blunders by a prosecution team that blew legal deadlines for the indictment because it confused FedEx with a subsidiary, Federal Express Corp. The nonjury trial in Breyers courtroom began Monday. According to published accounts, the judge was skeptical from the start, asking whether prosecutors had any evidence that FedEx had tried to solicit business from online pharmacies by treating them more favorably than other customers. Citing FedExs claim that it had cooperated with the government, Breyer asked prosecutors to call two federal agents to the witness stand on Friday. The companys lawyer, Cristina Arguedas, had told the judge that the agents had met over a two-year period with FedEx representatives, who offered to stop carrying drugs for any pharmacy that the government identified as illegal. The agents would testify that they made no response because it was difficult to tell which shippers were illegal, Arguedas said. Rather than calling the witnesses, prosecutors told Breyer on Friday that they were dismissing the case. Afterward, Breyer described FedEx as factually innocent. FedEx responded caustically to the dismissal. The case should never have been brought, Patrick Fitzgerald, a company vice president, said in a statement. The government should take a very hard look at how they made the tremendously poor decision to file these charges. The company also said it remained committed to cooperating with law enforcement to prevent misuse of its transportation networks. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: egelko Kenneth Walton, a flamboyant official with the FBI who galvanized the agencys New York office against violent political radicals and entrenched organized crime bosses in the early 1980s, died May 25 in Albuquerque. He was 76. The cause was throat cancer, his wife, Charlotte, said. Mr. Walton emerged as the public face of the FBI in notorious cases that included the Weather Undergrounds 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored car in Rockland County, N.Y., the arrest in 1982 of a fugitive in Manhattan for extorting $1 million from Johnson & Johnson in the Tylenol poisoning scare, and the governments offensive against the Mafia after Rudolph Giuliani became the federal prosecutor in Manhattan. Mr. Walton mixed the panache of a central-casting G-man with an audacity to defy rigid protocol, a combination that defined him inside the FBI as an agents agent and allowed for unusual joint operations between the bureau and its frequent rival, the New York Police Department. Ken Walton was the operational reason it succeeded, Robert McGuire, a former New York City police commissioner, said last week. He had the complete trust and confidence of the cops because he was more of a street detective than a button-down bureau agent. Models for cooperation The joint task forces established in New York became models for cooperation between the FBI and local law enforcement agencies across the country. Mr. Waltons style as the bureaus deputy assistant director in New York a title he held for six years as second in command of the nations largest FBI office sometimes rankled his superiors in Washington. When Lee Laster retired as chief of the New York office in 1985, Mr. Walton, instead of succeeding him, was shifted to be special agent in charge of the bureaus Detroit division. Once there, Mr. Walton successfully pursued corrupt judges and other officials, but he also clashed with the local federal prosecutor, Roy Hayes. He was transferred to Washington and promoted to deputy assistant director of the bureaus criminal division. According to Ronald Kesslers 1993 book, The FBI, Mr. Walton was asked to take a polygraph test during an inquiry into a news leak about a preliminary FBI investigation into possible financial irregularities involving the office of U.S. Rep. William H. Gray III, D-Penn. The Justice Department responded to the leak by saying Gray was not a target and was cooperating with the investigation. Mr. Walton denied being the source of the leak but bristled at being asked to take a lie-detector test and refused to do so. He resigned from the FBI in 1989, ending a 24-year career with it. He worked on other government inquiries, including a congressional investigation into counterfeiting that led to a redesign of the $100 bill. He moved to New Mexico in 1994 and opened a private investigation agency. Caped Crusader Kenneth Paul Walton was born July 26, 1939, in Bloomer, Wis., just north of Eau Claire. His father, also named Kenneth, was a bus driver. His mother was the former Alvina Schnese. After serving in the National Guard and the U.S. Air Force, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In addition to his wife, the former Charlotte Rivera, he is survived by two sons, Paul and Grant; a daughter, Samantha Walton; three granddaughters; four great-grandchildren; and a brother, Jim. Mr. Walton became known as the Caped Crusader for his habit of flinging an overcoat over his shoulders as he bolted from his desk to the front lines. Ive worked for people who have said, Keep me advised, he told the New York Times in 1981. I dont have to be kept advised, because very frequently Im there. Supporting his agents Mr. Walton, Kessler wrote, was someone who appreciated the fact that the work of the FBI is, after all, done by the field, not by headquarters, someone who was willing to stand up to headquarters to support his agents. That camaraderie extended beyond the bureau. Joseph Valiquette, who was the FBI spokesman in New York, recalled last week that outside his office, Mr. Walton kept the kind of ceremonial green lantern that the police would hang at a crime scene to identify a command post. The cops loved that, Valiquette said. While seeking the suspect in the Tylenol case, Mr. Walton transferred counterintelligence agents without permission to flood midtown Manhattan with wanted posters. Three weeks later, the suspect was arrested in a library where a patron recognized him from a poster. Aggressive pursuit He pursued suspects aggressively in the armored car case, in which two Nyack police officers and a Brinks guard were killed. The crime, Mr. Walton told the Times in 1981, undercut much of the intellectual support that the Weather Underground and what he called the entire militant left movement had drawn in the 1970s, when its leaders were treated as heroes by some. He personally led a raid on a Mississippi farmhouse with armored trucks and SWAT teams to arrest a suspect in the Brinks case. (She was later released because she had not been at the crime scene.) Despite his many exploits in the field, Mr. Walton said that during his six years in New York, he had fired his gun at a live target only once: He shot a rat in the corridor outside his office at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. 1 Chelsea Clinton baby: Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is now a grandmother twice over. Chelsea Clinton announced Saturday that she gave birth to her second child, son Aidan. The 36-year-old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and current presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lives in New York. She and her husband, hedge fund manager Marc Mezvinsky, have a 20-month-old daughter, Charlotte. Both Charlotte and Aidan were born at Manhattans Lenox Hill Hospital. On Twitter, Chelsea Clinton said the couple are overwhelmed with gratitude and love. 2 Mountain lion attack: A woman saved her 5-year-old sons life by prying his head from the mouth of a mountain lion that attacked the boy outside their home near Aspen, Colo., authorities said Saturday. The mother heard screaming Friday evening, ran outside, saw her son struggling with the animal and rushed to his aid. The boy suffered cuts to his face, head and neck and was taken to a Denver hospital. The mother had bite marks on her hand and scratches on her leg. She was treated and released. Their names were not released. Wildlife officials killed two mountain lions in the area within several hours of the attack. WASHINGTON If Donald Trumps Republican Party were a family and its national convention a reunion, a therapist might say there are issues to resolve. For all his harangues, the blustery billionaire remains on track to become the partys nominee at its Cleveland gathering next month. Yet his incendiary comments following the Orlando massacre have rattled the GOP, and pockets of apprehension and outright defiance are, if anything, growing. More congressional Republicans are not endorsing Trump and planning to skip the convention. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine (San Diego County), one of Trumps top House backers, says his support among lawmakers has stalled. And theres a longshot movement among conservative delegates and operatives including supporters of Trumps vanquished rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to change party rules so the convention can pick a different nominee. Were acting to save the Republican Party from imminent disaster, said Steve Lonegan, who chaired Cruzs New Jersey campaign and is helping organize an effort to let delegates chosen to back one candidate vote instead for another. Trump pushes back At at appearance Saturday in Los Vegas, Trump referred to an insurgent group trying to deny him delegates at the convention. Now you have a couple of guys that were badly defeated and theyre trying to organize maybe like a little bit of a delegate revolt, he said. I thought they already tried that. Yet even with Trumps poll numbers dipping, many of his harshest GOP critics concede its probably too late to pick someone else in Cleveland. They say such efforts lack sufficient support, are disorganized and have no alternative candidate. Congressional Republicans arent hesitating to distance themselves from Trump, who this month asserted that a Mexican American judge couldnt fairly preside over a Trump civil case. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has unenthusiastically backed Trump, said in an interview recorded for NBCs Sunday show Meet the Press that GOP lawmakers should follow their conscience when considering endorsing Trump. Others not supporting him or attending the convention include Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who for the first time in his 30-year congressional career is not backing the party nominee. Delegate count Many say, like him or not, Trump won and efforts to dump him would be crushed and would devastate the GOP. According to the Associated Press, Trump has 1,542 delegates, including 1,447 required by party rules to back his nomination, well above the 1,237 needed for victory. One catch: Delegates bound to one candidate can vote freely in convention rules fights. Delegates could sour on Trump and approve procedures opening the door to an alternative. Its a fantasy, it wont happen, said Morton Blackwell, a Republican National Committee member from Virginia who initially backed Cruz. Some are trying anyway. Kendal Unruh, a Cruz delegate from Colorado, is helping lead the drive to allow delegates bound by current rules to one candidate to instead cast a vote of conscience for another. Delegates could do so if their original candidate has committed grievous acts including scandal, crimes or supporting views in gross violation of GOP stances. To prevail, Unruh needs a majority of the 112 members of the convention rules committee. Then, a majority of the full conventions 2,472 delegates would have to approve. PHOENIX In 120-degree temperatures, some airplanes might not take off. Power grids strain as the outside air keeps transmission lines from cooling. And for desert dwellers, a cold bottle of water and some shade can mean the difference between life and death. Parts of the Southwest, long accustomed to triple-digit temperatures, are preparing for a searing heat wave in the coming days and, in Phoenix, officials are warning residents that the mercury may rise to 120, approaching Phoenixs record of 122. 1 Black box found: The second black box of the EgyptAir plane that crashed last month killing all 66 people on board was pulled out of the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, a day after Egypts investigation committee said the planes cockpit voice recorder had been recovered. The find significantly raises hopes that investigators will finally be able to determine what caused the disaster of the Airbus A320. Both France and the United States are sending investigators to Cairo to help with the probe. Its still not known what brought the plane down between the Greek island of Crete and the Egyptian coast or whether the aircraft broke apart in the air or stayed intact until it struck the water. 2 Religious riots: An Indian court on Friday sentenced 11 people to life in prison for murder in one of the many deadly religious riots that swept across the western state of Gujarat in 2002 and left more than 1,000 dead. The Gujarat riots, which erupted after a train car full of Hindu nationalists was engulfed in a fire that killed 60 people inside, pitted mobs of Hindus against Muslims, who were widely blamed for setting the fire. YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK President Obama stood in a huge meadow here Saturday to heap praises on the National Park Service on its 100th anniversary year and to rail against climate change, but from the moment he opened his mouth it was clear something very personal had happened to him. Like millions before him, he had fallen in love with Yosemite. As he took the podium set up just beyond Sentinel Bridge, Obama stopped for a moment, tilted his head and took a deep breath. Behind him, both legs of the 2,425-foot-tall Yosemite Falls roared down the valleys granite wall in all their springtime fullness, the sky was crystal blue, and flanking him on either side were massively tall pines and cedars. How gorgeous is this day! he burst out, beaming his trademark smile to the crowd of local dignitaries and outdoor-program kids seated before him. In the West Wing lobby Ive got paintings of Vernal Falls and Half Dome, but they look slightly better in person, he joshed. He paused for effect, then added solemnly: You cant capture that on an iPad. Family vacation The president had come to Yosemite Friday night for what was basically a two-day family vacation. But he used the visit as an opportunity to tout the achievements of the Park Service, which marks its centenary in August, and to call for future generations to get outside more and carry on the work of preserving the nations wilderness. That and a plea for more action on climate change which, he noted, has already melted most of a mile-wide glacier here and is forcing alpine mammals to live higher took up most of the 20-minute speech he delivered in his distinctly non-White House garb of rolled-up shirtsleeves and jeans. Make no mistake, he said. Climate change is no longer just a threat. Its already a reality. But it was clear that, for all the rustic pomp and dark-suited guys with earbuds, this visit by the entire first family president, wife and two daughters was really about reveling in a vacation in the prettiest park in America. Obamas daughter Malia, 17, just graduated from high school, Fathers Day is Sunday and the weather was the Sierra Nevada at its sunny best. Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, where the Obamas spent part of Friday before heading to Yosemite, may be beautiful too, but ... well, Yosemite is Yosemite. And being in it, Obama said, sparked memories of his first visit to a mainland national park, Yellowstone, and seeing a bear when he was a kid growing up in Hawaii. That changes you, he said, breaking off from his prepared remarks. I want to make sure every kid gets that. Makes your spirit stronger. Cleaner. Obamas visit marked the first time a sitting president has come to the park since John Kennedy in 1962, and he made sure to hit the most accessible high spots. The Obamas stayed at the majestic lodge formerly known as the Ahwahnee Friday night, which means they ate a better breakfast than usual, even for them. Then the president and his wife took a short hike in the morning to connect with a group of kids including a group from San Franciscos Miraloma Elementary School and ogle Yosemite Falls. After the presidents speech, the family trundled off to well, the Secret Service and press aides werent letting on, but there was talk of meadows and more falls and all the other things that make Yosemite much more than your average park. Historic moment Teddy Roosevelt called this a temple grander than any human architect could possibly build, Obama said. That, he marveled, was no understatement. A gaggle of community leaders and dignitaries drove in to hear Obamas talk, including local supervisors and Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Roseville. Youth outdoor program leaders from all over the state showed up in big numbers, invited by the president, who last year created Every Kid in a Park. The program gives free admission to all public lands and waters to fourth-grade students and their families Oh, my gosh, this is a historic moment, said Rue Mapp, who in Oakland runs Outdoor Afro, which helps African American kids and adults get outdoors. We have to make sure that in the next 100 years of the parks, we are more inclusive, more diverse about how we use them, and Im here to urge the president to keep helping with that. The last time the president hauled his family off on a one-two sweep of national parks like this was in 2009, back when his hair wasnt so gray. They went to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. This time, with the 100th anniversary as a news hook, Obama got to crow about how he has conserved more land and water 265 million acres than any president in history. And as booster-in-chief, he pointed out that a record 305 million-plus people visited national parks in 2015, spending $16.9 billion in the surrounding communities. Parks underfunded Meanwhile, the park system by itself has been so underfunded for years by Congress that it has a maintenance backlog totaling $11.9 billion, but you wouldnt know it by the pristine backdrop to the presidents speech. And Californias national parks 27 in all are doing fairly well, judging by the figures put out by the presidents staff proclaiming 38.4 million annual visitors 4 million in Yosemite alone spending $1.8 billion locally. All that numbers stuff was fascinating for the grown-ups like Phil Pillsbury, chairman of the board of the Yosemite Conservancy based in San Francisco. He came to see Obama and tout his organizations $20 million project refurbishing the parks Mariposa Grove. But the kids just liked spending time in the trees with the big-deal guy who waved a lot and told them to say cheese while he posed with many of them. I wanted to ask him if he could dab (a dance), but I didnt get the chance, said Jacqueline Hinojosa, 13, from Livingston (Merced County), who was at Yosemite Falls with the president. I kinda think hes cool enough to know it, though. Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: KevinChron Russia is ready to work with Ukraine on gas supplies to Europe, if Kyiv proposes an economically feasible projects and guarantees security of the deliveries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "Should Ukrainian partners offer us an economically feasible project today and offer a project that will guarantees both the security of deliveries and economic feasibility, we will work with Ukraine," Putin said at a meeting with the head of the world's leading news agencies in St. Petersburg on Friday. Putin: We in general not against considering participation in Ukrainian gas transportation system Russia is not against considering the issue of taking part in the Ukrainian gas transportation system, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we are not in general against considering an option of participating in the Ukrainian gas transportation system," Putin said at a meeting with top managers of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. At the meeting of the WTO committee for technical barriers to trade, Ukraine again raised the issue of restrictions imposed by Russia on imports of confectionery products, dairy products, beer, juices, salt and wallpaper, and requested the explanations from Moscow on the matter. According to a report posted on the website of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine, a representative of Kyiv pointed out their numerous attempts to get clarification from the Russian authorities both at the intergovernmental level and at the company level that were unsuccessful. "The measures introduced by Russia were implemented without appropriate justification and evidence, references to the results of tests and trials, which would transparently demonstrate Ukrainian products don't comply with the technical regulations of the Russian Federation," the Ukrainian side said. The representative stressed that Ukrainian producers have sent to Rospotrebnadzor all the necessary results of tests carried out by accredited laboratories in Russia and Ukraine, but Moscow did not respond to requests from Kyiv. "Ukraine's request aims to obtain transparent and complete understanding of measures introduced by Russia," the ministry said. In turn, the representative of Russia noted the slow progress in the resolution of the issues raised by Ukraine, and insisted that Russia is acting in accordance with the WTO rules. In addition, the Russian side accused the Ukrainian side of the failure to provide the requested information. The Russian representative pointed out that in some cases, if the Ukrainian manufacturers offer the whole package of documents, restrictions are removed. According to him, there is no prohibition as such on Ukrainian products or their import to Russia. There is simply a temporary suspension of imports for three reasons: these products' non-compliance with technical regulations, the prevention of practices of deceit in trade and the need to protect safety and health of the population. As reported, in summer and autumn of 2014 Russia introduced restrictions on the supplies and transit of foods from Ukraine, including vegetables, milk and milk products, juices, canned fruits and vegetables, canned fish and confectionary. Also, they restricted imports of meat products from a number of Ukrainian enterprises. Ukraine appealed to the WTO against these restrictions. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate If you plan on visiting the Mount Rushmore National Memorial on your next family vacation there is one part of the iconic monument to some of our greatest presidents that wasn't quite completed, at least not to the artist's expectation. A large chamber was to serve as a repository for some of our country's priceless charter documents, but it ended up holding a descriptive "postcard" for civilizations far in the future. The man who envisioned the Mount Rushmore sculpture, Doane Robinson, tapped artist Gutzon Borglum to sculpt something grand to attract people from all over the country to South Dakota's Black Hills. Borglum and his family had immigrated to the United States when he was a young boy, eventually settling in Nebraska. PRETTY PHOTOS: NASA Earth Observatory highlights national parks in satellite photo series For Borglum, it was thrilling to be able to create something that would honor the country that embraced his family. After sculpting the head of Robert E. Lee in Stone Mountain, Ga., he was freed up to work in South Dakota. He started work on Mount Rushmore in 1924, at age 57. Sculpting began in earnest in 1927 when the first piece of stone was chipped away and President Calvin Coolidge presided at the official dedication. The inspired sculptor had a grand design for the monument, one that would include a Hall of Records to hold all the important documents in American history inside a hollowed-out cave behind Abraham Lincoln's stone head. The National Park Service details the Hall of Records plan on its official site. It sounds like a lofty proposition, relocating things like the Declaration of Independence and such into the Hall of Records. Despite logistical hurdles of wresting those documents away from Washington, D.C., the federal government even approved the idea but soon decided that getting the heads completed was a better use of the artist's time. Borglum wouldn't see the monument to completion, dying in 1941 a few days shy of his 74th birthday. His son Lincoln continued the work. RELATED: This is what Texas looked like the year you were born The Hall of Records was finished in the 1990s, sans those original charter documents, but its precarious position makes public viewing impossible. Finally in 1998, in place of the documents, a collection of tablets telling the story of our nation were sealed into a vault in the Hall of Records, according to the National Park Service. Also included is a description of the presidents whose heads are carved into the stone and why they came to be immortalized in the middle of South Dakota. It's not a time capsule, meant to be opened in a few decades, but is supposed to remain there for thousands of years for identification purposes. HIDDEN TEXAS: The Republic of Texas' somewhat-hidden embassy in London, England "You might as well drop a letter into the world's postal service without an address or signature, as to send that carved mountain into history without identification," Borglum had said. The whole package is sealed in a teakwood box inside a titanium vault and covered with a one-ton granite capstone. One day in thousands of years when apes finally take the reins of Earth from humankind, some distant relative of us all might stumble upon the tablets in the vault -- maybe revealed by an earthquake -- behind the collection of weathered stone heads and find out that at one time we went to the moon and rode around in four-wheeled chariots. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. He's an intolerable native Texan with too much ink in his skin and too much brisket stuck in his teeth. Holosiyivsky District Court has ruled to arrest former deputy head of the board of the national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy Oleksandr Katsuba for two months pending release on a UAH 450 million bail, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine reported. "Katsuba has been arrested by the Holosiyivsky court, the bail is UAH 450 million," Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko wrote on his Facebook page. He also said that in eight days they arrested three people in the case of ex-president Viktor Yanukovych's crony businessman Serhiy Kurchenko based on additional evidence. Katsuba was detained on Friday, June 17, on suspicion of committing crimes under Articles 255 (the creation of a criminal organization) and 191 (misappropriation of property through abuse of office) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. BIRSTALL, England British police on Saturday charged a reclusive gardener with murder and other offenses in the slaying of a popular Labor Party lawmaker, Jo Cox, as evidence emerged the 52-year-old had decades-old ties to a neo-Nazi movement and an interest in anarchist weapons literature. Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen of West Yorkshire Police said that Thomas Mair will appear at Londons Westminster Magistrates Court Saturday. Mair was charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offense and possession of an offensive weapon, Wallen said. As detectives questioned the suspect for a second day, authorities confirmed they were focused on his alleged links to white supremacists and history of mental illness as they sought a motive for an act of violence that has shocked Britain and brought normal political life to a halt. Prime Minister David Cameron joined the stunned citizens of Birstall in paying tribute to Cox as they placed flowers and handwritten notes on a memorial and struggled to comprehend how one of their own could have so viciously killed her. Today our nation is rightly shocked, Cameron told a crowd that included witnesses to Thursdays killing and many of Coxs friends and colleagues, including lawmakers from both Camerons ruling Conservative and Coxs opposition Labor parties. He urged the British people to drive intolerance and division out of our public life and out of our communities. President Obama phoned Coxs husband from Air Force One and offered his condolences on behalf of the American people, the White House said in a statement Friday night. The president noted that the world is a better place because of her selfless service to others, and that there can be no justification for this heinous crime, which robbed a family, a community, and a nation of a dedicated wife, mother, and public servant, the statement said. Yards away, police crime-scene tape blocked off street market stalls that just a day earlier were bustling with lunchtime trade as Cox arrived outside the towns library to field concerns from her constituents and see what she could do to fix them. West Yorkshires police commander, Dee Collins, confirmed that Mair attacked the 41-year-old lawmaker as she emerged from her car alongside two aides. The attacker, she said, stabbed Cox repeatedly with a hunting knife and shot her as she lay on the ground. Collins said Mairs history of mental illness was a clear line of inquiry as were his alleged links to right-wing extremism and interest in neo-Nazi materials. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a U.S.-based civil rights group that monitors hate groups, said Mair had been a supporter of the National Alliance, the most dangerous and violent neo-Nazi group in the United States for decades. Cox was a former aid worker who championed immigrant rights, bringing an end to Syrias civil war and keeping the United Kingdom in the European Union. DETMOLD, Germany A 94-year-old former SS sergeant was found guilty Friday of 170,000 counts of accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison for serving as an Auschwitz guard, in a verdict that survivors from the Nazi death camp hailed as a long overdue victory. Reinhold Hanning, sitting in a wheelchair, listened attentively but showed no reaction as Presiding Judge Anke Grudda read the ruling in state court in Detmold, Germany. She said Hanning was a cog in a perfectly functioning machinery of destruction, helping operate the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland where some 1.1 million people, primarily Jews, were killed. You were in Auschwitz for 2 years and performed an important function, she said. You were part of a criminal organization and took part in criminal activity in Auschwitz, she said. Auschwitz survivor Hedy Bohm, who came from Toronto to testify at the trial and for the verdict, said she was grateful and pleased by this justice finally after 70 years. It is my dream to be in Germany, in a German court, with German judges acknowledging the Holocaust, the 88-year-old said. Bohm was one of four survivors present for the verdict, who also joined the trial as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law. Overall, about a dozen survivors testified during the four- month trial, and 58 survivors or their relatives joined as co-plaintiffs. Hannings attorney, Andreas Scharmer, suggested an appeal was likely, and Hanning wont have to serve any prison time until his appeals are exhausted. Though there was no evidence Hanning was responsible for a specific crime, he was tried under new legal reasoning that as a guard he helped the death camp operate, and thus could be tried for accessory to murder. BAGHDAD Iraqi forces gained control of the main hospital in Fallujah on Saturday and were clearing mines after driving the Islamic State group from most of the city, one of its last remaining strongholds in the Anbar province west of Baghdad, a military official said. Fighting was still under way in parts of the city, where U.S. and Iraqi warplanes targeted snipers and other Islamic State positions, said Brig. Gen. Haider al-Obeidi. Troops had cautiously advanced toward the hospital, fearing the militants would use patients as human shields, but when they stormed the facility they found no patients inside, he said. Troops later captured the Dubbat neighborhood, he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 MOADH AL-DULAIMI/AFP/Getty Images Show More Show Less 2 of 5 HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI/AFP/Getty Images Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images Show More Show Less 5 of 5 Iraqi special forces swept into Fallujah on Friday, recapturing most of the city after weeks of fighting on its outskirts. Al-Obeidi said Iraqi troops control 80 percent of the city, with Islamic State fighters concentrated in four districts on its northern edge. Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to fall to the extremist group, in January 2014, and was the last major Islamic State foothold in the sprawling Anbar province, the heartland of the countrys Sunni minority. The group still controls Iraqs second largest city, Mosul, in the north. Iraqi troops have been advancing under the cover of air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqs air force. The operation inside the city of Fallujah was being conducted by the Iraqi army, regional and federal police forces as well as special anti-terrorism units. Shiite militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Force, remained outside Fallujah and have not taken part in the recent battles. More for you Iraq says most of Fallujah retaken Aid groups estimated that 50,000 civilians were trapped inside Fallujah when the assault began several weeks ago, and that 30,000 to 42,000 of those have fled since then. The majority have been staying in camps near the city. As government forces swept in on Friday, thousands of residents fled the city, some swimming across the Euphrates river to reach safety. The conflict in Iraq has forced more than 3.3 million people to flee their homes. Iraq is also hosting up to 300,000 refugees who have fled the civil war in neighboring Syria. NEW DELHI Within six days of announcing a crackdown on Islamist militants, Bangladesh had filled its jailhouses with 11,600 new detainees in what seemed like an astonishing display of law enforcement might. The problem is, less than 2 percent of those picked up are suspected radicals, and not one is considered to be a high-level operative. The rest? Most are accused of petty crimes such as theft, burglary or small-time drug smuggling. At least 2,000 are members of the main opposition party, according to its spokesman, while others were believed to belong to a key ally of that party. Analysts, rights groups and opponents of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas secular government now question the crackdown. Was it truly an effort to stop a series of brazen, deadly attacks by Muslim extremists, or an attempt to gain political advantage from the fear the killings have generated at home and abroad? Lisa Curtis, an expert on South Asia at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C., said a crackdown on extremists was needed. But given that only 177 of the thousands detained are actually suspected of radical militancy, according to police, she said the dragnet will begin to look more like a tool to pressure the political opposition rather than a serious effort to stop the attacks. The law enforcement campaign could actually deepen the divide between the secular governments supporters and those longing for Islamic rule, possibly even encouraging militants, analysts said. The current political deadlock in the country is opening the door for Islamist extremists to gain more recruits and influence, and will make it difficult for the Bangladeshi government to build a national consensus against the extremists, Curtis said. Bangladesh, in addressing the criticism over the crackdown, pledged to refocus its security efforts against suspected militants blamed for the killings of nearly two dozen atheist writers, publishers, religious minorities, social activists and foreign aid workers since 2013. Many of those deaths have occurred in recent months. The machete attacks, as they are known, have terrified the countrys minorities and triggered alarm in the United States and Europe, where some governments have begun offering asylum to those at risk. In most of the killings, a group of young men cut their victims down with meat cleavers and machetes before fleeing the scene. While most of the attacks have been claimed by either the Islamic State or groups affiliated with al Qaeda, the government denies the presence of either transnational jihadi group in Bangladesh. Instead, Hasinas government accuses local terrorists and Islamist political parties especially the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami of orchestrating the violence in order to destabilize the nation. The two parties deny any involvement. Hasina announced the recent crackdown after the wife of a police superintendent was shot and stabbed to death. The victim had been an ardent campaigner against militants, and many within the countrys establishment were stunned by the attack on someone they had considered one of their own. Human Rights Watch said in a statement Friday that while Bangladesh should be stepping up its anti-militancy efforts, it should immediately stop arbitrarily arresting people without proper evidence of crime and release those who are not charged. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has reported that Ukraine has managed to prevent 300 terrorist attacks aimed at destabilizing the situation in the country. "The intensity of these efforts [aimed at destabilization] is evidenced by the fact that almost 300 terrorist attacks have been prevented by law-enforcement agencies," Poroshenko said on Saturday when visiting the Stare training grounds of the National Guard of Ukraine. The president praised the anti-terrorist efforts of the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police and the National Guard of Ukraine. Poroshenko said that the enemy is trying to destabilize the situation inside the country, which has become a new and very serious challenge for Ukraine. Moscow has agreed to the proposal made by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to arm OSCE monitors along the line of contact in Donbas, Russian Presidential Administration chief Sergei Ivanov said. "It wasn't for the first time that President Putin said that we agree to the proposal made by Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko to increase security of the OSCE [mission], which often finds itself on the firing line [...] to let them protect themselves, at least. We don't mind them having a Makarov pistol or a Walter handgun on them, whatever they like; [they should] have light small arms on them so to simply protect themselves, elementary," Ivanov said in an interview with Sergei Brylyov, the presenter of the Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday) show on Rossiya-1 (VGTRK) TV channel, which was broadcast in Russia's Far East. Ivanov went on to clarify that he only meant the OSCE monitors at the contact line, not members of the OSCE electoral mission that may be observing at elections (in southeastern Ukraine). "We agree to this, but to be endorsed, this will need a consensus agreement reached by all OSCE members. If we have that [consensus reached], then I don't mind it," Ivanov said. Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman met with on Friday with U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power to discuss cooperation in countering the Russian aggression and the process of reforms in Ukraine, the department of information and communications of the office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine reported on Friday. The prime minister said that Ukraine has "three enemies: Russia, corruption and populism. These are three serious enemy, which currently hinder the development of Ukraine." At the same time, Groysman noted that the government intends to conduct the necessary reforms, and continue the cooperation with the IMF and spoke about the government's priorities - ensuring macroeconomic stability, enhancing institutional capacity, the fight against corruption, the national security and improvement of the business climate. Power said that Ukraine has been fighting on two fronts countering the Russian aggression and holding the necessary reforms, and stressed the need for holding the successful reforms that will allow effectively respond to the challenges posed by Russian aggression. The two officials also discussed the plans of the new ministry for the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons. The Ukrainian prime minister noted the need for medium-term strategy for the reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories. "My message is - we love Donbas. I will spend no less time in the east of Ukraine than in the west. I think this is very important," Groysman said. Groysman also thanked Power for her support of Ukraine: "Your voice and your personal position are very much appreciated in Ukraine, I thank you for it." Vatican state secretary says they do not want conflict in Donbas to become another forgotten conflict During his visit to Ukraine, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with Head of Lviv Regional State Administration Oleh Syniutka. Syniutka thanked Cardinal Parolina for the support of Ukraine and stressed that the visit of such a high ranking Vatican's representative is extremely important both for the region and for Ukraine as a whole, the press service of Lviv Regional Administration reported on Saturday. "Your role is currently very important, because at present Ukrainians need not only humanitarian assistance but also spiritual support," the press service quoted Syniutka as saying. The Lviv regional governor conveyed the invitation to the Pope to visit Lviv region. For his turn, Cardinal Parolin said that the focus of his visit is the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Vatican state secretary said he is trying to reach out to people who are in the combat zone and on the occupied territories that they will not be left alone with their problems. Cardinal Parolin also spoke about the humanitarian initiative "Pope for Ukraine", which started with the collection of donations in all Catholic churches. "This is the initiative of Pope Francis, which has newly awakened the interest of Catholics around the world in the problems of Ukraine, because we do not want this conflict to become another forgotten conflict," the press service of Lviv Regional State Administration quoted Cardinal Parolin as saying. After the meeting, the secretary of state of the Vatican conducted a mass in the Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Lviv. Parolin visits Lviv on June 18-19. Film: "Central Intelligence"; Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber; Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet, Jason Bateman, Aaron Paul; Rating: *** Director Rawson Marshall Thurber's "Central Intelligence" is a typical frothy Hollywood buddy comedy. Replete with action and adventure, this is a film where cliches are spoofed and spun over, to deliver an unexpectedly refreshing canned drama, that is smooth, fast and funny. The narration starts off in 1996, at the high school graduation ceremony. Robbie Wryedick is bullied and humiliated for being bizarre and overweight. He is flaunted naked at the assembly. Calvin Joyner, the Student of the Year, saves him from further disgrace by lending him his "Golden Jet" jacket. Ever since then, Robbie has never interacted with any of his schoolmates. Twenty years later, tables turn when the two meet just before their high school reunion. Calvin is now married to his high-school sweetheart Maggie and leads a mundane life as a run-down accountant, who misses his glorious school days. And Robbie, after shedding off his fat, resurfaces as a fit and muscular, lonely and friendless, lethal CIA Agent -- Bob Stone. Robbie gets in touch with Calvin Joyner, whom he considers his only friend. He seeks his help to gather information so that he may save the compromised US spy satellite system from enemies, who are trying to sell bogus plans and destroy the country. How the two friends encounter shootouts, espionage and double-crosses while trying to prevent worldwide chaos, forms the crux of the tale. The script written by Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen and the director Rawson Marshall Thurber, is unconventional, yet formulaic. The plot straddles on a consistent graph with the right amount of humour, drama and action. It works as a buddy film but fails on the espionage sub-plot front. Humour arises from action as well as the constant banter between the buddies. The dialogues are colloquial, witty and arresting and the characters with all their quirkiness are well-etched and presented. Dwayne Johnson is charming as Bob Stone. With his caring smile and lost look, he brings the contrast of his character effectively. With this character, Dwayne proves that he is equally at home with comedy. On the other hand, Kevin Hart as Calvin Joyner, does not add any nuances to his role. He is his usual self, and thus a bit of a disappointment. But together their on-screen buddy chemistry though odd, is effectual and convincing. They are aptly supported by Danielle Nicolet as Calvin's wife Maggie, Jason Bateman as their ex-classmate Trevor and Amy Ryan as Agent Pamela Harris. They have their moments of screen glory. Technically, the film is astutely crafted. Barry Peterson's camera work is noteworthy and his visuals are accompanied by Ludwig Goransson and Theodore Shapiro's music, which is seamlessly layered by Michael L.Sale's efficient editing. Overall "Central Intelligence" is a fun film only if you park your intelligence for a while. Read Also: 'Udta Punjab': Soars High With Performances 'Finding Dory': Visually Delightful, Fairly Entertaining STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Today's archive page is from Aug. 18, 1970. A 26-year-old man takes off from the Great Kills Boat Yard in a canoe to travel to Los Angeles. "You're not going to put my canoe in this dirty water," Fritz Sprandel jokes. The Allentown, Pa., native pushes off his 18-foot canoe to embark on his adventure with a crowd of friends and reporters watching. He will travel mostly along inland waterways, through the Gulf of Mexico and the Panama Canal -- ending up in Los Angeles in 10 months to a year. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Over 200 dapper men in suits and women in multi-colored dresses chatted, posed for photos and placed bids for the silent auction during the cocktail hour of the Pride Center of Staten Island's annual "1 Island 1 Pride" dinner dance at the Old Bermuda Inn, Charleston. The mood was joyous and festive, and extra precautions were taken to ensure that it stayed that way. Because of the recent shooting inside a gay nightclub in Orlando, the NYPD was called to provide security for the event. Guests didn't seem to notice the armed officers and continued to enjoy the evening. "That's when terror wins; when they force you to behave differently. So yes, we're safe, but we're going to keep doing what we do," said Ralph Vogel, executive director of the Pride Center of Staten Island. "We're proud, we're visible, and we're very happy to be a part of a bigger community on Staten Island, so we're just going to keep being ourselves," Vogel said. As cocktail hour came to an end and guests took their seats, Vogel held a moment of silence for the lives that were lost in Orlando. "After what happened we need to remember how important the LBGT center is to us," he said. Jo Ellen Fusco and Michele Kaufman, donned in coordinating black and purple shirts and bowties, find it hard to believe that acts of terrorism targeting their community are still happening in 2016. "There are so many other problems in life, why do people care who I'm married to?" Fusco said. Fusco and Kaufman have been together for 14 years and have been married for five. "So many people who aren't gay are coming out in support. It really seems that the people who are against us are the minority now, not us," Kaufman said. The couple have been going to the Pride Center for as long as they can remember, and have attended the dinner dance for the past six years "at least." The dinner dance also included several silent auctions, as well as an award ceremony where Staten Islanders were recognized for their advocacy for the LGBT community. The Young Democrats of Richmond County were awarded the Staten Island LGBT Community Enrichment Award for their diligent work fighting and advocating for LGBT rights. Denise Demyan and Paul Scamardella accepted the "One Island One Pride" award, which is given to outstanding members of the community who have worked hard for equality and justice. The Barbara P. Sullivan LGBTQ Ally Award was presented to Sonia Tomai, who is a huge supporter of the community, as well as an ally, and helps to bridge the gap between communities. Ex Stanford Swimmer Rape A student carries a sign of protest during Stanford University graduation exercises. A group of women's rights advocates are urging a California agency to take action against the judge who sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. (AP Photo/D. Ross Cameron) (The following is a guest editorial by Mid-Island resident Heather-Ann Schaeffner.) In the wake of the Stanford case, we've been talking a lot as a society about rape culture: about a culture that doesn't value women as people. Today I want to take a minute to discuss how deep that penetrates, to illustrate that this is not just a "college problem" or an "alcohol issue." A man tried to buy me on New Dorp Lane this week, in broad daylight. I was sitting on a bench, reading, with my yoga mat beside me -- killing some time before heading into the studio. I should note I was wearing large, visible headphones. An older, white man yells from his car at me, "Hey baby, you wanna spend the night in Atlantic City?" I do not respond, and barely glance in his direction as I decide it is time to head to the yoga studio. He continues, this time commenting lewdly on my body. I continue to ignore him; I am walking away. He yells out, "How much?" I am outraged. But I do nothing. I am a human being: I am not for sale. Soliciting another human for sale is certainly still a crime. But not for Mr. Atlantic City. In his world (and it most certainly is still that), women are available to be propositioned at any time -- even when they display a clear objective that isn't prostitution. How many hookers carry yoga mats and wear headphones? My conflicting emotions were only compounded by the reactions of the three women I approached afterward. The first, a shopkeeper on New Dorp Lane, laughed and said, "Well, that's New Dorp Lane." I am uncertain whether she was implying that the verbal harassment is commonplace or that solicitation is -- both are alarming possibilities. The second woman I told, another yoga student, helpfully suggested I should have answered that he "couldn't afford me." That is never the answer. That answer doesn't say, "This question demeaned me as a human." It says, "I am for sale for the right person/price." Chagrined, I finally approached an older female relative about my harassment. The interruption was swift and practiced, part of our cultural script. "Well, what were you wearing?" Humans: I am a human. I have value. What I am wearing (or not wearing) does not diminish that value. New York is a topless equality state; had I been topless -- which I was not -- that wouldn't excuse him, either. Thick skin and strong reason have helped me avoid most trouble from street harassment. I am very polite in expressing my disinterest and move on. Sometimes I even feel flattered by the more polite attentions. This was not flattering. It was degrading, flagrant, vaguely threatening. In case it is unclear to any person reading this: it is not a compliment to offer a strange woman money to sleep with you. It is degrading. It is acting on the assumption that all women are for sale at all times, and more specifically for sale for the purposes of your sexual desires without regard to hers. New Dorp Lane is one of Staten Island's most stroll-able shopping districts. Shopkeepers pay steep rents for those storefronts. They and the police should work together to ensure the many men, women, teens, and children who frequent that area are not also subject to harassment and solicitation as I was. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.--Two hundred sixty five Staten Island Technical High School students celebrated their prom Friday night at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River in Manhattan. Here is a look back at last years' celebration. Check out our photo gallery and video from last night's festivities! ARRIVING WITH STYLE Vivian Musleh arrived in a dynamic floral print gown with yellow roses on a black background. JOIN OUR COVERAGE As part of our coverage, we invite you to join in on the fun by tagging all prom photos #SILive. Not going to the prom, or just curious as to how much fun everyone is having? You can follow along as we provide live coverage on InstagramA and Twitter. Want to buy a photo print? You can do so by clicking the "Purchase Photo" button in the gallery above. 2016 STATEN ISLAND PROM SCHEDULE May 6 St. Peter's Boys High School May 12 Moore Catholic High School May 18 Monsignor Farrell High School G.R.A.C.E. Foundation, Eden II and On Your Mark May 21 Staten Island Academy May 26 Notre Dame Academy St. John Villa Academy May 27 New Dorp High School Petrides High School Curtis High School June 3 Port Richmond High School June 6 St. Joseph by-the-Sea June 8 St. Joseph Hill Academy Gaynor McCown Expeditionary Learning School Great Kills High School The Hungerford School June 9 College of Staten Island High School for International Studies Bishop Patrick V. Ahern High School June 10 Susan Wagner High School June 11 Tottenville High School June 17 Staten Island Technical High School June 28 New World Preparatory Charter School Did we leave your school out? Let us know in the comments. cyclones-si.jpg The Brooklyn Cyclones and Staten Island Yankees played a 20-inning marathon in Friday night's New York-Penn League season opener in Coney Island. The Yankees finally prevailed, 3-2. (Brooklyn Cyclones photo) Staten Island 3, Brooklyn 2 ... in Friday night's 20-inning New York-Penn League season opener at MCU Park in Coney island. Here are some of the numbers in a baseball game that remained tied at 2-2 from the fourth inning until the top of the 20th, when Ricardo Ferreira's bases-loaded sacrifice fly gave the Yankees the lead. *553 pitches *41 strikeouts *16 pitchers (10 by Brooklyn) *5 hours, 39 minutes *31 runners left on base (21 by Yankees) *136 at-bats *2-for-30 combined with runners in scoring position *15 walks, 20 hits QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: "Our offense bordered tonight somewhere between hopeless and inept," Cyclones manager Tom Gamboa said. "We had our chances, but it is what it is." UP NEXT: The McNamara Division rivals turn around and head to the Richmond County Bank Ballpark for Staten Island's home opener (7 p.m.) on Saturday night. No Ukrainian servicemen have been killed in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in Donbas over the past 24 hours, but five were wounded, spokesman for the Ukrainian presidential administration on the ATO matters Andriy Lysenko has said. "Over the past day, no Ukrainian soldiers were killed, but five were wounded, including one in the area of the Putylivska coal mine and four - near Maryinka," Lysenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday. By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaolion Friday urged local governments in China's northeastern region to revitalize the old industrial base. Zhang made the remarks during a two-day visit to Liaoning Province. The northeast region plays a significant part in the country's overall development, the vice premier said at a meeting Friday with officials from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces. The region should pursue innovation-driven development and accelerate the development of new industries, he said. Local governments should transform their functions, streamline administration and delegate power to lower levels to create a sound business environment, Zhang said. Efforts should also be made to introduce, cultivate and retain talented people to provide sufficient intelligence during the revitalization, he said. Local governments should also build livable environment and improve people's lives to give all people access to the fruit of the country's development, Zhang said. In April, the State Council unveiled a guideline for rejuvenating the northeast rustbelt region through more reforms and economic restructuring. The northeast, including Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, was among the first regions in China to become industrialized. Its traditional industries include steel, automobile, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing and petroleum refining. Best Canadian Blog 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 About Kate Why this blog? Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked. This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me." (goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated! Katewerk Art Support SDA I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts. Reconnaissance Man Economics for the Disinterested ...a fast-paced polar bear attack thriller! 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